Second sculpture is finished! Praise God! :D
I feel so much more connected to this piece than I did to my other sculpture. Inspired by Janet Echelman’s giant net sculptures, I was interested in using the wind as a big component to my piece. I wanted to create a beneficial structure for a net, giving maximum “sway” leverage, which is why I chose to construct an abstract tree. The process for this work was much more fun, as it was more experimental and free than my last wood sculpture (which called for cautious accuracy to achieve a clean and modern look.)
Best of all, I learned how to weld! I love the resources that Roski has! They have welding stations for oxyacetylene, arc, and MIG welding! :D There’s nothing like wearing the heavy duty welding mask, pulling the trigger of the blow torch and seeing sparks fly everywhere! Ah, it was so exciting! :D
la vida de juanita rosita
Voila! Here is the USC Thornton Christmas Card! :D
The bottom half is actually the front of the card, as it will be folded in half. :)
Oh, and praise report! My boss told me that the Dean of Thornton loved the design! :D YAY! Praise the Lord!!!
Thank you, God, for this job! What a fun challenge! :)
Posters are just too fun! Today, I worked on this one with Damien, the Thornton Opera Program Manager. I was excited to be able to put some flavor in the design! It was the perfect concert to do that for! :D
Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet was performed at USC tonight! I LOVED it! :D
It’s kind of funny. Line has actually been a common thread in my life right now.
We’re learning about line techniques in my drawing class.
I’m working on a very linear sculpture right now.
I had to wait in line for a free Sprinkles Cupcake the other day…
Hehe Okay, you get the point!
Yay! My drawing sequence is finished and has already been through a class critique. What a great feeling it is to post up your work and seal off its completion. I actually really enjoyed this assignment. I decided to make my sequence from Macro to Micro, starting with a large shot of my dorm building and ending at the lobby door. I will explain more in detail what my concept was behind it once I post individual shots of each drawing.
Mediums: Graphite, Compressed Charcoal, Vine Charcoal
Paper: 18 x 24 inch 90 lb Medium Textured Paper (Canson)
Praise be to God that I finished this piece! :D
Met Disney Animator Tony Bancroft last night! He is not only the creator of Pumba (The Lion King), Cogsworth (Beauty and the Beast), Iago (Aladdin), Kronk (Emperor’s New Groove), and many other characters, but he also co-directed Mulan! And guess who he credits all of his success? Jesus. He is a Christian and spoke to a group of USC students the journey God has brought him through.
It was SO interesting. Tony said that when Lion King was first in its early stages, Disney studios didn’t have high hopes for it. So they had the “B” team filmmakers work on it in Florida, while all of the more accomplished animators worked on Pocahontas in California. Almost all directors, producers, and animators of Lion King were green (starting out in their careers.) One of the Disney overseers told the team that Pocahontas would be the home-run and Lion King might just be a base hit. He said, “If you make 50 million, I’ll bow down to you.” At the end of the first week, it made 100 million. To this, Tony said, “We were just a group of young, passionate artists that wanted to try something new. I want to encourage you student artists. God put me in the right place at the right time.”
Then he went on to talk about how he co-directed Mulan (at that time, the youngest director in Disney history) at age 27. He said how God had him take on challenges he felt he wasn’t equipped for. THEN he went on to say how it was the same scenario of the disciples in the Bible having to trust in God’s power. My favorite, most applicable quote of Tony’s last night: If God has given me this opportunity, He must have a reason for it!
What an amazing testimony of God’s faithfulness! OH… and then I won the raffle, receiving a Tony Bancroft original of Iago from Aladdin. :D
So, here are some mediums of art that I’ve been getting used to for my FADW101 (Drawing) and FASC106 (Sculpture) classes.
We were studying light for the drawings, using primarily charcoal (vine, compressed, and conte) on newsprint paper and thick charcoal paper. To be honest, I used to detest charcoal. Now, I sort of love it. Especially compressed charcoal. Ahhh. :) I would hate it if I didn’t learn the shave/rub method. My scissors are completely black now. And as far as Conte goes…we’ll get along someday. Maybe.
Ah. And my first sculpture. The long white frame is 8 feet long and the tallest pole is 4 feet high. It took so long to paint! When I first primed it, the brush strokes were just so darn defined, completely stealing away from its clean simplicity. :/ But have no fear! My Norwegian friend, Peter, came to the rescue and drove me to Home Depot to buy a paint roller. :) I will explain more about the thought process of my sculpture later.
Milo Ventimiglia came to USC! He spoke at our weekly “Parkside Dinner,” which is a small conversation setting open to residents in the International Dorm, Arts and Humanities Dorm, and Parkside Apartments. He was so cool and down to earth. He talked a bit about “Heroes” and “Gilmore Girls.” He said how he didn’t get into USC so then he went to UCLA (and then dropped out to pursue acting in the real world.) He explained how in Hollywood, everyone gets to the point where they only hear “No” from casting directors and producers. But you can’t let that discouragement stop you. He was sort of like a motivational speaker, in a real genuine way. Anyway, I have a lot of respect for that guy. Afterward, he came back to the residential professor’s house and spoke to us in an even more casual way. What an awesome guy! I’ll never be able to watch “Jess” the same way now! hehe
Here is the first poster I ever made for the USC Thornton School of Music!
I love this job already! :D
Tonight, I snuck into my roommate’s animation seminar and got to hear John Frame speak about his work! He is a sculptor, photographer, composer and filmmaker. Very interesting! I love how humble and nonchalant he was about his success. He was clicking through slides of his work and said, “Oh, this piece is in the permanent collection of the LA County Museum of Art.” (Side note: I love love love LACMA. Right now, there is a Tim Burton exhibit that is supposedly AMAZING. I was signed up to go with USC Visions and Voices this Friday, but instead, I’m actually going home! Such a rare and treasured thing!)
