The Next Step

SO, I suppose I should announce that this happened...

I started my first official job in the animation industry today! I am a Production Assistant at Bento Box, working on The Awesomes TV show. I am beyond thrilled and VERY excited as to what the next phase has to offer. I am working with some very nice people and I can't wait to see what we make.

Part of me wants to wax on about how all the hard work I have been doing for the past -- years have led up to this point, but let's face it- I am too freaking excited to be poetic right now! WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Joker & Harley Quinn FOR SALE!

Hi readers. I am guessing most of you have followed the progress of my Harley Quinn & Joker sculptures coming into existence. Now, I am offering them up for sale.



I am showing them in their final state here first- since you guys have been with me from the beginning. I am very proud of this project, and also very glad to have completed it! haha!

That is all for now. Another sculpture update soon!

Hard Times Hit / Need Help

Hi blog-readers. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I have reached a point where I need outside help. My car, which I need to find a job and is currently part of one of my gigs, needs new tires. I cannot afford to buy them now. But someone else's safety depends on my car and being able to purchase these tires.

gofund.me/gmn55w

If any of you can spare a few dollars, it would mean the world to me. Or, if you cannot donate, would you please share my story, in the hopes that someone else may? In some ways, your spreading my story is more helpful. I appreciate you nevertheless.

Halloween SNEAK PEEK!

For you only, my blog-readers! Presenting the graphic design for my Halloween costume this year!



Everyone be safe and have a good time tonight!

New Work! Well- old "new" work!

Now that Joker is completely finished, save for affixing them to a new stand, I am starting work on a new piece! Only... it's old. But it's new again!

Long story short, I started this sculpture last year, at the beginning of the semester before Harley! But... I didn't finish her before the new model came in (slow worker!), and got wrapped up with Harley, so this lady took a back seat. She just sat on top of my cube for ages. Now, I am pulling her back out and starting again. I have to fix some heinous anatomy errors and add her little "friend" on the end of the wire coming out of her arm. I so want to keep what it is a secret as long as I can- I dunno why.



I am making her a little more "lumpy" now, so that when I refine and polish her, I will still have some of that mass left. I want her- not "ripped"- but well defined. Taut, if you will. Except in certain places. Grr! Too confusing to explain it, even to myself! Basically, she's gonna be a BADASS!
I am modeling he after one of baddest badasses I know- Grace Jones!


The last image is all you get for a tease as to what she is holding.

A little motivational phrase for you readers.

Read this again today and since he was one of my first artistic inspirations and influences, I felt the need to share.

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” ~ Michelangelo

I have always been one for setting my goal too high - and I have suffered REPEATEDLY for it! XD But eventually, you dust yourself off, and set a new goal (~still~ perhaps a little too high), and start over. Or at least, you SHOULD! If you hit that disappointment, and dejected and depressed, you just quit - then you will start to regret something else entirely: Never trying.

When I was in my younger, less-driven days, I did- well, SAID- I would do a lot of things. Like go to art school. HAHA! But I never actually DID anything about it! I just kept talking and talking and talking. Suddenly, ten years had passed and all my friends, who talked a lot less, had already gotten degrees and were starting their next phase. I was still sitting there, talking.

Now, I regret waiting less, but it's still there. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like now if I'd just DONE the things I talked about WHEN I talked about them. But rather than stew on it, I set new goals. Big, high ones. And if I fail- SO WHAT?! Better that than setting a low goal, achieving it, and not being challenged again in my life.

The final takeaway is: Don't quit. No goal is too high. And from a personal place- and it's NEVER too late.

HAPPY 200th POST!

To celebrate my 200th blog post, I present The Joker! FINISHED!

That's right! He is DONE! I finished him today in John Mahoney's sculpture classes. Took me about *counts* 9 hours to paint him, with the white base already on.



Okay, I admit. I only took this one because he looked creepy! XD hehe

The lapel was gonna be a beast, I thought, until my friend Sydney suggested I use a pink pompom. So I went down to the Costume shop last week, hoping they might have ONE pink pompom. I thought perhaps I could paint one if they had them, but not in the right color, but just looking at them, they weren't what I wanted. And the only ones they had were cotton ball sized. I was told that I could rifle through their lace and trims boxes if I wanted. In one of the boxes was a horrible embroidery ribbon thing, attached to PINK TASSEL! It was the perfect color! I cut off just the tassels and ran back to class like I had found the Golden Ticket! (Sorry, Costume Shop. You have about 2 inches of just ugly embroidery ribbon now...)

