Saying I'm Pissed is the Understatement of the Century!

Hi all.

Well....it's the beginning of the second week of break. Fall Quarter starts next Monday.

I have lots of news, but we'll start with what is making me see red this morning. They finally posted grades for the Summer Quarter and my Drawing Design and Art Theory grade went from a B at Mid-Term to a B- at the final. Basically, this has jacked my GPA to 3.84 overall. I am not a happy person right now. For one thing, I'd like to know why the hell the instructor never answered the two e-mails I sent asking for my final project and class grades. He said to send an e-mail and he would reply LAST MONDAY and never replied to anything. So that ticked me off from the start. Second, WTF is with my grade going DOWN when he and everyone else in the class said I'd made the most progress in the course???!!! I'm just.....uuuugggghhh! Grrrrrr!!! Not a happy person AT ALL!!! >:( So, needless to say, that's seriously got my back up this morning. Happy Monday to me. :( The rest of my grades for the quarter were as expected, A in E-Commerce, A in Intro to Business, A in Intro to 3D Arts and Animation. So....yeah....whatever.

Moving on.....I have received my books for next quarter and WOW! that's a lotta stuff! Breaking it down for ya:

College Algebra has a massive book, massive workbook, 9-disc tutorial and 5-disc problem thingy. Needless to say, this is going to be my rough class this quarter.

World Geography has a giant book and a giant atlas book that goes with it. Geography has always been something I have trouble with so....this will be a challenge as well.

Astronomy (which I keep confusing with Astrology), has just one book and it's mostly pictures. Very pretty pictures at that. I have a feeling that class will have lots of lecture, otherwise it's going to be hard to learn online. We shall see.

Creative Writing has one little book with it. I read the first chapter and it's okay. I just really wish that some of these writing books, specifically those written by women, would use more female writers than always falling back on the same male writers we've all read a million times before. Can't we move forward and realize women have been writing, and writing astounding works, just as long as men and try to highlight some of that? Is it asking too much? Apparently so. :( Ah well....we shall see. It's more of the same highbrow crap that drives me nuts too. I'm not much for the flowery writing, I like honest, straightforward, real prose. I dunno. It'll be interesting to see if that instructor is male or female.

Fundmentals of Web Authoring and Design has a Teach Yourself Dreamweaver in 24 Hours book that goes with it. Since the only web authoring I've ever done has been on Microsoft Front Page, and the only coding a severely basic smattering of HTML and then a ton of Visual Basic, suffice it to say that I've got some learning to do on this software. :)

Our book for our next level 3D Animation class is very interesting. It's an older book, but it does have more in it about stuff than our last book so....combined together and with the lecture and lab work, I think it'll be another fun class. I like working in 3DS Max and I like modeling - I could totally see myself doing that all day.

So....that's the latest. I am very, very, very unhappy about the grade I got in Drawing Design, but it's done and there's nothing I can do about it now. :( Time to move on to the next exciting quarter. In the meantime, I know I'll be spending a good portion of this week online playing Evony and Plants vs. Zombies, which I have gotten addicted to. I expect the intervention will commence any day now. "Amy, step away from the computer...." :)

I shall return next week with all the latest news from the new Fall Quarter. Cheers until then!

Allow Me To Brag A Bit Please!!

Hey y'all

So....allow me a moment here to brag, if you will. Remember my beautiful bridge from my previous post? (if not, go look at it - I'll wait.....back? OK!)

Well....turns out that I'm the only one in the class that got it right! We went over the architectural project and the instructor is all:

"So....let's go over our architectural projects from last week - YOU!"

He points at me.

"Want to come up and tell us how you did it?"

Well...I didn't get up, 'cuz I hate being the center of attention, but I did explain how I did it.

"Well....first, I went online and searched for pictures of suspension bridges to get an idea of what I was trying to do..."

"PERFECT! YES! EXACTLY! I highly recommend this - it's always good to have some background - next?"

"Well...."

And then I went on to explain how I did it.

"Excellent! This is definitely an A, you got an A. A+ really. This is a perfect example - the exact way I would instruct anyone in building this particular project - WELL DONE!"

Yeah, it's okay to be a little impressed with me - I sure as hell am! God knows I'm the red-headed stepchild of my incredibly talented Drawing Design class so....I'll take the kudos where I can get 'em kiddies!

