It's been awhile since I last updated, and even longer since I've uploaded artwork. I just don't have time. As a rule, I try not to upload classwork because, a.) this is where I put my fun work. As in, the things I draw in my free time, to relax, and unfortunately I don't have a lot of that anymore. And b.) as awesome as dA is in all of it's anime-porno-on-the-front-page gloriousness, the work I create in class is what will get me into grad school or a job someday. If I ever do have an online portfolio, it will not be here. I'd much rather not have that "So you draw anime?" conversation with a future employer (even though they probably would care) or the even more wholesome "That was a nice vagina on the front page" conversation. This isn't a going away journal or anything (because that's stupid), I'm just rationalizing my general inattentiveness. I would like to work on character designs and begin Spatzenprinz, but unless I do it for a project (which will never EVER happen), it'll all have to wait until I have free time...which is a long way away. The anime and manga styles, hell, just cartoons in general, have their place in some curricula (animation and sequential art for instance...maybe even illustration), but not in the program that I'm in. This is probably for the best.

In other news, the end of the semester is closing in and I'll be spending more time than ever in the studio. Of all my classes, I'm only ahead in ceramics. The last wet clay day is November 24th and I only have me final project left to do, unlike many of my classmates that have that and another project or two left. Granted, I still have some glazing to do, but my main concern right now is to get all of my wet clay work done. Anyone that's found with clay stashed on their shelves after the last wet clay day will be automatically deducted a letter grade. So far I've completed (glaze and everything) cylinders...lot's of them. Probably close to twenty. I have two stoneware boxes, a lumpy retard plastic form pot, and three wheel thrown cylinders that await glazing, a hand that needs to be bisque fired (an here I thought I had avoided the hand project by not taking ceramics in high school), and of course, my final project...a herd of big horn sheep heads of varying sizes on decorated plaques. They're going to be super cool. Also, my teacher has been allowing me to use the casting slip; I think he's trying to bribe me into being a ceramics concentration. _{It's working.} I've already cast some flowers and they came out beautifully. And, by some miracle, they didn't fuse to the stilts when they were high fired with the glaze. Some careless jerk did knock off a part of them while unloading the kiln, but the piece can be reattached. Also, one of my sheep's ears got knocked off...before firing! Someone must have bumped it while it was sitting on the shelf. Luckily, the ear can be glued back on as well.

Figure drawing is getting better...at least as good as it can get. I'm still pulling weekly all-nighters to do anatomical drawings, but it's all for the best. I've noticed a marked improvement not only in my school work, but also in the very few drawings that I do in my free time.

Jewelry, however, not so good. Though I enjoy it when things go right, that happens so rarely that I've pretty much established that metalworking will not be my concentration. Aside from the never ending frustrations associated with at least an hour of filing and sanding between every step, solder that doesn't flow where you want it to, and constantly breaking sawblades (not to mention that stupid "sparrows and swallows are the same thing" engineering bitch that's taking the class because she thought all art classes were easy and always complains about how she's not creative and hates over-achievers, blah blah blah), the wear and tear on my hands is almost unbearable. My skin is already dry from ceramics (which is tolerable), but so far I've rubbed my knuckles raw with files and sandpaper, cut myself with the saw, burned my fingertips with the torch, and nearly impaled myself with a sanding disk that decided to break and fly all over the place. The class went really well at first. Cold connections? Okay. Sweat soldering? Fine. Pounding rings into that perfect round shape? Doable. Hinges? Thou art my nemisis. I've been working on the same box with a hinged lid for the past three weeks. I had a beautiful one nearly complete, and then in the process of applying the hinge, broke it beyond any point of being able to fix it and turn it in. After going and crying in the bathroom for a few minutes, I went back to the studio and started over. And the box isn't even a project! It's a stepping stone to prove that I have the skills to do the next project, which I can't start until I've successfully made this hinged box. Dammit.

Also, did you know that one piece of 2x6 inch 20 gauge sterling silver costs a little over $40? So I'm broke too, but life is still better than last year. I really am happy, despite the lack of sleep and skin abrasions...and persistant pain from my finger tips to my elbows. On the bright side, my family is getting freaking sweet ass homemade gifts this year for Christmas.

I think this might be the longest journal I've ever written.

Oh, and Ugg boots are the crabs of footware; they make you itch and all the sorority girls have them.

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This is taken from an assignment in my figure drawing class. I thought it might be fun to present to everyone here.

Perceptual defects
Please identify three areas in which you have needed to improve your drawing. (From the Art of Responsive Drawing 6th edition by Nathan Goldstein)

1. Weakness in measurable matters. Drawing what we think we know rather than what we actually see; no revealing, no regard for relating the size of parts or for searching out the subject's gestural character. This is a "broad-spectrum" weakness.

2. Conflicting perspectives. A common result of sequential assembly (considering the parts and not how the parts are related to the whole and to each other) which shows disregard for relating the positions in space of all a drawing's forms and for the need to perceive the angle of their long axes as well as their edges.

