It's the 7th week of class and it's down to the wire. I'm speeding along to finish up my sculpt today, so I'm dead tired. Thankfully my creepy critter is ready for molding after yanking it's teeth out and filling in the mouth to making the removal easy. Next week I build the mold and fabricate the body or the box, depending on how our director wants my critter to look.

So far it's been nothing but nonstop pedal to the metal. With so many things happening at the shop it's crazy! We have next week to get the molds done before midterms we should have test makeups complete. So I have to move my butt to get my critter done quick! So I haven't had a moment to sit down and rest. It's all go time now.

Among the odd hours I'm putting in, I still have two major projects to complete and yet a third to complete before 4th semester. So I'm booked :D. Still I want some time to get in some art here and there. So I'm scheduling my days now to help me improve my madness to a more methodical approach. Most Thursdays are spent sleeping off the week behind me, and scrambling for what daylight I have left to get things down before class the next morning. I kind of hate that I have a day off like that, but it's all good. I have to make it work!

I need to tackle some issues here on the home front before 4th semester pounces on me. I have a mold and copy to make to send back home, so scheduling time to get it done has been a bit of hassle. I hate pushing things back, it's slowing me down. XD

Anyway I'll get it figured out soon enough, so I should be back with some art soon. Hopefully I can get some solutions to my questions soon, so I'll be back.

- R out.

So the shop has been hectic this last week with several new ghosts ordered by the director after our break for 4th of July and unexpected break after. We are now almost into the second month of fabrication and we have barely anything molded. However I got news some exciting news! My creature sculpt, originally a mock-up of the skull creature, got bumped up to being a full character complete with another character with me as the main fabricator!

So my critter is up in the air at the moment as to whether it will be a monkey ghost or a killer jack-in-the-box, either way it will be paired with this uber-creepy clown dude another classmate is making! So if we go monkey, I will be fabricating the body with all manner of weirdness to make it the scariest circus monkey around. If Jack, then I need to plot some kind of terrifying box to but him in, either way it's looking vicious!

Other news around the shop, we unfortunately lost parts of the Drowned Woman Ghost and the really cool Conjoined Twin Baby Ghost over the 4th of July Holiday. They weren't properly stored and the heat dried out the clay, so they had to be resculpted, but the Woman sculpture is in molding. Despite no longer working on the The Big Guy, which is now looking more like the ghost from the original Poltergeist, I'm excited to hear that I was chosen by our foreman to deliver the creepy monkey ghost. So next Tuesday, I'm down in the trenches and kicking butt to get the critter done as fast as I can. Likely it will be a puppet, so I might have to fabricate mechanisms as well if I can hurry. *paws crossed* ^^

Alrighty folks, I'm off to work on my school projects. I have just under 2 1/2 months to complete some major assignments and I need to work fast! Be back soon!

So it's now time that I'm about 3/4 of the way through school and it's coming time concerning how I will get my wares back home. The major problem is that about more than half of my works are made of cement, combining into 50+ lbs. of unwieldly rock! So flying with that much cement is going to be costly (since my folks can't afford a U-Haul for the 1 1/2 day drive back home) and shipping it worse.

The solution? Make lighter copies! I plan on sending these copies back home, though the logistics are at best uncertain at the moment. Happy news is that I can recreate these major works for practice upon my return to Texas once I arrive home from stone once again as I plan on making an oven to bake latex in. Better still I can have my own custom pieces now.

I'll have to consult my teachers tomorrow about the possibility of creating molds and fiberglass/plastic copies to send home. These would not only be easy to pack, but easy on my back (and feet) to store. Plus, I can recreate them anytime. July will be a busy month as I will be making an inventory of supplies I have currently as well as art works I need copies of. So I plan on making sure that the one day I have left to pack at the end of the semester 4, isn't wasted and I can zip on out. We plan on taking a week for going places afterward, but after that, it's the future or bust! Great Scott!

So my plan on returning to Texas aside from looking for work is to possibly establish a shop to work from. No word on what opportunities will be out there, but I've kept my eyes peeled for neighboring states as well.

