"Gao Su Tielu": -33.3-

Recently, I've been interested in a few areas of art. Perhaps I can integrate most or all of them into my inquiry, but I'm not sure how...

1.Papercraft

I discovered this charming form of craft before winter break. We had to make a "voodoo" doll for Shoshtigigi (STAC secret santa) and I decided to make mine out of paper. I had seen papercraft templates online, and I decided I'd modify a template to look like Caitlin (the person I got for Shoshtigigi)! This is the result of my efforts:

I was so pleased with how it turned out, I ended up finding more papercrafts templates to make, and I even made my own to give as gifts!

A few templates i found online. (The one with the glasses and brown coat is my character, which I created the template for.)

A gift I made of one of my friend's characters

My newest template I made for Tom Hiddleston's birthday. (The headtorch can be taken off!)

I really like working with paper and using my hands, since my brain switches off whenever I'm working on these little guys. I also like using trial and error in order to improve on templates I've made/create new ones.

2. Fashion

Another area of interest has been, somewhat surprisingly, fashion.

I used to hate fashion, because it was a "girly-girl" hobby, but recently I've been paying more attention to the clothes people wear on the street/in school. I've been taking photos of outfits I've liked, or parts of outfits I've liked...and after re-watching The Avengers, I've also been designing some outfits of my own (I really liked the outfits in The Avengers, especially Loki's, and I was trying to incorporate some of the designs into my daily wear)!

3. Accents

I've always been interested in voices, but my interest tends to fluctuate in intensity. Listening to them, trying to imitate them, knowing which accent is from where...I admire a few people mainly because of their voices (Akio Ohtsuka, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Tom Hiddleston).

When we were considering skits utilizing different types of accents for STAC live, I got re-energized with my fascination for accents and language. I ended up listening to different English accents on youtube for hours, and even checking out some websites clarifying what exact sounds makes "posh" different from "cockney." (This website is quite interesting!) I've explored the main stereotypical accents that are portrayed in the media (off the top of my head: RP British, Southern, Indian, Chinese, Russian, Australian, Irish, Spanish) but I'm willing to learn more!

4. Drawing w shapes

I've done some drawing with shapes during previous years in STAC (read: STAC painting workshops) and I've found it a useful, alternative, approach to drawing (it does take longer to finish a picture when drawing with shapes...but maybe this is because I haven't practiced this approach as much as I have with line drawing...) I'm not sure what exactly got me spurred into drawing with shapes, but I've found myself using this technique more often. Maybe it's because I've been trying to draw realistically, and drawing with shapes is a great technique for this. Sometimes I could sit for an hour or two and draw with shapes, but other times I don't have the time or patience for it.

More of a "manga" style, but I used the shape technique here when doing my first test of watercolor pencils

Testing out watercolor pencils+shapes

5. Photography

This isn't an area of art I've recently gotten into...I've been taking pictures constantly, but not seriously. I approach photography as a hobby. I shoot what I see interesting, and the only thing I'm concerned about is how clear the picture looks, and if it fits the rule of thirds (the latter more often ignored than not). I mentioned taking pictures of outfits that catch my eye, but I also like taking pictures of odd shapes in my environment, a striking color, a certain arrangement of items...anything that appeals to my sense of aesthetics.

(I'm sharing 5 ones I've taken recently...but there are 100s more that I haven't shown to anyone...I don't know why, but I like taking pictures but never show them to anyone.)