Elements of my Mind

Work In Progress

2011-08-29T09:59:00.001-10:00

This is the work in progress of a painting I am being commissioned to do.

Work for Blue Water Multimedia

2011-03-08T10:45:00.002-10:00

I did the storyboards for this: http://vimeo.com/18446361

and the animation for the first shot of the wallaby jumping in, looking at the camera, then jumping out in this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxHBSTj0ocY

Ellegarden - Stereoman

2011-01-07T15:52:00.000-10:00

HAS 2

2011-01-07T14:45:00.001-10:00

Currently employed with a contract position as a Junior Animator at HAS. :)

TShirt Guns WIP 8

2010-08-18T10:46:00.002-10:00

Bac-O

2010-08-17T12:11:00.002-10:00

Tshirt Guns WIP 3

2010-08-12T09:59:00.002-10:00

Tshirt Guns WIP 2

2010-08-10T11:37:00.002-10:00

T-shirt Guns WIP

2010-08-06T12:26:00.002-10:00

A work in progress. Movie clip from the movie, Juno (I love the lines from there lol).

Dialogue: (Juno) "You should have gone to China. You know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those T-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events."

The First Audio

2010-08-06T10:17:00.003-10:00

"Oh...! And I'm still gonna kill you someday." Hector from Blades of Glory. This was done before the "Home Skillet" post.

Home Skillet

2010-08-03T13:35:00.002-10:00

Audio from the movie Juno. Clip from the site, moviewavs.com.

Anyone Else Feel the Same?

2010-07-30T09:24:00.002-10:00

Not my picture, btw.

Sleepy Squirrel

2010-07-29T09:49:00.002-10:00

Playing around with free rigs at internship.

HAS

2010-07-22T09:27:00.001-10:00

Currently interning at Hawaii Animation Studios.

Yes, Yes, it's been a while

2009-07-20T19:54:00.000-10:00

Updates are coming up. Just gotta get the planning down..

Kitten Walk-In pass 2

2008-10-19T15:13:00.002-10:00

Pass 2. Dammit still have to tweak ><"
Total drawings: 27

I had to stop at one point because I started drawing d really crappy hahaha :D

(d is the main character, the big cat)

Kitten Walk-In Pass 1

2008-10-19T10:04:00.001-10:00

First pass.

A Sigh

2008-10-19T08:46:00.002-10:00

A small sigh clip from the currently in progress animation. Still have to tweak and polish a bit, but this is pretty much it. Total drawings: 30; total frames: 60.

Summer Side Projects 2008

2008-07-13T23:13:00.010-10:00

Unfortunately, they don't really have to do much with animation and VFX. Although, I do plan to work on something related to that as soon as I can... >.>;

First project is a japanese animation-style character design for a local singer from Kauai requested by the Kauai Film Commissioner, Art Umezu. Here's a couple of scans:

And second is t-shirt designs for an upcoming company called The Bent Factor, which officially opens their website to the public on 8.8.08. Here's a few designs I've been experimenting with.

I know I'm being a bit paranoid by saying this but: Please don't take any of my stuff. I've been actually struggling with figuring out a price quote for my artwork so the whole thing is kind of a new experience with seriously taking on these projects.

Hopefully they both follow through and I'll learn a lot from it.

Identity Crisis (Tentative title)

2008-04-16T18:43:00.007-10:00

Here are some storyboards I did yesterday (after class). I hope it sort of makes sense with my chicken scratch. :P It was done in my blue notebook... with blue/green note paper. I felt more comfortable sketching it out in there.. for some reason.

Also, the maquette for my cat is pretty much done. I just need to throw it in the oven and bake it and color it.

On the Edge of Insanity

2008-03-11T15:52:00.003-10:00

Rough Storyboard: The Blank Page

2008-03-06T10:55:00.007-10:00

Storyboard v1:

"The Blank Page" Story Outline (text)

2008-03-05T21:02:00.003-10:00

Story Idea v1:
The Blank Page

1) Setting: Park, early/ late morning - slow to moderately busy
Zoom out to see an empty table and bench
Enter: Main character (Aya) carrying some papers and a shoulder bag
Looks discontent/ sits down and lays out her things
- Couple walks by and she makes a face of disgust/ sighs (lonely look on her face)
Gets an idea (puts ink bottle at the edge of the page so the page doesn’t blow away) and draws the figure of a young man
- he is in a simple full body pose (see poster image)
- sighs and gazes at him for a while
His figure starts to move! (He adjusts his standing position and looks around the page)
- she is startled and a bit afraid at first
- he notices and gestures for her to come over
She looks around and reaches out cautiously as if she isn’t even sure if it’s possible
- she is pulled into the page, knocking over her ink onto the paper in the process
- ink slowly saturates the page

2) Setting: In the page, blank background
Close up of the girl as if she had braced for impact
The young man she drew approaches her and smiles, she’s stunned
He takes the pencil from behind her ear and draws her a flower garden/ picks one and gives it to her
Still stunned but smiles, accepts it and they walk away
- as they leave, we see a black shadow (it’s the ink saturating the page) engulf the small garden, “destroying” it
They both turn around, seeing the garden is gone and the black shadows is gaining speed, headed right for them.
- they run to the edge of the page and are trapped/ no where else to go
- as the shadow draws closer, the guy gestures for her to go because he can’t leave the paper; she is reluctant and hesitates/ the shadow has nearly engulfed the entire page
- without warning, he pushes her out and she flies out of the page

3) Setting: Back in the park, around lunch time - moderately busy
She runs back, but it is completely black and the young man is gone
Puts the page aside, pulls out a new one and tries drawing him again but nothing happens
She stares at the page sadly and a shadow falls over it
- startled, she looks up/ sees that it is a young man very closely resembling the person in her drawing
The young man is curious, looking at her drawing and gives an “I’m sorry if I bothered you” look
- she shakes her head and offers him a seat across from her/ she moves aside her things and they start up a conversation (unheard) - gestures suggest she is explaining her recent “misadventure”/ Camera zoom out
End.

Inspiration
“Into the Night” by Santana feat. Chad Kroeger
“This is a Call” by Thousand Foot Krutch
“This is Who We Are” by Cartel
Various Gorillaz videos

Short Story Poster_v.1

2008-03-04T01:03:00.004-10:00

This is sort of a first concept of the poster for my short story. I had another idea, but I decided to play around with it first. Oh yeah, and my short story's title is tentatively

"The Blank Page".

I always loved mixing 2D with the real world. :)

Random Gorillaz Short

2008-03-02T15:13:00.002-10:00

Soon to be posted:

Short story outline
Short story poster

A Funny Video

2008-02-19T17:47:00.001-10:00

By that same guy who did the CalArts song...

