bread vs diana: round 1: FIGHT!

Science friction went fast. I had some tea to aid in my alertness. I sat between Tabor and Daniel and drew in my sketchbook for most of it. I payed attention to and tried to think of something to say. During the break I oooed and aaaahed over Daniel's new Leyendecker artbook. It is truly beautiful with so many great images.

On day two of the lipstick thing. Working out pretty well. Got a positive response from Robin regarding it.

About five people were missing from the illustration class. I don't get how people can so freely miss their core class on many occasions. And some people have missed three classes, which when we meet once a week is a lot. Most of the class was spent working on that illustration assignment. We had a dull article by Warren Buffet about investing when the market has crashed and we were told to do a picture for it. I choose to go with the part about being greedy when others are fearful. So I went with a guy standing in the background and a large gray mass of screaming and afraid people loom in the foreground. I had a good idea for how I wanted it to look and it ended up better than I expected it to be. I am really proud of myself. It came out really clean and part of the assignment was for it to be readable when shrunk down (like in a magazine) and mine succeeded on that front. The top three, as generally agreed upon by Chad in the class, in terms of readability and relation to the article were Robin's (who did a great metaphorical portrait of the author), Dominic's (a humorous image depicting cashing in from the loss of money) and mine! I am feeling really good about today. The piece took a lot of time. I had my idea within minutes and it took from noon to noon thirty and one thirty to four to complete it. I'm proud of myself. Go Trillian!

Then I went home and finished watching Fur. The scenes with Diane and Lionel were very sweet though some continuity errors made them a little jarring. Very romantic but I didn't like how it was just that chunk of her life. I felt that it didn't show eno...oh wait I forgot that the video stopped working. I haven't finished it yet. Never mind. Robert Downey Jr was good and once the fur was removed you could tell just how well he was acting through it all because the mannerisms carried through.

Friday night means Munchkin night! I showed Robin and Diana how to make gyoza and whipped up two batches. The first was devoured in minutes. Diana is trying this no bread thing so she used the filling itself to make filling for tasty rice balls. They were really neat looking. Very perfect. Phil and Andy joined us in time for the second batch. Then came with Munchkin Cthulhu (Phil has temporarily traded Space Munchkin for it)! That game has some awesome class bonuses such as the Cultist Class where you get a bonus for other cult members and you can't shake the cult status unless you get some rare cards. The monsters were more difficult and we cycled through the cards several times. I enjoyed the deck very much. Robin won...or did Phil win? Or was it Andy. One of them. Not me. Then we played Apples to Apples! Andy won that. I didn't do so well. I'm not so good at reading what other people will pick. I did create a move that is now called "Pulling a Trillian" where you don't like the cards people give you so you toss them and demand a new set.

After the games I made some Jell-o Brain for the potluck tomorrow afternoon. It is suggested that we show up in costume.

Article Illustration (in class assignment)

In class illustration assignment. We had to create an image for an article about investing in the stock market.

7"x5". Ink wash on bristol paper.

a shade called "coffee"

Felt like glamming it up a little today so I put on some lipstick and mascara. I was presenting my midterm so I wanted to look snazzy. Had a nice ensemble with black tights under black shorts with grey and black striped socks and a light gray shirt. Lots of black and grey coupled with lovely red lips. I only have one thing of lipstick; the kind Jeanette gave me for my birthday. It's a good color on me I think and I felt good wearing it through the day. Felt a little special ya know?

The thought webs took all class to go over. Mine probably had the most images but it was a tough call. Almost all of them had something in common with another web. Many doubled over with mine but mostly because I had a gargantuan web with 150 images, all of which I covered. I got applause and laughter when I took a big breath half way through. I hope it was coherent.

I watched the Matrix for class during my break. I enjoyed it more than I remember. I photocopied some photography and illustrations for my thought book. I ate at Quizno's. I reapplied my lipstick. I wrote a haiku. I succumbed to sleep and took a nice nap.

Worked on all the details in my illustration. I changed the color of the dress to purple. Now it has a yellow/purple/red/blue scheme. Sadly it is a little obvious but it is bright and looks good thus far. Just have to keep at it. After class I helped Karen put up some comic club posters. In doing so we found that the person who put up the other posters only canvased half the school grounds. Now we are sure to get people to show up! Even without food promised...

Hacker Manifesto has become a painful read. I sort of want to slap Wark and tell him to stop writing things that justify how awesome he feels about himself.

employed again

I got the job at Gap Kids. I go in on Sunday for training. Go me!

I returned a chunk of books to the public library. Robin and Tess were there so I got some hellos in. I checked out Zak Smith's Gravity's Rainbow Illustrated: One Picture for Every Page. It is really spectacular and the images are so varied. Is it a good book? Also got some photography books of Diane Arbus and Nadar. I'm currently watching Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. It has Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. in it. Pretty good thus far but it is mostly about who she was before she was famous and how she became introduced to circus people. Did I mention Robert Downey Jr is covered in hair?

Payed my electric bill. Checked out Art Media to see if they had any of those crooked brushes in a larger size but they only had the tiny tiny ones. I find myself using the size 6 most but for detail, yeah I am down to 0 or so. I need a carrying case for my brushes. Right now they are just crammed together in a plastic bag.

