<![CDATA[Stories by Ferdi Zebua on Medium]]> https://medium.com/@ferdifz?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/fit/c/150/150/1*gP0-NmrlpntHwjE281UArg.png Stories by Ferdi Zebua on Medium https://medium.com/@ferdifz?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 Medium Sat, 14 Nov 2026 06:47:16 GMT <![CDATA[Should I do Inktober 2025?]]> https://medium.com/ferdis-drawings/should-i-do-inktober-2025-b2e8cf6b86b1?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/b2e8cf6b86b1 Wed, 10 Sep 2025 17:05:18 GMT 2025-09-10T17:05:18.901Z Send me a sign, Internet…

(Or not, like whatever right? Lol…)

—

I last did Inktober in… checks instagram… 2022.

Anyways, yeah…

/ping/

prompts from inktober.com.

Should I do Inktober 2025? was originally published in Ferdi’s Drawings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

]]> <![CDATA[Dear Medium community/ecosystem]]> https://ferdifz.medium.com/dear-medium-community-ecosystem-abd91b2b6579?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/abd91b2b6579 Fri, 12 Jan 2024 15:01:47 GMT 2024-01-12T15:01:47.625Z Convince me to post and/or otherwise interact with your social network.

If you please.

(Me, pinging Medium after… years? Years, I’m almost confidently guessing, of essentially & effectively never interacting with Medium, ever.)

]]> <![CDATA[Two Months in One]]> https://medium.com/ferdis-drawings/two-months-in-one-5521fec8fa18?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/5521fec8fa18 Mon, 28 Feb 2022 18:50:12 GMT 2022-02-28T18:50:12.450Z Ferdi’s Drawings Newsletter — Issue 017, February 2022

I hardly drew in January 2022. And yeah I skipped January because it was already February 25th when I started drafting this edition. So here’s my drawings roundup for both January & February 2022.

The January & February Drawings

Square and Triangle Study

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | JoinDiaspora

Started as a doodle, and published still as a doodle. This began as me practicing drawing squares, circles, & triangles in freehand as a warm-up exercise.

Square Circle Meditation

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Joindiaspora

Inspired by a comment from David Krakauer in 2016, recently rediscovered:

“One of my favorite philosophers who very few people know is Alexius Meinong who had an elaborate theory of the ontology of imaginary objects: the existing world — things we see like cups and glasses, cats and dogs; the subsisting world — mathematical theorems — they kind of exist but they’re not like apples and oranges — he called that subsistence; and the absisting world which is the possible impossible objects, for example a square-circle. Now, a square circle is possible in language but it’s impossible in reality; it’s a contradiction. Yet, if you say that to people, they immediately imagine something like a donut as rendered by Piet Mondrian.”

Suffice it to say I got to thinking, “Hey wait a minute, a square-circle is a cylinder!” I suppose one can argue that it’s not, but regardless here was my go at it.

Wall-Climbing Illustration

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diasp.org

My brother asked me to create an illustration for him, to be used internally at his office, portraying a wall-climbing race. What I finally gave him was a more full-colored version, but this version I kinda-sorta liked better, I think…

Buttons (line-sketch)

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diasp.org

Rows and rows of buttons, to push… This one is also an update to an idea I had in July 2021. Still not done yet.

Figure Study (4 by 5 tall extension)

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diasp.org

Not a completely new drawing, no; this is an update from a drawing I did back in October 2021. Pulled the lens back a bit wider, so to speak, to see more of the dancer…

Painted myself into a corner (sketch from late February)

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diasp.org | Mastodon.cloud

I got the idea for this in my head way in the middle of this February, maybe even earlier I can’t exactly recall. Anyways I only posted this version by February 27th. The idea being that my raising my quality standards has made me more self-conscious about the drawings I put on the Internet… But like, that shouldn’t be the case, etc., etc.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Meta & Administrativa

Yes I’ve been significantly slacking in the number of original drawings I’ve posted to the Internet, and I’m certainly far from my latest personal target of at least ten (10) drawings per month. I’m not going to beat myself up over it though. And I also have some strategies & tactics I’m considering so that I will continue enjoing sharing my drawings on the Internet, and continue improving my drawing skills while doing so.

I don’t think I’ll keep posting drawings on the Internet if I don’t improve my drawing skills while at it. And I’m very sure I’m going stop drawing if I don’t enjoy it. I’ll never stop doodling though, no definitely not, but one thing that’s definitely not off the table is I might stop posting my drawings on the Internet. At least on the regular.

