Part Three

The fear assignment I was drawn to the most was the one done by Matt Eaton. I was impressed he went for it and let people judge him on the spot. I was going to do the same project until last minute so I thought it was cool that we had the same idea. I saw him reading a few of the comments when he sat back down and saw him shaking. I felt nervous for him because I too had comments from the class to read, but his comments were more personal in a way. The comments were about him, not his work.

I changed the way I look and judge people in a way because I saw his reaction, the nervousness and the shaking. I think that his life has probably changed because of the assignment. He thinks differently and hopefully he is more confident. I think this assignment was great and really got a lot of people to think and look at themselves differently.

Fear Part Two.

5.         I was nervous to go toady. I knew that I wouldn't like some of the feedback I got. and I was right. I know some of the comments were like "too boring" and I know they didn't know the back story of why it wasn't finished. First  of all, all of the images were mine. I wanted people to not know if they were mine or not so they would be more truthful about them. the most disturbing comment I got was about the picture of the girl whom I had photoshopped. It as my 14 year old sister. I wasn't expecting THREE OF YOU to say "I'd hit that" She is 14. you should all feel like pedos. anyways. the things I read were what I sort of expected. I knew that some of you weren't into 3D so I wanted to hear what you saw being someone who doesn't know anything about it.

6.        I was happy to see that people were relatively nice about my work. I was nervous to show most of it off and I know a lot of it isn't the greatest but its just pictures of random things Ii have done the past year. I feel a few of you took this as "oh great, another lame survey about work" which I was kinda prepared for.

        I think that I am overall happy with what I did. I think that I would make a few changes.

7.      The changes I would make, I feel would make this project go smoother and more specific.

               1. I would have added more pictures but of others peoples work as well. I was going to do this first but then I decided I would only shoe my work and claim some of it wasn't mine. So I wish I had kept to that.
                2. I would make you say one good comment and then one bad comment instead of let you choose. This to me would make me feel better and make you think more.

               3. Last I would change the work of mine that I added. I have several other pieces that I wish I would have put in and few that were in there I wish were more finished and solid.

Overall I am happy with this project and at the same time I feel differently towards the students in the class. I feel closer to them knowing their fears and then I feel more apart from them at the same time considering that the comments made, looked straight from a YouTube channel.

       

Fear.

        -To me, fear if being afraid. I know scientific. It also has deeper meaning. I know it can also be a metaphorical wall that keeps you from something you want a dream for. I know that I feared to come out of the closet for a long time. I was so afraid that I contemplated hiding it and being straight the rest of my life. I was afraid that people would be very against me and I wouldn't be accepted. After my parents divorce and my grandfather dying I knew life was short and you have to life as yourself and who you really are. The fear of acceptance kept me hidden and without getting over that fear I wouldn't be where I am right now. Its only been a little under six months since being fully out and my life has changed so much for the good.

       -I got over his fear and went to my next big fear. I think that my project will go well. I hope that the classmates get something out of it. I hope they can learn something about themselves along the way. I think they will look at the way the critique or judge things a bit.

       I am excited and nervous to share what I am going to do. I hope they understand the concept!

Take Away

This last class was an interesting one. Before class had even started I had a fellow student ask me some questions about the program Maya which made me feel good people noticed I do well in that software! but anyways, I was nervous to share my idea board because it was really just a digital folder and my two favorite concept art books. But I did enjoy the ones that were shared.
        I have been thinking about the fear assignment coming up and I think i have it narrowed down. I am very excited and nervous to share it and I hope it goes they way I want.

Class takeaway

        I was impressed about the bliss assignment. and found it very interesting that a few of you had many items on my "what if" lists on yours. I think  it was hard to think of all the what ifs becasue I dont think I was thinking too in depth enough.

        My final what if was wht if I had never seen any type of other peoples media and would my art look different if I hadnt been influenced by them. I would love to be able to get everythig out of my mind and start from scratch. But its funny that I get inspired by others work.
       
       

Vision Board

My vision board is a digital board. I am always on the Internet looking up concept art and short student films and am always finding amazing things. It has quite a few pictures in it that help my get inspiration. I also consider my art of pixar shorts book a big inspiration in my drawing. I just love looking at the lines of the drawings and the roughness and it helps me draw better for some reason .

