Living the Creative Life

Sorry to be so MIA this month. I've officially finished school and begun my freelance life. So far that consists of adding to  my portfolio website , sprucing up my Etsy graphics shop , and also hunting for "real" jobs. I love the idea of freelancing, but also know that it might take awhile to get traction in that area. Hopefully I can do both for awhile! We're also a bit in limbo about moving, which is why I haven't mentioned it much. You could pray about that, if you like, that all goes well in that department. Long story short, my dad is trying to sell his distributorship so he can start his new area selling down in Northern LA area, but the upper-ups in his company seem to be dragging their feet on approving our buyer. We think we finally have all the i's dotted and the t's crossed though, so hopefully things should fall into place this week so we can make definitely plans. This whole thing has been hanging in the works for about a year now, so we...

Having just given a speech myself this week, the subject of speech-giving has been on my mind. Despite my being one of the most introverted people I know, I was actually the least-nervous-looking person presenting that day (according to my dad). Yes, I definitely was nervous, but here are some of my tricks as to how to not appear so: #1 - Pretend You're Not Nervous This is probably the best tip I have. It sounds too good to be true, but it really works. I got the idea awhile back when I was pondering how actors act. Basically, I just pretend that I'm someone who doesn't get nervous. The butterflies in my stomach try to disagree with me, but I try not to listen to them (much). #2 - Stare at the Back of the Room This tip I learned in my many years of high school and college choir, back in the day. Instead of actually looking into the crowd of people staring at you... look just above their heads at the back wall. They'll feel like you're looking at them, but you ...

The bad part of posting blog posts late is that when you're trying to follow a prompt that has you taking photos of your day... it's already too late because that day has passed! Lol. I checked my iPhone for any recent photos that I've taken though and ran across this one. My apologies for the fuzzy photo. I was taking this more to remember the quote and less to blog about it, but... you can see how well that turned out. Lol. This photo is of a quote from one of the fliers for our gallery opening (if you know who said this, please let me know!). Anyway, this gallery opening has pretty much been consuming my life lately, so I haven't had time to take personal photos lately! Sad, but true. ;) So you get a glimpse into my design life instead. ;)

I'm an introvert who loves designing, reading, & learning! ***** On a sidenote... if you've been paying attention, you'll know that I haven't posted in about a week! School's been majorly busy so I put blogging on the back burner for awhile - this post will be dated for the date is was supposed to be posted, for example, since I'm trying to do the Blog Every Day in May challenge. ;) We put up a gallery exhibit this weekend, showcasing our graduating class' design projects from the last 2-3 years. It's crazy how much work goes into a show like that! I probably put in 50-60 hours of time over the last week and a half getting ready for the show. Needless to say I've been playing hooky part of this week so I can rest up. ;)

Due to my MacBook cord deciding it didn't want to charge my MacBook anymore and also due to my school schedule, I thought it might be fun to do a series of quick posts from my iPhone for awhile. I'll try to post a photo a day and give a brief synopsis of what I've been up to. What do you think? So my first day of my last term of school was yesterday. So far so good! I'm only taking 3 classes instead of the 5 that I should be taking, but I know I made the right decision. Having too busy of a schedule totally stressed me out and these three classes that I am taking are going to be insanely tough as it is. We're working on our graduating portfolio, personal identity and branding, and personal website (to be used for our online portfolio). Needless to say all these are all very important projects and very time consuming as well! Which brings me to another topic I'd like to discuss. Well two really... (did I say this was going to be a quick post? oops). So since ...

This is my final project in my Illustration class last term. I turned it in matted in a frame, but here is what it looked like right before I matted it. I'm not continuing my Illustration class next term because I have too many other classes to concentrate on, but it's been an interesting journey while it lasted. I can't say as I feel especially gifted in this area, but it has helped my eye, which is what you need as a graphic designer. For me, the laborious nature of hand-making an image is not as interesting to me as creating it digitally. At least not for making a living at. I do find the process cathartic and relaxing, but not when it's for a grade and a deadline. If that makes any sense. Anyway... so this project was to illustrate the phrase, "A book is a present that you can can open again and again". My teacher thought it would be a good idea to make it look like the books were creating a landscape - rolling hills below and cityscape behind. I...

Last week we were given a phrase (randomly drawn out of a hat) and were asked to illustrate it in pastels. We were not allowed to use any words in our drawing, and the goal was that 90% of the people who looked at it would be able to get the impression of the meaning of the phrase (if not the exact phrase). So... here's my pastel composition. I may have to tweak it some more today when we turn it in (our teacher is notorious for saying, "That's great... now just change this and this and this and this..."). Lol. So the bigger question is... was I successful? Can you tell what this is supposed to be saying?

