Busybusy

so...yesterday I had english. It was easy and made me feel smart. Then I had 3d design. The teacher, kirsten abrahamson, breezed over the course outline and got us started on the first project right away, which was a simple sculpture no large than 10 inches tall. We have to use platiscine, which never dries, and have 3-5 objects, with 3 repeating objects and 3 textures. We had til the end of class, so about 2 hours. This was really stressful for me, because I've never taken a sculpture class in my life. Some of my classmates made some AMAZING stuff during the time we had. I made....well, what you see above. Not so amazing. I tried to model it after Boulder, since I really didn't know what else to do. But yea....sculpture is going to be hard. We'll be making this out of wire and foam core in the next few weeks. So at least it's simple....

After that I had drawing, with Brenda McCrank. She spent awhile talking about the class, blah blah blah, I kind of didn't listen very hard. Then we did a blind contour of the model. Mine is silly, its all in the same spot. I didn't mean to draw so small.

Then she taught us about how to find the center point of our paper, and divide it into quadrants, so we can get our proportions and placement better. This is the exercise she had us do...we had to place the hands, feet, and head as ovals on the paper where they should go. I actually had a lot of trouble with this, mostly because we did it in conte. I've decided I don't really like conte or charcoal at all. I think I am allergic to conte as well....bleh.
After that, we had to do a negative space exercise. That was interesting. We only had 10 minutes, so I didn't finish...It's a little off too, but not bad for my first try.
Finally, we got to a 5 minute sketch. My first real male model! He was old, it was cool.
After class, I stayed in the room for extra life drawing, which is free as long as you can get a spot. A different model came in. We did some 1 minute, 2 minute, 5 minute, and 10 minute poses, along with a 20 minute pose at the end. I didn't label them so I can't remember which is which, but here's some of the best stuff from last night.


the one above is actually one of my favorites...I think it was 2 minutes.
I am surprised at how much easier it is for me to draw clean, non-hairy lines when I use waxy pencils, such as colored pencils. I don't know how it happens or what makes it different, but I really like them.

I spent most of the time just trying to get proportions and anatomy down and such. I'm not feeling ready to experiment with new mediums or styles, I feel like it will mess up my work. But I know I should. My drawings are good (for now), but they're not interesting enough to get me into calarts I think...



I almost left before the last pose, but I'm glad I didn't, because it came out rather well.

Today I had drawing systems. We started our milk carton project (I bought a correctly sized milk carton minutes before class...a smart move. plus it was delicious!) I was kind of nervous at first, and cautiously put a few lines down not really knowing what I was doing, but soon it enough it became easy. Next week we'll be drawing it isometrically....so I guess that means with perspective? The scale is 1:1 in case you were wondering.
Anyway, yea, I think I am going to try to go to extra life once more this week. That 13 hour day was tiring, but it felt sooooo good. The extra life session made me feel just so much happier. I like being proactive about my future, and it also reassured me that I haven't forgotten everything I learned about figure drawing over the summer.

First week of college: Done!

Hey everyone. Reporting from Oakville, Ontario here. First week is all finished up. Gonna talk about it now. And you thought you were gonna get out of it. Teehee.