How I ended up making it was by gluing one end to the end of a thin wire that I could then just stick into his jacket (but the wire promptly came off), and wrapped it around until it was about the size I needed. With the wire now gone, I rolled the glued end into a tight little wad (see Photo 1). I then trimmed them to about the length I wanted. I was just going to attach it with some hot glue, but I didn't want that ruining the appearance of it, when I suddenly got the idea to DIG into the Chavant. So I drew a little circle about the same size and hollowed it out (see Photo 2). (I ended up having to trim the length again when I saw how big it was once in.) I then stuck the hot glue gun in the hole (see Photo 3) and hit the trigger! As fast as I could, I shoved the glued end of the pompom in the hole and TA-DA!!! Joker's pink lapel flower!
Photo 1                                                       Photo 2                                                       Photo 3


I love this SO much better than the clay one I was trying to make!






Overall, I am BEYOND happy with how he came out. Seeing him only in Chavant for so long, he was starting to wear on me, I guess? But the second I painted his shoes black and his hair black, he began to POP!
Like his counterpart- Harley, I wanted him to look almost more like a vinyl toy rather than clay. (Call me a weirdo.) And I think that really worked out well here. They look (and FEEL, thanks to the acrylic paint) like plastic. SO much fun to touch! <3

Now, the last thing to do is to mount them together on the new base I got from Michael's today! So freaking excited! It feels so good to finish a big project like this!

LET'S MAKE ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!- What do you say?!


"Oh, Harleeeeeey! I got you a little present!"

Portfolio stuff and stuff

I recently discovered how this blog actually works and what all I can do with it besides just post idiotic ramblings of the naive nature, so I am working on developing some portfolio pages. I am totally excited about it, actually. Just a chance to showcase some of my work, which I believed to be not all that good until semi-recently. Well, I should say it's a work in progress.

If there is one thing, dear readers, that you should know about me, it's that I am VERY strict on myself, especially when it comes to my work. As a result, I noticed (during my recent re-read of my old entries) that I hardly ever posted artwork. Like- NONE! AT ALL! (I mean, I almost didn't even post my films!) That is a true disservice to myself and what I went through at CalArts. Thankfully, people are working with me to try to get me to admit that I AM talented, and I can make good work. But... it's a process. I can't just come out and say stuff like that. It sounds conceited.

Also, I am still trying to find the level where I feel the progress I have made. I want to be able to see some growth in my work, and usually, I just don't. At least, not compared to the progress I see in others. Part of the reason this is is that I don't practice as much as they do. And that hurts to admit. I don't draw as much as I should. But I am trying. I am trying to get back on that horse. I am taking small steps, but at least I am moving.

As soon as I have some portfolio pages made up, I will be linking those up to this blog. I need to go digging for all the work I made- I know it's there. I just hid it from myself.

Review of my own blog

Following an email from a blog reader, I went back and read most of my blog last night.

My god, I used to blog about the stupidest crap! HAHAHA! No wonder not a lot of people follow me! I also blogged constantly that I was gonna "make" and "post more art" and then never did! XD It was seriously a very annoying read for me. My god... *slow head shake*

Micro-analysis of a Chavant blob

I can never tell if I have gone too far...  How much is too much?  How close is too close?

Well- I these glasses are any indication: I am TOO DAMN CLOSE!  XD

I have finished sculpting Joker. Now all that is left is refining and polishing and finally painting!  It's a very cool feeling. Mahoney gave me a pair of magnifying glasses today to help me work. 

Well, let's just say that it only exacerbates my OCD/perfectionist tendencies!  Haha. I was sitting with my nose about an inch and a half from Joker and while raking him, would see a massive amount of clay collecting on the rake, so I would pull it down to wipe it off to find- there was barely any Chavant ON the tool!  Or I accidentally swipe the rake handle against something already smoothed out to leave a HUGE GOUGE- lift glasses to check the damage and it's a hair-width.  XD

Repeat that for six hours!

But the improvements cannot be denied. He's looking sleek and clean! I am truly itching to paint him!

(NOTE: yes, his flower is missing from his lapel but that is because it would be too delicate to rake.  It will be attached right before painting.)

Life in LA is Strange

It's so true- and in the strangest and yet wonderful ways possible.

