Cartoons

Today in Illustrator class, we were asked to make a cartoon version of ourselves. At first I didn’t know what to do because I had an old picture of myself to make a vector drawing out of, but not cartoon style. And because I like realism and extreme detailing, I wasn’t so excited about this activity.

Then my professor asked us to do a research of the old cartoons, specifically the ones in cartoon network. He mentioned Dexter’s Lab, Billy and Mandy, Samurai Jack, PPG, and many others that somehow reminded me of my childhood and how I tried to make the same drawing style many years back. Those round, rectangle faces, odd bodies, etc. My professor advices us to take inspiration from those toons, and make our own style (usually he tells us that it’s necessary to copy someone else’s work.. Which I always disobey because I love to make my own stuff out of something).

It’s actually fun making my cartoon self. So simple, yet something cute and good looking. My professor, let’s call him Tom, told me that it’s the beginning of the steps if I want to advance in graphics. I guess that inspired me. Those words. It reminded me how much I wanted to let others ‘see’ or watch the stories I’ve written, other than reading them. Starting with cartoons maybe, and step by step I’ll make animations and illustrations as good as Final Fantasy. Yeah. Big dream.

Hands Full

I’ve pretty much had my hands full these past few weeks (or months) and a lot of up and downs, actually. And as much as I wanted to write about it, I thought maybe it’s not really necessary for me to share those personal stuff <.< All I know is that everything’s okay now and I’m pretty much handling everything fairly well. What’s important is that there’s balance, and I’m having fun.

I really really want to read more zen…

Last week, we were asked to make a logo for some sort of kennel or dog supplies store. And it’s not just a random activity; it’s the real thing. And I guess its a work that my professor received and decided that we try it out instead then just let the clients choose which one they like. I think I did a good job (and I really wish they choose mine because that would really make me happy and proud because I did that logo from scratch), and I really did took it seriously. The professor just did a little tweaking here and there then transferred the file. I hope we’ll hear what’s the decision tomorrow.

Saturday, I had decided to attend this photography club thing set up by my Photoshop professor. Of course I didn’t understand the whole explanation part 100%, but I could somehow feel the deep interest in taking beautiful pictures floating around my professor and his photographer friend. We have this special project that we’re planning to do bit by bit. We’re gonna need to talk to random people if they could participate in this project, the high definition cameras and lightings (the photographers will provide it), concepts, maybe costumes, more members, and places to take those photos. We were only five during that first meeting, but we were able to brainstorm some ideas that we’re going to further analyze next time.

For me, its really interesting because we’re not just going to waste our time taking photos of random things and learn how cameras work. I’m really excited about this…

I’m also still working on my zodiac calendar and thanks to my printing class professor, two of the twelve zodiacs are finally scanned (they’re drawn in big papers, and so it’s not easy to find a scanner with that size). Working on the third one bit by bit. Its pretty nice because there are some people who are waiting for their signs to be drawn. I’m crossing my fingers that the school would help me make this calendar…

I’ll have to update my portfolio blog more often because its needed for the stage… for now Scorpio’s details is posted. You can view the full images for Taurus and Scorpio on my deviantart..

New year, new class schedule

I’m really loving it. There’s less time for unrelated-to-graphic-design subjects and a little more focus to what we should be working on. So now we have a total of 6 hours for Illustrator and 6 for Photoshop. 3 for printing like usual, but I don’t really like it but its necessary so okay. I’m really glad there’s less history subject now. It’s nice but it gets complicated because of my lack of Italian.

I’ve had a really fun day today even though we had history for the first two class hours. I think I’m able to talk to the teachers a little clearer now and they’re helping me improve my language (meaning more grammatical book photocopies for me, but okay). Time really went by fast during that class.

Over Illustrator class we worked on making a unique looking outline to be printed as a folder. The professor had these really cool books with him all the time; just looking at the cover is really interesting. He let me have a look at it because I was the first one to finish the basic folder so I can have the inspiration to make a more complicated one.

So I made a puzzle piece-inspired folder. It took a while to sketch out how it would work out because I wanted the “piece” to stay together so it won’t open when not used. Doing it on Illustrator was a little easier though and I was able to finish and print it on A3. The professor then asked me to cut out my little paper folder to see how it would turn out. I felt really accomplished when I closed it and it “locked”. Too bad I wasn’t able to take a picture.

I also finally finished the drawing I’ve been working on. Check out “Vanity” on my art blog :3

I got my first art commission. Kinda. I would like to think of it that way, even though it may not be the right term for it. Idk.

Some girl from school, whom I still don’t know the name even though she had been watching me draw during class breaks, asked me if I could draw his boyfriend. I dunno, I just felt in the mood to accept requests this morning. So, when she gives me the picture of the person I’m going to draw, then, the rest is up to me, I guess.

I hope I’ll do a good job.

Suddenly, I’m visible…

One day, I was just sitting at my place at the corner, continuing my elephant drawing because I didn’t have much time to do it at home. Then there were these first three people who noticed, asking me things — how I did this, how I did that, etc., Finally, they left me alone, not wanting to disturb me in my work.

The next day, I was still in my usual spot. I didn’t expect anyone to come up to me and watch me draw, but there were more people today who unexpectedly noticed. By now, the elephant was complete; with only the head accessory missing. By class break and I went to my next class, there was no teacher — more time to waste for me to draw. And I did. And a few seconds later, the three people came in and saw me and my sketchbook. And then asked if they could take a look.

They loved Thor so much. Seconds passed, they called in more people to look. And another. And another. When they left, more people came in to peek, probably hearing from the others about the “not-speaking-Italian-girl’s drawings”. I’ve never had so much attention from my drawings. I was happy. But I had to leave someplace where I could actually draw.

By now probably half of the school’s students knew…