Spring is here!

(Time to whip out the Skates!)

With ACEN '11 coming up in just about 2 months, I have a lot to put together. I'm pretty sure I'll be dressed up as Toph once more before I retire that costume (maybe... we'll see if I ever make it to SDCC in California!), but what am I going to sell this year at Artists' Alley?

I have a bunch of Avatar magnets, Katara necklaces, Earth Kingdom earrings. and watercolors left over from last year. I will try to also sell some Avatar buttons, too! My thought was to also sell cartoon portraits of some of my favorite shows at the moment: Modern Family, Glee, Cougar Town, and LOST. I may also do anime portrait commissions (!) and also make small posters and bookmarks of my best work this past year.

Here are some of the illustrations I'm considering to put for bookmarks:

(Hummingbird, '11)

(Evil Red Balloon, '11)

(Animal Hats, '11)

I'm really excited for selling my work again. Hopefully it'll turn out well!

Nickelodeon madness

I've feel like the brunt of work outside of work these past couple of weeks have been entirely centered on one Animation studio... and for good reason.

BAMM! Korra has a FACE!!!
(Is she waterbending and firebending to hint at Zutara? =P)

But seriously, folks.. I'm pumped for this spin-off series. Lots of news releases about it came out this past week, consisting of that awesome picture, a series voice cast list (including "Juno"s JK Simmons and "The Last Airbender"s only excuse for good acting, Seychelle Gabrielle), and the fact that Mike & Bryan have already been ok'd to do 14 more episodes after their initial 12. Yayz! The bad news? "Korra" won't be airing until mid-2012 now. Meh, no rush for great art!

In other Nickelodeon related news, I put a little bit of my artistic-professional self out there for them. The Nick Writing Fellowship application was due at the end of February, and I wrote a 30 page spec script (my first attempt at writing a screenplay ever!) in a month, just in time to send it out via FedEx to Nick headquarters. If I get the gig, I'll get to shadow Nick Writers for various TV shows - both Live Action and Animation - and learn the business of screenwriting for an entire year. =D

Of course, they only accept a few people among thousands... but I'm crossing my fingers. I also applied for the Nickelodeon internship this summer, and sent out a portfolio application for Nickelodeon's first Artist Fellowship - where people can shadow storyboarders and character artists who work in various animated shows! The odds for getting any of these are pretty slim, but it's such a great (nerve-wrecking) feeling when you know people will be seeing your work. I need this for the big animation world out there.

I'm gonna take a break from applications and get back to drawing every day, as well as focusing on my college classes! I'm taking Acting for Animators and Art in Cultural Context this semester, which is a nice break from the drawing intensive courses I've had in the past. Personally, I don't feel like I get enough out of online drawing classes, so I'll be looking forward to those in the Fall.

In a more serious note, I want to ask people to donate and help with the devastating events that have recently occurred in Japan. There was a tsunami, with an earthquake that was said to be the deadliest in Japanese history, and reports are coming in saying that it shifted the entire country 8 feet, and moved the entire planet 4 degrees out of its axis. This is scary, and it's the natural disaster that wakes us up into vulnerability, to realize that none of us are born lucky. I definitely felt vulnerable when Chicago was hit with a power-breaking blizzard back in February. Think about what happened in Haiti. Donate to the Red Cross. Do what you can to help the ones who can't help themselves right now.

The Illusionist (2010)

"Magicians do not exist." --The Illusionist

Sorry Sylvain, but I beg to differ.

I watched this film during Valentine's Day weekend, and let me just say, I have a new appreciation for background artists. Wow. I don't even know where the line was drawn with this film's technical artwork, if it was done in 3D, 2D or a little bit of both. The visuals were spectacular, and I guess the 'illusion' most of this film brought was that deep down, you really don't want to know the mechanics to how it was made. As cliche as it sounds, it's magic. I honestly just sat back and enjoyed the storytelling, the characters and the simplicity of the action sequences for what they were in this film.

Spoiler Alert!!! It's basically about a man who's art is seeing its dead end in 1930s Europe. He strives to make a name for himself and his simple magic tricks to whoever is willing to watch or hire him. He goes from place to place, meets other washed-up performers like himself and builds this solidarity of working hard with your craft until the world no longer is entertained. He refuses to see the world as a cruel, depressed, manipulative, business-oriented place in order to let his life's simple passion shine. For me, he is a great, yet simple-minded example of someone who doesn't give up on doing what he loves, even though he is seeing the rest of the world close its doors on him. It's funny how he's oblivious of the many individual lives he's touched and changed along the way.

I definitely connected to this character, partly because it's how I feel about my interest in animation. I'm passionate about it, but I definitely have those days where I look at my art, I look at my school tuition bills, I look at the competitive nature of the field out there, and wonder, "what the hell am I doing??" Sometimes I get so caught up in the work and angst in finding my creative self that I don't look at the bigger picture. I forget to keep my eyes on the prize and actually feel good about the smaller accomplishments that come to me with every little thing I do.

Anybody who believes in magic... heck, anybody who has a dream... should see this film.

What are the Glee girls thinking?

SNoWPoCaLYPSe '11

This is a tribute to what my coworkers and I went through recently in the Chicago area.

Frickin' blizzard!