Hello everyone!

I want to start off by saying thank you to those of you who have contributed thus far to my card project. It really means a lot and I've put each and every one of your pieces of artwork or poems into the card. I'd like to finish the card up tomorrow, so if you are working on something for it, please get it to me before tomorrow.

On the stream: From here out until after the holidays, streams will be fewer as I'm getting ready for the break and working on some other projects. Please watch my journal for announcements on when the streams will be. There will definitely be some more soon, as I have a couple of commissions to be working on.

Speaking of feather paintings, if you are planning to get one as a Christmas gift, let me know soon! I will be flying back home for the holidays and won't have my painting supplies with me. Paintings take time to do, but the framing process takes even longer. Please place all commissions you are planning to be getting before the end of November. Thanks!

I will also be placing some original art on my Etsy shop. There are a few things now, but keep an eye out for new stuff popping up in there soon! Linkage: [link]

Some of you may know that I've been working on a new feather painting of a butterfly and a ladybug. This was a special trade I was doing with a family who raises pet birds. They asked to send me some feathers in exchange for a feather painting. I don't normally take trades like this, but this one was special. I'd like to share with you the story behind this painting.

However, the story does not have a happy ending. Please read what I have to say and if you would like to help with a card project I'll explain at the end, I would greatly appreciate your contribution.

Allow me to share some excerpts from my emails with Kimberly Sturman, who found my website when searching for an artist to help inspire her little girl, Kayla, seen below:



These are the emails from Kimberly:

October 11th:
"First off I found your site and you are an amazing artist!! With that said I wish I could afford some of your pieces. So I have a question for you.... I breed parrots. If I was to send you a box of parrot feathers of all kinds for you to pick and choose to use with and in your art would you be willing to paint a feather for my family?

I have a family of four which is me the hubby and two daughters age 12 and 6. My six year old is very much into the art world. She draws and colors and doodles and writes and oh lord the paper she goes through...LOL... Anyhooo I just thought I would ask. ...If your not interested I understand.
Take care
Kimberly"



October 12th:
"Hi Kristan,
Thank you so much for writing me back so fast! What I am mainly wanting is something for my littlest one. She is 6 and very much into art. To give you a small short background on the little booger ..... I won't keep you long I promise...LOL...

Her name is Makaela, she is six yrs old. She is my youngest of two daughters. She is a very special child! I admit she is very spoiled by all of us including my oldest daughter. She is not suppose to be with us. Very hard pregnancy but in the end much worth it.
She is sick (no I am not trying to make you feel sorry because she is well loved and very strong hearted but I do know how it sounds and trust me its not that way)

She has an auto immune disorder that they have not been able to pin point as of yet. She has a lot of pain and a lot of fevers. So with her staying sick all the time she spends a lot of time inside so she had a lot of time to draw and paint and all that good stuff. She became pretty good at it but that could just be the momma in me.....LOL....So I try to surround her with art things......This feather if you choose to paint one for us would be an amazing addition to our collection and treasured by us.

To tell you a little bit about us....
My husband is a Sgt in the US army, he has 9 more years till retirment...YAY...HAHA
I am a disabled stay at home mom of two wonderful little girls! We are both 33 yrs old.....
our girls Haven and Kayla are 12 and 6. We breed birds of all kinds. They live in an outdoor closed in aviary and enjoy the sunshine and rain and all the other "outdoor" things that come along with it...

We also have three dogs a lab\rotti mix, a pekingese, and a chihuahua....
...HAHA...sorry I know I ramble on a bit....
kimberly



October 13th:
"Hi Kristan!!
Thank you so so much for thinking of painting her one! It means A LOT TO me!!
My husband is away and everything always goes nuts when he is gone. His african grey throws a fit every time he leaves too and gives me a hard time and tries to bite me too! You will hear her every day sitting out there going "DAN OH DAAAANNNNNN" Then her mate will go "WHAT"......its kinda funny the first couple times you hear it but then after the fir... ]]> *dittin03 http://dittin03.deviantart.com/journal/28439524/ http://dittin03.deviantart.com/journal/28439524/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:55:39 PST

Dittin03!