In going through my iPhone to find photos of past projects that I'd forgotten to tell you about, I found a photo of a graphite (pencil) rendering I did of leaves last term. I'm pretty sure I forgot to tell you about this, so wanted to share it now! This particular assignment was stuffed into finals week last term so was done VERY QUICKLY (like in about 4 hours). Normally I would allow at least 20 or 30 hours for something this detailed, but due to being assigned very close to our due date (giving only about a week's notice) and also having a million other projects due also in that same week, this ended up being a one afternoon project. Despite doing it so quickly though, I was amazed how just remembering to leave highlights and add shadows really made it feel real much more than I would've thought it would've. That's definitely one thing I'm learning in this illustration class... don't forget the highlights and shadows! Those are what give the subject ...

We've been working on pastels this past week in my Illustration class. It's super messy and super fun! I feel like I'm a child playing in finger paints. Lol. It basically is like chalk, and you layer on the colors and then blend it with my fingers. We did several practice pieces, and then did this one based on the same ribbon I did in our technical pen project and our graphite pencil project . It's actually kind of like revisiting an old friend because I know this ribbon so well now! I understand where the shadows are, where the highlights are, which sections are trickier to render so they come across well. I never would've thought drawing/painting the same ribbon over and over and over would be interesting, but it actually is! And I just realized I never showed you my final stippled ribbon. I'm not even sure I blogged about it, to be honest. Lol. The only photo of it is of when it's about 95% done, so I'll be sure and update you when I get a fu...

Lest you think that all I do with my days is play The Sims or knit hats ... here is a look at one of my current school projects. We're learning how to do ink wash! It's very similar to watercolor. Basically we dropped different quantities of drawing ink into water to create different darknesses of wash. Then we trace a pencil outline of our composition onto a coldpress board, and fill in the values with the ink wash! It can be a messy process, but overall not as hard as I thought it would be. Here are some of my practice boards. I'm working on the final composition now and should have it done this coming week!

Well my meeting yesterday with the department dean went well (see Sunday's post , if you have no idea what I'm talking about). At first there didn't seem to be any wiggle room. The dean was sympathetic to my plight, but the financial aid people weren't budging. Then the dean's secretary remembered a department grant that they still had to give out! The grant basically covers tuition and nothing else, but that's more than I had before! From there it pretty much steamrolled. They just needed the department head's approval to give me the grant, and since he's also my advisor and the one who was so adamant that I talk to the dean to find a way to stay... well obviously he was more than willing to okay it. I'm just waiting on the paperwork to go through now, but it looks like all will be well. Now I just need to cover fees and supplies on my own, which is still going to cost me a bit, but it'll be less painful than trying to come up tuition by Frida...

Long story short... I found out this past week that my financial aid had been cancelled for this coming term (the term that starts tomorrow ). I had to take an extension on one of my classes from last term, which puts it in the computer as me not having completed all my classes, which kicks me out of eligibility for financial aid, which means I can't attend classes at all Winter Term. Aghhh!! I emailed my advisor about it, mainly just telling him the situation and asking if he could let me into the building to get my stuff out of my locker. His response was that I should meet with the Dean and that she may have an idea or two to get me back in classes sooner. Which I totally wasn't expecting! I was sure all hope was gone for resolving this quickly, but he makes me think there might be a way for me to take classes this term after all. So now I'm in panic-mode, trying to gather up all my stuff that I'll need tomorrow. I was already sort of resolved to just taking the...

I wish you could see our graphics lab this week. Normally we're messy but somewhat orderly in our mess. This week, everyone's practically moved in. Papers are everywhere, blankets and pillows abound, food and lots of coffee clutter the kitchen in the corner. Finals week is upon us and everyone is walking around in a sort of zombie-like, half-asleep state, cutting, pasting, matting, drawing, and stippling (okay actually that project is done). Our normally talkative group is huddled over their drawing boards in a hushed panic as each deadline looms over our heads. If I wasn't right there with them, it'd almost be a little comical! ;) Oh, also... I have a new niece! Rachel Joy. Born this morning, happy and healthy! So adorable, isn't she?

