http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:starryskies834&section=today deviantART RSS for by:starryskies834 en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:23:27 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/27159405/ http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/27159405/ Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:13:29 PDT
This shouldn't be happening for a few reasons. First and foremost, I haven't read all of the books, although the idea is that I'm going to finish them before the scarf is done.

Second, and what should probably be foremost, I don't have all that much time. I am a senior. As such, I need to apply to many colleges over the next couple of months, and then pick the right one in the spring. Meanwhile, I have 75 hours of community service I need to take care of, two virtual school classes, and three APs. This really isn't all that bad, but I am a bit of a procrastinator, which I'm hoping will change soon.

And any spare time I do have, I should really be giving to my two sketchbooks, one for AP art and the other just as a side project. I think what I really want to do is just fill up sketchbooks with ink and paint and collage for a living. They are coming along quite nicely and I'm having a field day with them.

But I'm not complaining, really, because so far my senior year is actually turning out pretty okay. I have a parking permit, a creative writing class, and a senior crown to paint, so it's all good.

But anyway, I am knitting a Gryffindor scarf and it will be glorious. Unless I'm actually a Hufflepuff and OH GOD I'M SUCH A GEEK.

]]> ~starryskies834 http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/26103980/ http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/26103980/ Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:43:29 PDT
I think that I really have to go to art school. This poses a lot of questions because, I'm having some trouble deciding what to do with my life. On one hand, I'm pretty sure I want to become an animator. This is where I find myself leaning towards, and this is what I think will make me happy in the long run. And then there's the option of fine arts, which will probably also make me happy. Fine arts would include just about anything, including sculpture, printmaking, painting, etc. I could major in fine arts and do everything my heart desires, except animation.

There's also the question of where. My dream school, like many others, is Calarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I will apply to the character animation program this december. This means that over the next four months, I'll be doing nothing but drawing. I need to fill a sketchbook or two with drawings from life, and build up a portfolio. Most people don't get in right after highschool, but I'm sure as hell going to try.

Ringling is an amazing school. I'm sure that I would have an incredible experience if I went there for fine arts. The only downside is that the only animation program they have is computer animation. They have the number one computer animation program in the country. The student films are incredible. The principles of animation still apply, but I want to study and eventually practice traditional.

And I think, at this point anyway, that I actually am ready for college. Coming from the Precollege program, most of us agree that going back to highschool is going to suck.

And I'm actually not very good at this. But I will be! I'm really excited about the future!

And another thing: I passed the AP physics exam! I got a 3, which is barely passing, but passing nonetheless! This makes me happy because I put a lot of effort and hard work into that class, and even if I never need to use the credit, I'm still glad I took it. It made me stronger, and it's fun to know things that a lot of other people don't.

]]> ~starryskies834 http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/25694256/ http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/25694256/ Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:58:53 PDT
1.) I'm not as good of an artist as I think.

2.) I'm not nearly as bad of an artist as I think, either.

3.) Superglue is a good thing to have on hand.

4.) Wire sculpting. I don't care if it never comes in handy, because it's really fun.

5.) John Lasseter was once fired from Disney. Fun times!

6.) There is a lot more to learn than I have time, and this may present a problem in the future, but for now I'll just let that thought go.

7.) There is so much good music and art. Sometimes I think humanity has more to offer than I give it credit for. This is really saying something, because I'm fairly optomistic.

8.) I don't care if they're ugly; comfortable shoes are gifts from God.

9.) Computer Animation is hard, but manageable at a primitive level.

10.) No matter where you go, people are still people, and some of them just suck.

11.) I am not ready for college. Convieniently, I still have another year of high school to get through.

My dorm room is freezing, but that's okay, because I bought an ugly, five-dollar sweater from Goodwill yesterday, and it's now my prized possession. My roommate is amazing and has great tastes in music. Going to art school seems like the best thing to do, the thing that would really test me and stretch me and make me a better stronger, artist.

But then again, you don't have to go to art school to be a great artist, and I'd probably be a lot more comfortable somewhere with more to offer than only art.

