NOTCOT magazine assignment

RM30

Issue 4, December 2021

Designer Interview

Reviews

Cover Tutorial

Art Events

Get to know two different designers: Jovine and Max

Read reviews about websites, articles and books all related to illustration

A step by step tutorial on making this magazine cover

Get to know the latest art events happening near you

www.notcort.org

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Contents

CONTENTS 04 06 08

Interview Designer : Jojo

Interview Designer : Mia

article itsnicethat article

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14

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Tutorial Cover tutorial

Book review New Retro Illustration

website Deise Chandler

18 22 23

Events Art events

Subscription NOTCOT subscription page

Exhibition Exhibition showcase

Interview designer: Jovine

interview with designer

Jovine Lim

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by andrew choo

Interview designer: Jovine

about me

My name is Jovine, but everyone calls me Jojo.

It’s short, simple and also a really fun name.

I’ve been drawing and illustrating ever since I was a kid. I grew up in an artistic family and was surrounded by many artists. My passion for art grew as I got older and is still as strong as ever today.

Why did I become a designer?

When I was young, I always took a liking to cartoon shows. I tend to replicate the same characters. That’s when I started drawing more. I tried many different styles and it kept me going. I realized that I wanted to pursue this passion. My dad was also the catalyst for helping me study in a design course. My dad was a graphic designer as well when he was young and has been my biggest inspiration. He taught many children, including myself, how to draw. I attended his art classes and have enjoyed art ever since then. I knew that I would be happy to study in this field.

Where do you get your inspirations from?

I get a lot of inspiration from online places such as Instagram and Pinterest. On pinterest, there are tons of artworks with many different unique art styles.

They have provided so much inspiration and ideas for me that have helped me a lot in terms of work and personal works. On Instagram, talented artists fill my feed. Their breathtaking artworks motivates me to keep practicing. I hope that one day, I might have the same level of skill as they’ve achieved. Other than that, I find inspiration from my dreams. I dream every single night and sometimes, they give me ideas. It’s crazy, honestly, but it works!

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Photograph taken by Jovine Lim

Jovine Li m What software do I use?

I mainly use Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. When it comes to precise, clean and neat vector artworks, I do well in Illustrator. I’ve been working with Adobe Illustrator for up to 2 years, I could say it’s my best buddy. I’ve practiced a lot and I’m able to do full, detailed artworks while fully utilising most of the tools that Adobe Illustrator provides. For artworks that require a hand drawn style using a drawing tablet, I use Adobe Photoshop. They provide many different brushes for specific textures and have a huge range of tools that can help enrich my artworks. Both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have been my main softwares and even though I’ve worked with them for a long time, I still have so much more to learn. For motion graphic projects, I work with After Effects. It’s a bit complicated but I got used to it!

Seeing your works come to life have never looked so great.

What is my dream job?

I’ve always wanted to continue my parents’ business. They’ve been teachers way before I was born and merged their art and teaching skills to provide workshops and classes for children. I’m an extremely outgoing person who loves talking and crafting/creating. I like teaching children, especially if it has to do with art or crafting! Hence, this line of field would be perfect for me. Due to covid, their business has closed down and my parents have retired. They’d love to bring it back to life again and I have plans to rework the company again to bring it back to life!

Interview designer: Max

Designer interview two:

max

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by timothy wong

Interview designer: Max

What do you enjoy most as a designer?

I really enjoy the process of coming up with many different creative ideas and executing them to each of my illustrations. All of my illustrations reflect a little bit of myself and I think that’s the most beautiful part of art. That’s why I really enjoy drawing and designing.

about Max

My name is Max from Kuala Lumpur. Im currently studying Illustration at The One Academy.

Show us your best work!

What inspires you?

A couple of talented artists such as @khudeejuh @bwusagi from Instagram do amazing works. Their artworks are what inspires me to create the many illustrations that I’ve done. Other than that, movies and music are also one of my biggest inspiration to what I create.

What is your biggest design challenge?

One of my biggest design challenge is having to create something out of my comfort zone.

I do think that every artist struggle with this issue. As long as you have your own specific style that you’re extremely comfortable with, it’s rather difficult to step out of it to design something that might possibly be the complete opposite of what you’re used to. I have encountered a couple of issues like these and let me tell you, it’s not that easy. However, we’re all designers and everything takes time to learn.

What's your wish for other artists?

I want the other artists to keep striving to better themselves. I hope they never stop trying no matter how many times their own artwork might disappoint them. It all takes a lot of time and practice. I wish nothing but the best for them, to have the patience to experience the journey as an artist. It will be difficult and challenging, but its worth every sweat and tears.

