oh god the fingernails

Karen passed on Ikea today because a part of her essay vanished and she had to dig through autosave to recover it. Oh well.

Finished my chili. Went to yoga. It was intense. Lots of deep stretches that really got me in a bind (ha). Just Diana, Fawn and myself. Pigeon. Mermaid. Cow face. King pigeon. It was good. Very good. I really felt it. Deep in the joints and muscles.

Afterwards I hobbled home, put my laundry in the basket, and then realized I didn't have enough change for laundry. Karen then contacted me to inform me of her victory over thesis paper recovery. She was really freaking out, so I said that if she picked me up, I'd treat her to some hot wings (within reason, not going to buy her 30 wings). So at around 7:30, Karen, BT, and Phil picked me up and we went out for wings! Hurray! Went to Fire on the Mountain. I got mild wings instead of the not spicy sweet BBQ. I ravished them. Karen and BT got tenders. Interesting choice.

On the way back I asked to be dropped off at Powell's. Some books for presents were too much, but I did get some things for some people. After Powell's, I wandered over to Fox Tower. There was a line and the late showings of Black Swan were selling out. Thankfully they added more. Rollyn arrived, we got our tickets (dutch), and bypassed the line for the 10:20 showing and got our pick of the seats for the 10:15 (which didn't have a noticeable line). Sweet.

Okay, Black Swan was intense. While Enter the Void was a slow exhausting burn, this was a too-afraid-to-bite-nails tense psychological masterpiece. Every moment was pregnant with tension and terror. Natalie Portman should just get that Oscar. She was magnificent. Brilliant movie. Acted with precision. Beautiful. But damn, I don't think I'll be able to watch it for a while. Too much fingernail related harm. And just general "I'm going to have a heart attack NOW" feelings. Very good. Very very good. Five sold out screenings I believe. Wonderful. Rollyn drove me home, and now I need to figure out my plan for tomorrow. Forgot I was going to hang out with Bekka. I can still hang and go to Ikea. I'll just get a later start on printing...not ideal but I need the frames for presents.

Thesis zine...wrapping paper. I can do that tomorrow. A long day in the studio. I'm fine with that. Once I get the frames, I can do that once finals are over. I have a few days to relax.

wellies & brellas

Sopping rainy day. Perfect to stay in. Except I had to go out eventually.

But first I caught up on sleep. Precious sleep. Oatmeal. Mmm. Did the dishes. Good old dishes. Tidied up a little bit. Thursday is my switch off responsibilities day. All though I did just make a list of what needs to get done. Thankfully no documentation discs or essays. I'm missing some thing I think...err I'll think of it.

Walked to Fred Meyer to get fixings for dinner. It was pouring rain, but I threw on some wellies and grabbed an umbrella. All was alright, all though I did step in some mighty big puddles. 21st was well flooded. Got fixings to make lasagna! Yay! A big hearty lasagna to eat all week.

Popped it into the oven, took out the trash and recycling. At 7ish Rollyn came over for dinner. Lasagna was perfect. Part of the agreement for dinner was to watch the new episode of Community. Which was brilliant. Claymation! And then after that we watched the classic Tampopo. Beautiful movie. Full of heart. And delicious ramen. And then Rollyn went home and I watched the new episode of Misfits and some Sons of Anarchy. Tomorrow we might go see Black Swan.

Yoga and Ikea. Also some drawing. and Skype. Saturday and Sunday are work days. Animation, printing...glorious work. OH YEAH I have to print the thesis zine!

in da lab, gettin' crunk on dat muybridge

Oh boy. Long day. Long day spent mostly doing one thing.

Got to class. Did the course evaluation forms. Then sat in 815B for hooour working on the animation. The computers started to crash so I took a break to get a burrito. But then I went back to work. Lots of drawing. Lots of scanning. Lots of editing. My brain got fried on it. But it is coming along and everyone has a positive reaction to it thus far. Finished the promo mailer for the mock up. It printed a little larger than it should. It will be a quick print job though. Just gotta get around to printing it. I suspect this Sunday I'll get up early and stay late in the print studio cranking stuff out.

Anyway, yeah, worked on animation. Rose and Anouck dug it at the progress meeting.

In class we looked at our promo pieces and talked about them. Postcards, business cars, all that jazz. Now we are getting into websites. So next semester we want to have our self promotion pretty well set up. I'll probably enlist Nathan's help with some web design.

It was a mild class. Got out at 9. Went home. Ate a salad. Ate some candy. Now I'm just chilling. Tomorrow I have some tidying up to do and a big plan for what I need to get done. Which is a lot. Friday I'm going to Ikea to get frames for prints for Christmas. So it won't just be in plastic. Hurray!

waddlin' owls

Final two weeks of school. They will be here and gone before I can blink, and I got a lot of art that needs doing, both for school and for personal stuff.

Got up. Showered. Dressed. Had a scramble. Left for school around 1 and scanned. Then I took those scans and edited them in photoshop. Then I took those files and worked on getting them into my animation. Then class started. It wasn't a major class. Just some feedback from the panels and overall discussion. Also got client lists. And some stuff to be thinking about. Next semester is getting a portfolio ready and preparation for pushing us out into the real world. Need to decide what I want to aim for and go and get it. I'm willing to move. The future will come faster than I expect it to. Mmm.

For the rest of class, I worked on animation. Getting that ready. The owl flying looks GREAT. Just need to get in the rest of the stuff. Like a little waddling owl. I have a plan now. Yup.

Sushi should not be followed up with cake. Doesn't sit as well as one would hope.

