Long Overdue

Hello readers,

Thank you always for your time in taking to read my posts. Not a lot going on here, I know. A lot is happening and changing. Good changes, of course. I hope to get back to updating more regularly, but this time, I'm going to try doing some candid videos. Since I don't have the luxury to always sit and write a new post about work or faith, I figured it's a great change to try "vlogging" a little bit.

I'll probably post the first one this coming weekend, so please look forward to it :)

Just to catch up, I'm having a lot of fun in my comics and animation classes. Always busy, but still trying to keep that positive attitude and keeping calm. I hope everyone's doing well and that you're not letting life just slip you by.

I'm really excited to tell you more about what I've been pondering the past several months. We'll finally touch on the Artist ID series I wanted to do, so please wait for it.

If you like what you've been seeing or reading in my blogs (this one and Faith and Simple), thank you always for reading. If you just stumbled upon my sites, welcome! If you want, you are free to follow me on Twitter, where I am more active.
I hope my blogs aren't the kind to say, "look how contemplating and wise-sounding I am" or anything like that. I hope that these posts will be in some way relatable, or at least give you something to think about.

Thank you again, and I'll be back soon! :)

Best wishes!

Artist ID Series // Introduction

Hey everyone,

Whether you've been reading my blog or not, thanks for taking the time to check it out. I'm not the most consistent blogger out there, but I'm willing to try and write a new post once a week. I also hope to update my other blog, Faith and Simple as consistently as well.

Anyway, I've been wanting to muse on the topic of an artist's identity. During my first year at SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), I met many types of people and learned about many new things. I learned about what art meant to different artists, and how important their identity as artists were to them. It really got me thinking about my own identity as an artist. Why do I do what I do? Why am I pursuing a career in art, and etc, etc.

So, I'm going to be writing a series about my thoughts on an artist's identity from what I learned from my art history classes, classmates, teachers, etc. I don't know how long it would be, but it's certainly enough that is better in separate posts than in one extremely long post. A lot of these will give insight into my Christian faith. I want my kind readers to know that if I somehow offend any of you, I do not mean to. At the same time, I won't deny the occasion that my beliefs might conflict with yours. It might make me sound narrow-minded to some, but it is my desire to be honest and respectful, as well as faithful to my personal beliefs.


To conclude this introduction, I hope you will find the upcoming posts interesting and enjoyable. Please look forward to them!
In other news, I'm happy to say that someone purchased a copy of my comic zine! How exciting! Haha, slowly but surely, I hope I'll be able to create comics that are enjoyable to everyone! :)

Until next time,

Ariel

From Darkness - Short Film // Inspiration From Folklore

While I was browsing through Cartoon Saloon's website, I came across some of their featured short films. You may recognize Cartoon Saloon for developing and producing the animated film, The Secret of Kells. I have just seen the film, and it was brilliant. It's on Netflix's instant play if you would like to check it out.
Anyway, the short film I watched while exploring was From Darkness, directed by Nora Twomey.

"Based on an Inuit folktale, From Darkness tells the story of a lonely fisherman who drifts into haunted waters in search of food and finds much more than he bargained for." - Cartoonsaloon.ie

At first, I was terrified to watch, because I'm not really into the skeleton, scary, horror sort of film, but when I saw that it was based on an Inuit folktale, I was interested. And I'm glad I watched it. The ending kept me on edge, and it was really unexpected. Cheers to Nora Twomey and company!

So what got to me was that it was a folktale, and Inuit folktale nonetheless. From my list of inspirations, folklore and myths have a big impact on my work and research. 

I love getting into my research in mythology. When I find something interesting, I'll be looking through link after link in Wikipedia, until I stumble upon something with potential I can give life to in my work. My long term project that's been in writing and rewritings for about 2 years, has a large amount of King Arthur references. And I wasn't looking at the basic sword-in-the-stone-story that we've grown up and loved:

One of my favorite Disney movies of all time. Easily in my top 5!

It didn't take me long to figure out the original legend of King Arthur to be so complicated! There were numerous subplots of not just King Arthur, but of his knights, his wife, etc. The original tales were more mature with its many twists and turns. Probably more than the Game of Thrones.