So....I had to share that with y'all. Really made my week, let me tell you. :)

Onward.....so.....finally got my new schedule. It needs some tweaking (which will happen Tuesday morning at 8 in the bright a.m.), but I'm definitely scheduled for the next 3D Animation class. AWESOME! I really am enjoying this stuff. I can totally see being happy being paid to sit and model shit all day. That would be hella cool! I'll wait to impart any other schedule knowledge until it's all worked out so....watch this space, as always.

Other grade situations - online classes = A's, Drawing Design - I still think I'm holding my B there (I hope). I have sketching to do later today and then will try to post some newness soon. Our assignment for this week is 2 pages of sketches without using lines - WTF is that about??!! Apparently we're supposed to only use shading and cross-hatching and shit. What. Ever. I'm really just trying to survive this class y'all, for real. Just please let me get to the end of the quarter without an F is all I'm asking. I just need to pass. I'll have one other drawing class for my major - Figure Drawing - at some point. Oy! That's all I can say about that.

So....that's the latest. I shall endeavor to get back with sketches soon but in the meantime, marvel at that bridge why don't ya - my bridge is FIERCE!!! Yes it is! ;) Laters all!

Welcome to the end of Week 7!

Hi all.

Wow - things have been really crazy busy here lately! My dog has been sick, I've been dealing with some work weirdness, and school is....school. :) On the plus side, I finally checked all of my mid-term grades and everything is A's except for my Drawing Design and Art Theory class, which is a B, which is better than I thought so - yay! If I turn in a really kick-ass final project, I may be able to salvage my GPA! Oh the joy!

Intro to Business and E-Commerce are pretty much dud courses. Incredibly boring and banal but....what are you going to do, right? It wouldn't be so bad if the books weren't so far behind the times. I think the E-Commerce one is from 2000 or 2001 - - don't they realize how much shit has gone down since then? Anyway, it makes reading them and juxtaposing all of that with the current state of things a little head-trippy.

In Drawing Design we have moved on to portraits and figure drawing. I need to take some pics of my new sketches and show y'all the mock-up of my final project but, honestly, it ain't gonna happen tonight. I'm about out of steam and still have homework to do. Hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow or Sunday.

On to 3D Animation, which is my favorite class this quarter. We've been doing so much cool stuff. We're still in modeling, but I like it. I definitely chose a good major for me, that's for sure. :) So - without further ado, more postings of the cool stuff we've been doing!

First off, we have a project called the Boolean Project, which was using Boolean Commands and Compound Objects. We had to build a claw-footed hammer, a mallet, a dagger, and a pillar. (yes - that's a dagger - shut up!)



Then we had an assignment to build a solar sytem:



Then our newest projects were using Edit Mesh commands. Here we had to make a flying saucer, a doorknob, and a lightbulb (yes - that's a lightbulb - shut up!)



Finally, our newest projects are to build a building like the Capitol in Washington, D.C. and a suspension bridge. I'm still working on the bridge, but here is my Capitol so far:



It's still a work in progress, but I like it so far.

Aside from all of that, it's just business as usual. Schedules for next quarter should go up any day now so I'm excited to see what I end up with. I'll be sure to let y'all know. So - - onward and upward. Again, I'll try to get some new sketches up tomorrow or Sunday for your amusement. Laters!

P.S. - we got sent an e-mail with a link to sign up for the Jeopardy College Tournament test online - I signed up. The test is Tuesday - this should be interesting! ;)

Update on the End of Week 5

Hi all.

Week 5 went pretty well. Things have been a bit crazy personal life-wise, but overall it's going good. Week 5 was mid-terms. The only class I had an actual mid-term in was 3D Animation - more about that in a minute.

Intro to Business is going well. There is one chick in that class that I have an issue with, but she's fairly stupid so - nothing to worry about. Woe be it to her if we ever meet face-to-face and she tries any of this trifling shit on me, however. I'm getting 100%'s on my assignments and discussions and quizzes and my A is firm in that class - yay!

E-Commerce: things here are going well too. Again, 100%'s and a good, solid A. It's deadly dull, but some of the discussions are nice and someone in one of my real-life classes is in there, so it's nice to know someone else.

Drawing Design and Art Theory: very much the Typography of this quarter. Ugh. As you can see from my earlier entry, my drawing skillz are not so great. I'm working on it, however. This class I really need to put forth some more effort in. I don't know what my grade is, but I don't think it's good. I don't have the guts to ask the instructor. I'm going to make a good, concentrated effort to perform better in this class for the rest of the quarter and really get my grade up as high as I can. This class, I admit, I haven't been doing my best, hardest work in - I'm going to remedy that.

