AstaDesign::design & stuffs

Balinese Dancer

2006-09-06T05:10:00.000-07:00

I found a great pic on the Trekearth.com, and it makes me wanna trace it.

Here's the end result.

A tracing of a Balinese Dancer.

My Baby Boy

2006-09-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

Alhamdulillah.....Praise to Allah SWT, the Lord of The Universe.....

My baby's finally born on Friday, 1st September 2006, at 6:20AM.
It's a baby boy, a handsome small boy with wonderful smile and fascinating appearance.

I couldn't even believe that he's finally among us.

Wow, what a relieve...after 9 moths more in waiting, he's born in healthy condition, not even single scratch on his fragile body.

I'm a daddy now...and I do swear to myself, my wife and my baby, that I'm gonna be a good daddy.

The NU Founder

2006-09-04T00:48:00.000-07:00

KH Hasyim Asy'ari, is one of the most prominent Islamic movement leaders during the Indonesian struggle for independence. He's well known as the leader and can be said as the founder of the biggest Islamic movement in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

KH Hasyim Asy'ari's grandson is KH Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), who once elected as the president of Indonesia. They're great figures in this country and also great teachers of the nation.

I made a trace of KH Hasyim Asy'ari's figure....just to honour this great man.

I'll try to make more tracing of the Indonesian national heroes.

Self Trace

2006-08-29T02:44:00.000-07:00

I've been tracing lotsa pics, but the funny thing is, I never done any for my own.
Hehehehehe.......and today, I decided to make at least one, and here's how it looks like.
My self trace.....

Hmmm....I think I'm gonna make some more.

F for Fidel

2006-08-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) is the current President of Cuba. After commanding the revolution that overthrew Fulgencio Batista in 1959, he held the title of Prime Minister[1] until 1976, when he became president of the Council of State as well as the Council of Ministers. Castro became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965, and led the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist republic. As president he also holds the supreme military rank of Comandante in the Cuban military. On July 31, 2006, Castro temporarily transferred duties to his brother Raúl to recover from intestinal surgery.
Castro first attracted attention in Cuban political life through his nationalist critiques of Batista and United States corporate and political influence in Cuba. He gained an ardent, but limited, following and also drew the attention of the authorities.[2] He eventually led the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, after which he was captured, tried, incarcerated and later released. He then travelled to Mexico[3] [4] to organize and train for the guerrilla invasion of Cuba that took place in December 1956. Since his assumption of power in 1959 he has evoked both praise and condemnation (at home and internationally). Castro is frequently described by opponents as a dictator [5] [6] and accused of gross human rights violations, including the execution of thousands of political opponents, [7]. Other groups hail Castro as a charismatic liberator. [8]
Outside of Cuba, Castro has been defined by his relationship with both the United States and with the former Soviet Union. Ever since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 by the United States, the Castro-led government has had an openly antagonistic relationship with the U.S., and a simultaneous closeness with the Soviet bloc. This was true until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, after which his priorities shifted from supporting foreign interventions to partnering with regional socialist figures such as Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia.
Domestically, Fidel Castro has overseen the implementation of various economic policies which saw the rapid centralization of Cuba's economy - land reform, collectivization of agriculture, and the nationalization of leading Cuban industries. The expansion of publicly funded health care and education has been a cornerstone of Castro's domestic social agenda. Some credit these policies for Cuba's relatively high Human Development Index rating.[9] Others see Castro and his policies as being responsible for Cuba's general economic depredation, and harshly criticize him for the criminalization of political dissent, free speech, and provoking hundreds of thousands of Cubans into fleeing the country.

For detailed info, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_castro

In Memoriam of Soekarno

2006-08-25T05:12:00.000-07:00

Suddenly I wanna trace something nationalistic. Perhaps, I suffered from a Indepence Day syndrome.

Well, everybody, Happy Indepence Day!

I'm Back

2006-08-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 9 months since I posted my last design here. Dunno why, just feeling stuck and busy with all the things in my life.
But today, I states once again, "I'm Back". I'll continue posting my designs here.
For the begining, here's a tracing I made today. Just took me less than 1 hour to complete it.

I'll keep my design spirit flaming in my heart.

Meet The Cat

2005-12-26T01:29:00.000-08:00

Latest tracing...."the sexiest cat ever on big screen".

Btw, I wanna talk a bit about tracing image. It's a kinda tricky business but once you knew the clues, it's a easy as flipping your palm.

I used to start tracing by picking a pic and place it into an Adobe Illustrator doc file--FYI, I used Adobe Illustrator CS2. It's the best vector based design software.

The pic is place in a layer which then I lock and make it as a template. This template layer serves as a basic for my tracing.
Then, I create a new layer above the template layer, and begin to trace. There's an important thing to remember, since vector illustration is an object based software, then you make objects and combine into a final design.

In the case of tracing, you must create each elemen of a pic, started by the top-most object, the the lower ones etc. Then when you see the whole parts, you'll get an complete design.