As homework assignments, I created a new mascot for Frosted Flakes and a new direction for the video game, "Tetris." It's a lot of fun. I feel really geeky saying this, but I'm excited to draw things I've never drawn before.

I feel a strange, faint homesickness, but only sometimes. Eh, it's just a part of everything. I'm happy to be here.

]]> ~starryskies834 http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/25483028/ http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/25483028/ Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:42:52 PDT
I'm exhausted. I have two assignments. And I'm happy to do them. Concept art is fun. My teacher had a "The Art of Lilo and Stitch" book as a reference book in Visual Development class, and immediately I was in love with the class.

My roomate is a sweet person and everyone in my dorm is amazing and we all hang out and we just had a pajama/artshowing party in the commonroom. And we have a commonroom! And a bathroom in each dormroom! And the food is really really good.

I feel really inadequate for the first time, but not in a bad way. There is so much to learn, and I'm so excited about it.

There are downsides, like Florida weather, and a lack of freetime. But everyone is nice and helpful and I'm glad to be here.

Now I'm going to research snowfoxes and snowboarders for my Visual Development assignment. I'll write a more articulate entry when I'm not so tired.

These guys get excited about traditional animation! They know about The Princess and the Frog! I like people.

And it's college! We sip Starbucks from the cafe downstairs and go to class and buy food and do our laundry! I like it a lot.

Okay I'm going to go get in some research before I pass out.

]]> ~starryskies834 http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/25420827/ http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/25420827/ Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:41:30 PDT
I'm excited and nervous and thrilled and terrified. This is the longest I've ever been away from home (on my own, at least).

But in reality I'll probably have a great time, and I'm really glad I could go.

I'm not sure if I want to go to an exclusively art school or a liberal arts college or whatever, and this may help me decide. Wherever I go I imagine I'll be an art major, but there are other things I'm interested in as well, like archaeology, natural history, literature, and more or less everything else. But if I really want to be all serious about cartoons, then I should probably look into art schools.

Ah, well. I may or may not have internet access, so I may or may not be on much. Have a nice month, everyone!

Oh, and I'm probably way too excited about this: [link]

]]> ~starryskies834 http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/23952970/ http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/23952970/ Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:37:51 PDT
I am now a liscensed driver. I feel fantastic and fun and fancy free. I can drive now.

This happened last thursday. That same day, as I was taking the test, my grandmother passed away. I don't really know how to feel about this. I was pretty upset at first, and I'm sure I'll be pretty upset later, but right now I just don't want to feel anything. It just is. I no longer have any living grandparents, and it's scary. It's a really scary thought that every living thing must stop breathing at one point. And I don't think I believe in heaven, but it helps to think that they're together now, even if I have to make it up.

Last Christmas I found an old photograph of my grandparents together on what looks to be a first date. They're young and happy and beautiful people. They probably aren't worried about the future, they don't know me, or my mother for that matter. They are kids, happy and young and carefree, which is strange because I don't know any kids these days who are carefree. But they are, and they're really smiling, and you can tell it's for real instead of the fake smiles that people give when they're trying to hide something. They aren't worried about the world, because global warming doesn't matter yet, and because the great depression is dead and gone, and because the world is still a big, mysterious place because there are no computers. It just is.

I kept this photograph, I still look at it often. And I guess if there's one thing I should take from this picture, besides the fact that my grandparents are happy and young and in love, is that I'm young too. And I have my whole life ahead of me to grow up and make mistakes and fall on my face and somewhere, amidst all this, find happiness and peace with the world.

There is nothing to be afraid of.

Sappy? Yes. But it helps.

]]> ~starryskies834 http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/23337001/ http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/23337001/ Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:06:46 PST
I'm not depressed, or even unhappy, but I'm just not sure about a lot right now and these girls in my art class will just do whatever they can to complete a project, without ever giving thought to artistic integrity. They just complain about how the teacher didn't explain things, even though they won't ask questions, and whine about getting clay all over their hands and it makes me think. These girls seem to be happy, even though all they do is complain. They're pretty and have boyfriends but I realize that there is so much more, oh so much more, because I have patience and I can take pride in what I do without complaining, because this sounds corny but I think you have to make peace with the clay before you make it into something. Otherwise you'll never be happy with the finished product.

