How to create FLAT ILLUSTRATION based on photo in Adobe Illustrator

Hi guys, I learned how to create flat illustration from youtube two days ago 

but I picked up some tips and tricks while practising, 

and I want to share them with my fellow beginner friends if you're interested :

I hope you'll find it useful!

Check out my second instagram account for more illustrations!

@petitemalaygirl

Lots of love,

Aliah

The space that I missed

I spent 3 years of my life here.

It's where I learned how to cook different kind of food,

where I learned how to bake,

how to make kuihs that I never thought I'd make.

I spent 3 years of my life here,

I learned how to appreciate roommates,

I learned that life can be pretty boring without them.

I learned how to share food,

how to save electricity when it's winter,

proved the uni kids that we could have fun without 

involving alcohol.

I made random, impulse decision

when deciding where to go for holidays.

I cried my heart out,

losing two of my loved ones while I was staying there.

I experienced anxiety attack for weeks

and didn't know what it was till I met professionals.

I weeped over getting a C.

I weeped over warning letters from TNB, because of the C.

At the same space,

I woke up to the news of me getting an honorary student award.

At the same space,

I woke up to the news of me getting a scholarship for an all-rounder international student.

At the same space,

I received a phone call about getting a job from Rio Tinto and Amazon.

And at the same space,

I called them back to reject the offer,

because of my loyalty to TNB.

This is the space where

I grow.

As an adult.

I learned about friendship and love.

I learned about trust.

I learned how to let go and let God.

Today,

I'm living on my own at a studio,

with my brother as my part time roommate.

Things are different,

in a good way.

Here, it's home.

But at that space, it means much more.

To the boy I've ghosted

Hey, remember when it was 2009 

and we talked over myspace till late night

over some stupid memes? 

And your obsession on TS?

And in 2010, we talked for the whole year,

you called me to tell about the event that I couldn't go to?

And you surprised me with a visit?

And I didn't text you about my PMR results because I didn't want you to be sad?

It was me who didn't reply your text and you thought our friendship was over?

And in 2011, we didn't talk at all?

But little did I know, you still cared?

And you read each of my blogposts but

we still pretended like we're no longer friends.

Our eyes met but we acted like strangers with history?

And the next thing I knew, you're already in

a relationship.

Couldn't lie, but it hurt at that time.

But I thought, oh it's my fault because I ghosted you.

It was 2012, I texted you,

telling you I was sorry. 

You told me, I never hurt you.

You said, you hope you didn't hurt me too.

But I couldn't say the reason

because at that point I didn't think it was anyone's fault.

But I wanted to say it anyway, for my personal closure.

^ the lines I wrote back in 2014.

Only kept this post in my draft.

Today, I'm posting this.

For the reason that I realized,

a lot of things have changed since then.

Maybe I did have feelings for him back then, 

but we both never talked about it.

Not even close to talk about personal feelings.

It's always about something random.

Maybe it's just at that time, I thought we had many things in common.

And maybe he would have feelings for me too, because of 2010.

But I ended up not continue talking,

I couldn't figure out why.

I think we did talk about it after,

he thought I was busy, so he avoided initiating any conversation too.

Maybe it wasn't technically ghosting.

It's just both of us just stopped talking to each other.

Fast forward, 10 years later..

I realized, it's for the best.

I'm glad it didn't hurt me as much that time, 

because it was just a high school crush,

and things didn't get too personal.

For all those reasons,

I'm still glad this all happened.

We're no longer friends,

but it's okay.

And I don't know how to end this post.

Maybe I should just leave this hanging?

Merajuk Day All Day

Last night, I had a fight with Pan.

We always fight during that time of the month, you know.

That peak time of the month,

I always want his attention, but I want my space, so don't talk to me

but please don't leave me.

Anyway, it was a silly fight.

Then it got better, till I joked about

him being selfish cause he didn't wanna be my plus 1

to my friend's wedding because of the pandemic.

Well, he did tell me not to go,

but I insisted.

So I told him he's saving himself, but not me.

My fault.

I went overboard.

So I said sorry, but he merajuk,

for 19 mins he didn't wanna talk to me

but I wouldn't wait, so I slept.