So, on monday we had the day off. Canada copied the US and has labor day on the same day. Psssh how unoriginal. I don't really remember doing anything that day? I think we partied quite a bit actually sunday night....nothing really special to say about that.
On tuesday we had our first classes. I only had imaging systems, or I guess I should call it drawing systems actually. It's am 8 am class, which is as early as they get (aaaah so much nicer) but its still pretty early. It's a very technical class, a lot of perspective and technical illustration. I think I will learn a lot, but the teacher seems a bit dry. She spent an hour showing us her personal work. I nearly fell asleep in that dark room. We are supposed to have a 500mL milk carton for our next class for our first assignment. I only have my emtpy 2L one...same thing though right? Just bigger...all we are going to do is draw it anyway.
Wednesday I had color theory, with Sybil Goldstein. Apparently she's a mean woman. For now she seemed alright, but I can definitely see how being on her bad side or doing something wrong would be bad. She asked the class what they each wanted to go into. There are a lot of people here trying to get into animation, it is a famous animation school after all. I don't think many people from here are going to try for Calarts, Canadians have such cheap education that I don't think many of them would be able to stand the 40k tuition calarts asks you to shell out. But she definitely put us down. Sheridan animation is much like calarts, only about the top 10% make it in...so its tough to get in, obviously. But hearing a teacher put me down for what I want to do makes me want to prove myself all the more. I'm not a fantastic artist, but god knows I'm gonna be! Our first assignment for that class is actually something they did in the painting class at Niwot (joy) We are supposed to get a 6x6 pattern and we are going to paint it with different color schemes, i.e. greyscale, analogous, complementary, etc. Should be pretty simple. She also lectured us on the importance of high quality brushes. Apparently, we should spend big bucks on nice brushes and cheap out on paint when we are young and can't tell the difference in paints anyways. Noted.
On thursday I didn't have class. It was odd. Sheridan schedules classes for art fundamentals in a very annoying way. They take a group of students and put them all on the exact same schedule. So you have all your classes with the same people, and there are only a few variations of schedules out there. There are probably about 400-500 people in the program, and yet you only get to meet 20-30 people. I'm so pissed. I want to meet lots of people! All my classmates have english on thursdays, but since I took my test late, I got placed in another class.
On friday, I don't have class until 2pm, which is really nice, because all my friends who don't have class on fridays will party, and I can party with them, because I have a lot of time to sleep in/get over my hangover if need be. I had 2d design with Sheila Greenland. So far, this is my favorite class, mostly because the teacher is really friendly and its late in the afternoon. Greenland has worked postproduction on a lot of big name IMAX movies, such as star wars, harry potter, spiderman, etc. So I automatically like her. This class is more of a design class however, our first assignment is to create a 4 panel abstract composition in black and white with gouache paints. So basically, what I've done in the margins of my papers for the past 4 years. Should be pretty simple. Gouache will be interesting to use though, especially since its used so much in animation.
Then came the weekend! Let me show you some pictures though, because I know you're bored of my text blocks.

This is my attempts at using a can opener...I'm really bad at it. I'm really bad at this whole adult thing in general actually. I plunged my own toilet the other day, and did laundry. I have to make all my own meals here, which is really hard because I'm not very creative with food. Fortunately our neighbors, who we've become pretty good friends with, like to cook a lot (healthy food too!) so sometimes I have decent meals. Tonight they made shrimp stir fry. It was delicious. In exchange I did their dishes. We had chocolate milkshakes for dessert. Also...yes that is a nerf gun and dinosaur placemat in the background. So much for being an adult.
Another thing I never realized is how quickly food expenses add up. I went shopping at walmart, and buying all walmart brand foods still cost me $80 for about a weeks worth of food....bleh.

