Winter Quarter: Bring it On!!!

Winter quarter has officially come into full swing and I am pretty excited for what the quarter has in store.  Before break starter, I was dreading the rest of the year because, as I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I was suffering from major senioritis.  It turns out that I didn't completely bomb fall quarter.  I actually did very well...Dean's List well!!!  That was the boost that I really needed to restore my motivation back into my classes.  It made me realize that I should be confident in what I can do, push through, and not stress out over the littlest things. 

This quarter I am taking some really fun classes that I am super excited about.  The only downside is that they all start at 8am! (Yikes!) The first class I am taking is Pop-Up Books I.  Yes, that's right...there's a pop-up book class.  Right now we're working on learning the basic mechanisms that are the basis of all pop-up books, which is a lot more complicated that I had imagined.  We even have a text book for it.  It's that hard core.  Later on in the quarter, we get work on a whole spread of our own using the techniques that we have learned.  I am already trying to think about what I want to do for that project.  Got any ideas? 

Next, I had Business and Marketing Practices for Illustrators.  It does sound a little boring and sometimes it can be, but this class really teaches young illustrators the business aspect of the industry.  Graduation is creeping up slowly and knowing how to handle your work from a business stand point it very important in an illustrator's career.  For our first assignment, we have to contact actual illustrators who have been in the business for a few years and interview them on how they have tackled the business end of their careers.  This made me nervous because my professor was basically asking us to call world famous and busy illustrators that we have been admiring and studying for the past couple of years.  So far I've emailed a bunch of them and luckily one person responded fairly quickly.  Her name is Liz Lomax and if you do not recognize her name, you will recognize her work.  Her website is amazing! (http://www.lizlomax.com/ )  I had the pleasure of talking to this award winning and fabulous illustrator last night and I was absolutely star struck!  I got so sweaty that I thought my phone my would short out from all my sweat!!  I was a hot mess. But what she had to say was so insightful and I know that the information and advice that she passed onto me will be very helpful in my career.  Now I just gotta find another illustrator to talk to!

Today I just had my Dimensional Illustration II class and we pretty much have free reign over what we want to do.  Over the quarter, we have to do a 3 series illustration.  I chose to do the "monkeys jumping on the bed" nursery rhyme in an almost cake form.  I won't be using actual cake because I'm not made out of money and I hope to keep this piece for my portfolio.  I cannot wait to get started on this project!!!

To throw myself a curve ball, however,  I will be leaving for Christmas/New Years break a week early and missing class.  My grandmother, boyfriend, and I are off to the Philippines, which is where my family is from.  It should be an awesome time.  I know I won't miss the winter weather here in Rochester. I just hope that I can get back in the groove of things when I get back.  Well that's all I got so far!

TTFN (Ta-ta For Now!)