Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Portfolio Day

I think Portfolio Day is one of the most draining events that I have every been to. It starts at 12 but I got there early and waited in line for over an hour. But that's okay because it was worth it. I was near the front of the line for CalArts.

The representative from CalArts who critiqued my portfolio gave me kind of a harsh critique. She basically said that I wasn't ready. It was pretty discouraging. Because while I was waiting in line, I heard a lot of "you aren't ready and "you're too basic." I really hoped that I wouldn't hear something like that But I did. She said I have strong figure drawing skills, but I need more animals and the animal drawings need more development. More perspective, landscape and imaginative drawings should be included too.
True, she is a CalArts representative and she told me that I 'm probably not ready for CalArts, but I really think I am. I choose to stay optimistic in this situation because I still have time to develop and expand my portfolio even more.
I wanted to write about portfolio day in my blog on Monday and even Tuesday but I didn't have time. My teacher Rebecca Kimmel suggested that I take a trip to Otis on Tuesday and attend Gary Gerath's class.
So I did. And it was excellent. Gary's class was from 8am to 3pm. I learned so much from the class. And then after class, there was a figure drawing workshop from 3:45 to 6:45. I can literally say that I drew for 10 hours on Tuesday :) I plan to make more trips to Otis to strengthen my foundation even more. I actually don't mind drawing for 10 hours. It was actually a lot of fun.
My gesture drawings have improved and I got really good advice from Rebecca and Gary.
Much thanks to Rebecca and Gary. I really appreciate the fact that there are people out there who want to help those who need it. Also, a lot of thanks to Beverly and Chris Warner for being very nice and awesome people who also want to help out a fellow artist.

Yeah, CalArts was a slap in the head. But the recovery was very quick I must say.
I think I have a very good idea of what CalArts wants to see in a portfolio now and I will have a much stronger portfolio to present when I submit it.

I've been meaning to post my second master copy so that I can take a look at it side by side... or up and down on my blog. Even though I'm not entirely finished, I think it's making good progress.
I actually had a bit of trouble with blocking in her body at first. And her face was troublesome too.
I wish the face was more accurate but as long as it looks close, then it's ok.
Before, the face was so goofy and I swear I erased at least 6 times....



We've been trying a new medium in life drawing and it's pastel! My teacher Melanie used my drawing as a demo and filled in the neck. Pastel's not bad and it's close to painting almost. UCI made me hate painting but I can deal with pastel. I would like to make the transition to painting soon though.
Pastel is very beautiful and I hope that I can become better in the future. I know a lot of artists at Pixar like to use pastel too. But the way they use it is like witchcraft.... it's too good and too beautiful...

Another new thing that I've been learning how to draw/ paint is little chickens and bok choy
I've been anticipating the moment that my teacher would tell me that I'm ready to paint bok choy.
Bok Choy is really hard but really fun at the same time.




This one is done by my teacher. You can see his signature in the bottom right corner. There are 2 kinds of bok choy. The one above is the one with open leafs and is the newest one that I'm learning.
It's really hard....
The one below is the kind of closed leafs. This method is easier actually.


This Saturday I will be attending the Sketch Crawl in LA. I'm really excited because it will be a really good opportunity to get some more sketches for my portfolio.
This has been another long entry, but I had to catch up again. A lot has been going on externally...internally.
It's been pretty chaotic but organized at the same time. But all in all, I'm really happy with where everything is going. I know I don't have much time left until my portfolio is due, but I'm going to make really really good use of that time.

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