So on Friday night the student union hosted a popular regional band called Alexisonfire (like alexis on fire, not alex is on fire, as I learned) I bought a ticket and we all went. It was a pretty good time. The music itself was ok, alexisonfire is more of a heavy metal/screamo band, which is really my taste, but it was an interesting experience. I got in early enough to be right up in front of the stage....unfortunately it was a bit to the side where the speakers were....my ears were ringing for hours. It was literally so loud that the bass felt like my heart inside me beating. Intense. Above is Mel (an older student from the 3rd floor, she's pretty rad), Bryce and Chris (our neighbors), and me and my roomie, Amy all while we were waiting for the show to start.
The band was pretty wild, particularly the guy in the white shirt. He was nuts. Fun to watch.
These are our neighbors at the after party (there was even a guitarist (the hot one) from the opening band there! He had jeggings and was really wasted. good times), Jackie, Bryce, Melissa, and Chris. They're all pretty cool people. Jackie and Melissa live next door, and Bryce and Chris live across from them. We all cook and have shennanigans together. Bryce and Chris are also in art fundamentals, and they're both into comics and animation and stuff. It's awesome. I drew a picture of them and put it on their door today as a gift. In return they came over and tag team hugged me, haha.
On Saturday I got up and finished opening up my bank account, and then did some grocery shopping. After that we had a movie night in the movie theater on our floor. It has legit movie seats with cupholders and everything. We watched Kick-Ass. It was kick ass, haha. Today I just did some stuff I needed to do and watched some movies. I find myself a little bored, and my head feels sort of clouded sometimes. I am still debating on whether or not to get an on campus job here, but I still think I'm gonna wait and see how the course load goes. But I just can't get everything inside me to clear up. I want to sit down and draw but I am stumped for as to what to draw. I can barely get even a doodle out. I had a crazy dream last night about deep cuts on my hands, getting surgery and being shocked intensely, I felt like I was dead. Then there was an explosion...I just remember crying a lot in my dream. I wasn't crying when I woke up or anything, but I looked up on dream dictionary what it all meant. Apparently I have many repressed emotions and whatnot. Good stuff. I need some sort of way to get my head sorted out...all I can do is sit and stare out the window sometimes.
Tomorrow I have half of my classes, all the ones I haven't had yet. This includes English first thing in the morning (still haven't bought the textbook for it yet...bleh. It's $60), then 3d Design right after (its pretty much sculpture and such...we are supposed to buy 6lbs of a certain brand of clay, but all the stores in the area are sold out! I'm nervous she's gonna be pissed we don't have it yet. ah!), and then an hour break and life drawing. I'm looking forward to that the most.
Sheridan offers extra life drawing from 6-9 mondays through thursdays and apparently its really tough to get a spot, but I'm determined to go 2-3 times a week. I really need it. It should be easy on mondays since I'm in the room its supposed to be in til 6, so if they don't kick me out of the room before everyone comes in, then I should get a spot easily. Of course that means 12 hours of work that day...but its worth it in the end.
It's funny to think I've been working on getting into calarts for so long...
But I won't give up! I see everyone's pictures going up on facebook and it makes me want to be there so bad! But I'm enjoying myself here, and I've made friends so quickly and easily, its so different from high school. I keep forgetting I'm in college...I feel like I am at summer camp or something!
I also plan on getting in shape while here. FOR REAL. There's a small gym two floors above me, and a fully equipped one 5 minutes away....I am going to sign up for zumba classes and yoga classes. It's a $40 fee for 10 weeks, which when you think about it is only $2 a class. What a deal! So I gotta get on that...
Anyway, long day ahead of me tomorrow. Gots stuffs to do. I'll put up more stuff later.

Canada!

Hey everyone! Excuse the fact that blogger won't let me format this entry very well, I also forgot to upload the pictures in backwards order so they would show up chronologically. So just think of this like the episode of seinfeld that goes backwards.
Above is my desk, complete with all my junk on it. Such things include my favorite hot wheels car, my chalkboard pig, marvin the manically depressed robot and arthur, pirates pillaging my desk organizer (I like to think of it as their vessel), a plant I will surely kill that my roommate gave me, my poster signed by the cast of the guild, my serenity comic signed by Nathan Fillion, two mooses, disney bobbleheads, a toy story lunchbox, a barrel of monkeys, my computer, and some posters. All my most prized possessions. I really only brought the necessities to college with me.
So if you haven't figured out, I'm in college now! Woohoo! This is my room. I have a pretty sweet set up in my opinion. I get my own room, thats very roomy (lolpun. but you know what I mean). It has a TV with cable, a desk, a dressed, some shelves, and an open closet space (see next picture) Besides that, I have a shared kitchen, which has all of the ammenities save an oven (gotta use the community kitchen for that), and a bathroom which is pretty nice, except that the shower is meant for a child. Not even kidding, I can't even bend down to shave my legs. But I'm pretty happy with the whole deal, and my roommate is a pretty cool person.
Sheridan seems like a pretty nice place as of yet. The school is HUGE, but I'm slowly starting to find my way around the place. All of my classes are in the same wing, except for communications. My schedule is kind of ridiculous. I have 6 classes, all 3 hours long, and 3 of them are all on monday. Epic fail. I have thursdays off, which is really stupid, friday would be much more to my advantage. I'm going to see if I can shuffle a few things around, maybe make it more to my liking, if they'll allow me to.