In other news, I might open an alternate account to put my new work on, mostly relating to what I'm working on here at school, so this will be my NSFW art account ;D Anyway, I have to get back to the grind, I have a werewolf chick that's dying to be sculpted ;)

Process: So I had a productive day today. Aside from locating supplies for a project I've been dying to work on since I got to Pitt, I've been piecing together the way we design things to streamline my personal work. I pretty much have a battle plan when it comes to working on creature stuff that should help me plan accordingly.

Part of my failure at designing 3D items was I was skipping about too much. I would already jump ahead before establishing what it was I was making or I would sabotage myself halfway realizing that I jumped to far ahead. Needless to say I was without a basic roadmap of where the heck I was going! Therefore I would be fumbling about in the dark wondering what step I was on. Worse still I forget to ask myself important design questions. So far my time here in Pitt has been interesting as far as learning goes. I finally formulated a simple workflow to help me through.

The basic gist is who, what, where, when, why, and how. The how's are easy, these are just the techniques I'm learning, but the who and what was often the subject of long heated debate. Then I would zero in on another section, usually miles ahead of the intial concept stage designing mech's or something unrelated. This would be followed by hours of frustration as the design I would make wouldn't fit *facedesk and 12-hour existential crisis*. Yeah it would collapse quickly without even trying.

So I'm slowing my roll a bit and starting with a logical progression (even though my mind doesn't think that way >.<) to get from A to B. So far I can fit any character into the formula and find my way to the end quickly, so if I decide to work on some fanart of a character I like I can. In fact I might start peeking about my *ahem* "reference" folder for some inspiration XD. Anyway progress today has been good!

Denture Work: So I just completed my first set of dentures that fit, but not without some flaws. Apparently I mixed too little acrylic and wound up with a huge air bubble in the dang gums. Otherwise it looks hilarious these huge buck teeth I made. I need to make a new set and mess them up a bit with a Dremel before making them look rotten. So we will see what happens :D.

Design Journal: This should be fun! What kind of crazy ideas do you have? Start a journal and write them, even if they are pie-in-the-sky ideas. Doesn't matter if they work or what you would need to make them, even just having these wild ideas can help jog your muse into spinning some gold XD. You never know what kind of awesome you can create, no matter how far fetched it maybe. :D I have a tons of them back home and I have more here. XDDDD I don't try to worry about how I would do, just imagine a perfect world where you could and watch the magic happen. You never know what kind of awesome is lurking up there :D.

Just got news today that one of our beloved Chihuahuas has passed on last night. She was a good dog too, very loving and very friendly to all the others. We had her for so long and its hard to know she's gone. My dog, who is unfortunately blind now in old age, is watching over her as of earlier today. I guess he sensed it was her time and he stayed with her since.

I already miss her, she survived a vicious attack from a larger dog thanks to my quick thinking and reaction, otherwise she would have bled out. I have to credit my brothers crazy driving skill as well, without him getting us to the vet, she would have likely been gone. It's hard to hear that's she's gone, but she had a very good life despite having a permanent limp from the attack. Very resilient dog if somewhat stubborn, she walked right out of her cast the first day we brought her home from the vet. Always gentle and loving towards all the dogs, very good mom too when all our girls had puppies, she took turns watching the litter while the others rested to eat.

Don't ask me why, but she trusted me most to be there with her when she had her puppies, so I helped deliver them. I don't question why she allowed it, but it was a special moment I was happy to be a part of :D. Whatever happened she is at rest now, and whatever happened to her couldn't break her upbeat spirit, she was a very good dog. The best. I will truly miss her.

RIP Cinnamon, our "beefie" dog.

So I got a taste of what it's like to make acrylic chompers today. :D It's a fun and fascinating experience, though it required the utmost patience and precision! Casting copies of my own teeth was funny, I managed to goof on the mold and some of my teeth floated away creating this uber random monster mouth XDDDDD. Anyway, I'll have my custom fit dentures next week and I'll have some nice fangs coming soon ;D. I might even do a nod to Rammstein and created an illuminated mouthpiece a la Till Lindemann for the upcoming Halloween Dance in October :D.

