summer class finale & yard work

Well, I'm done with my summer classes. I had my last exam in public speaking yesterday. The prof let us grade our own tests, so by my calculations I made about an 83 (he goes back and adjusts the score up or down). Not as good a grade as I wanted, but it's pretty good considering how I bluffed my way through some of the answered. Honestly, who reads the textbook anyway?

For anyone who's interested, I made an A- on my final project in 3D design. Hopefully I'll make an A in that class, and raise my GPA a bit. It's not really low in the first place, but I like to stay in range of the Dean's List.

I had to work with my dad today, and it was absolutely exhausting. He does lawn maintenance and cuts down trees. After the first yard we did, I was ready to be through. See, he makes me edge around the yards, that where you used this machine--an edger, go figure--and you go and around where the grass meets the sidewalk and it trims it up all nice and pretty. However, it's better if you have a lot of upper body strength, which I don't. So I'm all achy and stuff, and my dad wants me to go back out working tomorrow. :/

self portrait, Artgyrl history

I've drawn another self-portrait, but the concensus is that it doesn't really look like me. It seems that when I actually try to draw someone that looks like me, it doesn't, but when I draw, say, artgyrl, she looks more like me than my supposed self-portrait. . . hmm. . .

So, therein lies the dilemma. See, Artgyrl started as my online personality/avatar. Then she developed into a character of her own, with only a few of my character traits, such as artistic ability, intelligence. . . and hot looks (j/k). But you get the picture. Anyways, she's not me, as a lot of people have come to believe. She's her own person.

But anyway. . .here's the pic. You be the judge of the actual resemblance. I'll slap some colors on when pretty soon, so hopefully it'll look more like myself after that. :/

movie experience: POTC

Yesterday afternoon I went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" with my older sister. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. Johnny Depp is great in practically any role, and Orlando Bloom was his usual hot self. Now that I think about it, the movie reminds me a bit of "The Three Musketeers." You know, the one starring Keifer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Oliver Platt and Chris O'Donnell. . .? Well, Orlando Bloom's character reminded me of Chris O'Donnell as he portrayed the young D'Artagnan. I guess it was the whole head-strong-young-lad-trying-to-prove-himself-andcome-into-his-own-while-at-the-same-time-trying-to-live-up-to-his-father's-example thing.

Well kiddies, only one more week of school left. (woohooh!) Then I get a little break before school starts back in the fall. :( Oh well, you can't have all fun. But I'll finally be taking some major specific courses, such as Intro to Graphic Design and Typography.

Tomorrow I've got my final speech in public speaking. It's supposed to be an entertaining "after dinner" speech, and I'll be bringing my younger sisters in as visual aids. ; ) I'm just going to talk about the annoying and insane things that people say about us. For example, they think that my and my little sis, who is six years my junior is my twin. So that means I look like I'm 14, sixteen at the most. Yeah. It gets on my nerves just a bit.

Art Progress: 3D models, Stevie Nicks, Chloe

I thought I'd clue you guys in on what I've been working on as of late.

First off, I've got my final project for 3D design. We have to make a self portrait up to 18'' tall. So we've been working on miniature models of what we want to do.



I'm also working on a commission portrait of Stevie Nicks. Here's what I've got so far:



Oh, and here's a drawing I did of my baby cousin for my aunt as a gift to my uncle. He was quite pleases with it. However, the photograph doesn't to justice to the original piece.

Photos: wedding, itsy, china garden sign

I've taken alot of pics over the past couple of weeks. . .

Sunday night I got all dressed up for a wedding.


actual size
This spider made a home right above the door to my 3D design class


Is this not the most ghetto name for a restaurant? They have really good food, though. :p

Hello kiddies. . .

Well, I bombed on the speech I mentioned in the last entry, making a C. But today I had another speech. We had to give a special occasion speech (i.e. eulogy, acceptance, presentation), and I did a lot better on this one. I chose to do a eulogy, and little did I know that a eulogy isn't just for funerals. It's the general name for a speech given to praise or blame someone.

Right now I'm working on a commission for one of Jamaal's co-workers. It's a portrait of Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mack(sp?).

As for the comic. . . it's coming along slowly, but surely. =)

booo. . .it's 2:00 a.m., and I've got a speech today that once again I've ill-prepared for. It's dealing w/ affirmative action. . .such a controversial topic, so much I could say, but I've only got 5 minutes. And it's not good to rethink your speech plan at the last minute. I'll just stick to my original idea, and if it goes to terribly, I have an opportunity to redo the speech Wednesday.

Madelyn's litter

Almost two and a half weeks ago, my dog, Madelyn, gave birth to eight healthy puppies (hooray!). Sadly, Madelyn developed mastitis. Consequently, we have to ween the puppies early. Madelyn has to be separated from the puppies completely, so see will stop lactating and the infection will go away. They were supposed to nurse for at least another week, but the vet gave us formula to feed them, and we started them on puppy chow. I was surprised at how quickly the puppies took to the new food, but they can't get enough of it. However, it's a big responsibility having to feed them every four hours. . . but they're so darn cute that it doesn't really matter.



The puppies are super muts. Their dad is part rottweiler and some kind of husky/wolf dog; he's got white-blue eyes, but looks mostly like a german shepard. We don't know what the heck Madelyn is. She's a pound puppy. But we love them all. =)

madelyn


max

gymnastic girl sketches

I had a great week spending time with my sweetheart. But fear not, I actually managed to sketch some things while I was with him. Last Thursday we went to a cheerleading gym where Jamaal's best friend, John works. I saw the girl walking around, stretching, and fixing their hair after doing a tumbling passed, and I did a few sketches from that.

gym gyrls | lil gym gyrl

The comic is coming along slowly but surely. I need a lot of references to work from since I have mostly experience drawing people and nothing else. But this will be great practice for me. I'd give y'all a sneak peek, but then I'd be giving away a lot. ;)