Nowme's Art Blog

Congratulations to anhypnic!

2012-01-21T23:13:00.001+07:00

For getting the 10,000th pageview, anhypnic gets a sketch of his head floating . Yay! I hope you like it.

Charcoal on A4 paper

The Wanted Criminal

2012-01-21T19:21:00.000+07:00

Just to make it clear, I created this character BEFORE I watched Hunter X Hunter.
Now that I've watched the show, he looks even more like Hisoka..............................lol

Free sketch for anybody who gets the 10,000th pageview!

2012-01-19T19:30:00.003+07:00

Just send me a screenshot of the hit counter saying 10,000 (the left one, not the one with the country flags) and I'll make you a sketch. Don't tell me to draw your face though... just don't feel like it lol. And no nude!

Cobalt-60 for Cancer

2012-01-10T16:47:00.001+07:00

Physics

Butterflies

2012-01-06T23:38:00.000+07:00

Hisoka from Hunter X Hunter again

WIP - Hisoka

2012-01-02T23:15:00.001+07:00

3/1/2012, 01:15 AM

Because he was so awesome during the Heaven's Arena arc
Well, he's always awesome anyway...
Dear God I'm not supposed to draw right now

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T16:10:00.000+07:00

I actually don't give a damn about the change of year, dates are mere numbers to me. But hey, new art.

WIP

2011-12-31T18:47:00.002+07:00

practice I did on Dec.26 2011

Apparently this drawing got like, 319 notes on Tumblr. My new record! lol

Some updates

2011-12-28T21:30:00.000+07:00

Hisoka and Chrollo Lucilfer! (Hunter X Hunter)

I felt unsure about his pose, so I played safe and changed it.

Done with SAI and Adobe Photoshop (for retouch)

Tachibana Ryuusei (OC)

I moved my Blog

2011-12-23T17:05:00.001+07:00

For my writings, check out Between Man and Divine, a new blog I just made. I find Blogspot not very convenient for writing, so I made another on Wordpress.

This blog will still be alive. Notes and Insights will be just an art blog, a place in which I throw all my trashy drawings lol.

WIP

2011-12-09T15:42:00.001+07:00

Making my own game... like a boss.

2011-12-02T18:23:00.001+07:00

Actually, just the DVD case. PS3 game cover template is from deviantART while I made the package template myself. School homework. Can't wait for this to get printed!

2011-11-03T17:54:00.002+07:00

future Nicolas Moreau

Aces

Randomly another Mr. Pletnev

Top 3 Things I Wish I Could Do

2011-10-29T15:19:00.000+07:00

1 Finishing my damn stories

I'm not much of a writer, really, but I've had ideas of stories--well, more like fragments--that I truly want to work on (you know, those of which the characters I have drawn many times). I've done this since what, fifth grade? And I have yet to find the main theme, title, and so on. What am I gonna do when they're finished? I'd probably make a some sort of graphic novel (something not entirely a comic and not entirely a novel). Well, if I were able to design or program a game, then you'd know what they're gonna be.

2 Mastering the (Visual) Arts

I've always dreamt of being able to paint or draw effortlessly. Succeeding at simplifying things, eliminating the needless objects to capture whatever I want. But as you all know, art is a long journey.

My focus in art lies at portraitures. I'm always fascinated by humans, they are all so different and each of them gives different impressions. Giving those impressions with the media is the hard thing. Humans are not like objects; they are dynamic, never static. It's impossible to draw a man with a perfect straight line, for everything is curve, curve, curve. And they make the art becomes alive! As for other things such as still life and landscapes, I admire them but somehow I'm never really patient enough to finish them.

3 Translating & Mastering Some Other Languages

Why translating? I think the ability to interpret something into another language is a very handy skill. Whenever I want to share the things I find amazing to others, I always feel wasted because my need doesn't comply with my skills. And whenever I read a great Indonesian literature, I always think "Damn, I definitely have to post this on Tumblr," when I didn't even know how to translate the whole text. Translating a word is a thing, but to deliver the points without losing the actual beauty of the original language, the skill is in a whole different level! I never get those who can translate so well. Just how do they do it?!

Btw, here's an awesome translator I found on Tumblr. He's fluent in so many languages! Other languages I'd love to learn: Russian, German, and Arabic.

I'd also love to understand music even further, learn philosophy, make essays, etc, but these are my top three.

2011-10-21T20:06:00.001+07:00

with a pen. Minimalist attempt: failed

Taj Mahal, for school's perspective drawing class

A classmate said to me, "It's such a waste that you're becoming a doctor." You know, because of the Taj Mahal drawing. Which is weird, because it's not really that good. I'd say it's decent, but maybe people just aren't used to good art.

2011-09-23T19:35:00.001+07:00

Today

5 days ago

3 days ago

Muzikanti

2011-09-02T01:22:00.005+07:00

So, I just downloaded the trial version of Corel Painter 12. I've been trying to sketch with it and I have to say it's very convenient to use. It's better than Photoshop in terms of trying to replace traditional media. Each of this drawing took a half an hour to complete. And yes, I was really lazy. I just picked a random photo of classical musicians from my hard drive and ta-daaaah:

Nikolai Lugansky

Sviatoslav Richter

Herbert von Karajan

Mikhail Pletnev

As you can see, the quality of the sketch increases over time haha. Maybe I should get a copy of the program. Btw, I still wanna draw more, but damn I'm so sleepy... Drawing is fun fun fun

Four Sketches from the Tenth Grade

2011-08-21T12:13:00.000+07:00

charcoal on random notes 2009/2010 (?)

Found these four notes when I was cleaning up my bookshelf. I made them a year or two ago in class, when I still had a lot of time in my hands. Ah, those good ol' days...

By the way, the two on the left are based on Grzegorz Wróbe’s amazing watercolor paintings, which explains why the other two suck.

Maybe It's a Curse

2011-08-20T12:08:00.000+07:00

Only a day after I made that "On Hiatus" post, I made this.

And yesterday, I did a sort of practice on human anatomy. I wasn't supposed to do this...

Goodbye, Drawing...For Now

2011-08-14T10:31:00.001+07:00

Meh, it's been quite a while since I colored anything digitally. I'm never good at colors.

Very sad to say that I'll probably restrain myself from drawing and/or painting in twelfth grade. Final year of high school here... you know, no more goofing around and stuff. I'll probably draw once in a long while though.

But I assure you, after all of this is over, I'm gonna KICK SOME SERIOUS ASS--as in, I'm gonna PARTY HARD, because I've got a lot of ideas in drawing and stuff.

So, in the meantime, goodbye!

Mikhail Pletnev

2011-06-21T01:20:00.004+07:00

*edit* next day:

I therefore congratulate Mr. Pletnev for being my drawing object for the 928103*th time.

This is him in 1990.

Weeelll... at first I was going to paint something, but then I was too lazy to prepare the tools and I realized that my eyes aren't very good at copying. I guess the basis of doing anything artsy is to master the basics before you go and express. My basics aren't really good which is why I decided to make some pencil drawing to practice my copying skills and uh, well you know I love this man so much lol.

*I counted, and this is my 18th artwork of Pletnev. Or maybe 19th. I don't know. Maybe I could make a book of Pletnev drawings someday. Seriously.

Agi Amame

2011-06-19T15:00:00.001+07:00

Oil Portraits

2011-04-22T19:19:00.001+07:00

I've been drawing pencil portraits for long enough to grasp at least the basics of drawing the human face using reference (or so I thought), so I'm trying to paint portraits with oil colors now. I'm interested in the use of colors because it's something I've never done well before.

After some years of experience, I learned that I've been a lame artist for drawing or painting from photographs. Maybe drawing is okay, but painting from photographs is just so... wrong. I should've got like 10 years of painting experience before doing that, and I'll tell you why.

This is what you'll create if you're not an experienced painter:

My Brother, 24x32cm

Commission, 32x24cm

The quality of the painting is very dependent on the quality of the photo itself (because, well, you're an amateur) and you can't capture the color of the skin naturally. They'll turn out to be pale, not alive. For the first painting, I altered the colors quite a lot (you may compare to the reference) but for the second one, the picture quality was not very good that the people's skin color wasn't clear.

So I became really determined to learn to paint portraits from life. But I know that nobody would want to be my model because they'd have to be still for like 3-5 hours, so I made myself my own model lol. Yeah, I made a self portrait using the mirror. (please click for full view)

Self Portrait, 24x32cm

The color went muddy during the second session because my palette was already messed up and the lights have changed. I had problem with face proportions too, but I think this is way more fun than painting from photos because you're painting what you see. Plus, in my opinion, this looks better than my previous portrait paintings in which I used photo references. It was kind of difficult to find a good light source though, because I don't have artificial lights that is appropriate for painting, so I had to paint on the floor beside the window.

I don't plan on finishing this self portrait because it's just a practice and it's not very satisfying for me. I'll get better (though I'm so gonna be bored painting my damn self every time since I've got no models).

And I wish I have more time to paint... damn school.

Denis Ichitovkin

2011-04-02T11:35:00.001+07:00

"In the kitchen"

85x59 cm, oil on canvas.

"On the kitchen. Morning"

74x54 cm, oil on canvas.

While discovering more about art, I came to a conclusion that likeness doesn't mean anything. You know those kinds of artist who just copy photos VERY accurately? Sometimes I admire their works but sometimes I just go "meh", because some of them tend to strive for likeness too much and ignore the feelings--ignore the things they want to deliver from their works.

"Smoking place"

80x69 cm, oil on canvas.

But these paintings are marvelous. The first painting I saw by Denis Ichitovkin was a painting of the restroom, and I was impressed by how various feelings I get when I visit that kind of restroom arrived in my head. Just how real that painting is, and not simply caused by putting lines and colors on the right part of the canvas. It's like you can feel his eyes when he painted that right at this moment. Just plain 'ol dirty toilet. But the impressive part is, this painting is not boring. It depicts reality so perfectly.

"The farm"

50x60 cm, oil on canvas.

The same goes with his other paintings (you should click for higher resolution). You know what I like about (real) artists? It's the fact that they don't exaggerate. They just be honest to themselves and let the feelings and thoughts work for them. The Farm is amazing because when you see it up close, despite its realness, it is not as detailed as how realism pictures tend to be (very detailed and consider every single small things and stuff). I think it truly proves that this Ichitovkin dude is a brilliant artist.

P.S.: The true reason why I suddenly had the urge to write a post about this artist is because I made Smoking Place as my BBM display picture and people asked me why I put such gross picture. Bitch please.

Source: link to his works

Paul Cézanne

2011-03-27T08:16:00.000+07:00

Paul Cézanne (19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) is a French artist of the Post-Impressionism.

The Pond (1876)

The Negro Scorpian (1867)

Boy in a Red Waistcoat (1888-1890)

Still Life with a Curtain (1895)

Richard Schmid

2011-03-27T08:08:00.000+07:00

Website

Self Portrait

2011-03-26T11:16:00.002+07:00

pencil on A4 paper

Partners in Crime

2011-03-18T09:38:00.002+07:00

Moreau, charging himself up with electricity. He was sneaking inside a building
and let himself got caught in purpose,just to kill the guards down.


Hans Fehling and Nicolas Moreau

Alla Prima 1

2011-01-01T11:07:00.000+07:00

Artificial. Oil on oil colour paper, 24x32cm.

Learning to Paint

2010-12-29T23:40:00.006+07:00

Okay, I know I've been boasting a lot about myself being an artist and all, but I can't help it. Drawing, painting, and looking at artworks are so much fun. I don't care if I don't paint good, I effin' love art! Art is so interesting. It's not something you can study by reading a book and understand it at once like science; it involves feelings, emotions, and experience, which is why i think art is special. not everyone understands it, and that adds more of its mystery. This mystery, my friend, has kept my curiosity alive to dig more and more of art! (To me, this happens to classical music and paintings)

Yes, I am writing out of enthusiasm. What can I say? I just found this fascinating blog that taught me how to paint with oils. It's been around 5 years since I stopped having painting course and I was in confusion till I found some oil painting demo videos today. So stupid that I've not done it sooner. I also read John F. Carlson's book Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting which told me a few things about painting with oils (I haven't finished reading the book). I then got some ideas on how to actually get a hold of oil painting. I've got help all over the place!


the kind of painting you can make with a palette knife.

My teacher that time was a palette knife user. To paint with palette knife, you gotta have a strong feeling about colors and all that crap that I don't yet understand. It makes life easier, only if you already have a good foundation in painting IMO. So, I bought some round brushes to get started at painting in a different way. I even bought the expensive pure red sable Rembrandt brush because I really am curious! After having a research solely from the internet, I had learned that brushes influence the quality of your painting. And guess what, they actually do! I'm really glad I invested my money on those brushes (yeah right, as if I sell my paintings). I just realized that today also.

So what did I just do today? After watching a demo video about oil painting, I suddenly had this imagination of Pletnev's face painted in the style similar to the painting in that video. Then I try to find a reference for his face and I watched this fabulous video of Pletnev/Pletnyov (believe it or not, yes, it was HIM again) playing Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (var. 18-24):

That. Has triggered my inspire-o-meter. Suddenly I had this urge to paint his face (I still can't stop wondering how it'd feel to have an obsessed fan drawing you all the time). And here's the result of what I've been doing for 2 hours of painting.

It's not done yet, of course. Perhaps you will also think that the colors are not good. Maybe the painting isn't good at all. But I'm sooo excited!! I feel like this is a good start for me to do more oil paintings. I finally understand how to do it. I still don't have the glaze medium though, which is the key to make paintings more "lively".

I'm really glad my mom told me to join that painting course when I was a fifth grader. I was a heavy anime lover that time actually and I was only interested in drawing in anime style. I didn't understand the significance of painting some random blue mountains with trees. Who would've thought that I came to love painting 5 years later? Nevertheless, my overall experience in pencil drawing has helped me a lot in other medias. Once you've mastered the basics, it's easier to learn the other things. I still haven't mastered the basics though, lol. I want to master anatomy! And the theory of colors and stuffs. There are so many things to be learned! For anatomy, I heard the old masters liked to check out corpses. Then I guess it's right for me to choose to become a doctor, perhaps that way I'll master human anatomy :P.

Ryuusei Clan's Prodigy

2010-12-23T00:53:00.000+07:00

Tachibana Ryuusei

I am Death

2010-12-16T16:18:00.000+07:00

"I shall not fear death, for I am Death itself." - Demise Atamian

Rebellious

2010-10-20T20:56:00.004+07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only, Nicholas Moreau. Sorry (again) if he looks so different in each drawing lol. And yes, the design has slightly changed. His hair was shorter before (but he still goes with the glasses). The first design of him is the bottom one. I actually don't know which design I should use... help?

Comparison of the present and past Nicholas

First design

Nicholas Moreau (22)

A man who is willing to do anything to fulfill his desire except one thing which I'm not going to tell you lol (then why bring it up?). This guy will never bow down to anyone, or anything; he stands up and flies like a free bird that knows no cage. Normal people would call him insane, but his true, close friends can be somehow very loyal to him. Maybe it's because his unique charm.

Two

2010-10-19T20:36:00.001+07:00

Valerie Gilberta and Hans Fehling.

Valerie Gilberta (21)

The typical feminine, calm, and elegant woman. An aristocrat? I'm not very sure. Another disciple of Janus, the second most independent after Moreau. Many of them (the pupils) depend on her for advice and such.

Hans Fehling (23)

I'm sorry he looks different in every picture.

This dude is the silent-yet-dangerous type of character. Rarely speaks (he likes to lie about himself) to the others, he is actually very strong and can be very violent. But strong doesn't mean empty-brained; this guy is also clever.

The Man Behind the Scene

2010-10-18T21:16:00.003+07:00

Janus Fideli (age unknown)

He is the one who smiles when people are in the middle of confusion. He knows so much, you'd wonder how he could get that wisdom of his.

Sketches

2010-10-17T05:28:00.001+07:00

Rice field (I think) in Situraja Utara, Sumedang, West Java, Indonesia.

I just came back from a trip yesterday! The whole class of 2012 in my school went on a research in a place located 4 hours away from the school. All of the students are divided into teams, and each team has to think up on a theme of their research in Sumedang and do the research in three days, from 14th to 16th of October.

I spared a bit of the time to walk around the rice field in the morning and sketched. I only made one because we didn’t have much time. And this I made while standing.

I’d love to make this into a painting, but I believe I don’t have the skill required. I still wanna try though.

Nicholas Moreau, Hans Fehling, and unnamed girl.

Ah, the sad face of Nicholas Moreau. Btw, I finally decided on the name of the capped guy, tee hee. Moreau and the gang is definitely OCs of the year lol.

Old Drawings Galore

2010-09-25T07:00:00.001+07:00

Hey guys. a few days ago I found many papers with my drawings on it. The papers are worn out and when I saw the drawings, I realized that they are my works from 2007! They contained a lot of my original characters and some fan art of Law of Ueki and a tiny bit of Naruto. Made them back when I just entered junior high school.

Original Characters Doodle

2010-09-06T13:36:00.000+07:00

This isn't exactly a doodle xD I spent pretty much time with his body. Ugh, it was a hell lot of work! More characters are to come. (on the list: Lynne, the aces, Moreau, Hagerup, etc)

Comparison of younger Nicholas Moreau and his present self.

