Quick art update.

So Things have been pretty busy around here. The Animation Program is quite a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it. I still feel like I'm not quite up to par drawing-wise compared to some of the other people in my year, but I feel like I'm getting better, and I'm learning a lot. So besides this inferiority complex that I've internalized, and is secretly messing around with my confidence, I am enjoying myself.

There are a few other things I need to scan and stick on here, but here is some of the stuff I've been working on recently.

I'll try and post an update on my life soon. But first I need to take some photos.


This was the first prompt: Tree Crabs of the Lonesome forest. I sort of designed him after a coconut crab, but the teacher said he had the face of a rapist/ sex offender. I was going for creepy, and those are the creepiest kinds of people I know. So I guess it works?

This is a practice on value, using markers is super unforgiving. but hey, this was just a practice,

This was for the Urban Vinyl toy designed around the theme of "Disturbed Circus" I'm still not quite friends with the markers yet, so I'm not super happy with the tones added, but hey, this is a learning experience

this was for the imaginary friend one. I hashed out the base drawing super late last night... I think? I don't know. I've been staying up way too late really and the days are blending together. Anyway, there are some issues with this that I need to fix now that I'm looking at it after not looking at it for several hours, but its a little late, I turned it in already. Oh well. Que Sera Sera. I'll fix it for myself one day.

I am an Animation Major

I got the letter in the mail today. I am officially A BYU Animation Major.

After two years of working really hard. I finally made it. I'm so happy.
On saturday, I heard two of my friends got in, but my major hadn't changed online, so I had convinced myself I failed once again. I cried and whined on my tumblr on sunday, because my great aunt is in town we went to DC. I tried not to think about it but I was so bummed the whole time. Especially in the art museum. Then I get home from babysitting and I opened the mailbox. A BYU letter is waiting. My hands were shaking and I saw the word "pleased" rather than "regret" and I FREAK out and run in shrieking. Best day ever. 8/9/10 was good to me.

Check it out!

ok someone else put the first 5 minutes of the Princess and the Frog online. WATCH IT! ITS AWESOME!!!! the blonde Girl makes me LOL

The Time Has Come (Again)

Well, I'm turning in the application again.

Lets see how it goes this time.

The only concern is that my sketchbook isn't nearly as full as it ought to be, but I DID have only half the amount of months to prepare. Plus this time around I had a summer job, which didn't lend itself to many drawing opportunities like sitting in class did, and walking around campus did. Hopefully they will understand, and not look at my half empty book and say "Man this chick was lazy." and throw it in the reject pile.

Whatever. We'll see what happens. If I don't get in this time, I think I'm just going to give up the ghost (Whatever that means. My mom says that a lot) and just major in history or some other undisclosed major that would be super fun.

I am setting my expectations low so I don't get disappointed.

I'll post some art soon.

The Bridge Between us is a Rainbow.

OK first of all, Wow, I have gotten such the inspirational positive support for everything. Its true that animation people are the best kind of people. I appreciate it SO much, you have no idea. It has made my 'wallowing in self pity' period super short lived, and has inspired me to work super hard this summer on my art so I will most definitely get in. I needed a year (semester? we'll see once I get the letter. I SO hope they ask me to reapply in August) to work on my generals since I was stupid and didn't get American Heritage out of the way last semester. I took Sociology instead which was good, but unnecessary.

Anyway, This is so a blessing in disguise. I bet I didn't get into animation because God knew that if I didn't work on generals, I would spend all my time doing animation stuff, and not work hard in my other classes and that would be BAD.

I don't know if that's true or not, but I like to think so.

Anyway, I saw High School Musical 17 again. Starring Zac Efron. Not going to lie. The previews make it look really stupid, but it was way funnier than I expected. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, seeing the Zefron playing someone different than Troy Bolton a la High School Musical was really refreshing. You can tell it was made for a wider audience and It was generally a very happy surprise.



The only thing that bugs me about Zefron is that his eyes never seem to be looking at anything. Like , I know his eyes are pointed at people, but there is like, no connection. Wierd. I bet he is secretly a really hot robot.

I'll try and post some art next time. Since that is my new goal, to regale you with great masterpieces. Sweet.

