35 vs 19

今早背著大包小包去上學，沿路的樹都光禿禿了，嘉蕊上周末和我說：樹葉應該要在樹上的，怎麼都在地上呢？轉眼間，我在這裡的第三個月開始了。

This morning I went to school with a huge tote bag and my new Telecube. The trees on the sidewalk are stripped of leaves.  Jazel made a cute comment last weekend: The leaves are supposed to be on the branches. How come they are all on the ground? In the blink of an eye, my third month in London has started. 

今天是開學以來功課最多的一天，本來我們還以為老師搞錯了「羅密歐與茱麗葉」功課的日期，但一早我們就被分成兩組，一組先做插畫報告，我則是從羅茱的報告開始。

Today is the most stressful day since the term has started. We had the presumption that the tutors must have got wrong the date for the Romeo and Juliet assignment. Unfortunately, we were split into two groups right from the beginning--one went with the final illustration presentation while the other group started with the Romeo and Juliet project, to which I belonged. 

我們把作業貼在牆上，別人大約貼個五張，我有二十張以上，而且平面設計組的人做的方向和我們不太一樣，我不知這是認知問題還怎樣，總之我讀完作業單的想法是：我們要從周一老師列出的十個大主題中選五個，從中發展細部想法，除了要使用文字，也要去找各種影像和視覺語言，還要自己畫圖。

We posted our assignments on the wall. Most people had about 5 sheets whereas I had more than 20. Graphic art majors did the homework rather differently from the illustrators. I wonder if it's a difference in our cognition of the assignment or in our intrinsic training. Anyway, after I finished reading the brief, my idea was: We had to choose five themes out of the ten topics given by Derek on Monday and developed ideas further from each of them. Apart from using words, we had to look for all kinds of images and visual languages. Also, we had to draw ourselves. 

小淳畫 / drawn by me

小淳畫 / drawn by me 

剪貼 / clippings 

左下角小淳畫 / the bottom left image drawn by me 

左上和右下為小淳畫，傑克最愛的是左上圖 / the top left and bottom right images drawn by me, the previous is Jake's favorite 

剪貼 / clippings 

小淳畫 / drawn by me 

左圖為小淳畫 / the left-hand image drawn by me 

左上和右邊為小淳畫 / the top left and the right images drawn by me 

剪貼 / clippings 

小淳畫 / drawn by me 

小淳畫 / drawn by me 

右圖為小淳畫 / the right side image drawn by me 

左圖為小淳畫 / the left side image drawn by me 

左圖為小淳畫 / the left side image drawn by me 

小淳畫，這也是傑克覺得很搶眼的圖 / drawn by me, this is the other image that Jake finds eye-catching 

右下角為小淳畫 / the bottom right drawn by me 

剪貼 / clippings 

右邊為小淳畫 / the right side image drawn by me 

剪貼 / clippings 

我貼滿了一面牆，傑克看了和大家說，客戶要看到的就是這種景象，其實我昨天在兩個多小時之內生出十幾張圖，因為這種畫的功能在於想法開發，所以不講究技術，我用馬克筆和黑墨畫得很快，因為傑克在我報告之前說，平面設計師的層級是高於插畫家的，前者在於整體概念的設計，後者則要為他們畫圖，我今天不知吃了什麼藥，很大言不慚地和大家說：我挺喜歡用黑墨畫大膽的線條，這裡有人要雇用我的話，請和我連絡。

My assignments covered a wall. Jake told everybody that this was exactly what the clients wanted to see. In fact, yesterday I produced a dozen of drawings within 2 and half hours. These images were mainly for developing ideas, so there was no need to focus on the fine lines. I used markers and Chinese ink to draw fast. Before I gave the presentation, Jake said that graphic designers are above illustrators in that the former work mainly on concepts, and when they need pictures, they go to illustrators. I had no clue what had come over me today. I said to the class, "I quite like the bold lines achieved by ink, so if anyone here would like to hire me, please contact me." 

中午休息之前跑到另一組看其他人的插畫報告，欣上台報告時，嘉欣很羨慕地說：她小時候就開始學畫圖，所以知道很多東西。我說：你也很好啊，而且你現在有很多時間！我都三十五了怎麼辦？她居然又很羨慕地說：你有很多經驗和想法啊！這句話讓我覺得年紀大也不錯。

Before the noon break, I went to the the other studio to participate in others' illustration presentations. When Xin was showing her works, Jia-xin said with envy: She started to learn drawing when she was little. She knows so many things...I said, "Your works are good too. Besides, you have so much time as well. I am already 35..." She then told me with envy: But you have so many ideas. Her remarks made me feel that it's not so bad to be the elder in class. 