DeviantART

Gallery

Note Me

My Favorites

Links

My Personal Site

Commissions!

I'm always open for commissions! Just feel free to note me about it!

Pricing is on my front page!

Alrighty guys, something is wonky with Livestream. It looks like they finally went ahead with the changes they were threatening to do and now the video is not only smaller but the chat is now very different.

Livestream, we don't like your "new and improved" changes *sigh*

Linkage: [link]

~Dittin

I know, another journal. Sorry guys. But rules are rules. I was featured so now I am returning the favor!

Get commenting so I can feature you!

~~~~~~~

From 's journal

1. Be one of the first 10 commenting on this journal entry, and I will add you to the Feature List.

2. For each of the 10 first people answering this journal I will put his/her avatar and three deviations from his/her gallery on the list.

3. If you answer, you’ll have to do the same in your journal, putting me on the first place, completing this list with 10 people. The idea of this is not to get a free feature, it is to spread art around for everyone!


1.
2.
3. *dittin03 http://dittin03.deviantart.com/journal/28380059/ http://dittin03.deviantart.com/journal/28380059/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:53:42 PST

Dittin03!

DeviantART

Gallery

Note Me

My Favorites

Links

My Personal Site

Commissions!

I'm always open for commissions! Just feel free to note me about it!

Pricing is on my front page!

First of all, I'm super excited to announce that my Etsy store has finally got STUFF in it! Woot! Go see!

Everything there is priced to sell and I should be adding more soon, especially as I get some more feather paintings framed. If you want a piece, get it soon cause these are originals and once it's gone, it's gone forever!

Shop Linkage: [link]

~~~~~~~~~~

Secondly, I am doing a super cheap prints sale! And I mean cheap! Check this out:

Here is the big holiday sale: Buy ONE print, automatically get TWO free (of equal or lesser value)! Yes, TWO! From now until January 1st, 2010, Prints will be 3 for the price of 1!

Regular prices and sizing:

