Missed Friday yet again...

Okay, since I missed the update date again, I will try to appease you few readers with some artwork!

This is all life drawing from last year/semester. As the day goes on and I collect more drawings I like, I will add more to this post. Please forgive me!?

Waiting on my laundry...

So I missed my update of Friday again... I am starting to wonder if I should just change it to Saturdays? XD But then again- I have a lot of very busy-looking Saturdays coming up, so then I would miss those.... whatever! I am updating!

(and guess who got the dysfunctional dryer.... AGAIN!) ~_~

So, lots of stuff is happening at school... Not all of it great, but busy. I am truly excited some of the upcoming stuff too! OMG! I wish I could tell you, like... two, readers about it!

So this is what Animation classes are like- we get to sit in a huge room, with a HUGE projector and watch AWESOME movies! Like Iron Giant! XD Actually, we just watched a smidge of it- this is Layout class with Dan. We are learning about lighting and how it affects a scene, I think.
(Oh yeah.... the guy with the AMAZING hair in front is Jason Reicher- bad-ass extraordinaire!)

Here's what I looked like in class that day... Because, you know, it was HALLOWEEN and NOT because I am some freaky art school kid! pshaw! As if! I got a lot of compliments and a LOT of people asking what I was.... I had to admit that in fact the only reason I did all that painting was so that I could wear the black feather eyelashes! XD They were AWESOME! And so light! (But I felt like I was wearing a hat or a hoodie all day...)

And this is me when I read about dance for my Modern Dance History class.... I can't help it.... I miss dance... And anytime I read about it, I want to do stuff... XD *is embarrassed and proud at the same time...* I am a complex person! XD *snort*

So Friday night, the 48 Hour Films were announced. The inculpable and amazing Mr. Tom Law is running the show. And what did I happen to see in front of me today at the James Baxter lecture? Oh, Mr. Law had shaved this into his hair! XD Tom- you totally win.

Now how about some actual ART on my blog?! YES?!

My roomie, Hannah, and I are both hoping to go into story someday, so we decided to do a little practicing. We put on Forrest Gump and paused every few scenes and had 5 minutes to board the shot. It was MEGA-FUN to do and I hope she and I can do it every week.

And here are the "finished" Star Wars boards I did. I've been working on them off and on for a few weeks. They make me happy. What you are seeing are 9 of 130 BOARDS and I am STILL not done with the entire scene! I have killed countless markers (and I bought more today...) and while I can't really use them for much since Star Wars is heavily copyrighted or whatever, I am thinking of scanning them all in and timing them out exactly to the film during Winter Break and having them as an animatic. Any thoughts?

To top the evening off- I just got to swing dance in the Main Gallery! <3 I love this school...

Also- I got new jammie pants today! XD They're orange (fav color) with polar bears all over them (my grandfather's favorite animal!). I had to have them!

Told ya I'd blow it...

I knew I couldn't keep the updating on schedule... but I'm going to keep going.

So, this is my idea of a wonderful weekend... Storyboarding for class. Jim Hull, seriously awesome dude, asked us to board 3-5 minutes of our favorite scene from our favorite film... Well, how could I friggin' resist?!

Don't ask how long it took, because I couldn't keep track. HOURS were spent in the comfort of the CalArts Film Library, and many markers were sacrificed. My record was one marker in 3-4 hours. I was pretty high on the Sharpies after each session, which technically I did not care for because I just got a headache... Where's the appeal to sniffing markers?! Was I using the wrong kind?

Been having a tough time lately... Got nothing truly done last weekend, so I am paying for it now... In a funk, I heard that someone was hosting a Rocky Horror Picture Show viewing in the Bijou... so of course, not doing anything better, I went!

There was rice and waterguns, and someone beaned me in the head with a piece of toast... Still don't know if they aimed for me or not...




Tonight is the CalArts Halloween Party- but I'm not going. Just not in the mood. Got stuff to do. Since we are locked out of the building, I thought it'd be a great time to update this and just get various other stuff done before tomorrow.

In other respects, today was a highly productive day. I did laundry for the first time in two weeks... I was so busy last weekend that I just didn't have a chance and it was getting pretty hairy there at the end. But fresh laundry abounds now... XD Gawd, what fascinating stuff for you, eh, my dear reader? XD LOL "Jesus, the girl talks about LAUNDRY and NEVER posts any art- WTF?!"

Okay, back to art-related stuff. I am trying to storyboard my film and hammer out the story at the same time... It is harder than it sounds... Wish I had some art from that to show you, but don't yet. Sorry. Will try to get to that soon. Maybe after this weekend? I have basically decided that my film this year WILL have watercolor backgrounds. Now, whether they will be digital or tradition remains to be seen... Any input? Digital means they will be lovely and possibly changeable? But if I made them for real, that would be something I would have forever. Something tangible. I must admit, there is a great appeal in that to me. Someone give me input?

