Eternity

A man stopped me on my way home today and asked me where I thought i'd spend eternity. I told him I didn't know. He seemed to sort of freak out and proceeded to give me a pamphlet about Jesus. I understand his concern - I should have told him that when I die, I believe I will become a part of the Universe - stardust, particles of magic.

Car Show! JER! LOOK!

I went to my school's car show today for a class assignment - a fun assignment at that. 

Got lectured by a Transportation professor and then went out for some studies!

NANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANA

 Ruh- roh...

 soooo cuuute (below)

 HOT WHEELS HIGHWAY 35!! :D

 I AM YOUR... driver.

 :DDD

 I'll post sketches up later, assuming there worthy. (Vehicles are VERY difficult to draw.)

Cool book.

"Humans are inherently creative creatures and when we have a chance to create, we feel more satisfied and valuable."

Excerpt from a book I found at the school library yesterday. Cool read! :D And visually fun as well. 

I started taking a new student lead class and i'm surrounded by highly intelligent (at least by my standards) students who seem to know so much more than I do. I figure, it's never too late to start better informing myself on what's going on around me (design-wise and other-worldly wise). 

Experience Design by Nathan Shedroff (I think the pdf is online for free).

Dat Journey Doh.

Urghurghle. Journey map(s) in progress for main studio class. Sticky notes on the left and right will soon be on that wall, and all that sh*t on the left, paper, writing utensils, and other material - it'll be cleaned up.. hopefully soon.

Two videos to edit following the completion of these things and then off to sketching for ID Form homework! :D -.-

Happy Saturday night everyone.

Id Form for JerJer

Sample of ID Form, week 1 for Monsieur Jeremy. Draw through, always have/use center lines, shade, drop shadow, contour lines, line weight. Focus of the class is proportion and perspective, so make sure two views of an object look as alike as possible! Let me know if you try it Jer!

Doodlees

Before and After. Drastic transformation... 

Random doodles from work and such. 

Happy Labor Day weekend. :P

Back on the Trail Hunt

I went back on my trail hunt today. That road I thought was the entrance that I was afraid to check out turned out to be the entrance to a highway.  I proceeded to ask people around the park where the bike trail was. One guy sent me here (below)

Turns out this was the Equestrian path, so.. for horses. I couldn't even properly use my bike because of how sandy it was. 

I walked a long it a bit, creepy dried out mossy river. 

And a bridgeeeee! 

But yeah, 

here's what I believe to be the entrance, though turns out I don;t think there's an official trail seeing that no one I asked seemed to have heard of it (despite the many reviews on yelp)

It was starting to get dark though, and I generally refuse to go down here alone. If anyone is up for a bike ride in the LA river sometime soon, let me know!

Selfie

I felt powerful today. Because I did a good job at work. And having a bike always makes everything better. I drew the character in pencil then scanned it in to paint. 

2 AM. Yay, good night. 

Arroyo Seco Failed Trail Hunt

About a month ago now, I had my bike stolen - boohoo. Above is my new bud. He just needed his tires replaced. x) 

Following the acquisition of this new bud - I decided i'd go off and try a bike trail in the area. Pumped and ready to take on the California sun, I went on my way, eager to discover this 4 star trail. However I got a little lost. The park is very narrow and long so if you ride for just a couple seconds strait you've pretty much crossed its entirety, though if you go in the "long" direction you run into playgrounds and tennis courts. I was very confused, so I stopped and documented where I was just for the purpose of referencing these photos when I got home to the internet, and sure enough - the trail was IN that mini LA River thing you see below. 

INSIDE? 

^ Creepy Girl Scout imagery

It also turns out I was on my way to the inside at some point, but the road looked intimidating and as I have not actually done much visiting of SoCal on my own - I didn't feel now was the time to start. At least I know where to go for next time! (Perhaps tomorrow after work if it isn't too hot.)

Above: view!

Uphill, yay!

More view! :D

I took a photo halfway up and down of  another monstrous hill! Sadly I wasn't heading down...

~~

Old Year's Resolution

So i'm trying to have a breakthrough.

At the start of every term -  I tell myself that "this will be the time. My time management will not hinder my performance, and I will finally begin to find my voice as a designer. This. is. it!" I pump myself up - i'm ready to take on the world and dare it to bring me down!

Then term actually begins and once again I find myself struggling to keep up with the pace. I find myself comparing my work to others and wondering why i'm not "there." At home, I find that i'm discouraged and already looking forward for a chance to start new - and all I can do in the mean time is scroll through Pinterest, Facebook and Tumblr in order to let the inspiring images give me all the ideas I can't seem to produce on my own.

