Different Outlook

Rui's newest assignment was given to us this week in class. We had to do 2 different things from our daily routines and talk about them, as well as choosing one object we encounter often, but look at it in a different perspective. He used the example of water, and as lame as it is to choose something the teacher mentioned briefly, it has changed for me recently and I'm thinking about using that if I can't think of anything more substantial.

First off I'll list one of the things I did differently this week: Halo 3 Launch Party.

Ya, ya I know tons of people would go, "Oh great..more videogame junk.." but as ridiculous as this may sound, September 25th has been a long awaited day for the past year or so. Now playing games itself isn't the different thing I did. It was the having a party and staying up for almost 2 days playing it that was out of routine. My friend decided to hold the party at his house so he decorated the room with all the posters and merchandise we've received from work from all 3 of the games releases and every magazine he had was spread out across whatever flat surface he had.

My part came in with the food. I decided to make some cupcakes for the event (which I also don't do often..not too great at baking) and they actually came out really well. My drawing skills with icing isn't that wonderful, but it was a good try if I must say.



Anyways, the act of staying up without any sleep is still kind of fun to experience. You get into this constant daze and jump from being overly tired to the point where you're beyond hyper and then crashing. Also hunger is not something I feel when I'm that tired, my brain is probably focusing too much on keeping me awake! However, it was well worth staying up late and being a zombie the day after at school, only to go right back and play some more. Having the 2 tv's, playing with co-workers and close friends and just playing ridiculous amounts of an amazing game as if there were no responsibilities in our life for that day was great to experience again. Haven't done it probably since..Halo 1 first came out.

Second Different Thing: Inventory

I work at Blockbuster Video. Not the greatest job of all time, but enough to get me by especially during school. During the summer I usually work morning shifts, which ends up being much slower in regards to customers, but full of specific duties for me to do for the store. I have switched to nights more so since school started again, but this week I got an inventory shift. This starts from 11 pm to approximately 4 or 5 am if we're quick. My boss along with 3 or 4 other employees spend the night scanning absolutely every..single...thing in the store, which I'm sure is the same for every company.

The reason why this is different is because of the lack of formality throughout this shift. There's no dress code or uniform, no customers and although we are doing a serious job, there's really no feeling of superiority or that typical work feeling. Sometimes we put in a movie to keep us entertained, we take breaks every hour or so with our boss and chat as if we're just friends hanging out. It's actually a really fun environment and a great shift if you can prepare yourself for the long night. We even get to go to McDonalds for breakfast since we finish an hour before it opens and it takes about that time to walk there. All in all, inventory isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

1 Object

My one object if it is allowed will be my skin. As odd as this may sound, this year my skin has gone through drastic differences and just in this last month my perspective on my skin has changed drastically. I have been diagnosed with a skin condition called Dermagraphia. Basically it's just a cousin to hives, but without any sores or marks until I actually scratch at myself. The reason why my outlook has changed is mainly because of the change of season. I'm on pills everyday for this in order to control the itchiness, but with winter approaching and after being given this assignment, I've noticed the changes more. My skin is so easily irritable that at school I had friends writing on me with their nails just to prove how much it reacts now. It puffs up so it ends up making whatever they wrote stand out from the rest of the skin..cool, but itchy. I have to take care of it through using lotion, drinking extensive amounts of water, avoiding certain foods and although it's kind of a double edged sword...keep my room cold when I sleep. It's the worst at night and although the cold air makes it dry, the cold itself keeps my skin at bay and I always need to have some ventilation going on. It sucks because I love hot things. I love being warm (I get cold really easily), I love hot showers, which I can't take anymore especially now that our heating turned on this week, and I love almost all the foods I have to avoid. So as you can see, I really took my skin for granted until recently when I realized it is going to change my life drastically, especially if this gets worse considering there's no cure for it.

I was considering water as my object because I've noticed how much I enjoy anything and everything related to water. This weekend I was able to still enjoy my friends heated swimming pool and I absolutely love being in water. My boyfriend hates it, which makes me laugh because I love being able to just do nothing and feel so soothed and calm in it. If I have a chance to swim, I always go for it..unless it's freezing cold. There's also the fact that, as previously mentioned, although everybody knows water is healthy for you, it has become an absolutely necessary item for me to have constantly to the point where I barely ever drink pop anymore. It has helped me lose weight though! Another part of water that attracts me is usually the colour. Almost everything I have is blue, and my mind instantly associates it with water, I just recently painted my room with a blue and teal colour to have an ocean theme. I also am a water sign in my zodiac and as silly and unrealistic zodiacs are, I enjoy the thought of my element being water and it shows through my artwork and even to the artwork, stories and even shows/animes of others. My favourite character in a recent cartoon I watch is the Water Elemental character and I know a substantial amount of that love for her is because she uses water as her weapon/defense. So as lame as it is to use the teacher's example, I do actually look at water in a variety of ways.

7 Sketches

Here are my 7 sketches (below the knee) along with their respective pictures for the assignment. The first thing I observed of myself rather than the sketches was: Not drawing for over 3 months makes you very...very rusty. Oh and the camera angles may be slightly off from where I actually drew, I forgot at first to take the pictures until after I did most of the sketches.

