It’s the start of the Fall semester for me. According to my class units calculations I have about 25 to 29 units left til’ graduation. This means I could walk in the graduation for the Spring 2012 the finish in the Fall of 2012 with 1 class.

Summer was VERY  productive: Summer School, Internship, Illustration job. All well done by the way. I took the bus to most places, and realized that bus isn’t too bad, but every once in a while, it gets annoying that buses only come around twice every hour. 

This fall I’m taking four, FOUR, studio Art class. An unholy combination of classes, so I am told. Professors and students both warn that a semester of 4 studio art classes is social suicide and mentally taxing.  Looking over all of my syllabuses it is definitely a lot of work. But all 3 class have similar styles in work. Progressive work, small projects that add to one final project…with a few side in-class projects along the way. It looks challenging, but with some fancy time management it can be DONE. I think this means going to school on the weekend and devoting 12 hours on Saturday to 2 classes and Sunday another 12 hours to the other 2 classes.

One side says “Drop one of the studios and move it to next semester, you’ll have more time to focus on your work and do a better job”

The another side says “ Keep this schedule, and push through. Your next semester schedule will allow you more time to work on your senior project. Possibly allowing you to be undistracted by other classes.”

I could drop or I could stay either way I could handle the situation. It will all depend on the syllabus for Animation 3, the time and effort for Animation 3 is doubled since, I received a brief training on animation from the semester. The thing to remember for me  is to not push myself down just because I see a better artist that impress the teacher. One day, I will be just as impressive….One Day…

I'm watching your lips

I’m too excited for animation! This week’s assignment is to do lip sync with advanced overlap. So immediately, all these ideas, characters, and sound bytes came to mind. It was overwhelming. I wanted to start NOW! I wanted to animate something EPIC! I felt my blood pumping. In my head I was thinking… “I will succeed!! Where’s a pencil? Paper?! LIGHTBOX?! OOOOoooH just let me animate!!” Ahem…yeah, thrilling!!!  I had to come off that comet of excitement and think logically. So, I found a sound byte that is 2 seconds and is very expressive. I’m either going to create a character or use a provided character model. Since I only have a week to do this…My logical side says, “Don’t make things difficult!! Just use the pre-made character.” But my slightly competitive and creative side says “DESIGNACHARACTER,FOOO!DOITNOOOOOWWWW!!!DO IT DO IT DO IT! And don’t forget to color it, foo…asdfghjjkl”

YEAH...!!! I’m going to calm down even more and focus on the technical, get that out of the way so I can jump into the animation. Remember, self, stay level-headed…ease into it…

Here is my sound byte…

http://portal2sounds.com/433#p=5&s=2 

My sister found in really fun lip-sync done for fun. This is apparently straight ahead animation, with minor clean-ups

http://youtu.be/5T4wvZiyWoA 

Splrug

So many things run through my mind when I have a lot to do. Not to mention the unnecessary stress I give myself.

This summer animation class is turning out better than I thought, but I’m unsure of my pace. I’m slowly learning what to do  when in-betweening a scene. It’s week 2 in the course which means inking and painting. A complete scene (Finished animation +ink and painting)  due on Sunday. Currently, I’m tweaking the hand-drawn in-betweens (there’s always something to fix) But animation is not perfect the first few times, the artist has to refine it to it’s perfect point, even then there will be flaws, but it’s the best that it can be. With that said next is speed. If we’re simulating being in a studio and working with a deadline, I feel that I need to be faster, knowing that you do not get it right the first, it doesn’t stop the feeling of “Well, everyone else gets it right the first time” and continually telling myself that that is not true is so hard. I don’t think anyone has any new scenes. We’re all still animating the first scene we get last week. Not to mention we have to scan everything and clean up then color. The program we’re using, Toonboom, has some pretty familiar elements to it. The animation element is similar to Flash, the compositing component interface reminds me of Nuke. So that shows me that things definitely carry over. Maybe when I apply for jobs and I have on my resume some work with Nuke, they’ll look at it and think “Oh, she worked with Nuke perhaps she can work with this less complex composition program” But I don’t want to be compositing, too boring. I have more fun coloring animation frames then compositing, but there’s a career out of it. There are people that actually ENJOY compositing? Wow, that is a special person. I was searching for other tutorials on Nuke and I came across a video of some who recorded themselves rotoscoping. When looking at the comments, someone put they’d rather do cross-stitching than roto-ing. Ha! Amen to that whoever you are. But you know it’s a skill to know, broadening horizons perhaps?

