Darah's Thoughts and Doodles

Soggy Browns!

2010-04-27T14:38:00.003-04:00

Don't mess.

Hash Browns.

2010-04-22T16:49:00.001-04:00

Don't Mess.

The Cereal for you and your Pop!

2010-04-13T16:23:00.002-04:00

My completed cereal box assignment for Inspirational Design Class.

Ready to take flight

2010-04-13T13:18:00.003-04:00

Our project is ready to take off, and so is our character. Here's another wonderfully crafted shot. Scene watercolor and cut-out expertise goes to our one and only Elisabeth Meyer.

Swap Doodling!

2010-04-06T08:44:00.002-04:00

These are some doodles I'm trading in for a stranger's doodles thanks to SwapDoodle!

Sketchbook sketchies

2010-04-02T16:16:00.003-04:00

Here's a couple of things I drew with Micron pen in my sketchbook. I like 'em a lot.

2010-04-01T17:05:00.002-04:00

Its sunny, so it makes me think of gardening. Welcome summer.

Website in Progress

2010-03-26T17:26:00.002-04:00

Now, its not posted yet, and there is still some work to be done, but here is a near complete template of what my website is going to look like.

B-Movie Poster

2010-03-23T14:36:00.010-04:00

An assignment I did for my Inspirational Design for Digital Media class. We took an old horror poster as inspiration, and changed one word. My poster was "The Atomic Man" and I wanted to switch it up a bit, so I changed it to an atomic dj. Here is the original poster, a few process steps and the final. Enjoy!

The Original.

Idea sketches.

A mock up and color study.

A side by side of my first DJ sketch and a nearly completed digital painting of the dj.

Imported illustration, made light show background.

Added text, changed stand.

Added textures, altered text to finish the piece.

2010-03-22T14:25:00.003-04:00

TWO MONTHS!
TWO MONTHS!
TWO MONTHS!

Who's excited?! I AM!

Airborne Sneak Peek

2010-03-01T20:17:00.002-05:00

Here is an image from the first scene of my senior(/junior) project entitled Airborne. I am very very happy with it. Its a collaborative effort of myself, Elisabeth Meyer and Jeff Hart. Stay tuned for more Airborne goodies as the semester goes on.

This is how I feel somedays.

2010-01-26T16:29:00.001-05:00

Argely Academy #18

Thanks to georgiaxdavies

lionel_exhausted-760365.jpg

Storyboards for Airborne Film

2009-10-26T23:36:00.004-04:00

Hey all,

Here's a look at what I've been doing lately. Below are storyboards for my year-long production with two other students. Storyboards tell the plot points of the film, and help determine things like camera movements and timing. Enjoy!

Hold your horses

2009-09-15T13:35:00.002-04:00

I'll be posting things of glory again soon. For now, you can feast your eyes on "Puppet in the Fog."

Check out the Website!

2009-05-23T10:37:00.002-04:00

Hey All!

Be sure to check out the website http://www.jakeanddarah.com to see what we're up to and to see how the wedding planning is going! Jake and I are pretty good about updating that one :)

Also: we kept getting spammed with "win a trip to vegas" stuff in our guest book, so please use this link instead.

Well, Jake and I are hanging out with his family for the long weekend, so I'm off. I'll be home next week.

Love you guys!

Darah

The Engagement Story

2009-04-27T16:08:00.006-04:00

As promised, here is the story of the engagement of Jake and I.

Jake and I had been planning on celebrating our first anniversary for a while now. (You might even argue that we've been planning the celebration for a year.) We had kind of hazy plans to maybe have a low-key anniversary, as not to hurt our wallets too much, but we never really said what we were actually going to do. I asked Jake last week if he had any ideas for our anniversary and he said we'd be going on a "hot date," a phrase that always makes me laugh. We had had a relaxing weekend with his family, and had attended Ben's basketball tournament games in Ohio on Saturday. It was shaping up to be a good weekend. Jake and I came back from Ohio Saturday night, since Jake was serving on the worship team and singing for KidStuf in church the next day.

On the way back to Decatur, Jake and I shared a special conversation, talking about how we each had grown and have become better people in the year we've been together. I talked about how I really became myself, and how his support and love made me feel perfect, just by being myself. Jake had said that he felt that the change from "me" to "we" helped him to look outside of himself a little more and to make decisions that would be good for both of us. I told him how he came into my life at just the right time. I had decided that I was not going to beat around the bush about how I felt for him. Earlier that year someone I cared for had led me to believe he was interested in me for several months, and it crushed me to find out that when he was interested in dating again, that he wasn't interested in dating me. For this reason, when I started hanging out with Jake, I was honest with him right from the start. Before we had gone on our first date, we had taken a walk around campus, and took a seat on the sidewalk, under a tree, where we had a good view of campus and the lake. That night I laid out everything. I told him anything and everything I could think of about myself and my past that could possibly scare him away. It was a pleasant surprise to hear his understanding and supportive responses to all the junk in my life. That night was pivotal to all that we are now. Fast-forward to the conversation in the car this past Saturday night. With tears in my eyes, I told him how much it meant to me to have him accept me just as I was then, and how he accepts and loves me now. In the past year Jake had not only become my boyfriend, and more recently my fiance, but he had also become my best friend. That night I told him all of my woes, it had meant a lot to me. We had joked that night that we should carve our wedding date into that tree, since, we were definitely going to get married. It was a joke, but deep-seeded in our rapidly growing connection and relationship with one another. That night we deemed that tree, where we had shared so much together, as "The Love Tree."

