Bobby Chiu

In my Computer Arts class we talked about a man whose work is so unique I couldn't help sharing! His name is Bobby Chiu, and he is big in the digital art world right now. His fame came from his work on the newest Alice in Wonderland movie which I am sure you have all seen and loved because really, it was great! He did a lot of the character design and finished paintings for the movie and his quirkiness and whimsical style just caught my heart. Take a look!

Can you believe that is all digital? Oh gosh I can't! He is soooooo good! I love seeing styles like this because they inspire me to add a little bit more creativity into my own work. If you want to see more of his work you can visit Imaginism Studios, or Schoolism.com.

A quick color study and some sketches

Well hi there! After a crazy weekend and three painfully long school days this girl is ready for a break! All I want to do is curl up with my jamba juice and watch White Collar because, yes, that show is back on! This man is once again a part of my life!

I have been watching old episodes in preparation and let me tell you there is nothing sexier than a man who knows his art!

On a completely random note I watched the new King and Lionheart music video for Of Monsters and Men and although the artwork and character design was AMAZING...I was disappointed. Ok go ahead and hate me, but really how was that a good ending? I was so excited for that girl and who I can only assume is her brother to be reunited, but oh no he ends up crying in some weird spaceship and she is being hunted down by those creepy men. Sad day! I do not like the ending! What do you think? (here's a link because the video player is too small to post here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A76a_LNIYwE)

So, I have some sketches to show FINALLY! I admit to being the worst at showing you my stuff. First up some basic sketches for figure drawing. This class is amazing and I love every second, even if I'm not very good yet. We start off with gestures:

Then move on to blocking in the figure (pardon the smaller body shapes on the bottom-I took these photos from above and so they all look a little top heavy haha).

And for the last hour we work on a detailed line drawing.

Obviously I haven't nailed down proportion yet, but you know what that's why I'm in this class! By the end of it I am gonna be whippin out figures like nobody's business! We also do daily sketchbook assignments and this is one I am a bit proud of:

So there you have it! My progression so far is small, but I can feel the changes in my work and I am sure as the months go on I will get better and better. I also did a quick color study in watercolor today and thought I would share!

This was about a 45 min. painting; the drawing we did together as a class, each of us doing the same thing, then we were allowed to finish the project in our preferred palette. I used Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, and for that plum color a mix of Indian Red and Cerulean Blue. I think I really like how the colors worked and mixed together.

My final portfolio!

Hello there! How is everyone today? I am dandy, mostly due to the fact that the snow outside is so perfect it takes my breath away. I can see every. single. snowflake. And all of the pretty patterns that you only ever see on fake snowflakes is totally real and they are all so different and it's just so pretty! I have never seen snow this beautiful in my whole life! Also, the Les Mis soundtrack is blasting and I am singing along and everything is good right now.

So, let's talk about my media experimentation class. In this first week I have learned that I don't like paint. Not even a little bit. Hand me a pen and ink and I can do anything...give me a paintbrush and I am just hopeless. I sit for hours mixing little patches of color and trying to blend and end up with a half decent circle of color. It's exhausting! Please, someone help me!

Ok, so I know I was going to share my final head drawing portfolio like weeks ago, but this girl is busy and sometimes I forget about promises I made. So here it is!

My final line drawing. The model was tired so I got to draw her almost sleeping and I kinda liked it.

My final charcoal lift out. This is by far my favorite, and it totally made the gallery wall! Whut up!

My final charcoal build up with white highlights. There were two done because I was trying to get my grade up at this point and I needed options haha.

My final charcoal build up. This is also a pretty good piece and also made the wall! Double Whut up!!!

The two that made the wall both had corrections made on them, so as soon as I get them back I will take pictures to compare the two. For instance in the image above I got rid of that awkward ear on the side. She is a human not some weird creature from the Dark Crystal...or at least that is what Bro. Parson told me.

Anyways, not much else to talk about today. I am gonna do some homework and maybe watch some White Collar so yep. K loves bye!

Because sometimes I like cute little animals, confetti, and pretty colors

Well, let's just say that this semester is gonna kill me dead. Last Sunday feels like a month ago, and I already feel like I am in finals week. If only I could just pack up and leave and spend my days up in the mountains with a sketchbook, some colored pencils, and maybe some warmer weather. Nobody likes it when their nose hairs freeze including me.

I bought photoshop CS6 Design Standard this week, as well as a tablet! Oh yeah baby digital art here I come! jk this girl can't even open up a word document without having problems...but I am hoping that my intro to computer arts class will help me out a little:)

Because I am already so brain dead I will share some of my inspiration from this last week. I wish I had some artwork to share, but over Christmas break I did nothing so there's nothing but old sketchbook work to show and that is just boring. So let's look at other people's cool stuff and be jealous k?

Julia Pott. I read about her on my favorite blog All Things Lovely and have since become a huge fan. This is one of my favorite animations!

She also has some amazing illustrations including these two:

This music video by The Paper Kites. Perfection if you ask me.

This picture.

And this photoshoot.

That awkward moment when my computer decides to hate me.

Well hi! Do you even remember me? I'm that girl who took a kind of unexpected and looooong break from the internet. Believe me it wasn't my choice! My computer got an unfriendly little virus and decided it didn't want me to use google anymore...so I let it be mean for a while, and then decided enough was enough and got that bad boy taken care of.

So, Christmas break was fun! Four weeks of pure heaven if you ask me! Because it's been so long I will just give you the quick run down of what went on in the Palmer house over the break.

