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Saturday, December 6, 2008

Articulated Paper Doll Puppet


The first puppet base. She will have clothes.

15" high. Watercolor.

ode to things slimy

Science Friction just barely scratched the surface of Watchmen. I said that we all own it, not just DC or Moore. I brought oatmeal and ate it. The school has a hot water dispenser so hurrah for mush!

In Illustration we talked about what thesis we saw and our ideas for our future. I talked a lot, maybe because I was tired and didn't have a censor. We broke for lunch early and Robin and I got some Yo's. We lounged in the library. Katie and I exchanged quick hellos.

Carson Ellis came into class to talk to us and show her work. She is really cool and super skilled and all famous and well known. Hurrah! Also very much red headed. Our assignment was to draw a forgery. It isn't due till next class so I might redo it. I tried to forge Kent Williams but we had to do it in something opposite our style so I might redo it. Oh I just said that. Err yea. I also sketched, inked, and lightly colored a drawing of Dominic and Sivonna sitting next to each other. They both really dug it so I photocopied it for them. I'm pleased with it as well, they both have great hair to draw.

I left a little early and rushed home to catch the office before it closed. I got my packaged at like, 4:58. Yeah for teeshirts! They look great and fit me perfectly. I'm wearing my Octadecapus teeshirt now.

Did my laundry. The towels didn't fit and I did them by hand. They are going to take forever to dry.

Did some quick little articulated figures to give to the Munchkin crew. Also handed out a stack of comics to Adam and Phil. They all loved my little moving images of them. Robin had a rotating tea arm, Adam had an arm to put around Karen, Karen had two arms, Phil had a high-fiving arm, Diana had a hand holding arm, and I also had a hand holding arm. Everyone was all "awww that's so sweet!" and I got hugs.

Diana won Munchkin via the Divine Intervention card which gave her a winnable level. I had a pretty awesome character which included, but was not limited to, a fire breathing, farting, flying war horse and a divine stepladder. I drew out characters and then drew Robin smoking and looking sultry.

I have the snuffles. I think I caught a chill last night from not having a proper amount of pajamas on.

Tomorrow I am going with Robin to house sit and work work work! I'll be away from the distractions of my apartment so that should be good. Also there is a button quest at noon with Karen. Hurray!

Friday, December 5, 2008

dilly of a day

Ahk, what a day.

Figure drawing was a focus on more tonal buildup. Lots of long poses. Whatever.

Inked in some of my sketchbook. Looks great even though one page smudged onto the opposite drawing. Still is acceptable. Scanned those in. Checked email.

Ate at Hot Lips. Sketched another picture. My method makes it really a simple thing to produce work. Read Watchmen.

I broke down a little before painting and Jen and Bryan were both very sweet. I have great friends. Got it together in time for class and Farel brought in another buddy to show off: Jesse Reklaw! He showed us his technique and we all joked about. It was nice. Farel assigned us our final (with two weeks left in the semester).

Karen stopped by to give me some brads for my puppet.

Earlier in the day we (Karen and I) purchased some items from the Holiday Art Sale. I have a budget and I have not gone over it! I got a comic bundle from BT, a print that I really wanted from Anthony Roberto for cheapsies (hurrah!!), a print of Darya's, and a present for a someone someone. People priced a little high this year and there isn't as much really interesting work. Still, it is cool to see everyone come together.

I spent hours working on my sketchbook before noting the due date is the 19th. What the hell? Argh. So I had to stay up even later than I had to to finish my homework that is actually due. But I got it.

Cecine is leaving after this semester. My new roommate is named Katie. She has a cat. She is in my Science Friction class, is an intermedia major, and seems like a cool Caterpillar.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Maddison and Charlie


Pages from my sketchbook. Inked Maddison from his thesis proposal and a sketched Charie.

Ink.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

brads and lines

I thought friends were nice and let you sleep in but noooo they schedule group breakfasts at 9:30am and make fancy foods when you bring juice.

Robin, Diana, Adam, Karen, Phil, Andrew, and I all grouped together for a morning feast. There was spicy hash browns (which were too much for me), scrambled eggs with too many unidentifiable bits in it, french toast, store bought juice, blueberry pancakes, and apple spread. I was teased for being a picky eater. I'm not picky, I'm bland and with a sensitive tongue! I kept nagging at Adam to read Watchmen in the proper order instead of jumping into the interesting bits.

After the food we decided to play a non-Munchkin card game. No amount of suggesting and pouting could get people to play Spoons so we played Karen's Insane Card Game. Which was Uno with a couple twists. It was fun but it ended really quick once everyone decided we needed to get to work.