Brace yourselves. The kingdom is crumbling...

Pffft child, please!

(I've never seen Game of Thrones, but saw enough memes to use this joke. But I do want to know what the hullabaloo it is about some day)

I can go on and on about how crazy King Arthur was, but the bottom line is, there is so much to be offered from the stories of old. Have you looked at the original tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, etc? All of those old fairy tales were so much darker and complex. I can understand why many artists today trend in illustrating Brothers Grimm stories in the most twisted, dark, and even romantic of sorts in pop culture. Even I have a taste of it if you've seen my short animation Returning Red. But again, these are fairy tales. What about myths like in From Darkness?

Myths and folklore are no different. Except, I believe they hold much more... not exactly credibility, but more weight to them. Myths exist because people believed they were once true. Every culture, every race of people, there are stories of creation, of morals, and of the very fundamentals of life. It's incredible. Storytelling is what kept these histories of myths alive. We've learned from these stories, and we keep coming up with innovative ways to retell them to future generations.

I really enjoyed From Darkness because it gave me insight into another culture. I don't know much about the Inuit, let alone heard of them. I love learning about other cultures, especially if I can learn about them from film, books, and comics. A classmate of mine from my comics class made his comic zine centering around an aging Indian woman and a djinn fairy as they contemplate the decline of old traditions in Indian culture. One of my favorite manga, A Bride's Story by Kaori Mori takes place in the 19th century along the Silk Road. The themes explored in this manga is the importance and complexity of marriage and family ties in the cultural tribes of the Silk Road. Both of these comics are beautifully drawn with compelling story writing about history.

To conclude, here's a minor tangent: in From Darkness, some people on Youtube argued in the comments of whether or not there are Biblical allusions. A part of me feels, should it really matter? I'm a Christian, but I didn't see anything past the film's initial story, much less a Biblical reference. All I saw was a suspenseful story with an unexpected sweet ending. After reading some comments, I understood why they made a connection, but I don't think we need to look at the film any further than the way it is presented.

All in all, I enjoyed it very much and I would love to read about the full Inuit legend one day. :)

So keep exploring history, folklore, and keep Grandpa's stories to heart. You never know what treasures lie within them.

Until next time,

Ariel

I Love Commentaries!

One thing I let people know once we start talking about Pixar films, is that I love the films so much, that I would watch the whole movie through and watch it again with the director's commentary. I love listening to the commentaries so much that I've come to the point where I know what they'll be talking about next. There are a number of times where I had to refrain myself from spouting Pixar trivia when I watch a movie with friends. Well, I have the same problem when it comes to quoting movies, but that's a different issue.

Not a lot of people have the patience to sit through a commentary, and I understand that, especially if you're not a film enthusiast, a filmmaker, or aspiring to be one.
Since I started kindling my passion to become an animator three years ago, I watched all of the Pixar films over and over again. I found just as much enjoyment when I watched all the bonus features and behind-the-scenes reels. Every time I listen to the directors, producers, and animators, I feel inspired and have that desire to polish my own work and to look forward to the future in terms of my dream job.
Will I definitely make it into Pixar? Who knows? But either way, I'll always draw inspiration from listening to what those talented people had to say.

Pixar manages to make stress look fun.

I love hearing about their own experiences, about their journeys, research, and creative processes. I think it's because they are relatable and I can't help but imagine myself being a part of it. I want to share those experiences and working together to create a piece that is memorable as it is memorizing and fun. Listening to a director's thoughts really gives me insight into how much effort they have put into the production of a film. There are definitely times where I listen and I go, "Man, that's sounds really tough," or, "I don't know how I'll be able to handle that kind of pressure." And so on, and so forth. But when it comes down to it, they always say it's worth the hard work. They all genuinely care about their work, and I like that.

Yep, this is what I'm going for.