Packing up all your stuff is super lame just FYI

FAIL

Ah, so I am like, 99% sure I didn't make it into the animation program. I sort of thought I wouldn't make it, because my drawing skills weren't as strong as other people's. I mean I'm not AWFUL, but I'm not the best either. I mean, I can see improvements but still that really means nothing. The only thing I had going for me was my killer work ethic. But, even though I have work ethic coming out of my ears, and the faculty liked my work on Blind Men and the Elephant, I guess thats not enough. I really feel like if I would have gotten in I would improve way more, being surrounded by all of these animation people

So now I have a problem. I am not really sure I should apply again. I don't know how much I CAN improve with the same teacher. He kind of sucked. So Now I need a fallback. Thinking about it now, I don't really know what I would WANT to do. All of the other majors seem like a whole lot of work, in the form of paper writing and a lot of stuff that is boring. Animation is a lot of work, but it is work that I am interested in. Does anyone have any ideas what a good major would be for me? I am stumped. This is when being a Jack of All Trades but Master of None really stinks.

Should I try again next year? I dunno. I don't really want to waste a year if I don't get in. But I also don't really know what to do with all that time.

Give me some input!

Shoes, Animation, and Life

I love these shoes. I think they are SO cute Link And they are only $30 bucks. I really want to get them Maybe I will. I need some shoes that color since I had flats that were that color, and I totally walked a hole in them. It makes it hard to match with a couple of my outfits without those shoes. ModCloth.com is a truly great website. If anyone wants to make me very happy, just get me a gift certificate for that store. Oh My gosh. Mom. PLEASE tell me you want me to buy these shoes. I haven't gone shopping in SO long. I haven't set foot in a mall since December. My wardrobe is boring, and I don't have shoes that go with the springy weather, since I was a fool and only brought winter clothes. Not that its really warm here. But still.

Animation. Well, my animation portfolio is due on Wednesday. It is kind of freaking me out. I kind of have this feeling/fear that I won't get in, and that will be really sad because its A) The only job I think I would be happy doing, since I get impassioned easily. When something interests me I glom onto it like no other, but I also get bored of things really quickly. I am involved in a project now and I'm still fully invested in it which is rare for me, because usually when I get really into things, I loose interest and move on. That is different for this project. I still am really interested. And B) I know tons of people in the animation program, and people always mistake me for being in it. And it would be SO sad if I didn't get in.

Hm I'm being really whiny right now. but I am seriously freaked out.

Life. Well, the other day they showed Dean Duncan, the guy that teaches my film class, and one of the faculty members that is in charge of this project, the credit plates that I did for the blind men and the elephant, and he was so impressed. He was like "You did this?" And he really liked the storybook quality that it had. He even asked if I would still be interested in doing more of these Children's Media Initiative films because he said they had another one they were planning on doing, and he liked the style I did the credits in and thought that style would be good in this other movie. He told me to keep in touch with them if I didn't get into the program. Yeah! I'm so thrilled about that!

Here's the Video


Its funnier when you watch this one with it

The busy life

Ah life has been extremely busy for me lately. Monday was a great day since it was the second of 2 three-day weekends. It was gorgeous outside, and I walked around campus with my FHE group, taking photos for the photo scavenger hunt. Then I went to the animation lab, and worked on stuff for that. Then I saw Twilight at the dollar theater with Tanner and Thomas and some other girls. The 7:30 showing was sold out so we waited to see the 9:30 one. It was great because we walked around ShopKo and I cranked down a "Minimal" which is a tiny plastic toy of an animal. Tanner also stuffed a giant gum ball in his mouth. That was funny. So we were messing around in the ShopKo for a while, and then we went to Cold Stone and I got this big ice cream. No one thought I would be able to finish it, but I dominated it. Then was twilight, where we got the most buttery popcorn conceivable. It was great. 

Tuesday, I can't even remember. I had monday classes. I dunno. It was probably a great day. 

Wednesday, AKA the longest day of my life. First was social dance. We did the cha cha. Then I had a break in between that and french in which I did my french homework, because I hadn't finished it the day before on account of staying until like 12:30 at the animation lab. Then I played tetris when I was done for like 10 minutes. Then French. Then there was an hour break in between that and my Book of Mormon test, so I went down to the cannon center and it was like chocolate day there or something. There was a big chocolate fountain and tons of chocolate desert. It was great! Tanner was there and I talked with him for a bit, but he had to run to work. I went to book of mormon, and felt really bad cause I fell asleep. I was so tired. Then I went to the animation lab, where we had gotten told off for being in there and being 'disruptive' or something so I had to give my picture and lots of other stuff, and now I feel wierd about going in there. I left, went to the social dance lab, which was a lot more fun than I expected, I danced a lot with Tanner and Thomas, but they left and I danced with some other people. A girl stepped on my foot with her heel and now its bruised. I was kinda gimpy when I got up this morning. Then I went to the animation lab again, and worked on some stuff, and got home at 1:30. There were some girls on the floor who looked at me still in my dress from the dance lab, who were like "Oooh Meredith where have you been?" As if I had been on a date or something. Nope. I was coloring in some eyeballs and elephant legs. 