The next morning, I read his texts,

he's all fine. 

But now, it's my turn to merajuk.

I wanted to merajuk the whole day.

The whole working hour.

He said it's not fair because he only merajuk for 19mins.

I mean, yeah true. 

But I didn't talk to him the whole night,

so technically, I considered him merajuking the whole night.

So there're many attempts when he tried to text me,

I just ignored him.

But I replied to him at 1pm, with just a "Hi"

And ignored him back.

And replied after work.

I didn't have my lunch break today 

because I wanted to finish my work before 5pm.

So I did.

Being super productive.

Submitted my job, and then we talked on skype.

And bonded over an hour of Dr Yasir Qadhi's lectures on youtube,

followed by watching some Bollywood music videos.

All good. 

Basically, this is the merajuk cycle we're having

at least once a month.

This time, I didn't cry. 

Good job, Aliah.

You're getting tougher by days.

My Dream Wedding

This is a story about my dream wedding.

I always imagined there'd be a proposal - an epic one.

The one with flashmob of all Bollywood medley songs,

a lot of dancing, my boyfriend would do the dance obviously

and it'll lead me to a hot air balloon.

He would propose, I said yes, 

because no girl could say no to Tiffany&Co ring, right?

We rode the hot air balloon,

heading to rooftop of a restaurant.

I always fancy the idea of fine dining. 

Somewhere at the rooftop, with the skyline view.

It doesn't matter which city will that be, I just love rooftop restaurants.

If you eat at a rooftop restaurant, with your loved one, it just feels so romantic.

I imagined, there'd be an engagement party too.

With mini dais, just like what I had on December 28, 2019.

A simple one, because I wanted my wedding to be big.

I always wanted a wedding held at a secluded area,

in a big mansion, looking like a Disney castle.

I always wanted to walk down the fancy stairs,

like in every Bollywood song,

with my veil so long that it covers all of the stairs.

I always wanted to walk down the isle, holding my mom's hand

with a bouquet of daisies, not a the big ones, the small daisies.

I would walk across the hall,

my eyes met Pan's and we both smiled, feeling blessed and loved.

My dad would nikahkan us and we're all having tears.

In my wedding dream, ofc there'll be first kiss.

Like this one:

That evening, we'd have wedding dinner party,

modern Bollywood theme,

it's held at the second biggest hall in that mansion.

Everyone dressed up in sarees, lahengas, kurtas

and there were Bollywood songs playing.

It's only for family and close friends.

I'd have my surprise solo performance,

because Pan thought we only had a surprise performance for the guests.

I had my solo performance after our first dance together as husband and wife.

We danced to Kala Chashma.

After that, I danced to Mohe Rang Do Laal and Pan's jaw dropped.

My family performed Bole Chudiyan and some other childhood songs we grew up with.

The next afternoon, we'd have the big reception,

with 6000 guests coming from all over Malaysia and Canada.

It's held at the garden of the mansion.

It's huge, almost felt like a carnival.

The dais was made above the lake, it's a floating dais.

That day, it wasn't so hot, the weather was being nice to us,

it felt like Spring in Montreal.

The decorations made the Spring feeling surreal.

So many flowers, but so elegant.

The grass was all green, almost felt like the wedding was held at a Golf Club.

Pan and I rode on horse carriage looking like the one in Cinderella.

When we reached the isle, the guests were all silent and turned their attention to us.

We walked down the isle, holding hands,

with flower girls walking before us,

with instrumental music playing in the background.

Ah it felt so magical.

Ahh just thinking about it, it'll be the best dream ever.

When it comes to wedding, I'm Monica Geller.

I have a folder of all the things I want at my wedding, how the ceremony would be,

what I'm gonna wear and today I'm writing this because I didn't get to do all of that fancy stuff

because let's be real, they're super expensive and just not feasible.

Because who do that? 

1. Pan will never dance in public

2. There's no hot air balloon in the middle of a city

3. Hot air balloon landing on a rooftop?? Hello??

4. A mansion? Who am I? Princess Mia?

5. Wedding dinner party with dancing? It's so haram for my family hahaha

6. Cinderella horse carriage? You can dream on!

It feels so good to keep dreaming about it,

maybe in the next dream I can have my veil made by blind Belgian nun,

the wedding will be on a cliff in Barbados at sunset, I can be all Rachel about it.

