Records of Your Creativity Process

It was 26th, November, 2009 yesterday. I went back to the university I graduated from and had an interesting experience there.

I was honoured and pleased to be invited by Mr Wang Shijun, an excellent teacher from School of Advertising of my university, to give a lecture to his students. I had total freedom to choose any topic in design. Eventually I decided to target on maintaining a sketchbook and the impact it has. The subject is called "Records of Your Creative Process".

Mr Wang also post a "report" on his advertising class website. (click here)

26/11/09 Giving Lecture in DUFE, originally uploaded by rgmu11.

There were two reasons for me to set that subject.

- I think keeping sketchbooks is something missing in Chinese art school education. Till now, in the entrance exam to art colleges here, they still select promising students through technique test, i.e. sculpture sketches and still-life painting etc instead of appreciating the students' personal portfolios and their interest in art shown from their sketchbooks. Moreover, keeping a sketchbook is so important for all designers.

- I have developed my thoughts in art and benefited myself from learning to use a sketchbook. I really want to share the experience with the students and hope they could be inspired as well.

Mr Wang suggested me to give it in English since this would be give the students a totally fresh experience. The two hours lecture went well. And it was indeed fresh to them.

I tried to guide them on how to accumulate the inspiration and knowledge. In the excise I gave them, I played some music clips and asked them to tell what image and colour they had on their mind from hearing. I know imagination is human's gift. They just need to remember that moment's vision with some idea journal  let's say. The most important thing is I want them not just to see, not just to hear, but also to think. When I heard the students speaking out how they feel personally on the same music, I felt really happy. Some of them even made a story throughout the music. This is also a method I think useful: We need to practise from observing our surrounding life, and use our mind to think actively, then build up connection between the practical life and our own thoughts to convey that idea to the public, as a designer . Observe, Think and Connect.

We had some interaction in the Q & A section.I told them the importance and power to be true to their heart. I could see from their eyes that something they started to feel made them want to think about their life. Mr Wang has been supporting me since. He told the students that I am being in a hard time to save money for my tuition from my current job and even though they couldn't help me but they would like to give me best wishes on this Thanksgiving day...I almost cried.

At the end of the lecture, he gave me a design magazine as a present and wrote his feeling on it-" The best student is also the best teacher of a teacher."  I was flattered. We had a dinner  together and again he gave me some unforgettable advice- Many people like to spend time on making up for their weakness instead of enhancing their strength. They think getting rid of their shortcoming would lead to success but it is wrong.

Commissioned illustration for Ivy

My colleague Ivy was asking me to drawing a series of illustration about the romantic experience of her and her boyfriend as a present for his birthday. It was a lovely idea and I felt the sweetness when reading the story lines she wrote me. She wanted something simple. Here are some of them. I'm glad she and her boyfriend both like the work. I wish them a continuing happy relationship.

Illustration for "Annabel Lee"

P1170094a, originally uploaded by rgmu11.

I fell in love with this poem when the first time I came across it. It's a sad and romantic poem telling of a man's everlasting love for his young dead wife. Many of Poe's poems talk about the death of beautiful women. I've done some drafts to illustrate. Here are two finished pieces. I think I need advice and feedback.

Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.



I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love —
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.



And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me —
Yes! — that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.



But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we —
Of many far wiser than we —
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.