3D Animation - got an A+ on my mid-term and I'm one of the people the other students ask for help and stuff. It's pretty damn cool. Again, good solid A in this class and it's my favorite this quarter. I love watching these things come into being. Right now we're still focusing on the different tools of model building, but will be moving forward into animation soon. I'm excited! And construction is already underway on the final project. Should be pretty cool.

Okay, as I said above, we've been working on modeling items and using modifiers to modify shapes and objects. So....one of our first assignments was to modify some objects using 3 modifiers on each and place them in a scene. I introduce, my futuristic highway, complete with car, tree, volcano, park and buildings:



My submission for our Spline Project: a cup, a lamp, a chess piece (yes it's a chess piece!), a bolt, a wine bottle, a nameplate, and a table:



My submission for the Logo Project - which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like - superimposing/incorporating text and a tagline onto objects:



Our latest Week 5 Skillz Test, which was a waving flag using NURBS, a screwdriver, and a chair with lathed legs:



My practical Mid-Term assignment, which was to create a traffic cone, a mailbox, a table with funky legs, and a spaceship:



And finally, our last project, which is half-done. We've started in on boolean and compound objects. I have a pillar and mallet here - I have to complete the claw-foot hammer and dagger still.



So....that's what's going on in the world of Introduction to 3D Arts & Animation. This is the way we learn! Do you feel educated now? Good! :)

As always, more to come later. Until then....PEACE!

Going Into Week 5

Hi all!

Okay, so - first things first - my birthday was good. Drank an entire bottle of pink champagne. Did some Intro to Biz homework after 4 glasses. :) Been getting 88% on all of my assignments - - assignments I did after drinking both got 100% - hmmm.... :)

Intro to Biz and E-Commerce are both still deadly dull. I'm still getting A's in both classes, but it's a snoozefest. I have an assignment where I had to interview a small business owner and I will be posting that lately. I chose an awesome Etsy person named Amanda Swan from Sygnet Creations so....that'll be up soon! ;) Especially since it's due tomorrow!

Intro to 3D Animation is going well. Unfortunately, all that homework lives on the school computers, but I'll try to get my JPEGs when I'm back in class and post a few here - some of it's kinda cool. I have a mid-term in that class this coming week so - gotta study for that. :)

Which brings us to Drawing Design and Art Theory. I know I've been promising/threatening to post my sketches and now (while I take a homework break), I will do so. I'm going to try to post these in the order they were done, so bear with me. And please try to keep the helpless laughter to a minimum, okay? My ego, she is fragile. Thx! ;)

Our first assignment was a self-portrait. It did not need to be "real", but a representation of how we see ourselves. So....here it is:



Next up was 2-point perspective. We were set the task to draw a house in 2-point perspective. My classmates, all of whom can draw circles around me I must note, drew these really amazing structures. I came up with these:





One of our course books, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, has these upside down line drawings that you can do that are supposed to turn off your left brain and turn on your right. Guess what? I can draw upside down stuff!!



Here's the drawing turned right-side up. I did okay with just focusing on the lines and not thinking about what I was drawing until I got to the fingers, then I had some trouble. But still pretty good, no?



Then we had to do some drawings from life. I had a box of Jujyfruits so I drew that. Here's the first angle:



And here's the second angle of the back of the box:



Then we had to draw chairs in class. This exercise almost brought me to tears, I must tell you. I could see the chairs right in front of me, and I knew what I wanted to do, but I just couldn't get from the image in my eye through my fingers onto the paper. Needless to say, the rest of the class's drawings left mine in the dust. :( In the first drawing, we were allowed to pick up our pencils:



In the second drawing, we were not allowed to look at our drawings or pick up our pencils while we were drawing:



Here is another upside down drawing from the book that I did - I LOVE the way this one turned out!



Here's the same drawing right-side up.



Our next homework assignments were to sketch some things from life, which I suck at. First drawings were an eraser and my pencil case:



Next sketch was my drawing/art supply briefcase thingy:



And finally we come to this last week's work. We were supposed to be focusing on positive and negative space and how you can use that space to create images. My final work was about honeycomb and hourglasses:



There are some random sketch pages that I went through to get to that, but this is a big enough post already. So....there you have it - what I've been doing in Drawing Design and Art Theory. I pitched my instructor my idea/topic for my final project and he approved it so - - now it's just time to mock it up. He said I could do it on the computer and then draw it so I'm going to do that. You better believe I'm turning that sucker upside down to do it!