The new female character drawn in Manga Studio EX 4 as tet. It turned out pretty good, you should try the software out. I think I'm gonna name her Leticia.

I am Shocked

2010-07-31T20:52:00.002+07:00

Well, I was just browsing my name on Google for fun. then I found this; a news about a national spelling bee competition that I joined in last year in junior high school called Akeelah and the Bee. I somehow managed to get the first prize lol. The article made me so happy and my heart suddenly felt lifted up! Ah, I don't know how to describe it.

Photos from the competition

I'm very sure that I won because that time luck was on my side. No, I'm not trying to act modest; I just know it.

I joined a lot of competitions back then, and won a small amount of them lol. I remember that I joined my first painting competition ever in my life; it was in the 9th grade. I had no idea what to paint because the theme was "My Country." So I surfed the internet my supposed (because my name is Balinese and my dad's from Bali, yet I have never lived in there) hometown, Bali and painted it with oil on a 30 x 40 cm canvas.The painting below was my entry.

I was very shocked when I continued to browse my name and found this page from the Russian Federation Embassy in Indonesia. Apparently, my name is on the list. And the text says "International Painting Competition with the Theme 'My Country'; The List of Paintings Chosen by the Jury to be Exhibited."

I was like: HOLY SHIT.

For the first time in my life, I feel appreciated for my own art. First, I did not know that it was an international competition. Fcuking international competition. Second, if it's true that the jury chose my horrible painting together with the others for the exhibition, then...

Damn. I'm a good painter. Seriously though, I feel like shedding tears of joy. Even if every single one of the paintings is exhibited, I still feel so proud. All this time I've always painted and drawn things for myself, just for fun, and the only one who truly understands my art, as far as I'm concerned, is myself. I've only had painting course for like a year, and that was during elementary school. I don't get much drawing/painting lessons at school because the teacher only orders us to paint, not teach us how to do it. I don't know if any other people payed much attention to my art, but as far as I'm concerned I think they only saw the surface. If any of them did see through my art, then I thank whoever that person is. Because the appreciation of art is not just like "Wow, your drawings are good!" It requires experience.

Wait, maybe this is all my mind's trick. Maybe art is simple. Maybe I was just thinking too much about it after all.

Who knows.

Regarding the Pletnev Case (+ drawing)

2010-07-25T01:07:00.009+07:00

M. Pletnev, 6B & HB pencils, done in an hour randomly.

I suddenly had the urge to draw him that time, hahas.

You see, Mister Pletnev is currently being charged as a rapist. Now, I don't want to judge him in any way (I don't know anything after all), but he's been involved in some cases of similar nature back in the 1990s, where he appeared as the witness in court. A friend at school told me he saw that news and said that he doesn't look like a gay man (lol, so how does a gay man look like anyway?). I have to say that it's kinda true, but the man hasn't been married yet and when he said that "My job is too hard to marry," I can't help to think that it's a really lame excuse for what he really is IMO. And he also said that he likes to visit Thailand because of the nice weather... somehow I could hardly believe that this was his only reason.

Aside from that, I read the news on the internet, where there is a video of a young man who claimed that he had sex with Mr. Pletnev. Just like the article said, the interview of the guy seems to be "full of holes." And I think, even IF Pletnev likes boys of the young age, I don't think he'd have sex with them before a tour that comes in a few days; I just think he's too smart for that. Seriously though, I read once that he likes to play safe. I mean he managed to establish one of the biggest orchestras in the whole world, why would he take the risk of molesting a teenager so easily? The video is also SUPER FAIL lol. The guy being interviewed can't even say his name right and it's really obvious that he's memorizing the script.

I have been following the news for a while. He also makes a statement that all the allegations are not true, something like that. When I was first told about this case, I immediately believed that he's homosexual, though I'm not very sure that he did it. I feel bad for him now... seems like he really is framed.

So sorry Mr. Pletnev, I hope you can get this done smoothly. Must be very hard for you. Your fans are cheering for you though, just check the Mikhail Pletnev Unofficial Website on Facebook.

Maybe I should just point my finger and shout, "OBJECTION!"

Trying to Paint from Life

2010-07-10T16:32:00.000+07:00

View from the Balcony, Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm I think.

This was my first experience in still life drawing. Err, maybe it's not necessarily "still", but you get the idea. This is, of course, the view from my own house's balcony. The easel is right on the second floor, so I decided to do this. I wasn't very confident at first (because I haven't done it before) but I thought, "If I never try, then I'll never know what I'm capable of." Turns out the painting is not so bad, so yay! Hahas.

I'm very sad to say that I'm running out of Lemon Yellow and Burnt Umber.

I just Discovered Something SOO BEAUTIFUL Today

2010-06-30T21:40:00.003+07:00

Khachaturian - Adagio from Spartacus

THIS PIECE. IS. SOOOOO. BEAUTIFUL. I don't know about the rest of the Spartacus, but this Adagio is just amazing! The melodies seem very familiar, maybe this is one of those common-classical-music-whose-titles-or-composer-we-don't-know (yeah I know I just FAIL'd at making my own term). Nevertheless, respect for Khachaturian! He also composed the super-populer Sabre Dance, which is very familiar for non classical music listeners (I swear!), for it's one of those common-classical-music-whose-titles-or-composer-we-don't-know. I read on the internet that he's a Russian-Armenian (where the hell is Armenia?) descent... HAHA, another Russian. Fuck that country.

Btw, I'm still in the process of learning Pletnev's piano transcription of Adagio from Sleeping Beauty. Yes, that piece which made me cry; I'm so going to conquer it haha (just like how I "conquered" Chop's Nocturne op.9-2 a few years ago). Right now I'm still struggling with the 5th page out of 9 of them, and the last 4 pages seem very difficult. I don't dare to even try them–oh, the horrific notes! But I've gotta finish what I've started, and my teacher also said that I can do it. So here goes...

The Tchaikovsky Obsession

2010-06-26T15:49:00.008+07:00

Or more like "My Obsession for Russian Composers."

That said, I have this strange affinity towards palette knife impressionists and Russian composers. Right now I'm not gonna talk about the impressionists; let's talk about the musicians, even though describing music is rather... impossible. Well, music critics do talk about them in detail ("colorful tone", "very Russian", "playing with tempo", and other music geek stuff) but once again I'm not in that level (yet?). I can only say that some things are very beautiful and I can distinguish the style, but describing them? Well, Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen.

Among the dead composers, I of course have my own list of my favorites. The composers listed are Serge Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, and Dmitri Shostakovich. I love almost every work by the four composers. The other Russian composers that I like are Medtner, Lyadov, Glazunov, Kabalevsky, Glinka, and Mussorgsky. I don't understand much Stravinsky or Scriabin, but let's just see if my opinion on them changes in the future. I don't come from a musical family or anything, I just like to surf the internet and somehow stumbled upon beauty (the music itself) after some friends told me about it.

Right now I want to tell you something about one of the composers I mentioned: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Maybe you've heard of his name. From a ballet, perhaps? I don't know all of them, but perhaps you're familiar with titles such as Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty... and The Swan Lake! Yes, maybe you're familiar with them–many of my friends are (especially girls). They first heard the ballets from Barbie lol.

I myself was not a fan of Barbie (I was a huge Batman fan). I forgot how I was introduced to Tchaikovsky–I think it happened later after I heard about Chopin. I think my love for Tchaikovsky has something to do with Pletnev (he's Tchaikovsky's perfect match lol) and it certainly has something to do with his first (or second?) piano concerto (FYI, I'm really fond of piano concertos. The first piano concerto I ever heard was Rach 2, and I immediately fell in love with the piece as soon as I heard the intro. I like Mozart & Beethoven for their piano concertos). Or maybe it was Pletnev's Troika from the Best of Best Classical Piano Music album, one of the first compilations of classical music I have ever listened to? Unlike the story with Chopin, I don't remember my history with Tchaikovsky.

Wait, I think I kinda remember. It was again, one of the first classical music albums I collected. I believe it was Pletnev playing Tchaikovsky's Grand Sonata & Children's Album.

Anyway, Tchaikovsky was a gay man. I once called him Gay Dude... but then I realized that many other musicians are also gay lol. I have no idea about his life, unlike my knowledge of Chopin, but I fcukin love his music. I love almost every piece he composed, even the small ones such as Children's Album (Pletnev plays the small pieces so beautifully, that guy is unbelievable!). This is one of my favorites:

Piano Concerto No.2, 3rd movement. (Pletnev)

The most incredible thing that Pletnev has ever done is making piano arrangements for awesome classical music pieces: Ravel's Ma Mere L'Oye, Prokofiev's Cinderella,Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker Suite. He is so brilliant that he makes the piano version more lovely than the orchestra; heck, he plays the piano like an orchestra (or harp sometimes). I was in love with both Pletnev & Tchaikovsky even though I didn't know much about classical music thanks for the recordings lol. I wish I had listened to it sooner in my younger days; I would be more encouraged to play the piano. More importantly, the Adagio from Sleeping Beauty made me cry. I believe I have listened to it for like 126 times in my iTunes and right now I'm trying to learn the damn piece. And the introduction is SO AMAZING. Haha, to tell you the truth, I don't know how to describe music besides saying that it is "amazing", "beautiful", "inhuman", etc.

I really suggest you to listen to his stuffs; Tchaikovsky is good at making people love classical music at first hear (at least for me). But Pletnev brings the easy-listening music to something in a higher level!

The Piano Concerto

2010-06-16T03:49:00.006+07:00

It has always been my dream to make a painting with a theme of piano concerto. Not too long ago, I painted Sviatoslav Richter playing a piano concerto; I copied a photograph I found on the internet (as usual), but this time I tried to use my own style. My super-free style in painting; the style of which I don't care about the rules in painting. Haha, true. I just did whatever I felt like.

The Piano Concerto, watercolor on A3 250gsm watercolor paper. The color is not as intense as this in the original. Blame Photoshop for making the colors look better.

Is this good? Can this actually be called a painting? I honestly don't care. At least I've already had the courage to make more trash in order to succeed. The next thing that I want to try is creating an abstract painting of the instruments of the orchestra, but with a piano as the focus of all of them. Yes, it will be another piece with the theme of piano concerto. But I think I better make a sketch of it rather than just paint my mind; I'm not in that level yet.

Fantasia Elvetica (Mikhail Pletnev's composition)

2010-06-12T10:05:00.002+07:00

Recently I uploaded this recording of Pletnev's work for my friend's request. This is my favorite part of the music--it's the polka fourth movement.

Daily Doodle - 4 charcoal stuffs

2010-04-26T18:02:00.002+07:00

I didn't have any papers so I used the papers from a friend's notebook :P

Random Painting

2010-04-16T21:14:00.002+07:00

Based on Lena Karpinsky's painting, if I'm not mistaken.

Daily Doodle - Charcoal

2010-04-15T18:21:00.002+07:00

Path in the woods. Copied from an illustration in The Artists' Problem Solver.
This is my second charcoal drawing (first is Marc-André Hamelin)

Very dark. I know. This is my charcoal version of Isaak Levitan's painting "Silence". I love it very much. I had nothing to do at school, so I created this piece. :P Btw, the shiny thing at the sky is supposed to be a half moon. I don't know if you noticed that, but whatever. Also, for anyone who doesn't get this, uh, painting, it's a lake. Or a river? I don't know.

Another adaptation of Isaak Levitan's painting. This time it's the "Dawn". This isn't a very successful piece; I messed up the charcoal all over my hand. I'm a very sloppy person after all.

From Lena Karpinsky's oil paintings.

The five pictures I posted above are all done at school today.

This is the Marc-André Hamelin I've talked about. My first charcoal drawing!

Exploring Art?

2010-04-13T11:35:00.001+07:00

Hello. So yeah. I kinda got bored in drawing in anime style; well, maybe more like "losing interest". Oh, it's the same? Okay. I just don't know what to draw anymore!

Now I'm more interested in fine arts. Which is like... painting stuffs, haha. You know, I have different mood every year :P last year I was so into piano (but then I realized that I don't have enough patience for the damn instrument) and now it's painting. Let's just hope this will last... forever, shall we?

So! My chair mate Tika taught me how to use watercolors. Watercolors is such a fuuun fuun thing! Damn. Because I can paint anywhere (it's more portable dan the oils) with only one brush. I seem to destroy her brush though; the edge of is not sharp anymore. Better replace it with the new one later. Here are some of my watercolor works:

Nikolai Lugansky

Plus, my newest oil painting... I've done it quite long ago though. It's an original work! Yay for that. I really want to join a painting exhibition and sell my painting and stuffs!

Some WIPs

2010-03-14T19:31:00.002+07:00

Official arts, maybe? I'm still confused with the color of Lynne's outfit though.

I miss these characters... perhaps I will continue the project after all. I can't abandon them :)

Review: Ace Attorney Investigations - Miles Edgeworth (Nintendo DS) part 2

2010-03-04T16:37:00.004+07:00

Feels Like a Fan Game...

Seriously though! I'm on the fourth case and I can't help this naggy feeling about the game. In the previous review I stated that the features and gameplay of the game is quite fun, but the real soul of an Ace Attorney game actually lies inside the storyline and characters! Some things I want to point out here including the characters, and... well, maybe just the characters. Let me elaborate how big this one problem is... BEWARE SPOILER!

(the Interpol agent Shi-Long Lang)

1. The Characters aren't as Unique as in the Previous Games
It's not surprising, knowing that the team that worked over this game is different from the team which made the super epic Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I felt strange when I was in the second case. The witness was quite the person (an antique items freak), but the victim isn't exactly anyone special. He looks like someone who could be put in any cases you think would seem fitting to him and that's that. Just some random dude. I'm not saying the character design is bad, it's just not as "theme-y" as before. Check what one of my friends on deviantART said about the designs: (The text written italic is typed by me, just to make things clearer)

In the first four cases, the character designs were relatively more conservative (in appearance if not personality); the only real eccentrics were Edgeworth, von Karma, and possibly Dee Vasquez. Some frills here and there, but nothing too outstanding.

For the second game, you can see the characters becoming more distinct with Wellington's silly flourishes, Franziska, the circus folk, De Killer and Engarde. The third game had flying nuns. And an undead cyborg.

Then for Yomigaeru Gyakuten, the fifth case on the first game was the debut of a new character designer/artist, and you can see very obvious thematics and costuming among the characters. Cowboys, onigiri hat, big orange suit, science-obsessed schoolgirl with raver goggles...

In Apollo Justice you have a stage magician in a top hat for an assistant, a rock star prosecutor, a guy with a noodle hat, and... Brushel.

In AAI, the first new character you meet is Sir Badminton Eagle-Hair And His Amazing Edible Medal (That weird prosecutor who likes to do sports). And then you run into Ninjabread Loli (Kay Faraday), Half-Naked Wolfma (not Team Jacob) (Shi-Long Lang), and Lady GaGa (Shih-na).

LADY GAGA. That is all. ~samutoka

Just as I previously stated, the character designs aren't bad. They just don't follow the usual Ace Attorney standards. A mere amateur would be able to create those kinds of characters (no offense to CAPCOM). I had some weird vibes when I saw the designs of Kay Faraday and Shi-Long Lang for the first time. And they turn out to be only some two common characters after all.

2. The Characters from the Previous Games seem Off Somehow...
There was Oldbag, Ema Skye, the Judge, and the Von Karmas. I don't have any problem with Edgeworth or Gumshoe or Franziska, but Oldbag and Ema... the way they talk just seem OOC (Out of Character). It's true that the maker's got some imagination on how the characters would react on what the others characters said to him/her, but it just feels like the team who made AAI couldn't grasp the real character inside the characters. I guess only the one who truly create those people would know the real personality of the characters. Oh yeah, the Judge's dialogue is also IMO too exaggerating or something. Feels like a fan game starring Edgeworth as the main character...

Well, I think that's all for the critiques. I think. I'll update this entry when I remember another one. Now, on to the good stuffs...

1. I Like the Artwork Here Better (for my likings)
Probably because it looks more like mine compared to the artwork done by the real artist of Ace Attorney. The AAI artist is more realistic and detailed and the faces of the characters he created are well, pretty serious, I think. Edgeworth also looks better here. Look at the comparison lol.

2. Nice Background and Sprites...
Which would make as some good reference for me lol.

3. Brings Up my Motivation to Continue with Lynne Ashe
Because, well... it brings me some inspiration! lol.

Doodles of the Day - Pianists!

2010-02-24T18:47:00.001+07:00

Sergei Rachmaninov, 15 minutes.
I had 15 minutes left before the bell rang. I didn't want to waste the time so I picked an easy photo to be copied, and I chose Rach from behind because, well, you can't see his face lol.

Martha Argerich, approx. one hour
I've never drawn a woman (as far as I can remember) for my own satisfaction, so I guess this is a good start. Martha Argerich is my favorite female pianist (and also one of the greatest pianists of all time)

Mikhail Pletnev, approx. one hour
The dude again. I kinda wanted to draw him and I haven't drawn his photo from the album cover of him performing Weber's pieces and my friend said the photo is good. I then decided to draw it.

