Belly by Julia Pott

an unexpectedly powerful short animated film i saw featured on vimeo.

Belly from Julia Pott on Vimeo.

i have to practice life drawing....so much HAHA. 

but you know, i kind of like that my department doesn't require life 

drawing or character animation or storyboarding.

because that direction is only one possibility of animation. animation does not belong to one group of people to be defined. it is one art form.

it's hard to find your own style....requires a lot of confidence and tenacity.

but we can do it ^^

came back home from LA on sunday! 

learned many things, and i'm really excited to start working on my senior film.

not sure where this will go, but i just spent an hour or so playing with this in photoshop. i guess tomorrow it may end up looking completely different! i started with a bright red background.

wish i had real paints with me here ^^

painting is one of the few things i can do digitally for honest fun. drawing/animating is more difficult/frustrating for me. prefer paper and pencil.

sketch dump

had a mini doodling breakthrough this week. i get caught up in expectations easily, and there are so many great artists who upload their gorgeous doodles/drawings/sketches that it's hard not to feel as if their styles are what i should be emulating.

plus, you know. heading into senior year of undergrad, who doesn't feel the pressure.

but the best results only come from really honest joy and exploration of art-making. my goal is not to be the next greatest animator, etc.etc. but the best artist i can be. so i honestly don't know what i want to be when i "grow up" after graduation. and i feel better about that than feeling pigeon-holed before i even get out there.

maybe in a year i will feel very differently.

if any professionals ever see this, thanks for posting your work. i look forward to your posts every day. thank goodness for blogger, hehe.

had another freaky dream last night

a few more

there are a few more things i've been thinking about

1. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
one of my favorite books i read as a child.
feels like powerful poetry

2. Tekkonkinkreet (film), directed by Michael Arias

the story gets muddled in the middle, but it's a really wonderful piece of animated film. sorry to say i haven't read the manga series. 

3.  Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

ok, don't stone me, but i've never actually read the novels word for word. i mostly know pieces of it, and i love the idea of a world hidden from adults, with ridiculous but still dangerous characters. chesire cat.....one of the coolest characters. evar.

4. Treasure Planet, directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (Disney film from 2002).

i can't believe it's been 10 years. i was still in elementary school! WHAT IS GOING ON.

but i just watched this film again, recently. and i still love it ^^  a lot of fun, and doesn't forget its classic roots. wonderful CG integration with 2D animation (HOORAY GLEN KEANE), the way it should be done. i think perhaps at this moment, Disney was a bit ahead of its time, and the masses weren't prepared. really gorgeous film.

5. Any film directed by Wong Kar Wai. 

One of my favorite directors. I love his stuff.....my favorite is probably Chungking Express, but I've seen Fallen Angels, In the Mood for Love, Happy Days, and I think a couple more. 

It's in my agenda to watch "2046," which came out a few years ago.

Color, emotion. 

He's considered part of the "Second wave" of Hong Kong cinema. 

i just checked, and last year at this time, i did some pastel color studies of "In the Mood for Love" that i uploaded on my blog, haha. 

this is one of them ^^

i like his films because it doesn't feel forced into the traditional western style narrative. a lot of hollywood films feel too heavyhanded

but his films are about the emotional experience

i'm going to avoid falling back on the three-piece narrative structure because it's stifling and limiting, and does more harm than good when i feel stuck

and there's no reason why it's any better than other kinds of description....description of an experience

sometimes it's much worse!

it's just that not everyone can recognize something different as more appropriate when they haven't experienced these different things.

ana lecture, wrap!