guidlines

So another day of break has passed by and I've got little to show for it beyond a new fun site discovery and more progress in my book. (His Dark Materials Series...awesome stuff...) but that's what breaks are for, right?

Over the weekend I perfected my new excel spreadsheets for my budgeting plan. I've found that simply the idea of me holding myself accountable for my spending makes me want to spend less or nothing if I can avoid it. In fact, I stopped at Target on the way home to pick up some fish for dinner and some other things we were out of. Walking through the aisles I saw all sorts of lovely things I thought would be good to have and I asked myself if it was worth adding that to my spread sheet and seeing the numbers drop more than they needed to. So clearly this idea is working and that makes me happy...now I just need to get a paycheck so I can see the numbers go up instead of down...

Now for the new fun site discovery...check out the web-comic "Lackadaisy" (http://www.lackadaisycats.com/) for the cutest reference to the 1920's prohibition with cat gangsters...I found her page while I was looking on the web for character drawing tutorials. This woman had just that and I loved what her drawings looked like so I dug deeper and found her webcomic.

Her tutorial has me wanting to work more on the concept of using guidelines as opposed to outlines, which is a simple idea but hard for me to put into practice for some reason. so after I'm done watching Ironman (very good movie...yay!)I'm going to go back upstairs and start doing some basic animals and humans...this is sad but I pretty much have to reteach myself how to draw again, a year away from a real drawing class without any practice has certainly taken it's toll...I can still copy something no problem (ex. using a photo reference for body posture or facial expression), but creating original work with no photo reference is my major problem. *sigh* I dunno, Hopefully making myself draw everyday will cure that and give me some interesting work to build on!

Tomorrow is new years eve...hopefully this one goes better than last year...

until next time...toodles

the new year is a-comin'

in less than a week it will be 2009...and it will feel the same as 2008...only I will feel older and more behind than ever. I'm actually kind of looking forward to 2012 so we can all find out if the Mayan calendar thing is real or if their calendar maker just died when he got to 2012...but 2009 is just another year. Another chance to set up silly New Years Resolutions like "I'm going to get in shape" or "I'm going to set aside money every paycheck into savings!" or "I'm going to volunteer in my community". I mock these things because, let's be honest, they never happen...and every year is as bad as the last as far as our weight, our savings and our contribution to the greater good...I laugh at anyone who makes a new years resolution and actually waits until the new year to start their goal...I mean, why not start now? For example...I'm planning on making it a goal to do a new drawing every day in 2009...that doesn't mean I can't start warming up now...I've done a few drawings this week just to get the feel for what it takes. I feel silly for the fact that I don't draw every day...it's quite sad...but I created a block for myself long ago and now I realize I need to overcome it...

anyway...so a drawing every day...

plus I'm working on ways to really start putting a dent in my debt. I mean...it's pretty bad now...not even counting my student loans...which will suck, terribly bad... just looking at my credit cards...it's bad. but rather than make this a "new years resolution" I'm starting now...I've created the Budget sheets, the spending report and determined that once the lease at this place is up, I'm moving back in with my aunt and my grandma (thank you so much Debbie, I hope you know how grateful I am that you're letting me come back). Granted, the lease doesn't end until April...but it's good to know this anyway...I'm also pondering the possibility of getting my art quality up and starting to sell things on etsy.com. I have some prints in mind that I think are worth putting up but Bryce is right in that I need to get my quality up first if I want it to sell... I want to put my best representation of my work up. I just need more work to pick from...

So, lots on my plate for 2009...plus school, plus work, plus internship (if I can find one!!! grr)

I guess this update got a little drama-filled but I felt the need to write something and money is all I can really think about lately...

Merry Christmas all!

Hey everyone, Hope you are having an excellent Christmas. So far this year I got a lovely slow-cooker/crock pot thing which will be excellent for when I don't feel like cooking. Got some giftcards/cash, a soy wax candle, a very cool looking bag with a dragon design and santa floss goodies. The house got a new kitchenaid mixer so I get the old one which will also prove to be excellent once I fix the motor thing-a-ma-jigger.

I gave my mom a "daughter giftcard" where I will treat her to dinner and a movie on any saturday of my winter break. so I think she'll redeem that next week after new years and that shall be fun...ish, well, good food at least.

Bryce is snooozing in the basement which amazes me since he's "allergic" to cats and that's midnight's favorite spot...*shrug* it's a miracle! we'll be going to his mom's for dinner and I'm sure another nap will be in order after that...

Christmas here is pretty uneventful. nice and quite. the big family one is this saturday and I still have to get my mom another gift for that since I drew her name...maybe I'll do an illustration for her or something...either that or I'll be lazy and just get a giftcard for holiday or the grocery store... who knows

Merry Christmas! *yawn*

P.S. I will be so happy tomorrow when there will no longer be christmas music playing constantly!!!