ACM 325: Visual Effects, HW2

2008-02-18T22:57:00.003-10:00

Compositing an explosion:

Featuring: Murdoc and 2D of the Gorillaz

Things that were updated later (not this version): added a blur to the cigarette smoke.

A Quick Re-post

2008-02-07T00:14:00.001-10:00

Posting some drawings with movable shapes. Sorry if it isnt' clear, I did it quickly in Photoshop. :)

Statehood Project

2008-02-05T13:20:00.000-10:00

Some quick storyboards.

Post 3 of 3: Character Design Drawing

2008-02-04T22:19:00.000-10:00

Myself as a cat based on the character profile below. Added color; which is why it's a bit late..^^;

Post 2 of 3: Character Profile

2008-02-04T15:20:00.000-10:00

I got a little confused, but I hope it makes sense anyway...

Name: Alana Ignacio
Most Likely to say "Nyan~" or "^^;"

1. Name, including first, middle, last and nicknames? Rai Hoshiko Ashford; "Rai-rai" (which she secretly hates)

2. Sex? Birthday (month/day/year) and birthplace? Female, born February 29, year unknown, near Kyoto, Japan.

3. Address, including street, town, state, country, and how to find the house? 7190 Cronin Circle, Dublin, California, USA; Condominium complex near town

4. What does the house look like? How is it decorated? It's a small condo-apartment; modern decor., usually kept pretty neat and tidy. The sun rises to shine in through the skylight windows, giving the apartment a warm, homely feel to it. No plants. Two bedroom, one bath, main room/ living room. Bedroom has a great view of the city lights.

5. Hair color? Eye color? Height, weight, and measurements (body type)? Cat form: Fire-engine red fur, Blue eyes; 1' 5 lbs; lean, furry; Human form: 5'5", 110 lbs., fire engine-red hair, blue eyes.

6. Voice quality, style of speech, favorite expressions> As a human: Midtone voice when speaking normally, mid-high when speaking comfortably with friends, and occasionally high when she's excited. When she's unimpressed, she'd probably respond with a monotone, "Meh" or "Bleh". When she's super happy, she smiles really happy and would probably say, "Yay!" while jumping up for joy.... ....

7. Distinguishing characteristics or gestures? Has the tendency to slightly bow when saying 'thank you' or to show respect to other people (it's her Japanese roots). When she's a cat, she has a tail that sort of looks like a devil's tail and her ears point out a bit more than a normal cat.

8. Style of dress? Favorite clothes? As a human: Whatever's comfortable for her; Pants , spaghetti strap top, black and white DC shoes, and a hat to conceal her ears.

9. Educational background? Worst and best subjects? Favorite subject? Mostly self taught in the pursuit of knowledge, reading various texts she finds around the house, currently doing independent study. Worst subject: anything having to do with math; Best: Poetry and Folklore; Favorite subject: Drawing

10. Employment history? At the public and campus library, helping shelve books.
11. Career goals? Independent study in Folkloristics; open-ended.

12. Are parents living? If no, when did they die and how? Mother: yes, Father: no -- old age.

13. If yes, what are their backgrounds and careers? Her late mother is said to have been at a very strong place of power beside the Emperor of Japan; at least that's what Rai's been told. She doesn't remember them well.

14. Who are the other important family members? Her comrades (pet cats), Seraph and Micheal.

15. How does the character get along with the family? Great. There was a time where there was a falling out for about 4 years, but they reconciled and are very close.

16. General health? Very healthy, fit; occasionally lazy.

17. Personality type? Mental state? Basic nature? Kind and sometimes rather shy. Although she doesn't openly speak much, a lot goes through her head, mostly mental observations of what's going on around her. When she gets flustered or embarassed, she becomes semi-accident prone. (According to her guy friends, when this happens, they feel rather bad for her, but say it's cute.); Occasionally plagued by the paranormal.

18. Temperament? Emotional state? Calm most of the time, gets angry mainly when she feels her friends are threatened (or she is threatened); Occasional depression from lonliness, but normal 99% of the time.

19. Handicaps, fears, inhibitions? Doesn't like to feel alone, guns

20. What does the character like to play? Strategic and tactical based games (i.e. Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance)-- she taught herself how to play portable game systems.. occasionally Tetris and Dr. Mario.. other than that, she likes to run around.

21. What does the character like to read? Do they read the whole book or skip around? On occasion, she pick up classical literature such as Shakespeare or Poe, but she often re-reads Grim's Fairy tales in which she skips around. But, the first time she bought it, she read it all the way through.

22. Where do they go on vacation? Rai likes to visit her home country whenever she gets the chance; she hopes to road trip across the states one day with her friends.

23. Favorite place? Hideouts? Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, California; and the Sakura orchard in the park in Kyoto, Japan. If I told you her hideout, she'd have to kill you. =)

24. What do they do after work/ school and on Saturdays? Rai likes to go home and work on independent projects, usually; otherwise she'll sit down, relax, and play with her kitties. When she's out, she'll go with her friends to dinner, maybe to the archery range to practice.

25. What is one thing they really like? A clear night when the stars blanket the sky.

26. What section of the newspaper do they read first? The local news, then the comics.

27. Have they ever had any pets? Explain. Yes, two cats -- Seraph and Micheal. She found Seraph when she first moved into the condo. Seraph happened to be stuck in a vent up near the attic, she is a grey and white kitten with blue eyes, patches of white fur on her back look like mini wings; Micheal chose to be adopted by Rai from the local humane society. He is Seraph's playmate while Rai is away and is black with yellow eyes. They both seem to have the ability to keep evil spirits away.

28. What makes the character laugh? Stupid things her friends do; the cuteness of her cats.

29. Who are the people who help the character? Who are their friends? Why? Briefly, the main people who hang out with her: Taytum Kayser (one of her few girlfriends, and best friend since grade school), Josh Atherton (regular hang out buddy since early college, jock-wannabe), Matthew Lane (church-goer and borderline goth, can sense the paranormal); Ms. Isabel Pendleton (landlady, mother-like figure to Rai); She will sense another cat, once in a while, roam around the apartment in search of something, but Rai has only heard meowing in the night, which she dismisses to be her own cats, and various things to be moved around after putting them down.

30. Who are the people who get in the character's way? What are the relationships with these people? Jackie Kilham (bullied Rai in grade school, "higher-than-thou" attitude, but totally useless in a bad situation), Hayley Roemer (the sidekick to the stuck up, highly oogled by guys, smart, but not the best personality out there)

31. What is important to the character? Ambitions? Dreams? Why? Her friends are important to her; she wants to be able to protect them because of what they do for her (take care of her)

32. What kinds of things bother the character? Pet peeves? Ignorance, people with no compassion for life, dripping water, and the cracking of knuckles.

