Saturday, October 13, 2012

October

Well Dragon*Con was a success.



None of the pictures of me in my costume turned out very well, except for this one. I'll take more later to actually show it off. Maybe I'll actually have a waist in them. Also that lady in the background.

Just look at my last post for some of the progress images and then use your imagination.

Basically in this process I learned that I am horrible at choosing fabrics for costumes, but also that face paint is fun. I should have learned both of these things last year.

It actually came out really well. Made my first ever shirt (that you shall never see without the shoulders hiding the collar). I also learned not to start these projects in the summer. That is not enough time. Especially for a project of this scale. I did not learn this last year, either.

Next year will be even better though! I shall go bigger! Much bigger! With corsets!
We tried on some corsets one day, and then I knew. Yes please, more of this.


But now I am in the Fall semester, making things that are relevant for jobs and degrees and things. I have pictures in my gallery!

It's the first 4 pieces in the top group, and the first piece in the bottom group. Lots of posters and ads and websites and all sorts of career things.

Making websites at work is fun. Soon I shall design my own for them! It will be grand. I just brought up the fact that we need to get started on the redesign, so hopefully we can jump into ideas and things next week.

But my portfolio simply displays the fact that I built The Sentinel website. It basically runs my life right now.
But it's pretty fun.
Sign up for the E-Edition over on the right! The very first one gets sent out on the 16th!


I sign off with this shameless plug.




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Friday, August 17, 2012

Sweet, Sweet Progress

I now have two pieces of my costume done! Which is good (or maybe bad?) because there are only 13 days until Dragon*Con!

I'm not really sure how well my fabric paint will stick to the fabric I used for my shoulder piece, but I worked really hard on that design, so I hope it stays!
Also I followed the instructions on the bottle.
Very important.


This design is nuts, but I finally got the hang of it!


Cutting it out was not fun, however.


There was probably a more professional way to do this, but my technique was to make a stencil, and then lay down masking tape on the open parts. After cutting it all out, (again) the tape was left on the fabric so that I could sponge my paint around it.


Anyway, it worked like a charm. And I still have the big stencil in case I want to go in with paint--or the tape--again.

Also behold my bag!

Speaking of which, I remember now that the shoulders need the large stitching across the seams. UGH.


Well that shouldn't take long. Then I have to work on the rest of the costume, which is really daunting.

Even though I already have those boots!
And by that I mean I went to Radiant Raiment and found my character some boots that looked like the ones that I already own.

So anyway, now I've gotta make that shirt, which I found a pretty good pattern for. Though, I'll have to fix up the collar a bit. Which will be fine I guess. I did the same look on the shoulders, as well as the collar on my costume from last year.

But UGH I really do not want to make that shirt at all. I've never made a shirt before!

And thennnn I have to make the tunic-y thing. I already have the fabric cut out, so I sort of just have to tack the pieces together.


After that (or before, since I don't want to make the shirt!) will be the buckle. I was going to try to actually repousse it into metal like a boss, but I'm such a noob at that that I figured I would just go with mesh and plaster cloth, or Sculpey.
I feel like either of those will be quicker, and more guaranteed for success. I don't have time to use metal. Nor do I have chasing tools. And I really don't feel like trying to work on custuming stuff in the sculpture studio.

One thing I'm excited about for this year, is wearing that red face paint!
I bought some (rather expensive) face paint from Joann Fabrics, but it comes of REALLY easy with water. And I'm going to be sweating all over the place. And my makeup seal didn't do much.

But the paint that I was going to use last year--and didn't--stays on really well. I just need to buy a red version.


Well, I only have 2 weeks to get all this done.
*cry*



Oh. I also finished my third project from my summer class.
This is the page I made that leads to my other team members' pages. And then the "Laura Smith" link leads to the rest of my site!




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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Summertime Hullabaloo

Sooo the summer semester is almost over and I have barely told you a single thing about it.

First things first. That short animation project I did at the beginning of the semester has long since been finished, so I shall show it to you!

I have yet to set up my website to display my flash animations in a way where the whole gallery is consistent. Buuut I can just post the links for now.