As far as Pixar films go, I've watched the commentary of Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Up. I'm hoping to save enough money to get all the other movies in the Blue Ray combo packs, because apparently a regular DVD isn't special enough to have the commentaries on them anymore. I'm also really glad Netflix had The Pixar Story. I've only watched it once last year, but I'm hoping to watch again when it has my better attention and not when I'm dwindling about in a school project.
Outside of listening to Pixar commentaries, I started looking around the house. I found that my old Emperor's New Groove DVD had an audio commentary, and I just had to watch it. I enjoyed it very much and since then I've watched Disney's Treasure Planet (2002) with its audio/visual commentary and started watching Enchanted's behind the scenes. Things are a little different when it comes to live action and animated films, but I found it a good source to be inspired and excited to learn about cinematography, and not just from an animation point of view.

I really encourage people who are interested in films to listen to the commentary of their favorite film, if possible. I always like playing movies with commentary in the background as I work on my comics/art.
I will continue to watch and re-watch movies with commentary, no matter how many times I've already seen/listened to them. My current go to's are Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo. Commentaires are just a spring of inspiration for me.


Until next time!

Ariel :]

Summer: What's In Store

One week into my summer vacation, and into my second. My summer had a pretty good start, I'd say.

I was able to get some copies of my first self published comic (will be evaluated in a later post) to Quimby's Bookstore (out in Wicker Park, Chicago, IL).
I've started jogging regularly (still working on it).
I'm trying to get up early and getting enough sleep (ha!).
All in all, it's a matter of trying to keep myself busy, instead of derping around on the magical land known as the interwebz.
What I'm hoping to accomplish this summer is to work on my old personal projects and start some new ones, taking advantage of the programs that SAIC gave me.
Meaning: I would like to play around more with Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and Corel Painter as I make my art. I'm not the smartest when it comes to technology, but I do love it and it's so helpful.

In these three months able to dish out some more short animations, a graphic novel which story I've been developing for over two years, digital paintings, and water colors.
The projects themselves may or may not be finished, but if I'm able to start them and put in quality time into working them, then I'd say it's summer time well spent.

So here is my first summer vacation of my college days.

Hey, whether or not my grand summer plan goes smoothly, I'm just happy that I can spend it with my family and friends.

God bless and until next time,

Ariel :]

ArtBash 2012 // Showcasing Some Craft

Hello hello!

A bit late to post about this, but better late than never. A few weeks back, my research class was a part of the freshman art show at school, ArtBash 2012.

Research classes are a part of SAIC's freshman contemporary art curriculum where students research new methods and mediums to create art, concerning a certain aim, like craft, video, food even, etc. My particular research class is called Alt/Indie Craft, where we learn the craft culture of America and how expanse DIY culture is spreading over the country and among artists. We learn some basic entrepreneur tips like branding, selling, and how to think of finances in terms of shipping and manufacturing.

Creating handmade craft and selling them at shows or online, for part time, or even for full time, sounds  pretty interesting and self rewarding.

I really liked the class. I had a very nice teacher and the class was chill. Even though I was able to relax, I wish I had the same passion for craft as some of my other classmates, but I guess the DIY craft scene isn't where I thrive business-wise, haha. But I do love making things with my hands and working with dry, humble materials like thread and paper. This is why I'm not a painter, but I do like water colors :) And I've been using them in my cards.

Well anyway, here are some photos of my MemoMe cards that are from the show:
Enjoy~

These were the narrative window-cut cards.

My first round of cards used buttons and thread to make an illustration. This one had a real illustration with an India ink brush.

Everyone liked this one best. :)

My class made the display to look like an Etsy.com webpage. I kept the orange sign that said SAIC instead of Etsy as a souvenir.

There was a lot of impressive stuff from my classmates.

Although I love making handmade cards, I don't see myself making them to sell. I guess this is just going to be a little hobby for now, since I'm starting to get more into my comics and illustrations. But we'll see.

Until next time,

Ariel

My first animated short video

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry for the lack of activity. But I'm happy to say that I made a lot of good changes in accordance to branding my own name and such and so. I will post a separate topic later about what I mean.

But I figure that I should start putting up my work as I promised before. So here is the video of my first animated short. I have to say that it really is short, just a little over a minute.
I only drew 90 frames and worked with a lot of editing and transitions with Final Cut Pro X (all real animators must be shunning me now haha). This was my final project for one of my classes this semester. I completed this May 2, 2012 and I'm happy to present my first animated short.

Enjoy!

Returning Red
May 2, 2012