All done at school, reference taken from the photos I kept in my cell phone.

Review: Ace Attorney Investigations - Miles Edgeworth (Nintendo DS) part 1

2010-02-22T12:52:00.004+07:00

I have been a loyal fan to the Ace Attorney series, and Miles Edgeworth is my favorite character. Good thing about this game is that I almost forgot about the game in the past year so I haven't read any spoilers and everything in the game is kind of a surprise for me. Yay for that.

I think the game is good. Well, the dialogue isn't as funny as the previous games (probably because Edgeworth leads it) but it's still cool. I noticed the artist who draws the characters is having some progress in the drawings when compared to the artworks in Ace Attorney or Trials and Tribulations. I could see lotsa different characters with semi-realistic faces here, my favorite style of drawing (and the style of which I'm using right now).

I have just solved one case, but the gameplay system is already pretty clear. In Ace Attorney, you solve the cases in the courtroom. But in Ace Attorney Investigations, you solve them during the investigation. You know, examine the crime scene and stuff and talk to the characters involved. The cross-examination system is still around, only with a different term: Rebuttal. I guess it's like in a debate. The character gives an argument then we'll give him a rebuttal. When examining the crime scene, you'll receive some points which will go to your Logic. After the points are gathered, you are to connect them one to another and solve the case. You can also use Deduction to explain a contradiction in the crime scene.

The sprites are fun to look at (lol). They don't use real sprites when the characters are talking (instead, they import the artworks right to the game) but Edgeworth can walk in the game, making the investigation more... real. The artworks are also very enjoyable. There are a lot of them and each artwork represents the condition well and I really want to get an AAI artbook if it exists.

I think that's all the review from now. I haven't finished the game so I can't really comment of the story, which, I think, the only thing that I can review well. I hope it's better than Apollo Justice: AA, because AJ lacks the motive of the main case in the game. Kristoph is a well-made character, but the story has a big plot hole that made me symphatize with him.

Lynne vs Sergei

2009-12-31T14:24:00.000+07:00

The final product is never as good as the sketch.

Though well polished, I realized that this drawing doesn't have the aura I want.

Unfinished Sketch

2009-12-15T21:48:00.000+07:00

Okay, I'm planning to make something decent now. It's not like I don't feel like I haven't made anything decent, it's just that I really really want to make something real, a really finished work with background and real atmosphere. I don't think I have ever gone near that so far and I'm finally gonna make a work of art.

Okay so wtf is this?

The character is the first middle-aged man I drew in the previous post of mine. Maybe you're thinking about the wand he's holding–well, it's not a wand. It's a bow, you know, the bow to play the violin? At first I was just going to draw the dude from behind looking at here, but then something came to my mind har har. This is only the 1/3 part of the drawing, mind you. There are some titles that stand up in my mind for this: "Too Late", "How Did it Get There?", "Destroyed" (which is sorta lame), and.. hold on, my mind can't think of anything better right now lol.

The main idea of this picture is that the old man found his violin, apparently broken, between the trash. I haven't thought about the story behind that. Btw it's raining in the picture haha. I don't think I can finish this as I want it to be since my skills are not in those levels yet, but it's probably worth the shot... you'll never know till you try.

Characters Inspired by Real People

2009-12-11T08:34:00.000+07:00

The Most Epic Thing I've Ever Seen

2009-10-17T22:00:00.009+07:00

Hari ini gue baru selesai mengunduh konten dari DVD Verbier Festival & Academy - 10th Anniversary: Piano Extravaganza sebesar 7 GB. DVD ini isinya rekaman dari acara perayaan ulang tahun Verbier Festival & Academy yang ke-10. Sebenarnya sih DVD ini udah dari tahun 2003. Musisi-musisi terkemuka dari seluruh dunia dikumpulkan di satu tempat dan bermain bersama-sama. Pada awalnya gue gak percaya kalau acara sekeren ini itu ada. Kacau banget kan, begitu banyak monster-monster ada di satu tempat. Coba kalo misalnya bangunannya ambruk atau gimana gitu, kan gawat!? Klik di sini untuk melihat lagu-lagu apa aja yang dimainkan.

Musisi-musisi terkemuka yang gue maksud sebelumnya antara lain, untuk pianis, Leif Ove Andsnes, Nicolas Angelich, Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Claude Frank, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang (kenapa sih dia harus ikut?), James Levine (dia konduktor juga loh), Mikhail Pletnev (jodoh gue), dan Staffan Scheja. Untuk selain pianis yang gue kenal adalah Mischa Maisky (pemain cello), Gidon Kremer (pemain biola yang eksis abis), dan Sarah Chang (pemain biola juga). Sisanya gak kenal.

Sebenarnya gue udah mengunduh yang versi 1 GB nya, tapi di versi 7 GB ini ada behind the scene-nya, makanya gue ngunduh lagi (gila ya demi behind the scene doang lol). Tapi gak rugi gue. Emang behind the scene-nya kocak dan epic abis. Ini nih gw kasih skrinsyutnya.

Lang Lang dan Levine sedang hang out setelah jajan, kemudian...

...datang kakek-kakek mencurigakan yang ternyata adalah Claude Frank. Sumpah gue kaget ini ada kakek-kakek dateng, bajunya freak banget.

Andsnes: "Woi, saltum. Di sini harus pake kaos."
Kissin: "Sumpah lo? Demi apa?"

Meski begitu, mereka tetap berlatih bersama... :)

Kissin pun bahagia.

Sesama musisi harus tetap solid. EH ITU PLETNEV LOH *norak*

Kapan lagi bisa ngeliat Misha pake kaos!? Sejujurnya waktu nonton behind the scene ini gue nunggu-nunggu si Misha ngomong, atau paling gak disorot lah. Eh taunya dia jarang banget banget disorot dan ngomong pun cuma ketawa doang. Apaan banget deh sumpah.

Pose favorit gua

Kissin jojon

Saat konser pun tiba!!

Flight of the Bumblebee on 8 pianos

Fyi, DVD ini bener-bener worth-watching. Gila aja gue nontonin 8 virtuosi main 8 piano sekaligus, dan lagu-lagu yang dibawa keren-keren semua. Ride of the Valkyries, Flight of the Bumblebee, Stars and Stripes Forever, Jamaican Rumba, dsb. Keren parah deh beneran. Gak semua isinya ada di Youtube, tapi kalau mau tau silahkan surfing. Kalau mau filenya silakan hubungi gue, pinjemin gue flashdisk, ntar gue kopiin. ;)

Side story thingy doodle

2009-10-16T23:06:00.000+07:00

Michael and Denise's full body artwork coming soon ;)

Favorite Quotes - 1

2009-10-03T11:20:00.008+07:00

"Experience is not only the best teacher, but also the most trustworthy one."- myself

"Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known."- Oscar Wilde

"Artists are meant to be loved, not to be understood."

"When I work, I work very fast, but preparing to work can take any length of time." - Cy Twombly

"I knew I was the chosen one."

"Where there's a way, there's a shortcut."

"Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow." - Shakespeare (Romeo & Juliet)

“I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.” - Arthur Rubinstein

"Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway." - Elbert Hubbard

"If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate." - Elbert Hubbard

"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do." - Dale Carnegie

"Ability will never catch up with the demand for it." - Malcolm Forbes

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." - Confucius

"Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

"When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves." - Confucius

"Hats off, gentlemen. A genius!" - Robert Schumann, talking about Chopin

"When one doesn't know that a piece is very difficult, one learns it easily. If you know already from everybody that this piece is difficult, then you don't learn it fast." - Martha Argerich

"Sometimes I listen to my interpretation and I hate it; I hate my recordings. All recordings I hate, because for me the only thing I really enjoy is the moment when I play."- Mikhail Pletnev

“I live upon the Milky Way.” - Mikhail Pletnev, his respond when asked about where he lives. Pletnev, who has homes in Moscow, Switzerland and Thailand, doesn't even like to disclose where he lives.

"Why does Pletnev look so unhappy? You'd think it was sheer torment for him to play." - Sviatoslav Richter

My Web Designs

2009-09-26T10:25:00.005+07:00

I actually wanted to submit this in my other blog, Moments Artistiques, but seems like no one wants to take a look there so here I go. Graphic design was one of my hobbies besides playing games that time. I haven't made any more designs so far because I'm too busy thinking about the other stuffs (e.g: drawing+school+piano lessons ;_;). They're not really web designs. Well some of them I did from scratch (not using notepad lol), but others, I only edited the images and the CSS a bit.

The programs I used are Photoshop and MS Office FrontPage. I only know basic HTML & CSS so my designs are not very advanced-like. Photoshop is my key tool lol.

MySpace Overlay Layout, January 1st 2009

I remember searching everywhere on the internet for the tutorial. Putting the comments on a DIV layout was a nightmare (took me ages to find the codes). But now I don't use MySpace anymore. It's so damn slow.

Law of Justice (Law of Ueki fansite), November 8th 2006

Forum skins: (InvisionFree)

Law of Ueki Mania (Luekimia) Forum, sometime around 2006
This is the last forum that I've led, and it was quite active in the past. The user posts reached tens of thousands but then again, it's just a forum which talks about one particular anime, and this kind of forum doesn't usually stay long unless the anime is never-ending like Bleach or Naruto.

Village of Shinobi, sometime around 2006
The first forum that I established. It was originally called House of Shinobi, established in June 15th 2005. I was a Narutard that time, and that was the moment I started learning Photoshop and those other web stuffs.

FYI, this blog's design is not mine. I only made the header and modified a tiiiny bit. :P I wish to continue designing, but I don't seem to have the time.

Side Story?

2009-09-24T20:42:00.000+07:00

The four, just before graduating from the Blitzkrieg Academy.

From left to right:

Michael Maisky
Age: 17
Blood type: O
Favorite subject: Physics
Personality: doesn't talk very often, always worry about little things, a perfectionist, loves classical music
Michael is often considered as a nerd even though he isn't, and people like to make fun of his hair. He is a good technician and very good at strategies and theories.

Sergei L. Wallis
Age: 18
Blood type: B
Favorite subject: none
Personality: Sergei is an easy-going social butterfly. He doesn't stand out in class but in parties, he is the life. Contrary to Michael, Sergei likes any kinds music besides classical.
Sergei often hang out with Michael despite their different interests.

Lynne Ashe
Age: 17
Blood type: A
Favorite subject: Art
Personality: very self-conscious and easily fooled, but actually has an intelligent mind. Sometimes she wants to make people happy and make lame jokes. She likes to draw in her spare time.
Lynne leads the group.

Denise Whitmore
Age: 17
Blood type: B
Favorite subject: Economics
Personality: loves money and sometimes charges for her help, but she's just joking. She is quite stubborn when talking and often has a fight with Sergei. Denise is very good at lying and convincing people.

And what is the group of these four students?

Well... that's a secret. Nah, I haven't thought about that lol. But they're gonna be doing a secret project (assigned by a mysterious teacher I haven't designed yet) at school in their last year, just after Dynne, Hiroko, and Calm graduated. But then this project became a problem even after they graduated and the teacher was well... killed.

?? ignore me lol.

Just for Fun

2009-09-23T10:47:00.000+07:00

Young Mikhail Pletnev a.k.a Misha. Dang, he's so lucky to have a fan like me! :P He was 29-30 in this picture.

Photo reference from RNO website.

Also, Guy Berryman (Coldplay's bassist) I did for a friend... (kinda old and rushed)

Back to Business

2009-09-18T18:39:00.002+07:00

Sort of. I'm kind of having an art block, so I'm opening five slots of requests on my DeviantART account. They're all filled in one day :D I'm glad I have some active watchers, haha. I don't know about this blog though. But these new drawings of mine are all monochrome, I'm too lazy to color them with real colors lol. Perhaps because my life is becoming more boring? Hahahaha. My tools of trade are, as usual, Adobe Photoshop CS4 and WACOM Intuos3. I really want to use SAI, but it's not available for Mac. I'm waiting for Windows 7!!

Ginger - Allin e's character from her upcoming novel

I was really desperate to draw something, so I asked her to make a request of any of her novel characters. This is perhaps my first time drawing a background (IF you can call it a background) or a scene seriously. But yeah, I'm not coloring it lol. Too lazy to do so. I finished this in about two hours. I think the shading of the tree on the grass is still flawed, but I'm too lazy to fix it up... I had a hard time drawing the pose, especially her legs, so I cropped the picture lol.

Original Characters Doodle

A distinguished old man, Sergei L. Wallis, Lynne Ashe, and an unnamed character. I don't know if this will be a spin-off from my Ace Attorney fancase, but I think I'm gonna try making out a story from the picture. I will try my best to keep it original and not related to AA. I'm quite proud of the picture, I finished it at about 7 'o clock in the morning, then continued drawing Ginger. It took me more than one hour... most time I spent on Lynne. The background thingy, well, I used a photo reference. I'm never too good at making something up.

Mikhail Pletnev (yup, that musician again)

How many times have I drawn this dude again?
I made this when I realized that I wanted to draw but didn't know what to draw lol. It's not 90% close to the original photo but meh... maybe I'm getting better at copying? I don't know. Painting with a Photoshop is so much easier than with a pencil; you can select areas and just drag 'em all by yourself. You can't do this with a pencil, you have to erase it and draw it again from the beginning. It sucks. That's why I hate traditional media.

Martha Argerich (Argentinian pianist)

Yeah, even though the picture looks good, it doesn't very much resemble Argerich... what can I say?
I drew her because I'm so much impressed by how genius she is. I don't need to talk about it. Haha, I rarely draw women :P I can realize that my drawing is not even 90% close to the object, but my eyes still can't tell me which part is wrong...

Raku (still a sketch) - Tashigi Kaori's character

One of the five requests. I used a reference. I've always wanted to draw a person in this angle, but I keep failing and failing.

Even though I rarely watch anime/read manga/play games now, I don't want to waste my hobby. Drawing has been my activity since I don't remember when, and I've fallen inside the hole already and I can't just climb out from this hole. Unlike piano (I have to chase down the 8 years that I have wasted), I'm more optimistic in drawing. I still can't draw a person perfectly with a flawless proportion but hey, I'm trying.

Plurkiverse: Cara Modifikasi Layout

2009-09-16T19:05:00.002+07:00

Hai. Ketemu gw lagi, Komang, dalam acara PLURKIVERSE: RAHASIA DI BALIKNYA (geli abis ah gw). Gw baru-baru ini memodifikasi layout Plurk gw sedikit dan boom, jadilah layout piano Steinway and Sons wakakakakak. Sebenarnya layout itu bukan gw yang bikin, gw cuma ganti sebagian kecil dari situ, aslinya itu template Snow Leopard yang gw dapet dari Plurk Layouts.

Gw kalo bikin tutorial gak sistematis, jadi gw harap lo bisa ngertiin setiap kalimat yang gw omongin di sini.

Waktu ngeliat kode CSS pertama kali lo pasti kaget. Buset dah, apaan nih Mang, gw kagak ngerti! So lemme tell u, namanya kode itu kayak bahasa. Yang penting lo ngerti maksud dari kode itu. Gw sebenarnya cuma tahu dasar-dasarnya doang dan gw gak bakal nerangin detil-detil cara ngedit semua bagian yang ada di layout Plurk lo, gw bakal ngasitau logikanya aja, sisanya lo sendiri yang cari. Plus satu contoh, sih. Kalo lo bener-bener pingin menguasai layoutnya, gw sarankan lo baca sendiri tutorialnya yang resmi dari Plurk. Menurut gw di sini skill ngedit gambar yang paling berperan.

Sebenarnya, selain perlu pengetahuan dasar CSS, lo juga butuh aplikasi pengolah grafis (TIK abis gw). Gw sarankan Photoshop, tapi kalo lo males beli ya lo bisa download sendiri GIMP. (google it!) Mungkin lo kalo pinter cukup pake MS Paint, terserah lo sih. Lo juga butuh penunjuk hex code buat warna. Setiap warna ada kodenya, misalnya putih itu #FFFFFF, hitam itu #000000. Supaya taunya keanya mesti nyari deh, gw sih Photoshop jadi tinggal liat ke Color Picker. Lo juga perlu akun image hoster semacam Photobucket biar kalo mau host gambar jadi gampang, jangan kayak ImageShack, nyasar semua ntar kalo gak register.

Oke pertama2 apa sih itu CSS? CSS adalah (astaga ini bahasa sekolah abis) singkatan dari Cascading Style Sheet. Ini setau gw ya, gw juga ga begitu berpengalaman dalam web design, tapi CSS itu biasanya sheet yang diselipin ke source halaman web supaya halaman itu ada temanya gitu deh. Gw kan cuma ngerti CSS sama HTML ya (gw gak ngerti JavaScript, MySQL ato temen-temennya itu) jadi begini. Misalnya di satu kode HTML lo bikin paragraf, paragrafnya ini lo set warnanya harus kayak gini, fontnya ini, space antar karakter segini, blablabla. Itu bisa lo tulis pake bahasa HTML. Tapi kalo misalnya lo mau bikin paragraf tipe kayak tadi lagi, lo harus tulis semua setting kode-kodenya lagi. Mohon maaf gw gak hafal kodenya juga, jadi gw gak bisa nerangin. Tapi kalo udah punya CSS, kalo lo mau membuat paragraf itu jadi punya setting-an tertentu, lo tinggal masukin settingnya di CSS. Lo bikin setting elemennya, misalnya namanya paragraf pembuka, terus lo tulis kodenya semacam color: #00000; gitu. terus tulis di HTMLnya

(skali lagi gw lupa kodenya, kalo salah mohon maaf deh) padahal tadinya setiap mau bikin paragraf kea gitu lo harus tulis

. Buat tau kode2nya, lo bisa cari sendiri di internet tutorial basic CSS ato gak di w3schools.

