Term 2 final grades ...

Art History: 82/135 for a total of 1119/1207 (92.71%)
Image Editting for Games: 30/30 for a total of 1200/1230 (97.56%) -- 600/600 on my picture!
Intro to Animation: 460/490 for a total of 1430/1520 (94.08%) -- 370/400 for my animation!
Intro to Game Development: 268/270 for a total of 1067/1130 (94.42) -- got 40/40 for back assigment.

For a total of ... ALL "A"s!!! WooHOO!!! I pulled it off again.
*WHEW*

I have to say that I would not have done it without the help from Meredith. Art History was a major pain as I kept getting dinged on my posts for not enough information. She helped me out big time on that, even though we still got dinged, but at least I didn't feel so frustrated.

I am also very happy that I received full credit on my past assignment. I wish I would have known that sooner. With that big ZERO there it was bringing me down to a "B". I know I am trying a bit hard to keep up my grades, maybe too hard, but I am afraid that if I start slacking off that I will lose the momentum. I am sure that it will start to wear on me, but I wnat that to happen later instead of sooner.

With that being said, my books are ordered and will be here tomorrow. I am extremely excited about that. I cannot wait to see what the books for Color Theory and Digital Illustration will be like. I know that for Digital Illustration I will be using Adobe Illustrator. I openned up the program for the first time today. Looks like a cross between Photoshop and Paint. Should be lots of fun using that. Has anyone out there used it before? If so, what are your thoughts on it?

Well ...gotta run. It's been snowing out here in Illinois and I will need to ge tup early to clean off my car before going to work tomorrow.

Love you all!

Let's give this a shot ...

I got my video up ...

Enjoy!




And I have it up on YouTube as well ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6B7-YHw66I

Last weeks grades and next term's classes

Well, last week's grades are in and here is how I did:

Art History: 285/285 for a total of 1037/1072 (96.74%)

Image Editing for Games: 100/130 for a total of 540/570 (94.74%)

Introduction to Animation: 30/40 for a total of 970/1030 (94.17%)

Introduction to Game Development: 260/280 for a total of 679/780 (87.05%)

So ... I am still fighting to get back to an "A" in Game Development. I got a note back from the professor saying he won't grade any "late" work until the end of the term, so I won't know anything about that until next week.

I missed out on 30 points for my rough draft in my Photoshop class because I didn't list my text in it. Oh well .. no one is perfect. Speaking of Photoshop, Meredith (my wife) has signed me up to in the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. I now have access to their site and all of their tutorials, as well as getting the monthly magazine "Photoshop Users." It is a very informative magazine. I really do enjoy it and ahve learna lot from it already.

I am happy to say that with Meredith's help I got a perfect score on my Art History paper. I had to write a thesis on a famous Artist and some of their works, so I picked Norman Rockwell and his "Four Freedoms" poster. My thesis was that he was more of a propagandist than an artist. The profess made a note on my paper thiking that it was an interesting spin on him.

Of my four classes this term, three of them have final projects that are being critiqued by the other students:

Image Editing for Games: My picture that I uploaded as my final is what is showing, and it is getting mediocer reviews. Too much fog and that the text looks like it was added as an after-thought. Of well. Lets see what kind of grade I get from teh professor.

Introduction to Animation: My animated short is the only one so far to get 4 reviews while everyone else has one or two (one person has three). Everyone loves it and says that they laugh and cry over the story. One person asked if I was planning of doing a whole series of them as there are way too many possibilities to do with it all. Now, I will see if I can get these files over to my brother and see if he can find a way to show them on his site (18mb to get over to him).

Introduction to Game Development: We had to do a PowerPoint presentation on what we want to do in our careers, how we will get there kinf of skills we will need and such. I ahven't gotten any critiques on that yet, and the choice I picked was a texture artist. That is pretty much considered ground floor starting position, but it was more realistic to pick then Head Game Designer and Art Lead as many people picked. Sure, I hope to one day be in a leadership role such as that, but I went to do my presentation on something different. Let's see where that will take me.

So ... today I found out what classes I will be taking starting in January. They will be:

Digital Illustration: In this class students develop electronic illustration skills. Emphasis is placed on conceptual thinking, composition, creative type effects, and design campaigns. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to create effective layouts and illustrations through the use of digital illustration tools and menu items.

