My skills as an illustrator are still mediocre. They are ever improving, but some things are much more tricky to get the hang of. My proportions are good. There isn't much improvement I need to be a decent illustrator in terms of proportions. I am really starting to understand what to exaggerate when drawing and sketching for animation. But my line quality still licks the sweat off the balls of the suck squirrel. Fortunately, my figure drawing class is really making me focus on this. It also makes me really focus on composition and placement. But this is all with charcoal. Pencil or pen & ink? Who knows. I'm OK with a pencil, pen I still need work on.
In Class Drawings
Rushed the rendering
Needs more work on foreshortening
Drapery sucks on small testes
Too dark in back
Didn't finish the hands
The shading on the face was a bad idea
The drapery shading is awful
Ugh
That sure is a small head
The inner contours are total chicken scratch crap
So I know what I need to work on improving. I have progressed very much in the last 2 years. So in another 2 years all be more than decent.
I am taking an astronomy class this semester and might I say how awesome it is.
The teacher is so into it and it rubs off onto the students, especially me.
At the end of class I am always so jazzed - which is unfortunate because it ends at 9:50 pm and I have to wake up early the next morning for my 8:30 class but can't get to sleep til 2:00 am because I'm so pumped.
But the reason for this post is to express to people my new revelation.
While discussing stars and galaxies my brain momentarily comprehended the grandness of the universe. My brain only does this once a month or so. It is such an awesome and humbling experience. For just a few seconds I am grasping the insignificance of our whole galaxy let alone our solar system or planet thus lives.
I call this brief phenomenon a Cognitive Orgasm or Brain Orgasm. I call it this because as I said it only lasts a couple of seconds and it takes some build up to get to it. I have to mull over the stars for some time before the "point of no return" if you will when it is inevitable that I will have one. The other reason I call it this is because over some time I build up a lot of stress and anxiety over trivial matters, and then once I have a brain orgasm, I realize how lame it is for me to be tense. And all at once my worries melt away. It is a wonderful feeling.
It only happens to me when I'm thinking about astronomy or religion. I encourage the lot of you to try and achieve one of these orgasms. I have never heard anyone talk about anything like this which (naturally) makes me feel like I'm the only one.
So, the end of the school year and now to see how my work has turned out.
My drawing skills keep evolving and my patience and understanding is growing. I don't mind sitting down to draw for a long while anymore because now the end results aren't total shit. But to be honest, I don't think I've ever put more than 6 hours on any 1 drawing.
This is my better stuff from my anatomy class. And it only makes sense that most of this was from the end of the year. I definitely know what I have to improve.
With this new found technique and knowledge, I now apply it to my own work.
I woke up early. I got ready for the day. I went to check out an apartment. We like the apartment so we had to get it. We did much coordination, bartering, and planning to get the place but we got it.
It's a snazzy little joint in South Park, SF by AT&T Park.
Then I helped my friend with his stop-mo project constructing building miniatures. Then went to a meeting, then back to help my friend.
Then I went home and my friend made cupcakes that looked like penguins in our room.
In the last three weeks of school, I have been busier than ever, which is a good thing. I will be very busy for the remaining semester, and I hope to keep learning and improving at this same pace. I will be producing much more stuff in the next few months.
I have especially been focusing on my 2D animation class and my anatomy class.