Finished Athena!

okay, finished athena late last night...here she is!

athena update!

Okay, so the masking has been removed and athena is starting to look pretty awesome...I added the spear because it looked like she needed to be holding something and I'm quite happy I did. The owl is just about done. Pretty much the finishing touches will be Athena's face and the medusa face detail on the shield. The main thing I'm having trouble with right now is the helm and making it look like a Roman helm and not like a mowhawk...The problem is that it's head on and technically there would be no dimensional view of the helm...it would look like a mowhawk...I dunno, maybe I'm troubling over something that doesn't bother anyone...but if you're reading this and you have suggestions...lemme know...




Okay! back to work!

illustrated gifts

So rather than buy presents this year I'm trying to make as many gifts as possible...cause i have no money...but I'm also halfway decent with a pen/brush and ink/paint...currently working on two illustrations for a couple of coworkers at goodybead. The first one I finished is of Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Hunt/Moon. I'm super happy with it... here is the finished pic...



the second one is still in progress...it is Athena, favorite of Zeus and Goddess of War!



Earlier today after I got off work I ran to Blick to get some much needed supplies. While I was there I found a ginormous art crate that actually fits all of my art stuff (minus my acrylic paint gear but who actually wants to carry that around all the time...) so here's a pic of the new crate all moved into and glorious!



and of course, while I'm working on all these cool things I get really into it so I tend to stand up at the exciting parts...then Sleven steals my chair...but she's sooooo cute!!!



And since I'm working so hard on this I thought I'd post a pic of my work space so you can all picture me working feverishly...



Please note the adorable army boyfriend bear on the right and the cute little glass frog lamp on the left...Good times...

well it's 1:34am and I should be in bed since I work tomorrow morning...but Athena is not done yet!!! and I should give it to Barb tomorrow!!! curses!!! sleep wins!

I'm dreaming of a white christmas...

well, not dreaming anymore...looks like winter is as strong (if not stronger) than ever. but just because the roads are terrible does not slow some people down...particularly the "weavers". In fact, just the other day I played with one. Fortunately the roads were better last week so I felt I could take this guy pretty well...basically all I did was stop him from weaving (I hate weavers...they make no sense to me) He got very angry at me and showed me one of his fingers. I just smiled and waved at him...which made him all the more angry...my work there was done...hehe. so after I got home I was still pumped with adrenaline, so I let lose some energy on my sketchbook. Immortalizing this butt-head was quite fun...here are the pics...





Now, besides the office holiday party and the crazy amounts of snow, my week has been pretty chill. Haven't gotten a lot done but that's pretty awesome actually. Today I got groceries...so we can eat, and I cleaned the living room floor because there was salt everywhere! Earlier today I saw a bunch of squirrels in my grandma's backyard that seemed to be having a good time in the blistery weather (although burying things in the snow didn't seem all that productive...) I saw one with snow on is face and he was climbing a wall like a ninja so I dubbed him Snow-face ninja squirrel and started drawing squirrelly pictures...here they are...



But right now I'm going to grab something to eat and start illustrating some Christmas Presents! whoo hoo! Perhaps I'll post more as they get done...

Rambunctious

As promised, here is my Illustration Friday thing for the topic "Rambunctious"! It is a momma wildcat and her kitten playing. yay for kitties! watercolor on crappy sketchbook paper...I don't know why I did that since I have tons of watercolor paper strewn about my studio...*sigh* oh well...enjoy

Got my grades!

Okay, just want to leave a quick post in between bursts of cleaning. I got my grades back from school and I thought I'd post them here since I'm rather proud of them. Naturally there is room for improvement but when I look at my past grades I can see a nice trend of steady improvement...so that's awesome...

so this is how my fall semester looks...
Copy Writing 1: Advertising A
Futures: For Society & Individuals A-
Introduction to Illustration B+
Portfolio.net A
Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits: B+
The Aesthetics of Sustainability B

And here's the line up of classes for next semester.
Cultural Anthropology
Experience Frameworks
Media Analysis
Reading for Ideas
Visualizing Physics

Plus an internship. so that'll be exciting if a little insane! but I can do it...

well, back to organizing my studio...g'night all

oh and I promise I have that illustration done...I just have to post it. which is a highly tedious process, hence why I'm avoiding it...

busy busy day

today was a lovely day full of relaxed being busy. I mean to say that although I kept myself busy and got a lot done, none of it HAD TO BE DONE THIS INSTANT OR THE WORLD WILL END!!! and let me tell you, that felt good.

After work, boyfriend and I ran over to good old N'dale to drop off his orders and start signing up for spring semester. The highlight of this venture was me running into my counselor from when I went to N'dale. Although I couldn't initially remember her name, I saw her as she was walking around the academics office and I pounced on her. We had a great time catching up and it felt so good to see that she still had the artwork I gave her up on her wall. It was awesome being able to catch up with her, she was one of the few people that really made going to N'dale such a positive experience in a somewhat dark part of my life.