Hehe, gw yang gak hafal kode aja bisa ngedit layout. Sebenarnya ini semua logika, untuk aliran ngedit layout yang udah jadi sebenernya. Tapi untuk yang basic-basic loh, kalo misalnya yang aneh-aneh mah gw copy-paste kode dari website-website lain. Gw juga gak pernah bikin dari scratch karena gw males.

Ini cara ngedit layout yang terpikirkan sama gw. Lo bisa pake cara lo sendiri kalo misalnya lo berpikir cara gw ini rada gak jelas/ribet. Ini contoh cara ngeganti gambar background timeline.

1) Cari layout Plurk yang rapi, terus tiap-tiap bagiannya ada gambarnya. Ato gak warna tiap-tiap bagian bisa dibedain, ATAU lagi layout yang warnanya lo udah suka. Ambil CSSnya.

2) Misalnya di latar belakang timeline ada gambar piano, dan lo pingin ganti jadi gambar kucing. Klik kanan di background timeline lo, pilih background image.

3) Setelah ngeliat background image, lo bakal dapet pemandangan seperti di bawah ini. Perhatikan di address bar gw ada tulisan http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/NoM/Plurk/plurkmonokrom.jpg. Itu adalah sumber si kode dapetin gambar itu, kalo untuk gw, gw ngehost gambarnya di Photobucket.

4) Lihat dimensi gambar tadi (brapa piksel kali brapa piksel). Buka aplikasi pengolah grafis yang lo punya, bikin image baru yang ukurannya sama dan bikinlah apa yang menurut lo cocok jadi background timeline. Kalo gambarnya udah jadi, upload ke image hoster. Misalnya link gambar lo itu http://manteb.com/kucingtimeline.jpg.

5) Paste ke Notepad, teken CTRL+H (Edit, Replace). Di kolom Find masukin http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/NoM/Plurk/plurkmonokrom.jpg, dan di kolom replace masukin http://manteb.com/kucingtimeline.jpg. Voila, jadi deh timeline lo gambar kucing. Ntar hasilnya mirip-mirip kayak gini (kode yang beda dari kode sebelumnya):

#timeline_holder {
background-image: url(http://manteb.com/kucingtimeline.jpg);

}

Untuk ngeganti elemen-elemen lain di Plurk caranya sama juga. Mungkin ntar lo sadar kalo di kode2nya ada yang seperti ini:

/* Main Body and Background of Body */
body, html {
background: #181818;
background-repeat: no-repeat;

}

Yang gw bold itu nama elemennya, dan yang di dalem kurung kurawal itu setting-settingannya. Kalo di cerita gw tadi, body,html itu kurang lebih sama dengan paragraf pertama. Nah, supaya tahu elemen ini adalah bagian yang mana dari sebuah layout, cara gw biasanya adalah trial and error alias gw coba-cobain. Gw nyoba-nyoba ganti warna backgroundnya jadi warna yang mencolok biar beda-beda, terus warna ini berarti elemen ini, gitu-gitu deh. Ato gak biasanya di internet dikasihtau elemen-elemen CSS di Plurk. Lo liat aja tutorial yang dari Plurknya, biasanya dikasihtau. Kalo mo ganti warna teks juga sama caranya, lo pake eyedrop tool di GIMP/Photoshop, lo liat hex codenya apa, terus lo pake edit-replace. Kalo lo mau tambah2in kode yang aneh2, misalnya rounded courners, lo bisa cari sendiri di internet. Banyak yang ngasih tutorialnya. Yang penting basicnya lo ngerti aja...

Oke deh gitu aja~ semoga berguna.

Beyond Borders part 2

2009-09-12T21:35:00.006+07:00

Part 1

Foster menerbangkan RNO ke London bulan Maret 1991 untuk merekam Simfoni "Pathetique" dan Marche Slave di Blackheath Hall. "Banyak yang belum pernah ke Barat, dan pagi harinya setengah dari grup tampil menggunakan baju konser. Mereka tidak tahu bahwa mengenakan baju konser tidak diperlukan saat rekaman," katanya. "Beberapa pemain brass tidak hadir, jadi saya harus menjadwal ulang sampai mereka ditemukan berada di toko instrumen brass beberapa mil dari London. Mereka sempat berharap untuk membeli terompet yang bagus dengan uang mereka sehari-hari, tapi karena mereka tidak bisa membaca tulisan Bahasa Inggris, mereka tidak tahu kalau tokonya baru akan dibuka beberapa jam lagi! Hasil dari sesi-sesi latihan begitu menakjubkan walaupun instrumen-instrumen buruk tidak berbicara hanya untuk bakat mereka, tapi juga untuk perasaan mereka kepada Pletnev."

"Tapi ada sesuatu yang lain juga," ucap Andrew Keener, produser rekaman itu dan juga produser rekaman musik piano Pletnev di Virgin. "Tentu saja mereka itu virtuoso," ia termenung sesaat ketika ditelepon dari London. "Tapi ada suatu karakteristik sederhana dari mereka; perasaan innocence, tidak banyak berbuat. Seakan-akan mereka tidak tahu betapa hebatnya mereka."

Para pengkritik pun berbicara. "Apakah manusia seharusnya bisa bermain seperti ini?" begitulah komentar majalah Gramophone tentang rilisnya Pathetique beberapa bulan kemudian. Tapi walaupun rekaman itu mengundang perhatian yang baik, Pletnev tahu kalau mereka perlu mengadakan tur keliling dunia untuk memeroleh popularitas, dan tidak lama kemudian Walker ditelpon dari Rusia: bisakah ia mencarikan konser untuk mereka? Secepat mungkin? "Saya tidak tahu apa-apa dalam urusan booking konser," ia tertawa, "dan mereka juga tidak tahu, jadi aku ikut terjun dan berhasil menyiapkan beberapa konser di Itali dan Spanyol di musim panas dan gugur tahun 1991." Ia terbang ke Sicily untuk bertemu dengan musisi-musisi itu pada bulan Agustus dan jatuh hati dalam sekejap. "Saya melihat mereka berlatih di dekat pepohonan dan suara yang dihasilkan tidak seperti apapun yang pernah saya dengar - begitu sempurna, begitu benar. Saya telah menyadari bahwa ini adalah sesuatu yang luar biasa." Tiga hari dan beberapa perjalanan panjang kemudian, Pletnev mengajaknya untuk bekerja sama dalam status resmi, dan entah bagaimana caranya Walker berhasil berbicara dengan firma hukumnya untuk membayar pelayanan tersebut.

"Banyak hal-hal menarik di negara baru yang unik ini," ia memberitahu. "Dunia akan mencoba untuk mengerti 'apa itu Rusia?', dan di sini, orkestra ini menawarkan sebuah tampilan, suara, jadi timingnya sangat bagus untuk memberikan jawaban itu. "Kebutuhan RNO saat itu benar-benar diperlukan, sampai-sampai di tahun-tahun pertama kami bekerja 16 jam perhari dan itu tidak pernah cukup. Teman-temanku menyuruhku untuk meninggalkan mereka, tapi aku tidak bisa pergi."

Maka dari itu dimulailah perjuangan dua orang ini yang penuh tantangan dan kemenangan. Walker dan Pletnev bekerja tanpa kenal lelah agar tetap bisa menghidupkan grup itu dan tampil dalam masa pergolakan sosial yang penuh kekacauan dari hari-hari pertama Rusia. Para musisi itu harus memeroleh uang yang cukup untuk hidup, dan pada mulanya mereka tidak mendapatkannya, sebuah fakta yang membuat Pletnev sangat khawatir. "Aku menelpon sepanjang hari agar bisa mendapatkan uang, instrumen, semuanya," ucap Pletnev, "dan bermain dalam konserku sendiri di malam hari." Pianis Ivo Progoliech, seorang teman lama, memasuki tahun pertama dan membawa mereka ke dalam konser-konsernya. Pletnev senang mempunyai relasi. "Ia bisa menelpon seorang presenter dan berkata, 'Saya akan bermain minggu depan. Oh, dan omong-omong, saya akan membawa sebuah orkestra, oke?' Dan ia membiarkan kami ikut."

Orkestra itu belum berumur setahun ketika Gorbachev menjadi sukses dan diancam kudeta bulan Agustus 1991. "Kami tidak tahu apakah kami bisa terus berlanjut bila ia jatuh," kata Pletnev. Tapi bulan Oktober mereka telah menjadi orkestra Rusia pertama yang tampil di Roma untuk Paus di Vatikan, kemudian di Israel. Boris Yeltsin mengangkat RNO sebagai bintang budaya yang bersinar dari negara baru itu ketika ia mendapat kekuasaan, tapi kebijakannya menimbulkan problematik ketika ia digulingkan oleh partai politik Soviet dalam kekacauan di bulan Oktober 1993. Musisi-musisi ini lagipula sudah menentang sistem lama, dan walaupun administrasinya masih tetap bertahan, RNO mempunyai beberapa teman di kalangan pejabat bagian kebudayaan yang tidak akan memberikan dukungan pemerintahan.

Mereka berlanjut kembali menempuh jalan yang sulit di sebuah negara di mana budaya-budaya Barat tentang penentuan nasib sendiri belum benar-benar dimengerti. Mereka sudah mengenal pengorbanan; para musisi berlatih selama berjam-jam hanya memeroleh gaji. Pletnev sendiri lah yang membelikan mereka instrumen dan membayar tiket penerbangan segrup agar mereka bisa bermain untuk Paus, dan ia telah memimpin mereka selama bertahun-tahun dengan hanya menerima sedikit bayaran untuk dirinya sendiri. Kerja kerasnya terbayar juga: tahun 1994 mereka menandatangani kontrak rekaman eksklusif bersama Deutsche Grammophon. Tak lama kemudian, kesempurnaan seni dari rekaman-rekaman RNO berhasil mengambil hati audiens dan memeroleh pendukung setia baik di tanah airnya maupun di seluruh dunia.

"Seiring suksesnya RNO, begitu juga dengan Rusia," ucap seorang deputi perdana menteri di pertengahan 1990, dan memang orkestra ini bukan hanya cerminan perubahan sosial yang berlangsung di sekelilingnya, tapi juga untuk mengambil satu langkah lebih awal dari sebuah perubahan. Walker mengatur orkestra baru ini untuk menjadi organisasi non-profit, lengkap dengan penanggung jawab administrasi dua tahun sebelum Rusia membuat hukum mengenai status non-profit, kemudian mendirikan Russian Arts Foundation di Amerika Serikat dan Inggris untuk memeroleh dukungan dari Barat. Walaupun Walker saat itu belum mempunyai pengalaman dalam mengurus keuangan, ia telah menyusun sebuah tim yang akan mengumpulkan suporter-suporter dari Amerika, Eropa, Asia, dan Rusia. Jabatan mereka hebat, dan meliputi perusahaan-perusahaan seperti American Express, Ernst & Young, ExxonMobil, Daimler-Chrysler, BP, ChevronTexaco (anjrit bokap gw kerja di sini!! lol), JT International and Cargill, dan yang sudah "bercahaya" seperti Sir Edward Heath, Helmut Schmidt, Gordon Getty, the Rothschild, Hearst and Heinz families, Helen Walton, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, dan Sophia Loren, yang merupakan sebagian dari semuanya. Grup dari Barat dan dari Rusia telah bergabung untuk berjuang demi satu tujuan: kesuksesan RNO yang mungkin telah menjadi orkestra pertama yang benar-benar internasional.

Sergei Markov, chief executive RNO sejak tahun 1994 telah menyaksikan mereka melewati berbagai rintangan. "RNO sudah ditakdirkan untuk lahir dan bertahan hidup," ucapnya dalam pembicaraan lewat telepon bulan Juni yang lalu. Diplomat karir, ia bekerja di kedutaan Rusia di Mexico City ketika Walker meneleponnya tahun 1993 untuk mengadakan konser di sana. Terkejut karena mendengar tentang orkestra Rusia dari orang Amerika, ia langsung tertarik dan meninggalkan jabatan diplomatiknya untuk mengurus orkestra itu di Moskow. Walaupun ia seorang pecinta musik, ia tidak mempunyai pengalaman dalam manajemen seni seperti yang lainnya.

Bermacam-macam Komang

2009-09-12T12:09:00.003+07:00

1. YOUR REAL NAME :
Komang Shary Karismaputri

2. YOUR HUNGARIAN NAME : Komaztid
(the first 4 letters of your first name, and add -ztid)

3. YOUR FUNGI NAME : Komamycota
(the first 4 letters of your last name, and add -mycota)

4. YOUR JAPANESE NAME : Kosuke
(A-, the first 2 letters of your first name, add -suke)

5.YOUR EVIL NAME : Silvecaciffer
(your favorit color minus the last letter of it, your favorit mammal minus the last letter of it, add -ciffer)

6. YOUR FRENCH NAME : D'Koque (ga jelas abis)
(D', the first 2 letters of your first name, and add -que)

7. YOUR MYTHOLOGICAL NAME : Satukomeus
(the first 4 letters of your favorit planet, the first 3 letters of your first name, and add -eus)

8. YOUR AFRICAN NAME : Komaka
(the first 2 letters of your first name, and ad -maka)

9. YOUR ANCIENT EGYPTIAN NAME : Waririti
(W-, your favorit vocal letter from your last name, 3rd&4th letters of your last name, add- riti)

10. YOUR GREEK NAME : Artomakios
(Art-, your favorit vocal letter from your first name, your favorit consonant letter from your last name, your 2nd favorit vocal letter from your first name, and add -kios)

11. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: Komizzle
(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)

12. YOUR SPY NAME: Silver Cat
(favorite colour and favourite animal)

13. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: Shary Tebet (HAHAHA GA JELAS)
(your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number)

14. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: Karko
(the first 3 letters of your last name, and first 2 letters of your first name)

15. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: Orange Soda
(your 2nd favorite colour, and favourite drink)

16. YOUR IRAQI NAME: Orkro
(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your mums maiden name, and 3rd letter of your dads)

17. YOUR GOTH NAME: Black Fishy
(black, and the name of one of your pets)

18. YOUR HOOD NAME: Komiqua
(first 3 of your first name, and add -iqua)

Dry Humor

2009-09-07T08:14:00.002+07:00

Source: Shzr Ee's blog

What makes one zero? Bald Man.
Two zeros? Toilet.
Three zeros? Bald Man in toilet.
Four zeros? Two toilets.
Five zeros? Olympic Games.
Six zeros? Bald Olympic athlete.
Seven Zeros? Olympic Toilet.

~Mikhail Pletnev

Masa-Masa Sekolah

2009-09-06T18:16:00.004+07:00

Nggak, gw blom kuliah lol. Gw sekarang lagi diopname gara-gara DB. Gw bosen banget, makanya mo ngetik aja ye... hahaha.

Playgroup - TK

Masa-masa labil sebagai seorang anak. Hiperaktif, rusuh, dan jujur. Pada masa ini gw sangat tomboy, demen Batman, demen robot-robotan, demen pedang-pedangan, dan... Dragon Ball?
Gw TK cuma setahun. Kata nyokap sih gara-gara gw gak suka pelajaran keterampilan lol.

Sekolah Dasar (SD Cendana Rumbai, Pekanbaru, Riau)

Menurut gw masa-masa SD adalah masa-masa mengembangkan minat dan bakat ea... pas SD kerjaan gw cuma komputeran, internetan, forum-foruman, maen PS2, sama menggambar (dulu gambar gw suraam banget wakkakakak). Saking aktifnya mengembangkan minat sampe-sampe gw susah bersosialisasi dengan teman dan gw gak punya teman dekat hahaha (serius!). Untungnya masa-masa SD gw berhasil gw manfaatkan dengan belajar dasar-dasar HTML dan CSS, Photoshop sampe bisa kayak sekarang, les melukis dengan cat minyak, sering nggambar dengan nyontoh, terus sekarang gw jadi gak alay karena gw alaynya pas SD huakakkakak. Hidup gw berubah gara-gara gw beli PS2 dan baca majalah Hotgame. Gw jadi ngikut ke forum Hotgame Online (HGO, sekarang udah mati) dan gw ketemu macem-macem orang, salah satunya adalah partner yang sampe sekarang masih suka chat sama gw yaitu Narkku hihihi. Ah, untung ada Nark, gw bisa menjadi one of the chosen ones. Gw join HGO kalo gak tahun 2005, 2004 deh, soalnya tahun 2005 bulan Juni gw udah bikin forum sendiri hahaha...

Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMPN 115 Jakarta)

Oke, tadinya gw hanyalah anak di daerah terpencil di Indonesia, tapi setelah gw pindah ke ibukota, gw menjadi ANGJ (Anak Nyaris Gaul Jakarta, istilah [c] temen sekelas gw Amira). Satu kata untuk urbanisasi ini: culture shock. Huakakakkaak. Udah gw orangnya susah ngobrol ama orang, pindah sekolah pula, rasanya udah kea apaan ck ck. Yang pertama kali gw sadari dari Jakarta adalah sumpeknya, ribetnya, dan bisingnya. Kayaknya hidup di kota ini udah bikin pusing aja, Astagfirullah. Tapi ternyata anak-anaknya ramah-ramah, jadi oke lah.

Yang gw sesali dari pengalaman gw di sekolah ini, selama dua setengah tahun (setngah lagi gw masih di Riau) gw belajar di sekolah ini, AC kelasnya gak pernah bener. Maka dari itu, kalau ingat Smabel, yang ada di otak gw adalah panas. Tapi yah, masa-masa SMP menurut gw adalah masa-masa berlomba-lomba. Masa berlomba-lomba tapi yang dimenangin keanya cuma 10%nya, atau mungkin ga nyampe. Gw gak begitu niat belajar di skolah (apalagi ujian, hahahah keanya belajarnya pas-pasan banget). Pas deket-deket UN bokap gw aja sampe mau ngasih gw grand piano kalo gw masuk 8 (maksud beliau sih supaya gw termotivasi dan belajar, padahal sama aja gw tetep nyantai lol).

Ah, tapi sisi positifnya, gw jadi bisa bergaul hehe, tapi itu pun baru pas kelas 9. Di SMP juga gambar gw mulai-mulai keliatan lebih baik, tapi gw tetep blom bisa mengambar badan dengan benar... Gebrakan baru gw dalam menggambar di SMP adalah menyontoh foto muka orang. Gw mulainya pas kelas 8, terus gw terus-terus nyoba sampe akhirnya bisa kayak sekarang. Oh ya, gw juga baru seneng musik klasik pas kelas 9.

Sekolah Menengah Umum (SMUN 8 Jakarta)
Ck ck, ini dia nih SMU superstar. Gw baru masuk sini sih, dan kalo masa-masa SD adalah masa-masa pengembangan minat, masa-masa SMP adalah masa-masa bergaul dan berlomba, masa-masa SMA adalah masa-masa sibuk, capek, dan tidur siang. Entah kenapa sejak masuk SMA gw jadi lebih niat belajar kalo mau ujian hahahahaha.

Ketika baru masuk SMU superstar ini, first impression gw adalah... wow, labirin. Jalan berliku-liku, penuh dengan pintu rahasia dan jalan pintas misterius... sungguh mistis. Ini sekolah isinya juga manusia-manusia super. Ada yang maen harpa, ada yang jago bahasa Mandarin-Korea-Jepang + jago chinese painting, dan nemuin orang maen piano di sekolah ini bagaikan menemukan orang yang makan pisang goreng (Analogi [c] temen sekelas gw Megi). Tentunya yang jago banyak. Amazing!

Eh ya, gw baru brapa bulan sekolah di 8 tapi udah 2 kali sakit. Suram nih ah.

Missions

2009-08-22T11:05:00.008+07:00

Selain yang bersifat reliji. Karena yang begitu-begitu sudah umum, bosen juga liatnya. Yang semacam sukses TF juga gak ada di sini, karena itu mah semua orang juga mau. Pokoknya hal-hal yang udah pasti gak ada di sini :P

Memeroleh skill menggambar yang cukup untuk membuat sebuah komik. Komik yang serius. Gw kembali ke aliran gw yang sesungguhnya, yaitu menggambar anime. Bosen nyontoh pemandangan atau orang, masa' gw bisanya nyontoh doang? Gambar dari imajinasi dong...
Bikin Komik yang karakter-karakternya ada di header gw saat ini. Aces. Gw udah rencana dari kapan tauk, brapa tahun yang lalu, tapi sampe sekarang judul aja belum ketemu... gw udah lama ninggalin proyek ini tapi sekarang udah gw bangkitkan lagi pengembangannya bersama teman internet gw selama 4 tahun lebih hahaha.
Ikut OSN, gw pinginnya kimia, soalnya pelajaran lain pada lebay semua... gw ga tau kimia lebay apa nggak sih.
Mendirikan Ekskul/Divisi Musik Klasik di SMAN 8. Classical music is my passion... even though I cannot play it well.
Bisa tamat les piano sebelum lulus SMA supaya gw bisa memainkan lagu-lagu manteb (baca: Chopin) di level yang benar dan memainkannya pun dengan benar. Nah ini... asumsi gw sih hampir tidak mungkin, tapi kemungkinannya masih ada lah, kalo gw rajin banget banget banget latihan.
Menemukan cita-cita gw karena sampe sekarang gw belum tau lol.

New Stuffs?

2009-08-19T21:28:00.006+07:00

I used a reference for this one :)

Young Mikhail Pletnev, from his album Grand Sonata & Children's Album.

Mikhail Pletnev and Vladimir Horowitz. Old drawing.

Coba Kalau Satu Hari = 36 Jam

2009-08-13T18:02:00.004+07:00

Sekolah di SMA 8 ternyata gak jauh beda dengan SMP. Mungkin karena perubahannya gak terlalu kerasa, ya? Yang jelas:

Capek. Pulang hampir setiap hari jam 15.15, kecuali hari Kamis sama Jumat itu jam 14.45. Gak jauh beda emang. Gw yang rumahnya gak jauh aja pas nyampe rumah udah KO. Gimana yang lain ya?
Banyak tugas. Tapi kata kakak gw emang kelas satu dibeginiin, karena dia di kelas 2 jarang dikasih tugas. Gak tau deh sekarang gimana... kayaknya tiap hari ada tugas baru ya, hahaha.
Gak sempet ngapa-ngapain. Kayaknya setiap hari gw selalu merasa kurang bebas. Sabtu ada ekskul bahasa (meski cuma sampe jam setengah sembilan), Minggu BTA sampe jam stengah 3 (gw ikut bimbel memang karena gw kepengen sih). Kayaknya gw cuma seneng di hari Sabtu.
Gw lebih sering ngelamun. Bukan ngelamun yang aneh-aneh, gw melakukan ini karena omongan guru itu sering lewat begitu saja di kuping gw. Gw susah fokusnya hahaha, guru nerangin gw malah nggambar. Guru mendekat, sembunyikan di laci. Sempurna sudah.

Yang paling bikin gw sedih adalah gw gak bisa melakukan hobi sesering dulu... yaitu menggambar. Dulu, terutama tahun 2007, setiap weekend paling nggak gw bisa bikin satu gambar di komputer. Nah sekarang? Megang komputer aja udah jarang. Apalagi pas jaman-jaman gw masih di Pekanbaru, waaahh waktu itu mah gw produktif abis. Sekolahnya nyantai sih. Yah, seenggaknya dulu gw gak menyia-nyiakan waktu gw. Untungnya ada hasilnya, tapi masalahnya gw masih butuh perkembangan lebih lanjut. Maka dari itu, selama guru bilingual ngajar, gw menggambar. Ini bukanlah solusi yang bagus, tapi mendingan kan daripada gw gak nggambar sama sekali?

Yang gw gambar juga bukan foto para musisi. Gw nggambar kayak style gw dulu yaitu anime... menggambar dari imajinasi. Susah emang. Sekali nggambar gw entah ngapus berapa kali omg. Anime itu lebih susah dari yang diliat, tapi kalo udah bisa jadi gampang. Sebenernya sih semuanya juga gitu, kalo udah bisa jadi gampang... tapi proses supaya bisanya itu loh yang makan waktu lama (banget). Gw pingin sih ngescan gambar gw, tarok di blog gw yang satu lagi ato di deviantART (biar ada update, basi banget dA gw) tapi scanner gw ada di kamar kk gw dan kamar gw yang sekarang itu mejanya penuh dengan kabel, printer, dan buku-buku gak jelas. Males mindahin. Males nyolokin. Males nyari tempat. Ah udah deh.

Selain menggambar, gw juga pingin les bahasa Jerman karena bahasa Jerman itu seru dan gw pingin bisa bahasa Jerman seperti gw berbahasa Inggris. Soal bahasa susah kalo belajar sendiri... apalagi bahasa Jerman susah cari sumbernya (kalo Jepang kan bisa nonton anime ato sejenisnya). Tapi kalo cari-cari waktu... kayaknya gw sibuk. Sibuk istirahat wakakkakakakak. Ya ampun, besok ada TF (istilah baru ulangan harian) kimia dan gw malah ngeblog, ck ck ck...

18th-19th Century Attorneys? Har har!

2009-07-26T17:10:00.000+07:00

Based on the previous design of Sergei.

Lol look at Lynne's hair xD

I will definitely color it someday.

No Respect

2009-07-18T19:46:00.006+07:00

Jujur, gw heran sama anak-anak yang lain.

Gw baru pulang dari Lembang dalam rangka LDK SMA 8. Gratis (tapi gw gak tau juga deh ini sekolah ngutang apa terlalu tajir apa gimana lol), satu angkatan pergi semua ke Dodik (singkatan dari Komando Pendidikan kalo gak salah) Belanegara. Nginep di situ. Makan dikasih. Blablabla. Kesan gw: dari SMP ke SMA anak-anak sama aja.

Gw heran banget kenapa kepala sekolah sendiri dicuekin waktu ngomong di depan. Pak Edi udah nyindir-nyindir anak-anak yang lagi pada ngobrol, udah berusaha membuat kita sadar betapa ruginya ngobrol waktu orang lagi ngomong, eh anak-anak kagak dengerin. Kalo gw jadi Pak Edi mah gw udah teriakin itu satu aula, gw banting mikrofonnya. Pak Edi teriak sih akhirnya, tapi cuma teriak doang. Akhirnya aula jadi sunyi, tapi habis itu ya ribut lagi, anak-anak pada ngobrol. Aduh, apa susahnya diem sebentar aja dengerin yang lagi ngomong? Paling gak diem aja deh, itu masih mendingan, asal jangan ribut.

Gw kesel banget. Gw ngeliat anak cowok di depan gw, anak Labschool kalo gw gak salah, yang rada hiperaktif sok asik gitu ngobrol-ngobrol pas kepsek lagi ngomong. Gw dengerin omongan itu kepsek, beliau udah nyindir2 orang yang gak dengerin itu blablabla tapi itu orang tetep aja gak nyadar. Ish, kalo gw jadi kepseknya mah itu mikrofon uda gw lempar ke dia.

Tadinya gw kira cuma Smabel yang kayak gini, ternyata pada dasarnya emang budaya kita. Sampah banget.

Bukannya gw gak pernah ngobrol juga, gw pernah, apalagi kalo omongannya ngebosenin, gw juga demen ketawa-ketawa sendiri kea orang gila, tapi untuk orang-orang yang patut dihormati kayak guru yang derajatnya sama dengan orangtua kita, ya... jangan digituin dong. Apalagi ini kepala sekolah, for God's sake!

Kakak gw yang baru lulus tahun lalu (alumni 8) cerita, dulu SMA 8 itu kepseknya diktator abis, bener-bener strict, yang namanya aturan bener-bener ditegakkan, anak-anak takut ma kepseknya. Kakak gw cerita dia sempet keliatan nginjek sepatu terus sepatunya diambil dan dia seharian ga pake sepatu. Gak tau deh itu aturannya masih jalan apa nggak. Trus ada anak yang sakit, gak dibolehin pulang skolah sampe pingsan di skolah. Gila itu kepsek apa kepsek ya lol. Yak, dibandingin ama sekarang, jauh banget bedanya.

Beyond Borders part 1

2009-07-06T01:33:00.015+07:00

Dalam sebuah wawancara yang langka dan eksklusif, Mikhail Pletnev berbicara dengan Komang Shary (ngarep) mengenai salah satu fenomena musik di zaman modern ini.

Artikel asli: http://www.russianarts.org/rno/ipm1103.cfm
diterjemahkan tanpa izin lol

Tentu saja tidak ada pianis masa kini yang mengundang observasi yang begitu tak terbandingi dari media seperti Mikhail Pletnev. Penulis-penulis tertentu, mungkin karena terkagum-kagum akan seniman yang paling tersendiri ini, sudah menikmati memarodikan berbagai gestur-gestur dan kebiasaan-kebiasaan unik yang jarang bisa kita sadari apakah itu karakter buatan atau karikatur orang sebenarnya. Seperti yang diungkapkan orang-orang, ia adalah orang yang sulit, jenius secara antagonis, terkenal akan ketidakmampuannya dalam melahap penulis hidup-hidup; mastermind tajam dari kemampuan teknik manusia super; aura emosional yang provokatif dan menantang; antagonis Urtext yang membuat kita murka—sebuah sosok idealis yang dilengkapi dengan rokok, gaya jalan a la pembawa peti mati kuburan, ketahanan dalam menghadapi permasalahan hidup tanpa memperlihatkannya seperti bloodhound, kegelapan yang tak bisa ditelusuri terkandung dalam sosok penuh keseriusan dan kejayaan yang tidak dapat dimengerti. Begitulah kata orang-orang tentang sebuah teka-teki hebat yang merupakan pianis terbaik Rusia ini.

Tapi pada sebuah sore yang dingin bulan Maret lalu di Steinway Hall milik New York City (tadinya pingin gw ganti jadi JCC :P -Komang), tempat di mana ia telah berlatih untuk konser malam harinya, Pletnev tidak terlihat seperti deskripsi tadi. Bahkan, seseorang curiga bahwa sang maestro telah membuat sebuah modus operandi yang sudah diasah selama bertahun-tahun untuk digunakan dalam acara-acara jurnalistik demi manfaat reportase. Ini bukan salah satu darinya. Ragu-ragu dan letih setelah dua penerbangan beberapa hari sebelumnya, ia menjadi lebih cerah ketika manajernya (orang Amerika yang juga teman baiknya) tiba-tiba muncul dan memainkan tiga impromptu. Katanya orang Rusia paling suka berbicara ketika di meja makan, tidak mudah ditemukan di Midtown Manhattan, tapi tetap kami lakukan di kedai tersembunyi dalam sebuah bar di seberang 57th Street di mana kesuksesan acara merupakan hal yang spesial hari itu; tanpa agenda, tanpa pertanyaan, tanpa tape recorder. Apa yang akan berlangsung selama dua jam nanti bukanlah wawancara melainkan sebuah genus glasnost* yang santai.

Pembicaraan menyangkut berbagai topik; Pletnev (Plet-ny-off) memperhitungkan setiap topik dengan berpikir penuh dalam jeda sebelum menjawab dengan suara yang lambat dan frase yang teratur. Sejawatnya (yang memanggilnya 'Misha') mengatakan bahwa 'kalau sedang dalam mood' ia seorang pembawa cerita jenaka yang timing-nya tidak pernah salah, bicaranya tajam dan nakal. Seorang intelek yang terukir kejernihannya, orang Katolik yang unik dan fleksibilitas dalam berbahasa (terakhir kali dihitung, ia fasih dalam selusin bahasa), ia jarang menunjukkannya; mengungkit filsuf-filsuf dan penyair dalam pembicaraan yang terhenti di pusaran politik dunia, ekonomi, sejarah, travel, teknologi, dan ski. Di umur 46 ini, ia tampil sebagai orang yang sudah melihat banyak hal di dunia dan lebih banyak berpikir, tapi selalu, seperti sekarang ini, pandai berbicara, penuh pemikiran, dan selalu siap dengan kata-kata yang tajam.

Hari ini ia dikhawatirkan oleh jari telunjuknya yang terkilir beberapa bulan yang lalu saat bermain badminton, sebuah olahraga di mana ia merupakan lawan yang tangguh. "Semua beban dari orang tua ini—ada di jariku!" katanya bergurau. Ia berbicara tentang masa kecilnya di Kazan, di mana ia berenang di Volga, menuju Ivanovka, sekarang merupakan tempat tinggal Sergei Rachmaninoff yang sudah diperbaiki. Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninoff merupakan sosok yang ia kagumi baik sebagai musisi maupun manusia. Setelah ia berbicara tentang pianis-pianis hebat dalam 100 tahun terakhir yang menghormati seniman ini di atas segalanya, ia berpikir kalau orang menjadikan gaya unik Rusia yang terkandung dalam lagu Rachmaninoff untuk nenek moyang seni, hal yang kurang bagus. "Inilah yang saya tidak mengerti dari Amerika," ia mengeluh tentang hidup Rachmaninoff di A.S. "Tidak banyak peninggalannya; bahkan tidak ada yang merekamnya bermain, padahal ia tinggal di sini selama 25 tahun!"