Sunday morning. he got up early to go to church. He always has to be at church at 7:30 when he's singing on the worship team. He told me the night before that I could sleep in if I wanted, and come to service later, which is what I did. Before he got up Sunday morning, I placed an anniversary card behind the sink in the bathroom, where i knew he would find it. I had painstakingly read through the whole rack of anniversary cards, trying to find one that captured my feelings for him without using the word "husband." I finally found one that said "they say the best thing that can happen to you is to love and be loved in return" and then the inside said "that's why the best thing that has ever happened to me is you." I summed it up at the end saying how this past year had been the best in my life, and how I was excited to keep moving forward on this journey together. He had been at church for a while when I got up, and I noticed that his card was gone, and I smiled to myself. I got ready for church and drove there to watch KidStuf. Jake suggested that after he's done singing the worship songs for church, that we should sneak out and go back to his house and take naps. I was okay with this since we had been out late. We ate lunch, and then he went upstairs to his room to take a nap. I had been working on a project for my stop motion class while he slept. I decided after about an hour that a nap would serve me well too, so I went to bed too. He knocked on my door after about a half hour and said we should get ready for our date. He told me to dress up a little (nothing too fancy) and to be prepared for a lot of walking. I had no idea what we would do. We left at 5:30.

At this point I still didn't know what we were doing. It had been a lazy afternoon, and Jake doesn't give hints when he has a secret. I had assumed that our date would be in Fort Wayne, where there are lot of places to go. Instead, he headed the other way, down country roads, towards Huntington. I was perplexed as to where we were going. I love surprises, but anticipation for surprises are almost unbearable. I kept asking him questions, but his lips were sealed. All he said was that we would have to stop at Wal-mart and someplace else before our date started. We did in fact end up at Huntington, and when we got to Wal-mart, Jake bought a headphone splitter. The second stop was at my dorm, and he came up to the lounge and waited for me to get a pair of headphones.

When I came out to the lounge he said "are you ready" and I said "sure." We headed towards the elevator. He pushed the button for the basement, and I questioned his decision, since I knew he had parked outside of 1st floor. He reassured me that he knew what he was doing. When we walked outside he asked "do you know what we're doing yet?" and I hadn't the slightest idea, except for maybe something with music. He pulled out his iPod and asked me to put my earbuds in. He selected a track entitled "Jake and Darah Walking Tour." The voice on the track was Jake's saying "Hello, and welcome to the Jake and Darah first anniversary walking tour. I am your host, Jake Snider. You can tell I'm a credible witness, because I was there for most of these events. Let's begin. Please press pause and proceed to OP lot, and press play when you get there." When we got there Jake's recoded voice told us that this is where it all began, and reminded us that in December of 2007, Jake drove Darah and her roommate Colleen to HKC (which is Huntington Kids Club, a sort of youth group for little kids.) The recording asked us to proceed to the DC, and it told us there that Jake and Darah had gotten a chance to get to know each other here, over meals with mutual friends. We proceeded to Wright Lounge which is a lounge between Jake's old dorm and a girl's dorm. The recording told us that this is where Jake and Darah really started to like each other. This is the place where they played a board game with friends. It continued to a grassy section of campus where my friend Anna and I had laid out in the sun last spring. Again, Jake's voice through my earbuds told us how that afternoon, Jake was trying to get the attention of one of the lounging girls with his skills with the pigskin.

The recording continued and brought us to places all over Huntington. All of them were significant places in our budding and growing relationship. It took us to the sidewalk behind Roush Hall, which is where I lived last year. The recording told us what I already knew "this was the place where Jake and Darah said goodbye for the first time." It was a rainy night, and I didn't want to leave him. It looked like something out of a movie. the recording continued saying that that night we were apart for a month and a half. When we reunited, we were in Pittsburgh, PA, where Jake, Colleen (my roommate) and Cevin (who is now Colleen's fiance) picked me up from the airport for a week long vacation together. Jake's voice in my ears helped retell how it was one of the best weeks of our lives. That week, we not only had fun as 2 couples and 4 good friends hanging out all over West Virginia, but Jake and I told each other that we loved each other. He said "since we cannot go to West Virginia this evening, let us enjoy one of the songs of our trip." At that point the song "The Other Side of the World" from David Story's album "The Hinterland" started playing. Its one of our favorite songs, and its the ringtone that is assigned to me and me alone on Jake's cell phone. The recording continued "After they got back to school in the fall, their relationship continued to blossom. They shared so many meaningful dates and times together that there are too many to count. But, before we go, there is one last stop that has to be made, at a particular tree, not so far from here." Jake and I started walking to the Love Tree. Its a fair distance from where we were, and the anticipation is building, and for me it is becoming nigh overwhelming. About 50 paces away, I sighed, and Jake asked if I was okay, and I said I was, but I was fairly certain that Jake was preparing to propose.

When we finally reached "The Love Tree" we were holding hands and taking in the same view of the lake that we had that special night. Jake again asked if I was ready and I said "I think so." The recording continued. At this point, I don't really remember what the recording said. It said something about carving the wedding date into the tree, how it had been such a good night, the place we first held hands, and later the place where we first kissed. The recording said something like "it was funny to think about our future then, but it is something I want to make a reality now." By this point, I am crying a whole bunch from all the joy and power about what is about to take place. The recording said "take it away Jake!" I looked at Jake, he was crying too, and clearly searching for words at this moment. I think he said "Darah Lynn Morin... Lord" as if he was starting a prayer and then continued "Darah, I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Then he knelt. He looked me in the eyes and said "Darah, will you marry me?" and I said "Yes!" and hugged him around his neck. He then reched in his pocket and pulled out a ziploc bag, that contained my ring. I laughed as he zipped it and unzipped it before he pulled out the ring. He hada hard time telling which hand was my left through everything that was going on, so I helped him out. He placed the ring on my finger and stood up and we hugged there under the tree.

