Oopsies!

Ok...so I've done a really shitty job of updating this blog :S But in my defense I've been extremely busy, like, crazy busy.

It's amazing how this semester just zoomed by. At times I felt like it would kill me but now that it's coming to a close I don't feel ready for it to end. Next semester will hopefully be a walk in the park since I'm only taking 8 credit hours and I'll only have homework in one class but again, that's what I said about this semester. 

I'd like to find a better job in January as well since I'll have my weekends free. It's a bit of a bummer because the job I have now is really easy and I generally like the folks I work with but the pay just isn't cutting the mustard. I really need to scrimp and save this upcoming year so I can get the fudge out of Arizona. Mentally, I'm already in Washington. I'm SO over the desert. To be honest though, the prospect of moving again on my own is pretty scary and causing me a bit of anxiety...Ok, a lot of anxiety. When I moved to Oregon I at least had quite a bit of savings built up so I had time when I got there to formulate a more solid plan. However, this time I won't have as much money and I'm still not sure what direction I want to take with my career. I still intend on continuing with my comic strip but who knows if they'll ever become commercially successful so I need to figure out someway to put food on the table. Ideally, I'd like to get a job in illustration but I have no clue how you even get into that field. Plus there are so many talented people out there to compete with...Ugggghhhh...>.< That's why I've been trying to just live one day at a time and not worry about the future so much. I'd like to think that everything will just work itself out if I continue to work hard.

Let's switch back to the present though for the time being. This semester I've been working on a series of drawings that have turned out to be my best work to date. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos to post of them since two are still in progress and the other two are on display in the School of Art Building, but I plan on showing them in my senior exhibition so I should have photographs of them in the not too distant future. This semester, like last semester we had to do a series of drawings that were all tied together by a common theme. Last year I did a series featuring birds and since I enjoy doing illustrations that involve animals so much I chose cats this semester. It's been quite a battle with my professor though since she's more of an abstract artist. Since I first proposed the idea for the series she's been giving me hell and teasing me daily in front of my peers. It's funny that she gives me such a hard time when I know I'm one of her favorite students. I wish she could just have faith in me and trust my instincts. I'm not a slacker and I put a lot of thought and energy into my work; so she should know that I'm not going to produce any shitty, half-assed drawings. I don't see why drawings featuring animals are looked at as being "cliche". Personally I adore animal art, specifically cat art. Cat art has existed in every culture in every era for thousands of years. They're very respectable creatures in my humble opinion so I don't understand how cats as a subject is any different from trees or flowers or portraits or anything. 

Despite all of her bitching though, she gave me A+s on my first two drawings and during our last critique gave me quite the compliment. She said, "These drawings are a perfect example of what you can accomplish with just a piece of charcoal and an eraser." I felt very proud after hearing that since I've struggled with my confidence as an artist for so long. I feel like I'm finally starting to get comfortable with my style and that my artwork really is something special. 

I just hope that I'll continue to be motivated after I graduate. It's so easy to get distracted and caught up with your "day job" and life's everyday stresses. But I digress...


Time to get back to work and finish up these drawings :3


Later interneters! 


~Courtney~

All aboard the Sleepy Train

I don't know why I'm blogging instead of just going to bed but when I noticed that it's been almost a month since my last post I figured I couldn't leave the two people who read this in suspense any longer.

The last month has been pretty pretty pretty hectic. I've had two exams (one went well and one didn't), two portfolio reviews, and several meltdowns. I was hoping that I would've gotten slightly better at managing my time by now but it hasn't happened yet. I feel... thin. Sort of stretched, like... butter scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday.

Good thing I'm going on one in two weeks ;) My pop and I are going to Disneyland for the weekend in a fortnight (I love that word). I'm really looking forward to it since I've never been there during the Halloween season (my favorite holiday btw). And I'm hoping it'll still be warm enough to go swimming because I just bought a new polka dot bikini top for $4.48 at Target. YUSS!

