Back from Taiwan

We love Taiwan style breakfast !!!

design job rates

It's hard to set rates for design jobs. We usually estimate the time and difficulty of the illustration. But I don't think that's enough.

Picture frames

We are having an exhibition in Taiwan this November. We went shopping for picture frames today. But I have a strange hatred for picture frames. If their function is to hold a picture vertically on a wall.... they are doing it in a very inefficient way. I don't see why they have to be so big and heavy. Mankind has been using picture frames before Da Vinci but no one has invented something better? (Blue tack kind of works.) It is hard to explain why I don't like them. But we are still going to use them.

How to mail stuff

I have totally mastered the art of mailing stuff !!!!!! YEAH! (for cheap)

And here are some more rules:
1. Don't go to the courier at lunch time or after 7pm because the guys there will ignore you.
2. The post office is crowded on Mondays. 
3. If you don't seal your air mail package, postage is cheaper. (It's considered printed matter).
4. Don't forget to calculate the weight of your bubble wrap, box, packing paper and tape.
5. Always stock up on stamps! You'll regret it when you run out.
6. Some mail boxes have extra small slots. So beware.
7. Google-map (verb) suspicious addresses (suspiciously wrong) or you'll just have to mail it again when it gets lost.
8. Bring change for the courier but the post office will always have change for your $500 bill.
9. The courier sometimes gives you discounts. Yay yay yay! But the post office won't. (But the post office is losing millions of dollars every year)

How we draw pictures

Pencil sketch

trying out some color

Refining it in illustrator

Testing different markers on different kinds of paper

smooth paper

textured paper

trying different brush strokes

some photoshopping

final picture!! :)

buying postcards vs jewelry

I can't ever spell jewelry.

Anyway yesterday my mom said she thought people who bought jewelry were practical whereas people who bought our stuff (postcards and cards etc) were impractical.

What?! I thought it was the other way round - people who buy jewelry just need a little something extra to look nicer. If you want it, you buy it. But if you don't buy it, it's not going to hurt you much. But people who buy postcards are actually buying new ideas and enriching their lives and making other people happy!

Now that I'm typing out my thoughts, I guess buying postcards IS kind of an idealistic thing to do. haha.

The Taiwan Hong Kong gap

I really love the Hong Kong way of doing things. We always say things in point form: 1, 2, 3, 4. It's "yes",  or "no". It's "meet me here at this time on this day."

I am still getting used to the Taiwan way of communication. Which is more along the lines of: let's get to know each other more. How do you feel? Could you explain more? Let's discuss over coffee and I'll tell you my life story.

I guess if you describe the Taiwanese as friendly and understanding, Hong Kong people are cold and business like. 

But I still really like people who are concise. It's easy on the brain.