Because DreamWorks makes a lot of money but most of their 3D animated films are filled with nothing but crude humor, and somewhere along the line artistic integrity has been sacrificed. And I worry about those girls, because they complain so much that I wonder if they'll ever find true happiness and fufillment. I really hope they do. And now Chris Sanders is working for Dreamworks so I hope he doesn't lose the game, because that man is a genius and that would just be tragic. Maybe he'll fix things. I really hope he does.

I know I have to fix things, I've just been putting it off, which is bad, because there's that same old itch to scratch and I can really feel it now.

I'm starting to think that I'm a little weird in the head, but that may just be frustration and anger and an overactive imagination, if there is such a thing. I think I'm going places. I really hope I am, because that would make sense. And really it seems like nothing much makes sense these days and good lord am I tired.

My apologies for the strange entry. I'm not crazy, I promise.

God I hate it when adults fight. I think that there are some things that kids understand that adults don't. On that note, I'm reading To Kill a Mockingbird again and lord is it good. It's my grandmother's copy, a 1960 edition, which is probably an original first edition, and this book has been used and loved and now I'm going to love it again.

I think I can learn something from my grandfather. He never got angry, not once, but everyone else does. I hope I grow up to be like him, instead of a cynical, bitter person like I'm afraid I'm turning into. Because I knew he was happy. Somehow my grandparents met and fell in love and never fell out, and somehow they lived happy lives, and for some reason you just don't see that as much anymore. So I'm determined to be happy, I will find what I'm looking for, I swear. Because the truth is that people just suck sometimes, even good friends, even they forget sometimes. But that doesn't make them sucky people. I find it hard not to resent them, even so.

I wish I could make everyone else's sadness and loneliness dissappear, because the world can be a scary place sometimes but really, there's nothing to be afraid of. I need to remember that more often.

]]> ~starryskies834 http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/21831309/ http://starryskies834.deviantart.com/journal/21831309/ Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:10:46 PST
I've always thought I was kind of special. I know that sounds conceited, but I've always known that I was weird. After years of trying to change this, I've given up and just accepted the fact that I'm strange. I've come to see that this is okay, and even understandable, because I consider myself to be one of those artsy people. I like art. For some reason, I have this ability where I can think of something in my head and then draw it on paper with it being more or less accurate. I find that art is really the only thing that comes truly easy to me. I mean, yes, there are other areas of my life where I excell, but not like this.

Anyway, after lugging my heavy portfolio around all day yesterday, and after showing what little I've accomplished to my art teacher, she thought that I was ready for AP Art.

AP Art sounds intense. I would pick a thesis and create artwork based on that thesis all year round, then turn in my portfolio at the end of the year for the college board to judge. And at the same time it sounds incredible, finally a chance to prove that I am indeed special, that hey, maybe I'm good at this. And I can already think of a few thesis ideas that I would love to work on. It's either AP Art or Portfolio, the other high-level art class, but right now I'm leaning towards AP. It's kind of a big jump for me, from Art 2D to AP, but I have a feeling that if I didn't take up this challenge, I'd regret it.

I did an incredibly stupid thing and waited until my junior year to take the first art class, Art 2D, filled with people who don't want to be there, and express their feelings with annoying vigor. I am absolutely sick of going to class and watching my classmates talk about how they hate painting and oh god the teacher must really hate me why does she expect me to draw. Drawing? In an art class? Unbelievable.

So that would take care of that problem.

I'm excited, not only because I have this opportunity but because I think I might actually do well in that class. And meet other kids who care about art the same way I do.

The problem with art, I've found to my disdain, is that it's not usually a group activity. I think that artists naturally tend to want to do their own thing, and that's awesome, because a lot of my best friends are artsy, and I like to associate with interesting, unique people. Art is different than band and acting, because we don't work together towards a common goal.

Despite all this, I've somehow managed to fit in as a misfit, as weird as it sounds. It's true that the art room is a strange place, filled with strange people doing strange things. And honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Anyway, I have a choice to make. I hear an opportunity knocking, and it would be rude of me not to answer.

]]> ~starryskies834