Anyways, my first sketch is of a computer chair. I think the hardest part about sketching the chair quickly is to have the legs in the right perspective and have the proper length/width. I did it very quickly, but I noticed my lines weren't as ridiculous as they can sometimes come out to be.



The second sketch I did was of a pot with a large plant. I tried to throw in some organic shape, but it came out too messy for my tastes and I'm sure the pot's perspective is skewed. I'm usually not very good at drawing circles so I felt doing a round object would benefit me in getting used to quickly drawing them. Oh and the scanner didn't cut the plants off, I just draw really very large often.

My third sketch was my pair of wonderful Puma shoes. Although they are more structural, I wanted to try and catch the worn down shape of the shoes, which wasn't very easy to tackle. They're not my best, but I did enjoy drawing them.


Next was a tv stand that held the tv along with an Xbox 360 and a game on top. Unfortunately as I was posting this now I realized my friend moved the game case when I took the picture. It was there though!!






This one was pretty simple and basic, but for me being very rusty with perspective and circles I felt this was a good choice. There are obvious problems with the sketch, but as it was stated to be, these are very quick and I'm far from doing a perfect sketch. I could have made it shorter and fatter. My drawing doesn't look as bulbous as the actual water holder.



Drawing the 360 controller was a given when I saw it on my friend's floor. This one has some added features on it, but overall it was the same thing. I love the shape of the controller and how at first you can make the rectangle shape and begin hacking away the corners to create the round edges.




Last and for once probably the least, the regular old fashioned chair. This one really disappointed me and I got frustrated because I felt I had been measuring the angles and such (quickly mind you) I still felt like this came out sloppy and with bad perspective.

Art of Creativity

This will be my first journal entry of probably many more throughout my 2 years at Digital Media Arts. The topic of this entry is as the title states, the "Art of Creativity" by D. Goleman and P. Kaufman.

While reading the article I immediately began to agree with many of the opinions stated by the various researchers, psychologists, etc. The first paragraph mentioning how our brains think of solutions to problems we've been fumbling over for days at the most peaceful, solitary moments such as a jog. Throughout my life I have found many of my creative moments (especially for school projects..a couple of days before it's due) to come at the most unexpected moments and usually when I am alone, asleep or listening to certain genres of music.

Unfortunately I am one of the people that is affected by the over-thinking process and worrying too much over what other people think. There have been countless instances, even to this day, where I do not draw when I want to, or give up to quickly because I get frustrated with myself and then begin to think, "Nobody will like this. I suck at drawing." I am too afraid to make my own mistakes for fear of criticism, which I shamefully admit that I cannot handle very well. I take everything far too personally and am very emotional, which in turn completely affects my creative process whether it's for my own entertainment or school. I find that when I am assigned an exact task and I put my mind to it, my hand does exactly what I want it to do, but if I am given such open terms to an assignment or favour, I end up getting lost and worried, thus stunting my creative flow. I myself play soccer so I do understand the part where the peak of creativity was compared to the "white moment" in sports. At times I have become so focused on a project that I do not even realize that time has flown by. It is outstanding when it actually happens, but as I keep mentioning, for me to bring myself to that position is quite a battle.

I grew up in a very creative household, especially from my father's side of the family. My grandmother is a painter, an ambidextrous one at that, and my father is an architect. Although my dad did end up being strict and sometimes critical regarding the accuracy and such of my drawings while I was young, both my parents thrilled on my sister and myself to do whatever creative things we liked. Drawing grew on both of us and we have been since our very early years. I have become more computer savvy then the rest of my family so taking the DMA course has turned my creative road to a different path than my sister or father, but I feel that being in an environment with so much art around us whether it be traditional, musical or even the art of dancing has helped me grow creatively and hopefully this program will now help me further.

Another very worthy part of the article to mention is the "open-ended time" paragraph. I am a procrastinator, but I honestly have began to notice that I only end up doing projects last minute because that is when I get the best ideas. I could have a month to think of a design for something and I usually end up wasting that month fussing over every detail, wondering what exactly will be expected and if my teacher will like it, what I want to do, how I should do it, and every other possible question in the book. In the end, when I am beyond frustrated to the point where I don't even want to think about the project anymore, I end up getting this amazing idea that just lights up my creative energy. Although I do well with having specific instructions for a project, I find being pressured on the time aspect, which although necessary in school, actually stunts my creative process. I've learned since being a child with the help of my parents that just flooding my room with the various things that intrigue me, especially video games, comics, artwork, and even small things like my favourite colour end up helping me think up ideas without any interruptions or limitations.

In the end, this article has actually helped in giving me some ideas as to how I can let go physically and mentally about my insecurities and just let my creativity flow, whether it comes to looking at where and how I see water everyday (which I think I'll do, I really love water and end up using it as a theme in much of my art), to allowing the people close to me to help me get going and do the work they know I am capable of doing. Digital Media seems to be a program that will not only allow my mind to expand and be able to accomplish so much more with my talents, but to focus on the areas that I truly enjoy and find a path that I can continue on with all my heart, soul and mind. I need to be brave and change small things around me, look at things differently and actually let my mind bring out the many ideas that I know are being held back by my silly doubts.