Artist of the Month - Febraury, 2010 :

wul68

Geographic Location:
Cebu, Philippines

Biography:
I am Isidore Vic B. Carloman III but you guys can call me CDUR. My username wul68 was a username that I used from the other site but minus 68.

As of the time being, I am employed as an illustrator of a local company here in Cebu. I do some character designs as my sideline and some logo designs too. Recently I just finished a portrait piece done in chalk pastel and planning to do some acrylic portraits for my wife, my two kids(girl and boy) and myself, I will start this project when February starts because I am busy picking myself up to keep my tattoo hobby in line with my other artsy stuffs. Hopefully, if I can line all of the things that I am going to do this year, starting from acrylic painting, oil painting, charcoal, caricatures and down to digital painting, (tattooing will hopefully on a schedule based) I am going to do some digital animation that will seal off my whole year round project.

There are a lot of things that I am going to do this year, I think this will be a busy year for me and as the same time keeping my family as my priority. I hope this will be all realize so that on the coming days I can come up with some humble portfolio for myself for you people to show.

Influences:
There are a lot of artist that I can mention who greatly influenced me, but I can mention some, for painting Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and Claude Monet. Character designers, Sean “Cheeks” Galloway, Stephen Silver, Bobby Chiu, Coran “Kizer” Stone and lots of cool people from this industry. For tattooing, Anil Gupta and some guys I don’t know there names. and etc.

Favorite TapSmack Artists:
I like creativebug and mann, they are the first few friends I had on Tapsmack.

About KALW News:

Since 2003, KALW News has expanded while other news organizations cut back. Now, www.KALWNews.org combines our award-winning news and arts stories with blogs, photos, social media, interactivity, and mapping.  We also feature the growing numbers of Bay Area hyper-local journalism outlets for you to check out, as well as a digest of mainstream local news sources. Visitors can submit their own content and use the collaborative “Fixipedia” tool to help generate solutions to issues in the news. The site really aims to capture the essence of what it is to live in the Bay Area. And, to do it better and more comprehensively, we need you!  This is public interest media, and your interests matter to us.

website: http://kalwnews.org/

TapSmack Artist of the Month:

Geographic Location:
Bay Area, CA

Biography:
I am pretty much a self taught artist.. I just love to draw. I got my inspiration early in life from comics and pro-wrestling! Seriously, growing up that was all I was into, so I bought comics when I could, stole them when I couldn’t.. same thing for the wrestling magazines. But I learned by copying what I saw. I started drawing when I was a child and my pencils became my friends, since we moved around alot I wasn’t too social. Not that I am today either! LOL. But let’s see, I am originally from the East Coast, and now I live in the Bay Area, and I love it here. I learned how to paint also on my own… early in life I basically was obsessive with my creativity, learning how to ink, learning how to shade, learning my colors… I made a few home made comic books back in the day too. I never really took art classes I mean I did here and there, but I never really felt I belonged in them, so I just did my own thing… over time I got into Photoshop and digital design.. in the 80’s I was heavy in the streets like crack in New York, so I did alot of street art.

So here I am today.. Tapping and Smacking! These days pro-wrestling blows, except lucha(because of the masks) and the Japanese stuff,(Puroresu) they are dope!

Influences:
John Romita jr, John Cassaday, Micheal Lark, Todd McFarlane, John Bryne from the old X Men comics.. I learned alot from these guys…

Favorite TapSmack Artists:
I am feelin’ this new guy Mr Majik 007, Gartidi has some funky stuff, Artfinger, oh and CreativeBug.. buth those are just off the top of my head, there are tons of Faves… just need to look!

• 14 Designs
• 32 Comments/Suggestions
• 1300 Views/Votes

After careful review of number of votes, views, and input from the Stanford Blood Center team, mrmajik007’s design was chosen as the winner:

“Stanford Blood Center is very thankful for TapSmack and the artists who contributed to the contest for a design for /The Rivals for Life/ blood drive competition based around the “Big Game” between Stanford and Cal. Kudos go to the winning design by Mrmajik007, an edgy piece which captures the collegiate rivalry. We hope that we get the opportunity to use this excellent design in future campaigns.”