I could not have asked for anything better.

That night we celebrated over dinner at Olive Garden, which is where we went for our first date. We've made many many phone calls to family and friends.

The ring is an eternity band. I picked it out actually, though, somewhat accidentally. I was out in Fort Wayne with my friend Jimi and Colleen (my roommate) while Colleen was trying on wedding dresses. We ended up at the mall, and I told Colleen how Jake and I had wanted to pull an April Fool's prank on her and get a ring from American Eagle that looked a lot like one that I wanted. Needless to say, Jake and I decided against it, thinking it may be a little too mean for a prank, and things might get out of hand. Colleen said "speaking of rings..." and went on to suggest that since Jake had been asking me all kinds of questions about what kind of ring I wanted and what size ring I wear, that I just walk down to the jewelers and find out. I too thought this was a good idea. Come to find out, I wear a 6.5. While I was there though, the clerk insisted that I try on a ring, and hey, who can blame me for giving in. She showed me this one eternity band with a high carat weight, but I didn't like it. It was bulky and not my style. I wanted a dainty ring. I suggested the thin eternity band. She pulled it out, and guess what, it was a perfect fit. She had me pair it with a plain wedding band, and I was on cloud 9. It was at about this point when Colleen and Jimi came in, spotting me wearing some bling. The clerk said that that day was the last day of the sale, and though this item wasn't on sale, that she could put it on sale for me. The sale price would be 25% off. It was a good value after that. They suggested that I just wear it out, and bill Jake for it. This was a no-no. I asked for the price in writing, which she was happy to give me. I left thinking "I don't know about this." I decided to let Jake know anyway, and if he wanted to act on it, he could, and if he didn't want to, that would be fine too. So I called him. He said "so you found one that you like?" and I said "yeah." Then he said "Okay, let's go get it then!" So that day we went down to the jeweler and he bought me that ring. He held onto it for about 3 weeks before proposing though. When he did though, it was perfect. I could not have asked for a better proposal, or for a better man to be engaged to.

The full proposal, complete with pictures of the locations and the audio accompaniment will be posted on our new website soon. The website is http://www.jakeanddarah.com

Thanks everyone for your congratulations and well wishes. Jake and I are so so happy to move forward in this next chapter of our lives and we are glad to have your support.

Love and Blessings!

Jake and Darah

2009-04-22T03:51:00.000-04:00

Here is a scene I built for my flash final.

This is not a test.

2009-04-13T23:52:00.001-04:00

How many people read this? Please comment if you do.
If there aren't many people, I'll just call y'all.
Thanks.

2009-04-03T15:34:00.003-04:00

3D II Toy Animation

3D I Robot

2009-04-02T16:13:00.001-04:00

Here is the robot I made for 3D Animation I.

On Break, she blogs.

2009-03-14T02:37:00.002-04:00

Greetings fellow earthlings!

I am back. Well, I never really left, but I have been playing hooky from blogger save for the work to show that the neglect is for academic reasons alone. But, for all of you who aredying to get in on some Darah life news, stay tuned, its in the next segment.

As I said before, school has been kicking my butt this semester. I was taking 15 credit hours, and today I bumped it up to 17.5, the maximum limit without overload charges. The classes I am taking are Creative Writing, 3D Animation II: Character Design, Short Forms Film Production, Motion Graphics and Web-Based Animation. Now I also have a half semester course in Ultimate Frisbee and an independent study in Advanced Pre-Production. I have posted work for you all to see, and will continue doing so. 3D Animaton II is my hardest class, but not my least favorite. It is time consuming, frustrating and usually difficult to understand. However, the dividends are worthwhile, as you can see from the space cowboy image. I want to reach into the screen and grab it, but I can't. My least favorite class is motion graphics, because it has a heavy focus on live action film and very little focus on animation, but I am doing my best to make it suit my needs as an animator. (I just don't like shooting film) My favorite class hands down is Web-Based animation. We use Adobe flash to make animations. I am finishing one of my pieces over spring break, which has the stilts character I posted before, in a circus setting with a diver. Its pretty interesting and fun. I can understand it easily and push the limitations of the program to tailor it to what I would like to do. Flash is used a lot in web animations. Any fans of homestarrunner.com? Flash. Arj and Poopy? Flash. In addition to movies, it is also the format for almost all of the "cool" websites. The ones with the flashing graphics and neat transparencies. That ain't no HTML crap. Can I get a nerd w00t w00t on that?"

Also mentioned earlier, I am now on spring break. It couldn't come at a better time (lets just say that most of you were working or at school before I left Becker Hall doing my homework last night. Yes, 9:00am is toooooo late to be working, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do. The first few days of break I'm going to relax and chill out with the Snider clan. Jake and I are making Pad Thai tomorrow. We made it before and it was a big hit, so its time to bring it out again. Also, I'll be doing some homework, but I'll wait until Monday. Enjoy the weekend and the relaxation for now. Later this week, Jake and I are going to Las Vegas courteously of Jake's generous grandmother. She had saved up frequent flier miles and wanted someone to accompany her on her trip, so she asked if we would like to go, and let's just say that was an easy decision to make :) She's trading us a trip for cleaning out her garage, which should be pretty easy. And, to head off any questions of the sort, no, Jake and I are not going to get married in Vegas, by Elvis or otherwise. We are going to enjoy some free stuff, do a little gambling and just generally enjoy our stay there. I'm excited for the trip. The three of us will have a blast I'm sure.