Color Theory: This course covers the principles of color as it applies to print and electronic media. Emphasis is placed on color relationships, composition and color mixture. Students will study the effects of color on the development of design as well as the psychology of color and its power to deliver effective marketing messages.

Both of these courses are 7 credit hours, so they should have some big projects in them. I am very excited about both of these. I eventually want to get into painting some digital pictures and would like to get a decent digital pen tablet to make it all easier. Photoshop and Vista have some great features for tablets, and am eager to play with them all.

Anyhoo ... that is all for now. I am very eager to know how I did on my final projects and will post the grades once I have them. I love you all and wish you all happy holidays!

Bummers

First off, here is what I am considering turning in for my final project for my Photoshop class. I took elements from my past assignments and put them together for this picture. I was not going to put the text in, but it was required to have some sort of writing or a message of sorts, so I put it in. Now that I look at it, it seems to balance it and complete it, so ...

I have until midnght on Sunday to turn it in, so any constructive criticism anyone wants to give, please feel free to do so.

The bummer part of my post is that I encountered an issue with one of my assignments. In my Introduction to Game Design class I had to turn in a paper to 2 locations instead of the usual 1, and I missed that little detail. Imagine my shock and horror when I logged in at my In-laws house on Thanksgiving and saw that I had a "0" for my assignment. The only thing that I saw was a note that said that the assignment had not been received. At first I thought that I messed up on the naming convention of the file, as you need to name it in specific format or you can get docked points for that. I downloaded the file (as I did not have it with me in Cincinatti) and renamed to upload it again. I even email my professor stating this is what I did. I never heard back from him and finally figured out on my own that I had to upload it to a second area, and I still have a "0" for a grade on that assignment. I think I emailed him at elast 3 times and he never contacted me back. If I still do not hear back from by the time he grades last weeks assignment, I will talk to my councilor and see what she has to say about it. It makes me mad as I had finally gotten back up to an "A" in that class, and now I got a "0" on a 40 point paper. What even makes it even more aggravating than the fact that I had just gotten my grade up was that I just received a certificate from Westwood because I made the Dean's List last term. Hope I cna still do that again this term.

Anyway ... here are my grades from week 6:

Art History: 85/95 for a total of 698/729 (95.75%)

Image Editting for Games: 30/30 for a total of 440/440 (100%)

Introduction to Animation: 134/140 for a total of 813/850 (95.65%)

Introduction to Game Design: 40/80 for a total of 419/500 (83.80%)

Oh well. On the plus side, I started my new job 2 weeks ago, and me being able to keep it was contingent on passing my licensing exam. We were to get three tries at passing it, and I passed on my first try. That is a load off of my mind. Now they tell us that because I am going to be on the team that will be dealing with Canada, I now ahve to take that exam as well, and that no one has passed it on their first try yey. Oh joy.

So ...

That's all for now. I have 4 final projects I have to work on. I will keep you all posted!

YAHOO!!!

Art History: 49/57 for a total of 613/634 (96.69%)
Image Editing for Games: 80/80 for a total of 410/410 (100%)
Intro to Animation: 138/140 for a total of 679/710 (95.63%)
Intro to Game Design: 80/80 for a total of 379/420 (90.24%)

I GOT MY GRADE BACK UP TO AN "A"!!! W00T!!! Now if I can jsut keep it there, I will be happy. With all of the studing I have been doing for my licensing, it has been very stressful. I have that test on Tuesday. Added to that I have an assignment with the Game Designer's Club to work with two other people to get a game summary written up to be submitted to the designers. If they accept it, then they will work out a game from that and if that gets published, I may get a credit for it and I can put it on a resume. Maybe.

Oh, and what did my instructer think of my picture of Pickles smoking?

Hi, Jah rastafari Cat. Nice work, David. Creative ad. (work on the point of junction between the cigar and cat's mouth, but that's not a big concern for this assignment). Nice work. I see where you are going but it needs more work to be complete, and convincing. Try working with some opacity variation in your smoke, mix it up a little in how you create the texture, to add to the realism.

It is so nice to have a teacher that gives such good feedback. I feel like working on the picture some more now to see if I can make ti better.

Anyway ... off to bed and maybe some more studying in bed.

Wish me luck all ... I am sure I will need it!