But when I stress myself out I freeze; I want to clean up these frames, I want to complete some personal projects, should I look up some more video on Nuke, should I just go to bed?

All these though come rushing to my head and I can’t focus. Right now, as I type it feel that I should do other things sigh. I don’t know how the semester will go, the advisors warn us to take more than 3 studio art classes at once. As if 4 is hell and I too much work…maybe it is….should I drop a studio art class? And pick up a job?

See? Now even more thoughts come to mind…not just priorities but little things to; I need to pack a lunch, I need to pack work out clothers,

Thinking way too much…

So, I found an inspiring artist, I want to draw the human figure like her especially babies.  Here she is..

I want to be like this artist: http://www.sylvialwalker.com

Lastly:

The metro is a great place for gesture drawing and people watching. Today I saw a homeless man carrying a trash bag wearing a big red sombrero. What?

Then I saw Jem: and the holograms? REMEMBER? REMEMBER that show?! I remember when I though I want to have pink hair like Jem…yeah…oh the imagination of a children heh heh heh

I need to post some scans soon…

5 Fifth post

Did I take on too much for the summer?

Ok, let’s review this.

·         Animation Summer course till early July

·         Greenscreen compositing internship that ends in august,

·         Color frames in  a Flash animations (also considered an ‘internship’)

·         Museum graphic Design

·         Personal projects

Add to that the feeling of wanting to relax that I should relax and wanting to hang out with friends. Man, this is going to get really busy. Oh, and I’m considering do illustrations for a friends for her parents. That was so embarrassing. I have to go in to a business meeting with an impressive portfolio and know my DAMN EXPERIENCE. What if they don’t like my style? My style is too cartoony, no one wants that.

Yeah, I definitely took on too much. I must send an email to the museum, explaining that I’m going to be a virtual volunteer for a bit and I should probably say good bye to social time with my boyfriend. I charted this out! The only day I have free would be Sunday, ugh, now I just want July to come already so I can have some peace. I have this dreaded looming feeling and it’s mostly because of the graphic design stuff. I have to design a rack card, internship bookmark, and internship brochure. Oh my goodness. There is no due date, though. Just earlier today I managed to get an idea out of my head and into the computer. It looks ok could use some finessing. I need to just get the bookmark and brochure out the way, and what’s there to worry about? I don’t have the text to either thing so all I can do is design template…I should’ve put some graphic design in there. Ugh, I gotta stop thinking…my mind and body feels like it’s in a state of panic because I’ve taken too much on

But hey it’s like having a class schedule, having 12-15units all over again. But this time I could get paid for one of the classes. Also the helping to color some Flash animations isn’t so difficult. Sure, there are many frames to color, but they can be completed in 6 hours or so. The compositing internship is purely, leave at work. No, need to take stuff home = awesome…Just weighing the pro and cons

THEN  I WANT TO THROW A JOB INTO THAT MIX?! Nuh nah, I’m a HOME BODY this summer…but my blinds are broken and won’t open…and it’s always (85% of the time) a beautiful day outside and I want to go to a grass, quiet park and sit in the shade, perhaps sleep. Like a cat in the sun, purring …yess, that’s the kind of day that I will enjoy

Oh to be a cat…house cat and not worry about a thing! Someone with feed me, clean me , allow me to snuggle of to them and treat their chest as a pillow…*sigh*

Ok, I gotta get some sleep. Perhaps pray a bit for some clarity in all this variety of projects.

The Bus!

I took the bus today! I feel kinda good.Not as scary as I thought.

My first stop was the rail line and that went as planned. I got on and arrived at my next stop, what I wasn’t expecting was for the railway to end underground. Although when I got off the train and walked above ground I saw that I was in bustling downtown. Tall skyscrapers, people in business suits, and the worker person. I was surprised that the metro end under a bank. I should have taken a picture…the building it was under is trimmed in gold! Or cement spray paint gold, heh heh. Then I had to walk to my second stop with takes me to a local bus, it came right on time. When I got on the bus it drove through downtown and I was keeping my eyes alert for the next stop, thinking that it was a few streets down, but the bus turned onto the freeway.  That’s when I mentally panicked, I didn’t cry or go into a nervous fit, I was stupidly unaware that the bus took the freeway to my third stop. So, I started to fret that I was on the wrong bus headed in the wrong direction ON the FREEWAY and wouldn’t know how to get back. But then the bus exited on the street that was my 3^rd stop and I relaxed. I felt silly, but happy, that I didn’t cause a scene on the bus ( like falling out and crying because I thought I was going the wrong way.)