Karen and I went to Fred Meyer's to do some shopping. I got bread, juice, and a couple other things. Checked out the Burt's Bees section. Lindsay said that part of the reason she has age so good is that she started putting on eye creme when she was my age. Now I'm not afraid of aging but she does look her age while looking pretty damn good. Burt's Bees has some nice pomegranate eye stuff. I don't moisturize at all so that's probably not the best for my skin either.

Initially I was going to use floss glued over the images to create the links but it became too cluttered looking so I took it off and just put another layer of modge podge on top of my thought web. It looks good but I'm a little nervous about presenting it as the images are really really small.

When I was checking my books out some crazy lady was getting banned from the library. She was screaming about something as they banned her for three months.

glitter paws does thriller

The 11-3 block of today was one big frustration. Yoga got passed through student council which was awesome. The rest, not so much. Lots of issues of concern. Lots of issues and problems with few solutions. Argh. I need to just bring my lunch and go elsewhere during it all. Can't take it anymore! Though the mac and cheese was quite good. We watched a video about the avant garde and the Dadaists. It was a great video but I had a hard time sustaining my alertness. I think we actually learned something today but it is hard to take a teacher seriously when they don't even know about Duchamp's last piece that he spent 20 years working on! How can you rave about "not having enough Duchamp" when you are not aware of Etant donnés. Such was my fury that I switched topics to that over German Heroic Realism. Plus she dissed Heroic Realism so I probably would have had a hard time making a case for it.

In figure drawing we had Cherise. Good model though something is really tricky about her anatomy. It was a series of 20 minute poses while Morgan looked at our work. Being at the end of the alphabet, he didn't get to me quite yet. Next class though. The last few minutes I drew on Karen's piece and she drew on mine. They ended up being brilliantly surreal. Or just zany. Whatever. Also Karen watched Thriller for the first time and drew Diana's cat dancing it. When one cat leaves, another shall take its place.

Painting was a work day. Got some good reviews on my assignment and got to work laying in the details. It's a lot of little work but I think it will have a nice final effect. I used the illustration printers for my thought web printing needs. I wouldn't have to do that if the school had regular printers with ink open for our general needs. Hung around for a bit and chatted with Farel. Showed Bryan my 24 Hour Comic.

I missed the call from Paula concerning my employment. Tomorrow I will find out my job status.

I watched the DVD of Mark Romanek's music videos while I cut and assembled my thought web collage. He has a very diverse range of work. Very prolific from Michael and Janet Jackson's Scream and En Vogue's Free Your Mind to Johnny Cash's Hurt and Nine Inch Nails' Closer. I really dug the video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Can't Stop.

I finished my thought web. Now I have nothing due till Friday! So I just have reading, watching, and sketching to do all of Wednesday and Thursday. I need to start my zine for Science Friction. I will write it up first and then lay it out.

a monday like any other

Instead of doing a pencil sketch, I loosely put in the figure with washes. The gesture of the thumbnail was well received so I wanted to keep the looseness of it. It is a fairly primary scheme right now so I want to make that a little more subtle. I'm feeling good about it. But yet again, I feel that it is a little simple and easily done. Not enough of a challenge!!

For my next history of design presentation I am doing either German Heroic Realism or some artists that fall under English or French Art Deco.

I have a sore spot in my stomach from the fun we had last night. Got jabbed up something fierce.

Morgan is going to look at some of our figure drawings tomorrow and advise us on how to improve. I'm getting better but I'd say half the class is technically better than me. But he doesn't seem like the type to call you out for not being at the level of others when you are improving yourself. You know? Yeah.

I need to go shopping for food soon. Down to pasta and cereal and oatmeal. I did several lightly painted doodles for my pals today. I slipped them under their doors and ran.

Tomorrow I am going to print out my thought web pictures and in the evening and Wednesday I will find some way of assembling them. Took me hours to sort them all out. A lot will be going down in these two weeks. Lots of projects and at the end of it all: David Sedaris!

I vote therefore I am

Job interview was a group thing. There was a lady that was a relative, a lady from Nordstrom, and a lady in Capri's with a gold tooth. Some of us might get hired at Gap. I think I did okay. Nordstrom lady is intimidating. I made sure to say how comfortable I was with working and going to school at the same time. If I do get hired, I won't be able to spend as much time up in Washington during the holidays. Might just be a day or so. That would suck but, hey, you get a job and you get limited by it. And there isn't much to do while in Washington. I spend most of my vacations sitting in bed watching movies anyway. You guys need to visit ME!

I voted today. I read up on the candidates. Found out where the superintendent runners stood on the WASL. Googled some people. Laughed at the pictures of the poor Green Party candidates. They didn't even bother getting flattering photos. I signed it and mailed it off. So what did you vote for I-1000? I voted yes. What else did I vote for? Well that isn't any of your business!

Cece is working on her Halloween costume. It is pretty gross. It's...yeah I won't blog about it. It looks like what it looks like.

Karen, Adam and I hung out and worked on the thought web and had heated debates and conversation about the difference between men and women. Then we went to the park and played around for a few hours (in the dark). Our eyes adjusted and everything was in black and white. We had a jolly good time. I have lots of stories but you'll have to ask me about them in person.

Tomorrow is a work day. I made the list of things due near the end of October so I need to get started on those. Top of the list is the thought web and the zine.

I'll hear about the job by Wednesday or Friday.