when was the last time you touched a monkey?

Our lit class was a small one. I thought my notes didn't amount to much but I did have a lot to say. I talked about removing a generation from the cycle, the painting, the roles of stuff, and arguing FOR breaking the fourth wall after that long take. Trevor passed around a bag of candy (mostly smarties) and I double fisted my portions of it. We watched a snippet of Wall-e and compared the two. It was short but I had a good time.

Very few people are in costume and of those that are, almost nobody constructed anything intense. Robin was Rosie, Madeline was Palin, Daniel was Morgan, there was a Lincoln, and several zombies and witches. What's going on, art school people??

I didn't win or place in the costume contest. Daniel won the first prize (a 25$ certificate for Yo's), a werewolf won second, and Lincoln won third.

Madeline, Robin, and I sat in the library during lunch. Daniel joined us as well and he had a nice little round of talking about whatever. School, classes, liberal arts teachers, etc. I played a little Toejam and Earl: Panic on Funkotron with Jason for his Science Friction project.

In Illustration we wrote a little describing a horror creature and then we switched with someone else and drew that for most of the rest of class. I wrote about these things that lurked in shadows and Madeline drew it. I originally got hers but then I switched with April and so I got this sort of werewolf that was also just a big nerd or...something. It was a great paragraph and then I went off the deep end and did some weird almost abstract painting of it that didn't quite...fit. I dug it and it was something new but also not...right. It was this orange and blue twisting sad mass of a man. Definitely different. Everyone now is putting out consistently awesome pieces. Critiques are a joy. We get to joke and really enjoy the work. Marilyn's mom was in class and also did a piece for our project based upon something Chad wrote for her. I love the class, I just wish I wasn't so dead by the time it rolled around. Having an end of the week studio is a bad idea.

I rode home thinking about how Mid Terms are over and how little Halloween spirit there is in the air. I put on my Waldo digs and went to the Pioneer Place Gap to use up the rest of my discount. Amazing how 50% can make pants really cheap. I'll try not to say this every time I buy something from the Gap but HOLY COW!! I tried on a pair of corduroys but I didn't even have to button them to know they didn't work. Some of the poor "working on Halloween" people had a good laugh when I came in. After those were reasonably paid for, it was time to go and attend the thing I have been waiting years for:

DAVID SEDARIS!

He was signed books before the show. Sadly I didn't have anything with me. Thankfully they had a table of his books including a reissue of Holiday's on Ice with a couple new stories added. I bought it to be signed later. He looks exactly the same in person. And sounds the same as well. My seat was pretty far in the back but for a reading, is that really important? He actually read from mostly unpublished and in progress work. One was only half done. He read about how he gives goodies to people at signings and the experience of buying said goodies at Costco. One time he was doing a signing at Costco but it wasn't advertised well and no one payed attention to him and that was made even more sad by his ever present "No Photos" sign. It was a wonderful blend between reading and discussion. One story was about the pretentious people who pronounce random words in their native language. I should have taken notes. He has a story in one of the newer New Yorkers about how people who go on TV and saying they are undecided voters are actually just attention seekers and how can anyone really be undecided at this point. My dream came true and it was everything I wanted it to be. Due to my seat being far back I managed to get out quick and into the signing line before it got too intense. He was very inconspicuous as he made his way to the table after the majority of the throng had left. The line for his signing was incredibly long but ha! I had a good location! When it was my turn he asked my name age and where I went to school and I said I was an Illustration Major at a conceptual art school (PNCA is heavy in concept and light on like...technical ability) and talked a little about how 12 Moments in the Life of the Artist is in the back of my mind as I see people drag themselves through paint for their thesis. I was jittery but I still got a smile a little response out of him. I met him! Sedaris! EGADS! He gave me a candy and a little leaf from somewhere. He signed the book with a drawing of Lincoln as a turtle. Don't know what that means but he said that it is all art school got him. Haha. For all the drugs and smoking, he has aged pretty well.

I changed back into Tintin and then it was time for Munchkin! First we played with dry ice. If you add dish soap it foams into bubbles and as the bubbles pop the gas/smoke releases. It looks super cool. We tossed it around at each other and had a good time. Food was consumed and we played a good round. Andy snuck in a victory. I had a powerful character but not enough monsters to fight to level up.