Jika orang yang kita kagumi bisa membentuk hidup kita, tentu saja Rachmaninoff mengisi hidup Pletnev sampai ke tingkatan yang misterius. Sebagai manusia dan seniman mereka banyak mempunyai kesamaan sifat; masing-masing merupakan sebuah teka-teki sekaligus paradoks. Kehidupan keduanya mengalami perubahan yang radikal selama masa pergolakan Rusia, bagi Rachmaninoff hal itu terjadi pada awal mula rezim yang kejam, sedangkan bagi Pletnev pada akhir dari rezim tersebut 70 tahun kemudian. Keduanya menjalankan pekerjaan langka dan legendaris dalam sejarah musik yaitu menjadi musisi multi-career—sebagai pianis, konduktor, dan komponis—ketika masih muda. Tapi Pletnev telah melampaui idolanya melalui satu hal yang tidak pernah dilakukan Rachmaninoff: mendirikan sebuah orkestra.

Seperti yang kita ketahui tentang Rachmaninoff dari musik dan caranya bermain piano, Pletnev juga mengekspos dirinya yang penuh teka-teki itu melalui pianisme dan kesenangan terhebatnya, Russian National Orchestra, yang didirikan 19 tahun lalu ketika Uni Soviet sedang menjalankan perubahan besar. Dalam dunia klasik modern yang penuh dengan laporan ensembel yang mati karena kurang biaya, berkurangnya jadwal dan penonton yang makin sedikit, pondasi dan terus berkembangnya grup yang luar biasa ini bukan hanya ajaib; ini bisa jadi kisah kebudayaan paling penting di masa kini. Dan sore ini, Pletnev terlihat bersemangat untuk menceritakannya.

Ia pernah membayangkan sebuah orkestra Rusia yang bebas dari kontrol pemerintah, bebas untuk bermain repertoire apapun, katanya, dari zaman sekolah, dan pada masa jabatan Gorbachev mulai memiliki kekuasaan di akhir 1980-an, ide itu sudah menyebar ke seluruh komunitas musik Moskow. "Saat itu merupakan saat-saat penuh harapan," ungkapnya, kemudian menjelaskan bahwa di bawah sistem Soviet, kepribadian yang dibutuhkan untuk menjadi seniman telah berakhir sejak lama sehingga banyak musisi-musisi terbaik di Moskow (kebanyakan para soloist) juga merindukan sebuah perubahan. Dahulu, para musisi mempunyai pekerjaan tetap di bawah orkestra pemerintah, tapi mereka harus memainkan Tchaikovsky beratus-ratusan kali ketika mereka disuruh, dengan sedikit kesempatan untuk berkembang. Keinginan untuk membuat sebuah orkestra yang memiliki otonomi juga sudah menggenangi benak para musisi selama bertahun-tahun; yang mereka perlukan adalah seorang konduktor.

Walaupun Pletnev sudah menikmati karir dan status bintang di negaranya sendiri semenjak ia memenangkan Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition tahun 1978 ketika masih berumur 21 tahun, karirnya di Barat telah ditutup sejak Uni Soviet menjajah Afghanistan tahun 1980. Dia meng-conduct orkestra hanya sekali-sekali bersama orkestra kurang penting di USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), karena itulah aturan dari sistem lama: seorang seniman berbakat bisa mengumumkan keinginannya untuk menjadi konduktor dan menunggu 25 tahun sampai Menteri Kebudayaan memberikannya kesempatan. Semuanya merupakan politik, sebuah kutukan bagi Pletnev, tapi justru kekurangan politik inilah yang membuat musisi-musisi top Rusia tertarik padanya dan musicianship-nya yang hebat.

Tapi Pletnev tidak menguasai orkestra itu seperti yang banyak tertulis. "I did not make one phone call," katanya serius. "Musisi-musisi itu datang ke saya dan meminta saya untuk melakukannya. Pada mulanya saya menolak, karena saya pikir itu bukan waktu yang tepat." Lagipula, siapa yang menyangka kalau Gorbachev bisa memiliki kekuasaan dan melanjutkan perestroika**? Tapi mereka memaksa, membuatnya mengambil jabatan yang berlawanan dengan sifatnya—kepemimpinan. Ia mengemukakan pendapatnya kepada Gorbachev yang sudah siap menerima secara pribadi, tapi tanpa dukungan politis maupun ekonomi. Berkah ini benar-benar penting, kata Pletnev, karena tanpa itu grup orkestranya tak akan bisa melewati perlawanan rutin dari birokrasi dalam Menteri Kebudayaan. "Ia membuat hal itu menjadi mungkin untuk dicoba."

Grup itu berkumpul setelah beberapa bulan walaupun Pletnev tidak menyerang orkestra Rusia yang lain untuk mendapatkan musisi-musisi terbaik. Ia tidak perlu melakukannya. Musisi-musisi yang serius sudah diketahui seluruh Moskow, jelasnya, dan pada musim semi tahun 1990, dua lusin orkestra negara yang paling baik dan berani di kota itu telah meninggalkan pekerjaan yang stabil untuk mengiringi sesuatu yang sedikit lebih baik dari sebuah ide yang fantastis. "Bayangkan," ia tersenyum nakal. "Musisi pulang ke rumah dan bertemu dengan istri dan tiga anaknya dan berkata, 'Sayangku, aku meninggalkan pekerjaanku untuk mengikuti seorang konduktor muda yang belum punya nama dan ia membangun grup orkestra baru.' 'Bagus sekali! Apakah kau punya jadwal konser?' 'Tidak.' 'Instrumen?' 'Tidak.' 'Partitur?' 'Tidak.' 'Gaji' 'Tidak.' jadi hal-hal tidak berlangsung lancar di rumah!"

Sejujurnya, ia hanya bisa menawarkan mereka sebuah mimpi: pembuatan orkestra Rusia independen pertama sejak tahun 1917, dan kesempatan membuat musik dengan kebebasan seni. Mereka tidak mempunyai segala hal yang dimiliki orkestra Barat: pengarah atau direktor, administrator, manajer promosi, akuntan, sponsor, bahkan instrumen, baju konser, partitur, ruangan untuk latihan, sebuah kantor, ataupun fax. Tidak ada yang tahu bagaimana 'kegiatan gratis' ini berhasil berjalan dengan lancar di kemudian hari.

Tapi seiring dengan hancurnya paham sosialis dan kehidupan Rusia mengalami krisis politik, ekonomi, dan sosial, para musisi pemberani ini menghapus bekas-bekas jaminan keamanan demi membentuk sebuah orkestra baru yang independen, orkestra pertama yang memiliki kata 'Russia' di namanya. Walaupun Pletnev sempat menemukan sedikit bantuan dari seorang presenter konser pop Moskow dan dua bank lokal, ia belajar di pusaran moneter untuk tidak mengandalkan orang lain terlalu lama. "Saya telah bertemu dengan seseorang yang akan menyediakan sepuluh juta dolar untuk orkestra ini minggu depan, jadi aku membeli 6 double bass," katanya sambil mengingat-ingat, "tapi ternyata minggu depannya ia tidak punya 10 juta dolar." Ia mengangkat bahunya. Yang tidak ia beritahu adalah ia juga meminjam uang dalam jumlah yang besar dan menginvestasikan seluruh tabungannya dalam keadaan yang kurang menguntungkan yang penuh dengan kemungkinan akan kegagalan ini.

Orkestra baru ini mengadakan konser pertamanya tanggal 16 November 1990 di Great Hall milik Moscow Conservatory, hanya dua minggu setelah berlatih (rehearsal) di diskotik sewaan. Simon Foster, Managing Director dari Virgin Classics terbang ke Moskow demi melihat event ini secara spesifik; ia telah mengenal Pletnev sejak tahun 1987 ketika ia merekamnya bermain lagu keyboard milik Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, dan Mussorgsky. "Saya tahu ketika saya mendengarnya bermain di Eropa Timur bahwa ia akan menjadi pianis hebat masa kini," ingatnya dalam sebuah wawancara dari Jakarta bulan Mei lalu. "Dan saya juga tahu kalau dia akan menjadi konduktor yang hebat. Tentu saja konser RNO pertama, yang termasuk Manfred Symphony dan Marche Slave milik Tchaikovsky, merupakan hal paling fenomenal yang pernah saya dengar, dan saya langsung menawarkan kontrak di lokasi."

Tapi bagaimana cara menandatanganinya? Cara lamanya adalah menembus Menteri Kebudayaan, yang selalu mengatur kontrak-kontrak dan menyimpan hampir seluruh atau bahkan seluruh uangnya. Pletnev tidak akan mendapatkan apa-apa, tapi ia juga tidak tahu alternatif lain; satu-satunya pengacara di Rusia saat itu adalah seorang Kalashnikov (Kalashnikov itu sejenis rifle/pistol Rusia, ini ungkapan tentang pengacaranya. -Komang). Ia mulai bertanya-tanya kepada teman-temannya, dan sebagai hasil panggilan telepon dari Moskow ke Paris, ke New York, dan San Francisco, pengacara Amerika yang mengurus dunia entertainment Richard Walker diminta tolong sesuatu: bisakah ia menghentikan kontrak ini, gratis, untuk orkestra Rusia yang tak dikenal? "Saya melakukannya dalam waktu enam jam dan baru tahu kalau mereka hanya mempunyai satu mesin teletype." ucap Walker mengingat kejadian itu saat saya bertemu dengannya musim panas tahun lalu di California di mana ia sekarang menjadi manajer internasional RNO. "Saya kira kejadian tersebut merupakan akhir darinya, tapi enam jam itu telah menjadi 19 tahun yang menakjubkan."

*genus glasnost: gw cari di Google gak ketemu artinya. Genus ya genus di IPA. Tapi glasnost gw ketemu di kamus Mac.

glasnost |ˈglazˌnōst; ˈglas-; ˈgläz-; ˈgläs-|
noun
(in the former Soviet Union) the policy or practice of more open consultative government and wider dissemination of information, initiated by leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985.

**perestroika |ˌperəˈstroikə|

noun
(in the former Soviet Union) the policy or practice of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system. First proposed by Leonid Brezhnev in 1979 and actively promoted by Mikhail Gorbachev, perestroika originally referred to increased automation and labor efficiency, but came to entail greater awareness of economic markets and the ending of central planning.

To be continued to the second part. Stay tuned, only on KomangTV!

Oh ya maaf kalo bahasa gw rada aneh. Susah sih nerjemahin wakkakakakak. Emang gw iseng banget ngerjain ginian.

Akhirnya, Gambar Baru

2009-06-29T10:24:00.007+07:00

Akhirnya gw bikin gambar baru juga. Terakhir kali gw gambar sesuatu yang agak bagusan (berstyle anime) itu tanggal 2 Juni dan skarang tanggal 29 (jeda hampir satu bulan ya, ck ck). Harusnya gw tiap hari bikin gambar baru supaya bisa improve. Nyatanya, gw keasikan sama aktivitas lain seperti main piano (atau mengunduh lagu piano), ber-Pletnev ria (apaan nih?), tidur, main PS2, dsb. Nyesel? Gak juga... soalnya dalam selang waktu itu juga gw lagi buntu ide, tak ada inspirasi, gak mood, ah pokoknya males deh. Udah gitu pas gw pingin mulai gambar, bahu ato punggung gw uda keburu encok. Ya udah.

Sooooo friends, I hereby present you...
The Aces of the Court, Lynne Ashe and Sergei L. Wallis!
(itu backgroundnya nyomot)

Ini gambar full body terbagus yang pernah gw bikin. Soalnya gw rada nyontoh juga, tapi gak sama persis sih. Yang jelas nyontoh itu sangat membantu. Awal gw bisa bikin karakter sendiri juga gara-gara nyontoh, huahahhaa...

Sesungguhnya gw ini memang masih dalam tahap perkembangan. Gw jarang bikin gambar, tapi sekali gw bikin hasilnya bakal (jauh) lebih bagus dari gambar gw yang sebelumnya. Kalo ada gambar baru, gambar lama gak bakalan kepake, soalnya gambar yang lama itu gak selevel sama gambar gw yang baru. Kalo gw uda jago nanti, antara gambar satu dengan yang lain paling gak perbedaannya gak gitu jauh.

Gila... padahal dulu gw ngebet banget sama yang namanya nggambar gaya anime begini. Bulan April 2007, gw hampir tiap hari menghasilkan gambar baru. Bisa dibilang ini fase musimnya menggambar bagi gw. Tapi dulu gambar gw masih cupu-cupu. Oh ya, waktu itu jaman-jamannya gw baru maen Ace Attorney. Lagi banyak inspirasi waktu itu wakakkakakak.

jangankan stengah badan, kepalanya aja aneh

Pianis juga begitu kali ya, pas masih ngebet-ngebetnya maen piano, mereka maen seharian sampe mabok, tapi pas udah gedenya, pas mereka udah cukup berlatih, mereka cuma ngelatih lagu-lagu yang susah (karena udah jago). Aaah no, bukan cuma pianis, aktivitas atau hobi lain juga gitu.

Kita akan mencapai fase di mana kita sudah menghabiskan cukup banyak waktu dalam hobi kita. (eaa)

Dulu pas kelas 7-8 gw jarang banget bersosialisasi lol. Kerjaan gw di kelas ya nggambar mulu. Pas SD juga begitu... temen dikit, kerjaannya nggambar, sampe skarang gw juga rada susah bersosialisasi, but I got something in return anyway.

Oh ya, kalo mo liat sketsa-sketsa gw yang gak ada di DeviantART gw, klik aja logo kuning di samping kiri (Moments Artistiques). Selain sketsa, di situ juga ada hmm pemikiran gw tentang seni buahahahha meski gw bukan seniman bener-bener.

Art Block

2009-06-21T08:39:00.006+07:00

Bingung mau gambar apa.

Tadinya gw berencana untuk membuat banyak gambar setelah Ujian Nasional, ya liburan ini lah. Tapi nyatanya? Gw cuma berhasil membuat satu gambar yang bagus. Satu doang. Kalo gw mau nggambar, gw pasti selalu merasa gak mood, bingung, atau gak sabaran. Tambah lagi gw merasa gambar-gambar original gw itu tidak dilirik sama watcher gw.

Gw banyak diwatch gara-gara fan art Phoenix Wright. Beneran deh. Liat aja.

Itu yang difavoritin fan art Phoenix Wright semua. Kalo gw habis bikin gambar baru sih, kadang-kadang nyelip lah orang yang favoritin gambar baru, tapi yang namanya fan art Phoenix Wright paling gak tiap hari ada 1 orang baru yang favoritin. Masya Allah... sebegitu kuatnya the power of fandom ya.

Yang paling bikin gw kaget adalah editan sprite gw yaitu Prosecutor Roxas. Memecah rekor selama gw di DeviantART, favoritnya udah hampir 1000.

Itu ga gw bikin sendiri loh. Aslinya sih begini:

Terus gw mirror, gw edit-edit, jadilah Roxas. Gw juga bikin Riku dan Sora. Riku dari sprite Klavier Gavin, Sora dari Apollo juga (nama karakter dari game Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney).

Sedangkan gambar gw yang paling banyak difavoritin adalah Ace Mythbusters (plesetan Mythbusters, Adam & Jamie diganti jadi Wright sama Edgeworth).

ini gambar dua tahun yang lalu (2007), 178 kali difavoritin

Kemudian, gambar original gw yang paling banyak difavoritin adalah Lynne Ashe: Proof of a Turnabout (gambar tahun 2008, 32 favs), disusul dengan DHC: LOT Agency (2008 juga, 21 favs).

Kalo Lynne sih masih ada hubungannya sama Ace Attorney. Kalo DHC baru deh, bener-bener bikinan gw (dan temen gw). Tapi ya maksimalnya cuma segitu, 21 favs.

Gw masih belum bisa bikin orang dengan benar; yang namanya badan itu gw belum bisa gw bikin secara proporsional, secara pas, padahal yang terpenting dari gambar ya itu, urusan warna blablabla belakangan. Gw mesti belajar basic-basicnya. Makanya gambar original gw gak pernah posenya macem-macem (simply because I can't make those stuffs). Kalo dalam musik, ibaratnya repertoire-nya sempit, koleksi lagu yang bisa dimainin dikit, dalam menggambar, ide yang dipake itu-itu aja.

Kalo gw mau gambar tapi ga tau apa yang mau digambar, larinya ke nyontoh foto orang, deh. Yup, makanya belakangan ini gw sering gambar-gambar muka orang, nyontoh muka mulu. Gw gak ada ide buat bikin gambar. Kalaupun ada, gw males mulai menggambar. Kalo gak mood, mana bisa bagus?

Berkreasi itu susah. Apalagi gw sekarang lagi campur-campur influence-nya. Gara-gara demen lagu klasik, gw jadi bikin Sergei L. Wallis. Gara-gara Ace Attorney, gw bikin Lynne, dst dst. Kalo disuruh nonton anime, gw males. Enaknya gimana ya? Kayaknya gw sedang berada dalam masa di mana gw mendapat art block... jalan buntu.

Makanya gw mau beli buku Figure Drawing Without a Model di Amazon :P

MUSIC; It's All a Game, and Only He Knows the Rules

2009-06-19T08:51:00.013+07:00

Artikel asli oleh Michael White, 16 Maret 2003
Terjemahan oleh Komang Shary K. (dengan sedikit perbedaan)
Artikel asli

Dalam budaya abad ke-21, tidak begitu menakjubkan kalau setiap musisi kelas dua di pasaran terjual oleh agen-agen, dibayar oleh impresario dan perusahaan rekaman. Hal itu tidak begitu berarti.