I think that's about all for now... Gonna do something- ANYTHING!

Belated post

Sorry to fool you (the, like, ONE person who probably actually reads this blog! XD ) this is not the official post. This is the post to let you know that a real post is coming soon. I promise!

Yup, I was right.... I couldn't keep it up.

I missed my update by a day already... I can see this is going to fail epically... It is just the way of things...

So, I ~HAVE~ to post about this because it might have been one of the COOLEST single classes I have EVER been to! Our Digital Methods: Sound professor, Ben Huff (imdb the man! WOW!) had a friend of his, Crispin Freeman (imdb him too! OMFG!) to talk to us about working with voice actors. If he had just TALKED to us about this, it still would have been in my Top Ten Favorite Single Classes ever, because he gave us SO MUCH information that REALLY cleared a lot of stuff up for me! However, to really let us get an idea of what it feels like to work with a director and what a voice actor has to work with, he took us to the CalArts Sound Booth. OMFG!

BESIDES just SEEING it and learning about what you can do in there, HE HAD SOME OF US READ DIALOG! Two to three people were chosen to read parts of a script written by our very own peers! They would read it once, just to get an idea of the dialog, then the "director" (student who wrote it) would give notes and then they would read it again, until it was what the Director was looking for. OMG! It was so cool to see how that worked!

And I guess it was a good thing that I was listening, because I got chosen to read for a part for my friend/cubemate, Louise! OMFG! I was terrified. Because all 28 of my other classmates were on the other side of a piece of glass, STARING at me! XD Thankfully, I got to read with Erica and Aksel, so I wasn't alone. But it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!

Oddly enough, going through that- the performance anxiety, etc. I was rip and roaring ready to go to my next class. Interesting how that works. More on that other class some other time.

One night after class, my other cubemate, Portlynn was having a tough time and basically, it ended in all of us in the hallways around our cube, doing caricatures on the walls... NOT doing our homework! XD But it was nice and now the walls are not nearly as naked. I hate plain white walls.

That's Bo (my OTHER cubemate) with her caricature, as drawn by Portlynn.

In personal news, my story got it's ass kicked this week. I pitched my film idea to my Story professor, Jim Hull (CONGRATULATIONS to him, btw) and he tore it APART! Basically, it was an animation-heavy film. He said that he recalled that I wanted to go into Story and I said I thought I still did and he said I needed a story-heavy film then... So I am back at square one. New beatboards, story, script, and storyboards. Thankfully, I got some AMAZING help from Louise today in the Kafe, so I am on my way! <3

Meanwhile, HOW THE F&^%ING NAME OF HADES UNDERWEAR DID IT GET TO BE MIDTERMS ALREADY?! WE JUST STARTED SCHOOL!!!!

Big stuff coming up in the next few weeks! OMG!

Trying to be better at this...

I really am going to try to update this weekly... Let's see how long I can keep that up! XD *personally thinks she'll fail in less than a week*

So, this past week at school has been SUPER AMAZING and super down for me... personal rollercoaster, if you will... Trying to remember what I am here for. I know it sounds like it's super easy to answer, but there are a lot of things at work internally at the moment, so... yeah- moving on.

I am finally officially and literally moved into my cube now. My room looks better because all my crap is out of it and my cube looks better because all my crap is IN it! XD

(drawing courtesy of Louise Smythe- who amazes me every day!)

Got to pitch story boards for an assignment in Story last week. A fun time was had by most!

This week, Dave Pimentel of DreamWorks came to talk to us. AMAZING visit.
Also had a guest in Digital Methods: Sound class- Crispin Freeman (voice actor extraordinaire!)

Other than that, still working my @$$ off... I am an authorized Institute Driver now- HAHA! So yeah- next week, same animation time, same animation place? (We'll see!)

Last Weekend of LIVING- First Week of My SECOND YEAR!

I blew out my last weekend before school started with a BANG and now my second year has officially BEGUN!

On Saturday, I went to Little Tokyo one more time then got OBSCENELY drunk with friends here in the dorms.

On Sunday, I went with a bunch of unbelievably sweet girls to the LA Zoo for some Animal Drawing then to Portos Bakery for Noms!

After that we went to the El Capitan Theatre to see Beauty & the Beast in 3D!

That night, the dorms played JAWS out at the pool. Of course I watched it! It scared the living daylights out of several obvious first-timers! XD <3 I LOL'ed NUMEROUS times! Today was my first day of classes AND being a TA! OMG! So scary and SO FUN! I got signed up for my cube. I am next door to my old one. Will post pictures of that when there is something to see... Before I go- A quick look at the freshmen, who are AS WE SPEAK, spending the night in the Character Animation Hallway, camping out for their very own cubes.... D'awwww! They're so cute! XD