sketchbook III: 42,000 feet above

probaby not my first sketchbook using airlines’ magazines as materials. my previous ones, sketchbook I and sketchbook II: strange airlines also used the same material. so, what’s the difference?

last time’s approach was more rough, coarse, or wild, if you will. I mostly tear through the paper and mix them with a bunch of debris fron my life: receipts, candy wraps, orientation name cards, you name it. this collection showcases a finer selection of photos and more meticulous handling process, which results in finer grains of art. I no longer use magazine papers as a material, but as the material.

this happens as a result of me using too much canva this summer. too much screen time forces me to approach art in a more analog and intimate way. that is, with my bare hands and paper. no screen between us.

the tools I use are simple: magazines from airlines, scissors, glue, a flashlight, and teams. yes, the app you use to work. 

step 1. photo hunting

not all airlines you fly with give you magazines to take home. or even if they do, it’s often printed on some shitty quality paper with lots of ads in it. from the far and few posts I’ve seen, they’re written in a very consumerist way with very commercial photos. their photos have a very watermark stock quality to it. after all, an airline is a business, for big ones, you really have to be simple if you want to maintain your seats between flights. also, why read when you have screens these days?

however, I still have a soft spot for vietnam airlines magazines. if you’re an international student, then you probably understand that the domestic airline you fly with is the last touch of home you can bring with you when studying abroad. also, I take great pride in reading and looking at them as they’re very professionally done. there are two variants, heritage and fashion. I prefer heritage, but fashion is as cool. their photos are taken with great depth of field (vietnamese: độ sâu trường ảnh, đốp). they’re so pretty they keep me looking.

another fun fact is that vietnam press enjoy more press freedom in the air than on the ground. I rarely see topics like gender fluid featured in newspapers by the government, but in some vn airlines issues, topics like toxic masculinity are discussed through fashion.

the ones I used in this collection mostly comes from vietnam airlines, with some by starlux airlines. I start by pulling out pages with pretty photos (rough selection) and cut if I only like parts of a page.

if you want the full backstory behind the photos, check out their original issue published 2024 january. if you have time, check out the covers to see how professional they are. these are the magazine and extra issue by starlux airlines.

step 2. concept and assembling photos

I start out with no end in mind. I just want to make art with this material, that’s it. it’s always in the process of doing that something comes up. maybe I can split mountains and insert people in there. maybe I can layer them. maybe I can braid some of them. maybe I can make an absurdist painting. I come up with ideas as I go. other than that, I never know where I’m going.

moving things with your hands are more freeing than relying on the computer’s ctrl-zs, where you can only fix on the immediate slide and every edit feels pressured to be final. I can play more with paper. when I’m stuck on one, I can move to another, and I only need to glue things once I’m solid about it, before that I can shuffle them as much as I want to.

this time, I try to glue as little as needed. by not gluing the whole thing as before, my photos can freely move through the loose joints that I created. these are best viewed by using your hand and shuffling them through. very interactive. in doing so, you can also feel the folds and curves that I created.

step 3. after effects

I know people used photoshop, lightroom, and after effects for this. but it’s too complicated and commonplace, I want as little distance between me and my art as possible. I’d rather be the only one who use teams to make art rather than one among millions of influencers who use adobe products (although they’re great ngl).

I forgot the lost art of teams’ document scans after leaving high school. those days I’d send a shit ton of aesthetic organic chemistry or vietnamese homework to myself. after high school graduation, I no longer have an account that let me send scans to myself. during that time, I suffer with this app with pixelated scans, lots of ads, and constant nudges for me to get the premium version called camscanner (more like camscammer tbh). not anymore as I recently logged in back to teams using my uni account.

I was happy with the lack of distraction, the photos’ high quality retention and the variety of document filters to choose from. I chose a filter called améliorer (probably enhance in english). it gives the photos a very colored lithograph feels to it, which makes it different from its original media to become something of its own.

pretty cool, huh?

I know.

happy scrolling through ;)

this one was taken with lights off and with my sister's flashlight as a light source from an angle.
the primary curves cast the shadows, which results in the secondary black curves.
I also applied a different filter.

this one is taken with lights on

districts of hcmc and hanoi

and next up are some photos that are so pretty that I decided to just leave them as they are. these are footage of northwest vietnam. northwest vietnam is also featured in our contemporary music videos. this one is nấu ăn cho em by đen, or cooking for you. you here refers to the younger generation, specifically the one up north in the mountains.