I'll be also be making a custom mask based on Sitting Bull for one of my classes. I finished making the first of 5(?) molds this last week and hopefully Monday, will complete the next set needed.

My first anthro sculpt is coming along beautifully, the new clay is beautiful! It builds like an oil clay and smooths like butter, so she should be done by next week and ready to mold! I hope to get more done before the next and final semester! I'll be posting progress as soon as possible. One thing I've learned is that being resourceful in the shop is lifesaver! I lost most of the plastic forms I used for eyes in my sculpture over the last semester, but I manage to find one left. Unable to locate an eye mold and not patient for 2 part plastic to cast, I had a sudden bolt of inspiration! Using the vacuform machine, I punched out a couple of copies as well as one I could use make a mold later. This way I had ready forms that could be cut with scissors. Viola, Mr. Fixit! It worked!

Also some good news from the shop where I'm currently working on creatures for a film. We moved from preproduction up to full blown fabrication, including a diver ghost and a two headed baby! It's getting wild down in the shop. Among other things, we have the "Drowned Woman Ghost" which the body suit is almost done and ready to cast. I seemed to have moved up on the ladder as well, I'm the main sculptor for the creature we call the "Big Guy". Think classic Ghostbusters cartoony monster which is what was originally thought up.

I managed to create a scale model of the creature and it's looking vicious! I swear I wouldn't want that critter lurking in a dark room XDDDDDD. It's got some serious teeth on it and it's super creepy :D. From what I hear, this critter will be a puppet, which means I'll be working mechanical stuff :D YES! I can't wait :D.

Yep... Nothing special about this journal, just feeling awesomely full of inspiration!

May your day be full of awesome inspiration as well :D

R-Complex out!

Me or mah O.C.'s, the questions are yours XDDDDD. Because why not?

O.C.'s

Hannah
Olivia
Val

I plan on attending Anthrocon since I'm so close to Pittsburgh, but it's likely I might cancel ahead of time as I have a LOT of work to catch up on here at school. Funds I could get no problem, just that I feel I'm a week behind on my major projects for school. Given that I have to visit our onsite photographer tomorrow afternoon to get more photos of previous work for my portfolio which will be up for review in another 3 months.

I'm going to have to step on it if I want to stay on top of things. I have one major project that requires a LOT of application time, up to several hours in fact that I must be ready for when the time comes. So I'm going to let AC slide this time to prep for it. Honestly there will be others I can go to, like Furry Fiesta back home and I keep seeing on in San Antonio as well. I might be moving depending where the work is, though I have a feeling I might be further south back in Texas. It's early too tell.

Some silver lining though, I might open my own shop once I'm back home. I've been documenting supplies here and there, getting tips where I can about possible job leads after college. I have many pokers in the fire at this point as to where I might go, even considering a few northern states and New Mexico among the many places I can go after this.

For now, I'm stepping up my classwork. I want to have the best stuff ready to rock come graduation next February. I have many skills I can market now, so I'll most likely be stepping up my presence here and elsewhere. No further details yet, but I might be opening a Facebook page related to my current work at the moment. So I'll be busy, but hopefully ready to show off some of the amazing stuff I'm doing. Among them a possible werewolf bust that I'm itching all over to get working on. I have to locate my model stand as it will be a full head bust. I plan on making teeth and eyes for it as well :D.

Ok I'm off to update things, I'll be back soon. :D

So I'm going to keep track with a new journal I'm creating while I'm busy working on things here and there, called "In The Shop". These are segments based on what I'm working on currently and hope to be a weekly if not monthly thing I do. I do plan on posting pictures that will be associated with what I'm doing.

So I'm kicking off this post with the theme of design. Working on a design is tough! It's a process unto itself that requires some expert patience and some steel will, especially in a shop situation. Everything will test you if you let it, even the foreman. The most frustrating part is that you want the best design possible, which works if you are independent. But when in a shop, it can test your will when your foreman turns down your design in favor of another or makes you create another one. As I discovered that my concept sculpts were destroyed and I had to start over again.

