HOLIDAYZ!!!

So it is now coming towards the end of my second week of my 3 week mid-year break from college, I have been hibernating for the most of it and now I'm bored lol...Guess what? I have come across an opportunity to sell some of my work in a store in Paddington. I am freakin' out with excitement and I can't wait to finish my artworks and finally get something out in the world. I literally worked my butt off last term (no joke! from the stress and lack of sleep i actually lost weight) and I really needed this break so that I could pretty much stuff my face before I commit myself to a busy-working mind frame and hopefully do better than last term.

But enough about college, today I was surfing the net and I came across this!!! No need to explain, just enjoy lol...

[PS: turn off the music in the side bar b4 watching]

PEACE OWT!!!

***New Art To Upload

Here's a page from my sketchbook, I finished it a couple of weeks ago and have only just scanned it like two days ago...That's pretty much my usual pace of things...It's how I roll lol...I was inspired by some graphic artist in a Graphics magazine, I can't even remember who it was or what the name of the magazine was HAH! Go figure! I've also uploaded this to my Myspace page along with another sketch that was inspired by my buddee Ipek...I've added the link below:

MY MYSPACE PAGE

www.myspace.com/ikihaangana

***THE H.Y.P.E. MOVEMENT

A few nights ago I stumbled upon this blog by a fellow Tongan by the name of Anapesi @ www.anapesi.blogspot.com and I found it somewhat liberating to have come across this movement that is slowly taking over and reaching people all over the world. H.Y.P.E. stands for Helping Youth Pursue Emancipation and it's a movement that encourages the youth to break free from the typical stereotypes and constraints that have been keeping them from becoming what they truly dream of. I can't believe I didn't stumble across this sooner. I think that the message that they are trying to convey is one of empowerment, courage and action and I believe it is something that not only pacific islanders, but people of all nations can relate to.

I remember back in high school, I was more into my art in all mediums than my sports and when I received recognition for topping my class it amazed me the number of people who would come up and congratulate me thinking I was awarded due to something sports related. To be honest, I found it a little frustrating, I mean don't get me wrong, I do love the fact that there is an area where we can excell and I am proud of that, because in a way it kind of paves the way for the rest of us to go forth into the world and achieve our own dreams of success. I just don't want there to be a cemented mind-frame set among Tongans (and all people alike) to think that that's the only way to it. I sit here running over countless stories in my mind of people that I grew up with who have fallen down the wrong path that ring true to the stories mentioned by the young children in the H.Y.P.E. Movement commercial above. And those kids, just by appearing in the commercial have already given us (and themselves) an immense head-start into our future.

I am proud of what we have accomplished already and am overwhelmed at the thought of what we can further achieve. I can't stress enough the hugeness of what we can grasp and to what lengths we can take it to. Join the movement, because I have. I am currently studying for my Bachelor of Design, majoring in Fashion. Once that's complete, I intend to take on the fashion industry head on.

***REST IN PEACE

Just a quick note to acknowledge a wonderful woman who was layed to rest on the 9th of April 09. She was always such a positive energy with a distinctive voice and the ability to always bring out a smile in you. This is how I remember her growing up as a child in Newcastle and although I had not seen her in several years, my memories of her great heart will never diminish.

Rest In Peace Elina...

***THE MAY'S LANE ART PROJECT

I think it's pretty obvious that my love for all kinds of art (especially street art) becomes apparent as soon as you lay your eyes on anything that I do.

Hence why the necessity for a second thought was thrown out the window when I attended the May's Lane Street Art Exhibition at Carriageworks a couple of weeks ago. It was AMAZING!!! Huge boards of art everywhere and my phone was in overdrive as a camera as I rapidly clicked shot after shot after shot. It was inspiring and I definitely have my favourites.

See the whole thing started when the director of the curated laneway Tugi Balog, moved to May Lane in 1999. Back then May Lane was a hotspot for theft and grafitti. So when Balog felt the need to do something he erected five massive interchangable boards for the grafitti to take place. Soon thereafter artists were coming from all around Australia and even overseas as well to energise and give this city a little colour. Tugi Balog does more than just put up boards but pitches in $30,000 a year to make sure that it continues to run year after year.

