February 2012
7 posts
Today's train sketch best. The boy and the spider.
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sketchpost: the greatest insult
I’ve been told to improve many, many times. And it’s always been true. I’m still paying my dues, learning, improving. I think I’ll always be on some front. [0] However, I was once delivered this great insult: You lack depth. [1] I know I spend tons of time sketching, sewing, doing things which do not contribute directly to my career. Hell, it’s not even...
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Musing on Recent Illustrations
Here are some things drawn recently, digital and analog.
Liking Illustrator after figuring out it is quite easy to adjust the pen to sense pressure sensitivy rather effectively much like Flash.
Just practicing. Moved to Photoshop and quickly filled in some tones.
Here is some more nonsense in Illustrator.
The Illustrator canvas looks like this from a previous post.
Some analog...
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Adventures in Wall Decals
Or, rather, making the corner of your kitchen with your rubbish bin more pleasant. See the full gallery on Posterous This particular set was tough.. Every dot was painstakingly pasted individually. Took a few tries to get the poppies to set too (flimsy vinyl with heavy big section anchored to skinny section =s trouble). In the end: gratifying.
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tech industry: how recruiters view designers
Just for shits and giggles. I also miss the good ol’ meme days with my project team. Credit is where credit is due: thank @whoischrislam for the idea and fuel to make this one happen.
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Jack of Trades
Sizable Copic collection from the glory days. The sad reality is it’s very hard to be very good at everything. Unfortunately, lots are cursed with this blessing of being supremely interested in related, but rather different, fields. (I think lots are, or at least, I am.) There is only so much time to develop a true expertise, so choosing what to spend it on is vital. I’m writing...
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Documenting the Dust Bunnies game, ch 1.
I’ve got my idea. Now it’s all about the execution.
Just add ears.
Since I’m not a strong coder, I’ve decided to make this a grid-based game, which should immensely simplify the game mechanics and logic magic that needs to happen on the backside.
This way, I can focus on the front - my strength. This might put the game on the map, despite the simplicity of the...
January 2012
9 posts
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Is that a dust bunny in your indie game?
Yes, yes it is. Up and coming. When design blocked.. Work on something else! Because good ideas don’t come sooner if you pursue them, ironically. Also, starting with neutral midtoned canvas makes for amazing color schemes.
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"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" Don't like...
A popular interview question as well as one which close friends may ask.. “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” I’m going to take a step back. 22.. 17. So, if you asked me where I’d be seeing myself as a 22 y/o, as a 17 y/o, my answer would have been “Pursuing a masters degree in.. technical animation. Then applying for PhD.” Something wishy washy like...
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Snapshots of Taiwan & Singapore.
Overdue from September 2011. Astroboy giant figure and Blackjack cosplayed from the Osamu Tezuka exhibit back from the summer held in the Chiang-Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Found the cult of apple in a subway hall of Taiwan. Shares a space with Vera Style. Awesome view of Taipei from atop of the 101 after going up the elevator with pretty lights. The building...
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a bunch of january snapshots
More of putting birds on things, of course. iPad sketch done on a flight. See the full gallery on Posterous Teeny tiny pencil sketch. Jar of stars. Making use of the giant whiteboard sticker. Scratchy pen. Early game idea. Still thinking about this one. Plus many more pages of chicken scratch.. Too many to post. Palette. Canvas. Build It & Ship...
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Responsibility & pet ownership rant, for those who...
Let’s get this straight: VERY FEW forces on earth can wake me up early. One of them is lovesickness. And I suppose this makes the second: 6 hours of straight crying from a baby something. In this case, a 2 month old puppy. A few things. Don’t get a puppy for Christmas. And especially don’t give YOURSELF a puppy for Christmas. The bloody thing is cute, but you need to train...
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2012 will be about simplifying.
Less of… Hacker News. Only consume digest and links recommended. Twitter. Only consume via mobile. It is distracting otherwise. Pinterest(?). Pin, do not visit site unless looking at a board for a specific task. Reddit. Facebook. Use that time instead to… 1. Read books, actual books. 2. Make things. More concretely… Mobile sites, games, apps, sandboxes. Paintings. ...
December 2011
8 posts
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Paintings in progress & last post of 2011.
Dear internet - I’ll be spending the last few days of 2011 on the road along the west coast. In the meantine, please enjoy your holidays and a few work-in-progress shots started yesterday shortly after finishing Birds of a Feather. See the full gallery on Posterous <3, Susan
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Post-grad life metaskill of 2011: Scaling.
