Little Story 248 : Cleaning Up My Desk & Starting Over

I'm just starting to clean up my desk again after 2 months of neglecting my own workspace. Early last week, I packed all of the office's equipment and set my computer back on my standing desk. I also got my extra drawing desk again. 

At this moment I only have 2 client projects and then I don't have any other work planned out. It is a bit worrying but not as anxious and stressed out as before. I'm still recovering from the flu (day 6) but it is much better - please remember to get a flu shot in April, I don't want to feel this miserable again. 

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Random :

• If you miss Yasmin Ahmad, you can try watching Mentega Terbang directed by Khairil Anwar on Viu or on Mubi. Why Mentega Terbang ? It's a direct translation of 'butterfly' and it is a symbol used in the movie. Af figured that one out.
• I lend my Kindle to my friend back in August and then to Ms. Chin last month because she is traveling to Vietnam. I haven't been able to finish up to books I bought on Kindle yet.
• CAS is coming to Malaysia and the tix sold out faster than I can finish my meal.
• Yesterday we had lunch at Aja's house and it was so energy-draining that we all slept at 8pm last night and woke up really early in the morning.
• Here's a random poem by Rumi :

Let’s love each other, let’s cherish each other, my friend, before we lose each other. You’ll long for me when I’m gone. You’ll make a truce with me. So why put me on trial while I’m alive? Why adore the dead but battle the living? You’ll kiss the headstone of my grave. Look, I’m lying here still as a corpse, dead as a stone. Kiss my face instead! - by Rumi (translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)

Mini Escapism : Video Compilation ❤

This is a compilation of our trip to Pantai Air Leleh in Pahang, 5 days trip in Sabah and a short weekend escapade in Port Dickson by Af :

ESCAPISM ep. 15 from Farik Karim on Vimeo.

❤

Little Things 236 : Wedding/Event Videos

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As some of you might have guessed from our various #sirieskapi videos, my husband, Af is a videographer & video editor - if you guys are planning on getting married soon and is currently searching for an event's videographer, you can contact him at : ahmadfarikarim@gmail.com ♥ I am his loyal assistant 😀

Sample of his works : Vimeo 

*2017's Price Offer

Event : From Pen to Paper 5.0

Preparation :

I joined another event several weekends ago (I applied for 2 events in July). The application was awhile back, so I was almost fully prepared for it. I printed and cut sticker packs as much as I can wherever, whenever I was free. I think I cut thousands and thousands over the year, I became so good in cutting stickers (I'm a pro !). I also printed several artprints and small greeting cards (to replace the ones that had been destroyed by the small flood in my room several months back). And ordered several new stuffs ! This time, I was fully prepared with so many stuffs.

Things I collected from the event.

Event day :

We went to Battery Acid Club before for Etsy Made Local 2016 , so it was a familiar place and familiar faces (I remember the owners and several booths participants). I think there were only 1-2 booths owned by Malay on that day, everyone else were Chinese. It is common view (guys, where are independent businesses own by Malays nowadays? I hardly see you guys in creative events) :F

We opened our booth, outside (because last time we attracted the crowd outside of the cafe) but it was really hot and we had to wait in the sun later for several hours. The worst was around 3-5pm. Challenging day.

The good :

• The event only lasted for 7 hours (11am - 6pm), so it wasn't a super long day.
• I met several familiar faces (so they do remember me ❤ )
• The sales was goooooood. One of the highest sales I ever got in an event.
• I saw several potential local illustrator !
• Journaling station with lotttts of free stuffs to use.

The bad :

• It was so hot later that afternoon (we did really stand under the sun for several hours)
• No 'surau', you need to walk a bit to reach the nearest surau in the area.

Outcome :

Sales : RM 757

• Booth rent : RM 80 (shared with Aja, so it became RM 40 per person)
• Lunches & Dinner : RM 15+ (Tapau Meggi Goreng from the mamak for lunch, free coffee from Battery Acid Club)
• Gas & Toll : RM 10+

The best sales so far ! 

Mostly by selling sticker packs. Thank you random strangers ❤

For letting me create all the things that I love to make and support me all the way. I'll keep making new things and experiment, so you'll have reasons to keep supporting me !