Things of note: my "spirit guides" on top of the shelves (including a duck, moose, dragon, pegasus, piggy, and gummy bear), the ridiculous amount of books I hauled out here, all the ones on the bottom are art related books, all the cds I hauled out here (behind TV), nerf gun next to red bull. Booya.

I had orientation last friday. It was interesting, I guess? I had to come at 8 am for the international orientation. That was actually the most helpful part of orientation. They went over all sorts of stuff I had questions on, and I got to meet all the freshman who are internationals as well. Some US, a lot of Indonesians and Chinese, and some from really cool places like Barbados and the Bahamas. The rest of orientation was a bit of a snooze, a lot of people got up and talked about stuff they didn't really know about. I didn't really meet too many people, although I did sit next to a guy who looked like Zac Efron. Weird.
After that I did all my moving in, and yesterday me and my dad went shopping and got the rest of the stuff I needed and a bunch of groceries. Although I've realized I still have no food for any meals, just a lot of breakfast food and snacks. Oh well, haha, my aunt told me "welcome to adult life" After that my dad left and I was on my own and it was really bizarre. I'm on my own. Holy crap!!! After all this time and it's finally happened. Kind of strange. I feel a bit like I'm at summer camp. All the RAs are like our counselors. We just have to cook our own food and theres absolutely no structure to the day.
Last night some unofficial RAs threw a party in their oversize dorm (they lucked out and got the handicapped dorm room) so I finally got to meet a bunch of people. Me and my roomie party hopped a little, then ended up in our neighbors room, two guys down the hall, and this other girl was with us too. It was so exciting, one of them had some animation books in his room, and the other had a whole shelf of comic books and graphic novels. I was so thrilled, and I stayed there for several hours talking to them about all kinds of things. Finally...people who share my interests!
This is lake Ontario, from downtown Oakville. It's a really cute park, we went there first thing upon arriving to Oakville. I've found I don't get any phone service here, and my GPS doesn't work either. It's odd, because when I visited in July, all of that stuff worked for us. I'm not sure whats going on....

Oakville is pretty cool. Its right outside of toronto, so theres TONS of traffic, but the downtown is adorable, and theres a comic book store down the street, and a shopping area up the street.
I think the most culture shock thing I'm experiencing is the city life. I looked out my window the other night and couldn't see a single star...strange. It made me feel a little bit homesick. But last night I looked out and could see some...maybe it's a sign.
Other weird things:
Milk in a bag. We couldn't find the milk at the store because we didn't think to look for it in bags! I ended up buying a carton, and my roomie commented on how odd that was. Haha, her milk is in a bag.
Alcohol. The drinking age here is 19, so everyones got alcohol, and no one really cares. Our unofficial RAs told people they could bring booze to their party last night, and people did! I arrived here and there were serveral bottles in my roommates room. It's just odd...but good odd!
This school. Apparently its really famous around Ontario. And I thought I was going to a noname school. At home I had to explain where it was every time.
Here's me drinking my first Tim Hortons. At the advisement of Kevin I got an iced cappuccino. It was delicious!
All my stuff packed away in my room. I felt like I took lots of things, and I packed my car full, and yet I got here and unpacked it all and it feels somewhat empty....strange.

I'm really excited to get classes underway, as much as my schedules sucks on mondays. I need the school to reopen (the have labor day here too) so I can get all the stuff I didn't get to on orientation day done, like get my art supplies (its included in my tuition....can you believe that?!? God I love Canada) and my student ID, concert tickets, sign up for a gym class (I'm thinking zumba will be a lot of fun), get a bank account, turn in a copy of my study permit, go to the doctors clinic here, and apply for an on campus job (I need the extra cash) So much to do! Extra life drawing will be starting the week after next, and you can bet your ass I will be going. I have so much portfolio work to do its not even funny! I don't have a single piece! Gah. But mostly I just want to have something to do....its kind of boring right now, with literally nothing going on.