I finished, I guess, my History of Design piece and go to work on a few preliminary puppets (did I mention I changed my concept?). It wasn't all that productive but a stiff neck was paining me all day. The weekend is upon me and I have plenty of time...I hope. This finals period has been really bad for me.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

covered with the sweat of virgins

I went to see Dir en Grey tonight. My first real concert concert.

Jaymee and I met at Diana's and she drove us to the Hawthorne Theatre. It was a nice cool night but we dressed light and just wore jackets for the line. I haven't listened to Dir en Grey in a while (since I was 18 or so) but for nostalgia and for my first real show, I bought a ticket. The audience was mostly made up of teens between 14 and 18. Lots of youngins with intense makeup and way too much clothing for a packed show. We had some giggles at the fashion choices and also felt old because just being 20 put us in the minority of "older" listeners. The line was right near traffic and we kept getting honks. Some cars drove dangerously close. The Monster Soda truck swerved onto the curb and gave out free energy drinks to the teens. Nuts!

When we got close to the entrance, Jaymee and Diana took our coats to the car (which was only like a block and a half away, score!) and I held a spot for them. It was cold but it was the best choice as I became soaked through the show. The theatre was designed for about 300-500 people, I don't quite know the number for sure but it was small. Lots of little girls all shoved into the place. The first band was The Human Abstract. American and not that interesting. The audience had no energy for them and they generated none. Just some wanky looking guys, whatever. Some of the audience were fans though. During the break Diana gave us shoulder rubs and we made fun of people. Some of the shoving of the audience made girls put there hands up in "back off" motions. I jerked my thumb in a "you should get away from the front because you will be stomped" motion. Seriously, who enforces personal space when they are 10 feet away from the stage?

The crowd cheered for each Asian that came on stage and then stopped when they realised it wasn't a member of the band. I was screaming jokes about that something like, "YEAH ALL ASIANS LOOK ALIKE!" and "YEAH ROADIES YEAH!"

When Dir en Grey came on it went mental. Everyone crowded and pushed and clawed to get closer. Kyo, the lead singer, was shirtless and was so controlled in his snake like contortions. It was just mental. Screaming, pushing, elbows, sweat, arms, hands, bodies, fabric, skin, spit, everything together in one shifting waving mass. Kyo spat on his audience for the start and we reveled in it. I was mostly within the cluster with slight movement. We were not locked in place but we shoved onwards and forwards.

People had their cellphones and cameras out for such long portions. They just HAD TO PROVE how close they were and how awesome it was. I would rather just experience the show instead of documenting it to relive it. Can't relive something you barely live.

This lady behind me shoved me more than pushed me. I didn't elbow her in the nose but I wanted to. Every time I saw her, her face was grumpy and irked. Like she was dragged there by her boyfriend. She just didn't want to be close or anything. I pushed back into her a little harder than I was pushed. Seriously, why stand so close if you don't want to be touched?

The little girls put up a good fight. My hair was soaked and sticking to my face. I jumped and danced and screamed and screamed. I escaped to the back when their main set was done and scooted closer when they came out for their encore. I wish I was closer when the other band members came up for the last gestures but I had room to jump in the back.

The night was sweet and refreshing when I emerged. A guy chatted me up while I waited for my friends to show. We screamed each others names and jumped on each other in triumph of the show.

Fred Meyer's gave us sweet sweet liquid to consume and hydrate ourselves.

We sat in Diana's car and unwound. I called Chris and gushed the details. When we got chilly it was time to go home and crash.


The Thesis Presentations:

Jason: Brilliant. He knew how to word things and how to put together a slide show to explain what he was going to do. The room was filled with easily 40 people. Karen, Robin, and I sat on the couch and didn't have the best view but still got a good general idea. Jason is doing a life size sculpture of those spitting dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. It is on a wrecked car and will be spitting toxic stuff. It deals with childhood pop culture and the inclusion of radioactive material in it. He phrased it in such a way that it was perfect. He is an illustration major but he has already mastered all that there needs to be mastered in technique and examples of stuff. He is set for life that boy.

Natalie: Could have had more character sketches and a better idea of the final concept. There was some major nit-picking. I think the end result has some great potential. She was very nervous but as we asked, her thesis got more fleshed out. She is doing 15 illustrations based after the Norwegian story about the girl and the polar bear.

Matt: Beautiful slide show. Perfect amount of time spent in explanation and he really knew what he was drawing from to create the story. It is a steampunk comic about the relationship between two brothers. I think he will add more pages because 15 is such an odd number.

Maddison: He had a loop of ominous music playing while we filed in. His project is a sequential scroll based upon Lucifer's fall from Heaven. He was dressed like he was going to sell us Ice Cream and the under lighting of the podium gave him a very sinister look. Some people asked him some silly questions which seemed more about showing off their own knowledge of the subject. I wanted to ask how he was going to use the scroll aspect in its design.