And now my long week is over. I have no real commitments for tomorrow so I can sleep in past noon.

the soldier, the horse, the light, the women, it's all there!!

Is this week over yet? No? I have one more day? Crud!

We had Kate as our model in figure drawing. We did a segment where we didn't draw her but everything around her. It was her birthday so she gave us all presents (her artwork). I got what I believe to be a self portrait. It is nifty but I don't know where to put it yet. A lot of class was occupied with talking. Talking about the web, talking about homework (zombie assignment) and just talking. It was a relaxing day.

I did about 10 photocopies of my Ensign Ricky zine of the line art form and handed it out to people telling them to "Save the Red Shirts". My drawing class liked them (well the people who I knew who would probably like them, did). I finished them and ran off a pile of black and white copies and canvased all my friends through the day with them. Finished my painting with time to spare. Had a caramel apple courtesy of the school throwing us a Halloween shindig of sorts. It was good. I just plugged away at my projects and time flew by.

Painting class had a delay due to printing errors. Our critiques are really nice. It's hard to get up the nerve to say anything negative but I did manage to point out that one piece was the easy way but the person didn't seem to mind and actually accepted the fact with relish that they didn't challenge themselves. What?

I made a .pdf of my zine and put it on the class website and then scooted home, watched Pushing Daisies, and worked on my illustration homework and my response to Children of Men. I was looking up Guernica and holy cow there is a ton of crossover between that painting and the story! Lots of the same symbols and whatnot. I'm so excited about this, I can't wait for class.

first day at gap kids and the long day that followed

11:11 pm: I wake up thinking that it is 11am and that I have missed my shift. I freak out and call Paula and as I race around I notice that it is still dark and I had just dozed for an hour. I got back to sleep.

5:10 am: I slowly crawl from the warmth of my bed. I shower and wake up with some tea and oatmeal. It is becoming my staple breakfast fairly quick. I wear Old Navy pants and a shirt. I'll be doing mark downs but I still dress the part.

6:08 am: It is dark and empty but the max I catch it full of people coming in to work. A haiku:
hidden in the trains
those who make the city run
glide through the dawn light

There is supposedly a check point at the King's Hill station for tickets but the guy isn't there. I did buy a ticket anyway as I figured they check more often during the commuter times. Also they check more often coming in to the city than going out of it. Everyone is quiet. I read.

6:35 am: I am super early. My shift starts at 7. A cluster of people go towards the vacant Lloyd for their morning shifts. The doors are open and a few cleaning people are scattered around. Young teen girls are practicing ice skating. Very dedicated bunch. I sit outside the store and wait for someone to show up. I believe Mariane is the name of the lady who showed up and let me in. Sabrina arrives shortly after.

7:00 am: everyone is very exact about starting and stopping. Another woman, whose name I forget but it might have also been Mariane, showed me how to use the pricing gun and the price finder. We went through the entire store, checking everything to make sure the price on the tag was what it was supposed to be. Well not everything, but every color of every style. It isn't a huge store and we were a large team. We started in boys and worked back, went to girls, and then to babies. It was fun but everyone was much more speedy than I. Still, I worked hard and continually and try my best. We listen to the Gap Kids sound mix which contains, what I assume, to be a lot of Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus or whatever. Lots of safe pop about needing you and how you haven't lived until you have been with me and other subliminally skanky stuff. What do kids listen to? A lot of the baby stuff was marked down randomly. There was a shirt that said "perfect just like my dad" and one that said "gorgeous just like my mom". I liked the idea of the padded baby clothes, like it was some sot of safe guard against dropping or whatever. Or maybe if you wanted to take your baby skate boarding with you. A pair of stain proof pants were marked down 40% because they had a stain on them. We got to the back of the store just in time for it to open. I asked if it was okay to work longer and they found out that it was okay and so I stayed on to help Sabrina finish (she wanted to leave early because her mom was in town).

10:20 am: I take a break and go buy that cable knit sweater. The color I thought I wanted really washes me out and make me looks sickly so I go for a mossy beige color instead. It is soft and wonderful and at 50% off totally awesome. I should totally make a run at the Pioneer Place Gap after class on Friday to use up some more of my discount. I buy a pretzel and consume about half of it. I accidentally drop it on the floor but I finish it anyway. I help with the rest of the racks in the back and we finish it off! Why mark something from 3.99 to 2.99? Why are Space Invader boxers discounted but plaid ones are not? Why are we marking sandals up in price when they were down to four bucks?

