I don't C Why...

Honestly, i am considering requesting a different online teacher for this FND:110 class. She gave me a fucking "C" for the last homework i posted (not the immediate picture below, but the one i said i did).

Here is her reasoning as to what's wrong with my image and why it got a C.

= The cylinder's top ellipse looks good, except that its right end is a bit pinched.

= The bottom ellipse has a slightly pointed left end.

= The sphere and the cube have good structure. The cone, though, has pointed ends.

= There is also the sense that you're too close to the objects, because the cylinder and the cone are

leaning in the opposite directions.

= Normally, they should both be perpendicular to the table.

= The shading is started very well, but it isn't quite finished.

= The good thing about the shading is that the overall pattern

of light and dark shapes is very effective.

= What makes the shading look unfinished is mainly that most

of the objects don't have the full range of values.

= For example, the cylinder has about three.

= The sphere maybe four, and the cube only two or three.

= The cone has a greater range of values than the other objects,

but it's missing a lighter value.

= The cylinder's left side, and its top, should have more half-tones.

= The transition from light to dark on the cylinder should be more gradual.

= The sphere should have a visible highlight, and the lighter values

should get darker and darker as they get farther away from the highlight.

= Here, too, it would be good to have a softer transition from light to dark.

= The cube should have a couple more values.

= Parts of the darkest side of the cube should be darker.

= There should also be more difference in value between the two lighter sides.

= There is also the matter of outlines

= Right now, there are outlines around most of the objects, and around each of the cube's sides.

= In a finished drawing, ALL of the outlines should be done away with,

because they mess up the illusion of space (they remind the viewers

that what they're looking at is a 2D page, as opposed to 3D space,

since in 3D space, there are no lines).

= For example, the only way I should be able to tell where the

cylinder (A) ends and the table (B) begins is by a shift in tonal value.

= The line in between (blue) should not be there at all.

= The same applies to all the objects' edges, as well as the cast shadows' edges (light blue).

= Be careful about where you want to use the darkest dark that your material is capable of.

= It is usually better to use it sparingly, in small areas.

= This is because when you cover a large area with a very

dark, opaque layer of charcoal, it can attract a lot of attention and be distracting.

= Here, be careful about the dark value on the right side of the

cone (yellow), as well as the area of cast shadow immediately

to the right of the cube (white).

= It would be better to make them lighter, more transparent,

as opposed to opaque.

= Also when working with cast shadows, each cast shadow is

usually at its darkest immediately next to the object, and

gets lighter as it gets farther away.

= Its edges usually get softer with distance from the object.

= To create a better illusion of space, it is often better to make

the front edges of a cast shadow crisper than its back edges.

= For example, the front edge of the cylinder's cast shadow

(red) should be crisper and darker than its far edge (purple).

= Right now, it it the other way around, which can be distracting.

= The image as a whole would work better, and appear more finished,

with some more shading in the background.

= For example, it is usually a good idea to make the background

and the foreground different in value, because it helps create the illusion of space.

An Apple A Day...

...apparently gets you crappy grades. My next assignment for FND:110 is to draw a simple still life set up. So i decided this time i'd see what the teacher looks at when deciding your grade rather than thinking what i've got is worthy of a B.

So i always pass up the "A" grade because my skills aren't that great. So i started on "B", and she mentioned that arrangment of items should be reconsidered for better eye flow, and then, out of nowhere, she actually said (which meant she thought it was important enough to mention) that the apple was 'too tall and thin.'

Can you believe that crap!? It's not like he draw it as if it had the width of an apple core; sure it's thinner than it is tall - but come on...where's the A for Effort?!?!?!?!

I can tell i'm not gonna like how this teacher grades....She gets an "F" (for Fundamental Failure)

Artistic Value...

My homework for my analysis of Form class was to draw the four basic geometric shapes (cube, sphere, cone, and cylinder) and shade them in full value (which is a greyscale basically). So the first one i did (sphere), which i hadn't intended on being my submission, actually turned out pretty nicely - and i enjoyed every minute of it thoroughly. It's not exactly an "A" in the teacher's eye because there are some flaws in it...but i'd give myself an "A" for effort and the end result having never done this before.






This was my second attempt having just finished the sphere. It's a little blurry near the bottom...which is how it scanned for some reason, but you can still see a vast majority of it and i'm proud to say that although it's not a 100% symmetrical cone, and there areshading errors in it...i think this is pretty good for someone with no prior charcoal experience.











This is the picture i took of the four shapes at once (i figured it would take me a while to draw and shade so i took a picture so the shadows would move). This was my reference during the two/three days it took me to do the picture below (which i know kind of defeats the purpose because sometimes your subject can't sit there for that long...unless they're dead - which wouldn't be life drawing anyway).

So here's the end result after two/three days work (including sketching the shapes and contour lines, going over it in one shade, adding contrast by doing black/white, then shading and smoothing out the transitions between values). I'm pretty proud of it - i already sprayed some fixative on it and will probably frame it and send it to someone (not that my art is all that, but for my and what i can do...it's at least a bag of Ruffles)

Here's the second pass at my bumper, with improved lighting and adjusted flare intensity (much improved).

