MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Silver Machine Digital Head of Art Mel W. Aguinaldo has recently received a lot of attention due to the unique personal artworks he shares online. From notebook bindings to wooden chopsticks, he has fully utilized unlikely objects, incorporated them to his work, and created imaginative art out of them.
adobo magazine caught up with Aguinaldo, and discussed his creative process, staying inspired during quarantine, and how #WFH has impacted him and his colleagues at indie agency Silver Machine Digital.
Read his full interview below:
What triggers your creativity when it comes to crafting these artworks at home? Have you ever been able to apply this talent professionally and would you want to? If so, which brands would you want to create for using your unique style?
Boredom is usually the trigger for me to do these artworks. I guess being a creative, when I’m stuck at home and there’s nothing to do, I start to think ‘what else can I do?’ Then an idea pops up in my head and I just start working on it. I always think it’s better to do something creative than do nothing. It’s like my playtime and meditation at the same time– some of these artworks require hours to finish and it will test your patience, but I enjoy it.
To be honest I wasn’t thinking of any brands in particular when I was making these artworks. I just think of what I can do with these available materials at home. But I’ve been asked by some brands and friends from the industry to do some creative ideas for them, some of which were 3D murals for their establishments.
In terms of medium and materials, how would you describe your art form? You use coffee grounds to do your art, eggshells, chopsticks, illustrations, type, etc. How were you able to hone this talent and please describe your process?
You know the saying “A Magician doesn’t reveal his tricks!” but I’m no magician so I will go ahead and share my art. When I was a younger I loved to draw and paint. I would take some time just to draw, draw and draw! I would draw anything from a rock to a rocket ship. Drawing anatomy, though, is my weakness. So I focused more on portraits, which is my strength… until it got boring for me. I asked myself “what other creative things can I do?” Until I got into advertising and started to learn the term “What’s the BIG IDEA?” So I learned a lot of new things, ideas that I didn’t realize would excite me more than my random drawings and paintings.
So “What’s my BIG IDEA?” Illustrations using unusual materials.
Some of the artworks you saw in my posts were really hard to do, and it took me hours to finish like the Coffee Art, Sugar Art and the Egg Shells. The ‘John Lennon Coffee Art’ was pretty hard because during the process when I take my time to apply the coffee grounds on the surface using a teaspoon the granules crystalized fast especially when there’s moisture in the air, the coffee turns into a dark texture and I made several mistakes at first. As for the Princess Leia Sugar Art, I like using sugar better, because its texture is lighter, it’s easy to apply with fingers and easy to shape with a spoon or kitchen knife. The Eggshell art looks easy to do but that took me 2 hours using only a toothpick!
As for the drawings, I try to make my drawings more interesting, I was fascinated with 3D art so I made some 3D drawings like the ‘Caged Elephant’, Tarsier and the Chopsticks illustrations. Also, I love making my artworks related to current events, it makes them more interesting and easily appreciated by people.
How different is your lockdown work from your other artworks?
In my past artworks I’ve also used coffee as water-color base paint for my ‘Saint Series’ (Mama Mary, St. Pope John Paul II and St. Padre Pio), Coffee Creamer combined with Brown Sugar for my ‘Mother Teresa’ Art, Ketchup for my ‘Jughead Art’, Pancakes for my ‘Pacman Art’ and French Fries for my ‘Revolution Series’. For my future artworks I plan to use other elements with colors like Turmeric, Paprika, Pepper and other spices etc. I might also explore using different color rice grains.
This is your creative outlet and what are the benefits of this creative release for you. How important is creativity especially during these times?
Ever since the lockdown, each time I turn on the TV for news and look at my FB feed I see a lot of negativity, new covid-19 cases, people dying, people getting scared, people getting angry, people blaming people… it scares me too. So to take my mind off this negative stuff, I start to meditate and make artworks and show them on social media in the hopes that it could inspire other people and take their mind of the current situation even for a short while. And I get a lot of private messages from friends and strangers telling me to make more of these artworks because they are greatly amused and inspired. Some young artists also share their work with me to get my feedback and some tips. I feel happy when I know I make someone happy, I get more inspired to do my next artwork.
So I’m glad that these artworks are doing their job to put back positivity into some people’s minds… as Princess Leia would say in Star Wars… “There is Hope.”
What are you doing professionally with your creative talents these days and especially during the lockdown?
Admittedly, during the first few days the adjustment was difficult since we have to WFH. I am used to doing work surrounded by my team especially for briefing, brainstorming and internals. Collaborating online was disorienting initially. On top of that, your mind is also preoccupied with everything and anything surrounding the Covid-19 issue. As we progressed to week 2, however, I was able to get my rhythm and focus—having a team who also focused on work and having the mentality of life-goes-on despite the WFH arrangement really helped. So, it’s business as usual for me and for our agency.
A brief description on the creative showcase:
- Chopsticks series
Illustration using pencil for sketching, a tech pen for final outline and chopsticks.
My inspiration for doing this series is that my son loves to eat instant noodles for merienda. - Caged Elephant 2 & 3
Freehand 3D drawing using pencil, white colored pencil and a recycled kraft paper.
My inspiration for doing this is to express to people how it feels for animals in the zoo to be locked up, similar to how we’re experiencing this lockup life. - John Lennon
My inspiration for creating this artwork is when I heard foreign celebrities unite to sing ‘Imagine’. Coffee Art using coffee grounds and a spoon & kitchen knife as tools to shape the portrait. This took me 2 hours to finish. - Rooster Eggshells
One breakfast morning I got the idea of creating it because of the universal question “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Using eggshells and a toothpick. This took me 2 hours to finish. - Jesus Christ
I like illustrating the face of Jesus Christ, it keeps me calm and peaceful. This is a digital Art using typography to illustrate the image. This took me 5 hours to finish during Holy Saturday.