So - so far maintaining straight A's in all of my classes. Oh! - spoke with my counselor and the dean and am going to segue from my Digital Design and Animation BS into the Gaming BS. Will add on about a year and a quarter to my schooling if I take 6 course per quarter, but will be so awesome when I'm done! So - starting next quarter I'm going up to six. This should be interesting!

Okay peeps, that's it for now. More to come soon when I get this interview essay finished so - watch this space! Laters!

Quick Fly-By

Hi all.

I know, it's been a while. Life is kind of crazed at the moment. Last quarter was so much easier with not having a job! Work is taking up a lot of my time, which is okay because they are giving me money. :) However, it cuts into having time to blog and such. I do still plan to get on here this weekend and post some of my stuff. Lots is going on.

First and foremost, let me tell y'all that I am in a Drawing Design and Art Theory class with world-class artists and illustrators and it is KILLING me!! These people are so f-ing talented and I am the weak link fer sure!!! I'm working on getting better, but in the meantime, you'll have lots to chuckle about when I post some of my sketches.

Intro to 3D animation is awesome! Loving that class. We're already working toward our final project and laying the groundwork. We cover so much in that class each week! And I can only do my homework at school since that's where the $3500 3ds Max software lives. But I will get stuff up - promise.

E-Commerce and Intro to Business are boring as hell! No real shock there. This week is all about micro- and macro-economics. Bo-ring! Quite the snoozefest. I don't even remember what E-Commerce was about this week, I just know I finished my assignments.

So far, and we're going into Week 4 here, I have straight A's. Yay! Let's hope it stays that way.

Also - I'm thinking about trying to double-major in both Digital Design and Animation and Game Design. I'm going to the school to talk to my counselor tomorrow.

Also also - tomorrow is my birthday! Yay me! Already bought the booze!! :)

So....that's the latest. I will return - promise - watch this space! Laters!

Well.....fuck.

Hi all.

Sorry it's been so long here since I've posted. Life has gotten incredibly busy! But, I wanted to take a moment here and relay all the news from the first week of Summer Quarter.

First, my new job is going well. They seem to like me and are being very flexible with my hours around school. Tuesdays and Wednesdays make for really long days, but I'm hoping I'll get used to the schedule soon.

My online Intro to Business and E-Commerce classes are going okay. Unlike last quarter where the instructors basically just monitored the discussions, my Intro to Business instructor is all over there asking questions you have to answer. It's really annoying. But, so far I'm managing to keep up. The lessons aren't too bad so far. Just kinda dull.

On the other side of the spectrum, my E-Commerce instructor is a ghost. Took forever for him to attach his name and contact info to the Syllabus. I've sent an e-mail challenging a grade I got on a question on our first quiz and still haven't heard back and it's been a few days. We'll see if he surfaces. The subject matter so far is incredibly boring and the chapters in the book are interminably long. The assignments require more effort than I honestly care to expend on this subject but - whatever. The process continues.

My Drawing Design and Art Theory class on Tuesday night was interesting. I suppose that's the best word for it. Unfortunately I was fighting an hellacious sinus headache that night so - that impacted things a bit. Turns out we paid for two books the instructor has no intention of using and got sent supply kits not containing everything he wants us to have. So - had to go and drop another $60 at Hobby Lobby for supplies. All I can say about that is I better use this shit so much I'm dancing-in-the-aisles-happy I bought it, know what I'm sayin'? He showed us how to draw one-point and two-point perspectives, then told us to draw a self-portrait. WTF??!!! I CAN'T DRAW!!!! So - that was not a fun class. I am reading the books hoping for some kind of help. The Drawing from Observation book was absolutely useless, but the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain book has promise. Our assignments were to complete two pages of sketches and our self-portrait before the next class. Think I have mine done? Surely by now you know me better than that! (I have until Tuesday night at 6 - leave me alone about it already!)

