My Lettering Process

Most of the time I have these moments when I don’t feel confident of my designs. I love them when I thought I had finished it, but when I put them online, I started to have these feelings that they’re not good enough. Especially when I compare myself to others that have the same style or so.

I won’t be as good enough as them.

So I must keep reminding myself, that I am very very very new and without any design education background or whatever. So every step that I did is a lesson in this lettering journey. Those people that I look up to, most likely they have been doing this for longer than I am, they have the education that is needed for it, and so on, and so on.

I have to believe that I’m gonna be in that state of excellent too in a few months or maybe years, but then of course they will also getting better too! And if I keep on comparing myself then I would never feel enough, while in fact I AM enough in my current situation right now.

I love the way Stefan Kunz (a lettering celebrity) says it: “Create something today even if it sucks!” Even tho I’m gonna regret the things I put online that I later don’t satisfy with, I must keep reminding myself, that eventually it will be worth it to see how I have grown as an artist.

(remember this, brain)

(remember this, brain)

(remember this, brain)

Although some people might think that education doesn’t matter, the real world actually didn’t say that. Haha. Most of the design job I look for, still requiring people with the education. And I’m not naive. Doing freelance and having my own small business right now is not enough to support my life yet. So what I do now? Keep looking for the unordinary opportunity while starting to get some online course in design field. Coursera and YouTube will be a perfect fit for me as of now. Skillshare is awesome, but I’m too poor for it. :p

And if you haven’t known already (because I never mentioned it here :p), I’m making my lettering a thing since November last year.

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You can follow me at:

Instagram: @aftrisletter (Most active place to see my lettering pieces)

FB page: @aftrisletter (The place to inform anything about my shops)

YouTube: AftrisLetter by Aftri Marriska (Where I put some lettering videos)

 

I currently sell my stuffs in two shops:

Indonesian based: tees.co.id/stores/aftrisletter

US based: www.society6.com/aftrisletter

 

 

Come take a look and support me! And if you want some custom designs for yourself and loved ones, just let me know ❤

Akhirnya Bali

Holaa ^_^

Akhirnya update blog. Karena pamer mode on. Haha. Update blog-nya kalo mau sharing yang senang-senang aja :p

Ngapain di Bali? Pengennya sih pindah dan tinggal di sini :p Tapi ini lagi liburan aja sih. Udah direncanain dari bulan Februari kemaren, bareng sama temen dari Swedia yang pengen cuti ke Indonesia demi bertemu diriku. #terharu

Disclaimer: bukan pacar tapinya loh ya, temennya cewek kok.

Tadinya temen gue ini mau ke Indonesia pas liburan natal dan tahun baru nanti. Tapi berhubung gue udah mulai kere tudemaks karena belum-belum kerja juga, jadi dimajuin deh. Sebelum gue kehabisan duit buat foya-foya gitu. Hahaha! #ditendang.

Berhubung udah 4 tahun ga bener-bener rencanain “liburan”, saking semangatnya booking-booking hotel udah mulai dari bulan April aja dong. Hihihi. Kami bakal pindah ke 6 tempat, termasuk Gili Trawangan juga. Jadi lumayan ada bahan buat apdet blog. Pasti kalian pada kangen kan? HAHA. Ntar abis liburan dari Bali, sepi lagi deh blognya tapi :p

Ini hari ketiga gue di Bali. Masih ada 18 hari lagi :p Temen gue masih rada jetlag, jadi kemaren-kemaren masih hari-hari santai aja. Hari ini baru mau ke Tanah Lot. Sekarang ini nginapnya di Canggu. Jadi blogpost selanjutnya bakal gue isi sama review hotel dan makanan sekitar sini ya.

Selamat menunggu :p

 

PS: Karena kemaren Raisa udah married, nulis blognya sambil looping lagu Kali Kedua. Enak loh, buat mood pagi hari di Bali. #apaanSih.

PPS: Tumben2an, pas liburan aja bisa bangun pagi jam 6. Sementara temen gue masih molor :p

Woop Woop

It’s been a while not writing anything.

Just had an event that guided me back to this blog. Got me read some of my writings. I think I was funny, wasn’t I? Haha. And now, I think I’m just looking for an agreement to gain myself a bit of self-confident 😛

Still have nothing important going on in my life, I guess. Though something has finally breaking through in the journey of getting a dream job (or any job at all..haha..). Looking forward to see where it might end up to.

Gonna get the fun side back eventually 🙂

Woop Woop!!

Have a nice day

One of the things that I miss the most about Sweden, is when I met people that I know (and when we say goodbye), we hug. Somehow, it is a kind of gesture that is very sweet and comforting.

Another one is, no matter the time, we’ll say to each other: “Have a nice day!”

I think it gives a boost of energy to keep up with my day/night, even though it could be harsh.

Sadly, I  don’t get that a lot here. Like super rarely.

I should just start to say it to myself, every morning (or noon) when I wake up.

Still missing some people to hug, though.

Help

Sometimes, for someone who seems to like to help people, getting help for oneself seems like a luxury.

And I am looking for that luxury.