Bumpers...

So my assignment for my ANM:105 class this week was to work on a bumper for my demo reel. A bumper is basically a little intro, usually no longer than 10 seconds or so, that'll basically become your calling card. Columbia TriStar's bumper of the 'statue of libarty' and 'Pegasus' infront of a cloudy background is pretty memorable.

So since i don't have a title for myself besides noob, i figured i wouldn't waste time doing something like 'Lighting' or 'Texture Artist'. So i decided to go with the mock company title i had been holding in my head for some time now: 'Omicron Entertainment'

I fixed some of the errors that were obvious with my previous assignment/post where people were not associating the large O with the rest of the word.

There are some issues with the flare intensity making it hard to clearly make out the surrounding letters - but all that's easily fixed by moving a slider down a few incriments; the only reason i haven't done that yet is because rendering it takes a while (and if i make it as perfect as possible on the first pass then it won't look like my skills are improving when it gets better the next time around).

That's it for now - homework for FND:110 tomorrow

Wishing On A Star...

I'm heading off to bed early tonight cuz i really don't feel all that great. I could stay up for another hour or so and play some games, do school work (which a good student would do) or even do what i said i was going to do and try to re-enroll in TriCare (military medical coverage), but i'm not.

I was coming home just a while ago and had to get out my car to open the gate leading onto our property. When i was closing the gate and walking back to my car i looked up to see how dark the night sky was (and therefor how many stars were visible) and saw only one....

It was the star i gave to one of my best friends. It wasn't the same thing as where you call some 1-800 number and buy a star you can only see through the hubble telescope, this one had meaning. We had both known each other for several years because our relatives were practically neighbors (out in the boonies being even 1500 feet from each other makes you neighbors if nothings in between you two) and had spent several summers and winters visiting.

So during my second year of living out here, and his first after finishing high school, we spent as much time together as we could because we always considered each other brothers. So one evening, and i honestly completely forget the context of which this arose, i told him that particular star was his; that it's always there (because it always is) and if he ever felt lonely or sad or anything, to just look up at the sky and the star would remind him that he always had someone who cared for him.

Well after a whole bunch of crap i would really not like to recount, we were no longer friends (most of which was his fault - though some was mine) and i always get a little...well i guess depressed is too strong a word. I get down-spirited whenever i see that star (which is quite often in the late evening before the sky becomes sprinkled with stars) and i know if i'm ever in a relationship like that (either friendship or actual relationship) that i can't do that again because its been marred by that last experience.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

I think that might be a reason i like watching movies so much. it allows me to escape into a world where things may be predictable (especially if you've seen your fair share of movies), but if you can detach yourself from being in the theater and relate fully to the trials and experiences of the characters in the movie, you leave slightly elated with the hope that you might someday feel the way the movie portrayed.

It's a sad fact when you look at it...if your life were anything like what you saw in the movie...you wouldn't be in the theaters watching movies like that; you'd be out having the life you wanted (which is why people who have lives like those in Friends, Will and Grace, That 70's Show, and other shows don't sit around the tv watching it - they're out living it.

It's probably even worse that i'm sitting in front of this computer typing about it rather than having someone to talk to about it - but that's just my character: i give excellent advice to my best friends about relationship issues thy're having, but never seem to bother them with anything that's bothering me. Well you can thank that excellent advice to many movies watched and relationships observed rather than personal experience.

I guess i'll go to bed now; my pillow is lying there looking lonely.


Song of the Night:
Mariah Carey - My All

Homework and Shtuff

So this was my homework for my FND:110 clas. Set up the four basic geometric shapes and draw them 4 times, each from a different perspective view, and in line only (no shading for those who don't know and were too lazy to guess by looking at the drawings...hehe). So the first one was actually done 100% by me, no aid of any kind. But when i was done with it and going to upload it to my class, i saw a new post by the teacher saying that she forgot to tell us to draw it 4 different times in different views. Well by that time i was already out of drawing mode that i did each of the other ones quickly (tho in the same manner) with a regular pencil, then did a free hand with charcoal.

So this is the only one that was 100% from scratch. And i know what the homework was to do anyway (especially when you take the excersizes into account). It was supposed to familiarize yourself with perspective and repetition of those shapes (elipses and cubes) so that they come more naturally the next time you try to draw/sketch them.







Maybe took 85% the time and effort as the first one...but when it came to the charcoal...i really effed it up and it's noticable like the crators on the moon. I think the first one is the best one...which is odd cuz i didn't to a first pass with pencil (cuz it's easier to erase a mistake than charcoal).








The angle i took this pic makes the cone seem a little fatter than it should be...but that might be because it somewhat is....i mean the angle of the camera wasn't that severe.....come on now....geez.









By this time i was tired of doing this and hastily finished it....lets just say this was the first one and that's why it's sooooo bad...yeah - that excuse works.










= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

I was getting ready to sit down and do the above pictures when i noticed my cat, Vaan, laying on the floor behind my computer chair. It seems we have the same taste in fashion as he's laying on my favorite pair of jeans...i mean it's not like he picked em out for me (that would be awesome; to have a pet that would pic out your clothes...altough the potential for slobber and hair would be too high in comparison to the benefits).





And on an entirely different note, this is how i've been wearing my hair lately, but have done without it for the past week as it's gotten to that point where it's too long to do anything with it without taking too much time (this itself took a bit of time to do...compared to getting a buzz-cut ready to walk out the door).

Japanese Game Show

Okay, i might be a little late because i'm sure this show has been on for years, probably a decade or two, but sicne they just started making an american version of the show called Hole in the Wall i figured i'd look at the original, japanese version (cuz they're always the best) and have never laughed so hard at a game show in my life.




Some of these, i admit, would be fairly fun to try out and see whether or not i'd be capable of doing them - but some of them, i laughed "WTF?!?!"



























This one was funny. Most of these pics are about the same size, so you don't get to see how the size of the hole compares to the people trying to fit through them...well you can imagine how small thise whol is. What the person was meant to do (which of course he didn't) was lay on his back and part his legs a little so that his left would pass through the baby's back and head and the right through the legs.



This one nearly killed me - they actually tried to throw one of their guys up in the air to make it through the hole....LOL




























These last few were just incredible...if they had actually gotten one of them correct i swear i would have gone into shock and probably still be that way for hours.

If you wanna see the YouTube clip of this show, it's embedded below - you'll also see some holes that i didn't bother taking screen caps of...

Here's a pic my friend DJ drew from a version of my story that's been dead and burried for some time now. But it's fun to look back and have a larf every now and then....enjoys!!!

Archives Layout

Here's something i worked on today for my story. It's just an outline of the place known as Archives.....5 guesses as to what it is. It's basically al the things i had known were going to be in Archives since i decided on it. The only reason i decided to kill some time drawing/planning it all out was so that it's finally down on paper and not fluid in my mind...the more that's on paper means the less it'll change if i have other ideas.

Birthday Pic

Here's a pic of three of my best friends (l-to-r): Kyra, George, and DeJon. they were visiting me for my 21st birthday and we had stopped into the Justice Court that i voulenteer at to have a small b-day celebration. They took this pic for their own benefit and they finally got the film developed yesterday. Man....good times.

PS: Not that i know this personally, but that's Kyra's sex face...hehehehe.......and i guess i'll mention George has the same one too ;)

New Title

This is the fruit of my evening's loi.....labor. I didn't spend that much time on it, because i started with an image size of 720x480 (which is what everything we do is going to be output in....*shudders* Don't fret, i'm going to always render high-quality images for you guys and lwer them for school. So i started out small and didn't feel like correcting it to bring out the detail i had wanted - next time.

I should've made Omicron a lot bigger.....*puts on to-do list*

ANM:105 sketch

Here's another piece of homework for my ANM:105 class (which, actually, probably should've preceeded my previous post). It's basically just me trying to figure out another title/logo, and how to do a little 10 second animation of it for when the time comes. This is my first time ever doing any kind of storyboarding (though i'm not saying what i did was all that great), but i was surprised at how fun it was.

So since i figured that most people didn't know the large "O" in my previous pictures was attached to the 'micron' and was supposed to read 'Omicron', i figured i'd make all the letters the same size (or something like 'small caps'). So my next post, which might be later tonight (or wednesday if not tonight), should have another pic of my title with a little lense flare in the second "O".

Bells Are Ringing...

School started for me already...Thursday if you can believe it. The first 'module' (lesson) doesn't end until next Friday (or sunday...whatever the 15th is......i don't feel like looking right now - you do it).

So my classes are:

- Computer Animation Production: ANM:105

- Analysis of Form: FND:110

- Art History Through the 15th Century: LA:120

- Digital Photography for Artists: PH:103











I expect most of my time consuming homework to originate from my animation and form class. I've already had to do a little bit of work for my animation class. That's what these two pictures are of - the title/logo for our demo-reel intro. It seems kind of stupid for us to working on our demo-reel as the class is a beginner class and most wouldn't be expected to have anything to construct a reel out of anyway. It's like my friend said, "It'd be like taking an art class and your first assignment is to make a portfolio." So this is what i came up - just some stock images from way back when with some snazzy text of the title i'll probably use when i make it big.

The homework i have for my form class is to draw some elipses, cubes, and all 4 basic geometric shapes (cube, cylinder, sphere, cone) in line-only, no value (basically just outlines of the shapes without shading or anything). I'll probably go into town tomorrow and work on some of that while i sip on some Starbucks or something. I should have some updates tomorrow or by monday (they're not due until sunday night at the latest...but it doesn't hurt to submit the work early and get critiques).

Song of the Evening:
De La Soul - Me, Myself, & I