about me

introduction

I'm shayuu (aka Alex), a graphic and fashion designer from Canada. I'm currently situated in Waterloo for university, but I sometimes venture out to go to Toronto.

inspirations

Sharks are my favourite animal ever, which is why my artist name is "shark" in Mandarin!
Aside from sharks, my current inspiration is MelonLand! The artist behind it, Daniel Murray, holds such an interesting art form.
In fashion design, I strive to keep sustainability in mind. I do this via upcycling most if not all materials used.

Music I like

Workflow

The beginning

Every result started with an idea. A question, a possibility of "Could I do this?". This is where any idea that comes to me is workshopped on and researched with the purpose of responding "Yes!"

Development

In this stage, draft upon drafts are drawn and modelled. Any issues that arise will rarely end in failure: everything has a solution. I'll go back to the original idea multiple times to ensure that yes, we're still "doing this".

Polishing

Once the idea's begun to sprout, there comes a stage where less is more. The final touches, the last edits, and my own personal flair.

Completion

The idea blossoms into fruition, and becomes a finished work. Congratulations!

thoughts on ai

I will never use AI in my creative work.

Current generative AI models are based off of live learning machines. These LLMs don't recognize data visually, instead every image file is converted into text/numerical based values. The LLM is then trained to build image data by learning to associate certain patterns in written data as an image.

Because of how LLMs generate images, writing prompts becomes a fickle issue that I simply would rather just create the visual myself. As well as this, the sheer amount of energy required for LLMs to learn just isn't sustainable, and won't ever be worth offloading my own creative vision onto.

I know how to use AI models. I'm aware of how they work. However, it's my personal decision to never use it in any capacity. I find my own work to be sufficient enough.

neo baja

who is neo baja?

Neo Baja lives on this site, at least this little personal corner. Feed him, play slots with him, and say hi!

Where does he originate from?

While building this website, I perused the sites listed amongst many on MelonLand. Many were fun embellishments I knew I wanted to add to my own site. Check out all of the tools listed there!