Introduction to 3D Animation did not start well. Our instructor was an hour and a half late to class. On the plus side though, it's a small class of about 7 people and those people are cool. Very snarky and fun. So - that was one positive. When the instructor did finally show up, we were all on the fence about him, but by the end of the class, I think we were mostly cautiously optimistic. We did one small little exercise playing with the 3DS Max software and that was cool. My little ball bounced and everything. Unfortunately, the only place I can do my assignments for that class is at school as that's where the software lives so - going to be relishing some on campus computer lab time. Luckily I get off of work at 3 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I have three hours before classes those nights to get work done. Our homework is an exercise in the book, and then we have to come up with a general storyboard idea with model and material information for our final project. We have some vocabulary homework as well and he is big on class participation. We have to get up in front of the class to present our vocab homework and our storyboards. He also rotates us all as "guinea pigs" to be the signed in people on the computer projected on the screen. I'm going to have to come out of my observer shell in that class, which is not my favorite way to be. I'll keep y'all posted on how that turns out.

So - that's the news so far this quarter. Nothing to post so far, but watch this space y'all, it'll come. :) I'm looking forward to my 3D class, dreading a bit that Drawing class, and suffering through the online classes. Not my favorite quarter by any means, but I'm hoping once I get more into the quarter and subjects that things will look up. At any rate, that's where we are. Back with week two next weekend probably! Laters!

Summer Quarter Has Begun!

Hey everyone!

So....just a little bit relating to last quarter before we move on: I made the Dean's List and the Perfect Attendance List! Yay me! Yes, I'm still a bit bitter about that A-, but I'm dealing with it. 3.95 is not a bad GPA. I keep telling myself that - I'm sure it'll sink in any time now. :)

More non-school related news that affects school - I've acquired employment! Yay! It's a part-time job right now. I will be working 4 5-hour days every week, with Fridays off. This is good as new assignments come out on Fridays, so I will have the weekends free to focus on my schoolwork - which I will need!

Which brings us to Summer Quarter! This is going to be a challenging quarter. My Intro to Business and E-Commerce classes are very similar. There is a lot of reading (very boring reading) required for both classes, and lots of lecture notes. I learned my lesson last quarter about taking notes - I am printing those suckers off rather than writing them out. Which is good, because there are tons. Also - both classes have a quiz every week (didn't I tell ya so?) and both classes have a 5-7 page paper due at the end of the course. Oy! So those classes are going to keep me on my toes. The reading and concepts are all very similar (and did I mention boring?) so that will hopefully help reinforce the concepts rather than confuse them. So far, so good.

As far as posting information from those classes, we'll have to play it by ear. Mostly they are going to be written assignments that may not be of much interest - we'll just have to see how it goes. It will depend on how interested anyone is in business topics. However, both coursebooks are very up-to-date on current trends and I will be posting interesting/useful information I learn so - watch this space! :)

Tonight is my first on-campus class, which is Drawing Design and Art Theory. I have access to a scanner so I will be posting the results of my endeavors in this class for your amusement/mockery. :) Tomorrow night is my first Intro to 3D Arts & Animation class. That class uses the 3DS Max software so I don't know how much I will be able to post, but I'll post what I can.

So - - that's the latest. Summer Quarter has begun and it's very interesting and very busy. My postings here may be a little more sporadic and more along the lines of once-a-week at the weekends, but I'll be here.

Cheers!

Final GPA

Well, my final GPA for the first quarter is officially 3.95. I'm bummed. I really wanted my 4.0. Stupid Typography instructor and his stupid A-!!! :( grrrrrr!! But, all in all, I should be happy, I know. School is difficult for perfectionists, let me tell you. :)

I received my books and they are really interesting! My two books for my Drawing Design and Art Theory class are cool and kind of Drawing for Dummies, so I know I'm in the right place! :) Then, in addition to the books we got a drawing kit that's a real Drawing for Dummies kit! :) Has a little wooden model in it and everything! So - that should be a really cool class.

For my Introduction to 3D Animation class, it's a new software program - 3ds Max. I downloaded the trial version of the software because to run the tutorial disc you have to have the software. My poor little computer just doesn't have enough memory to run it properly - I need an upgrade - but what I have been able to try is really cool. I'm looking forward to that class.

My Intro to Business class book is ginormous!! Seriously huge book with small print that fills up pages with really, really small margins - the text practically fills the entire page! Also came with 4 CDs containing chapter audio notes - that's going to be a serious class with serious tests and stuff - I can tell.

My E-Commerce book is also pretty detailed. It's another class that I think is going to be serious and have real tests and stuff.

So....I'm working and reading ahead for the second quarter. I'm excited!!

More to come later!