Images from Af's video snippets (I didn't have time to take any photos !) :

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Anyway, the money I spent on making new things (like the patches, enamel pins, lots of printing new stuffs and paying for future events) were around that figure or even more, so you guys actually helped me making new stuffs and restocking. And I really appreciate this support ❤ 

Here is the video that Af compiled & edited for me :

From Pen to Paper 5.0 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

See you guys again soon,
Next event : Comic Art Festival Kuala Lumpur
in Dewan Bunga Raya in Campbell Complex, KL on the 29th & 30th July 2017.

Doodle : In-Between Series & Work

How's your Raya, so far so good? 

I've accumulated a lot of mini pimple breakout since the 2nd day of Raya because I've been eating a lot of things without filtration. Not only on my face, also several spots on my body - God knows what I'm actually allergic to this time :F 

Anyway, I want to post the quick process video of my "13 Reasons Why" fan-art series that I did last week while resting from my travelogue work. 

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If you are not familiar with the series, well it is on Netflix. It is a story of a teenage-suicide, of a girl named Hannah, and the 13 reasons why she committed suicide. She recorded her story on 7 tapes and passed the tapes to the persons related to her story. It is quite a depressing and heavy story on teenage bullying, depression, and suicide. 

I doodled this on my sketch book while watching the series (when we first started the series) and I digitized it right after we finished the whole first season. 

Little Thing 234 : 2nd Anniversary & Video

Can't believe it's already been 2 years !

To the love of my life, Af.
I LOOOOVE chu, 

and Happy anniversary.

❤ ❤ ❤

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If you want to see the process video :

This is my first attempt in screen-recording while digitizing my random doodle. My MBP lagged a bit while drawing, but it is still a decent-kind-of-slowness. This process took around 30 minutes, which for me was a bit too rushed ( but I was trying to set the timing here so I had to close my eyes and ignore the flaws ). I'll try to post the fast-drawing session in my Youtube every month ( my fellow Patreon will get the the latest updates and even request a video tutorials ).

Software : Adobe Photoshop CC 

Device : Wacom Tablet - Intuos

Video : Adobe Premier CC & Photoshop CC

Song : Free-licensed song - Good for You by THBD

Click here if you want to stalk to my Youtube channel :D

Osaka - Kyoto 9 : The Videos

Can't believe it's already 2 months since we went to Japan. I think I already wrote almost 10 posts on the last trip, I'm not sure whether I want to elaborate more detail on that escapism (because I'm already planning on a new escapism project for the end of this yeaaar) :D

Af compiled the part 2 for our Osaka - Kyoto - Nara trip last weekend. The video started with some shots in Nara, Expo 70 (Bampaku-kinen Koen) and Kyoto (on our final day), all taken after my family went back home and we got extra days to explore together. A lot of green and nature walk than usual walks with my family. Here is the video :

Note : 

• I noticed the doves in Japan were almost twice bigger than those in Malaysia (not sure whether if it is because of the cold whether), but they were all huge, chubby and adorable.
• Garden, parks, and forest are accessible everywhere. I think the Japanese tries to utilize the nature as much as they can. So people can get their dose of nature all the time. It's therapeutic. These places are soothing, calm and very clean T^T I was so happy I could cry T^T

And here's for the part 1 :

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Event : Urbanscape x NicheMarket + Week 2 Video

Urbanscape x Bookit's Niche Market :

Last minute event ! The organizer contacted me and asked whether I wanted to open a booth for that Sunday. It was a last-minute fill up so I wasn't sure, but they gave me a discounted booth fees because it was last minute and I told her I can't afford pricy booths for now. So I just joined the event :F

Preparation :

I was busy because of the client-based project I'm currently working on, but I had to steal some time here and there. I managed to finish up the version 3 of Japanese foods and snacks ( I think that's it for now, we'll move on to different stuffs after this ). We went to print out the new and old stickers, and also did the cutting and packaging in short amount of time (+ a lot of Pretty Little Liars series).

Most of my postcards and greeting cards were destroyed so I don't have those to sell anymore T^T I sold mostly sticker packs and the latest Eid money packs. Pheww.

Event day :

The event was held for 12 hours (one of my longest event), it was mostly slow paced (because of the crowd - there wasn't enough people for such a big event), so basically, it was a boring one. Af was sleepy throughout the whole day, and I managed to cut all my Japanese stickers (there are more than 40 new packs - so can you imagine the time I was having).