Class takeaway

In last class I was really impressed  by every one's project. I think everyone really took the time and thought about their partner when they completed the projects. I know Samantha and her partner really took a lot of time and I was really impressed by them. I was very happy with my PIXAR cupcakes! they were very good! And I hope my partner liked my Charlie Sheen candy portrait!

Charlie and the Candy Factory.

        Well this has been an interesting project. my partner told us about how many jobs she has had, which was 23!, and her most hated job was Little Caesars. She loves music and concerts as well.  My partner Leigh, told a great story about her and her Charlie Sheen incident and her word was "candid" so, I did what any person would logically do... I made a portrait of Charlie Sheen out of candy. I went with this idea because that story is what stuck with me the most. With everyone that went, as they were speaking about themselves I was making a project in my head for everyone, just in case I was partnered up with them. 

       I first was going to do a drawing of her and Charlie or as her and I talked she mentioned she never got a picture with him so I also thought to photoshop her into a picture with him but this ideas was much more fun to do. And I am trying to do many projects for this class away form the computer to not limit myself.

About to begin!

 

All the candy I bought to use!

 

 

The sketch.

 

Finished project.

 

Hipster filters.

 

I hope everyone enjoys my project!

Class-eth Takeaway-eth

        Hello, fellow bloggers. In class we went around the room and gave a description of ourselves and introduced ourselves. I thought I was fully prepared with a one sentence description of myself and then after the first person went I realized I was WAY un-prepared and quickly rethought my entire speech, taking notes on my phone. It was my turn and I was quite nervous to go. I said what I had to say and sat down and then remembered much more I forgot to say but, oh that's normally how my life goes.
        Listening to everyone reminded me that we are all here for different reasons and that we all have a back story and all have something special in us.  I think that since everyone I think everyone has that side of them only they see when they are by themselves, we can all be very creative and quirky. I know that for me, when I am driving, my car becomes a opera house and I don't care who is watching. I have been at stop lights and the cars next to me ask what station I am listening to so they can know what I'm singing. Or how I'm sure we all do that weird inside voice that sometimes slips out while we are at the store grocery shopping. But all of that weird stuff is what makes us think creatively and I know that during these times we can come up with great ideas.
        So thank you to everyone for sharing some of your personal stories and for us to learn more about each other. I'm sure for some it was a scary task but it may help with taking something off your chest whether you know it or not.

Look at me....

Knowing who you are is a big part of life. I think we all know who we are at that moment in time but in reality don't know who we are in a grand scheme of things. The big picture is something we paint over time and stroke by stroke, pull together a masterpiece of ourselves.

        When I was a senior in high school, I tried to force myself to be "normal." I had a girlfriend and thought that with much effort I would be able to hide what I had felt since I could remember. Very soon after I began to date this girl three major things in my life happened, the first being my grandpa dying of cancer while my sister had cancer, and my parents divorce. I had so much thrown at me that I didn't know how to deal with it. I got very angry and kept all of my feelings locked away inside and never let anything out. On the outside a person would think that I had no problems and i was full of life but in reality I had so much going on.  After my sister beat cancer and my parents divorce settled, I knew what I had to do. The entire time all of this was going on I was thinking about my life. I realized how short life was and how you have to live it the way you want. I knew that trying to hide the fact I was gay was not going to be a easy and right task. I broke up with my girlfriend and still told no one why. It would be another two months before I finally told my best friend Tracy. A little over three years passed and I finally came out to everyone. It was the greatest feeling ever. I now had nothing to hide and could be myself.

        I look at pictures from my senior year and see someone entirely different. I think the same way and now let my feelings and emotions out instead of bottling them up inside. I am still very early in the finding out who I am stage in life and I'm sure it will be many many years until I really know. But I am happier now than I have ever been and can only hope the climb continues.

Curious

         When I think of curiosity, I think about adventure and want for knowledge. I was walking down the street and just caught a glimpse of a truck with a design on the side and then it disappeared behind a building never to be seen again, and that made me want to know what was on the side of that truck more than needed. It was now just bothering me that I didn't know what it said. so I got the idea that maybe a bit of curiosity is really just us being bothered with the idea of not knowing something. Just call me Mr. Brilliant.