4x6: $5.50
8.5x11: $11.50
11x17: $16.50
13x19: $21.50

My prints are available outside of dA. That means I print them myself: resulting in lower prices for both of us! These will be printed on high quality archival paper and include shipping to the United States. International buyers can be dealt with on a case by case basis.


~~~~~~~~~~

Stream!!!! ....And for those of you who are wondering when the next stream is, I'll be doing one tomorrow: Monday the 16th. I know I've been slacking a bit with doing the streams but it's kinda been a hectic week. I do plan to get a feather painting going that I owe to someone who traded me a bunch of parrot feathers for a simple unframed painting of a butterfly and a ladybug. It will be nice to be working on a feather painting again!

Also, my archery tournament was really fun! I did better than I expected, though I *may or may not have* shot a decorative fence and snapped one of my arrows in half, sending both pieces flying to opposite sides of the building... Most of the time I hit the target, I swear!

Anyways... Buy prints, visit my store, and come to the livestream!

Big news out of the way first: No stream tonight.

Why? Cause I'm using the night to put together last minute a much better feather flat art portfolio. I am going to be showing my stuff tomorrow and nothing new is in there. I'm hoping to sell some paintings...

And before you ask, though I've considered it, I won't be streaming the putting together of my portfolio. It's gonna already kill the computer being that it's giant pages at high res and working with 600 dpi scans and doesn't need anything else bogging it down. I promise I have more streams coming in the future. I'm just taking advantage of my time between commissions to get other stuff done.

Oh and I'll be posting my newest framing job online soon. It will be the first feather painting I've ever framed all by myself Yay! Dittin can now complete a painting from the painting process all the way to the framing process! And that means faster delivery times for my commissioners! My style is very different than what we were doing before. We kept the best part: feather, bead, and leather decorations with deep frames. Now I've gone on to pair that up with nice black gallery shadowbox frames and a very unique way to cutting the matting. I hope you guys will like it as much as I do!

Wish me luck tomorrow! I'll be competing in a 3D archery tournament! I think I'll be happy if I just hit the targets and miss all of the landscape, walls, and floor! Cross your fingers!

I'm excited to be finally working on framing and matting my paintings myself! I've already started one and I will be finishing up that framing tonight. I'm trying something completely new with these! Therefore, I'll be using the time I'd usually use for streaming tonight to be working on that. Sorry guys, I will be back to stream later on this week.

I'll post pics of the finished framing job when I'm done. I think you'll like it.

Yay for Friday! I really could use a weekend right now. It's been a crazy busy week at work and I'm really looking forward to not only relaxing but getting some things done at home. I think I'm also right on the verge of finishing up Vevanak's dragon painting commission too. I plan to hold a stream tonight as well.

One of my plans soon to be put into action is going through my gallery and cleaning up some of the older art. I want to put only my best work here so some things might be going into storage for now. Sorry if anything I put into storage is on your favorites list. I just want to show my best stuff and clean things up.

Also, I'm excited to be thinking about getting more artwork done that can be offered for sale as Christmas presents! It's that time of year we are/probably should be thinking about what to be getting people. I am anyways! I would like to be able to sell a few paintings and take on some commissions to get ready for that time.

That said, I am planning on having a sale! A sale, Dittin, really? Yes! I'd like to offer some super cheap prints and originals just in time for the holidays. I'll be posting a separate journal about this soon with more info. The sale will only last until next month though so be sure to place orders before it ends!

I have joined an archery league that I attend Thursdays after work. We only have two more sessions left though and next week is our tournament! Wish me luck! We'll be shooting 3D targets for prizes. I first started shooting 3D targets yesterday so I'm still learning to gauge distances and avoid shooting into walls, poles, and fake trees. My first long distance arrow ended up firmly lodged beneath a log that was part of the scenery.

I'll post a journal a little later announcing the beginning of the stream, so check back if you plan on coming!

I've finished the dragon painting! Feel free to pop into the stream anyways though to see the on-demand videos showing the process!

Linkage: [link]