• Started things off bad with a horrible drive down from Rexburg which included falling asleep while driving, being pulled over by a cop, hydroplaning, trying to get gas in Salt Lake in the middle of a storm and bad traffic, and driving through fog so thick I couldn't see the cars in front of me. Bad bad drive!
• Recovery from said drive after a long nap and a quick read of the Hobbit.
• Going to see the Hobbit!!! Twice!!! And Les Mis!!! So good!!!
• Wasting my days away with books, sleep, and a lot of friend time.
• Waking up on Christmas morning to snow and presents and family!
• Bird watching in the backyard with my dad-at one time there were 12 doves under the feeder!
• Many many Christmas parties with food and old friends and grandma!
• Partying it up on New Year's with sparkling cider and board games.
• Starting the new year off right with my 20th birthday!!!!!!!!!! 20 guys. 20!
• And the food. Ohhhhh the food! Homemade caramel, peanut brittle, See's chocolates, homemade bread, pinoche, fudge, soup, chicken bacon wraps, pie, cheeseball, spring rolls, wontons, Cafe Rio, peppermint popcorn, and everything else that was so amazingly delicious!
• Finishing the break off strong with a sledding trip with Caitlin and a midnight Wendy's run with Audrey-our specialty.

As you can see the days were packed, and I feel almost fully recovered from last semester. Almost ready for this new crazy one coming up...but not quite ready. I want to explain how my head drawing class all worked out tomorrow, because some things came out good and some bad. I also took a lot of pictures so enjoy my horrible photography skills:)

Packing to head home...obviously I love my neutrals.

I had to take a picture of my mom's sewing room because it is so cute and I got to live in it for four weeks!

Peanut Brittle Bowls!!!!!!!!

The snow began to fall...

...until everything was covered and covered good! More snow than I saw all of last year combined!

Doves are my favorite, and it made me terribly happy to see so many of them in our backyard at one time.

I turned 20 and my daddy made me a cake! He is so cool!

Well that's it for the break. Off to classes and cold morning hikes up to campus and long hours of homework and hot chocolate. 2012 you were a beauty!

A little cactus never hurt anybody

One final to go peeps! Yes, I did just say peeps. My light and sound final was originally Friday, but my oh so  wonderful teacher took pity on us stressed and tired students, soooooo I get to take it at HOME!!! In my PAJAMAS!!! Plus (and really how can it possibly get better) it is OPEN BOOK!!!! No studying for me. I will make myself some hot chocolate, maybe a grilled cheese, and I will take that test curled up in bed and I will pass, because seriously open book is practically like the teacher saying, "Here, just take an A! Go ahead there's plenty to go around!" What a wonderful way to finish up my third semester. The best part about having mostly art finals is that all of the work gets done throughout the semester and then you just hand it all in matted and framed and you're good to go. No big tests, or studying. It's absolutely wonderful!

In the small amount of free time that I have had I did manage to make my way to Pinterest where I found this lovely that pretty much made my day:

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/MelindaBoyce

Isn't it just grand! I absolutely adore it! If I was rich I would buy it in a heartbeat-not that it's that expensive, but for poor college girl it kinda is. I love the colors and the design, but mostly I love that every single cactus is different. I admire artwork like this so much! So my birthday is coming up if anybody wants to get it for me! "wink wink"

I think that's it for today lovelies. I hope to post my final head drawing portfolio tomorrow, but that all depends on if my teacher grades my work. He said he would be done in the morning, but you never know. K loves bye

Finals and Greek Yogurt

Let finals begin in 3...2...1

I am in a mad scramble to finish up the last of my head drawings, to pull out one last watercolor portrait that will bump my A- up to an A, and to study like a mad woman for my final light and sound test. Being the smarty pants that I am I tested out of my art history final (smart? yah right. more like this would be my 4th art history class and I have all the names down easy). I have yet to put pants on today, but I guess that's ok when all you do is homework. I plan on posting my final head drawing portfolio, which frankly I am quite proud of. I only have one more assignment for that class and I am hoping overall I will end with a solid B...or at least that's the wish. I feel like if I got a B on every single assignment ever in that class it should at least merit a B for the final right? right??? Well if not I had at least better pass because taking that class again would probably be the death of me.

Through all of the chaos mentioned above I am trying to maintain a happy finals week and I think I have found the answer. My first semester I thought the solution to success was buying three bags of sugar filled candy that would keep me up all night so I could work on homework. After quickly realizing that that is possibly the worst idea ever I decided that sleep was the option, sooooo I slept...all day....and did homework at night. That is also a horrible solution. Finally, now, in my third semester, I have found the golden ticket to a happy finals week: healthy eating and being in bed by 12am (NO DUHHHH right!). But really, it is workin like a charm. Today's menu included this little bowl of magic:

Chobani Greek yogurt, pomegranate seeds, and clover honey. Best. Thing. Ever. I think I've had like four bowls of it already. Now, I know what you are thinking. I am a poor college student and this sounds kinda expensive, but listen, here's how I did it. I waited until the pomegranates went on sale- 2 for $5; then I invested in some Greek yogurt-I would buy a big container of just plain vanilla because it's cheaper and even though the little containers look more college student friendly, it's yogurt so it will last you for quite a while; then I borrowed my roommate's honey-but I think you can buy it pretty cheap at Walmart if you get the Great Value brand. Tadaaaa! A healthy delicious snack that will make you happy and willing to sit down in front of a computer screen and study for the next ten hours. And the plan is to head to bed soon too, so I am one happy camper. Bring it on finals week! I can take you any day!