"Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end." — Jim Rohn

I did a lot of deep thinking last year regarding the future of art and design, my artistry, and how I will cope or move forward with the rapid changes. I want to unpack all of my thoughts in this post, and perhaps it would help me navigate what I should do moving forward.

ABSENCE AND STORYTIME

 

 

 

As much as I want to resume at least my concept arts related to Cyberpunk 2077, I couldn’t do any artwork last year, not by choice but because of certain circumstances. God has led me to do more design projects and eventually sparked my interest in having a Publishing Business.

I have been more active in honing and learning skills as a designer for the past two years, and funny enough, I have disliked using Illustrator since my university days because I wanted to do more creative stuff through Photoshop. Yet, Ma’am Flora (one of our instructors) kept giving us activities without using the latter. I guess I have to thank her for drilling into our heads using Illustrator because it’s the tool I use the most and, surprisingly, my favorite.

 

 

Elayne, from a decade ago, would be surprised that I ended up on a path I never considered in the first place. I wanted to be a surreal photographer like Erik Johansson or work as a concept artist for a game studio. To be honest, I still want to do both in the future once I have the time and resources, so who’s to say I can’t, right?

Prize and Freebies | Red Holidays 2023

1. Happy Holidays Postcard (Heavy Hearts, Dogtown)

 

2. Greetings from CD Projekt Red

 

Red Holidays 2023

CD Projekt Red held a contest during the holiday season, and I managed to enter at the last minute! I was semi-blackout concerning social media for most of 2023 to maximize my productivity, and I only saw the details less than a week before the deadline. There were four categories: postcard design, creative writing, comic book, and decoration. I wanted to join all of them, but it wasn’t possible because I was too busy with work.

I joined the 1st category, and it was about my favorite game: Cyberpunk 2077. I have to design a holiday postcard for Mama Welles. I had various ideas, from making an elaborate top-view illustration of things related to Jackie (Mama Welles’ son and V’s best friend) with the card in the middle of a table to an overseas postcard from Misty (Jackie’s lover) when she decided to go somewhere in a specific ending path (I won’t spoil). None of the first mentions came to fruition since I could not create such a design less than a day from the deadline.

 

Thank the heavens since I have already created a concept art related to Militech (click here to view) from October 2022, which I used as my non-canon V. I haven’t managed to resume the series yet for my other planned conceptual arts. Still, at least I have used it for Red Holidays 2023.

Spoilers will follow, so read at your own risk! For my non-canon V, I made him a Militech soldier stationed somewhere in Badlands. After the Konpeki Plaza heist and Jackie’s funeral, V contacted Meredith Stout, whom they previously encountered during The Pickup (a main quest). He started working for Militech instead of resuming his mercenary career because he was still traumatized from what happened to his best friend. Also, he hopes to use his new employer’s resources to find a cure for the engram living in him, which also slowly kills his soul. The engram is named Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves).

 

The overall design is a mixture of dry Christmas and Candy Fever. It was a coincidence that I live in a tropical country without snow. It would be relatable if I were to send a postcard myself; there would be no snowman and such in the card design. I chose pastel green and red (almost pink) for my primary colors and a yellowish brown like kraft paper for the background. I lack typical winter elements, so I opt for a candy cane vibe for the border.

I got the inspiration for the front part's main design from Tomo Taka's picturesque postcards from various video games. It was conducive to me because I wanted to create something quick yet put together simultaneously. I took the VPs (main and the card’s background) in-game somewhere in Badlands. As for the texts, I gave them Hollywood-esque and desert feels.

I put the concept art, like an attached photo, for the back part and the Militech logo as the postage stamp. As you can see, I didn’t use the usual yellow for the logo because it would look like a distracting contrast. I tried to use a font that resembles manly writing, but it ruins the aesthetic, so I went for something old school, and let’s just say V has good penmanship.

If I’m being serious, I wasn’t expecting my entry to be that good because I did it quickly, yet I was pretty satisfied. I am not trying to brag, but as a designer, I can say that mine has an edge over winning compared to the other entries. I didn’t win the screenshot contest from 2022 and felt terrible because I didn’t know modding was allowed. Since then, I have lost the motivation to join any CDPR contests, but this time around, I feel confident.

The deadline was December 7, and the announcement was December 15. I am anticipating my win, so I was online the whole day, and oh my gosh, I was right! I felt ecstatic when I heard that pop-up notification and saw my name as one of the winners. I even rushed toward my mom and uncle to inform them I won a contest. As a fan girl of CD Projekt Red, it's a massive deal for me to be recognized and selected in a design contest. It was worth sacrificing some sleep time to create a last-minute submission.