It can be devastating for a designer to see your work in shambles. Trust me I've been there, I've seen my artwork destroyed by careless people which is now probably an I-Beam somewhere after it got sent to the scrapyard. So I'd say that hardened me up to whatever comes my way during this process of creating monsters in a shop.

So what have I learned? That focusing too much will lead you to purgatory and eventual developmental hell, too little and you miss the mark completely. So learning to balance yourself and find a place in the middle that has everything you want in your project. One thing I found valuable was that the fact that we need a specific set of goals to help get there. Which is I should have been more careful and documented what was given to see what we were trying to create in that moment.

I completely missed that point in the first days of drafting our designs, which would have kept me on track and focused on the right direction. Other than that, it's been a wonderful learning experience that I feel I can learn much from and that I can share here with you.

The most difficult part I have found is translating from 2D to 3D, the extra dimension can leave one longing for more, especially if the designs on paper look half done. I found that having more than one view can help lots especially designing a creature that has to exist in reality. More or less, having to combine information is a necessary and tough task as selecting the elements that work versus those that don't can be a bit of a mystery. But I feel that if you have the right criteria (i.e. the notes I should have took) that would have made it easy for me to decide what direction I wanted to go.

One thing I have learned is being creative when the design is half complete. This missing information can be a hit and miss situation, especially when working under the gun of a deadline and time is critical to finishing the project. Its a bit frustrating when you are trying to hard to control it without knowing where to go, which is where I overfocus. Sometimes it's just fun to let the pencil walk and wander off the beaten path even if it doesn't get used. If I've learned on thing, it's ok to have bad ideas because a better one is just around the corner. I think I can apply this philosophy to my new work.

One thing I have also learned from this experience is to not jump the gun, especially in a group. I have tendency to place myself wherever and damn the torpedoes, which is not a good attitude to have unfortunately. Want to see how quick a pile-up occurs? That's how you get one. XD

I digress, I merely gravitate to what I know best without regard for whatever I'm assigned, what can cause me to fumble so learning to listen is one skill I needed to develop. Even in a shop situation you might be asked to do something completely out of your comfort zone, like sweeping a floor. I'm not above sweeping a floor, but when it comes to designing outside my comfort zone, that's when it take some real will and determination. I feel I still have a lot to learn, hopefully this might help you. Anyway, I'm off to make notes for class, have a wonderful evening.

Alrighty folks, by the time you see this I'll be 32 tomorrow. I'll see you all in the morning! ;)

Alrighty folks this is what's up as of now.

Hump Day: Happy 32 to me coming up on Wednesday. I'll be in class in the evening, but my folks supposedly have a surprise they orchestrated from back home in the morning. So I'll see how that goes. XD. Cake and awesome for all! ;D

Major Design Gig: So it's official I'm a designer for a group project that will be filming by the end of the semester. I will also be fabricating some of the creatures I helped design in our shop so it's going to be awesome! We have so many weird ghoulies its not funny. One we have cut completely in half, the other will be underwater (al a CGI water, but practical suits and effects!), weird puppet ghosts and all manner of madness. Tomorrow I go in ready to start making awesome!!!! YES!

Chompers galore!: I will be making custom fangs for myself during this next semester. I already have the molds ready to rock! The only pain in the butt was making a mold of my teeth, OH GAWD! I gagged so hard I had to redo the mold as I started to choke. Once we got through it, it was pie from there. Now comes the fun part, demolding casting we did and creating some new chompers for that million dollar smile! :D

ANTHROCON: I still plan on attending AC since I'm here in Pittsburgh. I'll have to find some funds to get there, but I do plan on being there to see all the furries in their natural habitat XD. I plan on getting some artwork if possible. Not sure who I'll meet up there though. Unfortunately I won't be suiting, because A.) I don't have a suit and B.) I'm still learning to fabricate things like a suit. When I do make one, I'll probably debut it here in the event I attend other con's so you can say hi XD.

