It's embarrassing to say, my first two years of college, the theme is to play. Of course, paying the price for these two years of slack is a matter of later.
At that time, I formed a band with my classmates and did some performances at school and livehouse, and I really did not expect that the band experience would become the inspiration for my later portfolio.
01 Playing music has become "doing business"
I applied for the direction of the bag, although many bags are now more used as a pure jewelry, but the most basic function of the bag is storage. In other words, no matter how big or small the bag, there will be a storage space.
So what does this have to do with my band? As a drummer, I sit at the back of our band every day, whether it is playing the drums myself, or seeing my teammates' guitars and basses, I can actually vaguely feel that there is a similarity between the instrument and the bag. Sound is produced by vibration, and the case provides space for resonance, that is, the instrument is actually a kind of space.
The band rehearsed in the basement
This made me wonder if it was possible to combine two spaces so that one space had storage and vibration functions at the same time. Of course, in addition to my own experience, I have also done some research on street performers, and I will find that in the more fluid and uncertain performance environment, everyone needs a tool that can both play and store.
So I made such a musical × the design of the bag, that is, a set of bags that can be played, which is a highlight of my portfolio.
Work on an instrument with friends
This work also gave me a little experience, that is, to do design, cross-border thinking is really fragrant.
When I say this crossover, I don't mean that everyone should casually take a direction they don't understand to cross hard, this span can be like the Summer Camp of Chinese Art that I participated in before: "Industrial × Interactive × Accessories". It can also be based on their own characteristics, such as my own music and bags, to make a "cross" with personal characteristics.
Many designs have lagged behind in the choice of topics from the very beginning, for example, I also did a project to design pillow bags for the lack of sleep in the current population. Reflecting on it now, this project is also a bit too ordinary, and anyone can do it. However, this is also a process of continuous accumulation, and more thinking can make progress.
I love the design
02 Is my underestimation of the portfolio
Before I started doing the portfolio, I thought it was just a matter of having time to do it, and then I started to find that I really couldn't do anything. From the beginning of the portfolio to the end of the application, the door of Chinese art, really came in and did not go out again...
What about nothing? Learn, learn little by little from scratch.
This process is actually very painful: every time I come up with a topic, I find that people have done it before; I have a hard time choosing a topic, I have investigated for a month and found that only one aspect of the problem is considered; when the preliminary preparation is finally completed, I think I am going to see the light, my design and the original idea cannot be linked...
Anyway, I'm like that hanging sandbag, not knowing when I'm going to get punched in the face by the portfolio. Haha, at that time, I would silently apologize to the portfolio in my heart every day, and I underestimated you before.
Wangcai prefers plastering paper
But don't worry, my family, I belong to the type that is more and more courageous. In fact, I still have some "fierce" energy in me, in order to make the portfolio look, I "quit" most of the hobbies I once had, all the time soaked in Chinese art learning, my band friends even once suspected that I evaporated haha.
Grinding the first project, I spent half a year. In learning ideas, learning software, learning technology, learning research, staring at factories, staring at details, staring at volume... After that, I felt like I was ok again.
After carefully going through all the processes, the next three projects went particularly smoothly. Here I want to praise myself twice, I feel that I am a person with strong hands-on ability, I can say more confidently, although my idea may only be 8 points, I can put all these 8 points of ideas on the ground. In addition, once I got serious and the efficiency of my work was relatively high, I finally got all the works set up a month before the first batch of imperial art was cut off.
Rifle also likes
But then again, despite receiving an offer from RCA, I think there is still a lot to improve in my portfolio, mainly because I entered the direction of bags late. My undergraduate school major was triaged in my junior year, and I waited until my junior year to decide to take the road of bags.
Compared with those students who have just entered the university and know exactly what they want to do in the future, they are indeed lagging behind. Therefore, I also want to say two sentences, we still have to determine the direction as early as possible, so that we can effectively use the four years of college to targeted learning.
03 Positive energy myself
Yes, I think I can "survive" all this because I have a good attitude.
This mentality is not only reflected in how much criticism I have received when I am really incompetent, but the more I am criticized, the more motivated I am (I really like strict teachers).
It is also reflected in the process of making my portfolio. In fact, my music bag project because of the whole six different instruments, they are really playable, blowing, playing, knocking each of the materials, craftsmanship are particularly different. Even the Chinese art teacher later said that almost no student had completed such a large volume.
In the eyes of others, my project may have been a real mess at the beginning, but I didn't panic at all. The premise of high efficiency is that the mentality is stable and planned, and the project is difficult to land, I will classify it little by little, and different materials will contact different factories. I myself have a little bit of detail control, in order to ensure the quality of the finished product, I sent my luggage to live in different factories and stared at them to work. Even at that time, in order to ensure the craftsmanship of the leather in the work, I went directly to the Hebei factory haha.
It is to be able to bear hardships + mentality well, will not face the problem when the first chaos, so as to ensure quality and efficiency.
Summer camp in a small exhibition of Chinese art
Looking back at the matter of studying abroad, I think that insisting on studying abroad in the epidemic environment itself is a very important thing to have a good attitude haha, there are constantly students around because the epidemic situation abroad is not optimistic and give up studying abroad, but I still feel that "there must be a road before the car to the mountain", since studying abroad is beneficial to its own development, it is worth trying.
Soon in September, I will go to Huangyi to study, and the pressure of schoolwork will be very great after changing to a one-year system. But in fact, I have carefully considered the matter of studying abroad and feel that studying is indeed an important aspect, but in addition to studying, experience is also very important. After all, soon after a year, you will face employment, see more, communicate more, and give yourself more options.
Japan "Minghe Electric" Beijing Exhibition
In the Imperial Art study should have a lot of opportunities to contact better than their own classmates, contact with the art field of big guys, etc., I currently hope that I can implement a good mentality to the end, do not be afraid of hitting the wall, learn from excellent people, but also personally experience the development of the cutting-edge fashion industry. That is to say, broaden your horizons, learn the lessons of undergraduate studies, and make early plans for the future.
Finally, I wish everyone to receive their ideal offer in the New Year! If you have more questions about art study abroad & portfolios, ask Mr. Kang again.