Here's a peek at what I've been up to these days... This is a pencil drawing based on a photograph of an composition of cash register tape that we arranged. It's supposed to look like a Christmas-style ribbon, all loopy, and if we shade it right, should demonstrate trompe l'oeil, which is French for "deceive the eye", meaning that the flat drawing should appear like a 3-dimensional thing actually extruding off the page. We've also got lots of reading, note-taking, and comprehension questions this year! It's easy to get behind on this since the actual turn-in projects always seem to take precedence. If I can find the money, I might get a bunch of next term's books to read during my Christmas break to get a little ahead of the game! That would sure save myself a headache as I get more busy with projects next term. (Easier said than done, of course, since I tend to like to relax on my vacations!)

I keep waiting until I have time to do a proper post... and then I keep not having time to think of something brilliant to say. So my apologies to anyone who has wondered where I've been lately. School has been keeping me BUSY!! It's the 5th week of classes already, can you believe it? I'm going to try really hard to just post little posts every day or two instead of waiting until inspiration hits me. Here's what I've been working on for the last couple weeks (there's acetate over the drawing so unfortunately I have a little ceiling light reflected across the drawing in the photo). Anyway, this is all done in pencil (mostly 4B and 6B soft pencils). It started as a rough sketch, then was scanned in and re-drawn in Illustrator, then printed out and shaded in about 5 times until we knew exactly how we wanted the final piece to look... THEN we transferred it onto illustration board and shaded it very carefully until it looked "realistic" (or as rea...

Greetings from student-land! How is life out there in the free world? Lol. Just kidding. ;P I really am having fun, but it's easy to remember the bygone days of summer (aka: two weeks ago) and wish I were able to knit and watch TV all day like I did then. I suppose in the long, overarching scheme of things, I'm going to school so I can work a job that can afford me time off to be able to knit and watch TV all day, so... that's something to look forward to, right? Lol. These are my books for the semester. I'm already behind, believe it or not. I was planning to read as I went along... and then the "real" assignments were assigned (meaning those that the teachers collect so they have to be done on time), so reading got shoved to the back burner. I made it the top priority on my "To Do" list for the weekend to finish last week's reading, start (and hopefully finish) next week's reading, and try to get a little further ahead than that i...

Today I started my biology project. We're supposed to study a single plot of land for 8 weeks and report on our findings each week. We were given a field guide with questions and tasks to guide us (find a leaf, measure the air temperature, etc) and are basically supposed to behave like scientists studying a new environment. We were told to try to find a site that measures roughly 50x100 feet; has meadow and trees, but no water running through it; is not mowed or cultivated; and is ideally close to home. So... as I half-heartedly observed my town, nothing jumped out as even remotely meeting the requirements. This is Oregon, so there's water everywhere (or blackberries, which are equally impenetrable). Also, do you know how hard it is to find a field that hasn't been mowed or isn't part of someone's wheat crop? I finally settled on the garden plot out in our backyard. We've let it go wild over the past year, so I think it qualifies on most accounts (although i...

One of my projects this week was to make a 25-step value scale in pencil. Well, technically 9 of the steps were computer generated, but the other 16 were pencil. It sounds worse than it is, and honestly it felt great to get my drawing pencils out again!

Hi everyone! How's life out there in the non-student world? I'm four days into my second year of design school and it's great (and tiring!) to be back in the swing of things. I feel like I know more what to expect this year, which is a great feeling. I haven't seen a lot of the first-years yet, since we have vastly different schedules, but the few I have seen all look scared and lost! Did we look like that last year? (Probably!). Of my class, about 25 came back this year. I really didn't expect that many, as the class a year ahead of us only retained about 6 or 7 students from first year to second year! It's nice to have so many familiar faces around, though! So far my days this week have been a flurry of lectures, reading texts on graphic design, art history, and biology (the one general ed I have left to take), breaking out the pencils, rulers, and papers to start on some illustration projects, and standing in long lines at the bookstore. I keep meaning to...

I had a huge bomb dropped on me yesterday... in a good way. I've been talking with my advisor all week about what classes to take next year and yesterday he was like, "Wait... why aren't you signed for Graphic Design I?" which is a third-year class . Due to not having very many second-years this year, he had told us first-years that we would be allowed to take some of the third-year classes with them while we're still in our second year if we wanted to. I had prayed about it quite a bit when I first found out about this opportunity, and although I sort of wanted to do that, I had pretty much talked myself out of it. So I told him, "Well, I was just going to wait and take everything in order," and he was like, "Nooooo! You have to take it! You'll be so good at it!!!" Lol. I asked him if he thought I was ready to jump ahead like that (he was one of my teachers this year, so he's familiar with my work), and he was like, "Oh def...