        I then wanted to think of a way to show this. I came up with a very simple concept to present this. I took a box and slit a hole in the side so you could barely see in it. I then put an item in it to where you would only see a little bit of it at a time. Now all the user has to do is try to figure of what the item is. the thing is, the thing in the box is a mirror. so in reality you are looking at yourself and trying to figure out what it is. And hopefully no one will see this before class so they don't know its a mirror. I hope you all like the idea.

Outdoor Talk

        Last week in class we took the advantage of the weather and had class outside. It was great to do that for once. being a media student and having a full time job its hard to find time to just sit outside and enjoy it.

      When we were all sitting in the circle and going over our projects, someone in class didn't do their project and he was honest about it. I was surprised he was that up front about it and that we had a meaningful discussion about it. I think many people took something away from that small chat and that is what stood out to me.   

       I got to thinking and I wondered  how many thoughts and ideas came from someone not doing something or what hasn't happened because of someone not doing something. Like this post for instance, had he not said anything I wouldn't be typing this and would be typing about something else in class or not be working on homework at all. Who knows, maybe because of this my life is being saved because I am not driving to McDonald's right now and maybe I could have been killed on the way there in a strange accident. But that's getting very dramatic high school teenager on you.  Any who, our history could be completely different just over this simple idea.

       The funny thing is that the ideas or thoughts may not have been intentional. I'm sure he didn't expect to have a discussion about it and I'm sure that's the last thing he wanted out of it. It just makes you think about how much in our lives is changed over the simplest decisions.

       I think that I could use this sort of information in my creative thinking. I think sometimes ideas are created by being at the right place at the right time. It also depends on how aware you are at the moment and what you are thinking. Like for instance, there could be a battle between a mouse and a rat named Leon behind me, I'm in the right place and right time but since I'm looking at my computer screen and not behind me, I would be missing out on precious ideas. So I think I will try to be aware of my surroundings more and more to help break my creative thinking.

Altered Book

For my altered book I went with a old geography book I found at half price books. I didn't have any old books myself to take apart so I wet the used route.

 One thing I love about geography is learning about it be reading. So instead I love to learn about it while being in it. I took ideas I had as made my book into a nature adventure all on its own. Throughout the book here are things to find and see. It is also a type of field guide with "places I've been." I am really happy with it and learned the hard way how to carve a book as well as many others in class I'm sure.

The last section of the book is just a place I put some things I found on my adventure and what I wanted to remember. I hope everyone enjoys it as well.

Short classes

In class last week we didn't stay long. The main thing I learned was that we all need to be more open and talkative with each other. I know I am a person who is ok with talking in front of people but I would rather be doing it on a stage. I am a musical person who has had a few leads and love being center stage. I know I need to get over that fear.  I think that's all I really had to say with a short class comes a short takeaway.

Class Takeaway.

First off. I would love to say how much I try to be creative when thinking of a title for these things but I get so frustrated I just give up and use a lame simple one.

        Last class the thing that stood out to me was when we were watching the video and how the man was talking about books going digital and how he still reads actual books. I was thinking about it and I feel the same way. I have an ipad and even though it is very convenient to read off one, I still miss the texture and smell of an actual book. I am a very digital aged person but I still cant let some old things go. I still write checks to pay my bills. I can stand the idea of them being taken out from my account automatically. I think that it is strange for that to be available. Its like its my money and I will pay you if I feel like it. Don't force it out of me. I think it is a robot taking a bit of control in my life and I don't like that. Unless this robot is going to make the money for me, then it wont be spending it for me.

       I also just realized I have never fully thought that out until now. I have always had the basic thought in my head but never went into depth with it. See this class does work! :)

       I think that we need to keep technology going as well as keep the old traditions alive. I know there will always be the real book readers who buy physical books but I think that we will lose a spark in reading if we take away the pages.

      

My Book.

       I am trying to find out what to do with my book and stil lam yet to narrow it down so I dont have any updates on the work on it. but so far here are my findings on the reading of the book.

Take the book (or object you end up using) for your altered book and open it to page 6. Close your eyes and put your finger on the page somewhere.