Well I guess I just post screenshots of the animations and give a link to them in the description....

HMMMM.
I'll work on that later.

But I have a lot of things that need to go in my gallery so it's not just the animations that I need to post. I also need to clean up a few old iron pour pieces and re-hot glue my styrofoam sculpture and ...others, I think. So I guess I'm just being lazy about my gallery altogether because I know that there are a few things that I need to do.


Anyway--LINKS!
Project One
Project Two

Project Three is currently in progress, so you may not see it!

So project 1 turned out awesome. The music was a total last second decision. I just searched through my silly songs from various video game soundtracks and picked an upbeat one that was the correct length. Though that didn't matter much since it still just fades out in the end.
Anyway it was totally perfect since it picks up at just the right moments.

Oh yes.


Project 2 was okay. It looks the way I wanted it to, but it's very much not as interactive as I wanted it to be. The illustrations took longer than I thought, and basically it just isn't as good as a flash website should be.



Luckily our last project is another website, and this one is going to be AWESOME. Everything will move and be interactive and you'll all love it.

Here's a sneak peak:
Strongman




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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Summertime Activites

This will probably be my busiest summer of all time.

I am taking two summer classes, Adobe Flash and Marketing, and I need to get started on my Dragon*Con costume.

Flash, for one, is very time consuming. We have long assignments due every week day and fairly large projects about every 3 weeks. Weekends don't give much relief.

I'm pretty excited about my current project though. It's a 20sec TV commercial, and I've never used Flash before, and I've made a very complicated storyboard. I'll post some of those as soon as I figure out the method with which I want to do so. It's very difficult and due in about 4 days.


Marketing is pretty much the same as Flash as far as the number of assignments goes. Summer classes are so jam-packed, it's a little crazy.


Regardless of all the mess that I need to get done for school, I've realized that I'm quickly running out of time for costuming and have started planning for that. I have until August 31 to finish everything.

I think my goal is pretty simple sewing-wise (compared to last year), but the planning stage is taking longer than I thought it would.



So I'm making this sexy lady, and I really need to make sure my fabric choices are a little wiser this time around. Also the colors are very weird and specific, so I'll be putting my dyeing skills to the test!

She has a staff, but I'll probably not even do it at all.


If I had more time, it would be a possibility. Get my sculpture on.
But as of right now, I really do not think so.

On the bright side, props are really annoying when walking around the Con. Even though it would be flippin' sweet.




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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

My Own Incompletes

I just realized that I only posted 1 of my projects from Jewelry & Small Metals II. My bowl. That was the 3rd project of the class.
Before that I had done 2 forged bracelets. One a simple faceted bangle, and another bracelet of our own design.

I think I shall photograph those and get them in my gallery

I think the only reason I hesitated was because they aren't entirely complete.
The bangle is a little small to fit over my hand, and the 2nd bracelet--I feel--needs a few more components.

However, since I don't feel like I will be working on them any time soon, I think I'll just post them and fix them up later.

I am incredibly proud of both of them, and feel like sharing them with the world! I'll see if I can't have them cleaned up and photographed by the end of the day.

__5/9/12 Update__

I have now posted them! Go see!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Slightly More Complete

First things first. My incomplete in Jewelry & Small Metals from last semester is starting to turn around! I still need to polish and patina my piece, but soon it will be turned in and I will get a grade!

Watch how I build!

practicing textures so I don't eff everything up...


texture success!


this is where the magic happens


got the first triangle to stay! solder success!


pickle tiiime


pickle success! now to only get it to remain that color...


the second triangle, hoping that it will not fall off when I remove my pins...


and I got them all to stay in place! so to pickle and polish and patina and all that jazz...


also my box made it onto school tv!


So next Monday marks the last day of classes. I've already finished one class, now I just have 3 more!

Just today I turned in my photography project [already in my gallery] and it went pretty well. We also had to write and artist statement to go with it. For some reason it's really hard to keep my artist statements short. I guess I love talking about myself too much...

Anyway, so now I just need to finish my final Typography project (due on Monday), take my Tuesday Art History exam, and take my marketing exam online sometime next week. I'm aiming towards Wednesday...