But even my vacation is causing me stress because I need to get all of my homework done before I leave. GAH!

Work is still going OK. I was actually able to help some people this morning and managed not to botch anything too badly. The teacher ladies that come in still scare the bejesus out of me though. Most are nice but some are super scary and mean. I noticed today that my voice changes when I'm at work too. I guess it's my "professional" voice which is higher and more little girlish than my regular speaking voice. I guess I subconsciously make my voice higher in an attempt for people to have mercy and not scream at me. Who could possibly be mean to the bespeckled black-haired pixie with the little girl voice? *this is what I'm thinking*

They've been scheduling me for more hours than I'd like this past week and that's made it difficult for me to get my homework done. Some dude got let go recently so I've been having to pick up the slack since there's really only two of us who can work weekends now. I hope they hire someone else soon before I fall too far behind in my schoolwork. I'm also feeling guilty for not having enough time to spend on my comics as well. For the past three semesters I've been doing 2 new comics a week and now I'm only doing one. And I just finished a storyline yesterday that I wrote over the summer and have yet to write any new material. Everytime I finish a story I get this overwhelming fear that I'll never write anything good again or anything at all. Period. I always manage to (knock on wood...errr...uhhh...plastic?) eventually but right now I've got nothin'.

Hopefully I'll have some time to think on the car ride to Calilfornia but I'll probably just end up thinking/daydreaming about boys. Aye carumba!

Ok, well, the Tuck-In Express is right on time.

Later Gators!

Senior-ita

Since the last time I blogged I've been to my new job four times. It's pretty OK, I guess. Everybody I work with is super nice and everyone seems to like each other and get along. That's a pretty big deal for me since every job I've had in the past has come with lots and lots of drama. I'm still a bit nervous whenever I'm on the floor or ringing someone up since I'm still so new (and clueless) but hopefully I'll get more comfortable with time and will be able to actually find stuff when people ask me for help. Other than that, it's a relatively easy job and I'm only there 1-2 days a week so it's not that big of a deal.

School's been going alright except for the fact that my senioritis is kicking in a little prematurely. I just HATE homework with such a passion that it takes every ounce of energy in my being to get it done. And it doesn't help that I'm so easily distracted by the internet, tv, daydreams, food, kitties, etc. I'm really starting to think that I have ADD. Like, for reals. I don't recall having such a short attention span in the past. I really don't. I always manage to get my homework done but it's been pretty last minute for the past semester or two.

I think I may have put too much on my plate this semester for a person with such a natural tendency towards laziness. I mean with going to school full-time, working two jobs, keeping up with making/writing new comics and trying to have somewhat of a social life...I don't have enough time or energy to eat regularly let alone do dumb homework. Uggghhhh...(YAWN) Man, I'm getting sleepy just thinking about how much stuff I have to do...

The only bright side(s) I can see to my current situation is that A.) I'm young and B.) it's only temporary. Hopefully this year will zoom by and then I can look forward to kicking the dust of this one-horse town off my boots. I am so over Arizona, seriously. Arizona is an energy vampire if you ask me. I miss brisk days, green trees, snow capped mountains, and rain drops on my window. I find colder weather invigorating so these blazing hot days make me feel like a lethargic, sweaty, lazy, fat lump. November cannot come soon enough. I'm so ready for tights, boots, and light jackets.

Friday I went with my mates to First Friday in downtown Phoenix and once again it was a total let down. We went to cruize babes mostly and were majorily disappointed but not that surprised by the general lack of babes in Phoenix. Out of  approximately 3,000+ people we saw ZERO even decent looking males. Times are tough for single gals, I'll tell you what. We did have a fun girl's night out though even if we did get bugged by a bunch of 15 year old boys. After we'd had our fill of bad art and gross dudes we got hungry and got grilled cheeses at Denny's. It's pretty sad when the highlight of a Friday night out on the town is a grilled cheese sandwich and seasoned fries.

Add: the seasoned fries came with ranch.