After running more errands, Bryce and I went to MOA to meet up with my dad. Dad got me my Christmas present a little early...because I gave the subtle hint that I wanted Rosetta Stone Level 1 Danish for when I study abroad in Denmark...so about $210 later (none of it out of my poor college student pocket) I now have Rosetta Stone on my computer!!! yay! I just got done playing with it and I'm quite satisfied with how the program works. Although I have to say, if it weren't for the fact that I'm planning on studying in Denmark, I would not have picked up Danish...more like Japanese or German...but Danish is certainly an interesting challenge!

Sadly I don't have a drawing for you today...although I do have the illustration for "Illustration Friday" in the works and it will likely be done tomorrow...I think my biggest goal for the time being will be to work on a drawing every day, not necessarily finish a drawing a day...Until we get to the New Year...then I want to finish a drawing a day...sounds reasonable...now hold me accountable!...all one or two of my readers...(thank you amber and debbie) (if I have more readers you should make yourselves known to me...it's good to know people are out there reading what I have to say...)

okay, now I think I'm going to watch more of my movie and work on the illustration! Goodnight all!

The sweet taste of freedom

The semester is over and my schedule is a bit more open, only to be filled with work to earn some more money! haha so much for a break right?

Updates on artwork wise...Three main projects for the break...

1. Design a Tattoo for my friend Logan. Basically it's going to be a pentacle made up of puzzle pieces with the various colors of the elements integrated somehow.

2. Design the applique centerpiece for a quilt my aunt wants to make, based off of a hotel sign for the Hotel Gatto Bianco, we saw while we were on the Island of Capri, Italy.

3. Design a banner for my boyfriend's WoW Guild's Website/forum.

Along with those projects, I'm also aiming to find an internship for spring semester and apply for a study abroad internship in Denmark for the Fall of 09.

Those are my major goals for the break...along with many other smaller ones like work full time hours, buy Rosetta Stone: Danish, clean and organize my studio, clean the house, shovel driveway, move stuff in the garage so a car can fit inside...and then all the christmas related things. I need to remember to make some christmas gifts for people...*sigh* too much! well Hopefully I'll be able to post some progress soon...

This afternoon we went to the Illuminations concert with the Twin Cities Women's Choir. It was absolutely beautiful but more importantly it was inspirational, if in a round about way. One of the songs was called "Ancient Mother" and a small group of women chanted the names of various Goddesses from all cultural backgrounds. the rest of the choir sang the rest of the song. While I was listening I thought about drawing some of the goddesses, particularly Kali, Artemis and Athena. This, for some reason, reminded me of someone I met online, they made it a point to draw something every day. With the New Year coming up, I wondered if I could give it a shot. so that'll be my "new year's resolution" if you will...starting this week...possibly tonight if I come up with something...I'm also going to try and participate in the "Illustration Friday" thing that goes on online every week. so, good deal right? This goal should help kick my drawing skill back into shape.

Speaking of back into shape...that's something I need to do...but our Snap Fitness thing is out for now...gotta fix that...cause I is starting to pack it on a bit...

okay, back to work...

Last day o' Classes!

Currently on a break from Illustration while the instructor has some "time alone" with our work. Thought I would update this since Facebook isn't letting me upload images...Internet might be misbehaving or something.

So here's the Final for my illustration class all done and texted up...




If you can't guess/can't read the text, the images are for the lovely poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. Also if you can't see in the image, the jabberwock is getting ready to take a bite out of a bunny...how tragic...hehe. Originally I did this work on the computer using photoshop and my wacom...but it turned out horribly...just terrible so I redid it using watercolor and I'm a million times happier. This will be posted on the website shortly.

Still waiting on buying the domain name for my site...(praying to god that no one buys it before I get the money...) but I can't afford it right now...I should ask for it for Christmas...that would be awesome!!!! Then when I get that set up, I'm planning on designing new business cards to buy through Moo.com again. The firedancing ones I have right now are cool but not very clean/professional looking. The portfolio class is all done and graded (got an A or A- I believe) and there are already changes I want to make to the site...so more to come on that when I'm not sick of looking at code...

Okay, I'm going to see if facebook is cooperating yet...toodles all.

The hunt for an Internship

Okay...so the book is still coming along, I still have a lot to do but I can handle it...however the reports are another matter...no idea...no idea...