33. How does the character perceive life? Rai feels that all things have a reason for happening, no matter good or bad. A wise mentor taught her this before he died.

34. How does the character perceive herself? Rai often wonders why she is there, and spends late nights looking to the stars for answers.

35. Who are the characters heroes? Who do they look up to? Anyone creative enough to make an imprint in their field of specialty, mostly music artists; no one in particular.

36. Does the character have any romantic interest? Sexual experience? Rai has had several crushes, but never followed through with any of them; no sexual experience either.. although, while exploring as a cat, she has stumbled upon people in a basement watching porn... =__=; Traumatized her for life.

37. What kind of car do they drive or would like to drive? Not sure what kind of car, but probably a compact one (like the Toyota Camry), automatic.

38. How is the character seen by others? Cute, caring, athletic, smart, a good listener, a few self esteem issues.

39. What makes this character different from anyone else? She has the ability to turn into a cat... but only if she wants others to know.

40. Will the audience like or dislike the character? Will they remember the character? I'd hope they like her and I'm sure they'd remember her. She has fire engine red hair/ fur.

41. What is the character proud of? Occasionally, Rai will be proud with herself, but mostly she is proud of the fact that she has friends who can accept her for who she is.

42. What is the character embarassed about? Sometimes for being able to turn into a cat, but mostly what ensues after she becomes embarassed -- she becomes accident prone.

43. What was the characters biggest thrill? Moving from her homeland to the United States.

44. what was their biggest disapointment? That most people aren't like the ones from home.

45. What are the character's pastimes and hobbies? Sleeping, reading, drawing, interacting with certain friendly spirits... playing with her cats.

46. Favorites: Color, music, book, movie, TV show, food, ice cream flavor, drink, person, character (TV, book, movie...), game, place, subject, magazine, animal, cereal, joke, music group...?
Color: Red
Music: Alternative rock, instrumental
Book: Grim's Fairy Tales
Movie: Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki
TV show: House M.D.
Food: tamago sushi
Ice cream flavor: white chocolate
Drink: Blue rasberry slurpees
Magazine: Newtype Magazine (anime)
Animal: White tigers
Cereal: Honey Nut Cheerios
Music group: Gorillaz & various soundtracks.

47. Dislikes:
Color: Pink
Music: Anything with annoying sounding choruses or lyrics
Book: Whatever doesn't catch interest
Movie: Super gorey stuff (like Saw)
TV show: certain reality shows
Food: Anything too bitter or still alive
Ice cream flavor: Peanut butter
Drink: Iced tea
Magazine: Men's Health and Fitness
Animal: (she actually likes most animals)
Cereal: Anything too fiber-ey with no flavor
Music group: Paramore

48. Write one sentence that describes this character. Turning into a cat isn't painful for her.

49. In this story what does the character want? Will she get it? how? Rei is searching for a reason why she is where she is. This question will take her on a personal journey through some strange turn of events that has to do with her having the ability to change into a cat. She will have to understand why she is able to do what she does and be able to accept who she is.

50. In this story what is the character's biggest problem? How will it get worse? How will it be resolved? Rei has some self esteem issues that need to be resolved in order for her to understand why she is the way she is. In the process, she will make bad decisions due to her fears, perhaps get seriously hurt (physically, emotionally, mentally). The resolution has yet to be written.. which means I'm purposefully not saying so NYEH!

Post 1 of 3: The Stereotype

2008-02-04T00:51:00.000-10:00

I actually drew these as an experiment. I was trying out different drawing styles and was trying to draw in the style of the Gorillaz..

This guy would probably be my "Anti-hero" guy.

(I'll let you GUESS who this really is.)

And this one would most likely represent "The Villain" or a "Protagonist" cause I like to change it up like that.

(Guess who?)

Despite the stereotypes... I'd probably have them both be a part of a group of others that sort of look like them, but they'd be the Protagonists in the story rather than what the stereotypes say they look like. After all, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, right? Hahaha.

(I know I got one more to go...)

Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

2008-01-27T12:14:00.000-10:00

I thought this music video by the Gorillaz was pretty cool. There's 2D animation, and 3D. I think I have a thing for making music vids.. -__-;
their concerts look really cool. Same song, but live in concert. I want to go to one!!

Their other music videos are pretty cool, too.

Demo Reel Fall 2007

2008-01-26T23:19:00.000-10:00

My demo reel from last semester. Finally uploaded to Blogger. Although there's new stuff, I'd rather think of it as an updated demo reel.

ACM 315, Game Demo Animation

2008-01-24T20:12:00.000-10:00

Here's a short animation I did in Flash demo-ing a game that my class is mimicking. We have 6 artists and about 10 programmers. The artists come up with assets (the images of the ball, bumpers, bricks, brick disappearing animations, background) and then we give the assets to the programmers and they take the actual game script of a basic, pong-type game (found on the adobe site somewhere) and substitute our assets into the script so it doesn't look plain. So when they're done, the artist's assets will be the images and animations in the game.

It was hard working with the pixels because the asset sizes were so small, but it was pretty cool seeing our stuff in action. I had to learn and re-learn flash to make everything work. With that, the artists had to learn Flash and come up with a mock animation of how the game would look and how the game sounds would look. So I got to re-learn tweening (motion and shape) and figure out what would work. So this is what I came up with:

When the programmers are done, I'd say a person would actually be able to control the bumper and play this as a game. It's supposed to be due Tuesday, so we'll see how it turns out! :)

An Updated 2D Jump from Last Semester

2008-01-24T19:53:00.000-10:00

Better late than never ;) Here's how my 2D jump turned out.. I think in the end I had to add a time strech in AE because it originally turned out way too fast.

ACM 325 Visual Effects, HW1

2008-01-24T08:47:00.001-10:00

The assignment was to composite ourselves into one of four images, 3 of 5 were paintings. So I chose this one.

Dialogue Scene from Last Semester

2008-01-21T17:23:00.000-10:00

This post is late.
I know I didn't get to really finish this... I didn't get to finish the last line of my dialogue, but here's what it came out to at the end:

Kyle found out that the dialogue is from Disney's National Treasure. :P

Soon to come: Last Semester's demo reel

Inspirational Animation

2008-01-17T08:07:00.000-10:00

I know it's not really "new", but I really liked this animation demo reel that Linda showed us last semester. It hasn't really gotten old yet..

