Booyakasha!

I'm officially halfway through my distance ed course (HIST 131).

Woo hoo *yawn*

My only regret so far is that I waited this long to actually make a dent in this course. I want to absorb the information, take my time while I read the material, and reflect on what I've just learned. At times I find myself getting immersed in the story rather than picking out the necessary information needed to get this course done in a timely manner.

Oh well. I'll still have the book once I'm finished :)

Wish me luck, or preferably, a coherent-state-of-insomnia-cocktail garnished with a very looooong attention span.

It Needs to Focus

I'm going to try to avoid the internet until about 5pm on Thursday, as I have over half of a Distance Ed course to finish in 4 days time. As a matter of fact, I'm going to avoid computers all together, since I tend to find other projects to work on instead. For example, I created a new blog for my radioshow today while I was working on my homework. It's awesome, but isn't going to get me a passing grade.

You can check it out here.

Anyway, the point of this post is to let you guys know that if I don't appear online for a while, it's likely because I'm holed up in my apartment, acting neurotic and wishing I was in a studio working on things that matter to me.

I will find any way possible to procrastinate

Which is why I'm writing this blog right now.

I have to finish an entire distance ED course in five days, but instead of working on it, I've decided to watch animated videos about pandas. Holy crap they're so cute.



PS Check out this video Jess showed me. It's called Take on Me: Literal Version:

Tribute

I love "A Softer World" strips and my dear friend Kimi.

So tonight, dear readers, I decided to make an ASW type strip using a picture of mi compadre.

Please spare a vote for mupples <3

Three days ago, I received an unexpected email from a representative of Aniboom, a website where people are able to gain exposure for their animations.

Hey shayna

Recently I came across Mupples, and was really impressed.

I am the Content Recruitment Coordinator at aniboom.com and I think you have an excellent chance of winning our 3rd Annual Aniboom Awards 2008, the leading online animation festival boasting $50,000 worth of prizes.

I would like to invite you to submit your work to the competition, the submission process is very user friendly and only takes a moment.

I’d love to hear any thoughts you may have, or answer any questions , please feel free to contact me.

Cheers,

Anat

The aniBoom Team

I'm not sure if the email sent to me is a generic one that they send to anyone who posts animations on the web, or if this person actually was impressed with my handy work. Either way, I decided to give the competition a shot.

If you'd like to help my animation get exposure, you can do so by following the instructions on this page: Clicky.

To get to my animation, you can either click on the animation below, or go to this link: Mupples!

The more votes and page visits I get, the better my chances are to gain exposure from the masses. So if you like it, please vote for "Mupples".

Thanks for your help ♥

PS I made a few changes to the animation. Maybe not enough to be noticeable, but enough to steal 6 hours away from my life. I hope you enjoy it again (or for the first time!)



Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

Decorate yer car's derrier ;P

Hey Everybody!

The KSUA campaign stickers I designed finally arrived! Stop by the KSUA office to pick one up or give me your address so I can send some to you...or something.

We only purchased 250 of them, so they will likely go extremely fast.

Have a great day!

It wasn't a fish all along ;_;

One of the coolest things I've had the opportunity to do this semester is cast bronze pieces with cuttlefish bones.

That's right, the bones of those adorable squid-like molluscs that live in the sea.



The calcareous internal shell of these cute creatures is incredibly soft, and very difficult to carve small details into. I ended up carving two different pieces. The first one was a simple design of a stick figure with an "XD" head.



I ended up finishing that design so quickly that I found myself sitting around watching other people carve their cuttlefish, completely bored out of my mind. We had a lot of time left before we were able to pour molten bronze into the bone, so I decided to try a more complex design. I carved a girl sitting on a dock with a fishing line (there's a fish at the end).



After everyone was done carving, we sealed the bones with wire and putty to ensure that the cuttle fish wouldn't break open as the metal was poured inside them.



We then surrounded the cuttlefish with sand in a can and poured the melted bronze into the belly of the bone. I know it's going to sound weird, but watching bronze melt is actually really entertaining. It's incredibly bright (even with goggles on) and kind of looks like a star slumping from its own heat until it turns into metal soup.