Also in the building : 

Photography exhibition and arts classes on the third floor, and exhibition on the second floor, music and lights exhibition on the first floor. We were on the ground floor : Niche Market and open mic sessions.

Their branding illustrations are the best : you can see event's posters, signage, labels all around the place, and they are definitely inspiring !

After-thought :

Even though the event was super slow and long, I think it was a success because any booths with sales over RM 500 is a big success to me. Imagine I just sell mostly sticker packs guyyyyys.

Sales : Rm 526
- Booth (last minute discount) : - RM 100
- Parking (Central Market) : - RM 26
- Foods : +- RM 50

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Here is a video compiled for this week's activities : 

Reckless Life 8 : End of First Week

Well I've always been wanting to become a fulltime-freelancer so I can't get over this excitement. I'm planning on sharing more to a freelancer and illustrator life online (Patreon, blog & Youtube), so here's my outtake on compiling a video + simple animation for my weekly activity. Thanks my Patrons, you'll be getting the latest news every-time, don't you worry !

On video compilation :
I'm usually very-very-very lazty to learn another new software because I want to focus on illustration alone, but Af said it is better if I can explore another skill along the way. So he taught me the basic on Adobe Premier (at first the UI seemed a bit hectic compared to Ai + Psd) but he makes it look less scary - that's why people take classes guys :F Plus I'm also very impatient because I rather do illustrations than spending hours on video editing, so this only took 3 hours of basic learning from him and the simple animation (I figured this out!) were done using Psd. Now I can compile my own video without disturbing him :D - and I bet you did not noticed the "azreechan" by the end of the video? Well, that's a typo I'll change in the future videos guys, I noticed I spelled my own name wrong. Hah.

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Other than that, this week :

• Other than my freelance works,
• I posted all parcels,
• had a nice ice-cream day,
• I went to Bagan Lalang for a sunset hunting with Af,
• we went to Tasy's engagement partayay,
• celebrated Mom's day with both Af's and my family

Hope you guys had a great week.

Note : I hope I'll make more video compilation and tutorials soon. 

I'll try to be super productive and share inspiring things that help me get on with my never-ending mini projects. 

Plus, congratulation to Tasy + Ashraf for their engagement ! 

Mini Escapism : Bagan Lalang, Selangor

Another mini escapism with Af.

He wasn't happy about not getting any good shots when we travelled to Kedah 2 weeks ago. So on Fridayay,  he told me that he wanted to go to Bagan Lalang - he's nature-sick :F He needs his dose of nature every once in awhile. Plus he is more to ocean/beaches guy and I'm more to greenery (and I don't fancy water) so, I wasn't full-heartedly excited as he was. 

But being there wasn't all that bad, yes, the beach is still dirty and I always feel saddened by it. Next time I come to these places, I'll bring big plastic bag and a picker to pick up all the rubbish in the area la. So depressing thinking about how human can make such a irresponsible thing. 

Note : It took almost 1 hour 1/2 to drive from my house to this location. 

Next week we'll hunt for different spot :

I sat at the marble bench, waiting for Af to take his video shots. I think he was super excited, because that night he edited the video right-away. He didn't even sleep the whole night. Usually it takes him several weeks/months to finish a video editing (when he isn't inspired) :p 

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Now, you can enjoy his video :

ESCAPISM #13 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

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Anyway, after that we went to HM Bagan Lalang for a seafood dinner : we ordered 2 ekor sotong celop tepung - ( RM 19.90 ), expensive weyy! and  200 gram of lala masak sambal (RM 7), mixed veggie (RM 4), mushroom fried rice for Af and half plate rice for me. Super full. After this we should consider to reduce the food ordering, we've been trying several time and still not quite sure how to order 'just enough' for both of us yet. 

Video : Etsy Made Local 2016

Af finally compiled the video he took at the previous Etsy Made Local event - read the post here. Thaaaaank you Etsy team and also to Af who has been right at my side in every events + activities I participated since we got married. 

These final months in 2016 had been great, fun, busy and exciting, I joined an event at Public Garden Singapore, with Etsy Made Local and also Rantai 10th year anniversary. I also taught a doodle class to children for school holiday program and almost reach 100 orders in my Etsy this year alone. T^T

This was a great year, thank you guys ♥ 

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Made Local by Etsy 2016 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

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Singapore Trip 4 : Video post from Af

Time flies so fast ! 

