SHI DESIGN || kevin deng

this is a test of the emergency flash based blog system.

its been… a *really* long time since i’ve updated the site. over half a year…

a lot of things have changed since then.  i’ve been working at ankrom moisan (www.amaa.com) for the past couple of months.  its been…a trip.

i’ve been helping my good comrade from school,erick green, with ‘architectural simulation.’ using all the stuff we learned in school, we’re trying to bring the architecture industry up-to-date with new ideas in ‘visual communication.’ essentially we’re working with design teams in the hospitality division (hotels, resorts, timeshares, casinos…etc…) to transplant their SketchUp and 3d designs into a game engine (CryEngine1, FarCry) so they can interact and see the design.

you’ll have to forgive all the buzzwords. i’ve been spending a lot of my time trying to explain what i’m doing at work since its…sometimes a very bizarre (aka ‘new’) concept to a lot of people at the firm…

we’ve worked through 3 environments since i’ve gotten there.  its been exciting.  besides the game work i’ve been helping out with promo materials since the division is going through so much radical change as of late…

besides the job, a lot of side projects rolling through.  the book still isn’t finished, but a lot of people are looking to collaborate on making some websites and some design work.   i’m also developing an interest in designing furniture…but we’ll see where that goes.
since the last post… i’ve been to san francisco, seattle, taipei, and hopefully i’ll be visiting them all again soon.  i bought a house near 39th and Powell.  which has probably been the biggest step from then til now.
update on the site… i’ve decided its time for a site overhaul. most of the site just has my school art…but i’d also like to transform the site into something that demonstrates my capabilities with flash…

its been a long time since i’ve updated my blog.

i’ve been working at ADi as a flash programmer for the past couple of months. and its been keeping me busy. i’ve been working with integrating assets into various custom interactive engines and been getting a lot more familiar with flash. hopefully this will become much more aparent when i revamp the site as well as launch landofshi.com. landofshi is going to be an ongoing default project of mine where i’ll be able to integrate my portfolio with an interactive experience. i’m interested in a lot of styles as well as developing interactions with media so what better way to do it then create a site?

i’m leaving for san francisco for ConceptArt.org’s INSOMANIA workshop. the last CA workshop i went to was one of the best learning experiences i’ve ever had in my life. i expect no different from this one. last time it really showed me where and how far the bar was set for me to make it as a professional production artist. and although my portfolio is pretty weak right now… i’m hoping to see how much closer i’ve come and how much more i’ve developed.

i’ve been working frantically for the past week to try to get content and landofshi up. but seeing as its the holidays and things are very hectic, i think i’m going to have to postpone the updates and work until i get back.

a small test that i did during my 17th Savier project to see how wax works on canvas…

17th & Savier Vs. the 405
by Kevin Deng
art direction Wong Gongyi
my second acrylic painting. this piece evolved a lot through the past weeks. originally it was going to be a photo realistic blue and green piece that was going to be built in several pieces. after working with my art teacher, she strongly pushed me towards reworking it towards an abstract color piece. the excercise has been more than successful. my understanding of painting and color techniques has vastly grown.

keeping with the collaged layout that i originally planned, the rest of it was pushed into feeling out colors. i created a hot and cold composition but it divided the painting into two inviidual compositions.

while we talked about adding or changing color schemes or reworking the collage, i decided to move into some mixed media and layered it with wax, acetate, and paint pen line work. after the first couple drafts of lines, we worked on balancing the composition and focused on rejoining the pieces.

this has been an amazing art experience and i will definately be following this with several other personal projects.

Kev

some recent work i’ve been trying to do with one of my sketchbooks lately…

i’ve been trying to fill the pages as fast and full as i can. i’ve been freeing up my ‘restraint’ on that mythical sanctity of what’s supposed to be in your book. it doesn’t matter any more and its WAY more funner. after all the paintings and drawing that i’ve been able to do this term i find it much easier to express myself.

see? hahaha… and at the end of the day i still get to call myself an artist…

usually the school’s figure drawing sessions are pretty bad. boring poses, the same tired model, and the same tired model. however, this time they brought in a model that would be dressing as a super hero. she had some dope outfits going on and played with some props.

another sketch from Dr. Ward’s class… a girl across the way. she was really digging into the notes. i forgot her name already.

a friend of mine comes to my house and blogs away at my computer. its actually a good thing sometimes because it pulls me away from the thing.