When will this infernal loop come to an end? Am I missing something? Am I lacking in control and perseverance? Do I just suck at following through with long term endeavors?

-

From discussions and overhearings that I've encountered in the past year, I've realized that i'm not the only one who's been feeling lost. In the midst of all the emerging technological advances that surround us, it seems design is growing more accessible to just about anyone who has access to the internet. Drawing is the past - digi painting is the future! You can build a perfect model of your product? Well I can sketch an idea out in minutes on Solidworks. You can produce an animated short by the end of your 4  year studies? I can make a short in a week on this new cool Iphone App!

Well Fuck!

Is it possible for the world to run out of original ideas?

What if i'm out of original ideas, and i'm not even 20 yet?

-

The root of all my problems is insecurity. Lack of confidence in an environment where risk - takers take the upper hand is a nono.
Lack of confidence = lack of expression.
Lack of expression = unheard ideas.
Unheard ideas = undeveloped potential
Undeveloped potential = nothing. Nada.
The beginning must obviously start somewhere and that start is us as designers speaking up - no matter how stupid, unoriginal, or useless we might think we sound, you make a run for it or you don't move. There's no in between.

New Rules for this term:

STOP comparing yourself to others.
A good solution isn't the only solution.
Your word isn't worth less than another's, you're all learning together. Speak up.
Be proactive, hand holding is a thing of the past.
Ask questions. Constantly. Be curious. There's too much to learn and too little time to ever stop.

-

Take note: this rant is not research based, and is founded more on emotions and frustration than on accuracy. It's all brain vomit and I don't it expect it to make sense to the world beyond my own. May those who have somehow magically found my blog enjoy and sympathise with my fear of bathing in the ever-present shadow of uncertainty.

Hakuna Matata. Happy Break to the Summer Termers!

Quick quickies, Monochromatic studies

Real quick , no true black - and... no white, just felt like using color - resulting in no lightest lights (mainly with the blue).

As for the bow - I sanded the wood down some more today - and for SOME reason, I got fiberglass splinters again :( Even though I didn't touch it. Not healthy, so not healthy... 

Making Longbows

Study ~

Figural/tonal study - no color picking (ever). 

First in a while - should practice more before term begins again...

OctopIE

Get it?

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Reaaaaallllly quick - first verse of a Shel Silverstein poem. :) Also, the split down the middle of the pages - no they don't matter. 

Free time!

yay, update! I have a RAINBOW :DD

Ghibli fan art, because I can.

Sleeping Seth

I went up to Gainseville to visit an awesome friend! Being the creep that I am, I drew him sleeping, the light coming from the computer was just too great. :)

Giraffes!

Guess what - something NOT DIGITAL! Haven't done that in a while. :) Acrylic and Marker.

Gato.

Had to do something irrelevant to homework for a bit. Voila!

Saturday Sunset

Painted from Sunset viewed from school's south campus! :)

Mom's Birthday (5)

It's my mom's birthday tomorrow. So I made this card. Never used a color scheme like this before. I had trouble placing the writing... I still don't think it's right, it clearly belongs in the spot but I have to keep manipulating the shape of the text. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Troll (4)

I've never done a finished drawing of a guy like this before, I focus too hard on making things "pretty."

 I really like his imperfections :)

Late! (3)

I was aiming for bitter sweet feel... did I hit the mark? 

Two more to catch up on.

The portrait kept looking overworked, so I eventually went over it, and erased it, and went over it again until I got what I wanted. I somehow did get magically better at drawing (somewhat) after first term ended, which doesn't make sense considering I didn't practice from life.. or pictures for an entire 4 months, but hopefully this term i'll be more prepared to manage my time correctly, and i'll get more sketchbook work done (and i'll get better! and more confident!). 

It was a good day (2)

Inspired by a close friend I got to spend time with today. :P

Ice Plant Guy (1)

I'm doing the one a day challenge too then Chance and Phillip. 3:) 

That guy ^ was drawn from the memory of of real man working at a Restaurant called the Ice Plant in St. Augustine. No idea how accurate this is. He seemed excited about the new lunch menu they are soon releasing. Highly recommended for anyone who goes up for a visit!

Viridis

Another version of the green house tank built from found material. Viridis = Latin for the color green. First ever photobash in my life, it made me realize how much I need to practice painting.

Because the writing on the piece isn't visible (it's originally a 4 foot by 4 foot board), here:

 Story Descritpion:
In the year 2022, all natural habitats, creatures, and plantl ife have gone extinct. In an attempt to better their ways of life and to retrieve what they have lost, scientists of the time create a machine that will allow them to travel into a parallel universe, in which the earth has never been inhabited or touched by human life - in order to collect wildlife samples and bring them back to their own world.

Happy New Year!