Summer Updates

So...I've been pretty busy lately. I had mono all of June, which really put me out especially since I was simultaneously working almost full time. All of July I was on vacation. Let's see...I went to florida and rented the same house as last year with all of my family on my dads side. We ate a lot of food and swam in the ocean a whole bunch. We also watched a lot of Invader Zim. After that I drove to San Diego and went to Comic-Con. Saw some awesome stuff there, including Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion (life complete!) But I also went to a lot of interesting panels about stuff I'd never heard about and learned a ton. I also bought lots of goodies, including a shirt from one of my favorite web comics, Looking For Group! That was probably my favorite purchase. After that I drove like a madman all night long to get back in time for a Silversun Pickups concert, which was epic and awesome! So worth not sleeping...and also running over a deer T_T (not my fault at all, it was unfortunate) Then I went to Erie, Pennsylvania where we swam in Lake Erie a bit, ate a lot of chicken wings, and sat around watching toooons of tv. I also went to Canada and saw Sheridan and Niagra Falls. We also got to go to Cedar Point...I hate rollar coasters, but I braved almost half of them so people wouldn't give me shit. Plus it was boring otherwise. I just got back on Wednesday to find out I'm not scheduled for work for two weeks. As much as I need the money, I'm relieved I get a slow two weeks, since all the work I'll be doing will be shifts I pick up from co-workers.
I'm gonna get the art train rolling again. This extended break has been making me feel super guilty. I probaby won't go back to figure drawing, but I'm plegding to sketch a lot more and finish the painting I started in June. I also have a project going in the back of my head that I'm gonna start on....Besides that, I want to start reading LoTR, and I should probably finish the Kurt Vonnegut books I started in June. I'm trying to hang with all of my friends before they all go away, but efforts are fruitless. There are just too many people to coordinate with.
I also got really tan (for me) while I was away, so I'm attempting to keep that up. I like having excessive amounts of freckles and not feeling like I glow in the moonlight.
Anyway, here are some tidbits from my sketchbook. Haven't done tons of sketches, just a few here and there.



I have a thing for robots lately....just can't stop doodling them.

Some song lyrics I really like

Robots...flipping everyone off. Yea...I don't know

I like my unisaur invention.

On another note...getting ready to move away for college! I hope my study permit comes in the mail soon, otherwise I'm screwed. Eep.

Epic

This is something I really want to do when I get done with school next april. My car would very likely die, and if not, it'd probably be worth about $200 after the whole thing, so it probably won't happen. I also would have trouble finding someone who a) likes road trips this much and b)I wouldn't be tempted to tear their head off
But think...I could stay in hostels, see the towns, take some goofy photos, eat a lot of PB&J.... It'd be spectacular!

Also...you're probably wondering why I want to stop in Connecticut. I was born there and haven't been back in 15 years. Go nostalgia!




In other news: I'm going to Comic Con in just a few short days! Time to blow all that money I worked so hard for!!

Summer so far

I think its time for an update :O

So, in case you didn't know, I decided to stick with Sheridan. It was just simpler in the end. Except that its really not that simple at all, because getting all your shit together to go to another country is so fucking complicated. Gotta get a study permit still, need a canadian bank account. I got my passport all renewed and my tuition paid...phew!