So yeah, either I make this work, or I make this stop. Hopefully I can still make this work. I’m pretty sure I still can.

Things & happenings that I can’t seem to not think about this month

  • Ukraine: Man there’s so much going on, what with the gaslighting & disinformation campaign Putin’s Russia and Putin’s sympathizers have been engaging in. Luckily most of the World still hangs on to the core truth that Putin has ordered Russian state apparatus to invade a sovereign country, and Putin has done so in clear violation of several international laws & compacts regarding rules of engagements of war. (TL;DR: Putin is a war criminal, and is doing war criminal things. And strongman bully things, too. But he’s not getting his way just like that. Oh no no no.)
  • Also per day 3 (Feb. 27), there are reports that as much as 3,500 Russian troops have been killed in the offensive. Might be an exaggeration but at least a few multiple hundreds I’m sure, what with the two Ilyushin Il-76s transport planes downed, and that Russian convoy bombed & burned in that highway, and so on and so forth. Poland is also supporting fast-tracking Ukrainian membership in the EU. Germany reversing course and finally sending “lethal aid”. And so on and so forth.
  • My sister got COVID, but we’re fine now. Our family then self-isolated at home for 10 days and our latest tests confirm we’re now clear.
  • NFT and crypto-economic scams. Compiling some links. Maybe write a new blog-post updating my personal position. Or maybe not.
  • JoinDiaspora, the first ever Diaspora* server, is going away. A transition team has been formed though, and all data will remain downloadable per private user, and will be stewarded by the main Diaspora Foundation. Thus why I’ve established a new Diaspora account at @ffz@diasp.org, since I soon won’t be able to post anything anymore to my original 11-year old account at @ffz@joindiaspora.org.

My socials etc.:

If you’re reading this on the Web, please consider sending me feedback by commenting here on Medium. Alternatively you can also hit me up at my socials. Feedback & constructive criticism really helps and would really encourage me, and it would help me grow my editorial & current-affairs drawings & illustration skills to get feedback.

Thank you for reading. 🙏

Two Months in One was originally published in Ferdi’s Drawings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

]]> <![CDATA[More Drafts, No Descriptions]]> https://medium.com/ferdis-drawings/more-drafts-no-descriptions-aa8667ca08ae?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/aa8667ca08ae Tue, 04 Jan 2022 17:18:32 GMT 2022-01-04T17:18:32.816Z Four Drafts, but No Descriptions

Ferdi’s Drawings Newsletter — Issue 016, December 2021

Happy New Year, by the way!

The December Drawings

Cat Face

Ello | Instagram | Diaspora | Mastodon | Twitter

Generation Sandwich

Ello | Instagram | Diaspora | Mastodon | Twitter

I can’t draw

Ello | Instagram | Diaspora | Mastodon | Twitter

Christmas Cherry-Picking

Ello | Instagram | Diaspora | Mastodon | Twitter

Bonus Drawings (kinda-sorta)

I don’t know what I’m trying to draw (abstract)

Ello | Instagram

Sunset Colors

Ello | Ello | Ello | Ello | Ello | Instagram | Diaspora

Old unused artworks for SBF website (2007)

Ello | Ello | Ello | Ello | Instagram | Twitter

2021 Best Nine at Instagram

Instagram | Ello | Diaspora

Miscellaneous tidbits

Meta & administrativa

I’m trying something new for this December roundup. I’m not putting any additional description text under each drawing/artwork. But do let me know if you want explanations for these drawings.

You can let me know either by saying so in the comments below this Medium post, or by contacting me through any of my social-media accounts (listed below).

Some selected Web-links

My socials etc.:

If you’re reading this on the Web, please consider sending me feedback by commenting here on Medium. Alternatively you can also hit me up at my socials. Feedback & constructive criticism really helps and would really encourage me, and it would help me grow my editorial & current-affairs drawings & illustration skills to get feedback.

Thank you for reading. 🙏

More Drafts, No Descriptions was originally published in Ferdi’s Drawings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

]]> <![CDATA[Priorities Management and Drawings Dreams]]> https://medium.com/ferdis-drawings/priorities-management-and-drawings-dreams-9f8bdb7052aa?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/9f8bdb7052aa Wed, 01 Dec 2021 09:41:16 GMT 2021-12-01T11:24:40.518Z Ferdi’s Drawings Newsletter — Issue 015, November 2021

I only made five drawings this month but that’s fine. Also fair warning: the third and sixth drawing is a bit um, graphic. Morbid. Heads up.