And, even though it's not quite the type of animation we're doing.. I love what's going on in the Linkin Park music videos, Breaking the Habit (looks rotoscoped) and In the End (mostly 3D environment). Music plays a big part in what I do for animation because it helps set my mood as far as what kind of feeling I'd like to get for something. Watching a lot of "Making of" videos helps inspire me also.

Breaking the Habit :: Linkin Park (YouTube)

In The End :: Linkin Park (YouTube)

Dialogue Scene: Second Pass (Updated)

2007-11-28T13:32:00.000-10:00

Second Pass for the dialogue scene. Feeling under the weather today. Cramps kept me up all night = insomnia = not a happy me. Took a Midol this morning and reworked this. I'm going to TRY to get to "I'm hungry" in the dialogue. If not, "Wenreennagethere" will be my cut-short dialogue assignment. Damn, animating dialogue is HARD! ><"

Things changed:
- Added more in betweens
- Took out the "tummy bounce"
- Nailed down the ground; made sure it was the same length throughout
- Added in the bounce in the ground before kitty gets thrown into the air
- Re-worked the X sheet

If it's okay, that is. After all, I was told quality over quantity.. Right?

Dialogue Scene: First Pass, Part 1 & 2

2007-11-20T23:51:00.000-10:00

A roughly put together part 1 and 2. Cut the dialogue and it's still blocky. Plan to re work those inbetweens.

Dialogue Scene: Pass 1, Part 2

2007-11-20T23:50:00.000-10:00

Part 2
Part 2; the actual dialogue. Definitely NOT the final. Just a first pass.

Dialogue Scene: First Pass, Part 1

2007-11-20T17:02:00.001-10:00

First part of the dialogue scene. Didn't get to the ACTUAL dialogue, but put together the first part. Added a 190% time strech in AE. Working on timing.

Week 13: A Little Culture Change

2007-11-17T11:38:00.001-10:00

I had a lot of fun drawing this guy. Too bad my faces came out all weird. :/ So here's some without a face. It's the faceless man! Kinda creepy....

Dialogue Scene: Blocked

2007-11-13T16:28:00.000-10:00

First attempt at blocking the dialogue scene. Plan to polish later, but for now: timing and general posing.

Dialogue Thumbnails v.2

2007-11-11T12:35:00.000-10:00

A bit redone.

Kitty is riding in a car, not having the best day (his owner tricked him into going to the vet for his shots), when the car hits a pothole. He gets thrown up into the air and lands 'SPLAT' on the seat. It's a good thing his owner promised to take him to get some treats, or he'd have disowned the guy by now. Irritated, he asks, "When are we gonna get there? I'm hungry.." A strange odor catches his nostrils and he sniffs a few times before the pungent smell becomes too strong. He covers his nose and faces away from the odor. "This car smells weird!" ><"

Weel 12: Finally a Post!

2007-11-10T10:44:00.000-10:00

Bruce - In all his boy-band-posing glory :)

Thumbnails for Dialogue v.1

2007-11-06T22:16:00.001-10:00

Some "for the moment" thumbnails for my next scene.

2D Jump -- Still Want to Polish ><"

2007-10-07T10:22:00.000-10:00

I think I like 2D more than 3D. x_X

This is my third pass on the jump. It has more in betweens, more of an anticipation (which I still need to polish cause it looks like he's tweaking) and a little struggle to get up on the table.

Still gonna work on it... Will post it later, but this is what I'm submitting for now.

Week 7: Just One This Time

2007-10-04T08:51:00.000-10:00

Just one drawing this time. I felt this on was the best. Didn't quite get to finish with the shadows, but (even though I didn't really get to do the head and face) it was, I felt, the most complete.

I find that I like to draw from the neck down....

I think it was a 2 or 5 min. pose.

Initial "Research" Stage Character Designs

2007-09-30T13:55:00.000-10:00

Cat and Music = LOVE THEM.

The research stage, initial designs. Different cats, different personalities. Expressions based on music.

Fun with Construction Paper

2007-09-30T13:53:00.000-10:00

Dan Holland came over this week. Really fun stuff.

Here's a cut-out of Art. It was hard to do at first, but pretty fun. :)

Week 5: A New Approach

2007-09-21T18:24:00.001-10:00

This week was a new approach to things. Might scan another tomorrow, but here's my favorite for now. :)

Week 4: A Couple of New Ones

2007-09-13T21:59:00.000-10:00

A couple of scans in for now. I have one more to put together, but first....

Take this of my "to do list" :)

Both were 10 minute poses.

Enjoy~

3D Lift - blocked -

2007-09-11T18:12:00.000-10:00

I forgot the code to show my videos, so here is a link to my 3D blocked lift.

Remember: He's supposed to be kind of a scrawny guy who has been asked by his boss or supervisor to lift this box full of books/ publications. He's never really been asked to do "heavy duty" stuff before, so he wants to prove that he can do it!

3D Blocked Lift

~Enjoy~

ACM 318: Week 3

2007-09-05T22:19:00.001-10:00

Two scans, put together in Photoshop. I scanned one more image and I'll probably do that one a bit later, but for now, here's my scanned image for week 3 of Drawing for Animation~!

I wasn't sure how big the image was supposed to be, so I just guessed it. Hehehe.

Model was great this week :)

ACM 318: Week 2

2007-08-31T15:59:00.001-10:00

Click on drawing for bigger view.

Here's the drawing for week 2: 4 scans, put together in Photoshop. Color done with NuPastel.

Need to go buy Windex. X3

2D Lift Plan -revised-

2007-08-31T15:51:00.000-10:00

Here is my 2D Lift Plan revised. And again, restated:

Who are they? An employee at either a publications office or a delivery person. Kind of a small, semi-scrawny person. (aka "scrawny bookworm")
What are they lifting? A box full of publications/ books. (Those things are HEAVY...)
Where? Either At the delivery point probably off a hand truck (that I didn't draw..); or lifting the box onto the hand truck. Probably accompanied by a couple of workers around him.
Why? Someone asks them to and, being the type of person he is, wants to prove to both his boss and his co workers that he can lift this heavy box. He's a bit surprised that he's asked to do it and readily takes the challenge!

Destroy~! Bwahahahahahahaaaaaa....

2007-08-26T19:35:00.000-10:00

This is my first homework for Kaveh's class. Had fun erm... destroying stuff. Hehehe....

2D Lift Plan

2007-08-26T09:39:00.001-10:00

This is a super quick 2D Lift Plan and the outline:

Who are they? An employee at either a publications office or a delivery person. Kind of a small, semi-scrawny person.
What are they lifting? A box full of publications/ books. (Those things are HEAVY...)
Where? Either At the delivery point probably off a hand truck (that I didn't draw..); or lifting the box onto the hand truck.
Why? Other than it being a part of their job, they want to show that they can do this job by themselves and not have someone do it for them. Since they're kinda small and a little scrawny, people would probably think lifting a heavy box might be "too much" for them, thus the, "I can do this job myself" attitude would show.