Things happen in this city that just do not compute to my brain. I have done and seen things that I didn't ever think just -HAPPENED!-

Sorry, just feeling very... fortunate today.

Return of the Joker!!!

Been stressed and pressed lately. Trying to find work- AND a place to live for more than a week or two!- and that leaves little time for art stuffs. But I went to John Mahoney's sculpture class this morning and started working on Joker again!  I think I am honestly getting close to start refining and finishing now!  *is thrilled!!!*

Put in his right coat sleeve and glove, the spats, and fixed the gap between his legs because it BOTHERED ME!!!  Now just the flower remains, I think. The heels to his shoes were HARD, but so worth it!

That glove up front is my new favorite thing!  Thanks to Sydney for help by mentioning the wrinkles!  It was perfect. 

Also...  We messed around. Sydney is yes bomb at hands!

"Excuse me, Mr. Joker?"

Soothes the Savage Soul

CONFESSION:
I love to drive. I love the feel of a car around me as I drive. I love to go and find roads that just call for no other cars to be on it, so you can be alone with that stretch of road. That long, sexy slink of black tarmac, like a ribbon weaving it's way to nowhere- and ANYWHERE! Whether you know what is at the end of it or not, the world is a blank slate. It is yours.

There is this road that runs behind NASA Johnson Space Center where I used to work. I no longer remember the name of it. Space Center Blvd. maybe? It was quiet and twisty, absolutely barren- no buildings, save the back fence of NASA- and it had maybe 2 traffic lights on it which were almost always green because the cross roads were not very populated. I would sometimes go out of my way on my way home or on my way to get food or something just to drive on this road. We're talking 15-30 minutes sometimes out of the way. Then other nights, I would just go drive on it for no reason- nowhere to go to at the other end, I would just drive it. Alone, the windows down, hair blowing in the wind, the music blaring. (Usually, Hotel California, for some reason...) It wasn't actually very long, maybe 2-4 minutes from end to end, which was always a sore point for me. I must also confess, sometimes I would drive back to the other end just so I could do it again...

Now that I live out here in Canyon Country, I have streets all over like that road. Only longer, some with a few more lights, but equally beautiful. Long stretches of tarmac, asphalt- just me and the road. And rather than the driving pumping me up- which it can, if I am in the mood and playing the right music- it CALMS ME! I feel so at peace, wind in my hair, cool air whipping through the car, everything! An old friend of mine used to love to tell the story about how when she was a baby and got fussy at night, her parents would strap her into her car seat and they would take her driving. She would konk right out. I understand that now. Driving soothes a savage part of me that was so pent up and frustrated while I was at CalArts, without a car of my own. FOUR YEARS without a vehicle that I could just drive in!

One of my favorite roads here in LA, though it is clogged with tourists and houses and awkward intersections, is Mulholland Drive. (More than a couple of my friends can attest to this, since I have dragged them on it!) I love how twisty that road is! A close second is a little piece of Sepulveda I found while lost, looking for Mulholland. Just before my internship started this summer, my friend up in Santa Clara took me on a road called Page Mill Road in her Subaru WRX! I swear, the only way I could have been happier is if I were driving! haha It was so awesome!

I can't be the only one who does this! I need to hear from at least one other person that this thing is sort of normal.
Anyone?

Wanna go driving sometime?

Kitbash!

I can't believe I never posted photos of my kitbash! GAH! I loved that thing! I don't have photos of it with the light on, but I will try to get that! SOON! The whole back end of the ship has a LED light in it- a little homage to my dear, sweet Firefly! I think I intended for this to resemble a Reaver ship. I am damn proud of how it came out. I need to get LOTS more photos!



The first photo is what it looked like before- all toy parts! Some cables I tore apart, wires, etc. The second is it painted in this AWESOME metal (yes, REAL METAL) paint that John Mahoney brought to class. I know because I got it in a cut in my finger... Then the last photo is it painted with an oxidizing chemical or something. (I'll get the official name out of Mahoney at some point.) I know because I also got THAT on my cut! Can you say,
"OWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!"?

Well ~I~ can... and did!

Fell off the Face of the Earth

Post-Its will return, I promise. But for now, have doggie sketches! I may finally learn how to draw convincing dogs- and not strange alien dog-cat hybrids! Side effects of having cats my entire life...


That second picture is the first sketch in which I have EVER, in my opinion drawn a believable DOG foot!