Speaking of marriage, my roommate Colleen got engaged last month. Cevin proposed on her birthday. They've already got most of the wedding planned, and I can see that they are both excited. They'll be getting married late this summer in Colleen's hometown. They are a sweet couple and will probably be even better when they share Cevin's family name.

One less-pleasant implication of Colleen's getting married is that I am left roommate-less for next year. While I am overjoyed for the two of them, it makes me a little sad to know that I lose a great roommate. I am considering getting a single room, or maybe living in the campus apartments, Forester Village. I am looking at my options and trying to find the best fit. I think that this year God has been teaching me to trust him with my uncertainties, and I have a lot of them. There is a lot of peace to handing over the reins (as if I had them to begin with) and letting the one who laid out the path lead you on it.

Jake and I have been doing very well. In late April we will be celebrating a year together, and I swear it just gets better every day. I am sad to know that I won't get to see him much after school gets out though, because he will be away on an extended internship. We are still unsure of where he will end up, but we both are trusting that God has a plan for Jake and that He wants him to be on it.

That's all I've got for now. I'll put up some Vegas pictures soon (hopefully sometime within this decade...)

Enough of the best (Normally I would say "All the Best, but I think that people should only take what they need)

Darah

2009-03-13T06:28:00.001-04:00

Please don't ask me how long this took. Sorry for the low-res. Also don't ask what time I went to bed. I'm not posting this at 6:30 because I rise early.

More Work

2009-02-24T03:42:00.003-05:00

This is Frances. He is my practice stop motion puppet. Sadly, he suffered many amputations from the following film.

Check back soon for pictures of Frances II, or a puppet by some other name, since Frances the First has retired.

I'll put up a real update one of these days.

Stilts

2009-02-18T16:53:00.001-05:00

Here's the rough draft of my character for flash class, Stilts.

Classwork

2009-02-12T13:54:00.005-05:00

WIND UP TOY

Turn Around Sketches

Color Models

Final Color Model

3D ROBOT

Modeled with Materials

Back Again

2009-01-17T00:11:00.007-05:00

Hello all,

I have returned safely to the land of the Hoosiers. Don't ask me or anyone else what it means, its stuff of urban legend. Travel to Maine was rather troublesome, but hey, what trip isn't? For those of you lucky enough to meet Jake, I can say that he genuinely enjoyed your company, as did I. He's a good guy, I think I'll keep him :)

J(anuary) Term has come and gone. Jake and I were both in the Comics as Culture class, something I was eagerly looking forward to and also greatly underestimated. The work was extensive. The thing about comics is that you need to get in on the ground floor of a series to know what you're doing. This holds true especially for the more famous series like Superman and Batman. There was a lot of reading, but it was great. Most of it was thrilling and wonderful.I picked up a good series called Fables which is about fairy tale characters living in exile in the human world since a villain by the name of Adversary stole their lands and riches from them. It plays up the sterotypes of the characters. Prince Charming becomes a leech on soceity, and specifically a leech on women, rebellious Goldilocks leads a rebellion, and Jack of Beanstalk fame is always looking for a new way to get rich quick. Note: these comics are not for children.

Now that J-Term is over though, I am back to regular classes and regular life. I am in Creative Writing, 3D Animation II- Character Design, Short Form Film Production (which is a fancy way of saying "stop motion" animation), Motion Graphics, and Web-Based Animation. At the end of this semester I will have some skills in Adobe After Effects and Adobe Flash, which are both highly marketable skills for the workforce. I think it will be a productive semester and a chance to really show off my skills. I'm optimistic and excited about the coming months.

In addition to all of my animation classes, I am also taking on my junior animation studio class independently. I will be producing a short film this spring, with half the time to complete it as my peers, but I am up to the challenge, since it will get my academics back on track so that I have the classes completed in order to graduate on time.

The other major project I will be tackling is an assignment for my Creative Writing class. We are participating in NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month. It officially takes place in November, but we are going to start writing on February 1st. The requirements are 40,000 words in 30 days. I am going to challenge myself to hit the official mark of 50,000 words, for my own bragging rights. For this reason, I ask for some encouragement, coaxing and general understanding at the massive journey ahead of me. I will likely never let anyone read this manuscript, because this is all about getting it out into a crappy first draft to be edited and revised later. There is nothing to edit or revise however if there isn't anything written, so myself and the rest of my class are going to type away at our works of fiction until the word count and story arc reach acceptable destinations.

For Valentine's Day Jake and I are going out to eat and then going to see Coraline in 3D. I think this is a good date for everyone; cheap, fun and simple.

I hope you all can dig out of the snowdrifts to enjoy the rest of your week. I know I'll be enjoying mine. Love you guys!

Project in Progress

2008-11-26T00:38:00.001-05:00

Hello all. Here is a work in progress for my Editing class. Its an interview where Jake is pretending to be a firefighter who was denied an autograph by Richard Simmons. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff :)

Cardinal Creek Logo

2008-11-18T21:05:00.003-05:00

Oh and here's a logo I designed for the rental company that Jake's mom works for. She asked if I wanted to try my hand at it, and I said yes. The development that it is for is Cardinal Creek Crossings.

Finally! (I know, right?)

