A Little Chinese Lesson: Language

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufyGrWo9muU

Below is the draft note I did in preparation for my video.

I ended up not doing all that I was planning to do. When doing the video, it just wasn't as important.

I could have been a calligrapher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE0xqS4WAPk

Mashi's confused face:

Back when I was in school, I would take the chances to do some calligraphy, writing my class' subjects with it's own typography:

Or make my own holiday cards, Below are only the copies and my back ups.

My artistic ability comes from my grandpa (mother's side), below is a scroll of some examples of his names seals:

Closer look, click on the pictures to enlarge:

Youtube what happened to this version of you?

A Little Chinese Lesson: Font (Part 2)

Part 1

This post is here mostly because I couldn't fit these pictures in my last post.

Below is a better view of my 3 name seals with their corresponding (unique) typefaces.

Below is a link to a wikipedia article of Chinese Traditional Characters verses their Simplified form:

Below is my own example, the Traditional Character of 風 (feng / wind):

Verses it's Simplified form -> 风:

And Lastly, Below is a visual representation of my name's (岚) Character evolution.

From Pictogram:

To Traditional Character vs Simplified form:

And to tie all things up, my whole name, Name seal vs Simplified Character form:

A Little Chinese Lesson: Font (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNKbUf1O3UA

In order to plan for my video, I first drafted what were the most important things I wanted to get across and say. That's the below pic. Note: What I wrote in blue, ended in my next video. Wrote it on the wrong side.

In order to do my video, I prepared by reading "The Simple art of Chinese calligraphy : create your own Chinese characters and symbols for good fortune and prosperity" by Qu, Lei Lei. I saw this book at one of the Phoenix Public Libraries and thought I should read it. I thought it would be a good way to get some background info on what I needed to say in the video.

I based my 山 Pictogram evolution to standard script on his book (seen on the top row).

Like always, when I need to do something, I always 1st draft it out.

And then turn that draft into the finally product.

These pages can be found on pg. 88-91 of Mr. Qu's book. They show you how to engrave a name into a seal.

Below are the 3 different seal my grandpa made for me. All three have a different script. Showing the variety to which you can get your name done in. Plenty to choose from.

One of my seals has the detail of a Chinese lion (or maybe a dog) on top of it.

Note: I have this out of order. The red lettering with white background belongs to the seal at the bottom of the pic, and the white lettering with red background belongs to the seal at the top.

The more simplistic looking one of my seals, came with a traditional box. For safe keeping and to protect it.

The biggest seal I have also has an added note for the character of the rat. Because that's the year that I was born in.

Part 2

A Little Chinese Lesson: Art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzWT4WClMV0

This time around, for my video, I wanted to show more evidence on how much I consider myself to be an artist. That's why the below contains the two art forms that I love best. Drawings and Font... with a little education thrown in. Know that these 3 things are at a glance, who I am.

If you are curious to how I did the Pictogram for the Character 木 / Mù ? . . below shows how I did it.

SideNote: Just drawing on glass, would not have been the most feasible, since as you can see... Glass is see through and the background is distracting and in the way...

So I taped some posterbroad to the other side of the glass, and Voila.... Instant, makeshift, ghetto-ize, "Whitebroad." (Downside: when shooting on glass, when there's light, it reflects, that's why there was glare shown in the video.)

I positioned my MacBook close enough to the glass that I was able to cut the black "frames" (the decorative grid in the sliding door glass) out of the shot. And that's how I did it.

The below 2 pictograms are of my name.

My surname Lin / 林.

and My 1st Name Lan / 岚

Trying to teach people my name, I thought teaching the character's history would be a good and creative way to go about doing it.

That's why if you know anything about the character 林, you would know that it's character is made up of two 木's meaning = tree, the word at the top. And by using the word 木 to form new words, it made the below 2 words. 森林 / Sēnlín, meaning = forest. And that's where the 林 / Lin in my name comes from.

As a comparison, See the difference between how 林 started out as a pictogram and then to it's modern day iteration.

Want to know what Lin / 林 technically means? With the help of my MacBook, read below:

And lastly, below is one of the many different versions of my mascot Mashi. I'm always redrawing him, trying to find the "perfect" version of him and therefore my logo... Still. not. there. yet. . .

Meaning I'm going to keep trying. Don't be surprise if you see this (or another version of this) logo again.

I Love Font & Cartoons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoD1faZmf8k

Wanting to do a video introducing myself, I thought I could use it as an opportunity to interject some educational learning in it too. And so this is why for the next 3 videos I'm going to tell you a little bit more about China and it's history. (Or I'll try.. know that I'm not a professional, so my facts might not always be totally correct.)

By arbitrarily using my name to make that point.

Below is the 1st draft I did, to what were the main points I wanted to get across. This was Brainstorming step #1, it helps me organize my thoughts... What were my goals for the next 3 videos. I 1st wrote it out on glass.

Note: I put a poster board behind the glass so you could get a better look at what I wrote.

I then wrote a more detailed version on a sticky note. Note: For my 1st (intro) video, I was only able to get through the points written on the lower-right hand corner. The rest will be done in my next 2 videos.

Below is the various expressions of my mascot Mashi. Like everything I do, I always do large amounts of research to prepare for a given project, and if I was going to have a mascot, I wanted to see the different expressions (and moods) it/he could make. I stole a lot of the expressions from the mangas I've read, Japanese Emoticons, and roaming around DeviantArt.

I took the name Mashi from the Korean flash animation, cartoon character, MashiMaro. Note: I actually do not like MashiMaro's use of toilet humor. But I do like the fact that out of so many Azn characters, MashiMaro has tiny eyes... Unlike anime that is known for it's affinity for large eyes. So that point alone makes me like MashiMaro. And I do, even though I don't care to admit it, like how biting and mean MashiMaro can get... he's funny.

Place Holder Notation. Get use to seeing this. I will be using it in the future.

The below screenshot was taken from this link.

nciku.com is an AWESOME Chinese / English translating website. I especially like the fact the you can write Chinese characters and their program is able to find it. The site is very comprehensive. Go take a look, I would be shocked if you don't find the site impressive.

And lastly, my 2 pix of my mascot Mashi.