Winning the contest gave me much motivation and self-confidence because I usually doubted my capabilities and skills. I remember this specific person insulting me way back. I wonder how he felt seeing me win, and he’s still the same, bringing people down. I’m just starting, but it warms my heart to reap some of my efforts. I thank God for the wisdom and all the blessings!

Hello 2024

 

"Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you’ve got." — Jim Rohn

 

It’s been over a year since I wrote a life update, and 2023 was a big turning point for me. Many things were happening simultaneously, and I barely had time for myself. There were ups and downs, so I will summarize all the highlights and try not to make a lengthy post, so bear with me.

Also, expect me to make consecutive posts after this one to catch up with stuff I missed sharing on my website. Let’s get into it!

 

 

I started last year disappointed and needed more motivation after the holidays due to my ex-client not paying me in full as we agreed upon before I started working for her. I prefer not to disclose what transpired in detail, but I dislike it when I am disturbed non-stop during the hours I have to finish a design as it ruins my creativity, and she says mean stuff to other folks on the team. It automatically means she did the same behind my back, which was very unprofessional.

Postage Stamp Design

 

 

 

 

Nail Dreams by Bea

 

Mood Board 15 | January 2023

 

Tote Bag Design for Garden Fruity

 

Quote Illustration for Garden Fruity

 

Vector Illustration for Garden Fruity

Garden Fruity, Always Organic. Always Healthy.

 

I F*CKIN DID IT!

"You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself." — Alan Alda

 

I had an exciting week that I would love to talk about and honestly, I am still processing everything that occurred. I have mixed emotions right now. I am excited, happy, and optimistic about the future. It’s like entering another phase of my creative journey and it will open more opportunities for me as it progress.

Fly Away

My fascination for vintage and retro aesthetics inspired me to do this 13-second collage animation. I wanted to create something with a Silent Film feel, and I’m so glad this turned out better than I imagined. I made sure to capture the stop motion technique by lowering the framerate of my composition.

Initially, I wanted some pop of colors but I’ve decided to stick with the sepia tone and white paper outlines. The man holding the umbrella is giving serious Charlie Chaplin vibes and I’m loving it.

Bricke Realty, Townhouse

 

Tienda Taqueria, Vegetarian Tacos

 

Curiosa, Vintage Boutique

 

Artfulhand, Nail Salon

 

Furore, Boba and Chai

 

Rise and Grind

Strategize, Focus and Commit. These 3 simple words got me through the whole month of November and I feel fulfilled that I managed to move past the initial stage of re-establishing myself as an artist and designer professionally.

I’ve been reading Get Your Sh*t Together by Sarah Knight, and it was a great guide about mental decluttering to start doing what you want to do and then finish them eventually. I have so many ideas in mind and I know what I want in life yet it was a struggle to understand what step should I do first.

 

One of the things that I had to change is my distractions. The number one on the list is playing video games and I had to go offline so I won’t succumb to peer pressure. For so long, I would just say “okay, just one game guys” and then, later on, hours already passed. I also minimized my social media activity and just use it when I have important folks to respond to. Doing these 2 simple things has improved my productivity level in ways I couldn’t imagine.

Personal Branding 2022

Website Update

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on my own brand identity and doing design templates from scratch. I want to prioritize my design work and concluded to transition my site Artrospective to my name for a more professional feel.

I was still in my early years as a student when I started this site and it feels like it was only yesterday. I wrote about the reason for my hiatus almost a year ago and looking back now, the journey wasn’t easy. I managed to slowly and steadily establish my confidence again as an artist and designer, gain social media presence, and expanded my portfolio.

 

 

 

 

Not sure if I mentioned it but I had a hard time coming up with a website name before. I wanted something related to art so I combined Art & Retrospective. That is the birth of Artrospective, which means a compilation of artwork., like an exhibit. I didn’t see that word in any Google search way back but now I’m surprised some folks adapted it. I’m gonna say, I am a self-proclaimed pioneer of that word hahaha! This word is so special to me and I will surely use this term whenever I can.

As I write this, I thought I will be a bit emotional since it’s like closing a chapter of my life yet I feel enthusiastic. I had a wake-up call 2 weeks ago and it was the trigger I needed to start the grind. Also huge thanks to my twin for giving me a long encouragement message which I badly needed to hear from someone dear to me. I guess just like my very first post here, I will embark on new beginnings.

Mood Board 14 | November 2022