I don't even see this as the end of the semester. I've been looking at everything day by day, that I haven't really taken into account that I only have 3 days left!

Crazy crazy.

I am, however, definitely looking forward to doing awesome crafts during the summer! I have a lot of unfinished projects that really need to be finished...




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Thursday, April 12, 2012

So Close!

Alright where was I last time... My last photography project and not quite finishing my typography book...

Wellll I've started the very last photography project, and there was one more in between this one and the one in my other post.

That one was called Appropriations. Copying a style of art or the work of a certain artist. I found Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's artwork, and I copied a few of them, and got creative with a few others. They came out pretty neat actually.



I finished my Typography book (and got a pretty good grade on it too!) and submitting my portfolio to get into my concentration was successful seeing as how I got in! The book isn't in my gallery yet, but it will be at some point. Actually, I should work on that.


I'm pretty pumped because I only have 1 project / exam left in each of my classes! Plus my incomplete metals class, but once I actually sit down and start working on it, it should go fairly quickly.


I'm really excited about my next photography project, actually. It's called "Sense of Place," and since I'm moving into my first apartment this weekend I figured that that would be the perfect subject! Pretty good timing. :D


The next few semesters--once this one is done--are going to be pretty awesome I think. I got a few digital art-related classes and some marketing classes and some art history classes. I'm hoping that with the few breaks that I get between semesters and maymesters that I can finish all of the sewing projects I've started. I really need that new purse...

Also the next few months are all about web development skills. I found a cool site that walks you through javascript, and it's pretty easy to handle so far, but I want all of the web dev skills!


So that's basically it so far. As far as a quick overview goes. I bet if I posted more often I could go into more details... Hmm...




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Friday, March 16, 2012

Photography and College Careers

Photography critique number 2 is complete!
{Pictures in the gallery}

It went pretty well, actually. Everyone liked the blur and the drama. They didn't, however, like one photo I had of a bird feeder shot through the blinds, since it didn't look enough like a window and everyone thought the character was walking back outside.
So the professor took it out to see if the narrative was better without it (and of course it was) so I promptly snuck it out of the pile of projects to be graded and brought it right back home.

So that was very nice. My lovely boyfriend made a very nice model and all the pictures turned out great!



So... I have mapped out the rest of my semesters, plotted my classes, and predicted my graduation to be in Spring 2014.
I must say that if you want to be an art major, start your studio classes as quickly as you can, so you won't be here for 6 years like me.

But that's fine. I have a lot of room to take useful classes that don't really fit into my degree. I really wanted to take a few more sculpture classes, but most importantly some web development classes. And, if I laid it out correctly, I think I have a few semesters that have room for some fun stuff. And by fun, I mean, subjects that I feel will greatly benefit me in the long run.
Well, the sculpture class is just for fun, but I want it the most!

Not much else new. My 16-page book is due in 2 weeks, so I'll try to get images of that up around then. Unfortunately, after seeing some examples from previous semesters, mine needs a serious overhaul.




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Friday, March 2, 2012

4 Days of Structure-less School Work

Yeah, spring break started today and I am sooo glad. I still have work, but that's fine. I'm just glad I don't have any assignments due on Monday.

Actually Monday is going to be my relax day since I work and have school 24/7 and can never ever stop.

But yes. This semester is ridonkulous. When I'm not slaving away at 16-page typography-based books, I'm taking black and white photos and working on online classes and studying art history for 7 hours.

Actually I've managed to catch up considerably in the last week just in time to be able to chill for a while.

My book is looking a lot better than my plans did in the beginning. The professor did enjoy coming over to the computer and hiding my images to see how interesting my text was though. It was sort of irritating, but my text was super boring, so I'm glad that was pointed out sooner rather than later. I've basically surrendered myself to the learning process and have relaxed enough to encourage any feedback I can get to help me out.
So we'll see what happens in the next week when I try to execute what I was told to do.
Here's a sneak peek of what is to come!

A bar graph made out of thread!

A map of New York!

...Very intriguing!