One thing I’ve never paid much attention to while in school were milestones in school. They are neatly cut-off by semesters, tucked into smaller deliverables determined by weeks. It was fairly easy to know when to pump it up and when to slack a little. For example, the strain of powering through finals is met with a period of complete relaxation at the end, without that, it’d be hard...
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Early new year's resolution: a goal & a barrier.
Amongst all the great things which happened during my company design retreat, the greatest meta benefit for me personally was that the experience sharpened my focus for choosing the path I walk. I’m sharing this one piece specifically because it concisely puts out there, and serves as a reminder for myself, what my intentions are for life. [1] Some context: the task was the choose 2...
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Sharpie Sketches | beautiful people & red ink
In which I use my secret weapon [1] to draw things. This what happens when I like you: You occasionally, okay - often, end up in my doodles. Some are better than others. FOREVER immortalized. ;) Now, featuring the gorgeous girl behind Behind the Seams, one of my favorite fashion blogs. I have an immense girl crush on Trang. & now, a red, coral, & pink...
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Illustrator'd: Totoro, Totoro hats & Self
See the full gallery on Posterous In the search for a highres photograph of myself that I could stand, then coming up empty handed, I decided that I’d stick with the illustrated route. And with my newly found option+click skills, this is what became of that experiment. It’s not often I add the blog url into the image, but when I do, I think it’s when something actually...
November 2011
7 posts
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Analyzing How I Work
Lately, I’ve been frustrated with myself, mostly over nothing. When you were graduating high school, you felt like the shit: getting into a college, preparing to leave home, embarking on a new adventure. Then, once arriving, it quickly becomes clear you are, once again, at the bottom of the food chain. “What the fuck am I doing? I don’t know what I’m doing.” ...
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Instagram'd Sketches
Just some sketches I instagram’d. They’re all automatically Dropbox’d too. Thank you ifttt! Though honestly, that’s the only ifttt flow I’m finding useful so far.
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Clash of Ideals.
My parents have always, and still, measure success by prestige. [1] They would’ve loved to say “My daughter go to Harvard.” Now, they would love to say “My daughter work at Google.” [2] But I actively rejected both paths. My mum always makes a point to tell me the latest funnies in explaning me to other parents. It usually involves: statement, confusion,...
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a few paragraphs about my 'favorite' teach
Recently, I was asked to write a response to a prompt, “Write about a favorite teacher. What made them special?” .. The limit was 5 minutes of writing. To my surprise, this was written quickly and cohesively. Looking back, he was really a professor who had an impact on me, less in the world of academia, but more so in my faith in humanity. Without further ado, the unedited version...
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Happy Birthday to my little brother. | with a...
I give many shits about him (It just means I care except in angsty rebelious 16 year old terms).
That is all. We have a very awesome sibling bond as of date.
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More Sketch! | Colorful Cute Photoshop...
Inspiration strikes at midnight and I finally bring a best friend’s* personal project to a close. It was fun thinking of ideas to make.. And though the assembly (aka design dirty work) took way longer than anticipated, it was worth the while. Paying it forward and flexing a creative muscle is time well spent. Unfortunately, the project itself shall remain a *secret* .. but here’s the...
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Latest Watercolors | eyes & trails
Painted these back in September: here you go internet! Finally get to see. watercolor + watercolor pencils .. Also - new apartment is coming together.. Not quite ready to show it off in full, but am happy to show off some desk shots :) See the full gallery on Posterous I find that I like working w/ just the Thunderbolt display alone. Less screens to be distracted by. .. ...
October 2011
3 posts
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Latest iPad Sketches & I'm still alive here
I doodled these with my stylus and fingers on a flight back from Austin. I am currently drafting a big ass post about the documenting the working life and thoughts on recent events.. but for now, I just wanted to let the internet know I’m not dead and attempt to get myself posting here regularly again.
See look,
POST IDEAS
I promise I’m still thinking about ideas!
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Paying my respects to a legendary human being.
Today, the news of Steve Job’s passing hit me hard. It’s funny. I had no idea that it would impact me this much. [1]
I’ve never been a rabid Apple fangirl, nor can I even say that now, despite owning the golden trifecta (Macbook Air, iPad2, iPhone 3G - soon to be iPhone 4S), yet, I still hone immense respect for him, less so of a god than as a person.
When famous people pass, I...