After the bronze cooled down enough, we ran our cuttle fish to the sink to break them open and to rinse the metal off.



We then cut off all of the excess metal, sandblasted the pieces, buffed them, polished them, and some of us added patinas to them (I didn't patina the girl because I like how she turned out, but I plan on adding it to the "XD" dude to give it some color).

I'm finished with the detailed piece, but still have work to do on my simpler one. Here is what I have so far:





I'll try to post better pictures of them when "XD" dude is completely finished.

Video Postcards, M'Dears

As you all know, because you're ALL loyal readers of my blog*, Jess and I have work hanging in the Bear Gallery and the Annex this month**. Since Jess' family is so far away, I agreed to help her make video postcards of our First Friday experience for her parents.

This was the first time Jess had ever entered anything into an art show outside of the University. I've only submitted one other time (aside from the student art shows I've been in). It was the Sequential Art Show of 2007. I had no idea my work was actually accepted until someone called me up on First Friday while I was in Portland to tell me they saw my comic hanging up at the Annex. I was bummed I missed the opening of the show.

So this First Friday was exciting for both of us, because it was the first one we've been to where our art was hanging on the gallery walls.

The first video is from our stop at the Bear Gallery***. The second was filmed while we were at The Annex. I decided to share them with you guys, too...so you can feel like you were there as well.



This show was "The 64th Parallel", a juried, annual exhibition that only accepts 64 pieces of artwork. Here is an article that describes it in better detail: Interior artists present 64 pieces at the 64th parallel.



The show at the Annex was "The 4th Anniversary OPEN Exhibit". Every piece of artwork that was submitted to the gallery this month was accepted. It's a fun show because things are hung in clusteres rather than the typical gallery format. There was wine, soft chocolate chip cookies, and a painted naked chick doing a bizarre performance. It was pretty rad.

*I do NOT suffer delusions of grandeur...sorta.
**If you couldn't make it to First Friday, do not dispair. Our work will be hanging in these two galleries during the entire month of October :)
***I just need to point out that my sister Andy DOES belong. If I don't write this disclaimer she'll destroy me with her mighty fists of fury.

FAI->EWR->SEA->SFO->FAI

This January, I plan to embark on a journey, that of which requires my attendance on seven (that's right, seven) planes. Not all at once, mind you. That would require smoke, mirrors, and perhaps a hacksaw to be successful.

No, dear readers, my plan is to hop from plane to plane to three different cities within an 18 day period: New York, Seattle and San Francisco. Here's the itinerary:

1. I will fly to New York to hang out with my Nick from the 1st until the early morn' of the 12th. If any of my peeps (that's you!) will be in the vicinity at that time, plan for awesome hangouts with me and my boi (because you still need to meet him).

2. On the 12th, Nick and I will be flying to Seattle to hang out with all of our Seattleites for one fun-filled day. I think all of our Portland friends should come up, too...because I miss you...and stuff...so there :P

3. After our day of much needed visits, the two of us will fly into San Francisco to visit Nick's mom until the 18th. This will be the first time I meet her, so it is both exciting and frightening. I shouldn't be worried, because as far as I know, none of my boyfriend's moms have disliked me in the past. But you never know when your luck with parent's will run out.

Maybe if I cover myself with products mothers like and approve, she will find me acceptable...you know...products like Jiff Peanut Butter and Kix.

I think I'm on to something...

Giddy Betch

Oh hai frendz :P

I'm hoping that you guys don't have much planned this Friday between the hours of 5pm and 8pm.

Why, you ask? Well my darling dudes, this Friday just so happens to be First Friday, the day you go out to the galleries scattered across town to see all of the new art hanging within their walls (whilst eating tasty free food).

But wait...why am I suddenly interested in promoting such a day?! The answer is simple, really:

Jess and I have artwork hanging in The Bear Gallery and The Annex during the month of October XD!

That's right!

So add a little culture to your diet and come out to First Friday (10/03/08)!