艾登上週沒去網印工作坊，看在他平常是我鄰居的份上，我提醒他之後有排網印課的日子還是可以去補，我們最近一直在確定日期，中午溫蒂和我借湯匙，艾登沒帶午餐，我問他要不要吃我的巧克力餅乾，他說我簡直就是瑪麗帕金斯，我上網查，她是神奇的英國保姆，被東風吹進家家戶戶去照顧小孩，想不到艾登已經看穿我愛照顧人的個性了。中午還和泰緹安娜聊了一些父母的想法，真有趣，想不到蘇俄的爸媽和我家的爸媽一樣，都希望我們去做賺錢的工作，也對啦，這些我都懂，只是現在暫時放在一邊。

Aidan didn't attend the screen printing workshop last week. Since he's one of my friends in class, I reminded him that he can still go to other screen printing lessons. Lately we have been confirming the date. At noon Wendee borrowed a spoon from me. I offered Aidan a chocolate cookie since he didn't have lunch with him. He said that I am Mary Poppins, the magical English nanny that flew with the East wind into households to take care of children. I  guess he has seen through my nanny personalities. During lunchtime I also chatted with Tatiana about parents. It's interesting that Russian parents are no different from mine in that all of them want us to do jobs that will help us earn big money. Right, I know about all that. It's just that I put it aside for the time being.

下午開始我們的插畫報告，傑克決定從早上沒有報告的同學開始做，他今天有好多改變，早上本來要如往常讓遲到的同學先上台，突然心意一變說：你是遲到的人，所以你不應該得到回饋！他一定是接收到我的訊息了！而且他今天很努力地在控制時間，圖中的黑人新同學就是我們的碼表天使。（傑克為右邊數來第二個背影。）

In the afternoon we started our presentations of illustrations. Jake decided to let people who hadn't talked in the morning go first. So much change came over him today. For example, when he was about to make a latecomer show his works, he changed his mind, saying, "You are late, so you don't deserve a crit." He must have received my message in one way or another. Besides, he worked very hard to control time. The new friendly-looking black classmate was our stopwatch angel. (Jake is the second from the right hand side.) 

儘管如此，我並沒有時間上台報告，還好圖有貼出來，至少讓大家看一下。要去聽演講之前，勵雯讓我為她做了個人的報告，她和我說她覺得很棒，這樣安慰了我不少。

Despite all that, there wasn't time left for me to give the presentation. Luckily, I posted my paintings on the wall from the start, so at least everyone saw it whether they chose to or not. Before going to Derek's lecture, Li-wen let me give her a solo presentation. She  told me that she liked them, which comforted me a lot. 

傑克和露都不斷重複：很多圖很棒，但我們的工作在於傳達訊息，所以我們畫的圖內容要很清楚直接。我針對這點完全轉換方向，把重點放在豆豆鳥的滅絕上，歐洲人帶去模里西斯的貓狗豬吃掉很多豆豆鳥的蛋，再加上豆豆鳥讓我感覺過度天真，我想要表達這些重點。

Jake and Lou keep repeating that good as many images are, our job as illustrators are to communicate. Thus, we have to convey a clear message through the images. I drastically modified my direction after last week's crit. The cats, dogs and pigs brought to Mauritius by Europeans ate up the eggs of dodo birds. In addition, they give me the impression of being naive, so these are my points. 

版本一：遠看效果還好。

version 1: The visual effect from a distance is alright. 

版本二：我很喜歡這張的視覺效果，雖然留很多白，卻不覺得空。

Version 2: I like the visual effect of this one a lot. The white doesn't make the image empty at all. 

看到傑克在課後抽空幫泰緹安娜看畫，我雖然不是個強勢的人，但覺得我既然都付了學費，一定要主動，我真的是把畫直接塞到老師鼻子下，結果連露也幫我一起看，果然兩個人的風格很不同，露會說出每一張的優缺點，例如說第一版雖然沒有第二版好，但她說水彩的效果很好，而且她看到很小的細節，如破蛋而出的小豆豆鳥；傑克則說，我的羽毛線條沒有自信，我不知道自己在畫什麼，真是命中要害啊！第一版是較晚畫的，他一眼就看出那應該是練習比較多次的線條，讓我只能對自己說，你回家好好練吧！

Seeing that Jake spared time to look at Tatiana's works after class, I decided to be active since I'd paid so much tuition fee. I literally shoved the paintings under the tutors' noses, so it turned out that Lou gave me a crit too. They have very diverse styles. Lou told me the strengths of a drawing which I didn't do well. For example, though the first version is not so eye-catching as the second one, she said she likes the texture of the grass. She also saw very small details such as the baby dodo bird bursting out of the egg. Jake said that I had no idea what I was doing when it comes to the hatching for the feather in the second version. True, because the 1st version was done later, he figured that I must have had practiced more. He saw right through the lines, so I could only tell myself, "Go home and practice as much as you can!" 

早些紅髮喬畫了一張超棒的大猩猩，也用了線畫，傑克說喬的線畫散發著自信，我的線條沒有那種自信。

Earlier the red-haired Joe showed an awesome drawing of a gorilla. Jake said his hatching exudes confidence, and my lines of the dodo bird's feather doesn't. 

還好好幾個小朋友都說他們很喜歡我的作品，走去演講廳的路上，黑髮喬問我是不是花很多時間在功課上，我問他幾歲，他說十九，我說他有十六年可以趕上我，而他很輕易地就可以做到，我沒有時間了，只有現在‧‧‧

It was nice that several classmates said they really like my works. On our way to the lecture hall, the black-haired Joe asked me if I spent much time on my assignments. I asked him how old he is. He is 19, which means there is an age difference of 16 between us. In other words, he has another 16 years to catch up with me, which I am sure he will in less than 16 years. I don't have time. All I have is now...