I used to trace the eye first, started by the white spots of the eyes, the pupil, the white part and so on. The tools I used most are the Pen tool for drawing the object, then the Eyedropper tool for picking the perfect colors based the colors of the underlying pic.

For making a more realistic effects of the tracing I made, I employ the transparency feature of the Illustrator CS2. This trick works very well in smoothing various elements of a tracing, like the white spots of the eyes, the light reflections of the faces and stuffs.

Another thing to mention is to use Blending mode to create a different kinda look for the entire design. It's great to explore the various choices of blending mode.
What so great about this Illustrator CS2 is, you can apply different blending mode settings for different objects. Since Illustrator CS2 treats each object as a single sub-layer.

Great isn't it?

Ryan's Face

2005-12-20T03:12:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's another tracing of my buddy Ryan.

Rosamund Kwan

2005-11-29T01:19:00.000-08:00

Today's design: It's Rosamund Kwan, one of the famous HK actress.

Sassy Girl

2005-11-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

My new tracing:

The Barong

2005-11-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

Hey guys...
I made something that really shows what Indonesian based design should looks like. I traced a pic of Baliness statue of Barong, and this is how it looks.

I'll make some others next time. Hope you guys like it.

Return of The Condor Heroes

2005-11-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

Remember the old tv serial, "Return of The Condor Heroes"?
I accidently found out some pictures of it, and whoala...I thought it would be nice if I can trace one of them.
And here's how the result. The illustration of Yoko & Aunt Lun (the Little Dragon).

What do you think?
Let me know if you like it, ok?

Novel Cover

2005-10-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

I work as a freelance illustrator for two publishing company, Diva Press Yogyakarta and Penerbit Beranda Hikmah Jakarta. They publish teen novels, thus my jobs mostly designing cover for those kind of novel.
Here some of my designs.

I thinks it's a great idea to always try to expand our skills and knowledge. Becoming an illustrator is not bad at all.

My Computer Books

2005-10-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

During my spare times, I enjoy writing books, especially about Graphic Design of course. Some of them have been published by Elexmedia Komputindo and Andi Offset.
Until today, I've written 11 books, and several ongoing projects. Here are the covers of my 8 books. I haven't had time to scan 3 of my latest ones.

I'm planning to write more books. Something that can be beneficial for Indonesian people.

Ade & Girl

2005-10-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, Ade, was asking me to vectorize his pic. A pic full of memory with his girlfriend. She's out there somewhere in the Middle East. Hehehe...what a great girl. Having courage to fight for what she wants.

For this design, I used Adobe Illustrator CS 2. As usual, I use the original pic (on the left) as the master template in a layer. Then, I created a new layer above it, and by using Pen tool and Eyedropper tool, I traced all objects needed to make the final design (on the right).
It took me about 2 hours to finish it. When I sent the final result to him, he's excited and he said about sending it to his beloved one.
Glad to hear that, 'cause I think the greatest appreciation for a graphic designer is when his/her client likes the job.

SDA Jobs

2005-10-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

I just design banner for SDA Jobs. It's a new section in our website, where people can both search and submit jobs. It's not done yet, but I think it's gonna compete JobsDB and Karir.com.
Anyway, here's how the banner looks like.

Now & Then

2005-10-13T01:56:00.000-07:00

When I was still in Jamu Jago Semarang, my main job as a graphic design was designing packaging for Jamu Jago's products. I designed catscover, doos, sachet and related stuffs like that.
But then, when I moved in to SDA Asia, I face a different challenges. Due to its nature as a publishing company, my jobs now are mainly related publishing--especially web publishing. Here, I design web for some events held by our German based headquarter, the S&S.
It's great you know. 'Cause by facing these kind of projects, I can improve myself. Learning something new.
Oh yeah, here are two of my finished web projects.

There are also some ongoing projects that I'm still working on. Yeah, another day another works.

Semangat Hasto!!!

My New CV

2005-10-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

Since I just move to a new work place, then I should update my CV. I've made them on PDF version, thus I'll be much easier to use it on my future applications. You can download it here.
Or perhaps, if you'd like to see in on single page, here I put each pages in JPEG version.

As some people say, "A good CV shows how good you really are." Ok?

T-shirt Design

2005-10-09T02:42:00.000-07:00

I try to apply my vector illustrations on T-shirt, and they look nice.

Oh yeah, I've just sign up for an online store at CafePress. There I put my designs on various stuffs, like T-shirt, sweater, jacket, ever housewares. Nice place.

Where To Start Becoming A Graphic Designer?

