What happened to March?

(So excited for this film, and the Japanese poster is inspiring me to learn the language)

Seriously, this month is just flying by, which means that a fourth of the year is already over!

I don't know how I feel about this, but I do feel like my life in Chicago has been jumping from good moments to not so great moments. Financially, I'm doing okay (breaking even for the first time in 6 months!) and I have two part-time jobs that are getting me by. I already know that I don't want to live off of minimum wage, and I want to make myself proud as much as everyone else.

Sadly, I haven't been able to do much creative stuff this month, but the ideas keep rolling. I suppose that's the tricky part to being an artist - you can't just wait for the ideas to be fully fleshed-out before taking the time to write them or draw them. I'm excited for April because I'll be participating in "Script Frenzy" where I'll be drawing 100 pages of a graphic novel in the span of 30 days. With a 39-hour work week, learning Japanese, volunteering at a Literacy Center, and training for a half-marathon at the end of April, and my birthday plans (!)... this is not going to be easy.

Things to do for April:
-celebrate the anniversary of my quitting art school by drawing every day for "Script Frenzy."
-turn 28. Bake my own cake.
-run my first half-marathon.
-successfully translate the BRAVE poster in Japanese.
-write a comedy script.
-get back into Yoga and Dancing.
-use my tax refund for something fun. Maybe a vacation. Or a MacBook Pro.

In other news, The Hunger Games film rocked! =)

my Twilight moment

Gotta love Miyazaki

This is Hayao Miyazaki's latest film project, "The Secret World of Arrietty," and once again I'm impressed and taken aback by the emotional layering he can bring to a simple relationship between a little person (aka "a borrower") and a sickly young boy, Arrietty and Shawn.

The film overall is not my favorite of his works, but I just wanted to commend Miyazaki for some beautiful sequences he does, such as the beginning with Arrietty's first "borrowing" expedition at night. You can see the obstacles that a little person has to go through, how the simple task of getting sugar in the kitchen involves spelunking, rock-climbing, and being quick on your feet with unfriendly bugs.

There isn't much action in the film, as it mostly takes place inside a house, but the artwork and intricate details that Miyazaki places inside the walls of that house makes things intriguing to the viewer. You see things from the little persons' perspective, similar to that 90s film "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" but in animation. I also loved the slow, delicate moments between Arrietty and Shawn as they slowly begin to understand each others' place in that simple world. Shawn begins to see Arrietty and the Borrowers as people rather than just secretive little creatures, and it's an amazing transformation to watch onscreen.

Overall, a great film to watch for the sake of storytelling.

Figure Drawing

Once a week, I go to this art academy downtown for some Open Studio time, where the objective is to draw a human figure in whatever medium you'd like. I'm trying to get back into the comic-drawing mode to work on a graphic novel, and in a way, I'm also re-learning the basics of animation.

The thing about Open Studio is that you don't really have a teacher critiquing you on what you should improve on. It's the artist who needs to fix their own mistakes and trust their individual skills. I like this method, but I've noticed that it takes a lot of energy and motivation for me to actually open a sketchbook and draw outside of class.

I did the above motion sequence during a break I had at work, and I can already tell I need massive improvement. Nevertheless, I felt really proud that I had successfully drawn something in sequence!

My next goal is to start writing this graphic novel to get a good idea of what I should draw. Lots to do!

Painting!

I call this one "Ornamental Radishes," because they remind me of tree ornaments and radishes.