·  What did you find?   I found the word Temperate.

·  If your finger landed on a paragraph, how many times does the letter P show up in that paragraph? 19 Times

·  If it landed on a picture, how many straight lines are in the picture?

·  If it landed on white space, what is the white space surrounding?

·  Can you imagine the white space as a sea and the other parts (words, pictures, etc.) as islands floating in white water or space?

Using your other senses, explain what the paper feels like.

·  Is it slick or rough? Slick    

·  What does the cover feel like? Rough

·  Can you feel the ink of the words if you close your eyes? very lightly

·  Do different colors feel different with your eyes closed?

·  What else can you discover about the paper? It is aged and yellowed

·  What about the cover? It has a texture of fabric and it has embossed lettering.

Without destroying the book, until it is time to alter it for the experiment, see if you can figure out how the book was constructed.

·  Is it stitched? Yes

·  Is it glued? Yes

·  Is there any cloth on this book or is it all paper? The cover is cloth like

·  Is it a hardback or paperback? Hardback

·  Does it have signatures? (Hint: you may need to look up what signatures are in the context of making books…) It has many

·  If it has signatures, how many pages are in each and how many signatures are there in the whole book? It is too worn to tell.

·  If it does not, look at the glue on the ends of the spine and discribe what you see.

Flip through the pages and look at the end papers.

·  Is there any writing in the book, other than the printing? It looks like someone underlined a lot in it.

·  If so, what does it say?

·  Why is it there?

·  Who wrote it?

·  If you do not know, then imagine who might have written it.

·  If there is no writing in the book then how does it make you feel to know you are the first person (possibly) to think about it? 

Examine the book more.

·  Are there any stains on the book? It has a few older stains

·  Are there any fingerprints? no

·  What do they look like?

·  How might they have happened?

Look at the pages of the book.

·  What is the color of the pages? I bet they are not really white. They are a cream and the edges yellowed.

·  How would you describe the color? Is it warm or cold? Bright or dull, etc. dull warm

·  What other visual things can you explore with the book? It holds maps I can explore!

Think about the history of this book.

·  Can you see any other evidence that someone else has handled this book? Much use was taken from this book

·  What are the edges of the pages like? Describe them. The edges are wavy and dull. They almost feel ike a birds feather.

·  Can you imagine what someone else might have been thinking as they read this book? The earth and dirt.

·  Do you think anyone else has used this book like you are right now instead of reading it? Only the book knows

Flip through the pages quickly.

·  Can you hear the sound? If so, describe it. It sounds like a bird is flying away from you.

·  If not, what is your experience like?

·  Can you feel the breeze? yes

·  Can you move something with the wind generated from the book? My hair.

·  Could you use this book to win a game you created using the book's wind power? I’m sure I could.

Drop the book on the floor.

·  What did you experience? A soft thud and the sound of pages wrinkling.

·  Did you sense the vibrations the book made? Yes

·  Did you feel it in your feet? Yes

·  Take your shoes off. Now drop the book. Was there any difference?

Hold the book between your hands with one hand on each cover and the book closed. Close your eyes.

·  Is the book cold? Hold it like that for at least one minute. Yes

·  Now feel the cover. Can you feel the temperature change from where your hands were to where they were not? The is a difference.

·  Have you ever been aware of this before when you were holding a book to read it? Yes, while reading harry potter a few years back.

·  If your heat transfers in this situation and you noticed it because I asked you to, why do you think you have never noticed it before?

·  If you have noticed the temperature of a book you were holding before, describe why you noticed it. I laid the book down in my knees in the chair and felt a difference.

Smell the book.

·  What does the smell make you think of? Goodwill. Or the ‘70’s

·  If you can't think of anything, describe the smells you can sense. (Interesting fact: Did you know that I have friends [many librarians, actually] who choose their books partly based on how they smell? Honestly.) I smell must and earth.

I do not recommend tasting the book for health and safety issues… :-)

Now, finally, read the first page. If it is just pictures, read the story of the pictures.

·  What is the title of this book? Elementary Commercial Geography

·  Based on the first page, explain why you think the book was titled that.it talks about how earth makes everything and trading among farmers. I think it is just a basic guide to farming and land.