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Summer Sketch Set : Doodles
Whoops, for some reason, the attempt to post this same thing last night was a total fail. (404??) Oh well, this is simply a continuation of the last post.. Doodles. Sharpie, always handy. The properly scanned version of this copic marker drawing I instagram’d. Obligatory clarification: despite illustrating this, I was unfortunately the one who was jumped upon...
September 2011
5 posts
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Summer Sketch Set : Wireframes
Before I left home for San Francisco and Asia, I sat down and scanned EVERYTHING [1]. Here are all the pages which contained design drawings. Tomorrow is my first day working as a full-timer ever. Wish me luck! — 1. By the way, why is this process so hard?! Scan > Tweak (scanner) > Tweak again (ps) > File naming > Upload > Post. Someone improve it:...
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Trip on this Triptych | Autumn + Boston Inspired
After those posts about picking up the brushes again, I present to you the final piece… It’s a triptych! First one too. First painting completed since December ‘09. Hung over the couch. See the full gallery on Posterous Process photos.. Or at least, the ones which I remembered to take. *Gets too immersed into painting and usually forgets to stop and do this* ...
Visited Butterfly Garden while waiting for flight...
Taken at Terminal 3
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Rare Candy | initial thoughts before moving up...
A few thoughts, in no maybe a particular order: I’ve spent many nights at home this past three weeks just snooping around the web, reading everything that suited my fancy. I just read a great post about Overcoming Impostor Syndrome, something I didn’t realize had a name or was that much of a problem amongst so many people, both girls and guys. I do acknowledge this as something...
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retrospective: the MHCI post mortem, special...
Hi everyone, tonight, I am here in front of a laptop to finish up [0] to you my latest post: THE MHCI post mortem. I hope, you, the reader can peek what into what has been my world and experience for the past 8 months - It’s an adventure for you and me [1]. I am also very pleased to let you know this will be a multimedia piece! Illustrative doodles accompany major points of this...
Palette: pretty interesting @ 3ish hours in.
August 2011
12 posts
Picking up the brushes again
If you know me, you’d know I’m quite taciturn. If you know me well, you’d know that if you get me to talk about painting (particularly, oil painting), I wouldn’t shut up for days. And that’s a good indication that oil painting is special. A few days ago, I picked up the brushes again after a 20 month hiatus. (Damn it grad school!) As much as I enjoy interface...
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Realization and My Craft
Yesterday, Steve Jobs resigned as Apple CEO. Everyone was talking about it. Today, even my tiger mum, brought it up, and she doesn’t follow technology. (If my mum catches on to anything in my world, you know it’s made a ripple.) After reading perhaps the 20th article on the subject, one linked Steve Job’s 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech [1]. Steve talks about the inability to...
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Photoshop Sketches
All done today in fairly quick manners.
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Journal > "You Win"
Coming of age rants; getting over things rants. Gloriously high school like. Notes to self perhaps. — Too many experiences have I had some disgusting bastard tell me I’m wonderful except for a few things. Then, they proceed to mold me into changing. Unfortunately for them, they never succeed. And unfortunately for me, I never realized I had the power to break free from their...
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Sketch/Fanart: Finn and Bubblegum
In case of creative stagnation, draw fanart. Shiny, shiny fanart. Sidenote: I actually do think Adventure Time is quality stuff.
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Mummy's Mental Models: Kindle == iPad
Keen-dough! It’s just a small iPad right?
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Photoshop Painting! > Out of Tune Squeaky Toy
LOOK GUYS I CAN STILL COLOR OKAY. LIGHTING AND COLORS AND STUFF. Also, this is pretty much true. I do, in fact, sing like an out of tune squeaky toy, except in the shower. Good thing he sings like a god :)
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favorites from iam8bit
See the full gallery on Posterous x-post from facebook; camerbagged like mad; things look awesome with an instant border around it; go! the show is there until sept
Bittersweet Homecoming
See the full gallery on Posterous Today was my first full day back home (home home) in LA. Sketched until my wrists cramped up (still feeling the long nights from the end of mhci crunch). Well, just being thankful I made it in with one piece, now with wardrobe. And also, just up to general mischief. It is still so weird to think I’m not seeing the same faces I grew to love over the past...
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3-2-1, everyday is Friday with Team Silk
x-post via facebook This is dedicated to my MHCI project team, Silk, who I spent the last 8 months working closely with. I mean it and we meme-it.