The Drawings

One Point Five Degrees Celsius

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Diaspora | Mastodon

Drawn after a mural displayed during the November 2021 COP-26 conference at Glasgow, Scotland. Had wanted to draw something more um, evolved than from the painting it was derived from. But wound up only with these hands. Whatever, good enough.

Veteran’s Hat (Topi Legiun Veteran)

Ello | Instagram | Instagram | Twitter

The 10th of November is marked annually as Indonesia’s “Day of Heroes”. At national ceremonies, Indonesian war veterans wear these distinct ceremonial hats. They’re reminiscent of hats worn by Indonesian independence-war soldiers in 1945-ish? I guess..? Casual browsing doesn’t seem to find me any clues about these hats so far. But I remember these hats, I certainly do.

Sticking a Fork in my Eye

Ello | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr

Drawn at around 1:30am in about 13 minutes. Was feeling some eye-strain among other things nagging my mind. Picture not shared to Instagram to anticipate the overzealous disturbing-content censorship that Instagram has in place (understandably due to overwhelming public pressure).

Ceiling With Night Light and Laptop Screen Glow (draft 1)

Instagram | Ello | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr

At Friday night, 19th November, around 1:30am after midnight, I took a cellphone photo of my ceiling while lying in bed. But it wasn’t until the 24th that I actually took the photo to Sketchbook to sketch it out using my Wacom pen-tablet & my laptop. Was mesmerized by the colors, and the colors were what I focused on in the 15 minutes or so I was doodling this. Maybe I’ll work on it some more some time. (Heh.)

“The Overthinker” (after Rodin), sketch 1

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Mastodon | Diaspora | Tumblr

Had a thought a few weeks ago about modifying Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” sculpture concept and turning it into this “The Overthinker”. Was also seeing on Twitter lately a lot of works by Andy Warhol with the title “After X” such as when Warhol redoes Edvard Munch in screen print it would be titled “The Scream (after Munch)”, and also there was “The Monalisa (after da Vinci)”, and so on. Although since I’ve modified the underlying intent with my version I suppose the correct term should not be “after Rodin” but rather “with apologies to Rodin”.

“Drilling Into My Head”, Sketch 1

Ello | Diaspora | Twitter

This is obviously still a development sketch. The bodily/object-to-object proportions still need lots of work. Perspectives, line relations too. But I do want to draw this out. I think it is a fun idea, a fun play on words. Some may be kinda freaked-out by it but eh, can’t make omeletes without breaking an egg (or two).

And yes here’s another one which I won’t be sharing to Instagram. In fact I only shared it to Ello and Diaspora, nowhere else so far. Ohwait I also shared it to Twitter.

Miscellaneous tidbits

Meta & administrativa

So yeah, I only published six drawings this month. Very few compared to last month’s twelve or so, and short of my ten-per-month target. But I’m fine with that because instead of focusing & spending so much of my time & energy into meeting my monthly drawing quotas, I consequently did some real-life things with immediate real-life consequences.

It’s not making excuses on my part but I do firmly believe my energy & effort was better utilized by, for example, helping my Mom get her 2nd Covid-19 vaccine dosage this month. Among her other monthly & regular medical check-ups. Also tackling a neighborhood issue regarding a housing wall that affects my kampung and the neighboring kampung, a wall that affects long-standing water-flow issues, rainfall-flooding, and a fair bit of emotional back & forth. And so on and so forth. Anyways real-life trumps socmed life, and we need to stop trying so hard seeking approval from people we don’t even really know. Family matters. The people you live with, and are neighbors with in real-life, matters. Don’t let online social-proof games fool you into losing track of what’s really important in your own life.

I’ve also got some ideas for improving my drawings workflow but I think I’ll keep them to myself. I don’t need to make any more public promises that I cannot keep. Maybe I’ll make more drawings but won’t be publishing them all to the Web. Maybe I’ll push towards making more drawings theme ideas, maybe make a daily quota for drawing ideas per day or per week, and not all the ideas go into the sketch or execution stage. Whatever the case my priority is Real-Life, and online must take a back seat to that.

