hi

hi

Saturday, December 13, 2008

one mans trash is a trillian's treasure

Duuuudes and duuuudettes, I found a most awesome thing in the trash room! A stop sign! And it is attached to some wood. It is like a stop sign from a swinging gate or something. I guess a person didn't want it when they were moving out so it is mine now. I made an effort to take it to Karen's to make a grand entrance with it. It is more cumbersome than heavy. Hurray!

Science Friction dealt with what defines scifi, if the art is bad or just dated, and some other stuff. Nicole lead the class for a little bit. We didn't get too deep into the story but regarded it more as a vertex between many different mediums. We got out early because we had to do a teacher evaluation. I said that Trevor is awesome and that was that.

Illustration was great for the first part and sucky for the second. My Madoka Kinoshita forgery went down really well (some said it was the best executed forgery and that they thought it was just another book on the artist and not my piece next to a sample). I remembered to bring Madeline's artist book but forgot the Illustration Now book that Alex referenced. Alex couldn't find an example of his artist because he neglected to write down the exact name of the person (Tavish). The class has really dropped in numbers. Oh well. Marilyn's forgery was very smooth and sweet but still had her humor, Dominic used some lovely flipside blending, Madeline's Hajime Yoshio was neat and tidy, and April's Banksy was a Llama. The only one Chad didn't deem successful was Josh's but we all jumped it an he changed his opinion.

Our assignment was to do a sorta conceptual Illustration based on an excerpt from something overheard. I didn't quite get it (should have read it closer I guess)and did a portrait of Jon while he was eating lunch and talking about his housemates. I tried something new and some new textures and stuff but it wasn't quite right. It looks good but not..quite there. Some of the Illustrations produced were really beautiful and experimental.

One week left.

The rain was quite torrential.

Ate spaghetti and considered my work. I have Saturday and Sunday off so I shall be cranking this out! Yeah!

Diana showed us (Karen and I)her fashion puppet robot. It is awesome.

Phil, Robin, Karen, Diana, Phil's friend Chris, and I all made Shrinky Dinks! You draw on this plastic stuff and you put it in the oven and it shrinks and it becomes hard and solid and the image that you made goes really small. It is good for things like earrings or pendants. We were experimenting. I should consider a shrinky dink comic. Yeah!

While Phil won Munchkin, we were all at level 9 so it was close. With my bonuses, I was at an impressive 32 or something. I had boots and leggings and a shiny cheese grater and an angry wizard hireling, and all this other stuff. I made a good play of keeping other people from winning for a while but in the end, Phil won.

Chris had one of those laptops that you can draw and click straight on the screen. I drew in a program. It was super fun.

Friday, December 12, 2008

stressing out (like everyone else)

ARHHHHHGGGG!!!!!!

I was almost done with my forgery piece for Illustration when I smudged the gouache on the eye and then in trying to clean that up, I smudged the whole thing and pretty much had to go over everything again. The sweater was repainted, the shirt had to be made white again, the hair color and background was changed, and I had to do the black lines all over again. It was an exhaustive, frustrating process. It really killed me when it was smudged. I hate how it looks now. It's so textured and muddy. It lost the softness that it originally had. It's done enough but I really wish it was how it looked before I screwed it up. It all came out with this piece. I just...argh.

Adam knocked on my door to chill while Karen showed up. I texted her that he was here and she called and I went into the other room while they "sorted out" the meeting mix up. They were here while I screwed up my piece and were very nice about the breakdown I had.

Figure drawing was one long tonal pose. Mine looked like a hairball. I don't like this tonal stuff. I feel like I didn't have enough time to apply what I was told during midterm.

I worked on inking my comic during the break. Karen, Diana and I went to Safeway and I had an onion ring/jo jo/macaroni and cheese early lunch. Nicely priced and very filling. I took a nap during the last hour of my break. Farel was out sick so once I finished the inking, I went home.

While watching Land of the Dead and Idiocracy I finished the inking and started on a new forgery. The Kent Williams one was too much like my own style so I embarked on a Madoka Kinoshita. I put down the colors and layered thick, gouache black lines over it. That was my undoing.

Started watching Revolver. It is weird but I kinda dig it. Mark Strong is on my awesome actor list now.

