Long over due for a post

I hope everyone is having an awesome school year. As you most know i've been taking digital animation and i'm now 7 months in. It's amazing how quickly time goes. In just 5 more months I'll be graduated! Its almost hard to believe. I do admit the stress of school is starting to wear at me as i'm sure it does for most people.

In recent months so much has changed I suppose this is how it feels to step into adulthood. Everything seems a bit overwhelming and stressful. My anxiety has been rearing its ugly face more frequently which hasn't been easy to deal with. Of course it's due to all these new changes and unknown territory and I just have to remember that everything will work out, and to have a little faith in the universe.

So in light of that I think it's important to remember the little things in life that make you happy.

Here's a short list of mine
The sound of high heels in a hallway
The fresh air after a storm
Puppies
Fresh bed sheets
The sound of rain
A clean kitchen
Finding joy in unexpected places
Star gazing on a clear night

I hope everyone remembers to stop and take a deep breath now and again, and remember what makes you smile.

<3

Back to school

Ahh it feels so nice to get my creativity flowing again! I'm back to school after a two week break and boy can I say I'm ready to get back to work!! What I'm most excited about is creating concept art for one of my classes. I decided to go with Disney princesses that have to fight for themselves. It's really fun re-imagining characters I grew up on. Then once we have a good concept we will be creating them in Maya as 3D characters! So here's one of the characters I'm currently in the middle of painting in photoshop.

What Happened on Christmas Eve

So I just found this old story I wrote when I was eleven and I thought I would share it with you. I mean who doesn't enjoy reminiscing and having the opportunity to see how you viewed things when you were young. Please mind the format and such, I mean give an eleven year old a break ;)

Also note that Narnia was my favorite book series...

What Happened on Christmas Eve

Once on Christmas eve, many years ago I lay quietly on the couch.

Soon there was noises coming from outside. The noises sounded like voices but not quite. So I lay down thinking it was people talking to each other. BANG! WHOW! "Oh my goodness what was that?" I whispered scared.

I got up a little later hearing something again. Except this time it sounded like people arguing. Then I got up enough courage and went up to the door and opened it. AHH! A beam of light flashed quickly at me. I blinked. It was gone! All that was there were two animals. A horse that had wings and one ferocious lion. I was half way closing the door and then the lion talked. His voice was deep, loud, and clear. He exclaimed, "Don't go, come with us."

"Where?" I asked puzzled.

"Tooo the noorth poole oof coourse," whinnied the horse quite loudly.

"Why?" I asked, not understanding.

"You can ask questions on the way," replied the lion. I hopped on the lions furry back, holding on to the lions golden mane.

"What are your names anyway?" I asked curiously.

"My name is Aslan and his name is Strawberry," answered the lion.

"Why are we going to the North Pole?" I asked.

"Wee arre gooing tooo the Noorth Poole chuz Santa is gooing tooo give the first presents," neighed the horse.

"Why are you both here?" I questioned.

"We are here because if I get tired Strawberry will take over and we weren't allowed two, so we came to pick you up instead."

I looked up and saw people above me. I saw my friend Lauren. I yelled, "Lauren down here!" She saw me.

"Hello!" She hollered back.

"Meet you at the North Pole, bye."

"Not so loud," Aslan growled.

We where there. It wasn't very dark outside because of all the lights.

I got off Aslan and said "Thank you very much."

He said "No problem."

"Bye," I shouted.

"Bye," They both crowed back.

"Now for the first gift of Christmas," Santa explained. You there, come pick the first gifts of Christmas."

"Me?" Someone behind me asked.

"No, the person in front of you," said Santa.

"Me?" I pointed to myself.

"Yes you, come pick your first gifts of Christmas, come on I don't have all year," said Santa impatiently.

"O.K," I muttered. I went up in Santas sled thinking what I wanted. I thought real hard when I was sitting down in Santas sled. Then I asked "How many presents am I allowed?"

"Two," he explained.

"I want the two animals that picked me up please."

"O.K I will say that's one present."

"And I want powers so that I can go into books that I want, with people still thinking I'm there and only books I read to myself please."

"O.K" he smiled, "but only you can see the animals alive and to everyone else they will be glass, they will never be able to break and if they do they just go back together and if they get thrown away they will come back. I hope you like your gifts, Bye."

"Ho Ho Ho," he laughed "Merry Christmas."

I was home again. That was one of my favorite days ever!

"Wake up everybody," yelled my Mom.

"O.K o.k we're awake." There were lots of presents under the tree.