Web-links & Web-happenings of note

My socials etc.:

If you’re reading this on the Web, please consider sending me feedback by commenting here on Medium. Alternatively you can also hit me up at my socials. Feedback & constructive criticism really helps and would really encourage me, and it would help me grow my editorial & current-affairs drawings & illustration skills to get feedback.

Thank you for reading. 🙏

Priorities Management and Drawings Dreams was originally published in Ferdi’s Drawings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

]]> <![CDATA[I don’t want to click on Medium article titles anymore.]]> https://ferdifz.medium.com/i-dont-want-to-click-on-medium-article-titles-anymore-6a03df784a98?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/6a03df784a98 Mon, 01 Nov 2021 13:12:51 GMT 2021-11-01T13:12:51.502Z As per title.

No further content.

]]> <![CDATA[October Feelings]]> https://medium.com/ferdis-drawings/october-feelings-39c5b20611d2?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/39c5b20611d2 Mon, 01 Nov 2021 08:22:14 GMT 2021-11-01T13:20:16.706Z Ferdi’s Drawings Newsletter — Issue 014, October 2021

Depending on how you count it, this October I made either 10, 8, 12, or 19 drawings. Whatever I don’t even really know how to count anymore. Here they are.

The Drawings

Holy Wings Variations

Instagram | Ello

A bunch of variations to a previous drawing I did titled Holy Wings. Did these because I found that when I used the original ‘final’ version as a wallpaper on my phone, Android 10 couldn’t seem to decide whether this was a bright or a dark picture, and so some of the UI texts were rendered as white instead of black (or vice-versa), rendering them unreadable. Anyways yeah, new phone wallpapers for me.

Automatic Drawing

Instagram | Twitter | Ello | Diaspora | Mastodon

The first drawing I did after publishing my last Drawings Roundup. It’s a rather random abstract. Started as an exercise working with line tools, doing straight lines by hands, circles, curves and so on.

Red on Green

Instagram | Twitter | Ello | Diaspora | Mastodon

Second abstract of late September. Playing around with red and blue circles and curves.

Cumbre Vieja (Old Peak)

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon

The Cumbre Vieja volcano (‘Cumbre Vieja’ being Spanish for ‘Old Peak’), erupted late September this year, and per October 29th it is still spewing lava. Located at La Palma island, part of the Canary Islands, Spain, I got news from an acquaintance at Ello that he was there on the island. After several weeks of heart-wrenching yet humanity-faith-hopeful reports one day I got inspired to attempt to make this drawing of this Old Peak, before it erupted, as I had imagined it inside my head. Not the prettiest, by far, but here it is.

Greta Bla-Bla-Bla

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Mastodon

Unfinished concept. Greta Thunberg was on the news a lot on late September to mid-October. I think she still shows up by end of October, as COP26 will be on Nov. 9th, and maybe even beyond.

October (or October Rage)

Instagram | Instagram | Ello | Twitter

just the October calendar version
calendar rage version

To be honest was drawn because I was getting kind of frustrated that I couldn’t get myself to get started on this year’s Inktober. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but I wanted to put it on record for myself, of sorts. And then the frustration got a tiny, tiny bit more intense. But after putting some reds, blacks & grays in this it got better, yeah.

Study, seated, drawn from back

Instagram | Ello | Twitter | Facebook | Mastodon

I had wanted to draw a “Facebook Back” drawing, commenting on the 6 to 8-hour outage of Facebook and Facebook Corp.-owned services specifically Instagram and WhatsApp in the middle of this October, just as the Facebook Papers leak was getting into high gear with the New York Times reveal and the 60 Minutes interview with Francis Haugen.

But I kinda got obsessed with drawing the back though, heh. And then I got too bored of the whole thing to bother finishing it. I had planned on drawing just a back, and putting the Facebook logo on the back (“Facebook Back”, get it?). And also variations featuring the Instagram and WhatsApp logos. Maybe we’ll finish it up in the future, never say never right? Heheh.

Figure Study (Female)

Ello | Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Facebook

original square layout
expanded, tall layout

Trying a new painting mode, less line-art/cartoon-y/comic-y. I kinda like how it came out? Anyways, I tried it again with the Mars drawing next…

Red Rock aka. Not Mars

Instagram | Ello | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Facebook

Spontaneously drawn after a listen to a new single published by the indie YouTube band Pomplamoose, entitled, “If You Go To Mars”. I named this drawing “Not Mars” because really this is not an accurate representation of the planet Mars. It’s not a pockmarked red moon. But whatever, it’s red, and it’s a spherical space object, and I like how it looks.