I'm ready for this semester to be over.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Sketchbook: My Panini and a Man


Pages from my sketchbook.

Ink.

My 24 Hour Comic


I just Googled myself and found that someone had scanned and uploaded my comic from the 2008 24 Hour Comics Challenge to a collection (I gave permission for this). So if you are interested, here is the link to the site:
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/pncace/kencohen/series.php?view=archive&chapter=33816&mpe=1&step=1

This was drawn in seventeen hours and fifty three minutes.

8 1/2"x11". Ink on Bristol.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

if you bought more, I wouldn't have to mark it down

I had an epic markdown shift today. Did the sheets for a while. Some pants were so NOT herringbone but the sheet said they were. That took too long so we started just beeping everything. We had about 4500 units to mark down. It is the first wave of trying to reduce the Winter stuff for Spring. There were huge piles of polos and sandwiched in sweaters to mark down. Even with three other people working, it still took till 1:30pm to finish. Well, when I took lunch, some people left. I had to do most of the backroom by myself. Piles and piles. Lots of up and down and up and down. Super strain on my knees because Paula doesn't like seeing people sit while working. Even with all the hard work (Gloria kept encouraging me to work with more immediacy, I was trying my hardest to be immediate!) there were still mutters of it taking too long. THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF THINGS TO MARK DOWN PEOPLE!! It takes time. And there was a complaint about the state of the store after the mark downs. Well you can either have the job done close to the time you ask for and have it be messy after or have it be neat and take twice as long.

Still, lots of hours are good. And I got my paycheck. It was more than I expected but still less than I wanted and my next is going to be smaller. Still, any money is my very hard earned money. There is a Key Bank a block from the Lloyd so I promptly deposited it.

I requested to have the 19th to the 28th off from work. There is the possibility of me going back to Portland on the 28th if they schedule me for the 29th so if you want some Trilly Time, you have to jump on it.

I just didn't have the heart to draw much today. Worked a little on a fourth puppet (three just would make the play too hectic). But I have a lot of time tomorrow between class and my comic isn't that complex. This weekend will be INTENSE to get it finished (but its a three day weekend, hurrah!). Not as on top of it as last year I think.

Oh, got a kazoo for the puppet show as Morgan wants a band for it.

Yoga went by so quickly. I managed to get my palms on the floor! It was a small group but I felt really good after. Kody and I chatted a little bit. He is a cool dude now that I am used to him. Well, used to is a poor phrasing. More like "friends with".


I don't know if I mentioned it but last Friday, Chad handed out a fake assignment to us to try and prank us. It was to do a classical illustration to this hard rock song. It seemed like something he would assign (in line with his humor I mean) so we were very deceived. He's a fun guy.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

farewell

My Grandpa passed away this morning. Last holiday he went through my portfolio and marveled at the figure work I was doing. He, with the rest of the family, always encouraged me to apply myself to my art.


More tonal work in figure drawing. Long break. I'm not so keen on this work but it is giving me a better sense of building up the figure. History of Design was spent looking at the websites of Portland based design companies. Some cool videos were watched:


We got out early. Karen, Jim and I looked at more more the Bent Studios videos. Maybe I should get an internship with one of these companies?

Painting was spent sketching out my comic pages. Shouldn't be too difficult to finish. The size is just hard to work with outside of having a desk to do it on, ya know? Jen put on Amelie and we thoroughly enjoyed it. A lovely soundtrack now that I know the tone and scenes on that movie from heart.

Got some apples and bananas from Trader Joes. I wanted to get more healthy stuff but my mind drew a blank. This cute employee chatted me up a little bit. Joked about putting my groceries in my art tube and then asked what it was for. When I said it was a piece for art school he said he went to California College of Arts (before the dropped the ...and Crafts). It was a nice little moment. Then he held up a little cardboard mask and ninja'd away. Tee hee. Had a little chat with the person who rang me up about how my bike wasn't stolen last time I was here when I forgot to lock it. I've had him bag my groceries before, a nice old chap. I really like Trader Joe's as a whole. Great deals on sweeties as always.

Called mom when I got home.

Now I am going to go to bed. Well, have some tea and read a book and then doze off. I have a morning shift again. Hurray.