------

Ugh the beginning of the semester and I think I'm getting sick. It's Sunday, I have a sore throat... Nuuuuuuu~ T_T I need souuuuuuuuuuuuup.

First Scanned Image for 318~!

2007-08-25T10:50:00.000-10:00

Here is my first attempt at putting together multiple scans and cleaning them up in Photoshop. Anyone know the best way to clean scanner glass? Rubbing alcohol? Eyeglass lens wipes?

<--- Click on image for actual view :)

Some Late Updates from Last Semester

2007-08-21T22:21:00.000-10:00

Here, finally, are my two final projects for last semester (Spring 2007):

Robot Turntable

Demo Reel
The Demo Reel has its own music, so if my blog music is playing, you'll need to scroll down to turn it off.

Both are in photobucket, not the best quality, but I need to keep space open on my UH account for this semester's projects.

Fall Semester 2007

2007-08-14T20:19:00.000-10:00

Here's the lineup for this Fall 2007:

Mondays & Wednesdays:
7:30 - 8:45am ACM 217
9:30am - 12:20pm ACM 225 (will register for this on Wednesday)
1:30 - 2:45pm ACM 316
6:00 - 8:45pm ACM 318

Tuesdays & Thursdays:
1:30 - 4:15pm ART 309

Looks like it'll be a full semester~
Hope I get everything done on time.

Just got my housing assignment today, thank GOD. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't. At least I can go back home easier to work on stuff rather than wait till night time to do everything.

**Edit 08/17/2007**
If you haven't noticed, I've moved all of my Spring 07 work onto Photobucket to make space on my school account for this semester's work. I know the quality isn't as good as it can be but it's all to make room for this semester's projects.

I still have my original quicktime versions, so they're safely tucked away on my external.

Thanks~

**End Edit**

Movies, Movies and More Movies!

2007-06-09T23:50:00.000-10:00

Well, it's summer and time to hit the cinemas. I've been going almost every week since my boyfriend works for the theaters. Since getting out of school, heres a list and brief rating for the movie's I've seen: (out of 5 stars)

The Condemned***
Next****
The Invisible**
Kickin' It Old School***
Spider Man 3***
Waitress****
Georgia Rule****
Shrek the Third**
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End*****
Knocked Up***
Surf's Up*****

And the list is growing. The ratings are general as I usually explain why I liked or didn't like the movie. Anything that's more than 3 stars, I generally enjoyed while anything under that, I felt, could have been better or didn't meet up to expectations. If you want to know why I liked or didn't like the movie, you can comment and I'll answer.

Anticipated movies for the rest of the year. It's listed by release date according to this list :

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Nancy Drew
1408 (maybe)
Evan Almighty
Ratatouille
Transformers
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hairspray
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
The Simpsons Movie
The Bourne Ultimatum (still have to watch the first two)
The Ten
Rush Hour 3
Stardust
Good Luck Chuck
Balls of Fury
Martian Child
Bee Movie
The Golden Compass
Alvin and the Chipmunks (yes, you're reading it right.)
National Treasure: The Book of Secrets

That's all for now. A lot of the other movies, I hadn't heard of yet so we shall see what looks interesting.

Hope everyone's having a great summer so far! Call me up, maybe we'll go movies sometime. XP

Random Quiz for the Summer

2007-06-06T16:37:00.000-10:00

What type of Fae are you?

Quiz I took... Yeah.

Don't forget: Museum excursion June 23rd, 10:30am. questions, call or email me~

Museum Day Anyone?

2007-05-22T13:20:00.001-10:00

Hey! I don't know who still reads their blogs (or emails) BUT I sent out a mass email to everyone (including Linda and Kaveh) with a proposition for a Museum day. Bishop Museum, that is. I thought it'd be something cool to go to, we could probably bring in our sketchbooks and draw out some stuff.

For more information on the rates and what's going on (because I don't really have them off the top of my head), visit the Bishop Museum Website.

Anyone else still on the island and interested in going? Email or call me! I'm also thinking of planning some other things maybe like a beach day or a dinner night out or something to just hang out and keep in touch.

Hope everyone's having a great summer~

Judgement Day

2007-05-03T09:03:00.000-10:00

Today is the day! Yes, it is the day where my classmates and I bite our nails and lie in wait for the verdict that holds our future in its hands....

Okay, perhaps I'm being overly dramatic with that, but I know a bunch of us feel the same way with an anxiety and anxiousness to find out whether or not we got into ACM or not. A few of us are actually banking on getting in so we have enough classes for next semester. Personally, I'm nervous about it because ACM is like the doorway to what I ultimately want to do in my life: animate, create stories, have my drawings and ideas come to life.

This past semester was the best one yet and, not only because I thoroughly enjoyed my classes, but because I had an awesome class of peers to share that experience. I'm not going to get corny in this post but I had to post something because Judgement Day is here! The day the portfolios are due. After today, all I can reallly do is wait.

I'm actually at work right now.. with nothing much to do at all... When I get the chance, I'll be putting the majority of my animations into Photobucket or some other video upload place to make space in my UH account. The quality won't be as good, but at least it's up and viewable (hopefully). If anything, I'll try to post up my 216 demo reel and final turntable project for 3D Scene Design. The demo reel is basically final renders of pretty much all the animations I've done and, possibly, the 3D stuff I've done for my other class also.

Ganbatte kudasai, minna~

2D Pose to Pose Scene

2007-04-15T22:05:00.000-10:00

Finally, here is my pose to pose scene. Hopefully, my character's actions speak for themselves. :)

Two New Versions of the Jump

2007-04-15T14:35:00.000-10:00

Cat Jump timed
This is the same version of the one in the previous post, but with timing.

Another version
This version is a timed out version of a file Linda sent to me.

Hopefully these are pretty good.. Is anyone else having problems with Kaveh's homework? My Maya program keeps crashing on me.. ><

2D Push Plan

2007-04-15T07:57:00.000-10:00

I know this is rather late, but here it is. Also, I have Video Reference

Cat Jump v.3

2007-04-12T21:53:00.000-10:00

>>>Cat Jump v.3<<<

In case you're wondering why it's so fast, it's because I haven't worked out the timing. It's a completely different animation/ file from the last one. Working on the timing screwed up all my keyframes and I honestly didn't want to try to figure out what was what, so I started over. Oh yes, one small problem.. I'm not quite sure why or how his hip-box came outside of him.. Otherwise, hopefully, it's pretty close.