Other Thangs: It's going to be a tough call with all the work ahead. I have to build and design display busts among other things. But I do plan on getting my other work done. It's all a matter of balance. I need to make time to do art as I've been feeling a bit stuck in the mud as of late. Mostly I'm still wore out form hiking 3 miles through the backwoods of Pennsylvania in godawful humidity that might as well have been the surface of the freaking sun! No matter, I have to do what I got to do. So I'm off to rest and be ready for tomorrow. I have a big day ahead of me and I need to schedule downtime to get my art done so I using my time wisely.

Goodnight folks!

-R

...to everyone that's taken a chance me. You've helped me grow as an artist :D

More of a personal thought journal today, as I realized when I'm so quick to fumble on projects I want to work on. When shopping for supplies for school, I fumbled hard on trying to get what I needed. It was like my brain was stuck on puree and every thought I was having up to that point was just mixed together violently. I starting shopping for supplies for my project as well, so then I was stuck working on too many things at once. >> It was literally a pile-up of thoughts.

Finally I was so frustrated that I slammed my laptop shut and walked away. Even watching TV my mind persisted on focusing on what went wrong and going down a downward pity party spiral. Even running through the rain to the store was a better way of clearing my already chaotic mind. It's part of being ADHD unfortunately, I have pile-up's from time to time and its draining. But I've found how I manage to trigger said pile-ups: organization or lack of, to be more precise.

Simply put I jump the gun in excitement of what I want to make and proceed to have an anxiety attack over not knowing what I need and what I don't. Then I'm at the mercy of what looks like a good idea at the moment and what's cost effective to get started. I barely have an inkling of an idea and I'm already shopping around before I have anything set in stone. Then I buy some random thing and become mad at myself later when I finally realize that I needed that part after all. >.<

This school has been such a benefit to me, yet I have the willpower to break these old habits, but forget to do so. So like my long teased projects, they had a semblance of direction but nothing concrete or I would doubt myself into insanity over whether or not it will work. Its a miracle things get done at all. Believe or it not, I'm grateful for those small victories.

I think what I need to do is stop trying and just get doing. There is no right or wrong way, just whatever way I make to get there. I feel it's time to retool my way of thinking to better get a grasp on life and that may very well be the answer to this question.

Back to the grind ^^

Alrighty folks, here's a quick rundown of things going on. My latest course involves me co-oping in an actual workshop for this semester's work, so I'm basically interning on a few major design projects. I basically met my foreman today and yours truly will be working mah hide to the bone to make sure I see this through. So I can't promise that I'll have things done soon, but that I intend to finish them before leaving school. I think what I will do in the morning is right up a list of what needs to get done and begin setting out time for it.

This is a super important skill I have to develop because I'm getting real world training that I can apply anywhere in life. I haven't been so sure of something in my life, but I now I can see myself succeeding at the goals I'm working toward. Looking at my schedule I'll have to plan and work around things. No longer will it be 'I, the artist', now it's me one of the parts of a larger machine.

This semester will be about us piloting a juggernaut artistic endeavor, which means I have to work with other artists to achieve a singular goal in our work. Here's the where the road gets tough and the tough get going, and all others turn and run. In life you'll always be fighting an uphill battle where you might be the last man standing, its in the those times you must find the courage to go on. Here's the battlelines drawn in the sand and it going take a test of courage to cross them and fight to the bloody end.

Life has prepared me for this moment, like Tallahassee said so eloquently, "It's time to nut up or shut up."

Oh boy! Back again! :D

I had to remold my lifecasting as mine wound up destroyed last semester after falling a short distance to the floor. So I had to make an entirely new one, which turned about 10 lbs. lighter and stronger than the first :D. Awesome :D

In other news, I had to send away for supplies for class. Mixing cups and such for a personal project as well calipers for measuring since I've lost mine.. *facepaw*

Thankfully Amazon has that prime thing that allows you 30 days free shipping, so I'm taking advantage! I already got a few ideas on things I'm needing currently and will be needing as soon as the semester is over. I have to start plotting out my last major project early as it has to be ready or at least 95% done by the time class starts. So I'm already noodling over things to make for that one project.

