More Work

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

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

Classwork

WIND UP TOY

Turn Around Sketches

Color Models

Final Color Model

3D ROBOT

Modeled with Materials

Back Again

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

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

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?)

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