Never hurt to dream.

A girl can always dream.

Praying the COVID-19 will go away,

because my REAL(istic) wedding is coming soon!

Work From Home 101 & Reminder on COVID-19

Only the first quarter of 2020, we're already experiencing an unprecedented circumstance. 

The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease is 

affecting our families, businesses, communities and most importantly our lifestyle. 

It's been two days since our PM announced the two-week isolation

but working at a utility company, we're the essential industry, hence we have to work.

Some of the non-essential departments need to wfh already but not mine.

My department hasn't officially announced that I can work from home (wfh), 

yet when I asked to wfh from my boss.

The past few days, we've been having back-to-back meetings,

we're working on an exciting project, 

I have no complaint about coming to the office and attend the meeting.

But last night, I just didn't feel well.

I started to develop sore throat, I kept sneezing, I have flu

and my body started to get warmer.

I'm pretty sure I didn't keep in contact with any primary suspects of COVID-19

but you never know - it could be the money, the elevator, the door, anything.

So, I asked permission from my boss, to work from home

and it's a good thing that we already had most of the things sorted out

from the meetings and my job can be done at home,

and she agreed.

The next thing I know, 

everyone is allowed to wfh starting from tomorrow.

Most of my colleagues left the office by lunch today,

and continued working from home.

Am I productive?

Well, I try to be.

The best part was, I delivered.

I sent out an email to my boss, the work that I had to submit at 4:57pm.

I guess that indicated I was being productive.

How I did it, and hopefully to continue doing so?

1. Wake up at the exact time I woke up when I had to work at the office

2. Have a things-to-do list

3. Have a detailed plan on what to do and when to do it ( activities every hour)

4. Only have a nap/have lunch for an hour (just like what I did at the office)

5. Make sure to submit what's due before the normal working hour ends

6. Stop doing work outside of working hour, just so I will get used to the routine

7. Remember to give myself a break in between, do not want to tire myself 

8. Do all the chores after/before working hours only

ps, I take Blackmores Vitamin C and Multivitamins as supplement because I think

I need that for my weak antibody. I hope I will recover soon, please make dua for me :)

Other than that, here are a few reminders on COVID-19 to get us going.

I hope you'll find these beneficial :)

It's been 8 years since I left...

I went back to my beloved school last Friday 

because we had discussion on a CSR project

that my company is organizing. 

We're doing a CSR on Mental Health Awareness with the students

and there are two PUTERIs in our CSR group, Ieqa and I, so we voted for the event to be done at SSP.

I know SSP teachers will be accommodating, and truth be told, they are.

When I was in high school, I was blessed with chances to organize so many events

and I learned so much about event management from my teachers,

and I still do.

Even during meetings we had with the teachers on Friday, they still taught me about event management, which I truly appreciate.

I was always lucky during my every visit to SSP,

because there'll always be food.

SSP is well-known for its food gathering.

I also got the chance to meet all the teachers who taught me in school.

My English teachers, Add Math teachers, Malay teachers, ustazahs, and all teachers

that I had dealt with in the past.

They do not change, at all.

They don't age, like they look exactly the same!

It's been 8 years since I left, and they don't age.

I guess it's the surrounding, although it could be very stressful working there,

with all the busy schedules, but it's filled with love.

They're all exciting for my big day,

but it's making me nervous.

There's a lot on the lists that I haven't settled yet.

But not gonna lie,
I miss the high school days, the debating days,
the optimistic me, the I-think-I-am-a-superwoman-can-do-everything moment.

I've learnt so many great things from my high school experience;
the biggest lesson of all is to truly appreciate people who love you and want the best from you.

Miss Asmiza is kind enough to suggest me that I should write/publish a book
about my life journey but I just don't have the guts to do so.
She's basically drafting the whole storyline for me,
I just need to do it!

I've always had the dream to be a writer, to publish a book.
But who knows when will the day come, right?