Breath

Instagram | Twitter | Ello | Diaspora | Mastodon

I couldn’t decide for a while, whether to call this one ‘Breath’ or ‘Breathe’… Anyways I’m breathing and I’m relaxed. Whoo-saah.

Bonus sketch: “Cat. Resting. In Peace.”

Ello | Twitter

One of our cats died this October. I thought I was over her, but still I couldn’t bring myself to do this drawing. Too many emotions. Here’s a sketch. Maybe I’ll flesh it out someday into an actual drawing. Not this month though.

Also a note on the whole thing over at Ello: here.

Miscellaneous tidbits

Meta & administrativa

Yeah next time I’m going to start preparing the next newsletter right from the first drawing; putting the drawing into the newsletter draft right after I posted it on socmed. Adding the note right there. And putting in the Web-links. That way I won’t be rushing to finish by the end of next month.

Also yeah for November I’m gonna be posting on the last Saturday of the month. I missed October’s deadline today, but that’s fine.

Web-links & Web-happenings of note

My socials etc.:

If you’re reading this on the Web, please consider sending me feedback by commenting here on Medium. Alternatively you can also hit me up at my socials. Feedback & constructive criticism really helps and would really encourage me, and it would help me grow my editorial & current-affairs drawings & illustration skills to get feedback.

Thank you for reading. 🙏

October Feelings was originally published in Ferdi’s Drawings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

]]> <![CDATA[Getting Back On It at a Chill Pace]]> https://medium.com/ferdis-drawings/getting-back-on-it-at-a-chill-pace-32c443afd7a3?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/32c443afd7a3 Mon, 20 Sep 2021 10:19:55 GMT 2021-10-02T01:05:49.017Z Getting Back At It at a Chill Pace

Ferdi Z.’s Drawings Newsletter — Issue 013, September 2021

I started this round with three drawings done on my phone, in bed, in under 15 minutes. And I also made two portrait-oriented (not square-framed) drawings.

The Drawings

zipped mouth

Ello | Instagram | Diaspora | Twitter

I remember at the time I drew this I felt as if I was being told to shut the eff up by the whole World or something, or at least by overly militant or overly opiniated social-media thought leaders or vigilate groups, or so I had it inside my head.

It made me feel… bothered. So I drew this to vent.

random ninjato

Ello | Instagram | Diaspora | Twitter | Pixelfed

Drawn at around 2am. Woke up in the middle of the night and just decided I wanted to draw something, so I picked up my smartphone & opened up the drawing software. This after wanting to draw something all day & ‘failing’ to come up with any idea that I liked. Posted this to Ello then went back to sleep.

Yes yes there’s historically no such thing as a ‘ninjato’. A katana is a katana, bla bla bla whatever. Hey I didn’t research historicity & culture for this piece I did in ten minutes, okay; get off my case lol.

#17Agustus

Instagram | Twitter | Ello | Mastodon

Low-effort drawing done in bed on my phone on August 17th; this year, the 76th anniversary of Indonesia’s declaration of independence.

metronome

Instagram | Ello | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon

The way people got agitated on Twitter & social media and reacted to issues nearing the end of August motivated me to draw a metronome to symbolize timing. As in, timing is important in determining whether or not, and how, your messages impacts changes in the world. Be out of beat, and you might as well not have said anything. Or worse (such as making things worse etc.)

Drawn with a FriXion erasable ballpoint pen on a plain old paper notepad.

Holy Wings

Twitter | Ello | Instagram | Facebook | Diaspora | Mastodon

Inspired by the Holywings bar scandal in Jakarta, early September 2021. Woke up, browsed the Web, ‘holy wings’ started trending on the socials and I had no idea what ‘holy wings’ were at the time. It got me imagining things though…

Anyways so what happened was a bar in downtown Jakarta (at Kemang district) named Holywings had violated Covid protocols by hosting a dense crowd indoors, more than the alloted 25% patron capacity, and was open way past the 9pm night curfew at that. Cellphone videos from the crowd went viral, city officials conducted a raid, and then the cocktail bar shuttered and fined and whatnot.

Serve What?