Soon to come: 2D Push Block.. I have the references! I just have to draw it out.

Cat Jump & 180 v.2

2007-03-24T05:05:00.000-10:00

Cat Jump v.2

Here is VERSION 2 of my Jump/ 180. Still revising, as always. *makes a peace sign

In revising the Jump/ 180... Taking out the extra adjustment at the end and timing it out right.

Character Walk & Reference

2007-03-18T14:00:00.000-10:00

[edited]

Here are my drawn out 2D Character Walks. I only have two, but I plan to maybe do more since my references show a few more walks I might think look better. But here's what I have for now. Hope they're clear enough to read.

[/edited]

Don't quite have the plan drawn out yet.. but I had the idea of my character walk being along the lines of dance/ walking to music. I find myself doing it once in a while when I'm really into a song or really happy.

Anyways, here is my Character Walk Reference Video

Side note~ The songs I was listening to when I took the video: "A Favor House Atlantic" by Coheed and Cambria; and "Girl's Not Grey" by A.F.I.

Jump and 180 Animation v.1

2007-03-16T11:58:00.000-10:00

Here's a first attempt at the jump and 180. I might just re-do the whole animation, but we'll see how I can revise the 180. It's going a bit fast.. I didn't get to play with the timing.. that's why it's version 1!

Kinda Corny, Kinda Personal, Kinda Blog-ish

2007-03-12T11:50:00.000-10:00

I'm not sure if it's okay to actually have something like this on here, so I'll make it discreet. I just figured, this is a blog, I have friends (and probably family) who view it, so I thought I'd make it a little more like a weblog.

If it's not cool I'll take it off right away. But till then (or not), I pose this question... How well do you think you know me?

From Gesture to Cat Model (Concerned)

2007-03-11T21:28:00.000-10:00

I tried to have my cat bend his knees but his feet kept going through the floor... Anyone know what's up with the rigging?

Final Robots

2007-03-11T18:35:00.000-10:00

These are my final renderings of my robots. These aren't the ones I sent to Kaveh on Thursday night, but I did re-send them today in hopes that he can replace the crappy ones I sent him the first time around. I thought I'd just send them in as they were and make revisions later if I had time. I wasn't too pleased with the backgrounds and didnt' get a chance to really go up to my potential with the final renderings before, but I think, with these, it comes close.

I had tons of fun modeling these and an even better time seeing these go from 2D sketches to 3D models in action.

Hope you enjoy them too :)

Simple Action: Getting out of a Pool v.1

2007-03-11T18:17:00.000-10:00

First one was a general idea. Then I made him a drama queen (He's happy to get to land). I'm going to take some poses from the first one to add to the second.

Jump and 180 Turn v.2

2007-03-11T16:55:00.000-10:00

Here are the updated Jump and 180 turn plan. I know things are coming in late, and I apologize but here goes~

This time around the jump and 180 turn are on separate pages.

Still Cat Walk v.1.3 (Final)

2007-03-05T13:36:00.000-10:00

Cat Walk Final

Well... I HOPE it's the final; after this, I plan to animate him actually moving in space instead of on a treadmill... hm... that's actually a good idea, too. Haha. Anyways, here it is. I'm happy the follow through didn't give me as much trouble as I dreaded..

Revisions Done:
Rotate shoulders
Deleted an extra bob of the head
Fixed the follow through of the hands
Straightened the elbow when it swings back

Sorry for the slight lag when it loops... I didn't get a chance to do the Post Infinity cycle.. been having a bit of a hard time selecting everything. :P

Cat Walk with Arms v.1.2

2007-03-04T23:47:00.000-10:00

Catwalk with Arms

I can't sleep right now, so I'm going to post what I have done with the cat walk so far. I haven't done the revisions recommended by Linda just yet, but I thought I'd post up what I had finished by the end of last Friday's class. I dont' know about everyone else, but A LOT was finished this past weekend... I have to fix the left arm (the one closest to us) so it looks more fluid. How ironic, the other arm (with an apparent problem with hierarchy in the rigging or something) looks better...

2D Jump and 180 Turn Plan

2007-03-04T10:37:00.000-10:00

Here it is, photographed... I plan to buy a new scanner/ printer/ copier soon. Probably within the next two paychecks, though.. Gotta save!!

It was honestly quite fun to draw.. For my life drawing class, earlier in the semester, we had to do these exercizes called "Kinetic drawings." Basically, our model would do a set of 4-5 poses; each time he/ she changed their pose, they would have to keep one foot in the same place. The result of this in my drawing would be the feeling of movement on the paper. This is what this 2D plan of jumping and doing a 180 turn reminded me of. Of course, in life drawing, we'd have to keep the pose true to its space instead of spreading it out. I had to do that for the 180 turn because it just would have been unrecognizable if I hadn't. (It also explains why my figures are so close together.) In reality, the turn would probably take place in relatively the same plane and less spread out.

Oh yes, and I did research for this, too. I figured, it'd be okay to post it in Photobucket since it wasn't really anything I wasn't TOO concerned about. Although, it did come out darker than it actually is...

Concerned Gestures

2007-03-04T08:47:00.000-10:00

Please forgive me for the crappy quality of this image. My printer/ scanner/ copier has officially gone on strike and refuses to work for me anymore so I had to take a picture to post the image. When I am able to gain access to a scanner, I will scan and replace these with a better quality image.

All I can say is that I noticed that a lot of the concerned gestures I thought of (and could act out) had a lot of inward pointed toes and the arms were in tight with the body as if in a "defensive" sort of gesture.

Cat Walk with Arms v.1.1

2007-02-28T09:17:00.000-10:00

Well, here is my cat with arms. I fixed the foot roll problem before I added in the arms. The fingers were fun to try and rotate.. I almost didn't get it to work but here it is. I was playing around with actually making my kitty move... it's on another file on my computer. I think it looks okay.. I have to fix the fact that, on some frames, it looks like he slides across the floor.

I don't know if anyone else feels this way.. but I feel somewhat... naked without my sketchbook. Like a part of me is missing. :( I'll have to scrounge up the sketchbook I was using before ACM.

But yes, here is my still cat walk with arms.

Enjoy~

Still Cat Walk v.1.3

2007-02-26T13:30:00.000-10:00

Still no arms. Awaiting approval to try starting on the arms and shoulders.

Catwalk_noarms

Still Cat Walk v.1.2

2007-02-25T17:09:00.000-10:00

Links are going to have to suffice for now till I make smaller renders of my movies. Linda has uploaded my walk vid for me and it'll be a text link for now until I get a chance to make a picture link for it. Hopefully it looks better. Still working on the UH server problem.