3. Overload of details. Often a sympton of sequential assembly, this problem indicates an inability to analyze and extract the subject's essential directions, planes and masses from its "raw material". Surface effects generally smother volumetric clues. _{I can think of a few very popular artists that suffer from this.}

4. Parts isolated from the whole. This defect reveals a failure to sonsider the relative visual impact of smaller forms on the large mass of which they are a part. A part or form that doesn't need the rest of the drawing to have its full effect is, by its very independence, isolated from the rest of the work (e.g. strongly modeled freaures versus weakly stated head and neck). _{The trend on here seems to be the opposite; overstated head and weakly modeled body.}

5. Unconvincing volumes. A weak sense of volume or a weak grasp of stuctural matter is often the result of timid modeling and a weak range of values. Volumes also suffer when pronounced, continuous contours, with their strong visual impact, overrule subtle inner modeling. _{I suffer from this.}

6. Monotonous outlines. This shows a reluctance to leave the "safety" of the delineating edge to model the interior of a form. Lifeless lines reveal a fear of using values to help establish planes and edges and to model form.

7. Stiff or wooden drawing. Fear of making errors and a disregard for gestural and rhythmic considerations. Fear of matching the subject's energy by energies in the drawing; also the dread of making changes, of making a mess, results in stilted and self-conscious drawing, instead of drawing responsively. Overuse of straight lines and hard angles, to the exclusion of curved lines. Constant erasing and reworking.

8. Tonal "anemia". This defect is seen in tonal drawings where there is a fear of using dark tones, especially over large areas. Tinting or toning a page or using toned paper is useful in overcoming this reluctance. _{Yet another fault in my work.}

9. Formula solutions. Remembered cliches replace sensitive analysis; the results are ordinary.

10. Unconvincing volumes. A weak sense of volume or a weak grasp of structural matters is often mannered. Shows disinterest in what the subject offers, or an inability to comprehend it, or a preference for "stored" solutions.

11. Breezy mannerisms. False flourishes try to imitate authoritative experience. Drawings convey only poorly understood generalities, a superficial grasp of perceptual skills, and are often ambiguous about volume and space, design and expression. They are flashy pretensions that allude to a fluent control the artist does not possess. _{This is my favorite one.}

12. Redundancy. Line and value can work together in many ways, but using both to say the same thing destroys a drawing's freshness.

Did you read all of that? Does your brain feel like sludge? Do you feel the impulse to delete half of your gallery?

Good.

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Aside from having to pull my first all-nighter of the year on Wednesday night, this week has been pretty excellent. After getting back from class, I slept most of Thursday evening away. On Friday morning I woke up refreshed and relieved to have all of my weekend homework done. I went to breakfast with ~ShannaBanan-o-rama and worked on some ceramics stuff.

Last night, after a very lovely bike ride, Shanna and I went to see the movie 9. Fuck, best animated movie ever. I wish it had been longer, which is something I haven't said in a long time.

On a related note:


Expect wee plushes.

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The title needs no explanation.

Tagged by:

1.Post these rules.
2.Each tagged person must post 8 things about themselves on their journal.
3.At the end, you have to choose and tag 5 people and post their icons on the same journal.
4.Go to their pages and send a message saying you tagged them.
5.No tag-backs!

1. I love chocolate, but I never eat it. (I still have German chocolate from Christmas laying in my room.)

2. I've owned rats for half of my life (10 years).

3. I have a beautiful tablet that I got for Christmas, but have only used it about three times (because I wuvs my Copics so much).

4. I have dried flowers hanging in my room...LOTS of them. And about six books full of pressed flowers and a basket full of random stuff that I found on the ground (I even found the basket on the side of the road). I don't know what I'll use any of this stuff for, but I refuse to throw any of it away.

5. I'm going to Germany for Christmas this year! We'll be staying in a farmhouse that's been changed into a small hotel. It's located in the foothills of the German Alps. It's right by a ski resort. (And I paid for the plane ticket myself!)

6. I tend to dislike movie sequels before I even see them. I think that they're proof that Hollywood is losing its creativity and is simply seeking to milk a good idea for all it's worth. (Unless of course it's adapted from a series of books, like LoTR and whatnot.)

7. I've never had a boyfriend. Not one that really counts. The fact that I despise Facebook doesn't help.

8. I can't eat uncooked onions, sausage, cucumber, and sometimes tomatoes. They make me gassy. Thanks Dad.

9. BONUS!!! This is possibly the best thing ever made:

I tag...anyone that wants to do this.

But definitely and and and

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[edit] I've found out some good news. My neighbors' dog wasn't as badly injured as we originally thought, and will recover. Also, two of their four cats somehow managed to get out of the house and were found alive and well this morning. [/edit]

It's been a generally shitty week. Dillo, my darling rat, died on Monday, but what's prompted this journal is something far more devastating.

My neighbors' house just burned down. And I mean, the firefighters just put out the fire. I woke up at a quarter to one in the morning thinking that someone was setting off fireworks next door, then I looked out the window and realized their house was on fire. They've lost everything. The garage, car, the house is entirely gutted. All of their pets but one are dead; the cats were in the garage where the fire started, and my mom just took their dog to the vet (it's not likely to make it). Luckily all of the people got out, but...

God, I can't believe this happened so close to home. There are five fire trucks parked outside. They had to bring in water because there are no hydrants out here. Most of the house was gone before they even arrived on scene.

Bah, I can't sleep. It's almost 3 a.m. and I have work at eight.

Sorry for the downer journal.

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