Wilde at Heart (oh that was a bad pun)

The audio only version of the Importance of Being Earnest was so witty that it put me right to sleep. I had to take a nap 10 minutes into Act II. It also probably wasn't the best idea to listen to it all snuggled up in bed with the handmade doll that Karen made me. She's a witch, she put some sleepy stuff in that doll.

For the majority of the day I just sat around being loathsome because of how little I was accomplishing despite having lots of ideas. Eventually I managed to rattle off two fairly simple paintings for SciFri (there will be at least 5). They are okay. Probably will look better when put side by side.

I really need to go shopping for vegetables. It has been nonstop carbs. Mmm pasta then udon then rice with juice and tea in between.

Also finally settled on my painting final. Going away from all the fun stuff and doing a little comic about how when we do something zany we say, "what was that?" and that is the cue to repeat the motion or noise.

Watched a lot of Nevermind the Buzzcocks. Thankfully with having seen all that appears to be on Youtube, I am out and will have to find a new British Panel show to occupy myself with. Maybe 8 out of 10 Cats.

Today, yeah, not as productive as I would have liked but now I know my course for all my finals so it is time to set sail on it.

Monday, December 8, 2008

well that was redundant

Got another doll finished! Now the plan with them is to perform a scene from The Importance of Being Earnest where my three puppets will change costume to indicate a change in character. Thanks to Llyw for the play suggestion. So now I just need to figure out what scene and make the outfits and then that is done! So much more fun than that 3D thing. Whee!! Is there a career in articulated dolls? I hope so, they are fun.

Jen and I had an afternoon outing. I took the max to meet her at Pioneer Place. The rain was rainy but I had the double protection of a hoodie under another hoodie. We really wanted cheese steak but the place was closed so we opted for Chipotle and had burritos instead. I had steak with goodness added in. It took some deep breathing but I finished it. Not quite the monster burrito from Ole Ole or Cha Cha Cha but still quite good.

We danced between the option of seeing the 3:00 Boy in the Striped Pajamas or going to the theatre to see if Milk is playing soon. Holocaust coming of age story or a biopic of an assassinated political figure. Which is slightly less depressing? Milk was playing at 1:45 and we saw it. At first I didn't think I was getting into it but I really got into it. The performances were across the board phenomenal. Sean Penn was very endearing. I think I maybe would have liked a little more development of his relationship with Scott but their subtle interactions got it all across yeah. Very sad. Even though you know it is coming...

We hugged goodbye and I loafed around at home for a horrible amount of time. I did get something done but really not enough. BUT there is always tomorrow to get something done that would be enough. Perhaps start the painting we will be working on in class on Tuesday. EGADS TWO WEEKS LEFT IN THE SEMESTER! FREAK OUT!

Rewatching Delicatessen tonight. Just a perfect movie.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

production and not

Karen and I checked out Button Emporium and Josephine's. She is looking for buttons to complete these dolls she has been making (and her final for Morgan's class). The Button Emporium did not disappoint. They know what they are doing. Walls of buttons! Every type imaginable except the specific perfect kind.

It was a sunny day. Not so bad. I had a hard time getting motivated to start. I work so much better when it is night.

Robin rain checked on the slumber party at her house. Maybe I could have gotten more done if I wasn't loafing at home. Then again I did complete TWO doll bases and an outfit for one of them. That is pretty awesome I think. I was going to go to sleep after I sketched the guy but I was on a roll and just continued straight through with it. If I do a third, she will have yellow underwear and be a blond.

My skin is so bad right now. Argh.

Chatted a little bit with mum today.

I'm having such a hard time deciding which pieces to do for painting and SciFri. I have ideas but no compositions. I have all day Sunday and Monday.

Well Sunday afternoon, Jen and I are getting together for another girly date of sorts. Going to see Milk and eat cheese steak after. Funfun!

Watched Thin Red Line today. Long, very exhausting movie. I think I would be more saddened by it if I wasn't multitasking while watching it. Every time I got psyched about an actor in the movie he died. But that is to be expected from any war movie.

Articulated Puppets: Two of Them!!




Two articulated doll bases and dress. The dress is based after a 1958-1959 Maggy Rouff French New Wave design. These dolls need names, any suggestions?

15". Watercolor.