In the first version, there was a slight glitch in the leg movement the second time around, but it has been fixed in this version.

[edit 02/26/07]
It's kind of big... I made the width and height too big, so it's going to be a link for now. But, thanks to Art, I have the code to put the videos correctly on my blog from now on.. and I may have solved my uploading problem with the UH server.

You have to download the vid to see it!!
You do this by right-clicking --> Save target as.. I don't have this version on Maya anymore. I forgot to create the separate file and I just revised and saved over the old one. So this is the only version I have. It's too big to do a regular embed and I'm not sure of the coding to move where it would resize so... yeah. Sorry^^;

Cat Walk Version 1.2 (no arms)

Still Cat Walk v.1.1

2007-02-24T17:14:00.000-10:00

Here is my first attempt at the Cat Walk. I am currently revising my Follow Through also. I know, I know it's still in Photobucket.. but it's the best way I know how to share these videos without that stupid Forbidden message the UH server keeps giving me every time I try to make a link. Anyone know what's going on and what I should do? What about this: What coding do you put into your blogs to post from your UH account? That would be MUCH appreciated, thanks. :)

Cat Walk Version 1.1

Robot Designs

2007-02-23T17:34:00.000-10:00

Here are my robot designs. I wasn't in class to recieve the full critique on it, so any comments, questions, and suggestions are very welcome. :) You can probably tell which one is the male and which one is the female (if not, then.... I guess I'll have to explain a few things to you). For the male, it's kind of an ambitious design. I was kind of obsessed with the design of the thighs and legs, the rest sort of followed from there. A lot of my references for him go to the runegods from Magic Knight Rayearth, various mechs I saw on the covers of Full Metal Panic! and the helmet was inspired by illustrations of the dragoon job class of Final Fantasy III for DS Lite. The female... well... I kind of made her up on my own. Her design is SUPER basic and I will probably develop more features on her as I model her or maybe add in to the sketch as she progresses.

It'll be a long process, but I think it'll be fun when I'm not stressing about the deadline too much. :)

From Gesture to Cat Model (Excited)

2007-02-22T18:20:00.000-10:00

Here are my (better-late-than-never) 3D cat poses. It took me a little while to figure out how to make him jump... but when he did, boy did he look happy..

Now, off to work on those final character designs. I'm really not sure HOW we're supposed to execute the final colored characters, so I'm just gonna wing it and bring in the best I've got.

References for Character Design

2007-02-22T14:44:00.000-10:00

And the winning species is the... POLAR BEAR!! yay. I did the sketches/ drawings on my own since I honestly didn't understand what we were supposed to do.. so I just ran with it and said "Hey, polar bears... that looks like it could be something" The final products are still in the works... HOPEFULLY I'll have them done by tonight or even before class tomorrow, but I have everything else to do, too... Oh yes, crunch time "mid semester" comes over the horizon to cast a shadow over the light of free time.

Oh yes, and when I get home (and get a chance) I'll change my music to a more "spring atmosphere happiness" mood. Once I figure out how to play m4a's.

From the Anime Series, "Chobits"

2007-02-18T11:04:00.000-10:00

I know it's quite irrelevant.. (and it probably won't be appreciated much because it's not my own work) but I was watching the ending of the japanese anime series "Chobits" by CLAMP and I'm not sure why, the whole last dialogue kinda struck me. It's weird.. and very corny.. but it just hits me somehow. I kinda wanted to just type it out to get it out of my system.

----------------

"Something happened to me in the past that was really tough.

It still makes my heart ache...

The pain, the difficulty in staying after losing something so dear.

But I am looking...

Someone that will love me because I am me.

The person just for me.

And... I found him.

But that was the beginning of something even more painful.

It is painful to be next to him, though I could not do anything.

It is painful to see him go through pain.

That is why I stopped being in front of him and disappeared.

I disappeared because I loved him.

And yet...

It's even more painful being unable to see him

It's much, much more painful not being able to meet him...

What is happiness?

Happiness is..."

~From "Chobits" (Disc 6, ep.24)

Excited Gestures

2007-02-18T10:35:00.000-10:00

Here's my excited gestures. Honestly, right now I dont' feel very excited but I tried to depict it the best I could. I tried to think about how I would be if I was excited (posing in front of the small mirror in my room..) and this is what I came up with. I especially like the jumping ones.. cause I know how that feels: to be so happy as to jump off the ground. It was quite a challenge since I would usually define "excited" by facial expressions.. but it was a lot of fun.. I had to think about what would make me UBER happy/ excited. :)

Oh yes and, on a side note, I'll be trying to change the times of my posts because I realize that I forgot to change the time setting for my posts from PST (Pacific Standard Time) to Hawaii time... if I try to change it now, my posts will show up like.. a month late in the archives. So yes... my times are about 2 hours off if I don't change it manually. :)

Oh yes, and my follow through is finally up and running.. I've been having trouble uploading and posting from my UH account, so it's in Photobucket. I know it's not the best presentation, but it's what I have for now. It just hasn't been the best morning for me. -__-;

Happy Chinese New Year~

2D Walk Plan

2007-02-14T16:51:00.000-10:00

Here is my sketch of my walk plan. It was hard and easy at the same time. I think I attempted to do this on my own a while back (just for fun) and got a bit frustrated. This time around, it's still pretty... erm.. it's still kind of hard to grasp despite how easy it looks. It's pretty difficult. I mean, to get the timing, spacing and proportion just right.. not to mention making sure the character won't look off balance. Like I said before, it's easy, but it's not at the same time.

I understand that when the weight shifts, the hips tilt in whatever direction... like whenever you step with your right, the hips tilt down on the left. Whatever's the opposite of what side you're stepping on.

It's definitely a worthy adversary of an exercize. :nods:

For Your Listening Enjoyment...

2007-02-14T12:30:00.000-10:00

Music currently playing: Winter Waltz by Jim Brickman feat. David Klinkenberg

I actually don't know if I'm allowed to put music on my page.. haha.. But I've put up a song called Winter Waltz. I heard this song, for the first time, at the Jim Brickman concert that was held at the Blaisdell Concert Hall at the beginning of January. Although it doesn't have words, the way it sounds makes me feel kind of sad (kinda like winter). When the violin comes in... whooo.. it blew me away when I first heard it and first really listened to it. I know that music is a big inspiration for many, especially to me and to my artwork and illustrations. It helps get me in the right mood to work sometimes. Just thought I'd share it with you and I hope you enjoy it.