I am spending Halloween reformatting my desktop computer. At first, I was having issues with major lag in Photoshop and therefore couldn't stream from that computer. So I did the tech support thing and started cleaning it up in every way humanly possible but all that did was make things worse. Photoshop would then not open at all. Once I got that fixed, sure enough, my internet browser along with a few other things suddenly started acting really funny. It's kinda looking like some sort of malware or whatnot and finally I gave in and did what is always the last resort: the dreaded reformat. I've been working on that most of the day and will spend probably most of the rest of the day reinstalling lots of programs.

I'm not sure if I'll be doing a stream later as I won't be able to watch over the stream like I usually do. It would be more of me switching back and forth a whole lot and not participating as much as usual in the chat. I like to be able to answer questions and whatnot. Not to mention, shouldn't you guys be out doing Halloween stuff?

My reformat is at 99 percent right now so I'm gonna end here and try to get this thing on the road. Hopefully the computer will finally act more like it's shiny and new again. All your issues were just getting silly, mr. computer.

Offline for now! See ya later!

Linkage:
[link]

Edit: Now I'm off air, but I'll be back hopefully Monday, so long as nothing weird happens to ruin the stream. I might be doing a couple fewer streams though in order to have time to do some framing. I'm going to start doing a lot of it myself to save on shipping the painting twice. I also have a gallery coming up (hopefully) and I want everything to match Thanks to those that came to the stream!




Yep, going to do things a little differently today. I missed a couple of night's worth of streaming this week so I figured I'd make up for it with a Saturday stream. This won't become a regular occurrence, but once in a while can be fun.

No feather painting tonight; I've got a sketch on Bristol I did up pretty quickly last night I'd like to focus on coloring today. I plan to use colored pencils and perhaps a bit of paint.

If you're new to the online streaming, here's a quick overview: All you need to do is click the link below and it will bring you to my Livestream page, where I will be demonstrating painting and drawing techniques. There is also a chat room to ask questions or to chat with other watchers. No registration is required. I'll be playing music, but if you don't want to listen to that, you can always mute it. Hope to see some of you there!

This is where you'll find the stream: [link]

Oh noes!

Meaning that I'm not sure whether the stream will be late or not happen at all tonight. I have some errands to run later and I'm not sure when I'll be home. One of these things is picking up some frames. I'm getting stocked up on feather paintings but I don't have any frames to put them in!

I'll update this journal as soon as I know the plan, so stay tuned!

Okay! Just walked in the door! I would normally be starting the stream in 15 mins, but I'm totally exhausted, hungry, and feel gross from a long day. How about a weird Saturday stream? Huh, huh? Again, I'm REALLY sorry to those who were planning on coming to the streams. I don't mean to cancel them, just crap happens...

Also, I got frames! Lots of em! I hit up a really good sale and got enough to put together a full blown gallery. Woot!

And now I'm poor! Frames are 'spensive even when on sale

So how's about it? Saturday stream? Anyone in?

~Dittin

I knew that picture would drive me crazy until I found it! But perseverance paid off!

If you don't know what I'm talk about, definitely go see this painting:



There are 8 hidden pineapples in there though everyone at my stream last night, including me, could only find 7. And we scoured that thing for quite some time!

AND I FOUND THE 8TH ONE! I just got up this morning and was like, "OHHHHHHHH...."

No, I won't tell you where they all are. That would ruin the fun. But if you send me a note with your guesses, I can confirm whether you are right or wrong....

...

Oh wow, I need better things to do with my time

Okay, tonight I AM streaming but I ended up getting home a lot later than usual so I'm going to get set up, have dinner and then do the stream. However, the stream will be an hour later than usual. So 9:00 pm my time. Hope that still allows for a few people to come!

Also, I will not be working on Project Fan tonight. I have a smaller commission I have to get done of two greyhounds. I expect this one to take no more than a few days.

Stream link: [link]

See you there!

Hi all! See? I'm using my journal more often! Aren't you proud of me?

This is just a quick note, however, that chances are there will be no stream tonight. I will try to find the time for one, but I have to run some errands after work. I'll be picking up my grandma's birthday present so that I can mail it out in the morning and I'm not sure how long it's going to take. I'll be sure to post in my journal if I do end up doing a stream so check here on dA if you are planning on coming

Oh and I'll try to post progress pictures of Project Fan, the entire turkey tail painting I am working on for Tsume. It will feature 3 white tigers

