Tag: creative

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Digital Art Commission

This is the second digital art I’ve commissioned this year, the first one being a Nisha fanart. This one is an illustration of one of my poems: Live Your Life. The poem is part of the collection A Season of Poetry.

Here is the digital art commission, and the artist is Laurentia Prisca.

September 2021

Get to Know the Artist

As usual, curious me asked the artist some questions so I can get to know her better.

Airin : How did you learn to draw?

Laurentia : Self-taught from tutorials! And also seeing references which is similar to my style.

Airin : What attracts you to making digital art ?

Laurentia : I saw some of my favorite KDrama illustrations on Instagram, so I got interested to try it out, but not seriously. When the lockdown started, I was so bored being at home all the time, so I decided to refresh myself by working on the digital art.

Airin : What do you do for work ?

Laurentia : I’m a geotechnical engineer.

Airin : (at this point I am highly impressed) I bet you have other hidden talents! What are your other hobbies?

Laurentia : I enjoy singing, and I watch a lot of movies.

What a cool gal! Check out her other digital drawings on her Instagram gallery.

If you are enjoying my website, subscribe to my newsletter and get exclusive bonus contents and updates!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Channeling Anger Into Creative Energy

“Anger is a tool,” said Frances Bowden Affandy (anthropologist). If you follow my blog, you will notice that Frances is a frequent presence on this site. She was also a guest speaker for one of my earlier podcast episodes.

This one morning, I was talking to her about angry energy, and she helped me to realize that just like many other emotions and energy, it is really, a tool. Harnessed in the right way, anger can push you to do many things you would not have had the guts to do otherwise. Now some of these might be destructive decisions, and that’s where anger management comes in.

Angry Muse

I have fallen to that many times, and probably will again. I’ve been so angry that relationships have been ruptured for good, bridges have been burned, and collateral damage abounded. I realized though that if I just channel this wave of nuclear energy in myself into a creative project, then it usually turns out to be something rather cool!
For example, I was got so angry on a recent project that I sat down and wrote a WHOLE MUSICAL in 24 hours. This includes 11 scenes and the lyrics to 5 new songs for the musical. Some say I was kissed by a muse. Well, I know the muse was anger.

The musical is called Bobo Lee, inspired by the life of my grandmother. I had written two posts about her for Chinese New Year celebrations this year. Ever since then, I have been thinking to develop it into a stage musical.
I imagine this will take about 3 years of preparation to stage. This consideration includes riding out the Covid-19 pandemic. I do want it to be a live theatrical experience for everyone. In the meanwhile, if you are curious about the results of my angry muse, you can visit Bobo Lee Musical on Instagram.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

The Last Five Years Producer Speech

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Airin Efferin, your friendly host for tonight’s yet another Zoom session. In the context of The Last Five Years production though, I am your UNFRIENDLIEST MEANEST BITCHIEST co-producer. While we wait for some people to enter, let me show you this picture.

Andrea Miranda as Cathy Hyatt, The Last Five Years (table read)

This was the table read in 27 February 2021. A table read is the first time the whole cast and crew go through the script from beginning to end. This table read was done via zoom, just like now, and so this production is truly a pandemic production. It was concepted, designed, executed, filmed, and streamed during the coronavirus pandemic.

For all the people involved in this production, from volunteers to severely underpaid workers, think about that for a moment. You created an awesome show during one of the most challenging times of human history. It’s easy to create when times are good. It’s not easy to create in hardship. And yet, that’s what all of you did.

So I hope you are sitting straight and feeling real proud of yourselves, because look what you did – look what we did. I hope that some years down the road, whenever you’re feeling stumped or blocked or like you want to give up, just remind yourselves about this project. Remind yourself that you were a part of something that at first seemed truly impossible. Something that created history (at least, musical theatre history – in Indonesia ) and remember that you CAN.

If you can do this, who knows what else you will be able to do.

This producer speech was written for the online premiere of The Last Five Years (June – July 2021). Streaming tickets are still available now at Kiostix. Support us by buying and watching online!