Oh and I just realized there's a player control at the bottom of the page. (Gotta scroll all the way down.) So if you don't want to listen to it, just press pause. That's pretty cool. Hehehe. It's been AGES since I remembered my HTML coding.. I'm glad I still kind of remember some.

Linda, if you want me to take it off cause it's too distracting, let me know. :)

Shoes of Doom

2007-02-14T12:15:00.000-10:00

This was quite a challenge. I realize the texture mapping is off... I blame it on lighting :P Overall, I think it came out pretty good. :) Thanks very muchly to those who helped~

The parts I'm most proud of are the buckles on the top of the shoe. Those were kind of a lot of work, but they were fun to make. :)

From Gesture to Cat Model (Devastation)

2007-02-14T11:41:00.000-10:00

My cat model on Valentine's Day... aww....

I realize that his nose is going INTO the table... but hey.. it's all about how it makes you feel, right? Don't we all have days like this?

Retarded Videos

2007-02-13T16:25:00.000-10:00

I realize that my videos are being retarded (forgive me for my lack of better words to describe it). I'm not sure if it's because of the file extension or because Photobucket is being stupid. I'm going to try uploading it elsewhere and also trying to save it as a quicktime. If it doesn't work, I'm gonna get a bit frustrated. >< If anything, I'll try to upload to the UH server. It hasn't been nice to me in the past, so I hope this time around it will be.

Soon to come: 3D "Devastated" & Shoe Models

Devastated Gestures

2007-02-11T14:50:00.000-10:00

Here are the gesture poses for "Devastated". A lot of them had strong arcs as they bent over... #2 looks more like an angry or bewildered kind of devastated. The ones I feel look the most devastated are maybe #3 and #8. The ones that come close are #5, 6, 7 and maybe 4. But that's my opinion. :) I wonder who'll be the winner...

Legislature Saturday

2007-02-11T13:50:00.000-10:00

After the recess (or right before), I noticed June was sketching stuff so I decided to do a quick one of a couple of the senators. Only ones I was able to sketch were Will Espero (Vice chair) and Carol Fukunaga (Chair).

I had the opportunity to go to the Legislature on Saturday to check out what was going on. What's happening is (if I'm not totally stupid) that the faculty and head guys for the ACM (and it looks like not just them) are trying to get bills passed so that the ACM has a facility where students and anyone into this new kind of media can come together and work in a close environment I guess where we can interact with each other as far as getting input and being able to hang out and work. I just thought I would write about it and what I thought since I never really went to this sort of thing before. I'm not really good at explaining stuff, so bear with me while I puke out what I can remember and what I think in this entry. :)

Saturday morning: I caught the bus with fellow classmate, Nathan Britton, which was quite an adventure in itself since there was a bunch of things that happened during that bus ride that made me feel really sorry for people who had to get off at places where the Express didn't stop. (A man tried to get out at this one stop and he asked the bus driver to open the door and she said it wasn't where she stopped so he had to wait till the bus next stopped, which apparently was really far from where he wanted to get off.) It was kind of my first time riding a bus somewhere on my own.. which is why I'm writing about it. I actually had looked online to make sure I knew what time the bus was coming and where I had to get off. Good thing I wasn't totally alone this time! There was also something going on, a police investigation or something, and the bus driver was instructed by radio to not stop at that bus stop that was in front of it. So we passed right by the people waiting there. The look on their faces said, "WTF, why isn't the bus stopping?" I felt so bad ><

ANYWAY, we caught the bus to the State Capitol and walked over to the Legislature building. The place is huge. I've been there once before for work, so it was really nice getting to go there again. After waiting for other classmates, we made our way to the conference room and got to sit down for a good couple of hours listening to testimonies and what other people had to say about the bills and trying to get new facilities and such.

The part that sort of blew me away was the amount of testimonies that were submitted. As one of the Senators, Carol Fukunaga, was reading off the names off all the students who submitted testimonies. (One of my friends even did one! That was interesting to hear) I, myself, didn't write a testimony but I kind of did want to get up and say something. It was in the back of my mind, but I didn't. I'm shy like that.. and maybe I should have. It goes against my whole zodiac sign personality as an Aries~ haha.

I honestly was afraid it would be boring as hell. I mean, I've been to meetings like that where they'd just go on and on, but I guess since it pertained to something that involved all of us, as students, I was interested in what they had to say and I didn't get bored as easily (or as fast). The senators weren't totally as I expected them to be either. I mean, they were pretty cool. I'm sorry but a lot of higher-up kind of people have this stereotypical persona that puts me to sleep. They are super formal, they don't seem to have a sense of humor, and are in this "I don't want to be here, but I have to get this done" vibe. But, even though they all might have been that way to an extent, they also had this laid back vibe. For example, one of the other Senators, Norman Sakamoto, related making a surfboard to something one of the other people from the Mele project was trying to say. I think that's one reason why I almost went up to testify. It made me feel comfortable to be there.

Getting back on topic, it didn't seem like we were getting ANY opposition from them. As it was discussed after the meeting with my classmates, they were asking for specifics: how many acres do you think it'll take, how many years do you forsee this or that, if we gave you money, what would you do with it? That's how it felt and it was really kinda like whoa, you know? (If I could say it better, I would.)

After that, we were all hanging out outside and decided to go to lunch with Kaveh, Linda and her husband, Bob, and [will insert name here when I remember]. Ended up going to Chinatown where they were partying hard for the Chinese New year (yay party!). Let's see, it was me, Art, Nathan, June, and Christie. We must've sat at that restraunt talking story for so long, I wonder if the owners and waitresses were getting irritated that we weren't leaving haha. Taking about everything from video games, ACM homework, jobs, natural disaster stories, comics... lots of stuff. That was really cool. I never had a time where I went out with my classmates and thought "Do the teachers want to come to lunch with us?" Hahaha that was great! I guess in college, if the teacher is open enough to their students, it makes it easier to feel like they aren't totally this higher up figure who's there to dicate what to do for homework and what we learn in the classroom, but someone who can get down to their student's level and be cool with just hanging and talking about stuff that both can relate to... like video games and comics.

I thought that was the best Saturday I've had in a long time. It wasn't only business and work, but it was a lot of fun, too. Hope a bunch of us can do that again sometime~!

From Gesture to Cat Model (Balance)

2007-02-11T00:09:00.000-10:00

Here are the Balance poses for my cat. Hope they turned out alright. As hard as drawing the gestures for balance were, actually modeling it out with the cat was much easier. On the image where I have my gesture sketch... when I brought my 3D snapshot into photoshop it scaled the image so it was in a square shape when I added the sketch.. so when I saved it, the image went back to normal. That is why the gesture sketch looks super stretched.

Onward to "Devastated"~