2005-08-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

There's an interesting point that people often ask me about graphic design and how to become a graphic designer, it's "Where To Start?".
People used to say, "what shall i do to start becoming a graphic designer?" They even ask, what programs should I learn first?
Well, for most Indonesian, graphic designer still often be misunderstood ask a matter of mastering one or several programs. So, when you see on the newspaper ad about graphic designer, they often just said "needed people who can use Photoshop, CorelDraw, Freehand and stuffs."
Actually, I think, graphic designer is more than just a person who master graphic design programs. More than just how to use a program according to what clients want you to do. It's more like being a communicator--visual communicator actually.
This is because we--as a graphic designer--must be able to bridge between what the clients want to say, and what the common audiences used to accept.
How to balance these two sides, make them easily understand each other, and making the messages more easily to be transferred and accepted are some clues of what a graphic designer really is.
I cannot say also that people who only master graphic design programs can't be called as graphic designer. I just wanna emphasize that there's more deep meaning of being a good graphic designer, not just graphic design programs user.
So, back to our main questing at the begining, "Where To Start Becoming A Graphic Designer?"
Maybe, that person should ask what he wants to communicate. Then, how to communicate it visually. Learning the main concepts of design, take a look at samples of graphic design sorround him, asking and discuusing with others, then learning the technics of using core graphic design software, and finally lotsa practices.
Yeah, practice and practice will make use better, not only the way we create design, but more on the workflow of our designing process.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ada hal menarik yang sering ditanyakan orang mengenai desain grafis. "Darimana saya musti mulai?"
Apa yang harus dilakukan untuk bisa jadi seorang desainer grafis? Terkadang juga ada yang bertanya, program apa sih yang musti dipelajari dulu?
memang, bagi banyak orang Indonesia, desain grafis atau menjadi seorang desainer grafis sering disalahpahami hanya menguasai program desain itu sendiri. Jadi, kalau mau jadi seorang desainer grafis orang merasa cukup hanya dengan menguasai beberapa program desain saja.
Makanya, jangan heran kalau kita sering lihat iklan lowongan di korang mengenai desainer grafis bunyinya"Dicari orang yang menguasai Photoshop, CorelDraw, Freehand dan seterusnya".
Padahal, saya yakin desain grafis mempunyai makna lebih dalam dari itu. Lebih dari sekedar penguasaan program desain. Lebih dari sekedar menggunakan program untuk membuat tampilan desain yang sesuai dengan selera dan keinginan klien yang membayar kita.
Seorang desainer grafis andala seorang komunikator visual. Ia musti bisa menjadi jembatan antara apa yang ingin disampaikan klien dan apa yang umum dipahami audiens mengenai pesan-pesan tersebut--secara visual tentunya.
Bagaimana menyeimbangkan antara antara kedua belah pihak dan menjadikan mereka saling memahami. Bagimana membuat pesan lebih mudah disampaikan dan juga dipahami nampaknya bisa kita jadika petunjuk seperti apa sih sebenarnya seorang desainer grafis itu musti berperan.
Bukan saya mengatakan kalau orang yang menguasai program desain grafis tak bisa disebut sebagai seorang desainer grafis, hanya saja saya berpendapat bahwa ada makna lebih dalam, juga fungsi dan kewajiban serta kemampuan lebih dari seorang desainer grafis dibandingkan sekedar sebagai pengguna suatu program desain.
Nah, kembali lagi ke pertanyaan awal, "Darimana musti memulai untuk menjadi seorang desainer grafis?"
Pertama-tama, orang tersebut musti bertanya pada dirinya sendiri, apa yang ingin ia komunikasikan. Kemudian, bagaimana ia akan mengkomunikasikan pesan tersebut. Ia musti mempelajari dasar-dasar yang ada dalam konsep desain yang baik. Banyak-banyak pula menyimak contoh-contoh dan aplikasi desain dalam kehidupan sehari-hari yang banyak tersebut di sekitar kita, serta banyak pula bertanya dan berdiskusi dengan orang-orang yang terjun terlebih dulu ke dunia desain ini.
Yang tak kalah pentingnya, belajar dan banyaklah berlatih menggunakan program-program desain utama, karena bagaimana pun juga, nilai seorang desainer grafis juga ditentukan oleh kemampuan teknisnya.
Terakhir, banyak-banyaklah berlatih. Karena hanya dengan berlatih, kemampuan kita akan meningkat, sejalan pula dengan peningkatan alur pikir dan alur kerja kita.
Saya pikir sih seperti itu. Jadi ya...teruslah berlatih dan bereksplorasi.
Hehehe...semoga sukses!

Welcome to The World

2005-08-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, nice to meet you.
It's a new blog that I made after so long. I decided to make a blog, specially dedicated to Graphic Design and stuffs related to. I also planned to make it in 2 (two) languages version, English and Indonesian.
Why? Sure because I'm an Indonesia, I want more Indonesian people get involved in this magnificent world of Graphic Design. Make them know and realize thatgraphic design means more than just nice looking design, but more like a new way of communicating our minds and existence.
Therefore, I hope more and more people will involve in this Graphic Design world. Sharing their thoughts, ideas, needs, critics, hopes, or anything.
Oh yeah, in this blog I plan to put any news about graphic design, also stuffs like my graphic design projects, and anything.
So, welcome to my world.