Yoga was good. Lots of stretches.

Walked and chatted with Karen a bit after. Went home. Had dinner. Raising Hope was hilarious. Especially the dirt cookies. Glee was okay.

Watched more Sons of Anarchy and worked on the promotional mailer for Advanced Illustration. I always forget how long simply inking something takes.

rest and work

Oh boy, a day to sleep in and relax. Haven't had one of these in...a week or so.

Anyway. Slept in. As I said. Then I got up and had some oatmeal and tea. And then did most of the dishes. It doesn't take much for them to pile up.

Showered. Had a salad. Then I watched my animation. I looked up some Muybridge. Carmen also sent me a great feedback email, so I have a little something to go from. I really wish the video was longer. It could be longer, but then it would be so much slower panning. Fifty seconds is enough. Just have to fill it. I'm stuck but not stuck.

Anyway, I drew an animation loop of an owl in flight and some background stuff to add. I think after I get it into the animation tomorrow and see what it looks like, I'll have more ideas. Watched Sons of Anarchy while drawing. I think I should have got more drawing done, but since it is so free form, accomplishing that is difficult.

Went to Trader Joe's. Got some frozen food and apples and seaweed snacks. I'm now addicted to those, instead of the mango. So delicious. Need to plop some rice on them one of these nights. I tried out the TJ's Shepard's pie for dinner. Very delicious, though it seems like it would be easy to make. Meat, veg, and mashed potatoes plopped together? How hard could it be...

I think I'll go to bed early, set the alarm, and be productive. Tuesday Mornings are good productive time frames. Plus I need to assess my finals and get a clearer idea of what is due across the board.

the way home: preview

Screen shot of the upcoming minivideo for Odd Owl's The Way Home.

Pen drawings with digital color manipulated in AfterEffects.

trees and do do do do do do

Mmm microwave pad thai. Almost as good as the real thing...almost.

In retrospect I should have put up some of the stuff I scanned today. I'll do that tomorrow or something.

Had my tea and scrambled egg breakfast. Sluggish start. But then I put on Misfits and Sons of Anarchy and I started drawing. Started drawing trees. I drew five different panels of trees. One was 3"x6", then 3x8, 3x10, 3x12, and 3x14 or something like that. The different trees would pan across at different scales and rates, creating movement and depth. Pencil sketches, then pen inked, then shaded with pencil yet again. Took a fair amount of work to draw and line, but scanning and inputting it into video will produce some pretty art. And I don't have to draw that big to make the animation, as the resolution is just 720x480.

So I got that drawn. Went to school around 6. Said hi to Karen who was working on painting her thesis room back to white. Then I scanned and removed the backgrounds in some of the images and colored them and tidied them up and put them into AfterEffects. And it all went really smoothly! No major issues or anything. I'm really pleased with the foundation I have right now. I just have to draw, scan, and drop stuff in. Jon was in the lab as well. Karen was impressed by my animation and asked me to show her some AfterEffects basics during break.

My goal was to get the foundation done, and I did. So I went home. Popped some frozen pad thai in the microwave, and now I've consumed that, and I'm working on finishing the Ninkasi Brewing Company Sleighr Dark Double Ale that I bought for my chili. It's already lost a bit of its luster since yesterday. But it does hit the spot on this Sunday night. Now I'm just waiting on Walking Dead to finish, and Boardwalk Empire. Mmm. Season finales for both of those I think.

best chili EVER

Ahhg my knee. It has a hideous bruise now. Bleahhh.

Alarm went off at 9. Got up. Whipped out Auntie's chili recipe. Dug out the crock pot. Cooked up the sausage. Plopped in all the beans and miscellaneous this and that. Cut up the sausage. Stirred it all together. Set it to low and then went about checking off the check list. Ate a scramble. Check. Shower. Check. Trash and recycling. Check. Put away laundry. Check. Tidy room. Check. Sweep. Check. Make sign for window. Check. Kristen and Mark collaborated on a delicious salad spread, though Mark didn't stick around for the shindig. Went to Trader Joe's for some supplemental juice beverages. It all came together quite nicely.

Kristen and I sat and had some of the chili and I must say it was spectacular. A great recipe. Just the right about of subtle spice and flavors. Ahh, so good. First to arrive was Mel and Tabitha. Then Robin. Then Beth. Then Karen. Then Jon. And that was it, though it was a good crowd. They ate enough chili to have leftovers but not an obscene amount of left overs. The salad bar was utilized fairly well. Now we have precious greenery to munch on for a bit. We ate and ate and then chatted and migrated to the living room to digest. And chatted some more. Kristen made over Robin a little bit and gave her winged eye makeup. Robin and Jon did a duet on the ukulele and five string guitar. It was a nice little get together. Karen gave Mel a lift, Robin went to hang with Beth, and Jon left as well. And the clean up was fairly reasonable too! But that was to be expected, as it wasn't rowdy.

Rollyn invited me to the 10pm showing of The Warriors Way, so he came over at 8:30ish and we hung out. He already had dinner so alas no chili for him. One of Tabitha's friends came over as well and those three got ready for a night out. I'm not much of a clubber. I prefer booths in bars and gabbing about whatever.

Anyway, The Warriors Way was quite adorable. The lead actor couldn't emote worth a damn, so the rest of the cast had to fill in the blanks. It had its odd charm. Fun little film.

Yesterday there was street sweeping, and it was kinda weird to see a street devoid of cars. So vacant.

When I got home, I was tired and went to bed instead. Now to be productive! Here are some pictures: