My Online Sketchbook

Although I lament the loss of my family I don't think that counts as a proper blog update.

SO

There is a website called Tegaki (kudos to those who know about it! Please give me your username). Tegaki is, essentially, an artwork hosting site. However, you draw your works directly on there using their tools. You have a limited amount of solid colors, a range of opacity to work with, different 'brush'(like dots) sizes that you can work with, and no layers. That is it. It's photoshop on a low budget and MS paint on steroids (in some respects). I use this program because the social networking is pretty cool. Instead of tying out responses you have to draw them out. You can also roleplay by using pictures. Best part of it all is it doesn't lag as much as photoshop does on my old virus filled computer.

I guess you could call it my virtual sketchbook and you could assume my lack of amazing works in my sketchbook is due to the fact I spend massive amounts of time working on my online pieces. I think I should print some of my works out and paste it in my sketchbook and call it a day. The only problem is it's not observational. Oh well. Some sticker tags don't need to be.

Here are some of my works:

"Y so srys Ruth?"

(why so Serious Ruth?)

This work is a 'crack piece' for a Team Fortress 2 rp(roleplay) I'm apart of there. I made up a fictional character named Ruth (left). She's a sniper (a class on the video game Team Fortress 2) and she hates spies (the class Jared, the guy on the right, is). Long story short, we had a joke where Ruth became Batman and the spy was the Joker. (but the ironic thing is they're on the same team) Ack! I'm rambling. Anyway, took me a while to make...


"Trapped"

This piece was for another rp, an Avatar: the Last Airbender one. I was compelled to join because I was feeling very stressed. As one of many reactions to that I spent too much time drawing on the computer instead of doing homework and working on college apps. This was the result.

"HISTORYvsVAGINA"

Before I explain the outrageous title I must say I'M REALLY ANNOYED WHEN BLOGSPOTS CODE SPAZZES OUT ON ME! D<>

(I'm still thinking of a title)

I'm thinking of printing this one out and using it for 'willy nilly'. This one I did this weekend, due to stress again wahoo! This is my latest rp character, right. He belongs in the Avatar: the Last Airbender rp. His niece is the ginger on the left. To translate what they're saying into normal people language the dialogue would go like this:

Uncle: Are you sure this scarf looks okay?

Niece: Of course! It was all the rage during New York fashion week!

Uncle: Amongst the women, right?

Niece: Uh... maybe... but it sure looks pretty! And it'll attract the ladies!

---

Anyway. That's a sample of my stuff on tegaki. I think I should put some of these in my sketchbook as sketchbook assignments. Does that count? please please please can it count? I work so hard on them!

A Real Reason for Big Kids to be Depressed

Uncle Tommy died this weekend.

He was my grandpa's brother. But we all called him Uncle Tommy. It was so sudden, even though he battled liver problems for years. He was working 2 weeks ago at the clinic. Then he had to go the hospital again. But he always pulled through. It was like the boy who cried wolf. I never took to much concern. Until he got worse. Then he was taken to a hospital in Washington. There was hope he would live... a 1% chance of hope. It was decided. He would die. That was Friday. Then there were preparations. Who would he stay with until he passed on? That was Saturday morning. Then there was the urgent call that had my aunt rushing out the door. Tonight was the night. He wasn't going to make it.

Sunday, 4am, he had gone to be with the Lord.

Left for Dead While Eating a George Washington Hamburger

Dear blog,

This weekend I was introduced to a wonderful zombie game called Left For Dead. I most likely will have a zombie dream tonight due to playing it. I was also introducted to a George Washington hamburger at Calamity Janes. It was a plain hamburger, except for the pie cherries and sour cream on it. I must say the hamburger was an adventure and I would want to try it out again.

In other news I had a little bit of a meltdown due to my revelation that my anime art hasn't improve in 2009. Sure, so I want to build my core skills for college, right? Well, even if I'm investing most of my time in my core skills shouldn't it benefit my anime drawings?
I'm just saying...

I guess I'd like your guys ideas on how my improvement has gone... and if I'm moving in reverse. I think you can click on it for a larger view, right?

Anyway, yeah. I was kinda like... unproductive this weekend. And I think my computer downstairs caught a virus due to photobuckets. >:I That does not make me happy!

FIVE HOURS LATER... Scholastic Portfolio Day

Hello alls in wonderland!
Hello my friends of all animals!
Hello my fellow flash dancers!
Ready to hear of the tale full of words such as SUNDAY, 5 HOURS, CRITIQUE, and EGOS!?

Here we go!

National Portfolio day... I had never been there... but I had a plan. It was simple on paper. I would first stand in line @ MCAD and have my portfolio critiqued. Then I would go to RMCAD and have them look at my portfolio. Then I'd go to a toss up school that offered animation and leave.
3 schools
2 hours and then gone!
...
More like 5 hours later...

So I was standing in line at MCAD. It was a bit of a long line but at least I had a team with me! There was moral support from my boyfriend, Terrence, who was so nice to tag along and stand for hours on end. Then there was my aunt, who was also kind enough to stand in line for me. (however she was at RMCAD) Anyway, after waiting 1 hour in line, my aunt called me over to the RMCAD one because I would be next.

I was excited. I thought I had this in the bag. I mean, a lot of people ahead of me had small pieces or anime. I had big pieces. I had observational things. I thought I was superior. My ego was in inflate mode.

So I made small chat with this younger lady who informed me of RMCAD. It was a private school with mild weather and classes with around 12 people. Dorms were close to the campus and jobs for animators were easy as long as you moved to California after attending.

Sooner or later I found myself in front of this older woman. She had grey hair and it was cut somewhere between her chin and her shoulders. She had wrinkles. She seemed old. I already had a stereotype for her: old fashioned. So me, not knowing how this portfolio thing worked, made sure to be friendly and laid out all my stuff... all of it... like... too much of it. She first when through my sketchbooks and said i should only have my BEST THINGS marked in there. ... to my dismay my BEST THINGS were ripped out and apart of my portfolio. Guess I didn't really need my sketchbooks... ... ... After making her look through a ton of anime and shizz I eventually geared her towards my observational and more traditional pieces. She wasn't thrilled. She then proceeded to tell me what was wrong with my pieces and why she didn't like them. She didn't really help me. My ego deflated. I could hear the air escaping from the side of my ego balloon. I think I figured out why RMCAD has such a small student body. If a lady like her is a representative, who doesn't seem too open to design-y styles and is too preoccupied with traditional art, I can only assume that the rest of the people there are kinda snooty and snobbish. I don't want to go to such a place.

SO WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT RMCAD & MY PORTFOLIO KIDS!?

• The woman there only showed some interest in about 4 of my pieces. (2 of which she still had a bone to pick with) [and therefore didn't give me any pointers or confidence as to what pieces I should send into the school]
• She didn't give me very good feedback. I didn't really walk away any smarter other then having a good composition means the picture is balanced any way you turn it.
• Scratch that. She told me I might better as an illustrator because I'm funny (according to my sketchbook). [That was the only positive thing to come from her mouth]
• I don't want to apply to that college anymore.

After dragging myself back to the MCAD line I joined my bf only to look super depressed. My ego was limp, as limp as a limp noodle or a deflated balloon or... iunno... tuna. A tuna fish. Although Kermit was a nice guy and open to all styles and art, such as the two girls who only seemed to have anime drawings before me, I didn't have the enthusiasm and excitement I had before. So when it was my time I forced a smile, because image is everything, and made sure not to dump everything on him. I pulled out my two latest sketchbooks and pointed out a few pages. I made sure to keep the summer one and junior year one hidden. Then I pulled out select works. The works I thought he'd want to see. My observational things and some of my more design-y pictures. We talked. It was awkward, but only because my confidence was destroyed. He had things to point out and some praise.

SO WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT MCAD & MY PORTFOLIO KIDS?

• People have different opinions. What the RMCAD lady had some interest in Kermit did not. While what she destroyed me with he pointed out some positive aspects of it.
• I need to finish my January pieces to use in my portfolio. Why? Because my portfolio should consist of two sections.
  1) Observational pieces (I don't have to send in an interior space or landscape YAY)
  2) Personal voice/ concentration (They want to see a body of work that relates with one another. That's because, as an animator, I'm going to make a story and pieces will have to be consistent. But that's probably something they tell to all different students going into a variety of majors.)
• They seem more open to all mediums and styles.

I felt a bit better, my balloon ego was half full and I had but one more place to look. Was I to go to Cornish College of the Arts? Or, perhaps, Laguna which seemed to have no line. I ended up standing in line for Laguna. There ended up being two girls ahead of me. All they had was anime. I couldn't help but laugh at them and yet relate with them. If I had come to portfolio day as a junior most of my pieces would have probably been anime. I can also understand why teachers and admissions people are getting sick of anime. After all was said and done with them I approached the man. He had quite the beard, despite his young age, and his eyes sometimes geared off in different directions. Is that an artist thing? Will I go cross eyed in a way? Meh? Anyway, he seemed like a nice fellow and offered up his critique as well constructive feedback. Sure, he had pointed out the problems in some pieces. But he backed up his punch to my ego with enough patching up constructive feedback that I left feeling as jolly as Santa.

SO WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT LAGUNA & MY PORTFOLIO KIDS?

• Some of my pictures had technical, compositional, color, value, etc. etc. issues. However, they were problems only to be expected by someone who had not attended college yet. So, in other words, I was good for my age but not as good as the college students.
• The representative was a good listener and engauged. He made you feel appreciated and valued. He could also make you feel as if there was a connection rather then a barrier in which they were elevated above you.
• Their animation program is inspiried by Chuck Jones approach to animation, and since Laguna is in California I'd already be close and immersed in the animation industry. The only problem is there are no dorms and they're only taking 100 new students. If that's students in the state of Oregon or out of the country I don't know.
• I was quite impressed. I need to look more into this college.

And so, my day came to an end. I ran out of time to visit any other colleges and made a book run. I grabbed as many as there were left for the schools who had animation offered as a BFA or MFA.

THE END!

How Might I Improve...

Hey alls out there in procrastination and blog land! Tis me! I was wondering if there was any advice you could give me about my works.

There were only a few things that I was really wondering about and I'll list it under the piece.


1) Does the typed words look cheesy? Should I get rid of them?
2) Should the space above the cubbies be darker? (In this picture I didn't add the light green yet)

1) Should the picture be larger? (although the boy cannot get that much bigger or the marker is prone to getting streaky) OR should I make it larger horizontally and have the boy still drawing?

1) Should the creature eyes be a darker yellow since they should be in the dark?

2) Do the camel spider need eyes or something else? OR are they okay as is?

Or are there any other suggestions you guys have that would help my work improve?

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Dear blog,

I must first say, please excuse my poor spelling because spellcheck is not working properly.

Today I worked my butt off trying to complete my last piece. After many hours, snot filled tissues, and are54.com playlist music placed on repeat, I was able to complete my last piece. The title of this is 'Are you Afraid of the Dark?". Kinda like that show on Ni-

Anyway... I asked some people I know why they're scared of the dark. (or were)

My cousin, who this child is based off of, claims nothing. (but she's too scared to venture on downstairs alone) I know she's scared of some dolls... but I didn't want to draw a ton of dolls so I replaced that with stuffed animals... very scary looking ones.

For me... I had 3 spiders come out one night in the dark... and all 3 had to be killed after I screamed "GRANDMA!!!". Hence the creepy oversized camel spiders. Then there are zombies, especially after watching the movie Quarantine. Then there are hands because I always thought a hand would come out of nowhere and grab me. I'm also deathly afraid of the ocean and once I went to zoo camp and slept in a sharktube. That night... I tossed and turned so much. So why not put in something that's always associated with horror films and the sea? Tentacles and goo!

Then my aunt admitted she was afraid of clothing jumping out of her closet to grab her. Apparently, when she was a child, there was paranormal activity in one of the houses she lived in and the clothes did that one night.

So do I rejoice and go to bed now!?
Do I try and grab what little hours of sleep I have left before I must go back to the dreaded time consuming place called school?

No.

I still have to finish my first piece.

>:I

Drawing on Walls

And, now, I begin with the 'Drawing on Walls' piece! This one involves a happy child who is proud of the work he has made, despite it landing him a spanking for it. I tried to draw my boyfriend as a child because he, apparently, drew on the walls when he was a kid. He covered entire walls from floor to ceiling by standing on stools and whatnot. It landed him a spanking and a rag with some bleach to clean it off, but that never stopped him until around the age of 6.

Before the damage (above)
And a whole slew of drawings! It's a good thing I can kinda remember what I drew when I was 6. I was also able to think back on what my cousin, Brandon, would draw. I remember he painted a guitar for his cousin, Justin, just the other day. I also remember scribbling a whole lot... smearing stuff like crazy... and drawing clouds and suns with sunglasses!

YAY!!! This piece is done! Now if only I could figure out what to do with the first one... typed text... or handwritten?

The Comparison Game

Here's to my first picture which I shall call "The Comparison Game"

I'm still working on it.

I'm not really aiming towards making something so beautiful that your eyes will bleed rainbow tears and you'll feel inadequate.
No.
I'm just trying to capture the kids emotions. The best way I do that is by simplifying the characters looks. (I can also capture characteristics better... without having to be tedious)
As you can see it's pretty blank at the moment and that's the exchange of words the kids are suppose to have. (No I won't photoshop write it in that's cheesy)
The background will have cubbies because that's where all the talking action happened. We lined up against the cubbies to go somewhere. I'm thinking of lining and water coloring it in. The kids will be colored with prismacolor markers. As for the words I'm debating between writing it or typing it and printing it out. There will be 3 layers: background cubbie layer, two boys and their words layer, then the girl and her words layer.

There is one thing I'm concerned about, her arm. She's suppose to have the outstretched as she tries to get their attention. Her arm extended more but I thought Id' look better if I shortened it. Any suggestions? I'm wondering if having a colored and detailed background will mask the fact that her arm looks so... awkward... iunno...