11:07 am: My first shift of work is over. Another max ride and I am back safe and sound to relax for about fifteen minutes before I have to jet to school and do the Comic Club thing.

12:31 pm: Comic club! We do jams and talk about setting up a big comic battle in the commons during our December meetings. We were missing a few people but the jams were generally good. I changed into my sweater so I got to show it off.

1:40 pm: Scanned in 19 comic jams for comic club and posted them on the site. Had some from a few meetings ago and the new ones that we did. Took a long, long while.

2:30 pmish: Karen and I go to Quizno's. I get my standard Turkey Bacon Guacamole sandwich. It's my favorite. We talk about work and other things.

3:30 pm: I start watching Children of Men for class. The cinematography blows me away again. Really beautiful film and well cast. The long takes are phenomenal, I found myself rewinding to make sure that there were not any cuts that I missed.

4:10 pm: The fire alarm goes off and we are ushered out of the library. I loiter with Jim and Jack and Kristen. We talk about movies and comics and Goodwill shoes and what has been going on. It lasts a long time but I don't think there is a fire, just an alarm pulled.

Near 5ish pm: I finish Children of Men, all while taking notes. I sketch out the thumbnails for my little mini midterm about red shirts.

6:00 pm: I relax and talk to Heather for a little bit. We are both excited about the return of Yoga tonight. Yoga!

6:30 pm: Yoga! I'm so out of shape. She doesn't explain the poses so well but she does have some I have never heard of. My knee doesn't like a few of the poses though and I have to ease up on it. By the end I am so tired and could have fallen asleep right there. It took a lot out of me but I come out of it jubilant and feeling well.

8:00 pm: I arrive home and relax.

9:10 pm: I get to work on my zine. I start loading the new episode of House and hit play on Black Sheep, the movie about Were Sheep. I love it, it keeps getting better every time I see it. I think you might like it Mom. It is silly enough.

1:30 am: I finish lettering, paneling, sketching, and inking four pages. It is a lot of work. I like the way the line art looks and am excited to finish it up tomorrow. Once I know what I am doing, I tend to get it done in good time. I think one of my strengths is working confidently. I mess up from time to time, but it just gives me a chance to learn and move on. House is getting really close to jumping the shark. The characters are aware of the cliche set up of the show and what what WHAT was with the kiss? Egaaads!

The Situation of Ensign Ricky

The Situation of Ensign Ricky. Mini zine/comic for the midterm in Science Friction.

8 1/2" x 5 1/2". Watercolor and copic pen on cardstock.

I love my sweater! I love sleep!

Today has been extraordinarily long. It started at 4:30 am when my alarm went off and it is now 1:38 am.

A lot happened and I would like to go about it at length, I shall do so tomorrow.

Highlights:
Work! It was great! Really busy! I used one of those pricing gun thingies!
Sweater! I bought one! It is great!
Comic club! Nifty!
Children of Men! Oh my god that cinematography!
Yoga! It is back! I am feeling great!
Black Sheep! Still awesome, possibly awesomer.
My midterm Red Shirt zine is inked! Just needs some spot color and I am done!
There was a fire alarm at school! Talked to Jim and Jack and Kristen and some girl with a lamp!

kiri kiri kiri kiri

Oh my... Cece got Netflix and her current one is Audition so I decided to rewatch it. The first time I saw it was with no subtitles and it was in German. Chris and I just poked fun of it throughout. We got a general idea of what happened but none of the real specifics. Watching it again, awwhh God. I felt really ill during several of the scenes. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts...like today! Today was good!

I had my midterm figure drawing review with Morgan. He said that some of my drawings were work that I could not have done 8 weeks ago, that my work has a good humor about it and I have very nice marks. He seemed to like what I have been doing and suggested that I pay close attention to measuring out the three dimensionality of the figure. After that, I payed close attention to the volume and my 30 minute drawing looks pretty darn good. I improve every day!

History of Design feature a lot of futurismo...futurisma...futura...futuristic whatever architecture. I loved the sketches and was saddened to learn that the real construction of monolith cities is actually either impossible or when it does happen, it turns out it is against how humans live. Science fiction lies to us! Other things were discussed but darned if I can remember. I wish she would give a better explanation as to why things are so awesome and that we should be excited about it. Okay I get that hand making curvy font is revolutionary but could you explain in better detail why?

