A rush job for the children. Too bad they didn't post the HD version. Merry Christmas!

I Make Children Cry

Here are a couple of animations I did for Super Simple Learning with Franfou Studios.

From reading the Youtube comments, I've apparently I've made a bunch of children cry with the animation of the elephant and the clock. With over 2.5 million views, that's a lot of children crying.

I love some of the comments though: "My son cried too, and I had to laugh and tell him its ok...he still yells everytime we watch it when the elephant comes out. He says, "No elephant, you too heavy!"" ~trethoma

"My daughter starts screaming as soon as the elephant shows up, I think it's the way he's announced, "AN ELEPHANT?? OH NO!!!!" with that menacing change in the music, lol!" ~FRANKYMOOK

"My 16-month-old signs "help" when the elephant gets on the clock. So cute!" ~pir4te4lyfe

Kids are very cute indeed.

I found some doodles on my desk.

I sculpted a pair of earrings this summer and I totally forgot to wear them until now.

I usually try to avoid medication but after taking a flight home with a fever, cough and sinus infection, my body was pretty much done for. Here's hoping the antibiotics do their thing.

Design for Social Change

A few weeks ago, I finished up a short course I had been eyeing for quite some time, called Design for Social Change with Kara Pecknold. Although it was pretty intense and fast paced, which left me feeling frustrated at times, (Kara adamantly forewarned us we would! We only had 6 classes.) it was definitely a good challenge and it took me out of my comfort zone and made me broaden my design thinking.

Our mini version of Dinner with a Side of Design

photo courtesy of Kara Pecknold at Olivelife

Springboarding from IDEO's Human Centered Design Toolkit, we began digging through the concepts and methods for designing with social aspects in mind. I learned that social change is not the same as raising awareness - social change has to be measurable, with units in social metrics (like job creation, training, improved health) as opposed to just dollars.

One team's concept and research shown with candy!

By the third class, we were split into groups that chose three different sectors. From there we learned and executed multiple design research methods. My group, which focused on the sector of health, tried a unique text prompting method where we texted participants the same question twice a day, for two days to get an immediate, in-the-moment-type of response.

Research Method: Text Prompting

photo courtesy of Kara Pecknold at Olivelife

My group ended up concentrating on health within the workplace, while another group

researched systems for socially responsible procurement methods with businesses in the DTES. Another group chose to rethink the transient space at Georgia Street and Granville.

Rethinking the space at Georgia and Granville

photo courtesy of Kara Pecknold at Olivelife

Our last class ended with a mini version of Dinner with a Side of Design, where we ate and brainstormed about a city of the future amongst fellow classmates and guest designers. During this last class, we also pitched our final prototypes to the guest panel.

Hunchback Bob before the wonderful posture improving product, SitFit

photo courtesy of Kara Pecknold at Olivelife

My group (we had a student industrial designer, Ben, in our group, yay!) prototyped a product that encouraged better health in the workplace, by creating a Wii-like device that could monitor posture and prompt one to drink water or take a break. It was pretty silly but thankfully it was the idea, the journey and the execution that mattered. We presented a story of Hunchback Bob who demonstrated the benefits of this product. I wrote and illustrated the story while Sue super powerpointed the research to bring it all together.

Not all designs for social change is a physical product. One group came up with a procurement system, executed on a website.

Another group conceptualized a community space and structure.

I think I would have enjoyed having more time to read case studies and examples of design that worked for social change, and learned more about the execution methods, funding options or where one goes after the pitch, but alas that's a lot to cover.

All in all, it was a very challenging course, but it gave me something to think about in regards to how my animation can incorporate aspects of social change. I'm not exactly sure how just yet, but it's always refreshing when animation can be more than mere entertainment.

I took a lot away from this one quote, which I like very much:

"Fail often to succeed sooner." - IDEO

*edit*

Here's how the giraffe on SitFit topples over if your posture is next to dismal

photo courtesy of Kara Pecknold at Olivelife

Here's a TV commercial for Smirnoff Rocket that I helped design and animate a couple of months ago. We were told to reference the styles of Roy Lichtenstein and Shepard Fairey. I animated the liquid pour, some characters and designed the last group of people in the party scene.

I've updated all the videos on my blog to be sourced from my Vimeo and be in HD. So embed codes and links in past posts have changed and they are now supposedly iPad, iPhone, and Flash friendly. Huzzah!

Here are the other two HST animations I helped with. I animated the top one, and I helped pose the 2nd one.

This month, we are having a referendum to vote for or against our controversial Harmonized Sales Tax here in BC. This is an animation I did for HSTinBC.ca, with Anik from Dancing Line Productions.

Do you know how you will vote? I'm still doing my reading and research. If you have any links to share about the HST's pros and cons, please let me know!

Burger Love

A wedding gift for my good friend Karen. They love to travel in search of good food.

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief Fundraising Update!

Total donations raised as of today from print sales: $3907!* $4907!

(*update: Oops, I forgot to include the $1000 that ING Direct matched)

Being that it's just a little over 2 months since the disaster hit Japan, I thought I should update you all on how much my cousin and I have raised so far in donations. She is up to $2000 USD, which has gone to Mercy Corps via Artists Help Japan, and I'm at $1907 $2907 CDN, which has gone to the Canadian Red Cross. Thanks so much!

Here's a picture taken by Sota from Crane for a Dollar at the VIVO fundraising event in March 2011. Sota has been selling buttons for a dollar and is going around local elementary schools here in the Lower Mainland, to teach kids about what happened in Japan and what it means to be compassionate, alongside button making and crane folding. He has partnered with local businesses to raise funds for Japan. Check out his website for the great work he's doing.