Oh, and I almost forgot! I recently cut my hair. I had planned to grow my hair long again before I turned thirty but I didn't get very far. I didn't even make it to shoulder length. I've had short hair for 7 years now so having hair constantly on my neck was driving me bananas. Plus I just don't feel like myself without short hair. It's become like my trademark. I guess long hair just isn't for everybody, especially us low-maintanence folk.

Here's a pick of my "new" do!

Anywho, I better stop arsin' around and get these drawings done.

Later gator!

Back to School Part II

Today was like a bonus first day of school since it was my first day in my other two classes. It was a pretty good day except that having all afternoon classes isn't turning out to be as awesome as I imagined. Sure, it's cool to not have to be up at 8am everyday but it sucks getting home super late and then not having time to arse around before bed. And I did wind up getting that job which seems like it's going to be a morning job so I have to get used to being up at 8am on the weekends anyway. Aiya! It'll be nice to have extra money but at the same time I got so used to having my weekends free to work on comics. Now I'm going to have to try to get my comics done during the week. I guess this will be a long overdue lesson in time management.

Back to today though...so I had Drawing IV then my anthropology class "Women in other Cultures". I've had the same professor for drawing for the past two semesters so I'm pretty used to her and luckily she thinks I'm charming. She can be a little bit tough but it forces me to work harder. My drawing has really improved since she's been my teacher even though I complain constantly about how nit-picky she is. A couple of my buds are in that class as well so it's good to see familiar faces. I was worried about my anthropology class since I haven't taken a non-art related class in quite some time but it seems like it's going to be pretty cool. There's like, 150 people in that class and only about 6 of them are dudes. You'd think that more dudes would want to learn about babes in other cultures but whatevs.

Anywho, I start my new job on Friday and I'm kind of nervous. I always get nervous trying new things. But since the training period is only 2 1/2 days I figure it must be a pretty easy job. It better be considering they're only paying me peanuts. It fits well with my schedule though and the store is only about 2 minutes away from my house. I've had the hardest time trying to find a job too so beggars can't really be choosers. The manager said they'd hire me as "seasonal" and if things "work out" that they'd keep me permanently. I'm not too worried about being fired mostly due to my general awesomeness and knowhow. I just hope the people who I'm going to be working with are nice. I hate working with creeps. Well, I'll report back post first day of work. :)

Back to School

So...yesterday was my first day back to school. It went pretty ok except for one bit of rotten luck. There's this dude who was buggin' me on the facebook for a couple weeks. The day before yesterday I had reached my wits end with this fool so I deleted his ass. That night before I went to sleep I had a premonition. My gut told me, "He's totally going to be in one of your classes, girlfriend." So the next day I'm waiting for class to start and again my gut says to me, "Any minute now..." and as I look up the turd comes waltzin' through the door. And out of all of the places to sit he sits RIGHT behind me just to make me uncomfortable. Douche. I can be a major ice queen when I want to though so I gave him the coldest shoulder imaginable. I never once made eye contact with him like he was invisible. After class though I could feel in my bones that he was going to say something to me so I BOLTED out of there. I even took the stairs so I wouldn't risk having to take the elevator with this creep (even though I was on the fourth floor).

Besides that bit of unpleasantness, I had a pretty good day. I'm also taking "Art of Japan" with the same professor I had for "Chinese Painting" who I adore. She gives a buttload of extra credit and plans museum visits for us all the time. It's a bummer this class is way on the other side of campus though. Having to walk to the art building while it's a billion degrees outside is not the mama. Monday I have another drawing class and my anthropology class. I'm excited to take an anthro class after taking nothing but art classes for a year. Plus it's lower division. I miss lower division classes...

Oh, and tomorrow morning I actually have an interview... for a job! It's been a year since I've done an interview so I'm pretty nervous. I don't feel that I interview well. And it's at 9:30am when I'm still on my vampire summer schedule where I don't go to bed til 3-4am. I hope it goes well because I really want to go on vacation this winter and need to start saving. Wish me luck!