Slow art is slow, but I think I have a balancing plan to make YCH's and school projects work out. The teacher said give your homework at least 2 hours, which I can do. I can get a lot done in 2 hours. I might settle for an hour on any of the overdue just to get the ball rolling. This is something I can do because our big work is coming up tomorrow. I might throw in 30 mins on my own work as I'll have a ton of stuff to ship back home >>. Alrighty folks, I'm going to get food, I'm hungry.

Be back soon!

R.

Alrighty folks, some updates.

Last week was really busy, I mean really busy. Sunday night into Monday morning I spent cleaning up the ENTIRE apartment to not only welcome our new roomie, but my folks came to visit....so no naughty arts for me. But it was a heck of a trip. We left for Hershey, PA the following morning and spent the day at Hershey's Chocolate World making our own custom candy bars. Then we swung south to Gettysburg and spent the night near the field where the last stand began. We had some awesome burgers at Gettysburg Eddies, then went to bed.

I had a bit of trouble sleeping, nightmares mostly, though I couldn't shake the sadness over the town. Next morning we went into the battlefields where I had a ghostly encounter while attempting to get a picture of General Meade. While going up the hill I was suddenly "shot" in the chest by a phantom bullet, then actually felt a bit short of breathe a moment later. I thought something had hit me in the chest, but then it began to burn after it felt like it passed through. Didn't leave a mark, but my chest is still sore in the spot it happened.

Once we left Gettysburg, we went all over Pittsburgh taking in the sights. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the art festival at Point Park, but we went shopping in the strip district and had a Primanti Bros. sandwich which I recommend the "Pittsburger". I could barely finish one half!

Among the many sights we took in, while traveling down Fort Pitt Blvd. I spotted the old "Latent Image/Laurel Entertainment" offices where George Romero's film company shot the basement scenes for Night of the Living Dead and the rooftop invasion of the projects, as well as the hero's hideout and air shaft scenes from Dawn of the Dead. It's at 247 Fort Pitt Blvd, however it's a under new ownership after being vacant for some many years and I don't think they would have allowed a ravenous fan such as myself within 20 feet of the door XD.

Once back home at my apartment, we met the new roomie and her folks who stayed in her room before we jetted off to Monroeville in the morning.

Friday morning every zombie from here to Timbuktu was converging on the Monroeville Mall, so we headed up there to join the crowd XD. It was so amazing! I was waiting for the Dawn of the Dead cast reunion to setup, so we went about and ran into some classmates dressing up a fellow student as Regan from The Exorcist. They did an amazing job and even got Linda Blair to critique the cosplay, giving us insight into the making of her transformation onscreen. My mom got freaked out when the girl began to crawl backwards toward her, it was so awesome she nailed it! My mom was impressed.

During the day the guest slowly showed up, but I managed to catch Lenny Lies, the Machete zombie from Dawn of the Dead. He's so awesome! SO AWESOME! Just a wonderful and personable man, he also has a film company which I do follow on facebook (as my real self, I eventually plan to add a furry profile, one of these days XD). He also had a few shadowboxes of marble from the mall itself! My stepdad got me this limited edition piece which Mr. Lies graciously signed. He was awesome. And just for fun, he recreated the famous machete scene with an actual prop machete with me and my folks. It was so awesome.

Among the many folks I could have run into, I found John Russo, cowriter of the original Night of the Living Dead and got some awesome stuff from him. Included was a first edition book Return of the Living Dead signed by him :D. Awesome!

I did manage to get Scott Reiniger who played "Roger" to sign my poster, but alas Gaylen Ross was MIA. I heard from a little bird she doesn't come often to conventions and is quick to cancel last minute. So I have two principal characters and a bunch of the support zombies as well. Among them Taso Stavrakis who played various bikers and zombies in the Romero films, did stunts as well. He was also the horse wrangler/stunt coordinator for the first episode of The Walking Dead, in which he brought down the horse, then menaced Rick under the tank before being shot in the face.

I was a bit bummed that Gaylen Ross didn't show after all, so I instead got another famous zombie, Jim Krut to sign my poster :D. I made sure there were no helicopters nearby XDDDDD. I'm amazed at how tall he is in real life! He's like 6' 5" and I'm a demure 5' 7" so he was huge. It's no wonder the helicopter shaved off a few inches XDDDDDD.

