Artful Meaning

In the journey down the long road that is my fascination for art, one of my stops was an infatuation with traditional Japanese Art. From old canvases scribbled with beautiful depictions of ancient Japanese mythology, to the sushi we get at lunch, its clear that the Japanese have a strong tradition in art (I mean, sometimes a Japanese meal is presented so beautifully, sometimes I feel bad eating it).

Around the same time, I was weighing the option of getting a second tattoo on my arm and the two ideas interchanged in my mind beautifully. I began researching traditional Japanese art that I really enjoyed looking at (after all Mike, this is going to be on you, forever). Koi fishes stood out most to me, mainly because of how they are drawn, and they symbolism behind them.

According to Eastern Asian traditions, a Koi fish swims upstream, against the tides of the Yellow River, onto Dragon Gate. If it succeeds in doing so, it becomes a Dragon. I thought of getting a Koi fish swimming upstream, symbolizing the determination to reach great achievements in my life.Looking at a fish by itself swimming upstream as a symbolic meaning to my life is beautiful to me, but as an artist, I knew I could maybe add either more elements of eye popping traditional art, or some more symbolic elements. Why not have my cake and eat it to and do both?

Cherry Blossoms and lotus flowers are also elements of Japanese art and happen to be a favorite of mine. Cherry blossom flowers tend to be a little smaller, so the idea was to symbolize my family by getting 5 Cherry Blossom flowers (3 children, 2 parents) surrounding the Koi fish's journey to success....we could all use support from loved ones to help get anywhere in life. Lastly was a Lotus flower that I dedicated to my Opa, that I shared a strong relationship with before he passed away.

So, idea in my mind, I took it to an amazing artist named Jimbo at Lark Tattoo to put my ideas into a beautiful piece of artwork that would last forever. In the end, I could not have asked for anything more. The result was dead on to what I imagined, and I am happy to own this piece of art and wear it every day:

Outer arm.

Inner arm. Tattoo done by Jimbo, Lark Tattoo.

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

"Then I'll stand on the ocean till I start a-sinkin,
And I'll know my songs well before I start a-singin,
Yes, I'll know my songs well before I start a-singin,
It's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard....
A hard rain's a-gonna fall" - Bob Dylan

Catching up to speed (with a ton of inspiration)

As may rolls around, I'm coming closer and closer to my Master's Degree in Advertising. I am hoping the job search will be more successful than it has been for the past year, because it was anything but successful.


The good folks over at GoDaddy.com canceled my ManyouMedia.com domain and my new portfolio site will now be hosted at the domain, www.mikemanusama.com . I'm stoked, as it gives me a reason to almost re-brand myself, do some more creative work, and design more things for my portfolio. I've decided to outlet myself, and my name into any creative outlets possible, weather it be graphic design, production, web design, or copy writing. I like to blog, as it serves as a column-like editorial for people to publicly review my writing ability. My portfolio will showcase all the creative work I have done, from simple logos, to short documentary production, editing and filming.

Inspirations for the design for mikemanusama.com are taken from various vintage era's, mainly early 1900's, an era in design that interests me.

Praying this change in attitude and determination will land me a gig that I have always been waiting for!


Hope to see you all on the greener side...

Test Blog

Test Blog from my BlackBerry wishing everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

MY BIGGEST INSPIRATION..."STEAL OUR IDEAS"

BESIDES MY FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND WOMAN, OF COURSE.

Often times I find myself contemplating a future in the Ad biz. I understand it takes a great amount of dedication, hard work and creativity just to get your hand on the door knob (forget getting your foot in the door). After all, the Advertising Industry is one of the hardest industries to get into (hey, we're in a recession...we don't have the money to market and advertise our products). The majority of the time emotions run high, leaving a "nobody can do the job better than me" attitude. While staying positive is probably the best and only thing you can do, we are all human. During the down times in a struggling designer's route to success, I search the internet for photos, videos, ads, web sites, that offer me inspiration of invaluable proportions. This website is great for creatives who feel like they are in a rut:

http://www.stealourideas.com/


Adam and Jon are Creatives in the ad business. They produce award winning campaigns for companies big and small, nationwide. It is basically a blog dedicated to Creative Director's and In-House Clients that need an idea, but cannot think of one. They are brilliant, and the basis of "stealing their ideas" instead of asking them for work goes to show how thinking outside of the box can be more successful than ever.

RE-VAMPED MANYOU MEDIA SITE IN THE WORKS!

I am currently in the works of making heavy changes to the Manyou Media web site because it needed a complete over haul. Not only was it tacky looking, but it looked very amateur and showed a small share of the work that I have completed. Due to a higher volume of work, I felt I needed to come off as a lot more professionial to potential clients. This new site will be marketed heavily throughout Blogger, Twitter, and Facebook through the next few weeks so stay tuned....Cheers.

Until then...enjoy the old one, www.manyoumedia.com


P.S.- If anybody has good photography skills, I need to take some pictures for the new layout. Contact me if you have any free time on your hands and would like to practice shooting portrait style photography...thanks.

ARROGANCE MAKES A LEGEND.

"YOU GOT A LOT OF NERVE ASKING ME A QUESTION LIKE THAT!! DO YOU ASK THE BEATLES THAT?!"
Bob Dylan is widely known for his folk music and the way he was able to create such powerful lyrics to move his generation and generations to come. One of the best song writers/poets. Ever. Many people are inclined musically to go and make music, but his arrogance is what made him the legend he is today. Saw this in a Bob Dylan documentary called "Don't Look Back". Interview of Bob displaying his ignorance to Time Magazine...EPIC!!



....EXTRAORDINARY SWAG!!!