Well, it's Monday again and the start of another long week. It's starting to finally get colder here again and the leaves are all turning color. I'm not a winter person and I kinda dread the cold weather. It seems I can never stay warm enough.

On a lighter note, I did, for a change, get out of the house and away from the computer for most of the weekend. I spent Saturday helping out the company I work for at a fundraiser for the cub scouts and boy scouts. I got to teach lots of kids (and some adults) to shoot a bow while the scouts charged a dollar for 5 arrows. The day flew by and then the owner of the company took us out to eat at the Bass Pro Shop. They have great food! We even ordered some fried alligator as an appetizer. As strange as it sounds, it's really good! On Sunday I headed out of town to spend the entire day fishing. I caught only three fish but the nice weather and spending the day getting away more than made up for it. I also ended up wandering around collecting neat, thin, and oddly flat rocks. I brought a few home to see if I can paint on them. That will just add another thing to my arsenal of strange canvases.

How was your weekend? Did anyone do anything exciting?

Tonight I plan to continue on Project Fan for Tsume, though later in the week I may be starting yet another project for a man who would like his wife's two greyhounds painted on some feathers as a gift for her. I'd also like to get some extra paintings done up for a local shop that would like to display and sell my work.

Lastly, don't forget about my stream! I'll be there tonight starting at 8pm Mountain Standard Time: [link]

I dunno what the heck happened to me yesterday but holy crap did I feel horrible. I went straight home and got a bunch of much needed to be done things done, took a super long shower, then had a good night's sleep. Today I feel tons better. My only explanation was a combination of stress and exhaustion. I'm just happy I wasn't catching a cold. I don't get sick very often, but when I do, I get it bad.

To make up for yesterday, I'd like to move the stream to tonight. I should be able to finish up the graphite drawing of Tanner leaving the next stream open to doing some sketching for Tsume's next commission. I'd like to have that one fully planned out before beginning.

In other news, I may have found a local place to start putting some of my original art for sale! I was approached at last weekend's trade show by a gentleman who owns a store where he consistently takes in framed art on consignment. Sounds perfect for getting some more sales! Now I just have to get some more feather paintings done!

As always, here is the Livestream link: [link] Hopefully the change of schedule will still allow for some of you to make it!

I've been fighting it all day long but I am just feeling worse and worse. I'm not sure whether I'm just ridiculously tired or if I'm coming down with something. At this point all I want to do is go lie down and hope my head and eyes stop hurting.. I'm gonna cancel tonight's Livestream. Sorry guys Dittin does not feel well at all...

Well guys, I'm back from the Good Life Expo (luxury items trade show)! I wish I could say that it was super packed with people and that we had lots of sales, but unfortunately it was pretty dead. We had a lot of things working against us including some pretty cruddy weather, a big sports game playing, and a major lack of advertising on their part.

I kept myself busy with learning to shoot my bow properly. I've always been a pretty terrible shot, but oh what a difference sighting the bow in combined with practicing for three days straight can make! In that respect I had a lot of fun and made the most of the situation. The booth I designed came out really nice too! I shall upload some pictures to my gallery soon! (If none of this is making sense, long story short, I work for an interactive archery simulations company.)

As a result to the timing of the expo I missed out entirely on my weekend so now I'll be working on playing the catch up game this week. I still plan to do the stream tonight for those who would like to come Livestream link I'm coming up on the end of the graphite drawing of Tanner and my next project at this point is *tsumeuchiha's project fan: A feather painting across an entire turkey tail fan. It's gonna be gigantic!

Other than all that, I am pretty tired and it's looking to be a really long week. I'm hoping as it wears on I'll get back into my groove and get some artwork done in the process.

Hello guys! How is everyone?

Me, I've been keeping myself pretty busy. I enjoyed my 3 day weekend and I did get quite a few things accomplished thankfully.

Sorry for the lack of a broadcast on Livestream on Monday. I do plan to be there tonight! However, it will again be a week with few streaming nights. The company I work for is attending a large expo over the entire weekend starting this Friday so I won't even be home to stream that day. Again, sorry about that.

I know I had more to say than this when I started this journal but now that I'm sitting here in front of the keyboard, of course I've forgotten most of it. I'm sure I'll think of more to write later.

See you at the stream!