Kepo

Orang Indonesia itu memang ramah ya. Saking ramahnya, seringnya malah jadi kepo, yang ujung-ujungnya bikin ganggu kenyamanan 😛

Sejak di Jakarta, karena sering ngojek/neksi, jadi ya kadang suka agak basa-basi dikit. Nanya supirnya, “Tinggal di mana, Pak/Bu/Mas/Mbak/Dek?” Biar sekedar tahu aja sih, sapa tau tinggal-nya jauh dari tempat tujuan gue, jadi minta maaf duluan, biar dese sabar gitu jalan-jalan ke ujung berung.

Kalo naik motor, biasa-nya pembicaraan cukup berhenti disitu aja. Paling dikit-dikit selama di jalan, ngasih tau arah (padahal gue juga biasanya ga tau jalan).

Kalo naik mobil, gue malah bersyukur kalo dapat supir yang diem aja. Putar lagu aja (asal jangan dangdut), dan diam, biar konsentrasi nyetir aja deh supirnya. Yang nyebelin, kalo dapat supir yang lalu ngajak ngomong terus. Pernah sekali dapat yang ujung-ujungnya jualan asuransi. Biasanya kalo udah gini, gue terus nelpon nyokap, jadi bisa ngobrol sepanjang jalan. Tapi ya karena perjalanan jauh, gue juga ga ngobrol sampe sejam-duajam gitu sih di telepon. Begitu telepon ditutup, supir-supir ini terus deh mulai ngajak ngobrol dan nanya-nanya lagi.

Seperti tadi barusan yang dapat supir kepo banget. Gue nelpon nyokap, tapi sayangnya ga bisa lama. Jadi abis nelpon, di-kepo-in lagi deh. Nanyanya macem-macem. Mulai dari orang asli mana, sampe umur berapa. 😐

“Orang asli mana, mbak?” — “Pontianak.” — “Di sana banyak Cina ya mbak? Mbak jangan-jangan keturunan Cina ya?” — “Gak.” — Obrolan ini sudah tidak nyaman, tambah jadi tidak nyaman sama sekali.

“Single ya mbak? Enak ya, masih bisa jalan-jalan ke mana-mana.” — “Iya, emang, Pak. Enak banget hidup saya.”

“Saya denger-denger tadi, mau kerja jauh-jauh itu, mbak, keluar negeri ya?” — Nyambung aja ini orang nanggepin obrolan gue sama nyokap. “Iya, saya ga mau kerja di sini.” — “Kenapa, mbak?” — “Saya ga suka di sini.” — “Why?” — “Ya, ga suka aja.”

“Emang pernya ke luar negeri, mbak?” — “Pernah. Kemarin kuliah di Swedia 2 tahun.” — “Oh, gitu. Pantesan mbak. Orang Indonesia lulusan luar negeri mah ga dihargai di sini. Orang Cina aja yang dipekerjakan di sini, padahal ga jelas kualifikasinya, gajinya mahal banget, mbak. Padahal buruh doang juga.” — Lagi-lagi ini Bapak, ngomongin orang Cina 😐

“Bapaknya masih kerja, mbak?” — “Gak, udah lama meninggal.” — “Oh… Dulu kerja di mana, mbak? Pengusaha sawit ya?” — “Gak, swasta.” — “Tambang ya, mbak?” — “Gak, kontraktor aja.” — “Perusahaan sawit di sana banyak ya mbak?” — “Iya. Banyak masalah kebakaran hutan juga.” — “Iya itu mah, orang-orang kapitalis, mbak. Yang mau menguasai lahan Indonesia. Sama dengan minyak di Balikpapan juga, mbak. Itu orang Asing itu maunya gitu, mbak. Nguasain negara kita.” — “Mau orang asing atau bukan orang asing, kalo rakus, ya rakus aja, Pak. Gak ada bedanya.”

“Jadi mbak sekarang kerja apa, mbak?” — “Freelance. Mau ke luar negeri. Saya cari kerja di sini ga dapat-dapat.” — “Mbak-nya kurang usaha kali, mbak. Satu lagi nih, mbak. Mbak orang muslim bukan?” — “He eh.” — “Kalo orang muslim itu mbak, harus banyak doa, mbak. Kalo gak doa ntar gak dapat-dapat, mau mbak ke mana-mana juga. Kalo orang muslim, pasti dibantu sama yang di atas, mbak.”

Trus kalo ga muslim? Tuhannya ga mau bantu dia gitu? Trus kalo ga muslim, ga berhak dapat kerja gitu?

Trus pas ditanya keturunan Cina atau bukan, gue jawab aja “Gak”, padahal aslinya iya gue emang keturunan Cina. Abis malah jadi horror. Ntar kalo ngaku Cina, diapa2in di jalan kan berabe. Jadi kasian sama orang keturunan Cina yang tinggal di negara ini. Udah lah ga bisa milih lahir jadi keturunan Cina, tetep aja ada yang musuhin cuma karena Cina.

Gue bete.

Gue benci kalo ketemu orang-orang macam ini. Racist people.

Padahal ga boleh menjadi benci dan menyebarkan kebencian ya.

Tapi gue ga bisa ga sebel.

Sebel juga jadi sering berprasangka buruk sama orang, karena takut diapa-apain.

Cewe, sendirian, ga jago karate lagi gue. Cari aman aja.

Makanya malas tinggal di Indonesia.