It was Sunday and this young lady was still keen on her
laptop and drawing tablet, in her 3mx3m room, green wall, covered with a lot of
posters. They were not posters of rock stars or boys and girls bands. They were
the masterpieces of the room’s master. It’s Ditra, the girl who is drawing her
dream.
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| Ditra, the girl drawing dreams |
Ditra has just graduated from Universitas Indonesia , majoring Japanese
Literature. Nevertheless, her dream is not being an ambassador or anything else
related to Japanese. She wants to continue her career on graphic design field.
She wants to be a great world-wide illustrator.
By the way, what is graphic design actually?
Graphic design is a creative process which includes the
combination of art and technology. It is used to convey a message from client
to a particular audience. It is usually consisted of images and typography.
 |
| One of her typography |
“I don’t mind working on Sunday,” she said with a pen tablet
on her hand. She was drawing for her client. Her client was a teenage girl who
wanted Ditra’s work of art as a gift for her boyfriend. “It is fun helping a
young lover,” she added while she was smiling to her grayish laptop. “I’m not
only drawing but also helping her to explain her feeling.”
For her, pictures means important. “Pictures can describe
things words can’t do.”
She claimed that she was not good at explaining things with
words. Thus, she chose to draw pictures to help her to communicate. Her mother
was the one who introduced her to drawing.
“When I was little, my mom was used to tell me a lot of
stories, but because I seemed confused, then my mom drew me some pictures to
illustrate them. However, the more my mom drew me pictures, the more I liked
the pictures, not the stories.”
She has drawn since she was about 3 years old, and she never
stops drawing. “I’m in love with lines, dots, shapes, and colour,” she said.
She has been serious in drawing and graphic design when she was in high school.
“I was a freelancer on a graphic design company. It gave me such a great
experience and encouraged me to explore my skill more.”
 |
| One of her works |
Now, at her 21, she has had some achievements in illustration
and visual design. In 2012, for instance, she was chosen as “Artist on Tumblr”.
Also, her works has been reviewed on gantibaju.com as “Inspirational
Illustrator”.
She has had collaboration with some of senior illustrators
and communities. For instance, Abang Irenk Community, a graphic design
community in Yogyakarta . Moreover, she has
also has a collaboration work with Julian
Zone
However, her career on “drawing world” is not as easy as A B
C.
“My parents don’t want me to continue my career on drawing.
They think that it will not be prospective for my future.”
 |
| This design has been printed as tote bags, and I HAVE IT! :3 |
She explained her disappointment about Indonesian people’s
perspective on graphic or visual design.
“Most people usually underestimate this field. They think
that you will not afford your life just from being an illustrator.”
“Also, the appreciation of graphic design’s work is so little,”
she added, “They might think that what’s important of an image or a design.
They forget that design is every where. From the humble simple thing like your
t-shirts, until the big great thing like the billboard advertisement.”
She said it effected on the salary of illustrator in Indonesia . She
explained that the salary of illustrator, for example in Australia , reached three or four times bigger
than in Indonesia .
When she was asked about the reason why she kept drawing
even though people’s appreciation of design graphic was so low, she answered it
boldly.
“If we have something we are passionate for, fight for it.
Explore more. There must be the way.”
She doesn’t care at all even though it is quite hard for her
to continue her career in design graphic field since she doesn’t have a degree
in design graphic major.
She said that the obstacles came not only from the society
and her parents but also sometimes, her self.
“Sometimes, because of the pressure, I find my self tired
and just want to give up, but every time I try to stop drawing, I feel twice
more depressed than before. And it’s frustrating.”
She added, “As hard I’ve ever said or thought that ‘I have
to quit drawing’, yet when I see even a pencil and a sheet of blank paper, I do
really want to draw. It seems like they call me, urge me to draw.”
Ditra, who is now living with her family in Tangerang,
Banten, has a big dream. She wants to go abroad, develop her career there.
“I want to go abroad, go from one country to other
countries, experience all of drawing media I can use,” she said.
*this writing was actually used as my journalistic, profile assignment, yet in this case, I posted it for my friend, Ditra, for her passion and urge to stand up tall for her dreams.
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