- John Williams, Marketing Manager, Stanford Blood Center

—-

Because of the number of great designs, we also have a few other categories of recognition. The first is the Community Award given to the designs by dsmack who received the highest number of votes:

Secondly, we have the Best New Artist award given to epontell:

TapSmack Artist of the Month

Geographic Location
Valencia, Spain

Biography
I don’t remember when I started painting because I was just a baby. You know, Pollock would be proud of my works in those happy days. However, when I was 8, I decided (unfortunately) to dedicate my hands to the japanese style. Don’t misinterpret my words, I don’t hate Manga, but it has its limitations about proportion bodies and, some years later, I noticed it and I started researching other authors beyond the land were Sun gets up. So here I am, without fame, without money, but feeling like drawing for the rest of my life.

Influences
My inspiration comes… from music, certanly. I’m not original in that way. I supose rythmical subgenres of Metal (the well-known Hard Rock of AC/DC) make brightered compositions whereas Tchaikovski puts the magic essence on them. But this is just words. I wish people related my drawings to songs while they’re looking at them.

Favorite TapSmack Artist(s)
I think my favourite TapSmacker is creativebug. He’s got really interesting designs that can be modified as the pleasure of his own great imagination wants.

TapSmack and St. Columba’s School of Delhi has deeped it’s partnerships to bring co-creation into the St. Columba’s ciricculum. What was originally started as an innovative pilot program with 9th grade students has now been adopted school wide. With the TapSmack co-creation platform, St. Columba’s students are now able work together collaboratively on creative ideas and projects sponsored by the school and other international organizations. More importantly, because TapSmack democratizes the design process, ALL students have an equal opportunity to shine and have their creativity discovered by the St. Columba’s and by the larger TapSmack community.

TapSmack is happy to be a valued partner with St. Columba’s in bringing innovative teaching methods to help develop well-rounded students. We’re excited and we’ll continue to bring you stories about our collaborations in this blog!

“I wanted to raise our academic standards but I wanted it done in an atmosphere of joy”

Her Story

The Christian Brother’s at St. Columba’s School have always had a policy of empowering more lay people to run their schools. Every few years, the Brothers selected an innovative administrator to lead the school into the next phase of growth. In 2002, Ms. Sangeeta Sheel, a highly respected math teacher, was chosen by the Brothers to lead St. Columba’s.

Ms. Sheel has been an exemplary leader of St. Columba’s, and a worthy successor to the St. Columba’s long line of top administrators. Under her guidance, numerous innovations were introduced to the school. Her guiding principle has been to create a holistic curriculum that teaches not only academics, but also values and activities that contribute to a well rounded development of the young men at St. Columba’s. An example of the enhanced learning experience introduced by Ms. Sheel, is the creation of an enhanced value education of which Justice Education and Peace Education services as the basis of the value system in the middle section. Two periods per class per week are allotted for what is seen as the most vital and ethical part of the learning process.

Another innovation is the introduction of clubs of every kind that allows the students to explore a number of their talents. Once a week the last two periods are given over to club activities. These include dance, classical singing, drama, indoor games and a host of other hobbies and activities. These contribute greatly to all rounded development of the boys at St. Columba’s.

Innovations in Co-Creation

One of the most innovative of Ms. Sheel’s leadership is the development and introduction of cooperative learning to the students at St. Columba’s. The world is getting flatter and the distances between countries shorter. Today’s young men need an education in cooperation and collaboration to compete in tomorrow’s highly competitive and highly distributed knowledge industries.

TapSmack has been working with Ms. Sheel to empower the students at St. Columba’s by donating our platform for the education of St. Columba’s students. By using the TapSmack platform, the educators at St. Columba’s empowers students to co-create, collaborate, and exchange ideas on a number of collaborative projects such as the creation of artwork and music. The TapSmack platform democratizes the design process and gives each student an equal opportunity to shine. This allows all students, even the shy ones to participate in this unique learning experience provided only at St. Columba’s.