Student council took 30 minutes to decide to cut food down. Damn, well I was getting sick of the weird soup anyway. It wasn't that appetizing today. Tom Manley, the president, talked about how awesome the school is and answered our questions. He was cut a little short by the lengthy discussion about food.

I'm right on track with my painting. The background is generally dealt with, the patterns are mostly in, the poem is included, and lots of other stuff I guess. Just a lot of little things. It has a lot going on, I can't wait to see it finished and I hope it isn't busy.

You know what is Friday? DAVID SEDARIS!! I printed out my ticket. I can't wait ohmygaaawwd so excited.

Now to sleep, for I have to get up in seven hours.

mega excited! (class drawing)

Self portrait doodle done during class. She wanted us to be hopping up and down in reaction to this site...we didn't quite meet her expectations.

Pencil and felt tip pen on paper.

the Utopia of the United Federation of Planets

Got my first shift assignment today: Wednesday morning at 7am. I work till 10am which gives me the opportunity to buy a sweater! I will also be able to go to both the club meeting and yoga. I just have to manage to roll out of bed at 5am for it. Looks like I'll be in bed by 9 tomorrow.

I'm writing up my scripts for the Red Shirt midterm. Type type type. I'm about half way through. I'm to the part that is more analysis and less information; the real meat of the essay. I have good feelings about it. The art should come easy to me because as we all know, I can rapid draw comics like a mean green mother from outer space. I'm getting a slightly late start on this project but Wednesday is going to provide me with a lot of work time and once I have the scripts I just need to put art on the paper. Comics are what I do, ya.

How come all the characters in Heroes are out of character? And since when was Sylar so gullible? Or is he? Peter is annoying and he says everything in the same irksome voice. A lot is being set up in this season, we shall see how it turns out. Pushing Daisies is much more enjoyable.

I really want to just snuggle down with Time Traveler's Wife. Thanksgiving break isn't that far away now... Registration for Spring starts in a couple weeks. illustration studio I: part two, the graphic novel intensive, history of printmaking, and an internship are what I'm looking at right now. Math and another Painting class are required as well but those can always wait. I have plenty of time left here.

brainwashing 101

The preliminary training went very well. It was a general scope of Gap Inc. and the Gap Card and helping people and whatnot. We spent a good hour on just the paperwork. Lots of signing things and filling out W4's. The first few videos had really high production values but as the films they showed us progressed, they went down and down. I had no idea just how powerful Gap is. I'm glad to be working for them because my Gap clothes are still in good shape years later and now I will acquire some new ones for the next years of my life. Also: who wants Gap Clothes for Chriiiistmaaaaas??

The Nordstroms girl and the first job girl (Danielle and Jasmin I believe) were hired at Gap Kids as well, so that is cool. I was hoping for that. There were only about three guys hired and about 17 girls. It wasn't all just the Lloyd Gap stores, it was the Washington Square Gap and this one store I forget the name of that sells Gap Maternity. Lots of nice looking people. We were given things to read through, role playing to do, quizzes to take, and lots and lots of emphasis about how awesome the Gap Card is. The Gap Card is almost more important than sales it seems because if you get someone to own a Gap Card then they shop at your store more over other places and you get lots of cool rewards. I was almost convinced but then I pulled myself back, I think I get enough rewards as an employee. Speaking of which: at the end of the session they were giving out accolades for the people who spoke up and interacted the most and yours truly got one! I also helped Steve (my new manager along with Paula) carry some chairs back to Gap Kids so I'm making a great early impression I think.

No hours assigned yet but it looks like I start Wednesday. Might not make it to either Comic Club or Yoga then. We shall see how it plays out ya.

I chatted with Karen who was on duty and surveyed the clothes at the regular Gap store. Question:

Which sweater should I buy first? The red ruffly one, the tan cable knit, or the lavender striped one? Keep in mind that they are all 50% off!! I can only use the 50% towards me. Absolutely. Positively. Towards me. Only. If I use it for gifts it is discount abuse. I can use my all around 30% for gift buying and that is still pretty good.