2008-11-18T20:26:00.002-05:00

So, does Darah have time for anything anymore? No, not really. Haha. But really, I've been very very busy lately. No days off. Its tiring to be a college student with classes, homework, a part time job and an attempt at a social life. Sigh. Enough for the self-pity and on to the blog.

So, the last major post I had was before I went to Chicago. It seems like it was eons ago. Let me reassure you though, it was fantastic. A bunch of my friends and I went to the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. We saw some great films and some decent films. We saw how accessible it is for even us, mere students, to take the festival circuit by storm. Jake and I are going to try to put together a short film during J-Term and the spring semester, and we would like to submit it to some festivals. You can read more about our plans at Jake's blog.

My favorite feature film from the festival (look at that alliteration!) was "Stella and the Star of the Orient," which was a German film about a curious girl named Stella who stepped through her closet into the same house 100 years earlier and meeting her grandmother, who was a child at the time. They go on a quest to find a treasure to save their house. It won Best of the Fest, which is an award voted on by children alone. Kudos kinderfilm for a great piece. Also, the entire film was put together for about $2 Million. This is a lot of money, but in the entertainment industry, its chump change. This means that filmmakers who make films inexpensively, are given more artistic freedom and the opportunities to make more films, because of the lesser risk and the lesser amount of return required. Here is a shot from the movie:

My very favorite at the whole fest though, was one entitled "The Sparrow and the Boll" which was an Iranian film done in stop motion using only textiles. Visually and narratively, the film was stunning. It was all about helping others and the golden rule. It was wonderful, simply wonderful. Here is a shot from that film.

Okay, I've geeked out enough :) On to other things.

In school right now I am building a robot in Maya for my 3D animation class. Its turning out a lot cleaner than my snowman. Its funny how much easier something comes once you've done it once. (Not that I'm good, just a little faster, haha) That will be my final project in this class. I am also working on my final project for Animation II and my Storyboard class. For Animation II we are making PSA's with the theme "Thank you For not Smoking." I am going to leave you all in suspense for that, because I think it is turning out really well right now, and I want you guys to see the lovely finished project. So, wait for it. It'll be good. In my storyboard class we are putting together a professional storyboard with a story bible. This means we will have all the actions worked out in the storyboard panels, all of the story written and the character designs and mock-ups done. My story is about a guy who's mom died in an accidental shooting by a gang member. He was a kid when it happened, so he was put in foster care, and is now grown and heading back to his old city to take it back and make it what it once was. I'm digging it. :)

So, Thanksgiving is just 9 days away, and I am excited to be spending it with Jake and his family. Every other year they head to southern Illinois, where Jake's dad, Jim is from, and have Thanksgiving with Jim's family, none of whom I have met yet. So, we'll see if they like me. Haha. Or as my Grammie Morin said earlier about the Thanksgiving situation, "Hey, what's not to love?" Amen. That's what I'm talking about.

So you all may be wondering when you get to know this Jake of fabled tales. Well, my friends, the day nears. Jake will be coming to Maine for the first week of our winter break to meet all of you. So, be ready :) We're both looking forward to coming to Maine and to see all of you! If you would really like to spend time with Jake and I together, let me know, and I'll work out a time for us to meet. He'll be available from the 12th to the 16th.

Fun Fact: I am already listening to Christmas music. All you Scrooge's out there can just deal with it :D

Okay. Well that's all I've got for now. Keep me in your prayers for the busy week ahead of me, and I'll see you all soon!

Love, Darah

A frog preview.

2008-10-30T22:15:00.002-04:00

Here is a short promo for our frog animation. We are done shooting and are now in the post production stage. We hired some live-action students to do the editing, but for now, you can see what it was like to animate foam core frogs across campus.

Frog Animation from Ryan Barger on Vimeo.

Snowman Scene

2008-10-30T12:25:00.001-04:00

I'm a beast. Just so you know.

I designed everything in this scene.

Illustrations

2008-10-28T23:11:00.006-04:00

Here are my submission for drawergeeksjr.blogspot.com under the themes "James Bond" and "Giant Monsters." You can check out some sweet illustrations done by my friends and professors there too. Enjoy!

3D Snowman

2008-10-25T17:22:00.004-04:00

Oooo, multimedia

2008-10-09T02:09:00.024-04:00

Hey All,

Here I am again. This time I come bearing gifts of multimedia delight. You can now see what my room looks like. (I was waiting until I got some pictures in to put up before I showed you all) I am also posting a Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog knockoff, coming from, you guessed it: my boyfriend Jake. Note: Jake does not have a shrunken head, a high pitched voice, nor does he moonlight as a boy band wanna-be. But he is a very funny guy, and that makes things super entertaining and super fun. That being said, laugh at it, because its funny. Also, check out Dr. Horrible's sing along blog, the real one that is. It is pretty hilarious. Its all the rage here at HU. Here is the link for that: http://www.drhorrible.com/

Also I am posting a sneak peek at a new stop motion movie called Coraline (and for those of you with name lists, I've already dibs-ed it. So don't even think about it. :) Coraline will be released in 3D in February. Get ready for it! Also, do not be disturbed by the image that shows up on the video window for the Coraline sneak peek. Its not some horror movie or something. Its just when she finds out this nice woman is actually a witch, and that's what she looks like as a witch. That doesn't give anything away, because it says it in the clip. Okay? Okay.