Rules... or as I call them, my sanity.

        I am a person who like rules, most of the time. I think that other people should follow and that I am the only exception. Like when it comes to driving. I think you need to do the speed limit and I should be allowed to speed past others to get away from others stupid driving skills.
        I have many rules that I live by that my grandpa set to help a person live the best they can. the rules are as follows as told by Tom Bolen,

 Rule number 1: Be the first one to the job site. (He owned his own construction company)

Rule number 2: Do it right the first time so you don't have to do it again later.

Rule number 3: Do work you wouldn't be ashamed to put your name next to. (His company was Tom Bolen Homes)

        He is no longer with us but I still live by these rules. They helped him become the successful man he came to be.

        When given this assignment I wasn't sure where to start and I have a feeling I am going to feel that with every other assignment in this class. I went through and tried to figure out which rule I wanted to break. I thought about it for the first week and then began to remember the rules my grandpa had told me. I am a person who hates to show anyone my work if I don't think it looks professional enough. (Rule number 3) So this is my hardest one to break so I thought it would be best to break this one. I opened Photoshop and just did everything I cringe at. I used a photo of my sister I took over the summer. I decided to just do everything that magazine editors use but in a parody way.


                                                                       Here is my result.
   

 

 

 

 

Here is the original photo.

 

 

                                           And because I couldn't help it.. here is the real version.

 

                                                                    Whew. I feel better.
 \

Stop! And Read This!

        In class last week, we all talked about our egg projects and it was really cool to see how different people took the project. The ones that really stood out to me was the egg with the glowing lights and the musical one. The lights looked like a party was going on inside it and the musical one made me feel like I was in a strange dream where I had no idea what was going on in it. Really great ideas guys and gals!

        During the dicussion, we had talked about heading towards a traffic light and not wanting to stop what we would do. Like many people in class, I had not thought about the idea of us not even being in a car. Like the rest of you, I assumed we were driving a car and had no other option but to plow through the intersection and hope for the best. When you said "I never said you were in a car," I  almost fell out of my chair. In life there so many options and the ones we pick are the ones we are used to but there are always so many other options our there right in front of us.

        I started to think about this and how many things I can change in my life just by trying to look at other options that I cant see yet. I know they are there now and it will just be a matter of being able to see them.

Home is Where the Egg is

      Never in my life did I think I would leave a college class with an egg as my first assignment for the semester. Giving a college student complete freedom with an assignment is one of the scariest things you can do. The minds either have no idea what to do and sit in the corner and wait until the last second to put something together or they have a million ideas and almost turn it is late because they couldnt focus and choose one idea. (cough, cough...me.)

      I had many ideas. I knew I either wanted to do something serious or something funny that would make people laugh, like I dont know, draw Miley Cyrus's face on it and do a We Can't Stop video remake. (Just throwing nonspecific things out there.) But then I thought that wouldnt really help me learn anything new.

      I am very into Maya and 3D production so I decided to do a Maya based project. I thought about modeling the egg and doing somthing fancy with it but I thought that would be simple and boring. So I then thought of what the egg represented. To certain creatures an egg is their first home in the world. They are born from and grow within it, so I thought I would grow my Maya skills from modeling a house and challenge myself with a new rendering feature I have never tried before. I thought I would learn more from rendering with something different and out of my comfort zone. I am VERY happy with how this turned out and with how much I learned from it after a few (HA! Few...) mistakes.

And now without further ado... my egg project.

Finished project

Different times of the day

 

Non mentalray render with few point lights

 

First grass testing

 

Screenshot of full project

 

 

It all started with a little egg...
 

First Day as a New Thinker

        I was very excited to start this class. I have heard nothing but good things about it. I also have been in a creative slump that has made me feel a bit frustrated. In class I already had my way of thinking altered. I heard a few things that really stuck out to me and I had to evaluate life once or twice. When I heard "Thinking outside the box is a very in the box way of thinking" I was taken back a bit. I ralized that when I used to say that I felt like I was actually sitting in a box trying to look out but in reality I was in a refridgerator box reading the "how to lift safely" text. I think that this class will help my cut a hole in the side of the new Kenmore machine and and free me from its musty depths.