The Max was pretty vacant going to the store but it was crowded going back. I sat next to a very facially pierced man who listened to his music way too loud for his ears. The zombie walk is going on today, I think I saw a protester with a repent sign at the Pioneer Square. I didn't feel up to it so I spent most of the night just looking feebly over my Red Shirt notes and eating carbs. Robin invited me over to mooch some of her delicious squash soup. Mmm. It was so orange and warm and tasty. She says it is as simple as boiling but I think she is just being humble. We had a group hug and now I am looking at my notes. I think I'll try to cram it into four pages for ease of printing and scanning.

Guess the Halloween costume:

TrillTrill

The jello went over well at the potluck today. Phil made pie so it was a little overshadowed. He took great offense when someone accused him of it being store bought. Sadly, it was gone before I could have a piece. At first it looked like no one would show but about 10 people did come and we got a wild game of Apples to Apples going. Food was consumed, laughs were had, a couple costumes were worn, I got a little sick on candy, and the time passed by. I got a pretty good number of cards considering we were playing the game with about 15 people. Too bad we were playing to the point where we got fed up with it instead of to a number. Karen still won out right.

I won third place for food and costume and got a pumpkin. I helped them clean up and that was that.

I went to Goodwill to see about the possibility of constructing a new costume. It was crowded and after some good searching I found the perfect sweater, perfect shoes, perfect undershirt, and good socks. Karen is going to lend me her coat to finish it off. As of right now, I look pretty spectacular in my get up. Spot on I must say. If you knew who I was, you would get it right away. I'm excited to wear it. Hairs a bit of a problem but I'll get to that when I get to that.

Sat up with Karen for a few hours tonight. Scribbled out some talking points for my midterm in Science Friction. She worked on her illustration collage.

Tomorrow I start work. How exciting!

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.

24 Hour Comic Challenge Live Blog, 2008

The Challenge: I have from 10am Saturday to 10am Sunday, twenty-four hours, to draw twenty-four pages of a new comic.

9:52 am:
Got up on time, everything was in order, I had some oatmeal and emergen-c vitamins. Portland is fairly vacant at 9:20 am, Saturday morning. Picked up some snackums from Safeway and rode along 10th to school. I recognize one guy in the library from last year. He drew a bunch of separate images and them compiled them together. BT is here and a dude I think I remember and a girl I have never seen before. Most everyone I know is busy busy busy. I am just not busy enough to do this. Plus it is nice to have something really complete and final to do to relax myself. This is all for me, yay! Now I am just counting minutes till the start time.

10:02 am:
I figured out where the plugs were and took a spot on a table instead. Now I am kitty corner to BT and next to Genevieve.

10:49 am:
Good thing I grabbed breakfast because they are only supplying us with coffee and tea till about 1am when I think there will be pizza. Mmm!! BT moved elsewhere to work and Kim is now across from me. I am doing a haiku comic. I am writing 24 haikus and they all tie together and it is one for every page. I have five written and thumbnailed. I'm unsure if I want to stick the haikus on the pages and just leave it wordless. Well, I'm only one fifth of the way done with planning it out.

11:42 am:
Another hour and just about four more pages thumbnailed. Watching the new Pushing Daisies episode. I really hope it doesn't get cancelled.

12:22 pm:
16 haikus and 16 thumbnails. Eight to go. Can't wait to start drawing and inking! Watching some BBC documentaries about magic now.

1:26 pm:
24 Haikus. 24 thumbnails. And the afternoon lunch for the challenge has arrived. I shall eat, and then start the real meat of the comic! Now I enter the long haul. Bryan stopped by for a little bit earlier on. He isn't doing the challenge but seems like he is going to hang about and work on the painting assignment.

1:51 pm:
Oh boy! They brought us lunch from Baja Fresh! A massive platter of burritos and lots of fixings to make your own eatables. Very delicious and filling and healthy. I scarfed and now it is back to the paper to start my panels. Now I'm watching Nevermind the Buzzcocks. Some of the lovely people around me have taken interest and I've shared my streaming video location secrets with them.

2:45 pm:
Just finished sketching my fifth page. Making good pace and progress as I am only about five hours in. Karen said she is going to stop by.

3:36 pm:
Sketching my seventh page. Took a little break when Karen came by. Showed her those Views on Color magazines. Suggested some movies (Kill Bill, Requiem for a Dream, and Waking Life). She is photocopying now but will probably sit and draw with me after. It is deathly quiet in here. Now watching magic again.