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Pixelfed | Mastodon

Inspired in response to a moodboard pic/memepic which more or less argues that “artists are not athletes” and “don’t compete” and artists “should create to connect to people who need you” and “to serve”. I don’t completely disagree with the sentiment, per se, but it got me thinking, what kind of art do people need me for? What am I supposed to serve? And so it got me thinking of drawing a spatula serving a question mark. “Serve what?”

And on a comment at Ello on this piece I received the quote: “Art must first serve the artist, for without that acknowledgement it will serve nobody.”

Fold the Phones!

Instagram | Ello | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon

the drawing

I did not draw this to pick a fight or to argue with strangers or anyone. I just got it in my head to mash up some images & thoughts regarding the Met Gala, Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) “Tax the Rich” dress, WIRED calling to bring back cargo pants (for our large smartphones), and the Verge declaring folding smartphones “fashion icons”.

Speaking of, the Met is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the annual gala raises millions of dollars to maintain the museum and to support artists & the creation & furtherance of arts.

context collage

Miscellaneous tidbits

Meta & Administrativa

I had been (‘informally’) aiming for ten new drawings for this edition, after my previous roundup mid August. But I wound up with only seven new drawings. I’m totally okay with this though because these seven, I liked drawing all seven of them. Didn’t feel rushed, didn’t feel obligated, and I liked how they all came out just fine.

I draw as personal therapy. And I round-up my drawings to keep track of what I’ve been drawing, and thinking, about. Yeah, that’s the trick. The path going forward.

Links & Web articles of note:

My socials etc.:

If you’re reading this on the Web, please consider sending me feedback by commenting here on Medium. Alternatively you can also hit me up at my socials. Feedback & constructive criticism really helps and would really encourage me, and it would help me grow my editorial & current-affairs drawings & illustration skills to get feedback.

Thank you for reading. 🙏

Getting Back On It at a Chill Pace was originally published in Ferdi’s Drawings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

]]> <![CDATA[Support Pocket = Support Firefox]]> https://ferdifz.medium.com/support-pocket-support-firefox-dcf27f68b826?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/dcf27f68b826 Fri, 17 Sep 2021 20:40:17 GMT 2021-10-04T01:09:22.679Z Pocket, a Mozilla Corp. business unit.

Here’s a thought: supporting Pocket (getpocket.com) financially supports the Mozilla Corporation, and by extension the Mozilla Foundation and the Firefox Web browser as well as the Gecko layout engine.

(developing…)

Shameless plug: Visit my public Pocket recommendations: getpocket.com/@ferdikom98

]]> <![CDATA[Roundup Reboot]]> https://medium.com/ferdis-drawings/roundup-reboot-29eb046b27a8?source=rss-6131a1959a58------2 https://medium.com/p/29eb046b27a8 Thu, 19 Aug 2021 12:58:09 GMT 2021-08-19T12:58:09.840Z Ferdi Z.’s Drawings Newsletter — Issue 012, August 2021

You may have noticed that we skipped issue 11 of this roundup newsletter, here at Medium. Well it’s still online at my Revue archive. Issue 11 essentially just announces that I had paused this drawings roundup newsletter. And with Issue 12, this issue, I’m announcing the drawings roundup rebooted as a Medium publication, published here at medium.com/ferdis-drawings.

It’s been a few months since I last did a roundup back in June so this issue has 16 drawings, a bit more than my previous usual three…

The Drawings

Magical Tools of Problem Solving

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr | Pixelfed

final selection ‘hero image’
6-up variations selection

As the old joke goes,

“You only need two tools in life, duct tape and WD-40. If it’s not stuck and it’s supposed to be, use Duct Tape. If it’s stuck and it’s not supposed to be, use WD-40.”

Fun as it may be though, not all life’s problems can be solved with duct-tape & water-based lubricant. Nevertheless it is useful to have both around, because you must admit still so many problems can be solved with them. They’re handy, almost magical even.

This drawing is also notable because at the time it was my first Pixelfed post in over two months (since late June), and my seventh Pixelfed post in all of 2021. Before 2021, the last time I posted to Pixelfed was in 2019. I don’t know if I’ll continue posting to Pixelfed but we’ll see.

not-Cubism

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr

Aka. “Fleamarket-class faux-Mondrian”. As I described it at Ello, “Instead of just ‘sitting there’, I decided to doodle a bunch of boxes just now… somewhat meditatively.”

