Another week done ...

Another week done and now into week 4. Almost halfway done with the new term. I am still enjoying it all very immensely, and even got to give my new tablet a huge workout on this week's assignment. I had to make a picture completely of colored dots, and the dots are supposed to "mix" in the picture to give you the different colors. So ... can you tell what it is? And how well do the dots mix for the colors?

Anyway ... for my grades for last week --

Digital Illustration: 149/150 for a total of 366/380 (96.32%)
Color Theory: 131/155 for a total of 495/525 (94.29%)

Still going strong!

I am really enjoying my school work and the way that the school itself works. I have talked to many different people outside of school telling them how excited and thrilled I am with the whole thing, that one of my friends is now starting classes in March. He is going for a Visual Arts degree and is very anxious to get started. He has said that his initial start-up has been as good an experience as mine was, so I am happy that I had recommended it for him. too bad I don't get a commission for that.

I have started working my normal hours at work now, which is 3:30-11:30 Mon, Wed, and Fri, and 9-5 on Saturdays. On the week days we sometimes go 30 minutes between calls, so this will give me a chance to get my homework done ahead of time.

Well ... that is it for now. I am going to get to work on one of my assignments, so ... will write more later!

It's about time ...

I now have my grades for my first two weeks of school this term. The delay was that because school started on a Friday, we didn't have to have our first week's work turned in until the end of the second week. That meant that our grades didn't come through until the end of week 3. So ...

Week 1

Digital Illustration: 97/100 for a total of 97/100 (97%)

Color Theory: 112/115 for a total of 112/115 (97.39%)

Week 2

Digital Illustration: 110/120 for a total of 217/230 (94.35%)

Color Theory: 252/255 for a total of 364/370 (98.38%)

The courses are interesting and fun, and so I am enjoying this term quite a bit. The discussions are fun and my projects that I have ahead of me are exciting. Even the smalll assignements are pretty cool, such as making a design that seems/feels like it is vibrating. To help me out, I have requested a mentor from work in the Creative Services department. Once I receive one, I will meet with them about once a month and go over how I am doing in school, and see what I have learned can translate into real world experience. I submitted my request earlier this week, so now I just have to wait and see what happens.

For my 40th birthday, Meredith and I had a nice quiet dinner at Red Lobster and then came home. For my present, she got me a Wacom tablet that lets me draw directly to the computer. I am still learning to use it, so I don't have anything to show for it yet, but I will in the near future. It is really amazing, especially when used with the right software. I have tried it in a trial version of Corel Painter X, and the way it uses it pressure sensative screen is AMAZING. Of course, the realistic nature of Corel Painter is also pretty amazing, the way it emulates real paint, it just blows me away.

Yes ... I feel and believe that I made the right choice getting into this career field. I cannot wait to see what the next 12 terms have ahead of me.

Just couldn't wait ...

Although I have 3 more weeks before I had to complete my week 4 project, I went ahead and started playing around with the movie poster. Any thoughts and opinions would be appreciated, seeing as I have time to make changes.

Keep in mind that the idea behind the exercise is to make color changes that would be more appealing.

It's a new term!

Not just in class, but in life as well. It is the day after my 40th birthday, and I am feeling great. I was feeling a bit bummed about it yesterday, thinking "My god! I'm 40! And I will be finishing school when I am 43!" But I got over that thinking that at least I am getting my degree.

With that being said ...

School started on a Friday, and all of our homework for week one is not due until the end of week two. So I got all of my week one homework done before the end of the weekend so that there would not be any rush for week two.

I am very excited about these courses that I have this term. The end term projects are not too terribly exciting (I get to design a website for color theory, and for digital illustration I get to design packaging for a product), but it is the mid-term projects that I am really looking forward to. In my digital illustraion I get to design a superheo (will really work on Frankie here), and in color theory I get to revamp the original JAWS movie poster. How exciting is that? I must admit that JAWS is probably one of my top three favorite movies of all time, mixed in with Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile, so this is really exciting. My plans are to turn the water more darker down near the base of the shark and using a gradient to show the transistion between the light blue and the almost black-green that I will be using. And for the black border I intend to use another gradient going from a blood red at the top to a blue to the same dark blackish green at the bottom to simulate blood in the water. My teacher is very enthusiastic about the idea, just as long as I don't over do the blue for the water. Once I have the picture done, I will have to write a 4-5 page report on what I did and why I did it that way. So it should be fun!

Anyhoo ...

That's it for now! Will post my grades once I get them!

Happy New Year!

Hey all ... a new year has started and I have been telling Meredith what a great year we had in 2008. We had a great vacation when we went to Virginia to see my brother retire from the navy. She and I both ended up with new jobs which took us away from areas we were less than happy working in. And who can forget that I started school and have been doing really well?

So ... I am really excited and eager for classes to start up again because I miss it. My training classes for my new job are all well and good, but truth to tell, I only ope to be doing it for about a year. After that first year I can move about in State Farm and do something different. As my degree as a whole is a Graphic Art degree (it just specializes in video games) I hope to get into State Farm's "Creative Services" department and be able to stay there for the rest of the time that I am doing school. After that ... once I graduate I hope to get into a good game company. Honestly, though, I have read that the economy is affecting some of teh major game companies just like everyone else. They are closing down studios and laying off people, so ... if I get onin Creative Services I could possibly be there a lot longer. Who knows what the next 3 years will bring?

Anyway, my next term starts on January 9th. This will be term 3 of 15. I only have two classes, each one worth 7 credit hours, so they should both be big. I am eager for class to start as I want to find out what my big projects will be, especially for color theory. Also on January 9th we are getting rid of our DSL and going with High Speed Cable. We never use our Land Line phone and all we get on it are junk calls, so as we both have cell phones we are getting rid of the phone and lumping all of our utilities through one company (Comcast).

On an interesting note, on Jan 13th I will be turning 40. In my past few classes I have not been the oldest person in them. I really do not know where I came up with the thought that I would be the oldest person, and it certainly is interesting that there are people who can relate to the same things that I can in the classes. At least when it came to the history of video games there were a few of us who were talking about the old Atari 2600 vs the Intellivision (which is what we had).

So, what am I doing with all my free time? I have received some great drawing books from my mother for Christmas and I have been studying one in particular. It has a really unique style that I am enjoying a lot, and I have been tossing around ideas on how I would do Frankenstein 13 in it. I have not actually drawn anything yet, because I am still tossing around ideas. I think that if I could get the idea down, I could possibly do another animated short. Before I do that, though, I would really like to get my hands on a tablet (http://www.wacom.com/intuos/index.php). In the Game Designer's Club you can always tell the artists who have a tablet versus the one's who don't. My Cat Butt short would have looked a lot nicer if I would have been able to use one. Basically a tablet will let me draw directly to the computer using a specialized pencil on the tablet itself. An interesting tidbit about myself is that I am left handed, but ... I mouse with my right hand. So with the tablet I would have been able to draw much more naturally and the short would have been much more cleaner. I would like to get the Intuos 6x11 model tablet, but with me currently in training and working part time, it will probably be closer to the end of this year before I pick one up.

Something else I have been doing during this break is beading. I have made 5 necklaces for Meredith and 1 for my mother. It has kept my imagination flowing and been very relaxing. I really cannot wait to get onto the phones at work and start making bonus money, but that will not happen until the end of this month.

Well ... that's it for now. I know I haven't posted much these last couple of weeks, and I apologize for that.

I hope you all have had a great holiday season. I wish you all a Happy New Year!