I hopped off that bus and caught the next bus that took me to my final stop, the studio where I’m going to intern. When I arrived I did a little excited jump. I felt so accomplished. I TOOK THE BUS! TO DOWNTOWN OF ALL PLACES!! WTH!? I DID IT! TIMID, LITTLE ME, DID IT! YYYYAAAAAYYY! To someone that frequents the bus and metro that’s no big deal, but to timid, slightly-afraid-of-the-world me, it matters GREATLY.

So I texted my friend, that also interns there, I made it safely to the studio.  I go to meet her outside and she’s excited that I came. She urges me to go in and wants to introduce me to some of her co-workers, but I was nervous to do that, because, I felt it would be awkward, being a ‘noob’ , to walk in and casually sit with a friend, when I’m suppose to official start on Tuesday. She reassured me that the management is very chill at this studio. If fact other people have brought in their friends as well, but just for a short time. I agreed to go in and she introduced me to many people, she showed me the beginnings of the program I’ll be using during the internship, and we had lunch, after a small catch-up conversation, I set out on my way home.

The first bus came quickly and I arrived at my 1^st stop in 20 minutes. But I ran into a delay…see, the website I used to plan the trip gave me instructions as if I were leaving around 4pm, when I really left around 2pm and arrived at that bus stop around 2:50ish, 3ish…then next bus didn’t come until 4pm. So I was stuck there waiting for an hour or so waiting for this bus to arrive, luckily I had a book to read J. Four pm rolls around then I’m off back to the metro and back home!

You know, people on the metro just want to be left alone. There are a variety of people on the bus as well, people in suits, common dress, and the shaggily dressed. People reading books, listening to IPods or whatever…no crazy people this time. This is an affordable, doable way to commute; one of the things that would prevent me from continuing to go is the STENCH. Ugh, the car/smog smell, cigarette stink, unwashed human stink, PISS stink, UGH, should travel with noise plugs, but it’s not overpowering. It’s just there…anyways. I made it safely home and I could see my self commuting this way for the summer, especially to campus and back.

This might be an interestingly fun summer…

Now begins this awesome summer!

Ok, I’m going to try and get into this blog thing. But then again why are people so interested in others thoughts and problems…

Well I have started have summer vacation and it’s moving very fast already. By the goodness of my friend I have a summer VFX internship; for a movie that will be due by August 1! One of the things about the internship is that it’s (1) located in a very traffic congested city (you know which one I’m talking about) (2) by car it should only take about 27-30minutes to get there, but because I live in such as place, traffic bumps up the time to about 1 hours and 45 minutes to about 2 hours. TWO HOURS in traffic! Sitting there! Waiting! Oh, all this worrying makes me so itchy! Not only will I wait in traffic the parking lot to the studio is stacked parking. I’m also taking a summer course, driving from the school into the city and driving back is way to much money! And the car that I’m driving requires some maintenance that I definitely don’t have the money for. Asking my parents for gas money, will definitely strain their finances. So I decided to take the bus/rail…it seems so simple, right? No! Living in this city you have to be a cold, bitch to ride the bus. Crazy people, Crazy teens, homeless, random people that just want to talk to you. UGH!! That’s what’s making the car sound soooo nice, right now…But the money….Hmmm and the traffic…hhmmm (again) Plus with my timid self, I’m going to have to be harder than usual. It’s at times like these I wish I had a friend or sister to tag along…

I have fears about taking that bus. Should I get some protection like a knife, pepper spray, or some weapon? Too many times I’m told that just because I’m a woman, that makes me a target for predators. Even the toughest women get taken down. Damn those people that make it difficult to have a normal existence, you have to battle them too…

Monday, I’m going to push myself to take the Rail and bus to the internship studio, to see what it feels like to travel on the metro system. Then hopefully on Tuesday I can take the metro to the internship and back home, with a little less fear. Then gain confidence to take it all over the place J I just want to save money and gas. The metro and car take about the same amount of time to get where I need to go, taking the metro would just be a method on saving money, my mom is ready to by me that monthly pass and everything.

Heh…getting tired….Farewell, Internet!

Another semester done. And more work to do. I'm going to create a worksheet so I can get these summer projects done.

heeey World,

Let's see what will happen with this blog here... :D