Tapi terkadang hal itu berarti juga. Mikhail Pletnev, orang yang dinilai sebagai pianis yang sangat unik dan mengundang perhatian, adalah salah satu contohnya.

Para pendengar dari Barat baru mendapatkan kesempatan untuk mengenalnya dalam 10 tahun terakhir ini meskipun ia membuat debutnya seperempat abad yang lalu, ketika ia memeroleh juara pertama dari kompetisi Tchaikovsky internasional (Tchaikovsky International Competition) di Moskow saat berumur 21 tahun. Setelah itu, ia langsung mendapatkan setumpuk undangan untuk tur keliling dunia.

Kemudian Uni Soviet menjajah Afghanistan dan, seperti yang ia katakan, "pintu-pintunya tertutup."

"Hubungan antar budaya terhenti," tambahnya, ketika kami bertemu di sebuah restoran kosong pilihannya yang tidak mengundang perhatian. "Saya tak bisa mengerjakan 'karir' itu. Semua konser yang akan diselenggarakan di luar teritori Soviet dibatalkan. Jadi untuk beberapa tahun saya bermain di Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, dan Jerman Timur. Tidak lebih dari itu."

Dan bagaimana perasaannya tentang hal itu?

"Filosofis," katanya. "Saya menetap di rumah dan mengajar. Ini bukan hal yang buruk bagi saya. Banyak seniman muda yang sukses, menjadi bintang, bermain di mana-mana, kemudian menghilang. Mereka kehilangan ide, energi, repertori."

Mr. Pletnev yang bermain di Metropolitan Museum pada hari Kamis, memberitahu hal ini dengan nada yang menunjukkan seolah ini adalah rahasia, dalam logat Rusia tapi setengah membisik, dengan jeda yang lama selama ia berpikir, menghisap rokoknya dan memaksa untuk menuangkan vodka ke gelasku yang sudah berusaha kutolak tapi tetap sia-sia. Aku tidak pernah menyukai rasa vodka.

"Di Rusia," katanya, mengisi gelasku, "kami tidak meminum vodka untuk rasanya, tapi untuk efeknya. Untuk konsekuensinya."

Dan, tidak diragukan lagi, untuk membantu pendekatan filosofis terhadap kehidupan yang Mr. Pletnev pegang untuk naik dan turun dari panggung. Tersenyum sendiri seperti orang Buddha dari Rusia, ia tampak sebagai orang yang independen, tidak mungkin dimengerti: seorang penjaga rahasia menakjubkan yang bisa ia bongkar atau tidak sesuai keinginannya.

Semuanya hanya permainan, dimainkan dari sebuah buku peraturan yang hanya diketahui oleh Mr. Pletnev. Walaupun ia serius terhadap seninya—piano, conducting (seperenam dari kencannya belakangan ini adalah bersama sebuah baton, bukan piano) dan composing (pekerjaan sampingan yang terus ia lakukan)—sebuah potensi kekacauan tetap memengaruhi penampilannya. Biasanya dalam bentuk kesuraman yang ditutup-tutupi.

Anda akan melihatnya ketika ia berjalan ke atas panggung dengan lambat, seperti pengangkut peti mati di kuburan. "Lutut saya suka sakit," katanya singkat.

Lebih lagi, Anda akan mendengarnya dari permainannya: dalam keahliannya memainkan bagatelle Beethoven untuk Deutsche Grammophon, dalam album sonata Scarlatti yang telah memenangkan award yang direkam Virgin Classics, ketika ia memainkan encore-nya dalam konser di Carnegie Hall yang direkam Deutsche Grammophon.

Anda juga akan mendengarkannya ketika ia memimpin sebuah orkestra. Tahun lalu dia berada di London bersama Philharmonia Orchestra. Ketika itu seharusnya mereka akan menjadi program Tchaikovsky biasa. Tapi, di tangan Pletnev, ia menaikkan harganya dari lagu yang gampang didengar menjadi lagu berderajat tinggi yang memiliki unsur-unsur yang menakjubkan.

Hal yang spesial dalam keahliannya adalah kelucuannya: rapi, mengandung humor tapi muncul dari repertori gerakan yang tidak berlebihan. Sebuah hal yang absurd. Hanya mengangkat bahu dan menggerakkan jari sedikit. Dia tidak terlalu peduli untuk menghabiskan waktu. Sebuah showmanship yang aneh dan sangat me-Rusia.

Tapi bermain dalam konser itu berbahaya. Terutama ketika Anda memainkannya bersama sebuah orkestra.

"Biar kuceritakan sesuatu." kata Mr. Pletnev, dan ini adalah cerita yang kuno. "Seorang konduktor memberikan sebuah konser, meagih satu juta dolar dan lima sen, dan hampir tidak menggerakkan satu jari pun. Satu gerakan, tidak lebih dari itu. Orang-orang kemudian berkata, 'Bagaimana Anda menganggap tagihan itu adil?' Ia menjawab, 'Lima sen itu untuk satu gerakan. Satu juta dolar itu untuk mengetahui kapan membuat gerakan itu. Ini"—ia menggerakkan puntung rokoknya—"adalah conducting."

Cerita dari Mr. Pletnev diucapkan dengan keseriusan yang geriatrik mengikuti detil-detil mukanya yang tidak lagi seperti pemuda Slavic atraktif di kompetisi Tchaikovsky tahun 1978. Perlu diingat bahwa sekarang ia berumur 45 tahun: lahir di Archangel, anak tunggal dari orangtua yang keduanya merupakan musisi. Ibunya, yang masih tinggal bersamanya di luar Moskow, adalah seorang pianis—"pianis yang baik, sebuah contoh yang benar," katanya—dan ayahnya, sekarang sudah meninggal, dulu memainkan bayan, akordion khas Rusia.

Dengan keadaan itu, pendidikan musiknya telat dimulai: dalam usia 13 tahun, ketika ia belajar di Central School di Moskow, sekolah yang terkenal untuk anak-anak berbakat yang keras.

"Tapi saya tidak dipaksa," katanya. "Masa kecil saya bahagia."

"Saya tetap bahagia," tambahnya, menatapku dengan fitur-fitur muka seperti bloodhound. "Hebat. Puji syukur untuk Tuhan saya tidak sakit, alat gerak saya masih berguna dengan baik, kecuali lutut dan jari"—cidera yang mengharuskannya untuk membatalkan konsernya di awal tahun ini—"dan masih hidup. Apa yang harus saya keluhkan?"

Faktanya, dia suka mengeluh—banyak mengeluh—tentang kehidupan kontemporer Rusia yang, katanya, dijalankan oleh "orang kaya dengan uang tapi tidak punya kebudayaan." Sebagai pianis, ia adalah orang yang tradisional: mengikuti Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, dan Sergei Rachmaninoff, selalu berusaha untuk membuat piano bernyanyi dengan penuh warna tetapi dengan jelas menunjukkan stres di melodinya.

"Rather old-fashioned, of course," katanya. "Dan itu tak akan bertahan. Waktu terus berubah. HP, internet—sekolah, akan berjalan. Tidak ada komunitas antara pianis-pianis Rusia sekarang. Kalaupun ada, saya bukan bagiannya. Saya sudah bertemu dengan Evgeny Kissin, lima menit. Selain itu saya melihatnya di TV. Dia mempunyai jalan sendiri dalam bermain, saya juga."

Kedengarannya seolah-olah ia tidak tertarik dengan pianis lain. "Tidak terlalu," katanya. "Bahkan saya tidak tertarik dengan musik piano, siapapun yang memainkannya. Menurut saya membosankan. Saya kaget karena orang lain tidak menganggap hal-hal yang saya lakukan membosankan. Saya tidak bisa bilang kalau saya tidak menikmatinya. Memainkan piano bagus di ruangan yang bagus adalah hal yang baik. Tapi mendengarkan orang lain? Tidak."

Barangkali ini adalah salah satu dari permainan Mr. Pletnev. Dia mengincar reaksi. Bagaimana musisi-musisi terkenal begitu tidak berbudaya? Atau tidak memiliki rasa penasaran?

Ia mengangkat bahunya seperti yang ia lakukan saat menghadapi kritik terhadap dobrakannya dalam membuat musik.

Repertori Mr. Pletnev selektif, berakar di Rusia tapi dengan garis kehidupan Chopin, Liszt, Scarlatti, dan lagu-lagu klasik Austro-German. Tidak ada Ravel, tidak ada Debussy, tidak ada yang modern (selain lagunya sendiri). "Saya hanya bermain lagu yang saya mengerti dan lagu yang saya pikir bisa saya komposisikan sendiri," katanya. "Selain itu, saya menyerahkannya ke yang lain. Mereka bisa lebih baik."

Tetapi, dalam parameter yang sempit itu, ia memiliki kebebasan interpretasi yang luas, mendapatkan teman (untuk imajinasinya) dan kadang-kadang musuh (karena mengubah bentuk teks). Seninya benar-benar dinikmati.

"Dan mengapa tidak?" katanya. "Sebagai seorang komposer, saya tahu bahwa sebuah partitur tidak akan bisa mengatakan benar-benar apa yang diinginkan komposernya walaupun komposer itu juga tahu. Komposisi itu seperti anak. Mereka menggunakan namamu, kau pikir mereka milikmu, tapi tidak. Mereka punya hidup mereka sendiri."

Jadi apakah ia sengaja membebaskan diri dari anak-anak Tchaikovsky dan Mussorgsky? Apakah ia mencoba untuk tampil beda?

"Kalau sama seperti yang lain, kenapa masih dilakukan?" tanyanya. "Para pendengar selalu bisa membeli CD. Tapi perbedaan—ini adalah hasil dari cara bermain saya, bukan alasan. Hasil dari feel saya saat di lokasi, di ruang konser."

Untuk membalas waktu yang telah lewat, dalam dekade terakhir ini Mr. Pletnev bisa dilihat di ruang-ruang konser Amerika. Russian National Orchestra yang ia dirikan dari kebebasan ekonomi baru tahun 1989, banyak dibiayai oleh Amerika Serikat, klien orang minyak dan musisi Gordon Getty.

Di kampung halamannya, grup orkestranya dimulai secara independen dan secara kontroversial. Orkestra swasta pertama di Rusia sejak sebelum revolusinya. Dimulai dengan tantangan komersial kepada ansambel yang terus bertahan dan membuat tampilannya begitu terasa dengan menculik pemain-pemain terbaik. Hal ini tidak membuat Mr. Pletnev bertambah populer dalam manajemen orkestra.

Akan tetapi, tidak ada yang bisa menolak kualitas RNO yang setingkat dengan Kirov Orchestra milik Valery Gergiev, lebih berkelas dari St. Petersburg Philharmonic yang terkenal. Melihatnya dalam dekade pertama, kemudian beristirahat sejenak, sekarang Mr. Pletnev kembali ke kursi pengendali sebagai direktor artistik—mengeluh tentang kurangnya support yang didapatkan RNO di Rusia (walaupun mempunyai banyak koneksi di tempat-tempat bagus) tapi bangga akan prestasinya.

"Memimpin orkestra bukanlah pekerjaan," katanya. "Melainkan hak istimewa. Kami mempunyai budget 60 kali lebih kecil daripada budget Los Angeles Philharmonic, tapi tetap saja, hak istimewa."

Vodka lagi, dan rokok.

"Tentu saja, saya berbicara secara filosofis."

Mikhail Pletnev, pianis.

Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Kamis pukul 8 malam.

sumpah ya mukanya di sini kayak om-om ganjen

Mohon maaf kalo terjemahannya ada yang aneh, gw masih pemula hahaha. Tujuan gw bikin artikel ini adalah mempromosikan Pletnev (harusnya gw dibayar, tapi ya sudahlah) dengan membuat artikel dalam versi Bahasa Indonesia supaya orang lebih mau baca. Yang Bahasa Inggris rada susah dimengerti, gw baru berapa kali baru nangkep maksudnya dan gw berkali-kali buka kamus karena banyak kata-kata baru yang gw temuin (untung Mac punya kamus super lengkap). Oya kalo ada kata-kata yang lo ga tau di sini ngomong aja, soalnya gw rasa ada beberapa yang terjemahannya hampir sama dengan kata aslinya.

Repertori: Koleksi lagu-lagu yang bisa dimainin
Encore: Kalau konser performer-nya nampilin lagu-lagu tambahan di akhir acara, lagu-lagu tambahan itu encore.

New Layout

2009-06-16T02:05:00.000+07:00

What do you think? I didn't really make the layout... I just used the base and edited the header, the links, the icons and stuff. I added some few stuffs though.

Youtube, Musik Klasik, dan Mikhail Pletnev

2009-06-11T18:59:00.004+07:00

Sumber utama gw dalam mencaritahu apapun mengenai musik klasik adalah internet. Mau cari istilah kek, komposer, lagu, semuanya dari internet. Nah, berhubung dua hari yang lalu gw mimpiin Mikhail Pletnev (yang akrab dipanggil Misha, kalo gw sih manggilnya Plet aja), belakangan ini gw jadi demen banget nontonin video dia (emang dulu nggak?). Jadi ceritanya pas gw lagi asik-asik ngedit foto nyokap dateng, gw kan jadi malu ya hehe, akhirnya gw nonton video Pletnev mainin Beethoven Piano Concerto no.2. Alhasil gw jadi ngakak sendiri nonton itu video dan nyokap ketiduran di kamar. Kenapa gw ngakak? Soalnya si Plet kocak ekspresinya. Ada yang pas main mendadak senyum lah, yang tangannya digimana-gimanain, noleh-noleh ke conductor aaah pokoknya lucu deh wakakkakakk. xD

Karena kurang kerjaan, gw juga baca-baca komentar di bawahnya. Terus gw juga jalan-jalan ke videonya yang mainin Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini dan gw baca juga komentarnya. Gw ketawa-ketawa sendiri ohmaigat, karena itu video yang ngeview banyak (100,000++) jadi yang ngomentarin banyak, seru bacanya.

Yang paling kocak itu waktu gw nemu ada orang ngomong beginian di page itu.

laura, i fell in love with you as we listened to this on our first night together. i will love you forever. hope you find this.sam

BUAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA YA AMPUN ITU ORANG APAAN BANGET YE, gak jelas abisssssss menyatakan cinta di komentar Youtube dan itu video orang main lagu klasik kesannya gimana gitu, hahhaahha apa coba yang bakal dibilang Pletnev kalo dia baca LOL ABIS. Terus gw pergi ke halaman berikutnya....

1:31 WTF, HARRY POTTER?

lol 0:51 - 1:00 My first piano lesson!

HAHAHHAHAHA SUMPAH GW NGAKAK PAS BACA YANG MY FIRST PIANO LESSON. Untuk mengetahuinya yaaa nonton aja videonya! Emang sih dia bunyinya cuma 'tung, tang ting tung', tapi HAHAHHAHA!!!!

Terus tiba-tiba gw nemu beginian.

Actually America is a Continent, not a country.

HAHAHHA KENAPA TIBA-TIBA NGOMONGIN BEGINIAN? GAK NYAMBUUUUNG!!! Terus, ini yang paling bikin gw ngakak parah...

CLASSIC MUSIC IS SO SATANIC

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHHAH

Aduh Plet itu kalo maen piano gayanya kocak, ekspresinya itu aneh-aneh lagi. Di akhir dari Beethoven Piano Concerto no.2 dia tampangnya kayak ngejek gitu, terus pas dia udah berhenti main dia liat ke conductor sama orkestra manggut2 seolah2 bilang "Betul, betul begitu, bagus!" HAHAHAHHAHhahaha.... aaaah lucu sekali.

Maestro Liszt

2009-06-10T11:29:00.003+07:00

My new drawing. It's supposed to be like this xD I didn't use grids because I was very lazy, so my drawing is not very accurate.

Those two..