As for my prints, there are still some available online at my Etsy store, or at a couple of places like Blim, Blim's monthly market, and supposedly the Nikkei Centre's gift shop.

Thanks again to all who are supporting the relief efforts in Japan. We wish the victims in Japan the best in their recovery. There are daffodils growing amongst the tsunami ruins. Spring has arrived.

I sewed a ukulele bag a couple of weekends ago. I modified a box pouch pattern to create a tapered case. It's a pretty snug fit. This blog makes it look like I like to sew, but I actually don't... I realize I keep doing it cuz it's an easy way to create things in styles I like... yar... you win sewing.

Sketching at a waffle shop this weekend.

Bake for the Quake

Do you like cake? Go get some baked goods at Bake for the Quake this Wednesday April 20th, 2011 from 6-830pm at the Roundhouse! Some of my prints will be there and all donations will be going to Doctors without Borders for Japan. Cake... nom nom nom nom.

***UPDATE: They raised $7136 that evening! Awesomes!

I helped a tiny bit with the hand drawn inbetweens, clean up and coloring of this animation. More specifically, the last scene with the family in the doorway. Click image to view. Produced by my friend Guillaume's animation studio, Yeti Animation.

Here's a trailer I helped animate last spring. I did the two scenes that follow the text "FLIGHT".

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief Fundraising Update!

Total donations raised as of today: $2310!!!

Thanks for your support for Japan! You guys are amazing!!!

$1300 USD: The portion raised by my cousin Emika in Seattle, has been donated to Mercy Corps via the Artists Help Japan Fund. We've boosted their fund to go over the $2000 mark! Yay!

$1010 CDN: The portion we've raised here in Canada is going to the Canadian Red Cross as promised!

Extra thanks to those who've passed along the prints, given me contacts and printing help, came down to the fundraiser, posted on their websites, blogs and social media, and have sent me encouragement. And the Financial Literacy Counsel Inc for funding the prints!

Japan's recovery is far from complete, and today's 7.5 aftershock reminds us of the uncertainty ahead.

Prints are still available at helloyumiko.etsy.com or email me to get one directly

$10 minimum donation

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Upcoming local fundraisers where you can find my prints:

April 16, 2011
FOUR POINTS BY SHERATON: Japan Disaster Relief Dinner (100% tix sales to Red Cross excluding tax) 6-930pm with speech from the Japan Embassy ***UPDATE: They raised $7000 that night! Nice work!

April 24th, 2011

BLIM'S COMMUNITY MARKET: I Heart Japan Table (100% donations going to Red Cross) 12-5pm

May 5th, 2011
ART AUCTION: SAKURA SAKU NIHON E (To the Land of Cherry Blossoms) Waterfall Event Building 4-9pm

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Here are some links to artists fundraising for Japan!

- Crane for a Dollar by United Front animator Sota Yuyama

- BC Japan Earthquake Relief Fund: Calendar of Events

- Bake for the Quake: Bake sale at the Roundhouse

- Worldwide Sketchcrawl: Benefit Drawing Marathon for Japan

- Artists Help Japan - Toronto (kinda jealous there isn't one in Vancouver!)

- Artists Help Japan Movement

... feel free to leave links to other fundraising projects in the comments below :)

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If I can say one more thing: We can't negotiate or reason with the earth to stop shaking. Let's learn more about how to be prepared for earthquakes so we can be useful to others when disaster strikes. Vancouver has free workshops here and here to get started.

Nippon Makeruna! prints for sale:
100% of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross.

Please continue to support the relief efforts in Japan by purchasing a print for a minimum donation of $10!

All proceeds will go to the Canadian Red Cross.

8.5 x 7.5" digital print on 12pt cardstock, coated on one side

Please purchase through my Etsy store: www.helloyumiko.etsy.com

or email me directly at helloyumiko @ gmail.com

These prints have been made possible by a generous donation from the Financial Literacy Counsel Inc. who so kindly paid for the printing costs. www.flci.ca

I initially drew this drawing because I felt quite distraught and useless in the days following the disaster in Japan. Drawing surprisingly made me feel better as it expressed how I felt from the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Requests for prints have turned into a fundraising effort and I thank you kindly for your care and support for Japan. This is the least I can do to try and help Japan, as I watch in awe of the stories of courage, leadership and spirit that come from that country.

(A little 3-4 year old boy who clung onto his mom, was interviewed on NHK. He showed his drawings of the tsunami that had chased after him. They were drawn in black and blue crayon with swirls and sharp lines. He probably feels a hundred times more distraught than I did, but maybe drawing made him feel a little better, as it did for me.)

***Update: I have been invited to sell my prints at the Friends Across the Pacific: Japan Earthquake Benefit tomorrow at the VIVO Media Arts Centre on March 31st. Maybe I'll see you there :)

http://bc-jerf.ca/friends-across-the-pacific

"Nippon! Makeruna!"

I guess that loosely translates to, "Japan! Don't give up!"

Thank you for caring about Japan. My relatives are all okay but my brave uncle is helping to restore the electricity so our prayers are with him, as well as the rest of the country.

My mom saw a moving story on NHK last night of a boy in junior high who has, despite either losing or is missing loved ones, rounded up people to create a big banner and hung it in his high school, which is now an evacuation centre. It reads, "Gambare! Ikiteru koto o yorokobo!"

Japanese is so hard to translate the emotion behind the words, but it says (excuse my unjust translation), "We can do it! Let's all be joyful in knowing that we are still alive!"

I can't find a link about it, but if I do, I'll put it here because I'm no news reporter.

***Update: I am selling prints for a $10 minimum donation. 100% will go to the Red Cross. To purchase, please visit www.helloyumiko.etsy.com or email me directly. Thanks :)

Here's the last of them. More bank talk... blahblahblah....