4:54 pm:
Page 12. Why is this taking so loooong. Well it probably just feels long because it is the afternoon. Still watching the Magic stuff. Talked to Dominic, August, and Jon. And by talked to I mean that I gave them some candy. Share the sweetness. Close up magic tricks are quite awesome.

5:40 pm:
17.

6:05 pm:
19 and a half. And I just brewed my third cup of green tea. Two in the morning, one to give me some extra pep to get me through my pages. Kim is making an awesome comic about llamas. Really lovely detail. She is taking it one full page at a time.

7:10 pm:
All my pencils are done. Now the fun part: inking! Chelsey stopped by to take pictures of us hard at work. I'm so thrilled and psyched. Hell, I may even break my record depending on how the inking goes.

7:51 pm:
Two pages inked and looking great! Added a touch of grayscale in there as well. Watching the last few episodes of the Wire now. Omar's coming!

8:37 pm:
Up to four pages now. We are putting copies of our finished pages up on the wall. The largest number of pages is around 10. I plan to put mine up two pages at a time. Almost done with The Wire. Also for Christmas I would like Speedball Super Pigmented Acrylic Ink. Black preferred, but all colors would rock.

9:49 pm:
Hitting the twelve hour mark. Six pages inked, 18 to go. Karen and Diana cruised by for a visit and I shared some candy with then. I am so wired. Had another cup of green tea. I am so freaking set. Also had a couple slices of the pizza. I've been snacking so I haven't needed much in the way of the meals the provide. Switched from The Wire to Daily Show. Need something light hearted.

10:58 pm:
Just noticed that I added an extra haiku that I didn't do a thumbnail for. So I'm adding in that extra page that bumps it up to 25. So that means I am on my 10th right now.

12:40 am:
Working on page fifteen now. Really chugging along. There's a lot of black coming up. That means no detail. Yay! Working hard and it's coming out. Looks like how I wanted it to...fourteen hours ago.

1:03 am:
There is nothing better than comics, food, and an endless supply of TV and movies.

1:49 am:
The nice guy who bought us Voodoo doughnuts just left. The first major leaver. He was mostly working on his own projects. Half an hour left in The Wire. Boo hoo!

2:21 am:
Eighteen pages pinned up. The upcoming pages are easy.

2:28 am:
Finished The Wire. All of it. No more.

2:59 am:
TWO. ZERO. Five left. And they are easy.

3:27 am:
I have three left. I'm tired but I am almost there. Just a little bit more and then I can sleep. And then I can go to my job interview.

3:53 am:
I am done. Seventeen hours, fifty three minutes.

4:47 am:
After taking advantage of the free copy machine access and making several copies of my work, I set out. Well I said goodbye to everyone and cleaned up my space. That table has a lot of little ink flecks on it and I used up a ton of my ink. But there is always more ink in the world. I was the first to complete the 24. BT was mostly working on other things (having everyone around you working makes for a great environment). Kim and Genevieve were napping. I had another cup of tea a few hours ago but I think sleep will win over now. Only one car went by me on my way home. It was a wonderful, clear night. Portland is a very quiet city, even on a Saturday night. Err well I guess Sunday morning. Now I am going to go to bed and the next you will hear from me will be regarding my job interview that will take place in eleven hours.

a MAJOR trillian first

Man oh man, I don't know what happened. I woke up at 6:30 and I guess I was disoriented or something and I didn't wake up again till 8:45. I rushed to the shower and threw on some clothes and set off to school (but I obeyed the laws, late is late). I got there right as they were going on break. I didn't contribute to class but I was still there. Sadly I missed the general core of the discussion that normally happens in the first hour. Two and a half semesters with no lates (that I can recall, and at least not an hour late). I'm starting to wonder if this lit class was too much but it is too late to bail out now. And some comics that I've read are coming up so that will be a much easier assignment(I still plan to read them again, but I'm already closely familiar with them).

Our Illustration critique was done ala reality show judging. Three of us sat as a panel and gave the main critique and whoever we were critiquing was on the panel next time and we continued to swap out like that through the three and a half hour session. I really liked that format because everyone had to say something and with three people getting the main stuff out of the way, the extra critiques from the rest of the class were more specific.