<--This one right here is my NUMBER1 choice of all the artworks there that day. It was just so different to all the others and if you saw it in person and witness it in it's large scale, you could actually see so much detail and appreciate the amount of work that went into it.

You can view all these pictures at my Myspace page...

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/IKIHAANGANA

***LATE UPDATES...

OK! first of all, I have taken off the Beyonce tour post in fear of being sued lol plus the video was actually removed by the owner so if it wasn't working when you were trying to play the video, THAT'S WHY!!! lol. I am currently on break from college and low and behold I have done diddly squat! Which is good because once college starts up again I will up to my neck in fabric swatches and sewing needles. SIDENOTE: Beyonce on the cover of US VOGUE magazine April issue, how good is that! B2WIWS* - Afew things have happened since I last posted so I'll do that ASAP...It's funny because I have already updated photo's on my Myspace page...

*B2WIWS = Back To What I Was Saying

***Myspace Updates

I've added a few pages that I've scanned from my sketchbook onto my Myspace page... It's pretty much where most of my work is at the moment.

This sketch right here---------------->
Is actually one of the characters I created towards the third quarter of last year. You've seen her in the other artwork I've done, except in that one she has two wings and in this one she just has one, symbolizing some sort of an imbalance keeping this angel earth bound. It depicts a rough transition into letting go a childhood that doesn't exist anymore.

I admit, I photoshopped those black cyborg-like holes in the image but I think it adds something to it...

Check out my Myspace page at:

::MYSPACE PAGE LINK::

www.myspace.com/ikihaangana

***My Personal Project

This term at Raffles I'm not doing much but Theory subjects so I came up with a small personal project of my own. I'm in the middle of designing a few things to create for my sister who will then model them in a small photoshoot, to which I'll photoshop and add some awesome effects to add to my portfolio.

<---Here are some of the sketches

Everything is still in early stages but i hope to get everything, designs, photoshoot and all done by April. Fingers crossed!!!

***All About The TATTOOS - PART II

Today commenced the 3 day "TATTOO EXPO!" And it was awesome to say the least. So many tattoo artists from around the world, Japan, UK, USA, Belgium, NZ etc... I must have spent 3 hours there at least and I think I walked around the entire Hall about 7 times. I'd do my first lap and people were just sitting to get their tattoo stenciled, and then my second lap, the artist would actually be drawing their tattoos on, 3rd lap they'd be tattooing the piece and so on and I saw some of the craziest tattoos you have ever seen. And when I say crazy, I mean crazy as in 'Can't-believe-I'm-witnessing-this-Awesomeness' crazy. It was far beyond inspiring to be there.

 I even saw this Tongan tatooist by the name of Carl Cocker who is one-part of the duo that runs KALIA TATTOOS. He was in the middle of tattooing somebody so i left him alone lol.

  

There were two Japanese stalls that stood out for me. One was an Artist by the name of Masa-Shi who also had another two tatooists tattooing simultaneously at his station. Masa-Shi runs the IV ETERNITY TATTOO parlour in Japan. And the other one was ECCENTRIC SUPER TATTOO lol. I watched Sabado as he drew his design freehand onto his clients abdomen, outlined it with a darker colour and then when I came back round to his stall he was already in the middle of tattooing his piece. 

  

But there was one small stall that I saw that killed me because I wanted to get a tattoo from them SOOO friggin' badly. It was an Indonesian artist by the name of Durga with his shop of the same name. I was going through his tattoo portfolio and I just died. There were heaps of crazy-awesome tattoo artists at the expo with mad skill but I just thought that this was for me. It's funny, recently I've been drawing this hindu goddess by the name of Durga who has 10 arms and in each hand she has a different weapon of some sort and a lotus. She's considered to be like this warrior aspect of the divine mother while manifesting fearlessness and patience and a sense of humour lol. And I've been drawing non stop interpretations of this goddess and then I run into a tattooist of the same name - coincidence? I think so? (not)... Another funny thing is, He did alot of tattoos of this elephant deity called Ganesha, which just so happens to be the child of Durga. 

