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!