A new picture and my grades for last week

This week our assignment was to create a picture and add some smoke. So ... here is what I came up with.

My grades for last week are:

Art History: 331/33 for a total of 564/577 (97.75%)

Image Editting for Games: 80/80 for a total of 330/330 (100%)

Introduction to Animation: 127/140 for a total of 541/570 (94.91%)

Introduction to Game Development: 80/80 for a total of 299/340 (87.94%)

So I am on my way towards an "A" in my game development class, I just need to stay focused on it. I do enjoy me image editting clas, and not just because I am acing it. It is a lot of fun to be creative, and I am excited about where I can go doing this kind of thing.

Anyway ... I'll keep you all posted on how things turn out. Take care all!

A Field Trip

For my Art History class I had to take a field trip to a civil building or church and then write a paper on the building and how it was built, and what kind of art influences were present. Meredith helped me out on my paper, and between the 2 of us, ended up with a perfect score of 250/250 ... the biggest scoring assignment for this class.

W00T!!!

I am posting the paper here, and I am also wanting to take a moment to publicly thank my wife for her help and insight. She is the best!!!


Holy Trinity Church; Bloomington, Illinois
For my field trip I went to the Holy Trinity Church in Bloomington Illinois. This church has the distinction of being one of five registered churches in the United States to be done entirely in Art Deco and is on National Register of Historic Places as of 1984 (Holy Trinity document, March, 1989). Although it is in need of many repairs, it is still a very beautiful building.
The church has a great history dating to before the current structure was built. The original Holy Trinity Church was established in the late nineteenth-century by Irish-American immigrants wanting to show God the glory of a building dedicated to the Catholic faith. However, the parishioners must have spent all of their money on the construction of the building because insurance was not purchased when the building was finished in 1869. Central Illinois resides in the “Tornado Alley:, the swath of middle America where tornado season ensures that all buildings have tornado exit plans and drills in today’s age. The almost-finished building and rectory was demolished by such a tornado less than 10 years after construction was finished. Between building the replacement (the second church) and the existing Holy Trinity, the area near the church sustained fire damage that was classified, “mysterious”. The Chicago architect, A.F. Moratz, was consulted at one point about the cost of replacing the church structure and is largely credited with saving the parish from ruin when fire did destroy most of the building in 1932. (Jutkins, p.10) The parishioner’s gratitude most likely provided Moratz the commission of the third church, the Holy Trinity that stands today.
The architect, A.F. Morantz, appears to have done other buildings in both Illinois and Indiana, including another Catholic Church in central Indiana. Today, Holy Trinity Church is conducting a capital campaign to repair the almost 70-year-old building. Due to the Depression, there was a great desire and need to reuse as much as possible from the partially destroyed building. For that reason the steel structure of the second Church was reused in Morantz’s design. Inside the steel rafters are supported with solid concrete pillars
The term “Art Deco” is used to describe the overall decorative movement that originated in the mid-1920s and lasted through the1930s. According to www.wikipedia.com, the phrase is used to describe the period of decorative arts where Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Art Nouveau, and Futurism culminated into an art form where chevrons, stained glass, steel and aluminum we used as mediums. Famous examples of the Art Deco style include the Chrysler Building in New York City and the Omaha, Nebraska train station. Moratz utilized a glass-maker in Munich, Germany to create the distinctive cobalt blue glass for the windows and lead to outline the patterns. One of the interesting points about this building is that the Art Deco theme is carried out in all of acid-etched stained glass windows and there are no religious scenes are utilized in those windows. Another characteristic of Art Deco arts is the usage of decorative plaster. The main vault is barrel arched was created and completed in 24 hours using a scaffolding that was constructed to allow a specially built trowel to plaster the richly adorned ceiling in a continuous concave oval. Outside, the Church is recognizably Art Deco with multiple layers of stepped brickwork on every side. In 1996, the Chicago Art Deco Society published an article in their quarterly newsletter on Holy Trinity Church. Art Deco structures are based on mathematical geometric shapes (Hauffe). . The roof is a massive steel structure that is covered in gothic art. The spire was made of limestone, and is in need of repair. The rectory itself was done in red sandstone which also needs some repair. Copper was used on the roof in the ridge caps, the box gutters, and the downspouts located inside the walls, all which needs to be replaced. The pillars that ring the altar are simple cylinders, plain but topped with decorative elements.