  

Anyways, back to the expo. What can I say, I thought it was awesome. There were all different stores there, clothes-tattoo magazines-tattoo healing creams/ointments-henna tattoos and these:

    

This expo runs until this Sunday the 8th so Don't Miss Out. Here are some of the links:

DURGA

KALIA TATTOO

IV ETERNITY TATTOO

ECCENTRIC SUPER TATTOO (funny site)

***Another variation of my art

This is one of my artworks that I'm very proud of, hence the million different versions of it lol...

I've uploaded them all onto my Myspace page along with all the other pieces of work that I've done. 

Link:

www.myspace.com/ikihaangana

-You can view a larger version on my Myspace page.

***My MYSPACE Developments

I friggin' love this piece. I guess you could say it's another one of my graphic artworks but truth be told it took me honestly less than 5 minutes to create and I created it out of necessity for a decent background picture for my Myspace page lol (which I'm also addicted to right now, go figure!). I don't really blog as much on there as I do here but it's pretty much just another place for me to showcase my creativity. I actually LOVE what I created above if I must say so myself lol but yes, I'm quite proud of it and my Myspace page looks awesome because of it. CHECK IT OUT!!!

MY MYSPACE PAGE

***All About The TATTOOS

Not much more to say here, other than I CAN'T FRIGGIN' WAIT!!! I'm going to head down there this Friday and see what this world has to offer. I have been in love with the whole tattoo art world for some time and I'm still trying to come up with a design that would suit me personally. So I'm hoping to find some awesome inspiration while I'm there. It's on all weekend at the Sydney Olympic Park Showgrounds in Homebush - Exhibition Hall 4. It's $20 bucks to get in for one day, $30 for a 2-day pass and $40 for a 3-day pass but the tickets are cheaper when purchased in advanced at moshtix . There are however some entry details + opening hrs:

Day1: All welcome - Friday 12(Noon) to 10pm

Day2: No Colours  - Saturday 12(Noon) to 10pm

Day3: No Patches  - Sunday 11am - 7pm

The entry details are just to keep the peace but there is already MAD talent on their website, they're beyond phenomenal. The exhibition will feature over 130 tattoo artists nationally and several from overseas as well as body piercing artists from all over. The website link is:

WWW.TATTOEXPO.COM.AU

***Old Graphics and Myspace

I was browsing through my old pictures and stuff on my computer and found some of my old graphics. Here's one of them, I had like 50 on Beyonce alone haha go figure! I'd post them all but this blog would become a Beyonce fansite. I love photoshop!!!!

BTW as if this blogging experience wasn't enough I signed with Myspace.com. I now have Myspace too. I'm trying this new thing where I try utilising my time instead of wasting it on sleep and tv. Don't get me wrong I luv my TV but I'm sure there are better things out there. Plus it's also sticking to one of my New Years Resolutions which was to become more active. Last year I was a friggin log. This year, I've gone back to college, I'm working on a few projects of my own, I hit the gym every now and then (nowhere nearly enough as I should - baby steps!) and looking at my diary this year it's pretty full on already and it's awesome trying to keep myself busy, like as if I have this new outlook on life. (Far that cliche sounded so cheesy!)

Here's my Myspace page: www.myspace.com/ikihaangana -I have more of my graphics on my Myspace page.

Quicksilver T-shirt Design Competition

For the Fall season of 2009 Quiksilver and the team at DesignByHumans.com have come together to collaborate on a charity project benefiting the Tony Hawk Foundation where they are holding a QUIKSILVER 'DESIGN A DIFFERENCE' TEE CONTEST. There are heaps of awesome t-shirt designs already on the website and I submitted one of my designs below:

::Design By Humans Page::

-sign up and vote for my design

***The FIRST artworks

Here it is, my very first artwork post. I created it from a sketch I did and I think it hits home with the recent devastation of the bush fires plaguing our Southern Land. My heart goes out to those deeply affected by the tragic fires.

EDIT: I've edited this post so many times it's rediculous, but perfection is not joking matter lol (that was a joke...) I've added another artwork which I've titled "The Found" which can also be purchased from Redbubble.

  

***Edit: These are now officially up on Redbubble.com where you can purchase the artwork as Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints and as Posters. I've titled the piece 'A Prayer For You' which is something we all need every now and then.

You can view the artwork in Higher Quality at redbubble.com, link posted below:

::REDBUBBLE PAGE::

***House of Dereon

I thought I'd add this seeing as I'm all about the fashion and everything, but I came across this CRAZEE dress by House of Dereon which we all know is by Tina Knowles and her extremely famous daughter Beyonce. I must say, being a stan, that I fall toward being a little bit biased. I can hear the chuckles and the hysterical laughter coming from those who know me as they read that last sentence. Don't laugh too hard, milk will flush out!!!

As I was saying, there is this ad campaign with a blue dress I know everyone will die over.

***T-shirts @ REDBUBBLE

If you haven't heard about this incredible website, it is called RedBubble (Yes, it's one word). RedBubble.com is this awesome website that brings together inspiring artists from across international waters and gives them a platform in which to post their CRAZEEE works of art. There are painters, sketch artists, poets, writers, graphic designers, photographers...the list goes on. What I love about this site is not only can you interact with other creative minds but you get the chance to sell and buy your work on the website. There are terms and conditions but nothing to get too worked over. Another aspect I can't get over is the fact that you can now 'buy my t-shirts online'. RedBubble.com has given me a forum in which to sell some of my designs, for the time being.

So here is a link directly to my homepage with my designs:

www.redbubble.com/people/haangana

And here is a link to the actual websites homepage:

www.redbubble.com

***T-Shirt Launch

I've been trying to figure out what I'm gonna do from here on out but one thing that I cannot stop doing is coming up with designs for t-shirts. Several years ago I entered the Gluestore design a tee competition which I won. The prize, $5000 spending spree within the Parramatta Gluestore shop. It was awesome while it lasted, i spent most of it on my friends and family and picked up some awesome shoes and jeans for mah-self...

Here are some of my recent designs::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I've also got a few things cookin' up in my v.a.p.d. This is my attempt at my own line of t-shirts which I'm hoping will kick off soon. And if your looking closely at the last design, yes! it's my face lol I could easily put your face up there, just comment below and we'll see what we can do...

***It's Official...I Now Blog!!!

Falling on the revelation that 2008 just so happened to be the worst year so far (and I plan to keep it that way), it hits me that 2009 is not only already a vast improvement consequent to the tragic memories of the past, but that I was not alone in this mind frame. After talking to several people I find that 2008 was just a crappy year in general.

"I totally agree with you on the 2008 comment. I hated it. It felt like a waste of my existence..." As my cousin puts it so perfectly into words.

2009 was more than welcomed with a loud upbeat party at a friends house with unforgettable characters laughing over exaggerated dramas, a tournament over the pool table and forgetting who was in charge of turning the bbq (which of course was breakfast in the morning). 3 memories come to mind that night. 

First, the sight of my cousins face as a crowd of her drunk friends hug and squeeze her shouting "I LUV U GUYS! SOMETIMES I DOOO" while failing to balance the alcohol in their bottles as they accidently shower her top in pretty much all the ingredients for a lethal long island ice tea.

Secondly, the casualty of the night. It was hilarious at the fact how one slips and bruises their knee, and all of a sudden everyone around them pulls out a medical degree from their asses and becomes nurses and doctors at the Grey's Anatomy Hospital in Cambo.

And the third is a Miss Anonymous who kicked my ass in pool, played a little sumthin' on the guitar and drank beer with me 'til the afternoon the next day. I don't think there could have been anyone better to spend the first several hours of 2009 

with.

***But with all this aside, there is an actual point of this blog***

Kicking off 2009 with an awesome and formidable bang, I've decided to let rip a blog of personal development showcasing to the world what I'm all about. Because I can lol.

I'm currently a fashion student trying to get his degree at the Raffles college in North Sydney, college of design and commerce. It's not bad, but I like it, I've posted the link below for those who may or may not be interested. Feel free to email about it if you like, NOT TO ME, i don't care who to, just EMAIL ABOUT IT!

::RAFFLES COLLEGE LINK::

But other than that I'm pretty much up for anything creative, "I (heart) everything design" if that makes sense lol. So basically this is a forum for my crap, and it's good crap too and it's therapy for a tortured mind...