I think the highlight of my trip was the cows. Yes, I said cows. XDDDDDDD While on our way back from Gettysburg, we got lost in the backcountry and past through some Amish farms trying to find the highway. XD While getting back onto the turnpike, there was farm full of cows grazing by the roadway. So we decided to walk over to the fence and see what they would do. Sure enough they were curious enough to come over, eventually I touched the nose of one before they went back to grazing. They are funny critters ^^.

Anyway that was my week, how was yours?

I needs a break from everything at the moment. So I grabbed my laptop, Wacom tablet and clay just in case I want to sculpt. So I'm needing to get references for the drawings owed, as I left Texas in such a hurry that I didn't have time to transfer some of the ref's over. *SMH*

So I'm going to work on some arts while I rest from working on making the house look nice. I'm not sure when my new roomie will be here, maybe she showed up while I was passed out during a nap this morning. Don't know. Anyway, I'm feeling a bit wore down from all the late nights I've had recently. Just trying to be productive and make things easy on myself for the transition into 3rd semester next week. Might get shelving for my room to better locate my supplies. Hopefully, it's all good.

It's all good. Ok, be right back :D.

Been busy with logging some of my schoolwork for future reference and experimenting with Super Sculpey, with some disappointing results. Otherwise I'm ready for an actual break, so I'm getting my computer out and dusting off my tablet to get back to work on drawing. I've been bending my brain on some new designs and writing down ideas for a future project of mine. I've been working my butt off since school ended, trying to keep the momentum going while I'm here. Next week I'll be departing for Gettysburg and all points PA with my folks. Tomorrow I might hit up the school office about some important school stuff, this way I'm covered on things while I'm here.

Plans are I'll be returning to Texas to retrieve my stuff, no plans on what the future will hold. I'm going to play this one by ear. Anyway, I'm going to work on my sketches before bed. I'm bushed.

*facedesk*

So I'm resting up a bit at the start of my school so I'm watching what I can on Netflix to stave off the boredom a bit while I organize things here for my new roommate. While it didn't excite me as much, I finally watched ABC's of Death 2 and it turned into ABC's of Duh pretty quick.

It's predecessor had something for everyone, even a furry themed one, this one not so much. >.< Its more a polished s***storm of really bad stories with a few notable mentions such as Robert Morgan's D is for Deloused, which Morgan still manages to strike a nerve with his surrealist stop motion animation. The rest were a clusterf*** of zero buildup, short run time, and overally ambiguous endings.

The first one the people were creatively and wild, it was a bizzare and surreal ride. Now it's just....blah... Some don't even feel like they tried to make a 4 minute short worth while, like they took the director of M from the first one and gave him the whole film. I have a few favorites, but the list is way shorter than it's predecessor, which had more interesting and diverse shorts. Half of them were over in the blink of an eye, might as well have been 30 seconds.

Even with a short runtime, the directors of the first took advantage of the short time to tell the best story they could. These felt like they were trying to be a longer movie in a minute and fumbled at the end. One in particular was about a family playing Russian Roulette without context as to why, then ended with a bunch of racket that seemed to be tacked on at the end. Rather than spend the movie arguing over the odds of catching the bullet, give a few examples of why they were forced to do so. *shaking my head*

ABC's of Death had all the Corman Classics: Blood, Beasts, and Babes. It's sequel had 1/2 the blood, 0 beasts and not enough babes. At least the first one had anthro stripper fox that went topless for the majority of the short she starred in. ABC's of Death 2 mentioned a seriously ticked off mutant badger and wastes the possibility of seeing a really cool beast for a cop out ending that could have had more flying body parts in it.

The only thing offensive about this sequel is the forced, often ridiculous stories and the wasted potential of the rest of the film. This one had one really good one at the beginning, then chugged unrelentingly through nauseating boredom before picking up in the last three shorts before ending on a whimper.

I wouldn't even spend the money to rent it. Worse is that there is another sequel ABC's of Death 2.5 which is basically all the movies they rejected for "M" segment made into one film.... yeah I think I'll leave that one completely. :(

Oy.

