Confused about Life

This is how I feel about life right now. Work, art, family, fun, what? I don't really know what's going on. Am I doing this right? I don't think so.

P.S. IRL I wear makeup more often now that I am ADULT but I don't feel like drawing myself with it. Trading orange shirts for pink.

2013!

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a fun time ringing in the next 365!

I am excited about the next year, but also have been thinking back on the past year and how much has changed. This time last year I was a recent college graduate, freaking out about finding a big girl job in my field, preparing for the Spring BFA Art show at my alma mater, babysitting two wonderful little girls, living with my parents and sisters, and working on the odd freelance job. Since then, I've participated in the art show, gotten an internship, moved to my grandmother's house, gotten a full time position at my current company, and helped a few of my friends get jobs along the way (even though a couple of them were only temporary ones...)! 2012 was definitely a more solid year than I thought it was going to be.

I still have my resolution list that I scribbled last January:

I still laugh that I wrote "apply for jobs!" instead of "get a job!" I regrettably only managed to carry out a few of these resolutions this past year, and my current resolution list includes most of the ones I didn't complete. One of my main ones is to draw more! I remember a past co-worker who told me about how tough it is to work full time and continue to draw for oneself on the side. He encouraged me to continue and not give up on personal creativity! I'll admit at the time, I was drawing plenty and did not think I would need to worry about it. But since my work had me start working on after effects animation and especially now with graphic design, I don't seem to have as much energy to draw after work anymore! I definitely plan on having more Mona time and drawing. And hopefully also updating this more often with said drawings!

With that, I am off to draw. :)

Post-Halloween Pumpkins

I really haven't been drawing much lately :( Even these were drawn near the beginning of October, but I just didn't get around to scanning them until now. Correction: I haven't been drawing much ON MY OWN. I draw plenty for my freelance job :) P.S. its here: http://www.youtube.com/user/watchwellcast

I do some episodes along with some awesome fellow animators. It's really fun, though stressful and time consuming especially cause I still have my full time job to do! But it's ok, what else am I doing with my life right now? Basically just watching Dancing with the Stars with my grandma. But now my friend Whitney is helping me with episodes, so it'll be less pressure on me for the deadlines.

I can't believe it's already November! I  have to start planning Christmas presents before it sneaks up on me... and buy my CTN ticket... I suppose this year I'll only be able to go on Sunday, as I work on Friday and have a funeral to go to on Saturday :( So I guess it's a good thing that I didn't buy a 3-day ticket earlier this year. It'll still be a good time to go to a few panels and check out some awesome animations and artwork. Until then, I have to get my act together, update my website and make more business cards!

Babcia's House #1

I think it's high time for me to begin documenting my "adventures" while living at my grandmother's house. In very rushed, sketchy comic strip form. I have a few good ideas already, and hope to do one every couple of days or so from now on. So here is the first. Basically, I spent a good part of my afternoon going through my grandmother's collection of quarters, trying to find every state to fill up these collectable booklet things my grandfather got back in the early 2000s. For some reason, she insists on filling up all 5 of them. We are still missing some states, and even though the booklets say they all became circulated by 2008, she doesn't believe that they have been minted yet. Oh, grandma.

Happy Summer!

A small sketch done during downtime at work this week.

And here's a little color underneath.

Work is going well! I helped my boss hire three additional people for our department (the higher ups want the videos to be completed faster), including two of my former classmates :) We are just waiting for computers for them now. By this Monday, everyone will have started at the company, and we will have a full crew, with me as the production manager, sort of. I am going to be in charge of keeping us on track, and making sure we don't miss any illustrations or storyboards. Basically, I love organizing. And making Excel spreadsheets.

Drawing Club 3 and Graduation

Here are some drawings from the LA Drawing Club a  few weeks ago. I still have a bunch more to post, but will do so in time!

My graduation ceremony is coming up and I am very excited to walk with my classmates :) Since it's the College of the Arts, it includes not only art but music, film, dance, theater, and design. And I have a couple friends in other departments, including one of my best buds, Gabby.

It's pretty crazy because once it's over, I'll permanently step into the realm of Not a Student Anymore, an area that looks down upon Messing Up, discourages Sleeping In or Partying It Up(the last two usually come hand in hand), and unfortunately lacks student discounts. I already have taken a tentative step into this place, having taken a full-time position and being expected to pay more bills and insurance payments, though I am still not completely comfortable here. I find myself sitting silently in the office kitchen while others chat about their 15-month old babies or their friends' wedding ceremonies, wondering instead if I can squeeze enough time out of my day to watch How to Train Your Dragon after work (I could not). I find myself in limbo, stuck between a world who calls me "ma'am" and my co-worker who calls me "kid." Somehow I imagine graduation to dramatically accelerate my slow drift into adulthood, though I know it will not. I try and think of ways to speed this up on my own by dressing less in printed t-shirts and more in ruffly tops and slacks, listening more to political radio, ...possibly pretending I have a baby? But then I remember that I've been an adult for far less time than I've been a child (4 to 18, a ratio of 2:9), and I probably just need more practice before I get it down right. 

LA Drawing Club 1

Finally got a hold of some internet now that I'm visiting my parents' house this weekend.

Some cool things about my recent move: the Hollywood sign is right outside the window at my work, I get to keep my babcia company, and I get to meet awesome industry professionals! Since I moved to my babcia's, I've had the chance to go to the LA Drawing Club a few times and draw models. :) Every Thursday, a professor from Art Center has a 3 hour life drawing session in Glendale. It's like $20 but totally worth it! The model is always themed, with a movie and fitting music playing, and props! It's super cool. My new neighbor Brittany told me about it, though we haven't had the chance to go together yet. So far I've been to a Samurai-themed night (with a familiar model!), an I Love Lucy night, and recently a Bladerunner-themed night. I will scan and post the last one when I have time.

But one of the best parts about the club is that professionals from all over LA, from all different kinds of artistic focuses come and draw too! I've met gaming artists, Titmouse animators, a Disney head of story... and the best part is I get to drool over their artwork. Gah I wish I could interpret the model like they do. They can see the model in front of them, but rather than copy what they see they reinterpret the pose into an appealing character. It's so inspiring. I've been trying to do the same, but am still getting back into the life drawing groove! Anyway, here are my drawings from the first couple sessions:

Random Life, Random Doodles

Soo... my life has been pretty unpredictable since I graduated college. Not knowing what lies ahead for me really puts me on edge. Not having regular income has been putting me on edge, too (not that I have many bills to pay anyways).

So the logical thing for me to do? Of course it's to take a full time internship with almost no pay. Yeah, that sounds about right. I'm starting Tuesday at Acme Filmworks as a Production Intern in Hollywood. This also means that I'll be moving in with my grandmother for the better part of the week, visiting my parents and sisters on the weekends. I'm pretty excited, but still weighing pros and cons.

Cons: 1) almost NO PAY, did I mention that? I thought I was done working for free -_- 2) living in a big house with only one other for company, whereas I'm used to several people around all the time 3) I'll be living away from most of my friends and family 4) my grandmother has a cocker spaniel
Pros: 1) production experience and hopefully a ton of networking 2) food made by my babcia (grandma) every day 3) get to go to LA Drawing Club meet ups :D 4) my grandmother has a FAT cocker spaniel, which means I have a running buddy

But what would I be doing otherwise? Babysitting (really cute) children and getting underpaid working freelance jobs. I think the experience will be worthwhile *crosses fingers*
In conclusion, here are some doodles as random as my life: