stabbed in the back...

...yea.

Just when you thought that things are going well for you, some bullshit comes out of nowhere and pretty much takes you down. HARD.

Here's some life drawing stuff from last week:

The third picture was a 30-second sequential gesture drawing. I have to say that my speed has improved and was able to do it pretty well.

And one of the problems that I encounter when I'm drawing a female figure is that the woman's hips tends to be the same as the men's figure. My instructor gave me a tip that proved useful in correcting that miscue: match the width of the female's hips with the width of her shoulders.

Anyways, on to learning Maya software.

The first week has gone by, 10 more to go.

Me and my friends has just noted that we've been to this school for nearly a year now... wow, time flies so fast when you're busy with stuff.

I'm fortunate to have a boss that is understanding and co-workers that can put up with my crap (to a certain extent) while I do this: both my boss and co-workers perfectly understand that I'm working towards something that I WANT TO DO and WILL ENJOY DOING IT so I need to make this count.

I had a talk with my Art Director a couple of days ago and I was told that my school opened up another course that will be in tune with I want to do down the road. I just need a bit of clarification with my Course Director and once I get down the actual info, then I can totally dedicate myself to this (yea, I still had some reservations about it but with this recent changes, it looks like it's becoming clearer and clearer for me) course.

Unfortunately, there's no Life Drawing class this quarter, though it makes it up with learning digital software (Maya) and learning the fundamentals in animation.

Since I think I got so used to drawing static figures, now it's time to change it up a bit by learning to draw things in motion: I'm sure it will take some time for me to get used to it but I believe it will help me be able to draw figures that are more dynamic in nature.

First day of class, last quarter for this year..

...and  it starts off with me (initially grasping at the straws) in our Maya class.

Well, come to think of it, it's just the first day and it's my first time with the program. Supposedly 22 students in that class but only 16 showed up.

For this quarter (July-Oct), my schedule is Monday (6:00PM-10:00PM), Friday (8AM-5PM - two classes) and Saturday (8AM-12PM).

Monday class is a pain in the ass due to it's scheduling, but since I'm quite excited to learn Maya, it offsets that little setback (and heck, I can drive by at my favorite Burrito place on my way home so another consolation right there) by driving in the afternoon just for one late class.

The only drawback from this quarter is that there are no art classes whatsoever this time around. However, my Saturday class kinda makes it up for it since I will be learning the fundamentals of animation--- a fun class, but I'm certain it will be no cakewalk.

I already talked to a couple of professional freelancers that can teach me (for a fee of course) on whatever I'm interested in. Things are a bit tight financially this July so I will have to wait until mid-July or August for my extra art training but of course, I will still practice sketching (working on anatomy atm) on my own until then.

My bestfriend gave me a link to Deviantart's "Daily Sketch Challenge" so there's that to keep me in tune with the whole thing.

I learned a great deal in our Figure Drawing class from April to June... I picked up more speed and removed unnecessary lines when sketching figures due to my instructor's strict regimen.... and it did paid off at the end which I'm happy.

However, the sad part is that the class from July-Sept will not have the next phase in my illustration training which is the Anatomy class--- I was told that I have to wait this quarter and they may have it for the Oct-Dec timeframe. I'm bummed out about it but that won't deter me from furthering my training in this matter (I believe that the digital side of things is covered since I will be learning how to use the Maya software so I'm looking forward to it).

I guess one of my classes (Intro to Animation) will have to suffice as far as illustration training goes.

However, I'm planning on adding an outside training regimen through either an online training or a one-on-one training session.


I'm thinking of going either with a classical art online training with Mindcandyman (from the concept art forums) or with Shef, who used to teach at my school that became a freelance illustrator.

I already laid out the homework and assignment days in relation to my classes and that leaves me with nothing to do at Sundays (my day off) and whatever idle time that I get from work.

Having another training regimen in illustration will surely help me in the long run but I guess part of me is holding me back.

"Fear of the unknown" I suppose.

 I guess if I really go through with my extra training means that I am totally committing myself to it (which I should REALLY BE DOING IN THE FIRST PLACE ANYWAY).

Finally done for this quarter!

Good grief, felt like forever.

Made significant strides as far as figure drawing is concerned, learned a crapload and I noticed my improvement when drawing figures down. I will do an art dump perhaps tomorrow night after work--- I'm trying to enjoy the next four weeks of summer break.

Art dump in 2 days. Still doing projects.

Saw the Avengers movie today. Fucking awesome.