I'm bored so I'm writing a new journal Don't forget there is a stream tonight! I'm continuing the graphite drawing of Tanner.

*yawn* I'm always sleepy anymore it seems. I've even been going to bed earlier. Hm. The days have begun to drag by a little more slowly than usual though. Things at work are slow and I've been working on some website stuff which I can't help but find boring, even if I am proud of what I've done. I need to start a new painting project soon.

I sent off ~Vevanak's original drawing today of Maximus. He bought the real thing after not being able to decide between a print or the original. I sent him a print too though just for all of his support and because his birthday was a few days ago. It's on metallic paper too! That stuff is super cool I just wish I could take a decent picture of it. Metallic, reflective objects look best in person I guess.

I'm happy that I've cut back the stream days to only Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I feel like I'm getting more done now. Yesterday, for example, I rearranged my living room. It needed it. Now maybe I will actually hook up my gaming systems! How I've missed them! Except when I went to move my entertainment center, a spider ran across the floor. After that, I quit. For about an hour. I was temporarily traumatized. I don't do spiders. Nope.

I might be starting up a new digital painting soon too, so I'll have to work with Livestream to make that happen. The computer that I do the digital painting at has a horrible net connection. I promised a good friend of mine I'd revamp a pretty funny picture I drew of her and I back in high school. Aw, memories. How very weird and awesome I was.

Guess I'll end it here. Hope to see everyone at the stream tonight!

Go, go, go! ===------->>>>> Dittin's Livestream

Live Stream

I will be on Livestream tonight! For tonight's broadcast as well as the next few until I finish the project, I'll be working on a commission for my cousin's coworker. I've already done the initial sketching on my last stream of her son, Tanner who is super cute. I'll be working with Bristol board and graphite.

Another note on Livestream: Due to a small change in my work schedule, not to mention for my own sanity, I've decided to scale back Livestream days to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I think this will be enough days to make sure I get my art projects rolling, yet few enough that I can get other things done as well. The time will still be 8pm Mountain Standard time.


Clicky for Stream Linkage

In case anyone doesn't know what the Live Stream broadcasts are, they are a live video feed of me drawing or painting (depending on the day). Anyone can come and I encourage it! I've always felt I learned more from watching how other people create art. Not only can it be inspiring but it gives me ideas for my own work. I hope my streams can do the same for you! Also, come and enjoy the fun chatroom! There are always great people in there and you don't know what you're missing til you've been in the presence of the meatball tree!

Commissions

Just a reminder, I AM open for commissions. Always have been and always will be as far as I can see. So if you think a feather painting would look awesometastic on your wall (Yes Vev, using my new word) then don't be afraid to send me a note and we'll talk! Prices are always listed on my front page, but I am willing to work with limited budgets to create a piece for YOU!

Live Stream

Yay for Friday! I'm ready for the weekend, how about you?

So I'm going to be streaming tonight, though I won't be continuing the dragon I'm halfway through. I've promised that I would wait til Friday to start her feather painting since that's the only day she'd be able to make it to the stream. It will be a small painting across 3 little grouse feathers featuring a wolf's portrait. I will try my best to complete the painting tonight because of its size and so that she can see the finished product.

Stream will be starting at 8pm Mountain Standard Time. Adjust your time zone accordingly. Also, don't forget I've been recording my broadcasts so you will be able to view the painting and drawing processes at later times.


Clicky for Stream Linkage

In case anyone doesn't know what the Live Stream broadcasts are, they are a live video feed of me drawing or painting (depending on the day). Anyone can come and I encourage it! I've always felt I learned more from watching how other people create art. Not only can it be inspiring but it gives me ideas for my own work. I hope my streams can do the same for you! Also, come and enjoy the fun chatroom! There are always great people in there and you don't know what you're missing til you've been in the presence of the meatball tree!

Commissions

Just a reminder, I AM open for commissions. Always have been and always will be as far as I can see. So if you think a feather painting would look awesometastic on your wall (Yes Vev, using my new word) then don't be afraid to send me a note and we'll talk! Prices are always listed on my front page, but I am willing to work with limited budgets to create a piece for YOU!

Updates!