And an update... too long later... I inked it... now I just need to color EVERYTHING and add in the bubbles
And after much coloring... I RUINED THE PICTURE!!! I am so mad... you can't see it with my ghettoh cell phone photo... but there are so many errors and whatnot... I'm so mad! SO SO SO SO MAD!!! SO VERY MAD!!! AND MY LIGHT UMBER PRISMACOLOR MARKER RAN OUT!!! ASKjfksajfkljakslfjdklasjdfkjsakfjkj!!!! AND WHERE IS MY VALUE!!!? This picture makes me furious! I want to shread this picture!

Usually my pictures take 10 hours. (I timed it.) My last AP art pictures (my failed ones from my last school) took me roughly 10 hours. However, I had issues with the characters sketches and yada yada IN THE END IT HAS TAKEN ME 12+ hours!!! I'm going to be pulling an all nighter to finish all 3 pictures! And I'll probably work smaller... ugh... that was something I didn't want to succumb to. I didn't want to draw printer page size or smaller but it seems that will happen...

You know what also makes me angry? Markers and how quickly they dry! You know what I've heard? "Markers are like a paintbrush. You should use them as if you're holding a paintbrush with paint." It's true... all those strokes DO COUNT. And if you work too big your picture will end up streaky... just like mine... D:

And I hate background! I avoid backgrounds at all cost! But this time I thought "Hey! Let's challenge ourselves... kinda..." So I added the cubbies... but they ended up being a problem child in which involved minor PERSPECTIVE. AUGH!!!!!!! Then the painting was tedious... kasljdflkjsa;dfj;asjfdkjsafdj....

All in all this picture has made me VERY ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED. And I have yet to add text... once that's done I'm kinda done... I have to iron my pictures out to flatten it... but watch me come back to say one of the pictures burned... aslkjflkasjdfkjsa;dfj;sjdf

>:I

Then I get to start and, hopefully, finish my second piece tonight... tomorrow... sometime... whatever.

[/13 ish hours later]

So... ... ... I have run into a problem... I have a problem... D: I realized there were words in my picture. However... am I to print it out and add them? Or do I actually write them? The only problem with writing them (not only... the BIG PROBLEM WITH WRITING THEM) is that I have to do a very good job at it. I have to have lines and whatnot... proper typography skills which... I've never done that before. Scratch that. I've tried my hand at typography but failed miserably free handedly. For now... i'll use typed words unless stated otherwise... however... I have this lingering gut feeling I'm going to be told writing it would be better... for the overall feel of the picture.

I'm going to finish the rest of this later today. I need to work on something else. What's left to do is to iron out the pictures, glue backgrounds onto the words, and then glue it all down. AKA 1 and 1/2 hours. And let me tell you... when I estimate I know how long something will take. :C

HELLO MY FELLOW PROCRASTINATORS

Hey everyone out there in lala land! This is Ashley coming from her dungeon. (aka her really messy room) However, in the next couple of days, it's going to get even messier and sleep will be only a hobby!

I NEED to complete my 3 pieces STILL!!!

And, no, I still don't have any getto.. ghetto... get-oh photos... they'll come in a day or so...

ANYWAY

As I was saying I'm working on the 'stupid things children do'. (then again... the ridiculous things they do would work as well... and sometimes wonderful) Although I do have a list I'm too lazy to type it all out, at the moment, and write a description. So I'll tell you the three I picked for this time!

THE COMPARISON GAME
Oh my! Did you ever do the comparison game when you were a kid? Does "my dad is 32" and "Well, my dad is 100!" sound familiar? How about "my house has 5 bathrooms" and "Well my house has 10!"? Ah, yes, the good old comparison game. Please don't tell me my humble little elementary school in Washington wasn't the only one to do such a ridiculous thing. As I look back I'm really happy my dad isn't 100 and, to be honest, the most bathrooms I've ever had in a house I lived in was 4. Just for the record.

THE DARK
... This is a topic can probably tie into teenage and adult years. However, for now, the dark is a problem for many children right now. (OR COULD WE PROPERLY SAY IT'S THEIR IMAGINATIONS!?) When I was younger I was afraid of going upstairs alone because I thought it was dark, scary, and a monster would jump out of the shadows and eat me just like in my nightmares. My cousins, Aleia, is afraid of going downstairs alone because it's dark. As for the reason... I'm not sure. But probably the same reasons I was afraid as a kid. All in all the dark is a pretty scary thing. I, for one, can wander downstairs in the dark now. However... basements... that's another story... [/I have a bad history with basements]

DRAWING ON WALLS
I was hesitant on making a piece that covered such a topic. You see, I was a well trained child and never drew on walls. Perhaps it was because I was always given paper or those magna doodles to draw on. However, upon talking to a few friends and recalling some stories others told me, they themselves or someone they knew had fun drawing on walls. Then I thought about it more and realized many people draw on walls such as graffiti artists.
However... when you're younger... you can't seem to get away with it... it seems to always result with a wooden spoon to your butt.