Apparently, I have mono! Isn't that fantastic?!
Beginning of May I got a really sore throat and was very tired all the time, so I finally went to see a doctor two weeks later. She did bloodwork, but the tests came back negative. However, for the next month or so my symptoms persisted onwards, so earlier this week I was in so much pain because of my throat I went back to a different doctor, who ordered bloodwork again and they were like "JK U DO HAV MONO LOL." So that explains why I feel so utterly exhausted after work and relatively tired after sleeping endlessly on my days off. So that sucks, and now my hopes at a summer fling are dashed (ha, like that was gonna happen anyway >_>)
I haven't been going to life drawing at all anymore, and I feel super guilty. Trying to save my money for comic con. T.T I draw a little bit here and there, I started a painting about a week ago. I dunno....honestly being so tired all the time makes it really impossible to get any work done. On top of that, being so sad, being disappointed by dumb boys, and being really angry at a certain backstabbing 'friend' have just made the past month very rough. Guh, so ready for that vacation coming up.

Funny story time. Recently I'd been downloading some music to my computer, something I never do for paranoia of viruses and such (my computer is completely unprotected :x) So today when all these things were popping up on my computer telling me there were threats and such I started freaking out, it wouldn't even let me use the internet! So I went ahead and bought the software it prompted me to buy aaaand of course it was fake. So I just spent 50$ on fake spyware and also just gave them my credit card number, pin number, and such. Yea. SMART MOVE DUMBASS. I called and cancelled my card tonight, but I still need to contact my bank to cancel that particular transaction (if its not too late), change my pin, and get a new card (as I'm now virtually money-less, except for $11 in my wallet) BUT they're closed for the NEXT TWO DAYS because of the holidays. Banks are so goddamn lazy. The 24 hour hotline they have for checking your balance won't even accept my pin number which makes me really really nervous, I'm afraid people may have already messed with my account. Ohgodohgod what do I do??? It makes me very anxious.

...sheesh I make this summer seem like its been really terrible for me. I guess it kind of has when I describe it, but I've had a lot of fun with my friends so far and its so beautiful out every day it almost makes up for it all. I <3 colorado and its going to break me into peices to leave.

accepted

So today I got a call from Ringling telling me I'm off the waitlist....and I'm in!
I also got a call not even an hour later from Capilano informing me that I got in there as well.

It's kind of amazing, after struggling with all this college stuff and settling for the lowest rung and then BAM! It all happens at once, way later than everyone else. I guess maybe thats just how my life tends to go though.

Anyway, since I still haven't paid anything to Sheridan, the option to withdrawl and go somewhere else is still there, I think. It couldn't be too hard? But its a big desicion, and I'm really torn. So here's my pro/con list


Why I want to go to Sheridan:
-It's in another country. How exciting :)
-It's really affordable
-It will help me with my foundational skills, which I feel I really need in order to be the best animator I can be
-It will hopefully lead me straight to Calarts (not to jinx it)
-I'll be going to a place my life has revolved around for so long, but I've never seen it
-Already signed up, got housing, told everyone I was going there, etc
Why I don't want to go to Sheridan:
-It's so cold o.o
-I won't get to animate
-I don't think the campus/city will be very pretty

Why I want to go to Ringling;
-Florida is warm 8)
-I have family nearby
-It's one of the best animation schools in the country, which reaps lots of benefits
-I'm really impressed with the work I see there, I'd love to create work like that
-I really like the campus
Why I don't want to go to Ringling:
-Not sure if I can get aid or housing at this point
-I've never been a huge fan of computer drawing or animating, I always tend to the traditional side, I'm not sure if I could adjust to all that computer work
-Twice the price of the other two
-If I went here, I would probably not go to Calarts ever
-I'd have nothing to wear!
-Sarasota isn't that great of a town, from what I saw anyway

Why I want to go to Capilano:
-Get to start animating right away
-Everyone tells me Vancouver is really really awesome
-Canada is an adventure!
-Affordable
-I can be somewhere where I get to snowboard ^.^
Why I don't want to go to Capilano:
-No family in a 500 mile radius x.x
-Not sure where it'll lead me (will I stay? will I go to Calarts? no idea)
-Don't really know that much about the school, I can't say I've really heard of it from anyone besides Kevin/Samantha o.o




....I guess sticking to Sheridan makes the most sense, although I feel like I'd really lose something to turn down either of these oppurtunities.

Gaaaaaaaah