Today, I am tired, and I have no idea when I'm going to go to bed tonight.  

Now that I'm awake...

Ah now that I have gotten about five hours of sleep, (I still feel a little bit cracked out on no sleep but I'm way better than before) I am going to give a rundown of what all happened in the last two days mostly so I don't forget. I have sort of forgotten a lot of stuff that was said and everything that I wanted to write down oh well. 

ok 7:00 I went there and we got cafe rio and they went around the room asking us what we thought our skills were on a level of one to 3. They already had me written down as a level 3 animator. I don't know how THAT happened, but I'm not complaining. They gave me a scene that apparently wasn't working well when the actual animator was doing it (!!!) so they made me redo it. So I did. They seemed to like the movement I put in the trunk. I looked at footage of actual elephant trunk movement, so I don't know. Hopefully it gets final approval, so I can get my name put in the credits. 

So I was working on that for quite a while and the other animators and I were working and chatting and everything for the first couple hours, I kept having to redo the trunk movement, because at first, the tusks were looking wonky, so they just had me trace over the trunk and do the tusks on a separate layer, and then this one part looked weird too, so I did that over about a million times but finally It got the approval of the lead animator, and It was great. I got to ring the little bell saying my scene was done. That was great. So I passed my scene to this guy for cleanup, and I got another scene, well part of one, where the elephant blinks, in an "unflappable" way and then he kind of flaps his ears. They liked the eye blink, but the ears looked bad, So I had to redo them a bunch of times, and by the time I re-did them everyone was gone since it was like, 7:30 in the morning, so I handed it in, and was kind of like "forget this I'm going home" and I left. 

There was this guy walking around periodically giving all of us snacks, and stuff which was really nice. So much junk food. I took a carrot later on from the veggie platter and it was wierd. The contrast I mean. It was like a health shock. funny. 

I walked home around 7:45 and I was wearing the same clothes from the day before. One of the animator guys I was talking to was like "You are going to go home wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and smelling like boys. How scandalous" It was funny, and there are more guys in animation than girls. They also told all us pre-animation students that we were great and so dedicated and stuff. It made me happy. 

Animation people are totally my kind of people, I we have similar senses of humor and of course, we re interested in the same things. It was so fun and I would totally do it again, except not for a while, because I need some time to recover. 

I want to get into this program so bad!!!! If I don't I don't know what I would do. 

And Just for kicks, here is my flour sack animation from animation class. The timing is sort of weird. Oh well. GAH Now that I ALREADY TURNED IT IN I see all these mistakes. GRRRRR

In other news, I went to the library on saturday to try and get some studying in/write my anthropology paper. I saw Tanner and sat by him and finished my paper, and then I went to the cougareat with him and we sat in there talking for like 3 hours. It was pretty great.  

The End of the Beginnning

Well, its the end of my first semester here at BYU. And, I'm not gonna lie, its sort of sad. I liked my classes. Agh, this happens to me all the time, I like a class and once I get comfortable with it, it ends and I have to start all over again. I liked my teachers, they were cool. Oh well. Its time for me to do new things. 

Looking back on this first semester at BYU I feel like this was a great choice. Its fun, and the school work is challenging, and mostly interesting. The people are generally good, and you can stay out really late and not be super concerned about your safety and everything. I sort of feel BYU is kind of in its own little bubble, but its ok. I've made friends and lots of people know who I am, which is pretty good too. Everywhere I go it seems like people know me, it's kind of a nice feeling. 

I have finals coming up now. I have sociology on monday, art history on wednesday, physical science whenever and book of mormon whenever. my weekend is going to be a BLAST! not. 

Tonight I have this Animation all-nighter thing where we work on the Blind Men and the Elephant, which is kind of a bid deal, since its going to be aired on the BYU channel and possibly go up for student emmys. This kid in my Art History class told me that getting involved is a sure way to get into the program, so this is a great opportunity for me. I'm just not too thrilled about staying up till who knows when working on this thing since I'm sort of tired from staying up late watching Gilmore Girls. Its better than I remember it. 

Walk Cycle

this is my walk cycle for animation class, Its not perfected yet but its way better than my first attempt: 

Ugly right? At least I fixed it. Sorta. Needs some work but hey.