Most importantly these collaborative cooperative learning experience positions the students well to succeed in the work world of tomorrow. Many organizations have multinational teams that span the globe. The scientist, doctors, and engineers of future must be able to collaboratively with their peers all across the world. Thanks to Sangeeta’s foresight, the students at St. Columba’s now have a head start in that department.

Rivals for Life is a friendly competition is between the Stanford Blood Center/Stanford Community and the Red Cross/UC Berkeley Community to see who can get the most blood donations. Over the past 10 years, the Rivals for Life competition has evolved from a campus-only contest to one that encompasses the entire Bay Area. Both blood banks are hoping fans will be inspired to participate as the blood supply typically dips dangerously low during the coming winter holidays.

This year TapSmack is teaming up with the Stanford Blood Center and the Stanford Community to beat Cal this annual very important blood drive. We are working together to designs a comemorative giveway for the event that will help draw in donors. We’re looking to you, the TapSmack community to help us & Stanford Blood Center with your creativity and your support. You can help by giving ideas, commenting, and/or voting on your favorite designs at: http://www.tapsmack.com/guest/idea/designs/1811.

Thanks in advance for your support of this very worthy cause . Go Stanford & Go TapSmack!

Her Story

My father’s once told me, “If you want to pursue a career, there is nothing better than ‘teaching-a noble profession!” Thus began Ms. Ramachandran’s incredible journey to St. Columba’s.

I remember my school days in Coimbatore, small town in Tamil Nadu. I had penchant for getting involved in the school activities, academic -in the classroom as well as singing, drama and sports, my favourite being a game of badminton whenever there was a break from studies. I was elected popularly as the Head Girl and later I did my school proud by passing the SSLC exam with merit and won a gold medal and scholarship for Pre University studies in Chennai, in 1964.

What I began in school naturally continued and gave me a place as one of the office bearers the College Union-I was the Cultural Secretary! I networked with all the colleges in the University of Madras and introduced many cultural programs. This phase in my life as a student brought me closer to two projects that stay close to my heart even now-I was the secretary of the World Vegetarian Congress on Environment and worked closely with eminent personalities like CR Pattabhiraman and Smt Rukmani Devi Arundale in Chennai.

After my marriage and the subsequent move to New Delhi, I had come to know of the ‘Christian Brothers’ and their commitment to the education of boys. I first got involved with St. Columba’s on a chance occurrence. I recall my meeting with Br Foley in 1989, as a parent willing to fill in for a teacher on leave of absence for a period of three months. Br Foley had been persuading me to join on the staff for quite some time and I finally agreed to do so then. It’s been twenty years from that day and I’ve been intimately involved with St. Columba’s ever since.

Innovations in Co-Creation

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

Ms. Ramachandran has always been in the forefront of instilling social awareness and community outreach in the students at St. Columba’s. One of the major challenges in any school is engaging each student in every class. To this effort, Ms. Ramachandran has been a pioneer in using innovative and technological ways to involve students. Working w/TapSmack, St. Columba’s empowers each student to find that area which he/she excels by democratizing the design process. This gives every student an equal opportunity to co-create important art, music, etc. that are critical in communicating important messages to St. Columba’s community. Ms. Ramachandran and St. Columba’s will be continuing these efforts with a number of outreach projects including an importantly H1N1 prevention campaign for this flu season.

TapSmack Artist of the Month

Geographic Location
Santa Clara, CA

Biography
I was born in Pennysylvannia but recently moved to Santa Clara, CA for a job. I am a   self-taught musician and I started creating music in High School. I love hip-hop and I love creating good music. I also produce & mix all of beats. I write my own lyrics and do all the vocals as well. My main tool is my trusty CoolEdit Pro. It’s a very good piece of software and I’ve got it down to a science.

Influences
My musical influences are from some of the great hip-hop artists who had a trailblazing style or profound lyrical styles. These include “Styles P” from Yonkers, NY. Bone Thugs in Harmony and all the classics, Tupac, Biggie, Nas. You can see the influences in my music that I’ve co-created on TapSmack. Check it out here.

Favorite TapSmack Artist(s):
Smack101. He’s got great urban style.