After we opened all the presents I found the two presents under the tree for me. I opened them quickly. They were two glass ornaments just like Santa explained. One ferocious lion and one horse with wings just like the ones I met outside. I loved the books that I got to see inside of :)

The End.

I hope you all enjoyed reading that as much as I did

Busy Bee

I suppose my blog is long overdue for an update. Let's see.. Well I've been super busy with school that's for sure. I'm almost at the end of my first semester and can now start breathing a bit easier. I have three classes left before the semester ends and get a short break before we start back up full time again. Classes have been tough but well worth it and quite enjoyable. I've had my ups and downs that's for sure. I think the toughest part has been learning to use all the new programs, but I have slowly become more and more comfortable with them. I'm still unsure if I want to become an animator or a modeler, as those are the main choices students make during their time in the program.

During this semester we have been using Maya, SoftImage, Mudbox, Zbrush, and Toonboom. I must say I'm the least comfortable using Maya. There's just so much to the program and I always seem to get lost. I do hope I become more familiar using it, as it is the main program we use.

We have learned many things about animation and programs. With SoftImage we have modeled a science lab, animated a character and learned how to weight an object. With Maya we have modeled an environment, created a head and a hand and learned how to texture and unwrap different models.


Here's an example of a scene I had to light, texture, model, and animate
http://xmaxinex.deviantart.com/gallery/38550537

Review: The Secret World of Arrietty

You may also know this movie as "Kari-gurashi no Arietti."

In this film adaption of the story "The Borrowers" Studio Ghibli brings to life Arrietty a young adventurous girl curiously pushing the limits her family has set to keep their existence hidden.

During the film I was amazed with the amount of detail gone into the design, bringing to life the characters and their environment. The setting of the film brings forth feelings of comfort and warmth, as it takes you to a place where the cottage is surrounded by an over grown garden of flowers and creeks. The animation itself evokes feelings of adventure and suspense as Arrietty explores the house in order to provide food for her family.



I cherish the work Miyazaki produces as he always keeps the art and animation traditional, amazing us with the skills and talent of true art. I'm happy that he has chosen to stay with the feel of traditional hand drawn 2D animation, instead of the common 3D CG animated movies. I find the traditional style is easier to relate to, and makes it feel real. It's similar to reading a book and imagining the story yourself.


Although the story is nothing compared to say 'Howl's Moving Castle', I recommend watching it even if its just for the animation and artwork. I must also recommend watching it in Japanese with subtitles (unless you can understand Japanese of course), to get the true feeling of the film.

School, Music and Apple Crisp

Well kids I've managed to survive my first week of classes and I must say it's pretty intense. That being said, it's also a lot of fun, and a lot of information. In my first week I've started to learn Maya, Mudbox, and Softimage.

Creating 3D art is a huge change from traditional paper and pencil art, which is of course to be expected. I'm currently taking 6 classes which is a heavy load but it's not as bad as it sounds, most of the classes are there to blend what you've learned and show you how these programs work, and compliment each other. It's nice to really immerse myself fully into school and art. There's no joking around with this program, which is good because it shows us the reality of the business.

So aside from school I've also been baking, which always helps to clear my mind and de-stress, so I thought I would share with you one of my favorite recipes.

Apple Crisp.
This is best served warm a la mode.

2 cups Brown Sugar
2 cups Flour
3/4 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup melted Margarine
2 tsp Cinnamon
4 cups diced Apple
(you can add any fruit, I added blueberries and it turned out fantastic)
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 cup Water
1 tsp Vanilla

Thoroughly mix Brown Sugar, Flour, Oats, Margarine and Cinnamon; press 1/2 this mixture into greased pan (you can make with a 9x13 or it also fits into 3 loaf pans, of which you can freeze nicely). Cover with 4 cups Fruit. In saucepan, combine Sugar and Cornstarch. Stir in Water. Cook until clear and add Vanilla. Pour over Fruit. Top with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. (If you use small loaf pans check after 45mins).

Serve warm with Vanilla ice cream. Caution sugar overload.


Well apparently it's bedtime as Jupiter has passed out beside me. But before I get to sleep I must link you to my new cover. http://love-squid.bandcamp.com/track/skinny-love-bon-iver-birdy-cover Enjoy.

Lana Del Rey

I love Lana Del Rey. Her look and sound is just so different that I'm constantly drawn to her. I decided to cover one of her songs after a friend told me about her.

I need to look into getting a better recording mic so it doesnt sound so terrible when I go louder, but this is all I have for now, and it does the trick.
Enjoy the video!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPjWBpUFaBw .

Also here's the full outfit I have on today <3