And while I'm at it, how about a quick update on the schooling, eh? Well, this new project in animation with the frogs that I told you all about, well, I think its deserves the world record for "Most Fun one can have with Foam Core." One of the frames (a singular image in an animation or live action film) is a picture of my frog stretched way out. This is done for a illusion effect to make it seem like he lands faster. Well anyway, in order to get the frame of my frog sitting to be larger than a hamster, I need to make this stretch image about 80 inches long. Yes, that is well over 6 feet in length, I am aware. It is going to be both insane and exhilirating animating these. Check back for more updates and pictures. :D

Okay, time for you all to be entertained. Here is your eye candy.

Love you guys!

Yep. If I had thought of it first, I would have done it. Either way, it shows we make a good pair, even if he does have a shrunken head. Haha

You know you want to see it

Colleen's space and Ol' Smokey (0ur couch) now prettified with IKEA pillows :D

My bed and the entrance

Bedspreads and leaves: IKEA.
Pretty much everything else in the room: also IKEA.
Did I mention that we love IKEA?

Big, giant leaf over Colleen's bed along with a "Be Kind Rewind" poster.

Colleen's Bed (Blue) My Bed (Magenta) We sectioned off our desks, dressers etc. so that we each had our own space. It works out nicely.

Our door with my trivia fact of the week and a picture of Colleen and I from our vacation in West Virginia this summer.

My desk

My bookshelf, dresser, desk and decorations

Close-up of photo arrangement

Lookin' Good

2008-10-06T17:08:00.002-04:00

Hey All,
As you can probably tell, I've updated my blog layout. Like it? Good. Here are some housekeeping things to keep in mind to make it easier to read and respond to this glorious update blog. First of all, you can now subscribe to my blog posts. There's a white button that says "Subscribe." This will work best for those of you who use google or yahoo as your homepage. (For all you iGoogle homepagers, like me, just make it a widget, its the coolest. It'll be bold when I've updated my blog.)
For those of you who think I just typed out something in a foreign language, we can also notify you. What you'll need to do is send me an email (darahmorin@gmail.com) and say that you want to be added to the list, and then I'll make sure that you get notified every time I post something.
Also, you can now send my blog posts to other people. Click the small envelope icon at the bottom of the blog post, and soon, Darah's update will reach them as well. This would be great to do if you know people who want to be in the loop, but are not on the email list.

Okay, we're done with that. I encourage you to check out my other blog (There is a link on the side of this page for it now) at darahcj.blogspot.com. This is my class blog and I put my comics up every week. I am especially pumped about this week's comic. It takes place at night, and I think the shading is spectacular if I do say so myself. Check it out.

Also, keep commenting and sending e-mails. Its super encouraging to me, and gives me some cool and fun things to read besides textbooks.

Well guys, that's all for now! I hope you're all having great lives right now!
Lovez.

Vote. The End.

2008-10-03T15:36:00.000-04:00

Brain Leakage

2008-10-02T18:53:00.000-04:00

Greetings friends.

I write to you nearly halfway through the fall semester of my junior year. Isn't it crazy to see how time flies. I'm sure most of you would have stories like "I remember when she was a young whippersnapper. Look at her now!" Yep. Its true. Many of you remember my younger years. Oh, memories. Sigh.

Let's start my update with academics. Classes are going well. I feel quite proud of my frog animation which you can see in the post just below this. The plan to have foam-core frogs jump around campus is still a go, and we are nearing the stage when we can begin to build them. I think that comes next week. Stay tuned for pictures and hopefully the animation :)

I am realizing that I am just not cut out for the 3D world. In my 3D animation class, I cannot seem to find a way to get my creative juices to leak out into my 3D models. The interface is not something that comes intuitively to me. That being said, my models are coming out a little basic, meeting requirements, but without frills. Maybe I'll post a picture of my 3D snowman when its done (assuming I'm not too embarrassed to show it...haha) This was a similar problem that I faced last semester in my 3D design class. I was incapable of making cubes that were both mathematically accurate and aesthetically pleasing. Least common denominator: 3D. I guess this girl has found her artistic achilles' heel. I guess I can't be good at everything. Haha.

My Storyboard class remains among my favorites. Keep checking out my comic journal for the class by clicking the link: http://www.darahcj.blogspot.com/

We have just finished a couple of weeks of very interesting chapel series on campus. Last week we had a Huntington alumna and her friend present their film on human trafficking, which as the film showed, is occurring both domestically and abroad. The talk was challenging, to see how girls even within the US are being kidnapped for use as sexual slaves and prostitutes. It was disgusting and heartbreaking. Their film "Branded" which was named for the dehumanizing practice where pimps brand their prostitutes to show ownership. They presented statistics that show that there are more women in sexual slavery today than there were plantation slaves in the US in the 18th and 19th centuries. It created a lot of discussion, but we felt a little hopeless, not knowing how we can help out, other than our prayers. The issue is being exposed, and this is making a difference, including creating rescue centers in areas like Phoenix where this is a growing problem. This was encouraging, and I continue to think of these women and girls.