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Photograph and Illustrations by Max

Illustration article

Liv Garber’s illustrations spread joy and humour, “no matter how scary the world can feel”

by Jessie Ong

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Illustration article

" the New York-based illustrator knows how to provoke a smile " It was a time of self-discovery for the young artist, who felt “unprepared” by the prospects of art school, especially as they didn’t come from an artistic background. “I didn’t even know what kind of art I wanted to make,” they explain, “all I knew was that I liked to draw.” In their second semester, they were transferred into the illustration department at Parsons School of Design, and a dose of encouragement from their roommate meant they were able to dive right into the course full throttle – “I probably wouldn’t have done it without them really pressuring me to submit my portfolio,” they add.

“I feel like other people saw me as an artist before I saw myself,” says Liv Garber, an illustrator based in New York. Having fell into the medium by accident, so to speak, Liv would find themselves regularly putting pen to paper as a child, doodling on homework and often getting in trouble for it. But it was less of a mishap than it was a natural evolution, for Liv would even go as far as drawing on the whiteboards and make cartoons of teachers. However, Liv never viewed the role of an illustrator as something they could pursue professionally – a mindset that changed as soon as they enrolled in art school. “I was the only one who surprised myself by my own decision.

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Illustrations by Liv Garber

Making sure that the nerves never got the better of them, Liv continued to pursue their dream despite the prevailing anxieties of not being good enough. “But looking back, I think that my insecurity was actually weirdly beneficial and led me to be very experimental and explore things that I wouldn’t have done if I had already solidified my practice at such a young age.”

Even if Liv isn’t quite yet a fulltime artist, their portfolio is just as mature as someone who’s been working for years. Not only are they adept at detailing the busy scenes of the everyday, they’re also pretty solid when it comes to character development, sprinkling with their own personal view of the world atop a wobbly and spiky illustration. “I find my inspiration from childhood memory, experience of queerness and my non-binary identity, and finding little joys in a very scary world,” they say. Beginning the process of illustrating with a small and minute idea, Liv then fleshes it out into a larger concept, and creates “its own little detailed and chaotic world around it.” These ideas tend to be pulled from films, albums or short stories; they’re influenced greatly by life around them and from the friends, artists and peers they look up to.

Cover tutorial

Cover Tutorial

Illustrations are full of visuals and interesting elements. It can be created with the most complex designs, or simple and minimalistic, it’s really up to you. As long as there’s creativity in it, it’s a quality illustration indeed.

In this magazine, we have prepared a tutorial on how to create the cover of this magazine with simple and straightforward steps.

by Jovine lim

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Cover tutorial

step one : Open Adobe Photoshop and create a A4 size artboard. Start by sketching the base of the boy with any brush or colour. The boy should be in a sitting position with both hands on the chest. It doesn’t have to be completely neat as details will follow up later on.

step three : Draw a ledge just below the boy and add subtle brick lines. Adjust it to slant a bit to show more dimension. You can press R, rotate the canvas and press Shift when drawing the line, this will ensure your line is straight and neat.

step two : After sketching the base, start lining the boy on a separate layer. Add clothes, hands, shoes and other details to make it look more illustrative.

step four : Draw a small cat on the left side of the artboard in whatever cat-like position you prefer. In this tutorial, our cat will be jumping mid air.

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Cover tutorial

step five : After that, add little details and elements. In this cover, we added a milk box, two posters on the ledge and little buildings in the background to fill up the space. Remember, having many interesting elements and visuals to look at makes the artwork so much more better!

step seven : Start the colouring by colouring the sky and adding clouds. Add dark purple and bright pink for a gradient visual. This gives the artwork more depth.

step six : Lastly for the outline, add clouds and sky lines in the background. You can always erase this later on during colouring!

step eight : Colour the boy’s skin and hair. Add different shapes on the hair to give a more fun look! The more colours, the better.

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Cover tutorial

step nine :

step ten :

After that, colour the boy’s clothing, shoes and hamburger. Add different elements in it too!

Colour the other elements. Use a lower opacity purple to shade. This blends in with the background.

step eleven : Finish it with some highlights and it is done!

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Book review

book review:

new retro illustrations

by Thomas Aaron Kevin

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t e r R o w e N llustrations I Book review

Retro but modern “New retro”, a combination of the word “New” and “Retrospective”, is a newly coined phrase meaning “appreciating and enjoying something old while reimagining it into something modern.” This book introduces 40 up-and-coming illustrators working in this “new retro” style. Through the 300 illustrations showcased in this one book, readers can appreciate and enjoy retro culture, items and motifs reimagined and transformed into something new. This collection gathers together the most notable New Retro artists and their works to give readers the most up-to-date, cutting-edge collection of this unique style, and will surely be an important reference book for those who want to appreciate and enjoy the essence of these updated and reimagined retro motifs.

Reviews “If you like retro art this is a must have and great value for the price.”

“I’ve fallen love with this retro aesthetic in art over the past couple of years, and this book delivers that kind of work in spades. It features tons of different, extremely talented artists, and the paper used for the book is a cool, matte texture. It’s a much purchase for retro fanatics” “ This New Retro style is really charming and this collection was very well curated.”

