VOX 4D Summit - hosted by Daqri

So for the last 2 days I was at the Queen Mary in Long Beach attending a conference on "Augmented Reality." What is Augmented reality? It's like having that cybervision, but in real life. Think about Robocop, Terminator, Minority Report, Iron Man. It's bringing the digital realm into the physical world.

The conference was presented by a company called Daqri. What's super cool is that it was absolutely free! In addition to two days of speakers and workshops, there was free continental breakfast, lunch, an after-party with snacks and drinks! I mean.. I would go just for the free food!!

The topics included using AR technology (augmented reality) for storytelling, entertainment, education, public transit, government and art. The workshops were really interactive; you got to brainstorm ideas with other conference attendees and present your findings at the end of the conference. Occasionally, you would meet some Type-A PHd dude who was trying waaay to hard to sound smart, but most of the people there were pretty cool. Thumbs up! Watch the video to get a feel of what it was like! 

mixed green salad, tomato and mozzarella, cheese raviolli, eggplant parmesan, bread sticks

tiramisu

and of course - lots of sketching below!! so happy!

Deathstroke redesign

Not too familiar with this character - doing my best to make him look cool while keeping him true to the original story.

New York 8/22 - 8/29

Recently made a 1-week trip to new york. Video contains little vignettes of my trip to accompany my sketches below. I was going to include some cool hip-hop background music, but wanted the original sounds of NYC to left undisturbed.  I had a free airline ticket and stayed at my friend's place in Manhattan for a week (thank you James). Didn't have much of a plan, except to explore the city and feel what's it's like to be a new yorker. It was  a thrill to be in the city and explore so many new places. I feel a lot of gratitude to my friends and feel blessed to have such a wonderful experience. 

I feel like I learned a lot about myself. Here are some resolutions I made after this trip.

1) take more ownership of your life: seeing my friends live by themselves in their own apartment inspired me to take more responsibility for how I see. I currently say "I live with my parents." Why not say "My parents live with me," and take responsibility for the cleanliness and upkeep of the entire house; clean and cook and make sure the fridge is well stocked. It's giving the power back to yourself.

2) spend more time outside and in real life: I didn't have a computer/ smart phone for a week. But I was much happier living life and spending actual time with friends.

3) do things that interest you: it's not all about work and productivity. There's more to life than that.

4) be flexible - I didn't have a schedule or task list when i was in new york. I just went with my gut and did things on the fly. I hung out with friends when they were free and drew when I was by myself. It felt good.

5) explore more: i was looking at a map everyday. by the end of the week, i was giving other tourists directions. i want to have the same geographical savvy in california. Get maps and a GPS. 

k-town and williamsburg bridge (bottom)

lower east side neighborhood (top) view from MOMA (bottom)

lower east side (top) 9-11 memorial site (bottom)

subway sketches

more subway sketches  

airport sketches