It was agreed that how I drew my first one was out of place with the dramatic second and third pieces. Generally they liked my compositions and it was a pretty good assessment. In depth enough without the Modou/Experiments in Drawing levels of brutality. For the rest of class we worked on our next assignment and watched a documentary on Toulouse Lautrec. I did a quick doodle for Karen, which I presented to her in her studio. She, Robin, and I lounged and talked in her little corner and went over our day and weekend plans.

For lunch, Bekka and I went to Starbucks. I got a warm drink, a cold drink for later, and a delicious sweet bagel. It quite sated me and it came in as cheaper than any other nearby eatery. On the way there we passed a rooftop garden. Well we looked up and saw it. Some of the greenery was spilling out over the sides and it was a lovely site to see in a city.

The last few minutes of lunch were spend indulging my new addiction for perusing artbooks and photo copying the images that inspire me. I got a new binder and some more sleeves so I can start my SECOND book of inspiration. All the groovy art kids have them and it is good to know what is going on now when it comes to the scene. Most of the copies are from the most recent American Illustrators book. Each one provides about three to seven images that I like and that is out of hundreds. I figure that once I compile enough, I will go through them and figure out the specifics of things that I find attractive in illustration, photography, design, and general art.

I'm doing my laundry and after that I am going up to Karen's for a quick game of munchkin. Tomorrow I will be live blogging the 24 Hour Comic Challenge so check back through the day, if you have time, and see what I have been up to. Huzzah!

Update: Munchkin was fun. We played two speed rounds. Robin won the first one joyfully and Adam won the second viciously. While Robin was all, "yaaay!!" when it came time for Adam to win he jumped about and hollered and threw down his winning cards. I was close both times but just not close enough. Phil's brother Andy is in town. He moved here actually and is looking for work and whatnot. He has a graphic design degree. He introduced us to pictionary telephone. One person writes something and the next person draws it. Then the next person writes what they think they see and the next person draws that. And so on. My Superman picking up dog poo while Batman moons him became Superman watching as Batman melted into poo. There were fire breathing slugs and footless musclemen flipping pancakes. Very fun game and I look forward to forcing it upon you guys come Thanksgiving.

goofy goof goof GOOF goof...goof goooI'm tired good night

When I hear people talk of all nighters, I imagine what I could accomplish if I actually drank coffee. But since I know my limits, I know I have to have everything done by 2am. All nighters are not even a question at this moment.

My Ulysses/Odyssey illustrations are okay. Maybe when they are put up on the wall all together they will look better. Ehh, I'm not really feeling them. And I left my good charcoal at school so the third isn't quite the same as the rest. I try not to complain about these not living up to my expectations but they really didn't. Live and learn and see what everyone else does. I did my artist sketches on Olaf Gulbransson. I loved recreated his work, the lines and movement were fun to play with. Chad seems to like how I present my assignments so I'm keeping with the all ink and washes method. I think we are doing washes in class tomorrow. I am so going to rock that!

Every class I get better with figure drawing. Every single class. Every piece is a little bit better. During our break Diana, Karen and I looked at the new installation in the In Flux gallery. It is a bunch of ties nailed to a wall and the knots symbolize the amount of money each person was given (the tie each relates to one person). With a little looking it was pretty easy to tell what was going on, but having the explanation was just dumbing it down for the audience and we three were not cool with that.

During the break, Karen and I went to Quiznos and then I helped her set up her studio with inspirational imagery. There were textures and artists to be taped up and haikus to be written on the walls. Just a little decoration goes a long way. On the way out I saw Jen in her studio and said some hellos. The rest of lunch was spent as the victim of the really nice photocopier. In the process of getting references for my piece, I found many cool images via some color prediction magazines. I need to start a second look book/inspiration binder. Sleeves and binders for Christmas please.

My sketch for class was crap but we didn't go over mine that long. Today was painted the buildings and gabbed. It was a nice relaxing class and I liked the triptych that came out of it. Jen called me a stalker for remembering that Farel was at the last 24 Hour Comic Challenge. All I remembered was that there was some dude working on a big piece and Farel mentioned in class that he was there and I put two and two together. When I go through my day sometimes I make note of things to put specifically in here to relate my day. Sometimes I forget these things but the point is that I try to observe what is going on just for relating it somehow. So I remember people, that doesn't make me a stalker. I'm just observant. Yeah!! And Jen was probably just being a goof when she said it. Jen you goof, I know you read this!

Went home and it was straight to work. I'm ready for tomorrow, just have to stay awake through the morning.