Photography is pretty cool, though. As always. We're shooting in black and white and have to do a 6-photo narrative. I sort of have an idea worked out, but it's not ready for the public!

But here's a practice shot I took while messing around trying to think of ideas!

Mysterious!

And a kitty!


Oh, I finished my first photography project. It's in my gallery.


Luckily for me, the art building is open during spring break, so a friend and I shall be going in to finish our metals projects. She has a whole lot less to do than I do, but that's only because I beat mine so hard trying to get it to do what I want that it basically died and I want to start fresh. So my forged bowl is basically all I have now. Also we'll see on Tuesday just how much metal I have left and what I actually have to work with. But I do have an awesome game plan, so hopefully it will go smoother than last time. (Sometimes advise from professors makes things sooo much easier on you! Who knew?)

But yes. I would work on metals in my garage, but I do not have the means to fill up my acetylene tank, so all my stuff is just kind of sitting there. Oh well!




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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

New Things

Well the Spring semester started a while ago, and I gotta say I have learned so much in these 5 weeks.
I also have the most demanding classes I've ever had, even though I only have two studio classes.

Actually, my classes are Typography II, Photography I, Art History, and Marketing.

Type II is not bad right now, but I've been told it gets a lot worse. But so far I have learned a heck of a lot about layouts. We have a 16-page booklet coming up, and if I'm not a pro at laying out a butt-load of text and images by the time that's done, then I don't know what will do it.

Photography is pretty fun. I'm taking it since images are very important in graphic design and businesses, so I thought I'd learn to make my own. But we have a lot of photos and prints due all the time, so it's crazy to keep up with.

Art history is super interesting, but the memorization is not that awesome. But art history is how I learn my world history, so it's good to nerd out in there.

Marketing is pretty demanding. The chapters are super long, and we don't have much time after we submit one response before we have to read the next two chapters and write about those. And so far it's just a bunch of economics, but I'm hoping I'll pick up some things that will help me in my career.


Outside of school, I finally finished and uploaded my new website design. I've got my own server space and everything so the URL's are nice and pretty! I've also added my latest graphic design assignments to my 2D Digital Art gallery.
Check everything out here! --> www.taylormariewhite.com




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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Getting Stuff Done

First on my list of things to start and then continue doing on a regular basis:
  • Set up my acetylene torch. I received the final piece to my metalworking setup and hopefully sometime soon (since I got it for Christmas and it's still not done) I will be in my garage making cool things that need to be very hot for a while.
  • Finish my purse. My old purse was the greatest thing that ever happened to me and it sadly fell apart. It was actually pretty low quality but it fit everything that I needed and was super colorful and adorable. Sooo I bought some of my favorite fabrics and started up a replacement that will do everything my old one did. Only better. It is still quite a puzzle so I don't get very far by the end of each day.
  • As far as websites go, I did design a whole new layout and color scheme and all that good jazz. That wasn't my original plan though. I'd hoped to first just get off of my school's server and therefore have more professional looking URLs.
    However in my attempts to upload my new files, I deleted the old ones and was not able to replace them. So now I just want any website at all. Though I'm pretty sure getting onto a new server will solve all my problems, so I basically just need to do that. Quickly. My website just says "Not found" which is really not cool.
  • In preparation for this summer when I want to have either internships or new jobs, I will need to start teaching myself web design-y things. Mostly Javascript and... others that I forget. Anyway Javascript is hard, so I've hardly focused on it at all, let alone any others.
  • This one has nothing to do with my professional career, but I really need to learn how to cook quick healthy things. The holidays were nice because I did not hesitate to pull out cookbooks and try things / cook the same things over and over because I know I like them (but it was still stuff that I made myself, and the ingredients for all of them together were cheaper than a weeks worth of the other crap I usually buy).
    Anyway, I'm back to the convenient crap I usually buy and it makes me really sad. Like, I just don't like eating it. Knowing that I could cook something else if I ha the stuff but not getting started on it makes me so depressed.
    I did get my juicer for Christmas, and if I could just buy some fruit and junk I could totally start carrying around something to tie me over and not feel so awful about myself.



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