Onto happier topics...I spoke with one of my instructors today over a chai latte at Mapp's cafe about the class and my strengths and weaknesses. We also went over my notebook and talked about how it could be used as a tool for my personal futures. Afterward she gave me a tour of KFAI Radio station and introduced me to the person in charge of News and the person in charge of hiring volunteers and interns...quite lovely but I wasn't quite prepared for it so I'm sure I looked flustered. But if I got the internship there it would be either for Reporting the News or working on their Website, updating the blog and whatnot... either way it would be fun... and it's not too far from where I currently live, good plus. Unfortunately, I'm not having any luck finding a paid internship...we'll see...wish me luck...

So anyway, I'm currently at school TAing, being sad that I forgot my good pen at home since I was going to spend much of the night here doing work and not being distracted by my home. After I decide to leave TAing I've got to scan some stuff for Illustration. Then back home to work on EVERYTHING!!! yeah!!! I need more "calm" tea...gallons and gallons of it...and a hug.

Utopia Book

So my Utopia project is still no where near being done and it's due in two days...less...but it's coming along and I do really like it so far. I got a little off focus in the first couple of pages and I didn't like where it was going, but I changed directions and now I like it. It's more of a tool now, less of a history lesson of my boring life. Along with all the writing, I'm doing a lot of drawings. The drawings don't really have anything to do with what's being written but each one is getting better and better. I should take some pictures and put them up here...perhaps tomorrow after I have a bit more to show for all the trouble it is to post pictures on this thing. basically the point of the book is to find my authentic self, since I'm not happy with who I am right now...I want to change many of my bad habits and make room for a new approach to life, which I greatly need. The other bonus to this is that I'm getting much better with watercolors...Gotta love this watercolor kit that I got last week. Shouldn't have spent the money on it but good lord it was worth it...and $12 isn't that bad anyway...

Anyway, just thought I'd update on what I'm working with at the moment...whee! back to work!

Site is done!

Yay! One thing totally off my list of "to-do's"! That feels rather nice...but then I look down the list and I feel dismayed again..*pout*

Besides looking at my computer screen for most of the day trying to sort out my site, Bryce took me out for breakfast at Perkins and that was lovely. I had a massive omelette and pancakes and breakfast potatoes! Leaving me with lots of leftovers to snack on later tonight. *nom nom* Unfortunately on our way back Bryce's car decided it didn't want to go anywhere on the highway so we got to deal with that and that wasn't fun...Later we decided to go out to target and pick up some christmas decorations for our lovely tree. I took some pictures for you!







Here's our Buddy all racked out in front of the fireplace...awwwwww...



and the lovely fireplace.

Workin' it!

Hey guys, so I thought I would update this with the craziness I am experiencing right now...Finals week...Allow me to break it down for you, class by class...

Portfolio.net: Finish website, iron out all the kinks on each browzer, add images and captions and any other things that need to get done...Check out the current progress!
the future Vex Ennui

Futures: Nothing! yay! that makes me happy...

Aesthetics of Sustainability: Utopia project, Authentic Self Journal, add beads to bookmark and fill the book with all sorts of things regarding my search for the true me, sketches, poems, goals, dreams...lots and lots of stuff (why did I give it so many pages?). Also bring in Terrarium, no problem there...that's easy. Also Complete Reports that I'm behind on...upwards of 5 reports on different things pertaining to Freshwater...crap...

Copywriting: Complete Ad Campaign for Longs Horseradish, clean up images and layout text.

Illustration: 2 Spreads for a Children's Book (in my case, "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carrol)

Really the only thing I'm freaking out about is the Utopia Project and the reports I'm behind in. I've been freaking out about them for weeks...(meaning I've done nothing to get them done...just tried to keep up with everything else and ignore the problem...)In reality, this is all very doable...I just have to focus, which is harder than it should be for me. Even now I'm taking a break I can't afford to update this...but I needed to stop looking at coding for a moment...plus I need to get in the habit of updating this thing...we'll see how much I can get done this weekend.

Tomorrow, the plan is to have breakfast at my Aunt's house, run to MCAD to scan illustrations, run home and finish the site, post the site and work my bum off catching up with the reports...plus work on the Utopia book. In fact...I think I'll take a break from coding for the night and just work on the book...it won't write itself. Perhaps I'll even get the topics for the reports sorted out tonight as well...wish me luck!

Welcome!

Hello All!

This blog is now up and running! It connects my new website with my current projects and will provide a more constant up-to-date working base of my works in progress. If you have suggestions, requests or just want to say hi, please feel free to leave a comment on my posts. If you have a blog and think I'd be interested in it, please comment and let me know too! I love learning about new things and expanding my knowledge!

I will apologize in advance if I fail to update this as regularly as I'd like. I used to blog all the time in High School but stopped when I realized the world didn't need my drama added to it. But now I realize that blogging is an excellent tool when stripped of the icky drama. I've got a different blog for drama! this is my work only, serious fun blog of joy and progress...hehe

Well that's it for my welcome message...I hope you all enjoy reading about my work! Thanks for stopping by!