This one was drawn after the WD-40 x Duct Tape drawing, but it’s not as significant as that one, in my personal opinion. And so I’m putting this as the 2nd drawing.

Burden of Messages

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr

Drawn in about five hours on-and-off, from initial idea to published Instagram post. I had aimed to make this drawing as low-effort as possible while still looking more than just drawn off-hand.

Sometimes we feel pressured by a message, pressured to respond. As if the burden of the whole world was on our shoulders. But sometimes responding to the message, replying to the message, does nothing to relieve the burden. And yet the messages keep coming…

Stab (sketch-study)

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon

Wanted to try drawing a knife as it was being stabbed into my face. Not exactly successful, but I think it kinda-sorta looked the way I’d wanted. I’ll do better next time.

This drawing had gotten so few interaction & feedback when I posted it on Instagram (zero interactions, no comments no likes no reshares at all, in the 1st 24-hours) that I thought I was being shadow-banned by Instagram. Heh. 😏

Butting Minds

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon

I redrafted this twice and I still didn’t like how it came out. So much so I published this on Instagram without any description, not even a title. I still want to pursue the topic though. The clashing of hard-headed minds. How frustrating it is to just not be able to have a meeting of minds.

Button Pusher

Instagram | Ello (1) | Ello (2) | Twitter

This is just a single hand pushing a single button, but previously I had been thinking of (quote) “An army of button pushers, pushing everyone’s buttons.” Rows and rows of button pushers, seemingly going on & on to infinity.

The infinite Button Pushers (plural) will have to wait for next time. For now though, Button Pusher (singular).

Rabbit Hole Abstract

Instagram | Ello | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr

Another low-effort drawing that I made to unwind & have something published. Was thinking of drawing a ‘rabbit hole’, like the kind Alice fell into on her way to Wonder Land. I liked drawing this though, it felt meditative. I also liked how it turned out. A few readers on Ello & Instagram seemed to like it, too.

Bearded-Face Inking Study

Instagram | Ello | Twitter| Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr

July 12, 2021. Done with only one brush, one color, and one layer. And when I erase lines instead of using an eraser tool I used the erasing color. This experiment made me notice that I do wish for a shortcut key in Autodesk Sketchbook for switching between the current (normal) color and the default invisible color. It would be useful I think. Also painting in “line-art style” like this was fun, I remember feeling at the time.

No Viral Posts

Instagram | Ello | Twitter

Initially drawn for Instagram because I grew unnerved by the warning label Instagram kept affixing into any pictures or posts, including Instagram Stories posts, that are detected by Instagram’s algorithms as “Covid-19 related”, regardless whether or not it had Covid-19 in the caption or as one of the hashtags.

I’m not protesting the practice, but I will say that it was jarring to me because each time this happens I would get a notification on my phone from my Instagram app. To the point where it felt as if Instagram is telling me, “No viral posts!” That said though, this virus drawing didn’t get a warning from Instagram when I posted it.

I later reused this drawing in Ello when I wrote a rant of sorts when daily new active cases in Jakarta hit 38,000 in July.

Beds & O2 Bottles

Ello | Instagram | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon (1) | Mastodon (2)

I was inspired by Covid-19 discourse around June & July regarding medical oxygen shortage and bed-occupancy rate in India and other countries to draw beds & oxygen tanks as a drawing subject. The subject became even more poignant to me as oxygen & bed shortages also hit Indonesia mid-July as daily confirmed cases went past 54,000.

Nonetheless this drawing remains a sketch though, per time of publishing. May (or may not) finish the sketch some other time.

Bleeding-Heart Romantic (sketch)

Ello | Twitter

I was thinking of representing ‘romanticism’ by portraying a balcony restaurant with a view of the sea (Mediterranean sea, perhaps) And the ‘bleeding heart’ I would portray as a superimposed heart literally stabbed & bleeding.

Still in this sketch form by the time I posted it to Ello and Twitter. Didn’t bother to post it to Instagram. I still want to develop it into a full drawing though. And I will…

Abstract Eye

Instagram | Ello | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr

I had initially wanted to draw a purely abstract, unidentifiably-shaped drawing, but it eventually became an eye and I just went with it. I like how it turned out though. Even if I have done like a hundred eye drawings by now…

Luggage

Instagram | Ello | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon

Was thinking of mental baggage, social baggage, discourse baggage, and all sorts of virtual & physical baggage when I drew this one. It was a quickie, but I liked how it turned out.