Hello and Happy Monday everyone! Nah, Mondays suck. Blech. Plus I have a dentist appointment today. Ick! But I get new colors on my braces! Yay! A friend talked me into getting blue and green this time.

Anyways, thought I'd post a few updates really quick here. Firstly, I have updated my Personal Site. Go see! If you have comments or suggestions, let me know! I would still like to have a comments and journal section there but I have no idea how to do that... Any website savvy people out there?

The Stream

I'm planning on streaming tonight. I haven't really decided what I'll be doing yet though. I'm holding off on my next commission until Friday as the commissioner requested it so that they can make it to the stream. So there will definitely be a stream on Friday. Right now I am free to do ANYTHING! I know, scary, right?

Clicky for Stream Linkage

Commissions

Just a reminder, I AM open for commissions. Always have been and always will be as far as I can see. So if you think a feather painting would look awesomtastic on your wall (Yes Vev, using my new word) then don't be afraid to send me a note and we'll talk! Prices are always listed on my front page, but I am willing to work with limited budgets to create a piece for YOU!


New FAQ

I'm putting together an FAQ on my Personal Website and I'd like to see if you guys have anything to add there. So far I am going with things like "What kinds of feathers do you paint on?" or "So what does "Dittin" mean anyways?" but I know I'm missing a lot of them! Please add your suggestions in a comment! Thanks!

Runner Up Features!

Runners Up from my contest have all won a feature in my journal! Go and check them out and give em lots of support!






*dittin03 http://dittin03.deviantart.com/journal/26503408/ http://dittin03.deviantart.com/journal/26503408/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:15:17 PDT

Dittin03!

DeviantART

Gallery

Note Me

My Favorites

Links

My Personal Site

Commissions!

I'm always open for commissions! Just feel free to note me about it!

Pricing is on my front page!

Hey guys!

First off, I've gotten myself some new journal CSS! What do you think? I decided that that pre-made journal templates, even with being simple, easy, and fast, were just too blah and impersonal. They were fun for a time though!

In other news, I'm cutting back my Ustream broadcasts. As I always knew it would, the monotony of it started to really make me feel burned out faster and faster. I'll still be doing them, just in smaller quantities. Most likely, you will be seeing me on there a few days a week during the weekdays. Same times as usual on said days. I'll try to announce them when necessary.

My weekends: Well, guilt finally set in about my lack of learning more about animation. Mostly because of ~micronox So, I'm setting aside weekends to learn as much as I can. Although I've decided not to jump back into the 3D realm right away, I have given it a lot of thought and I think I want to do things in the same order I learned to paint. Traditionally. Now, I'm not considering getting a light table just yet. Rather, I am going to be doing some 2D animation digitally. Well, that's not traditional you might say. It kind of is. 2D is practically the traditional way of animation and I don't care if it's in a digital program or drawn on paper. (Besides, I'm saving lots of trees by doing it digitally.) It's still 2D. You're still drawing flat images. I want to concentrate on movement and not be hindered by 3D rigs. (UGH, how I hate the technical crap that comes with 3D!)

I'm not saying that I won't be taking the animation to 3D, because by all means that is the plan, but I do want to start out 2D purely for learning movement. After reading up on several great animators' pasts, I've come to decide that it would be much easier once in 3D to have a game plan, then to overcome the 3D tech crap than to dive into 3D struggling to animate on top of dealing with the tech crap. Does that makes sense? In other words, it's easier going in knowing what result I want to wrestle out of Maya rather than going in blind and then fighting with the program for the wrong reasons.

That said, I spent my day listening to lectures online from animation instructors and by studying what they were talking about. I learned today a very important lesson that I don't feel was taught to me while in art school. Planning is half the battle:

My college was very technically driven, putting aesthetics last. We dived right in much too fast and therefore were flying blind with what we wanted. Sure, I could make the guy float magically from one side of the screen to the other, but I never really understood the how and why behind that. Therefore, all I ended up with was magical floating puppet of a character. They would never appear to be alive, and no matter how hard I might try, that is all that the character would ever be. I was never planned properly.

For these reasons, I have decided to start from scratch with the basics. I hope to be posting some simplistic animations soon.

Sorry for the long journal, but I thought you guys deserved an explanation on the lack of broadcasts. Though ~Vevanak will never understand why I do what I do, I hope the rest of you do