It has been a month since I went to Singapore for the event at Suntec City with Public Garden. I'm still finding reasons to travel again but it isn't wise to travel during end of the year, the weather is bad, school holidays, people finishing up their leaves balance, plus commitment to renovating my now-destroyed-kitchen make me only focus on one future trip alone - in next February T^T

Here is a video Af compiled from the event. He took a while to animate my logo and his logo when the video starts and ends. Kudos for the magical tiny animation ! I loved it :D

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Public Garden Consumer Trade Show 2016 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

♥

Bromo Trip 7 : All Link Posts + Video

Here are all the links from our Bromo Trip :

1.0 - Pre-Planning 01
1.1 - Pre-Planning 02
2.0 - Detailed Costs for 5 days 4 nights
3.0 - Airbnb Hostel in Surabaya : Kamariska Hostel
4.0 - Our Bromo Sunrise : Mount Penanjakan
5.0 - Savannah + Whispering Sands + Bromo Creater
6.0 - Bromo Marathon 2016 : Our 10km Run

We had a really short travel and it wasn't even considered as an exploration because it was so hard to get from one point to another in Surabaya and Bromo - so mostly on car, jeep and van. We hardly go anywhere on foot - so I consider this just as a DIY tour travel and run event. 

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Here is a video compilation Af made from the trip :

Please ignore my hormonal imbalance pimply-red face. 

Af refused to delete my part in the video =.=

ESCAPISM #11 - Mt. Bromo 2016 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

Note :
Our next trip is in next February + March again to Japan, this time we are heading to Osaka + Kyoto. Half of the trip with my family and another half of the trip will be backpacking trip with Af. We will extend longer ! Flight tickets were bought early in last August during the AirAsia promo. Woohoo !

Mini Escapism : Kemaman + Kuantan - Video

Af compiled the videos he took on our last mini escapism to Kemaman. It's another month before our next escapism, so we have to be a little more patient and finish up all the freelance works before the trip. I'm a bit busy lately, I'm curating things in a long go at this moment. 

I thought being a freelancer means more time, I was wrong - it means being able to learn and adapt to the flexible working time and find the balance between work, family, and personal life :F Sometimes I'll be drifted off, be super malas and do nothing. Sometimes I'll be super productive. Haiiyoh =.=

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ESCAPISM #10 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

Read previous posts 1 + 2

Tokiyo Trip : Post-Tokiyo Videos

Af finally-finally finished editing the 1st video compilation for our Tokiyo trip last September. I've been waiting for months. Ha.

The song taken from The Album Leaf - Window. I remember I found this song and immediate thought of our next escapism video T^T The song is really beautiful, kan? 

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ESCAPISM #6 Tokiyo from Farikarim on Vimeo.

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Here's the second video from our Tokiyo trip that Af just finished editing last night *so random?. There are quite a number of slots with my face in it =.= I'm a bit uncomfortable, but Af said because he's the one recording and editing so he can make the choice. In future trips, I'll make sure I'll record him as well !

ESCAPISM #6 TOKIYO Pt 2 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

Note : Watching this makes me miss Japan more, and it's the start of Cherry Blossom season! :F

For the next 3 Tokiyo Guide borrowers, hope they will have a lot of fun in Japan.

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Mini Escapism : The 9th - Video

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Here is a video compilation by Af for our previous roadtrip early this month :

ESCAPISM #9 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

Mini Escapism : Post Tg. Sepat Video

And because AF loves cinematography, 

he did the 7th Escapism video from our latest mini escapism :

ESCAPISM #7 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

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PS : If you stalk his Vimeo link, you'll see all the videos he made since early 2013. It's a bit annoying la seeing my own face in most of the videos, tapi I rather have that than seeing other woman's faces in his video kan. Sooo, I'm supportive, boleh laa. Ha. 

Hati2, don't stalk him kalau tanak tgk my faces in the videos :D

PS 2 : Oh, and I forgot to mention. he is a freelance video editor and videographer. If you have any fun projects to collaborate please do contact him : ahmadfarikarim@gmail.com

Little Things 102 : Royals & Kina

By far, this is the best cover for Royals.
Yeay for Kina !