Batik Kelautan

Last December my aunt (whose husband is one of the officials) asked me to create a marine-themed batik for the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries' annual product exhibition. I consider this as a big responsibility, even if the fabric will be mass-produced as a trading commodity, because traditionally a batik pattern was made with certain philosophical meaning.

Firstly I decide to consult the official Ministry of Marine and Fisheries' website to learn about Indonesian maritime and fisheries commodities. After searching for relevant data and real images for several week, I decided to create the first pattern, consist of sea turtle, pearl oyster, squid, shrimp, fish, and crab batik-stylized images.

marine-themed batik pattern

The sea turtle was intended to be the reminder of how fragile the abundant resources of the sea is, and that we should protect it for the future generation. In the other hand, just like the common turtles, the sea turtle represent the longevity which suggest that the ministry will continue to protect the maritime resources forever.

The fish and the shrimp represent how they become the main resources for the fishery industries, either within the country or as the export commodities.

The Crab with its tough armor represents the will of the ministry to protect the resources within the Indonesian marine territory, together with the Navy, from any disturbance and intrusion that threaten the sovereignty of the marine territories.

At last, the pearl oyster represent the wonderful beauty of Indonesian undersea.

My aunt says that the pattern is fantastic, and each and every detail on the pattern still can be developed into new patterns. She also requested the batik patterns to be made in pastel colors. Thus, the pattern was developed into four new pattern with each of it's philosopical meaning.

the sea turtle batik pattern

the fish,shrimp,and algae batik pattern

the crab batik pattern

the pearl oyster batik pattern

 

The exhibition which was due on february 2011 got postponed to the mid of May 2011. I am kinda disappointed though, because I haven't received any profit from these batik pattern designs either. I haven't planning on any legal contract to be signed on my design projects between me and my client when this request was made, so I kinda have no power to demand my rights upon this pattern while it means soooo much to me (my first seriously made batik patterns) :(

Self Portrait

woodcut style self-portrait

(supposed to be) pop art style self-portrait

manga style self-portrait with dollfie-like figure

 These are my first college assignment in Illustration Subject : drawing a self picture from our own photograph. Unfortunately I couldn't locate my water-colored one.

Love Greetings from Indonesia

On March 13th, my local community Ko-J-Tsu (Komunitas Jepang Surabaya, a community which member are Surabaya youngsters that love anything related to Japan and its culture) held a fund raising event for Japan Tsunami and Earthquake on one of our mall. I was thinking hard on what could I do to participate in the event, and I came to this.
It's a small, A6 paper which was printed with the chibi (japanese comic style of super-deformed figure) picture of Ultraman and Masked Rider Black. The whole idea was to thank anyone who would love to give their donation with a chibi picture of them in the middle, helding hands together with Masked Rider Black and Ultraman. Of course, the reversed ideas also being applied : people who wants me to draw them in chibi style should first donate to the event, with no minimum limitation for the donation sum.
I don't think that we really raised quite a sum, actually. But no matter how much it was, I do hope that it will be useful to the victims...even if it was just a teensy weensy bit....

Addictive ~ Summer FM suspended album's cover art

this time, it's one of my favorite task ever....designing an album's cover art.

My client is Summer FM, an indie band in my hometown Surabaya. They reaaaaalllly are a nice client. They only tell me what kind of atmosphere do they want to show within the mini-album, and they didn't even give me a deadline! Yaay~!!XDD

They also said that I'm free to be as creative as I wanted to within this album, and when I show them what I've done for the cover, they said they LOVE IT~! wow....

I'm sooo happy with this project.

Unfortunately, due to many circumstances, the mini album which was suppose to be release was postponed until further notice. Anyway, I'm reaaaaaaaaalllly happy that they love the cover art :)

Good Luck guys~:)

L.O.V.E

hmmm.........
Today's post (after a loooooong pause) is the artwork that I've created on the request of a friend from my highschool days, Ruth. The concept is about her and her boyfriend together, because this artwork was intended to be printed on their anniversary invitation.
What? no, they haven't got married yet, but hopefully they will, eventually :)
She asked me to draw 3 picture, but today I guess I'll upload the first finished picture.

happy anniversary Ruth!