Quite Junky

I'm writing this on my new iPod. Using this thing makes me feel so hip and high tech. Thanks Apple Marketing Division... you make me feel good!

...even if the typing interface on your product needs some work.

In other news, check out posemaniacs.com
It has a couple cool, poorly translated from Japanese applications. From a database of 500-and-something 3D models of poses, you can either randomly view one or manually find one you like and from there rotate the model as you like. Even better though is the hand models. The poses aren't actually 3D but .jpegs; pictures at different angles of the model. But the hand models are a flash application and dynamically shaded polygonal models. You can zoom in and out and rotate freely. Nerdy, definitely, but awesome because hands are so damn hard to draw without a model. If I had a 3rd hand to view as I drew with my other two, there wouldn't be a problem. Actually, most of my drawings of hands are of my own while they're drawing the picture. Paradoxal, I know.

It was thirteen, dark stormy nights. I would stand there, swinging on my feet, wiping the occassional condensation from the inside of my skeleton mask. It was only occassionally that I had a chance to run to a fellow actor and play around, but for the majority of the time I had to occupy myself. For seven hours I was basically my own company; I thought of the philosophy and psychology of being behind a mask, and a lot of times my mind wandered to how cute the girl was who just walked by, wide-eyed with fear. By my normal guidelines I would try to offer some comfort but no, I had to bark in her face. And then let her pass.

But I am able to spin the whole thing positively; really, all of us people working there were in the same boat and having them there was possible the only reason I went. "I'll go if you go.". And a lot of the people that went by were fun to mess with; getting funny with the smaller kids by imitating them. Once anyone puts on a mask and a robe, personality is basically out the window and can be rewritten on the spot. It was one of the weirdest feelings, and provoked enough thought to make the 80+ hours manageable.

I would've liked if people didn't get so drunk. I was patted countless times, punched square in the chest, and knocked in the face. One guy said he had a knife on him; I convinced myself he was joking.

It is kind of funny how people react when they're scared. My favorite specimen is the pack of middle-school age girls. They typically form in a mob, with a ring of the alpha females surrounding the less fit. When provoked, the pack typically chooses flight over fight. The outer ring begins to pull past me, while the girls in the middle can't run in any direction so they hop up and down, and I'm sure at the time they thought it would provide sonme sort of escape. But the look on their face when they realize its they're very own friends who are restraining them, its priceless. And maybe, deep down, they realize they're in the middle because they're weaker.

I'm a pretty good scarer.

Another favorite of mine is the college-aged men, A.K.A. the SWAT team. These groups, unlike their female counterparts, never want to touch eachother; except for only the most socially confident. But these are the types that tend to peek around corners and tip toe through the house. Many of them do prefer to arrange their fingers as if they were holding a gun. I find these are the most prone to my statue routine. I stand very still. The first of the group sees me, and sizes me up. "All clear!" He yells. "This one's fake." The split second after he says that, I jump, and basically I win. Then they matches my yells with their screams.

I've seen many other characters, too. One kid called me Jewish (Huh?) and his father took him by the shoulder and slap him across the face. Another child, about elemenatry school age, was amid a group of kids led by a mom and he called me and fucker and a bitch; the mother did nothing. Surprisingly, I had many girls call me hot or ask to make out. Which is nice and all when I ignore the fact they have nothing to judge my appearance by. I've also seen grown women pee themselves. I had to lead crying children out of the house. I've had people get in my face, and scream at me, and I wouldn't flinch, but return their yell with more intensity. I've been applauded for my scares. I've had men whisper in my ear 'go for the one behind me', and smile and laugh when I do. I've been called the 'n' word too many times to count. 

Most of my work has been paid by my own thoughts and memories. 

The rest was in gift cards to Old Navy and F.Y.E. 

And it was worth it.

 

            Well, I’m in a study hall right now; specifically, the art room. Next period I have to recite a monologue to my English class, from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Its basically Brutus reasoning with himself to kill Caesar, which should have a lot more emotion in it than I’m prepared to give. Anyway, I think I have the lines down, which, and here’s the kicker, I have to memorize.

            Now, this is English class, not drama.

            Let me tell you about the Internet’s two greatest fruits: GIMP and Inkscape!

You see, they’re great because they’re free. GIMP is an open-source Photoshop copy, and if you’re an amateur like me, it will do everything you ever would want to do and more. In terms of image-editing and touching up, it’s perfect. For more of the artistic fancy tools, you may want to drop $700 or something on Photoshop. But I don’t even think its worth it.

And Inkscape is kind of the same deal but it copies Adobe Illustrator; a vector program. As far as I can tell, though, it’s really not as close to Illustrator as it should. It truly does feel like a ‘free version’. But if you’re working with mathematic-based shapes and compositions, give it a download.

Both programs are fairly easy to use, with extensive internet guides on both. And if you’re anything like me, they’re kind of like toys.

My apologies for not posting anything lately, I’ve been taking study halls in the art room lately. I had a project due Tuesday (the roller coaster one). Also, I have another one due Friday which I really should be working on right now. Nut I had to type up an essay. On top of that, I have to deliver a memorized monologue Friday. Oh yeah, and I want to have a piece of art for Monday, too. It’s all actually pretty overwhelming.

Did I mention I took the PSAT today? Oh yeah. It actually felt almost insignificant in this week. I think I did fine though.

Well anyway last week a lot of my time was put into that art project which actually got to the its-late-at-night-I-need-to-finish-the-damn-thing point, where the first thing I had to do was take off my socks, because that’s how much I meant business. But I had to wrestle with it every step of the way, especially with things like tangency and contrast. There was some extreme overlapping going on and I just didn’t handle it as well as I should have: I ended up sneaking in some outlines.

And damn were they good outlines! With brand-new pencils coming from the Blick branded 48-pencil set! They were a little oily though.

 Now I have to finish penciling my still life, but the deal is instead of a background I need a pattern of some sort; an exercise in negative space. So I’ve been playing with tessellations.

And damn were they good tessellations! Made with the free, open source vector program Inkscape!

But now I need to stop experimenting and just get something on the paper which is really not the position I want to be in, but that’s what I get for not distributing my love and care between art projects.

Ok, I’ve been talking a lot about art lately… on a final note, the project I’m thinking of for Monday will involve Burn Hogarth’s book Dynamic Anatomy and maybe even water colors. How interesting!