So it looks like my gear needs an upgrade.

My flashdrive for ZBrush decided to have an conniption and died spectacularly this afternoon midway through trying to submit late work to online instructors. I pretty much lost a semester's worth of work in one shot due to a really s****y flash drive brand that's been giving other students trouble as well through out the semester. It seemed to only work for 4 months they it crashed completely. Thankfully it was all graded, so I'm grateful for that. I'm going to have to find a high quality one to replace the one I currently store my school artwork on. I'm so mad right now, but hey I'm not the first one that's had this trouble.

A fellow student had the same happen to her the last day of class and several more midway through the semester. Got to go out tomorrow and get a better drive to store everything on. It's a bit tough when you're on a budget, but I think I can manage.

Alrighty folks, I'm just about free this Thursday, but I have a bunch of catching up to do on my school work. So I'm going to elbows deep into throughout the night and into the morning. So there might be a delay or too on any art, new or overdue, just to get through. So I'll be back soon, all the best of luck wherever you are! Hope you all have a great summer!

- R.

Man Summer break has crept up on me quick! Granted its only 2 weeks of rest, but I'm looking forward to it! I have so much I want to do and this next semester has been said you can afford to do a bit more in your off time. Which is good, because I need a moment to breathe and collect myself artistically. In another two weeks my folks will be here and we are off to Pittsburgh for some fun. I really want to go back to Burgatory for another one of those awesome burgers like me and my buddy Richard enjoyed back in Thanksgiving.

I'll be back at it soon folks. I'm finishing up some school work before I jump onto any artwork. I'm a bit behind at the moment, but I can manage as we ran out of time on many things here. Hopefully I can catch a break to breathe and recoup while I get things done out here. We will be having another graduation event sometime this week and I plan on networking with the crowd to see what awesome they created. In the meantime I've been working on small things when I can. Nothing to major, just having some breakthroughs on an old project. I'm finally starting to see how things are coming together in my favor, so I'm following mah nose. ^^

So far, I'm going after my overdue stuff first thing out of the gate. My roommates are splitting here before the break and I'm going to be the one left to introduce our new roomy to our humble home. I'll also be at Living Dead Weekend this June at Monroeville Mall to get what I can as far as signatures on my poster from cast members of Dawn of the Dead, so I'm happy. So much awesome. :D

As an artist I'm growing as of late, blossoming in ways that I can't begin to understand. So much so that I'm wanting to do more artistically and I'm considering the idea of collaborating with another artist to see what madness we can create. I'm open to ideas for the time being as I wind down this portion of the semester, note me if you are interested in doing something together.

WOOOO! Is my hide beat! *facefloor*

I'm sliding into home on my second semester and going on a 2 week break for Summer, hopefully I can finally breathe long enough for some artwork to get done. I'm looking forward to it too! Some awesomeness abound:

New Roommate: Got a new roomy coming at the end of the month, she'll be here for a semester. Can't wait to meet them!

Family Visit: So my parental units are on their way down in June to visit me and we might stray over to Gettysburg for the weekend. Pittsburgh has plenty to do and I hope we can see some of the sights while making my new roomy feel at home here.

Living Dead Weekend: Look out Monroeville, here I come! I'll be cruising through the crowds of rabid zombie fans to get signatures of the Dawn of the Dead Reunion. It's like the stars are aligning and the higher powers are smiling at me that I will get my chance to get the remaining three signatures to make my poster awesome! YES!

Possible Film!: YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY! Some of the students are shooting an indie film out here during the break and I might be recruited to be along for the ride. The premise is an apocalyptic thriller short film that looks to be submitted to a film festival when complete. They've been in preproduction since last month(?) and it sounds awesome already. All the best folks, HERE...WE...GO!

Happy 32 to me!: It's still a month away on June 21st, but still I might celebrate early XDDD.

Anthrocon: Yep, it's true. I might be soon rubbing elbows with fellow furries here in June at Anthrocon. I'll be there, minus a suit of course, but I'll stop in artists alley to get some great art to take home with me. Maybe commission someone to commemorate my time here in the North before I head back to Texas next year.