PPE Frustrations (sketch)

Ello | Instagram | Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr

published ‘final’ version
variations & comparison

Another concept inspired by Covid-19. This one inspired by PPE shortages: surgical masks, gloves, eye protection and hair covering. I initially just wanted to arrange the PPE items into a frustrated pose, but then I notice that the pose also somewhat resembled that old ‘white monkey alien / persian cat room guardian’ meme pose…

Toppled Statue

Twitter | Instagram | Diaspora | Mastodon | Ello

Joan Cornella is well known for his provocative, borderline morbid & ‘deceivingly naive’ drawing style. I remember when he published his drawing on Twitter it was at the height of the Black Lives Matter statue-toppling trend in Europe. It kind of inspired me to topple Joan’s statue for myself…

National Monument

Ello | Instagram | Pixelfed | Twitter | Diaspora | Mastodon | Tumblr

Drawn ‘quickly & casually’ on the 494th birthday of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia and my birth-city. It portrays the Monumen Nasional, more commonly known by its name-as-abbreviation, Monas.

Monumen Nasional is literally National Monument when translated to English. I had always found it kind of funny-in-a-good-way from when I was a little kid.

Miscellaneous tidbits

Meta & Administrativa

So the Drawings Roundup Newsletter lives on. Quite a mouthful for a name, isn’t it…

I won’t be deleting the (quote-unquote) ‘old’ archives though at my Revue account, and hopefully I can copy over most of what I’ve published there over here to Medium, before it disappears or disaster strikes or something.

Going forward I’ll be posting my roundups to this Medium publication. I’m planning on doing ten (10) drawings per month instead of three per week. I don’t know if I’ll make 10 by the end of August but I’m hoping to. I’ve only done two so far… 😅 I’ll also be publishing one roundup per month, instead of one per week.

And unfortunately this Medium publication is not an email newsletter; you can’t subscribe to it via email and have a copy sent to your email inbox. You can however ‘Follow’ this publication if you have a Medium account, and you can also go to your Medium settings to receive an email alert whenever I post a new issue here. This publication will remain open though, meaning you won’t need a Medium account to access it.

Maybe I’ll consider mirroring these roundups someday to SubStack (which has online comments unlike Revue), and maybe I’ll mirror them — and individual drawings — to my mind-Dumpster blog at WordPress dot Com. But for now I’m just focusing on regrouping my efforts to this Medium publication, and to get back into a regular drawing rhythm again.

Web-links to news, essays, webcomics etc.

  • Why It Breaks Your Brain to Take a Compliment — New comic by Matthew Inman aka. The Oatmeal, Aug. 6th. Matthew is making new Web-comics, yay!
  • Lottie files (lottiefiles.com) — Lottie is an open source animation file format that’s tiny, high quality, interactive, and can be manipulated at runtime. The top 500 apps on the Apple App store now use Lottie to engage users and enhance conversions. I am intrigued by this open source vector animation file format. And I got the link for lottiefiles.com from an Instagram Stories advertisement, of all things. I got the ad on August 14th, which is only four days ago at time of writing. Note to self: learn more about Lottie files.
  • Blog post at the mind-Dumpster thinking about Afghanistan, Aug. 2021 — I actually wrote & published a new blog post, yay! First blog post a month, and third since January. (No, the ‘Ping’ post doesn’t count.) And no I do not make light of the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Afghanistan as we speak. But I do have some hot, spicy takes though. And by ghod if I can’t publish them on my personal blog then where can I post them, right? Right..?
  • Project Bluesky, Twitter’s decentralized social network project, finally has a leader — The Verge, Aug. 16th. Bluesky, the Twitter-funded effort to create a decentralized social network standard, has finally found a project lead — the creator of Happening, Jay Graber. Bluesky and Graber have also begun hiring for the project’s first developers, meaning the slowly gestating project might finally become a bit less “blue sky” and a bit more real.

My socials etc.:

If you’re reading this on the Web, please consider sending me feedback by commenting here on Medium. Alternatively you can also hit me up at my socials. Feedback & constructive criticism really helps and would really encourage me, and it would help me grow my editorial & current-affairs drawings & illustration skills to get feedback.

Thank you for reading. 🙏

Roundup Reboot was originally published in Ferdi’s Drawings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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