Final Project at LAS

my final project at LAS was to model and texture a truck
with given references, within a span of 2 weeks.
(about 9 days as friday noon was the deadline.)
spent about a week and a half on modelling and UV.
i think i took only 1 and a half days to paint and weather the truck textures..
(wished i had more time : )
i chose the truck that i liked most amongst the many 1930s truck we had.
i was the only jumpster to choose this truck
so wasn't too stressed up by what the other guys were doing.
however this was one hell of a big truck with lots of details to it.
i think it was the colors that drew my attention to this truck.

anyway i decided to texture this truck as a homage
to one of my favourite artists
ashley wood based on his popbot designs.
alot of the textures were also based on the designs of tom muller
another one of my favourite graphic designer.

some close ups





texture maps.
1)

2)

so i didn't land the gig at LAS after 6 months of intensive training.
but i would like to thank LAS and EDB for making all this happen.
i had no prior 3D modelling experience but only passion and hunger
and now i can say that i know maya.
(which i thought was the name of some
hot european supermodel, 6 months ago : )

thanks to the following...
xavier,tad,aamir,nurul,reuben,gulaya,bertrand,justin,james,linda,amy
the trainers: marc and punn from LA.
the instructors: calvin, wayne, james mahoney and esther.
and everyone else whom i met at LAS.
you guys are all stars!
to the 6 that made it. it was a pleasure knowing you guys!
i had fun and was honoured to be in your presence.
sorry about my cold jokes.
to the 6 that didn't, myself included.
well sometimes sith happens.

gonna miss the thursday breakfasts, free movies,
beers after monthlies and life drawing classes!

keep trucking yo!

starbucks' here i come!

can design really touch your heart?

this was one of the projects that i was tasked to do.
brief was simple to promote four films
"murderball", "the beat that my heart skipped", "snowcake"
and "don't come knocking". had to do all these
within the space of the cathay gallery.

i wanted to do something different and inspiring at the same time.
the challenge for me was to think of a common theme
amongst these 4 films.they are individual with diffn storytelling
of course but i wanted to find something common amongst them
so that the gallery did not look too busy or haphazard.
promoting 4 very interesting and inspiring films
but having something to bind them together.

let's get working.


this was ground zero.

next had to plonk in some corporate text
to tell people what this is about.



insert film stills of the 4 respective movies as the background.



this is the middle section. i know it doesnt make sense now
but jus bear in mind that this is the middle part inside the gallery.



now this is the glass panel on the surface itself.



by itself it reads

"stand up", "follow your passion",
"Be free" and "do something unselfish".

but if you see it collectively from the middle ground, it reads like this.



"can you STAND UP even after
your spirit and your spine has been crushed?"
for murderball this was from the movie website
which i did some research on.
i felt that this line was exceptionally touching and inspiring.

for beat that my heart skipped.

it read "if you had a chance
to FOLLOW YOUR PASSION, would you take it?"
this line was from the movie trailer itself.

for snow cake it was

"would you like to BE FREE?
set free from all your demons?"
this was probably inspired by what sigourney weaver said in the movie.

for dont come knocking it was
"have you ever wanted to DO SOMETHING UNSELFISH
for the first time in your life?"

and lastly when you combine everything
hopefully it would look like this.



i wanted to do the gallery pretty simple
and clean cut with emphasise on the text and message.
the traffic around that area is pretty busy and i hope something
simple and neat would capture people's attention.
we are constantly bombarded by visuals and text in this busy world.
it's a real challenge to show that "less is more."
sometimes i wonder why is it so hard for me to make things simple.

although this idea was not chosen and we'll never see this in reality
but i was glad i did it and put my heart and soul to it.
there are many factors i feel to make this work
which is often not within the designer's control and that is
time and budget and what the client really wants.
even though if it's really inspiring or cool
it might not serve the client's purpose or corporate need.
they might like it but sometimes there might not be
enough budget or it's simply not what they hope to achieve.
the idea might not sell.

"the one who pays the piper, is the one who sets the tune."
a quote i learnt recently.

sagmeister said that he hopes he can touch
people's hearts with graphic design.
i hope one day i too can touch
people's heart with graphic design.
it might not be easy, it might not sell
but we should never stop pushing ourselves.
i hope i never give up on this thought.
reality bites you in the arse.
your rent is due and you've got laundry to do.

can design really touch your heart?

these four films are really great. i hope i can get tickets for all of them! YAY!!!
if not i better design something that sells and have money to pay for em! YAY!!!

"sorry, kid. but the good guy
can't always save the world.
sometimes he just does what he can...
eats his broccoli..
and hope everything works out."

from "spider-man ray of light" by kaare andrews.