2009-06-05T17:45:00.000+07:00

I really like my new original character Sergei L. Wallis :) I think he and Lynne make a perfect uh... law couple lol. He's the prosecutor, and Lynne is the defense attorney! But I feel a little bit empty... maybe I should add someone to the group! Hmm... Kim Hiroko maybe? But she's busy working at the cafe... aaah, I'll think about that later lol.

work in progress xD but maybe this picture is going to be abandoned...

a random scene I came up with

International Chopin Piano Competition

2009-05-31T23:08:00.003+07:00

Ya gak lah, gak mungkin gw ikut beginian lol. Gw baru jalan2 di websitenya karena penasaran... waktu liat poster dari Riri di fesbuk yg national competition gw takjub sama lagu-lagu yg dites. Nah, buat yg internationalnya ini yg diuji... buat FYI doang kalo ada yg tertarik LOL (gw sih ga berminat, makasih, tapi gw pingin nonton...)

one of the following études:
A minor, Op. 10 No. 2 --> ini kromatik tapi jari yg dipake bukan 1,2,3 tapi 3,4,5.
G sharp minor, Op. 25 No. 6
A minor, Op. 25 No. 11 --> gilaaa Winter Wind!!
two études, one from each group below:
a)
C major, Op. 10 No. 1 --> lebih susah dari yang dibayangkan katanya
C sharp minor, Op. 10 No. 4 --> katanya lebih susah dari Revolutionary
G flat major, Op. 10 No. 5 --> 6 mol apa 6 kres gw lupa
F major, Op. 10 No. 8
C minor, Op. 10 No. 12 --> Revolutionary nih
b)
C major, Op. 10 No. 7
A flat major, Op. 10 No. 10
E flat major, Op. 10 No. 11
A minor, Op. 25 No. 4
E minor, Op. 25 No. 5
B minor, Op. 25 No. 10 --> lagu ini sangat sangat tidak nyantai
one work from the following:
Nocturne in B major, Op. 9 No. 3 --> aaah gw paling demen lagu ini :D 5 kres tapi, mau muntah aja rasanya
Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1
Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2
Nocturne in G major, Op. 37 No. 2
Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1
Nocturne in F sharp minor, Op. 48 No. 2
Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 55 No. 2
Nocturne in B major, Op. 62 No. 1
Nocturne in E major, Op. 62 No. 2
Etude in E flat minor, Op. 10 No. 6
Etude in C sharp minor, Op. 25 No. 7
Etude in E major, Op. 10 No. 3 --> horeee Tristesse hahha
one work from the following:
Ballade in G minor, Op. 23 --> ini lagu keren abis
Ballade in F major, Op. 38
Ballade in A flat major, Op. 47 --> gw demen lagunya
Ballade in F minor, Op. 52
Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60
Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49
Scherzo in B minor, Op. 20
Scherzo in B flat minor, Op. 31 --> my favorite lol
Scherzo in C sharp minor, Op. 39
Scherzo in E major, Op. 54
One mazurka from the following opuses:
17, 24, 30, 33, 41, 50, 56, 59

The Preliminary Stage repertoire must be played from memory.

Kawan-kawan, ini baru preliminary.
Oh ya ini buat tahun 2010, kompetisinya di Warsawa. Yang bisa ikut taun depan itu org yg lahirnya dari tahun 1980-1993, biaya buat ikutan 100 Euro. :D

Syarat dan ketentuan ada di sini

Control over Time & Space

2009-05-31T20:31:00.004+07:00

Coba bayangkan seandainya di dunia ini beneran ada yang namanya time machine alias mesin waktu yang bebas dipakai oleh siapa saja, atau bayangkan Anda mempunyai kekuatan untuk mengontrol ruang dan waktu seperti Hiro Nakamura di serial TV Heroes. What are you going to do with it? Mau ke masa lalu, atau masa depan?

Menurut gw, sekali kita bisa mengontrol waktu, apa aja bisa kita lakukan. Bayangin aja, lo mau ujian, gak usah blajar. Tinggal ngestop waktu di pagi hari besoknya di skolah, terus langsung belajar, atau berhentiin waktu terus nyontek di tengah ujian. Intinya ya kita selalu butuh waktu yang lebih banyak dari yang kita punya. Things are never enough. Begitulah cara pandang manusia. Kita cuma mau waktu untuk kesempatan yang lebih.

Mesin waktu adalah sesuatu yang absurd. Kata Einstein (atau siapa gitu gw gak inget) kita bisa em, er, manipulasi waktu (keanya) kalo [sesuatu] itu kecepatannya lebih cepat dari kecepatan cahaya. Haha, gw gak inget, yang jelas lebih cepat dari kecepatan cahaya. Kecepatan cahaya berapa sih? Kalo dibuletin yah, 300.000.000m/s. Mungkin gak sih manusia bikin barang secepet itu? Hehe, I don't think so. Kabarnya dulu pas tahun 2000 ada orang di internet yang namanya John Titor datang dari masa depan, tahun 2036 terus dia ngeluarin prediksi-prediksi tentang apa yang akan terjadi di masa depan. Gw rada males juga baca detilnya, tapi kayaknya prediksinya banyak yang salah, jadi barangkali John Titor itu fraud. Cek aja websitenya kalo mau tau sendiri. Eh tapi siapa tau kali ya suatu hari bakal ada... dulu juga manusia ga nyangka bakal bisa terbang.

Kalo mesin waktu ada, gw sama-sama tertarik pingin ke masa lalu dan ke masa depan. Kalo ke masa lalu, gw pingin:

pergi ke Paris abad XIX (19 :P) untuk melihat Chopin dan Liszt. Sumpah gw penasaran abis mereka itu mainnya kayak apa. Sampe sekarang mereka berdua itu di otak gw kayak fairytale abis dah, tapi mereka itu nyata, masalahnya keberadaan mereka itu sudah terbukti... dari karya-karya mereka. Gw gak bisa ngebayangin Liszt itu sejago apa... dan Chopin kalo maen itu sehebat apa. Harus ngeliat!
ngajarin gw yang dulu supaya rajin maen piano dan ngeliatin video-video piano gw supaya gw yg dulu tertarik maen piano... serius gw nyesel baru demen sekarang. xD
ngajarin gw yg dulu tentang bermacam2 hal... haha biar sukses nantinya :P
liat Indonesia pas zaman kerajaan buahahaha xD
pergi ke beberapa tahun yang lalu buat beli komik (harganya masih murah kaaan). Tunggu, duit gw yg skarang emang berlaku apa O_o

Tapi kalo kita pergi ke masa lalu ntar masa depan jadi kacau lagi. Contohnya gw ketemu Chopin, terus gw ngasih obat TBC ke Chopin, ntar dia hidup lebih lama, nikah sama gw (nah loh), bisa-bisa lagu yang dia buat waktu dia lagi menderita sakit-sakitan ga ada di masa depan. Huaaaa paradoks deh! Terus gw yg udah suruh maen piano dulu tiba2 menang Chopin National Competition (aduh ini muluk-muluk xD)... jiah, gw yg skarang mau dikemanain!? Kalo kayak film The Butterfly Effect, ntar setelah kita ganti masa lalu kita tiba-tiba tersadar di dunia yang baru, dan yang punya ingatan tentang masa lalu yang lain itu cuma kita... wow, gw mau tuh kayak begitu. *ngiler*

Kalo masa depan sih, secara umum gw mau tau gw bakal jadi apaan, keluarga gw kea apa, temen-temen gw jadi apa, gw nikah sama siapa, anak gw kea apaan, buakakakakak xD.

Nah... seandainya ini mesin waktu beneran ada, lo mau ke mana? Ke masa lalu apa ke masa depan? :D feel free to give comments. Seru juga dengerin pendapat orang.

Spam

2009-05-29T11:51:00.003+07:00

Belakangan ini spam makin marak. Gw dapet spam tiap hari. Contoh spam:

hey nowme_00x....Im tired of this chat thing...come join me here instead... it's way better :D
http://dont.call.me.alien.gallery-shootz.com

Mmmm!! My hot album just waiting for you to see :D come come http://dont.call.me.alien.imagealbumz.com/

Yang gw bisa bilang cuma... itu linknya jangan diklik. Aneh banget ini spam lagian, gak bener banget. Setahu gw sih, kalo linknya lo klik, ntar e-mail lo bisa dipake juga sama bot buat nyebar-nyebarin begituan ke contact lo waktu lo lagi off. Kalo udah terlanjur keklik, segera ganti password.

Ajet nih udah jadi korban. Ganti password ya. Lo tiap hari nyebarin lol.

Iseng ngerjain sesuatu...

2009-05-23T15:30:00.002+07:00

Nyomot dari blog Alline.

The rules:

1. Respond and rework: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.

2. Tag eight other people.

What is/ are your current obsession? bisa mainin lagu-lagu piano yg keren-keren, masuk SMA 8 kayaknya... terus bikin komik, whoosh...

What is your weirdest obsession? Frederic Chopin. Gw menganggap dia masih hidup.

What are you wearing today? baju oren Giordano yang umurnya udah 4 tahunan, celana piyama yang gambarnya domba-doma buahahaha

What’s for dinner today? tanya nyokap

Makeup kit you can’t live without? sisir kali ye

What would you like to learn to do? PIANOOOO piano piano piano

What’s the last thing you bought? Pulpy Orange waktu maen futsal bareng IX-2.

What are you listening to right now? Dreaming - Chopin (Jazz Meets Classic)

What is your favorite weather? hujaannnn karena hujan itu inspiratif lol

What is your most challenging goal right now? bisa mainin Chanson de l'Adieu dengan LANCAR dan BAGUS

What do you think about the person who tagged you? tangan kanan gw, tau aib2 gw

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be? Hmm gimana ya, kalo ga bisa beradaptasi sama lingkungannya ya ga tau juga, gw sih prefer tempat gw sekarang.

What would you like to have in your hands right now? mikir dulu. Apa ya? TANGAN CHOPIN BUAHAHAHA, gak ding. gw pingin iPod touch ato DSi... DS gw rusak

What would you like to get rid of? nyamuk, kecoa, tikus, lalat

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? gw males jalan-jalan, mau tidur aja di rumah

Which language do you want to learn? Perancis, supaya ngerti film La Note Bleue dan bisa komunikasi dengan Chopin; Rusia, supaya bisa komunikasi sama pianis2 Rusia lol.

What do you look for in a friend? kesetiaannya eaaa dan harus merupakan pendengar yang baik karena gw banyak berkicau

Who do you want to meet in person? Chopin, Pletnev, Lugansky, Kissin, Liszt (penasaran banget gw dia kalo maen piano kea apaan)

What’s your favorite type of music? klasik nomor 1; Coldplay genre-nya apaan ya? RHCP gw suka (itu rock bukan?); Alternative; Jazz, Dave Koz gw mayan suka.

What's your favorite hollywood actor? ga ada yg gw kenal

What is your dream job? blom tau

Any favorite models? ga ada yg gw kenal juga..

If you had £100 now what would you spend it on? itu brapa rupiah sih? Gw mo beli buku2 piano deh, ato ga komik2 huahaha uda lama ga beli komik

Favorite song? eh, kalo song itu ada liriknya ya... hmm Into the Night, Santana ft. siapa gitu gw lupa.

Describe your personal style gw males pake baju yg lebe-lebe meski gw orgnya lebe.

Last fashion magazine you read? ga perna baca

Last thing you saw on TV? Presiden Pilihanku (Ibu Mega waktu itu) di TV One...

What do you want to do now? tidur

Siapakah yang ada di sampingmu sekarang ? Harimaui (boneka harimo gw yg setia menemani gw)

If you could have one super power or ability what would it be? niruin apa yg orang lain bisa dengan skali liat (yoi dah gw langsung nonton video piano terus nyobain langsung!)

Yang baca ini silahkan comot. Gw males ngetag.

Life is like a Game... (beeeh)

2009-05-20T14:03:00.003+07:00

Blog kakak kelas gw, Ka' Rani, berjudul Life's Game. Melihat judul blognya, gw jadi kepikiran sesuatu... ya itu, judul entry hari ini. Hidup itu seperti permainan. Berhubung gw mainnya game RPG, gw coba sangkut-pautin dah.

Lo jadi karakter utama game lo. Lo punya tujuan, tapi untuk mencapai tujuan itu lo bakal ngadepin battle-battle di perjalanan. Di setiap battle ini ada musuh (yaiyalah), dan di sini lo bisa ningkatin level lo.

Level??

Ya, biasanya dalam perjalanan, musuh-musuh yang lo hadepin itu selevel sama lo, tapi ada juga yang levelnya terlalu tinggi. Lo bisa kalahkan musuh itu, dan level lo akan naik drastis. Sedangkan musuh-musuh lo yang levelnya sama dengan lo? Lo harus ngalahin mereka berkali-kali supaya dapet EXP (experience point) yang cukup untuk naik level. Kalau musuh yang jago, satu kali lo kalahin, level langsung naik. Tapi susah. Pilih yang mana?

Biasanya, kalau level sudah tinggi, mengerjakan apa-apa menjadi mudah. Terus kalo ngalahin musuh yang kuat bisa dapet rare item. Kalo di kehidupan nyata, barangkali hadiah kalau menang kompetisi. Seperti game, jalan cerita kita sudah ditentukan.

Gw juga berpikir, hidup ini seperti sebuah cerita. Gw membayangkan setiap orang yang ada di sekitar gw adalah seorang karakter, dan gw karakter utamanya. Lucunya (ga lucu juga sih), setiap orang adalah karakter utama di cerita mereka masing-masing. Setiap orang punya persepsi yang berbeda akan suatu hal, dan kita gak begitu mengerti cara pandang mereka gimana. Di dunia kita, kitalah yang paling berpengaruh dan utama. Ya gak sih, kawan-kawan!?

Haha, terus temen-temen lo itu jadi karakter utama juga, terutama temen-temen yang deket. Kalo yang gak deket sih jadi karakter figuran doang. Numpang lewat aja di cerita lo, tapi mereka ga punya peran yang begitu berarti bagi cerita lo.

Gw kepikiran hal-hal ga mutu gini waktu pingin nyobain lagu-lagu susah di piano... seperti menantang monster yang levelnya jauh di atas gw. Buahahaha, Nowme vs Chanson de l'Adieu. xD

Udah ah gitu doang hari ini. Oya gw baru slese UAS loooh buahahahhaa senangnya hatiku, turun panas demamku, gw mau NGGAMBARRRRRR!!

two new sketches

2009-05-12T13:33:00.001+07:00

Sketch #1: Sergei L. Wallis and Ashkinzy Whitmore
They are my new characters. All inspired by the stuffs I'm really into right now, which is (obviously) classical music. Sergei is a pianist and conductor (notice the baton in his right hand) while Ashkinzy is a violinist. I imagined that they had just arrived in a place they have been invited to (maybe for a concert?) by train. Ashkinzy is reading the map of the place while Sergei is thinking of what kind of place they're going to go to while walking. Hey, I can't make backgrounds... Oh by the way, if you're asking me why he's carrying his baton, the answer is I don't know.

I am planning to make them part of the card deck... if you know what I mean!

Sketch #2: DHC (Dynne, Hiroko, Calm)
Yup, those three again. Actually this sketch is kinda old but I just finished it and added Calm today at school (I was pretty bored). Eh... maybe Hiroko's head is too big?? Ahh, I'll fix it later.

That's it for the updates of my sketchbook today. Cheers!

Drawing Musicians: Evgeny Kissin

2009-05-10T10:37:00.003+07:00

Yeap, I did a drawing of the genius Russian pianist not too long ago... it was an attempt to test my skills on realism drawing using grids. I didn't use grids before, and after trying to use it, I realized that it is very useful. Well, my drawing is not yet 95% close to the photo, but this is a good start!

Ace Virtuoso

2009-02-13T21:09:00.000+07:00

I know that every virtuoso is an ace on music, but adding ace before the word makes it even more pro, in my opinion :P

The thing is, I'm going to make a new original character (OC) for the Ace Attorney universe because I'm gonna enter this year's OC Contest in Court-Records.net! I'm very excited about this. Two years ago, I made Lynne Ashe because it was the easiest thing for me to do that time. I made a character based on myself, so it wasn't hard to make the personality. Now, I got another inspiration that might not have been as creative as Lynne Ashe, but I think is quite good. An Ace Virtuoso!

Now, I'm not gonna reveal his plot on the story. He's gonna be facing Lynne, and it's gonna be an epic battle... at least I want it to be epic haha lol.

I revised yesterday's Sergei. Yes, his last name is Sergei, but I don't have a good last name to fit him.

new stuffs I made at school

2009-02-12T20:17:00.000+07:00

Lynne Ashe, my PW OC, yet again... :)

New OC for PW, I'm planning to enter him on this year's OC contest in Court Records. Click for full view :D He's a prosecutor.

I don't really like finishing up a drawing... I'm not a very patient person so I tend to do things quickly. Ahh... I wish I can put more hard work on things and not upload ugly rough sketches here :( they're all in my green Campus sketchbook.

Btw, I just followed Athena-Chan on Blogspot. She's incredibly amazing! Go visit her blog now!

WIP - Turnabout Ordeal

2009-02-07T10:17:00.002+07:00

WACOM Intuos3 9" x 12", SAI painter, Photoshop. Hours of hard work.

I wonder when will this be finished... I can't make backgrounds :(

Teh new blog

2009-02-07T09:44:00.000+07:00

Oh my God. I don't believe I just did something really useless and stupid: making a new blog. I used Wordpress before and got tired of it because every time I wanted to make an entry, I always drew a blank. Thus, I switched to Facebook's Notes so I can share things with my friends... but humans just won't get satisfied. I saw Alline's blog and those desires came again... the desire to make a decent design and spent hours for a good result. It's hard to get out of this activity once I started. Oh well...

For your information, (though I'm not sure anyone would read this crappy blog of mine) this blog is about... art and music. I think. The title is based on Frederic Chopin's piece, Etude Op.10 No.3 Chanson l'adieu (Farewell Song) which is also known as Tristesse (it means sorrow). Why did I choose this piece? Probably because it's the one who made me love piano at first. Now, since music is hard to describe with words (especially because I'm not a very good musician), the point of this blog is (probably) art. Art is something I have been doing since I was a child, something that I have loved for years. I'm an artist, focusing on pencil & digital art. I mostly draw people. I started with anime and manga, but now I can also do realism. You can see my gallery by clicking here.

So uh. I'll probably share some tips here.
Ciao.