Spiel and a Possible Book

I guess I should update this, even if my production has slowed to a crawl. On a more positive note however, I'm really close to finishing my first book! :D I have maybe a little more to go and then Steam &Mist: Shadow Over Silestra, will be complete, and, if I dare risk it, I'll enter it in to an editor/publisher and see what they say. Then it's the fun part of transcribing it to a screenplay and all that jazz.

Yes I know, I hear many folks in the back of my head saying, "But, aren't you going a bit too far? You haven't even finished college yet."

My answer?

So what?

Ideas never stop coming to me, and I'm glad I have the ability to write and/or draw them down, otherwise I'd be a very sad person :< I suppose being "forced" to take basic art classes (since I didn't do it last year >>...oops) has reawakened the love I have for art. Yes, it's always been there, but you know, after a while, when you're doing art by the demands of another and not giving time to yourself, you lose that avaunt-garde belief of "art for art's sake". Hell, that term didn't even exist 70 years ago.

I'm taking Survey of Art History, which goes from cave paintings in Lascaux, Altamira and Chauvet (major inspiration) to medieval art. To say I am a kid in the candy store is an understatement. But then I'm also taking a History of Contemporary Art (1865-Present). Now for some, you might stop and go "Hold up, I thought contemporary art was all those squiggly lines, paint splatters and soup cans nonsense?" You're partially right, but that came later, in the "modern" period (post WWII). Yeah, now we're getting goofy with "post-modern" art definitions and all that jazz, but my point is I've learned a lot in this class- mostly, a new appreciation for art I originally saw as a joke (and in some cases, like with Marcel Duchamp, they were (if you don't know what I'm talking about, look up "Fountain, a Readymade artwork").

It's also opened my mind a little bit more on artwork- the guy you see who floods the Sydney Opera house with trees and foliage- A Forest of Lines (2008), the graffiti artist who's notorious for his itinerary to be fifty two pickup- Banksy, they are all telling a story.

I think my professor put it best in the analogy of language- once you understand the language, break the code that they are saying, the world of art opens up to you. Art is a language that has no dictionary, no phonetic spelling or can possibly be transcribed on paper in the exact approach that art does. It's like translating the Koran- we can only glean a basic translation, but what it's truly saying we may not know or understand in our language. The same goes for art- the only way to understand art is to speak art. And it may take the form of a paintbrush, a sculpture, the design for an ad, the way a person can move, how water arches through the air, how light travels and changes color, the way stone is formed, how random chance arranges objects on a floor.

I should get a spot on TED for this.

Updates

Hey kiddos! I've been in the middle of move out for the summer, so I've been a little behind on updates. So, first off, the animatic is coming along well. I managed to acquire one or two friends to help me plan it out over the summer (still squeeing about it). Second, I've made a Vimeo account (since that seems to be the latest fad and all).

Come check it out!

Vimeo- Black Dawn Studios

Withdrawl and Summer

Haha, here's how I know I'm an animator- I feel like I should be animating something right now. It's like a coke addict when he doesn't get his fix- hands get shaky, palms sweaty, chapped lips, bloodshot eyes. Okay, so it's not that extreme, but hey, I'm hyperbolizing (can that be considered a verb now?)

So, to take up my time during the summer so I don't forget how to hold a pencil, I'm finally going to get around to making the animatic for a promo that's been sitting in my head for about a year now. It's a tie in to my story, Steam and Mist: Shadow Over Silestra. This one has a lot of dynamic shots in it so here goes nothing! -rolls up sleeves-

But first, I must attend screenings for my college. I say that like it's a bad thing when it really isn't. Spring is always the best because people show off their theses (thesises? thesi?) which I'll be doing next year (ho boi!~)

But for the meantime, I'm unwinding by blowing up Metal Gears and defeating Elder Gods. And I got tons of gum.

The Button is Done!

Huzzah! At 7:45 AM this morning, I completed a successful 1 quarter project, The Button. Enjoy! (Probably gonna see if I can upload it to the AniBoom channel on Youtube)

To my Mother

A special gift for a special person-

I love you, mom!

Thesis APPROVED!

Huzzah! I went in today with the new Block story idea and it passed with only a few considerations (mostly trimming fat, being a little less on the nosey) but hey! I got two professors to laugh! -fist pump- I can tell humor! The nymph story will wait for another time but now I'm feeling fired up for this one :D

I'm already getting poster and trailer ideas for this film. I'll post up the concept sketches within the upcoming week. For now, Imagine RIT and my 1 Quarter take precedence (as well as my mum's Mother's Day gift :D)

Update- The Button

Hey chickadees! The Button is almost finished. So far I've blocked out a majority of the action, taken care of some facial expressions and gathered sound. Seven more days to go and I'm pumped!...Despite being sick and having my next door neighbor's apartment complex's fire alarm go off...twice ==;

Anyways! Here's the current render test! Enjoy :3