P.S. My comic strip FINALLY got moved out of the crease of my school's student paper! VICTORY!

School of Hard Knocks

On August 19th I will be starting my fourth and second to last semester at ASU. Going back to college after a three year absence has been a bit of a challenge but I think it's been really good for me as well. Ever since I dropped out of college in 2006 (I preferred to call it "taking a break" at the time) it's been bothering me...haunting me even. My whole educational career I was a straight A student, well, there were a few Bs in there, who dreamed of going to presitgious schools in far away cities but when I got to high school I developed almost crippling anxiety and all of my hopes of going to an ivy league school went out the window. By my senior year of high school even the thought of driving to Tempe everyday to ASU so frightening to me that I ended up at community college instead. I like to believe that everything happens for a reason though and if I hadn't gone to community college I never would have met my first love. Even though this love didn't turn out the way I had hoped it would (at the time) I'm still glad that I met that person because he helped me overcome a lot of my phobias and insecurities. My life did get a little topsy-turvy when this relationship came to an end but I think that now I'm (finally) back on track. In the past few years I've realized that I don't need anyone to take care of me and that I'm fully capable of taking care of myself. I'm still hopeful that love will find me again in the future but for now I'm trying to learn how to be happy on my own. Of course I do have many incredible people in my life that love and support me so I'm never really alone.

When I made the decision to go back to school I also made a goal for myself that I would maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout the rest of my education and so far I've achieved that goal. Before I went back to school I was having some confidence issues both in my general intelligence and as an artist but since I've returned to school I've regained a lot of that lost confidence. And it's funny that even though I'm naturally a shy person, a wall-flower even, I've managed to become a favorite of all of my professors. I can't really explain why but they've all taken a shine to me. I'm most certainly not the most talented artist in my drawing classes but in the past few semesters I think I've definitely developed my own personal style (other than my comics ) and I'm very proud of that. During critiques my classmates can instantly identify which pieces are mine and that makes me happy. I might be a little O.C.D. when it comes to my drawings (each one takes about 9-15 hours) but I've always been a very meticulous person and I think the little details are very important in my art. So even if a professor doesn't like my piece they can never say that it was because it was half-assed or that I didn't put enough time into it.

When I first moved back to Phoenix from Portland (I moved out of my parents house in spring of 2008 to Portland, OR and lived there for 6 months--and yes, I am a bit of a late bloomer as far as moving out goes) I thought that 2 1/2 years of schooling seemed like forever but in actuality it's FLOWN by. I'm even kind of sad that I didn't get to take all of the classes I wanted to take. I would've liked to have taken a painting class, graphic design, printmaking, photography and many many more art history classes but now I've almost run out of time. And since I'm a senior, my last two semesters have already been planned out so I know exactly what classes I'll be taking this last year of college.

So before I wrap this up I'd like to post a few of my favorite drawings I've done thus far:

                                                                          Birds #1

charcoal on paper

Birds #2

charcoal on paper

Octo-gumball

charcoal on paper

Buddhist Culture Series

chacoal on paper

Coral Reef Series

charcoal on paper

*I'm pretty lazy about photographing my work but I'll gradually post more drawings, both old and new, later on.

Blog-o-rama

Hello stranger and welcome to my second attempt at having a blog. My name is Courtney, I'm 26 years old and I am a cartoonist, gamer, daydreamer, crafter, thrifter, thinker, and eater of baked goods. To be perfectly honest I started this blog because I'm unemployed and have nuffin' better to do BUT it would sound better if I said I started this blog to chronicle my senior year of college at the Herberger College of Art and Design at Arizona State University. See? Sounds MUCH better than, "Hey, I'm bored and I'm gonna complain on the internets about my boredness and how poor I am."


I will use this blog to rant (of course) but also to post comics, drawings, photos, and other various crafty whatnots.

Oh, and here's what I look like for all of you visual types out there.

And so it begins...