This week, our speaker was a man by the name of Craig Gross. He is the founder of the website XXXChurch.com As a young pastor, Craig saw a problem with pornography, both within the church as well as in the mainstream culture. Before long people were noticing this radical ministry, and he and his team started getting invited to porn shows. They set up with their Bibles and just stood around and talked to people. They were open and told them they were pastors and that they loved the Lord, and believe it or not, people came over to their booth and talked to them. They brought Bibles, and quickly ran out. They weren't picketing outside, they were helping on the inside, getting to know the people and loving them the way Jesus loves them. I was inspired by this, not that I think I will end up helping out with XXXChurch or handing out Bibles at the porn shows, but I was inspired by a ministry that loves on people. He has met a lot of interesting people and has talked on a lot of topics. He is good friends with the man who started "To Write Love on Her Arms" which is an organization that was born out of an experience where the founder of that organization, Jamie, went to a concert with some of his friends and met this girl that was high on drugs. She went to the bathroom and came back with wounds, having cut herself. Jamie and his friends took her to a treatment facility and they said they couldn't take her in with open wounds and that they would have to bring her back in a few days. So for the next 5 days, Jamie and his friends took care of this girl, fed her and talked to her and listened to her story. When she cut herself, she carved a degrading word that someone had told her when she was younger. Jamie asked her if he could write a story about her. She agreed and he posted the story. The rest is history, Jamie started "To Write Love on Her Arms" as a non-profit that has resources for people who are depressed, suicidal and who are involved in self-injury. One of Craig's big points is that you don't have to be in a Billy Graham type ministry to make a difference, just show up. Be willing to be used by God to reach the unreachable. Learn to love like Jesus and share that with those who don't know what love is. Fix bikes for kids, adopt a compassion child. Just do something. And to that I say, Amen. As you can see, I get a lot out of chapel. :)

So, I recently got hired at the Eddie Bauer store in Fort Wayne. This is a little bittersweet for me. Its good for me to be earning money again, but I feel like the commute and the hours may not be the best fit for my schedule. Because of this, I am going to be applying at some places in Huntington to try to alleviate some of those troubles, while still earning money. If you guys would pray for me, that would be great.

Well, that's all the time we have, until next time, I'm Darah, and this is WILD AMERICA. Haha, bye guys.

A Couple Animations :)

2008-09-29T23:09:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone,

Here are a couple of animations I've done recently. I hope you like them!

Walk Sequence with Personality

Frog Jump

Poor Jake

2008-09-20T23:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a sad story about my boyfriend.

Jake and I had plans to hang out in his hometown this weekend and to go to the Johnny Appleseed festival in Fort Wayne. All these plans were changed today though. Jake and I were planning on leaving at 8:00am, so when I got a call early this morning, when I was still in bed, I thought it was him calling to make sure I didn't sleep through my alarm. I answered and said "Hey, what time is it?" and he said "Hey, oh, its early. I'm not feeling too good." and I thought, oh he must be cancelling the plans, okay. and then he continued, "I think I need to go the the hospital." Without question, I got dressed and told him I'd pick him up in 5 minutes. We drove to the hospital, and he told me that he just had felt really sick all night and thought it would be better to be safe than sorry. His parents met us there. Jake went in with his mom to get checked out. He texted me later to tell me that he needed bloodwork, and about 15 minutes later he sent another text to say that they ordered a CT scan and an x-ray. I started to get nervous. His mom came out and said the bloodwork said his white blood cell count was high and that they thought he might have appendicitis. The CT scan confirmed this, and they cancelled the x-ray and just moved ahead. They contacted the on-call surgeon who came in after about 4 hours. As soon as he was in it was a quick turnaround to get him into the OR. I was concerned. I didn't (and don't) want anything to happen to him. The procedure lasted about 50 minutes, and then it took a little while to help him recover from the anesthesia. When we first saw him, he was white as a ghost with bruised looking eyelids. He slept for the first time since he got up yesterday morning. While he was resting, Jake's dad, Jim, the twins and I went back to HU to get the things that we needed, since we both had to leave so fast this morning. When we got back, he was feeling a little more chipper but was still in a lot of pain, so they decided to keep him overnight. After we got back to the hospital, I wanted to be right there with him, so I pulled up a chair and sat with him all afternoon and up until I left tonight. It looks like he'll be down for about a week. Luckily his house is about 2 minutes away from the hospital, and he'll be able to recover there at home. Things are looking better now, but please pray that he heals well. Thanks everyone! I love you!

Remember, remember the... end of September

2008-09-10T20:44:00.000-04:00

Hello All!

As usual, my week has been busy, but not too busy to keep you all updated. Like last time, I'll address some housekeeping stuff up front, and then we'll get to the good stuff. I heard that you all were unable to comment on the blog itself. Worry not, I fixed the problem. For inquiring minds, blogger automatically defaults to only allowing registered blogger users to comment, but I opened it up to the public (i.e., you) so that you all can just read and respond. Okay? Okay.

Alright, lets start with classes. After the first few weeks I am settling right back into my student routine, with some improvements with time management and organization (insert pat on back here.) Animation II has proven itself to be the hardest of my classes right now, because it is animation bootcamp right now. Leeper (the professor and also just plain cool) said that he knows its tedious work, so he is going to try to inject some fun back into the class. His plan? Create a replacement animation of frogs leaping, in honor of World Animation Day. (October 28th, mark your calendars!) The look we're going for is similar to what Tom Gasek (a well known stop-motion animator) was able to achieve in this Sony Bravia ad with the jumping bunnies. Our animation will probably be a lot simpler but still very fun. I'll keep you posted on the frog plague :)

My favorite class right now is Storyboard and Concept. I feel that I have a knack for planning stories and making words into images, so I am well suited for this class. You can see my comic journal here: darahcj.blogspot.com. It is updated every Monday. I really like the pre-production process and like planning things out and playing with ideas. I also like the concept art that goes in to animation. If I was to end up doing pre-production stuff for my career, I think I would be very happy.

That's all for now!

River Fall Comic

2008-09-04T12:39:00.001-04:00

Here is a comic I made for my Storyboard class. I chose the hilarious event to illustrate. I took a little artistic license here, but I hope you like it :)

Animation II Exercises

2008-09-03T22:13:00.000-04:00

Head Turn

Character Splat

and so it begins

2008-09-03T01:05:00.000-04:00

Hello to all of you who wish me well. It is I, Darah, here to update you on my life at my home away from home, Huntington University. Before I get into some stories about my first week and vacation, I would like to address some administrative information. My updates will no longer be coming to you via e-mail, for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to: small storage space on my school e-mail account, loss of many e-mail addresses, as well as limited multimedia enhancements to my wonderful stories :) So from now on, come check me out at darahmorin.blogspot.com. Feel free to comment or e-mail me, its a great way to stay in touch with everyone.

Okay, now that that is taken care of, let's get to the good stuff. As most of you know, on the 23rd my dad and I set out for Indiana, with much less in the trunk of my car this time, than when I came home in the spring (funny how you pack less the second time around.) It was a good trip full of singing and funny stories, and my envy at how my brother would get to see the Red Sox play, and as it turned out, win the game against the Chicago White Sox, atop the Green Monster at Fenway Park. Once my skin faded back from green, the trip was enjoyable again. :) We got to Huntington at 1:30am and slept. I moved my stuff in the next day with help from my dad and my boyfriend, Jake. (For inquiring minds, there is more about him later in the post, so patience my dears, patience :) I am living in one of the best dorms on campus Meadows Hall (just one of the perks of being an upperclassman) I am rooming with my hand-picked roommate from last year, Colleen King, and we adjusted to being roomies again in like, 30 seconds. She is a great kid and I love her to pieces. This year, we went with an IKEA theme. If any of you are unfamiliar, IKEA is a swedish based home furnishings store that is ideal for young people and college students who need furniature that is durable and cool, without costing a fortune. We have some cool globe lights and brightly colored bedspreads and a cool rug. I will include some pics in my next post, once we've had time to vacuum...

Classes are great this year, here is my schedule:

Monday: 8:00-8:50am Biblical Archaeology

11:00-11:50am Intro to Editing and Media Management

6:00-9:00pm Storyboard and Concept

Tuesday: 9:00-9:50am Intro to Art

10:00-10:50am Chapel (its not a class, but I go anyway)

1:00-1:50pm Beginning Tennis (1/2 semester course, I will be done in October)

2:00-4:50pm Animation II

6:00-9:00pm 3D Computer Foundations

Wednesday: 8:00-8:50am Biblical Archaeology

6:00-9:00pm Storyboard and Concept

Thursday: Same as Tuesday

Friday: 8:00-8:50am Biblical Archaeology

9:00-9:50am Beginning Modern Dance

Yep, that's the spread. Not too shabby if you ask me. The most challenging one will likely be Modern Dance because I am not coordinated, nor am I good at recording how my daily movements fit into my "dance lifestyle." Um, I'm just taking this class for credit, not to acquire a dance lifestyle. Thanks though. :)

Okay, I know what you are all thinking "When is she going to tell us more about this boy?"

Well, when I was in West Virginia this summer visiting my friends, including Jake, he invited me to this Labor Day weekend trip to Gatlinburg with his family. I gladly accepted. We rented a cabin in the Smokies. Here is the link for the cabin that we stayed in, Black Bear Lodge: http://www.jacksonmountain.com/content/house/su/3blackb

We were there with Jake's whole family: his parents, Jim and Cindy and his twin siblings Ben and Megan who are high school freshmen this year. His Aunt Cheri and Uncle Stan were there too, with their 4 year old son, Trent. Jake's Grandma Bonnie was also there. So, it was a full house, both in occupancy and laughs. They are very warm and welcoming people and loved poking fun and playing games. Some highlights of the trip: Ben's bio project where he needed to collect insects, so we all spotted and help capture these critters. I pointed them out and freaked out a little. Me no touchy bugs. We saw a waterfall, had a picnic lunch near a river, the same river that Jake fell in to. Yep, that part was real funny. We went to a pottery place, watched some Illini football and went go carting. We saw a bear and then quickly ran to the cars whenever we left, after that sighting. Jake and I went on our first back to school date, and we took the skylift to see Gatlinburg from the top of the mountain.

Jake is a really great guy. We have been dating for 4 months and everyone thinks we are a good match. He is a born and raised Hoosier, though he is an Illini fan. He's a youth ministry major who is very involved at his church in hometown Decatur, The Bridge. He frequently leads worship for the elementary aged kids. If you could not infer from the previous statement, he is a good singer. Many of you have heard his rewrite of the Plain White Ts "Hey There Delilah" to his cell phone voicemail message. He's a big disney fan and is very creative. He designed the "bio badge" that is above. He loves animation and does a lot with Adobe flash. He hopes that he will be able to merge both his calling for youth ministry and his passion and skills for animation in his future career. Jake and I have lots of fun together. He treats me well and loves me a lot. We're really excited to see where this relationship is headed, but thoroughly enjoying being here and now. We are both really happy and lucky :)

Thanks for reading guys! Stay in touch. OH! Also, feel free to write me via snail mail. Nice notes are way nicer to get than bills :)

My address at school is:

Darah Morin

Huntington University

2303 College Ave.

Drawer# 340

Huntington, IN 46750

Okay, here are the pictures! Love you guys!

Jake after falling into the river, pictured with his Uncle StanJake's dad Jim, picking a turtle up off the trail. Between the turtles and the massive amounts of bugs he picked up for Ben's project, he got the nickname "Jim Dundee."

Gatlinburg TN