Ratings

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Illustrations by New Retro Illustration

Website overview

denisechandler.com

Website overview with 16

Denise Chandler by elizabeth tong

Website overview

about her I have been working as a freelance designer and developer since 2007. I’ve always been someone who has both a creative and a logical side. Growing up, my favorite classes were usually art & math.

When I discovered web design my first year of college, I realized it would be the perfect fit. I could use my creative side to design and my logical side to code.

As a bonus, being both designer and developer allows me to make sure no detail is lost in translation. When I put something in the mockup, I’m already planning how to build it out.

Denise Chandler’s projects :

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Pictures by Denise Chandler

her works I specialize in creating sites for individuals and small businesses.

You shouldn’t have to settle for cheap solutions or generic templates. I provide custom designs at afforable prices. Frequently, your website is the first impression your customers will get, so make sure it’s a good one.

Since my time is split between a few different things, I’m not able to take on every project I’d like to, but I’m always looking for unusual and fun work. Take a look at my portfolio, if you think I’d be a good match send me a message with some details about your project

Art events

art events in kuala lumpur

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Art events

Love is in the Air 3 - 8 March, ZHAN Art Space, Jaya One

The curated event aims to share the personal stories of three artists’ experiences and interpretations on the subject of love.

The three talents include Fariza Basri, Ng Wei Li, and Nadia Nizamudin; you can expect a group exhibition of over 65 artworks, ranging from miniature artworks painted in the shape of an old 50-cent coin to quirky illustrations to the incorporation of embroideries and textiles in contemporary art.

TONA 3 - 21 March, TAKSU Galleries The exhibition features the latest artworks of contemporary artist Fauzulyusri—TONA draws major inspiration from nature such as animals, flowers, water, land, and many more.

From there, the artist uses intimate memories and surroundings to express his thoughts—all with colours and tones to achieve rhythm and harmony in abstract paintings.

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Art events

ILHAM x SAM Project: ‘The Body Politic and the Body’ 3 -31 March, ILHAM Gallery A collaboration between Ilham Gallery and Singapore Art Museum, the curated exhibition showcases a diverse selection of contemporary art pieces from Malaysian artists. The topic of social and political body is introduced as an expression that each member of the society is part of the collective unit, yet individually, a subjective body.

The exhibition include Ahmad Fuad Osman, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, chi too, Redza Piyadasa, Simryn Gill, Yap Sau Bin, Yee I-Lann, and many more.

Fauzan Omar: Extremely Excessively Harsh 3 - 15 March, Suma Orientalis Fauzan Omar is a leading contemporary artist who firmly believes in expressing his artistic voice and love for natureinto a form of personal art. With recent environmental issues such as COVID-19, Omars works to aim and address the significance of compassion and resilience in life during the toughest times.

Fauzan Omar attained Master of Fine Art in Painting from Maryland Institute College of Arts, Maryland, USA.

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Art exhibition

SUZLEE IBRAHIM: SELECTED SERIES 2005 to 2017

A solo exhibition by Suzlee Ibrahim 1 - 23 Oct 2021 “Suzlee Ibrahim: Selected Series 2005 – 2017” is the 42nd solo exhibition in his 34-year career as an artist. Showcasing at G13 Gallery from 1 to 23 October 2021, the exhibition celebrates the best of Suzlee Ibrahim’s oeuvre, featuring 18 large-scale paintings.

Suzlee Ibrahim carefully chooses the artworks from different series based on his personal preference. Since 1987, he has produced 20 series with various sizes of works.

The paintings of Suzlee Ibrahim are the manifestations of his innermost feelings about his travels throughout his career as an artist.

The artwork titled “Sakura Series: Ueno Park” dated 2008 and measuring 183cm by 244cm, the acrylic and oil on canvas work illustrates the magnificence of the sea of cherry blossoms during spring in Japan.

Executed in a minimal palette of white, red and black, the impression of the pink blossoms is derived from the artist’s gestural splatters in red and liberal black line marks against the white background.

The painting titled “Batik Series: Red Batik”, which was created between 2007 and 2008 measures 153cm by 183cm, has a “denser” aesthetic, emulating the busy patterning of batik motifs. Layers of vivid colour from his signature red to white, black and a hint of blue placed in juxtaposition to each other form an abstract rendition of a batik fabric pattern from Terengganu.

The artworks in this exhibition include “Ocean Park” (2005); “Sea Festival I” (2006-2007); “Batik Series: Red Batik” (2007-2008); “Sakura Series: Ueno Park” (2008); “Red Heliconia” (2014); “Waterfall” (2011–2013); “Dark Fire” (2009); “Middle of the Night” (2009); “Waterfall Series: Rhythm” (2009); “Moon Cake Festival No. 8” (2017); “Ombak Merah No. 1” (2008–2009); “Ombak Merah No. 2” (2008–2009); “Forest” (2010–2013); “Lion Dance No. 9” (2008); “Waterfall Series” (2011-2012); “Earth Series: Getaran” (2013-2014) and “TTC Series” (2012-2013).

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