Not Dead/Rad Gif Party

Happy Late Christmas & Early New Year! Great news, even though I haven't been posting much - I am not dead. I have been sleeping lots, cleaning lots, and working on a cartoon for Rad Fortress. Be excited - it's about a cat. I have also been getting some thesis work done. I started a specific tumblr where I will be keeping track of my progress. I have a finished animatic SWF file, but I have to get it into After Effects so that I can upload it. Click here to follow my thesis blog! (aka, "MySpace Puppy")

I'm going to start posting resources and links toward the end of a weekly blog post. This will be a grab bag of stories I found interesting, websites my friends have updated, great animations, etc. Here we go: Something inspiring? Chris Oatley, my portfolio professor this past semester, posted a new podcast around Christmas. It's great for any creative looking for a pick-me-up. Some friends and I ran into him at Dirty Franks, and he says he's aiming to do two of these a month. A Shout-Out? My talented roommate - fashion designer Ryun Harrison - just launched his website. Fling a hit his way - we are cheap college students who try and think of creative Christmas present, including a shout-out on a blog spot blog.  Something Useful? Here's a link to some great brushes from Character Designer Shaun Bryant. Check out his work while you're at it! Something Random? One of my old favorite bands, Less Than Jake, released a music video this month which included tons of cameos from lots of other bands that they are friends with. It made me really happy and reminded me why I love this kind of stuff in the first place.

Sketch & finished New Years GIF of the 2013 meme-star, Doge.

 An elfie posing for a selfie, and an owl bear being very happy.

 Punk Couch Spaceship.

Space Puppy Storyboards + Notes = Launch

Before finals, I worked to get a new, ready-to-go storyboard set for my thesis project. I sat down with my friend, Kevin, to discuss backgrounds and layout. Here are our notes from our discussion. Now that finals are over, I can finally start committing some serious time to this project!

Art School Science and Math

One of the toughest part of finals were the classes that I wasn't the most knowledgeable in. None the less, here we are: a finished Human Anatomy final [of a bunny with a human gastrointestinal tract] and GIFS that were linked together via Processing for my Interactive Design final. The finished product can be found on my website!

The 12 Days of Finals

 Of all the semesters I have spent in college, this first semester of my senior year definitely had me the most bonkers once finals came around. What could be better than giving myself a new assignment: describe the two weeks of finals in 12 GIFS? I don't even have to spend too much time on them. I have just been wanting to get better at pumping them out (expect many-a-GIFS soon over at http://radfortress.tumblr.com).

I got lots of positive feedback, and lots of overall messages and comments from friends who said these were able to make their week. I had a few friends who would even request to be the star of the gif. I tried to always ask whoever was around me at the time for any suggestions, so I see these more so as a collaboration of ideas from me and my friends.

 

Now, "The 12 Days of Christmas" is a pretty repetitive song. Let's skip all the nonsense and get to the meat of this beat:

"On the eleventh day of finals, my true love gave to me:

eleven fucks fleeting,

ten things a' thwarting,

nine chaps complaining,

eight Tiens a' tweaking,

seven students a' sobbing,

six cans a' waiting,
five pots of coffee!
Four Colleens bored,
three fried brains,
two warm red bulls,
and one fucking hour of sleep.

On the twelfth day of finals, my true love gave to..."

All these gifs can be found on my Tumblr if you'd like to give them a like!

Now excuse me as I proceed to clean up my room, my diet, and my mind. I'll throw up some of my [actual] finals for good measure. Then it's back to the old grind!

Viktor the Vegan Vampire Bat

Here's to the most fun I have ever had in Character Design class! This was our final project for the semester. We had to take a character, new or old, and explore them very thoroughly. We needed to make an inspiration board, make variations, do turn-arounds and gestures - the whole nine yards. Here is what I managed to do with my character from the beginning of the semester, Viktor the Bat.

It was fun doing this character because, quite frankly, I imagined him to be a sleepy guy who works his butt off for his job anyways/because he has to. Can you say: all of us this finals-season?

Viktor was a vampire in college, but due to his expanding mind and evolving mental capacity, he decided to drop the whole "sucking blood" thing commit to a vegan diet. He would stay up late in college by secretly transforming himself into a nocturnal vampire-bat to pull all-nighters. His great college career led to a great, high position at an office. When Viktor needed to pull an after-hours late night job, he morphed back into bat form. To his demise, he woke up to an office full of confused co-workers: his veganism had inhibited his powers to turn back into a vampire-human!

Now Viktor enjoys the office life tirelessly as he doesn't know how to properly sleep anymore. This is good, because he has to work extra hours in order to keep from being fired (until, that is, he wins the hearts of his coworkers).

Viktor is addicted to coffee. If he has more than one cup, he is officially awake. If he has more than 2 cups, he becomes a hyper-active version of his former self. Insanity ensues.

Previous posts about Viktor:
http://sarahmaeschmidt.blogspot.com/2013/09/viktor-bat-1-initial-design.html
http://sarahmaeschmidt.blogspot.com/2013/09/viktor-bat-2-silhouettes.html
http://sarahmaeschmidt.blogspot.com/2013/10/homework-bat-poses.html
http://sarahmaeschmidt.blogspot.com/2013/10/halloween-bat-face-party.html