Charlie: I sat next to Charlie's darling wife Karie. Wonderful woman. This was Charlie's oral final thesis presentation. Months of work lead up to this and he did not disappoint. He wrote a book and illustrated it and got it printed up through Lulu (print on demand service). It looks really nice. The oral was so personal and he really bared a lot of himself in the glare of the lights. He knew every word. There was no doubt. He gave us all pamphlets of his work as well. Goodies! Next paycheck, I think I will order a copy of his story. His art style is amazing. We all adore Charlie so much, I'm going to miss him.

I did about 6 sketches during the proposals and final. Plenty to ink and finalize!

During lunch Jaymee came up to Diana and started talking about the Dir en Grey concert. I decided to get a ticket if it was not sold out, and it wasn't so I got one. So quick with the Internet. The long lunch was long and I decided to change my puppet because the plaster just isn't working the way I want it to.

I only got about 10 minutes between getting home from the thesis stuff and going to Diana's. Karen was a doll and drove Robin and I there and back. Karen so rocks.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAHHH!!!!

Beardsley Homage (work in progress)



Final for History of Design. Work in progress.

15"x22". Ink.

it is time

Just spent the last three or so hours inking and the hours before that drawing. Working on my History of Design final. I might end up redoing it more like Aubrey Beardsley's style (it is a homage) because I'm not sure how strongly it reads as it right now. Still, needs to be finished. I am very pleased with the image on its own. Working big isn't such a daunting task anymore and my style shows.

Early in the day, Diana, Karen and I went to Powell's. I left my wallet at home. First we looked at Google Earth on Diana's computer because Google Earth is AWESOME. We walked all the way there but it was good company so the time went fast. Karen bought a copy of Illustration Now (twice she has gone to Powell's to get something that I bought the day prior). She found some great art books and some books to manipulate with her modified book art stuff that she does. Afterwards we talked about going to Powell's as a bookstore to explore and find new things and going to a place like Barnes and Noble to find specific things to read (sometimes Powell's falls short in the stock department). It is such a beautiful store.

I finished watching 3:10 to Yuma. Westerns are not really my thing but it was okay. It felt short and like it needed...more.

And yeah, pretty much worked on my project.

My bike tire now is lumpy. It doesn't ride evenly and it rattles if I go really fast.

Tomorrow is the day to check out Thesis a plenty. I shall have my sketchbook in hand for sketching (I have an assignment to do some "journalism" sketches and need to get working on them).

Happy Birthday Seiji!!

Monday, December 1, 2008

winner

Saw a man in a yellow jacket but he didn't cycle through the max, thank heavens for that! First I sweeped up the store and wiped the mirrors. Paula asked why I was so nervous around her. I ran around the store finding stuff for this dudes exchange. No Gap cards. Even though we were busy I was still let off after only three hours of work due to poor sales. Saying we need 5 Gap Cards and five thousand in sales just seems to be expecting so much from people. Demanding more and more and more. But hey, business is business.

Got some sheets of watercolor paper and ink on the way home. I'm all set for finals now. Did a quick little drawing and gave it to Karen. Then she and I went to Diana and Robin's and chilled. Robin is working on a great painting. She gave us ornaments as gifts. How lovely! And then we started playing Munchkin. This game has gotten serious for us. We all know the rules now. Also, as for the second game, I WON!!! Finally. And it took several hard earned rounds to win it fair and square without people letting up. I did it! Yay! The third game went to 2 am and Adam joined it. He won I think, well Robin sorta won. It was a long night. I was expecting to do anything.

3:10 to Yuma has so many notable actors in it beyond Bale and Crowe.

It is Advent Calendar time!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

copper



Quick study of two characters that are going to probably appear in my History of Design final. Breaking in the new brush.

Got my scanner working, just need to find the best setting to scan with.

2.5"x3.5". Ink.

v

Got my piece thumbnailed for History of Design. Going to draw some modern day Beardsley women. Did some quick ink studies of them as well. Started writing down ideas for the science friction paintings as well. Going to go with retro paintings of modern technological advances. Sort of how we live in sci-fi today type thing. It'll be cool. Not sure how big I will paint them but I might just do it my standard 10x14 size just because I have so much of that paper laying about. Need a large sheet for the Beardsley though.

Returned some library books and got one back. Used my new blinky light so cars can be aware of me when it is dark out.

Ate a turkey sandwich.

Read some Watchmen. Watched some True Blood, a HBO show about southern vampires. It's cute.

Molded some puppet parts but I'm not satisfied with them, thankfully working like this makes it easy to start again. I think I might go smaller than I thought. Hmmmn. Just need to keep working at it and eventually I will get there.