ARTISTIC TAKE
Urban designer Syahmi Daud challenged himself to produce an artwork a day during the MCO
UPON LEARNING THAT the country was going to restricted movement, urban designer Syahmi Daud made a commitment. That for each day of the Movement Control Order (MCO), he would do a sketch a day.
“Before that, I was doing my art only during my free time,” the part-time sketching tutor and sketching artist says. “My workload as an urban designer takes most of time and I rarely produce any artwork.”
But with the implementation of the MCO, Syahmi took the opportunity to challenge himself by producing a sketch a day. Mind you, at the time the MCO was supposed to last just 14 days. Soon after that there was another extension, and for Syahmi this meant having to decide whether to continue the challenge or not.
“All this while, I have been practicing by doing at least a sketch a day,” he says, but it was not in a “proper way.” Instead they were rough sketches done in books, or on small pieces of paper.
“But during MCO, I actually managed to produce proper artwork,” he says.
Now, Syahmi has produced enough work to cover a portion of his room, complete with enough work to hold a mini exhibition.
“I am really satisfied with the outcome,” he says. At the time of interview, Syahmi had completed 25 work. When it was announced that the MCO had been extended yet again, Syahmi decided to continue the challenge, fuelled by the positive feedback he was receiving on social media.“I received a lot of positive feedback from Twitter and Instagram,” he says. “People really enjoyed seeing posts of the artwork every day. I believe this kind of thing spreads positivity and I was able to remain positive during this hard time.”
His project had a ‘knock-on’ effect with others also embarking on various art pursuits and tagging him in the process.
“It feels great to share the excitement of producing art with others,” he says. “People experience art in many ways. For me, I enjoy the process of making it but that I managed to push viewers to grab pens and start
producing or replicating my artwork gives me another kind of satisfaction.”
Syahmi is of the belief that art is something everyone can pursue. “I just want to say that everyone can actually draw,” he says. “Art is subjective, it is inside you. All you need to do is just let it out. Don’t think about the results and just enjoy the process.”
An architect by training, Syahmi who previously worked as an architectural designer, believes that the multidisciplinary nature of the subject, allows him to explore many creative outlets.
“You can actually apply the knowledge and skills that you learn into so many other things related to arts such as urban design, landscaping, painting, photography, event planning and many more.”
Excerpts from our interview with Syahmi Daud:
““ART IS SUBJECTIVE, IT IS INSIDE YOU. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS JUST LET IT OUT. DON’T
THINK ABOUT THE RESULTS AND JUST ENJOY THE PROCESS.”
Why did you decide to take on a challenge of doing a sketch a day during MCO?
Before this, I was doing all the art stuff only during my free time. My workload as an urban designer takes most of my time and I rarely produced any artwork. But during the MCO, I finally have free time to produce more artwork. So I challenge myself to produce one sketch a day until the end of MCO (during the first phase).
When you first sta ed, the MCO was supposed to be just for two weeks but now it has gone past that. Do you regret sta ing this?
No regret at all because I manage to fill in the wall of a small corner in my room with 25 A4 artworks. It looks like I have created a small exhibition gallery inside my room. I am truly satisfied with the outcome. With the extension of MCO, I’m planning to continue producing an artwork per day to expand the collection. I received a lot of positive feedback on Twitter and Instagram, saying they enjoyed seeing my posts (time-lapse video, artwork images) of the artwork. I believe this kind of thing spreads positivity and I keep myself positive during this hard time.
Are you disciplined about the way you work on this?
During the first and second phases of MCO, I managed to draw one work a day until I ran out of the art supplies (watercolours, paper
and pens). After a while, I finally stocked up those and continued to produce one drawing per day.
How do you decide on what buildings to draw?
I simply search on Pinterest any type of building/interior images that I like. But there were drawings that I produced based on my visual memory and some from my own design ideas.
Can you tell us a bit about your architectural philosophy?
Architecture is very wide. The understanding of architecture varies between practitioners. In general, architecture is a discipline that combines artistic beauty, scientific and mathematical precision to design buildings for people and their environment. In other words architecture is the combination of art and science. There’s a saying “Architecture is the Mother of all Arts”, so it doesn’t mean if you are an architecture graduate you need to be an architect or be involved in building construction. Studying architecture makes you feel aware about your surroundings. You’ll become observant and will pay more attention to details. It teaches you so many things from the fundamentals to the end of the process. You have managed to create a community who are also creating art during this period.
How does that make you feel?
It feels great when you can actually share your excitement of producing art with others. People are experiencing art in many ways. For me, I enjoy the process of making it while others enjoy watching it being made. To manage to push the viewers to grab pens and start producing or replicating the same artwork as mine gives me another kind of satisfaction. At the end of the day, I just want to say that everyone can draw. Art is subjective and it is already inside of you. All you need to do is just let it out. Forget about the results and just enjoy the process.
What are some of the things you discovered about yourself over the past month?
All of us are affected by this pandemic. It’s hard to believe that 2020 is not what we expected it to be. It’s a hard time for all of us. For me, not be able to go to work, seeing parents at my hometown, going for outings with family members and friends is something difficult to endure. But on the bright side, I can actually spend more time at home because all this while I spend most of my time at the office. I’m able to produce more artwork, even making timelapse videos which I rarely do and improve my art skills. It makes you become more creative because you always need to create some new excitement at home.
Syahmi Daud’s work is available for purchase on Instagram @lukis.lokal