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March 28, 2003
Time to Think
I'm sitting here trying to figure out where all my time goes. It seems like all I ever do is draw, but when I look back through my sketchbook, it appears to be somewhat lacking.

This vexes me. For one thing, it's more difficult to maintain the illusion that I'm good at this stuff when I spend what seems like forever in intense concentration and produce only half a page of scribbles. Also, now that I'm actually in a drawing class, I have a little extra incentive to want to fill my sketchbook. Not that it's any huge deal, but it just seems that since I'm being graded on my sketchbook, it would be nice to have something in there.

So, noting the pitiful state of my sketchbook, I checked out some anatomy books the other week - the idea being that I would attempt to duplicate every picture from those books in my sketchbook, and perhaps even learn something in the process. And that worked out quite wonderfully... for about a day. Then I went back to doing whatever the heck it is that I do all the time. I'm still sitting here trying to figure that out.

Yesterday, our sketchbooks were due. That's fine. I flipped through it a couple days before and had rightfully planned a fun-filled Wednesday night in which I would attempt to fill the remaining half of my sketchbook with anatomy studies.

I think I drew a skeleton or something before ditching that plan going back to drawing more caricatures on my computer. I must have done something else, too, because, let's face it. There just aren't that many caricatures. But I just can't imagine where all that time goes.

So my sketchbook is ultimately not filled with the frantic collection of last-minute anatomy sketches I had planned, and it still leaves something to be desired. But that's okay, really, because I have kindly directed my art teacher to this site so that perhaps some of my digital work could supplement my physical sketchbook. What that means for you, of course, is that you probably won't be reading any interesting bits regarding him. Luckily, he hasn't done anything stupid for me to write about here, so there's not much to worry about there. We'll all just have to hope that my political science teacher never wants to see any of my art.

Anyway, now I'm set. Certainly I've done enough digital work to make up for a meager sketchbook. I can't think of what else I might have squandered my time on. Except, upon further review, I have determined that my online sketchbook is a bit famished, too, so I'm not sure how much of a difference that will make, either.

And I'm still mystified. It's like I have nothing to show for this entire year. Maybe I just immediately forget how long everything took me after I've completed it. I know I avoid the question as often as possible. Or it's possible that I'm just erasing too much. That certainly adds time to a drawing. Perhaps I should start drawing in pen? Of course, it's not that simple on the computer. I don't think you could make me give up my undo button.

But I just can't believe that it really takes that long for me to draw everything.

So there is, then, only one reasonable explanation. I must spend too much darned time just sitting here trying to figure out where all my time goes.

Comments

March 28, 2003
Stuff
No single comment title could unify these three items.

Mail. I'd like to set up an automated mail form on my page for comments so you guys wouldn't need to go into a separate mail program to post. Right now, I only know enough to make one that would supposedly work for Outlook Express users, or people with a 'default mail client.' That's not what I want. I believe that what I'm looking for is done with CGI scripting. I've even found a free CGI script that seems to offer what I had in mind. The problem is that after finding the free script, my knowledge ends. Maybe you can help. Do all web servers support something like this, or do I need to check on that somehow, first? Then I'd need someone to help with setting it up - where to put the CGI file and such. Email me if you think you might be able to help.

Tomb Raider 2. At least the first one had a good trailer.

Cleaning. Maybe this explains why Bryan won't clean the bathroom for suite inspections.

March 28, 2003
Sketchbook
On the menu today, we've got the preliminary sketch for a painting I'd like to do. But there's no way it's going to get painted before tomorrow, so you get the sketch for now.

Just a quick departure from caricatures. I'll probably get back to them sometime - I'm not discouraged, yet. The last one shows my attempts to draw Tom Hanks on the left and Steven Spielberg on the right.

March 29, 2003
You know what?
Dylan walked in while I was viewing your latest sketchbook entry (at that time), the one of your shoes, and said, without seeing ANY!!! of your other work, "Wow, your brother is good." Now, Dylan holds a bachelor's degree in art and not just any art, digital art. He has seen a lot of student and professional art, he has studied art for more than five years.

So we perused through your sketchbook and his amazement continued to grow. We also took a look at your graphics page, he especially liked your bicycle logos and the realistic drawing of your watch. I don't think I would worry about the quality of your work.

As for the amount of time it takes, well quality art takes time. Professional photographers spend days working on a single print (maybe even weeks). Now I don't have that kind of dedication to the arts, but sometimes even I will be shocked at how much time disappeared in the darkroom. And then I ask myself, Do I even LIKE any of those prints? Maybe you have not studied enough famous artists to understand the amount of time and effort it takes to become successful as an artist. Most of them spend every waking minute on their art, but then again most of them went crazy. So maybe you should lay off just a little. (J/K)

-Julie

March 29, 2003
Uh Oh...
I'm depressing myself again. Gah.

There are some posts that I almost regret having written, and those are the ones that are probably the most important for me to write. I hate it when I hear other people put down their own work or dismiss their talents. And now I'm doing the same thing. It certainly is time to think.

I love my art, or I wouldn't do it. I also know that improvement takes a great deal of time. It's just that sometimes I forget that, and then I get frusterated.

Sketchbook. I painted this for a weapons thread in the Megatokyo forums. That's actually Jared's pen. I hope he doesn't mind. =)

Tremors. It turns out that we get SciFi channel, so I saw the first 2 episodes of the TV series last night. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out Jared's machine to tape them. I thought they were pretty good, but could have been better. Mainly, the way they handle the worm attacks is really annoying in the TV show. They use a whole lot of shaky cam and fast cuts and stuff so you start to feel nauseas and can't see anything that's going on. They also never seem to show the worms actually interact with anything in the scene. It's like they've got a bunch of pre-filmed generic worm attack clips that they just randomly splice in. And the plot of the second one left something to be desired, although I can see that they really just needed a way to explain weird things happening later on in the series. The character interaction is very good, though, and all of the characters (especially Bert, of course) add something to the show.

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