Tread - Getting Closer to the End

I hope.

Thanks for all the Fish

We're back from our trip to California, time to travelogue the sucker.

Tuesday night @ 5 we left bound for Mesquite. It was a pleasant enough trip until around Beaver, UT Morgan threw up. We thought it might be motion/car sickness, but he threw up several times later at the hotel. After he threw up we pulled off to the side of the road to comfort/clean him. A policeman came and parked behind us which instantly made the other cars give us a wide berth. He asked if he could help, there wasn't much he could do, I didn't think it right to make him clean Morgan, but he did give us an evidence bag to put Morgan's puked on clothes in to mask the smell. I got probably too big of a kick out of it, using an evidence bag and all that. On our way again we made it to Mesquite without incident, though Tracie and I remained on edge most of the time for fear he'd throw up again, but he didn't until we got to Mesquite. The rest of the night was uneventful, largely because Tracie and Morgan let me sleep so I could drive.

Wednesday we drove the rest of the way through California, saw my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, played ping-pong and I went shopping for things I forgot to pack.

Thursday happy thanksgiving, we began the day going to My uncle's friend Tony Swatton's workshop. Tony is a blacksmith who creates weapons and armor for such movies as Blade, Pirates of the Caribbean, Zorro, Hook, Hellboy and others. It was a lot of fun, it would have been more fun but Morgan got afraid of the mannequins and weapons and torture devices and he and I spent most of the trip in the car waiting for everyone. Sigh, parenting comes first I suppose. The rest of the day was of course dedicated to eating too much and visiting with loved ones. That night Tracie, my aunt and others went black Friday shopping, we got some fun stuff and some things we wanted and other things we didn't know we wanted until they were 80% off.

Friday Tracie got whatever bug Morgan had but fortunately didn't throw up, but I spent most of the day trying to take care of her, which meant getting her more pillows and blankets and changing the movie/channel for her, though I did go to lunch with my cousin and some of his friends at a Korean BBQ that was just awesome.

Saturday we were determined to do something touristy, so we went to the Norton Simon Art Museum. I'd been there before but remember it being a lot more impressive than it was, but the grounds were lovely, and it's always cool to be in an Art Museum, at least for me. We spent the evening at my aunt's with family singing karaoke and dancing to the Wii Michael Jackson game.

Sunday we drove back and tried recuperating. Not the most exciting trip event wise, sickness definitely threw a wrench in the works, but it was still great to see family, one cousin I got to see who I haven't seen in probably over a decade, so that was cool, others it's been several years. Thanks to those who made it possible: my Aunt Kerri, my grandparents and Uncle David especially.

Hope your thanksgiving was fun too and you're getting as excited as I am for Christmastime!

V For Vendetta

Alan Moore is an amazing writer; and he certainly thinks so. For my final assignment for Interactive Design 2 we're to implement everything we learned in one video. I'll be making another kinetic type assignment of the introduction speech V makes in V for Vendetta. It will form the Guy Fawkes mask when it's done, I hope it won't look too stupid and I'll have enough time to do it. I'm working in Illustrator trying to lay it out to begin with, then I should just be able to animate it in After Effects. What do you think so far?

Approaching the End... 1 year left

I have less than a month left of my penultimate fall semester of college. It's been a good semester, but crazy. Big thanks to my work for letting me work such an odd schedule and to Tracie for letting me get my homework done, basically allowing me to come home and spend the evening at the computer.

My final assignments are things I'm looking forward to, but the work is going to be a bit much.

For Art History I have to study for a final and create a theoretical museum exhibit. Mine will be on Viewer interaction in Modern Art. It should be fun, but I've got a lot of work to do and it's due in only 2 weeks.

For Interactive Design, I'll be making another kinetic type video as that has been by far my favorite assignment, but I'm not sure I'll have enough time to get it done, as we'll only be meeting a few more times and I don't have After Effects at home, so the limited time at school I have will have to be enough.

Color Theory we're going to end the class with a bunch of color studies, trying to make 2 colors appear as the same color and the same color appear as 2 different colors, making objects appear transparent through color, etc. It doesn't sound very fun, but it's been a good class and I expect it to be very exciting, a testament to the awesomeness of the teacher.

Typography as you may have noticed I'll be working on a magazine, I have to have a new cover and 2 spreads done by the end of the semester, which should be fun. Lots of work, but fun.

That's about it for the semester, here's what I've got in the works for next semester:
- Graphic Design I - which I'm most looking forward to and have tried to get in for awhile now.
- Digital Painting - which I'm also looking forward to though not as much.
- History of Graphic Design, this will be the first Art History class that I may actually have to study for.
- Last Semester of Art Lectures, halle-freakin-lujah.
- Drawing II which I may drop if I can get an internship.
-Advanced Layout- Presently on the waitlist, we'll see.

And that's Austin's school. Let's see what else is going on in his merry little life:

For NaNoWriMo I got to 15,000 words and finished the story. Plus since I've got so much school, it looks to be another NaNoWriMo I'm not going to win this year. Maybe once I graduate.

that's not all but it's all for now, work is done and I wanna go home!

Trying to reclaim Youth, or just expanding my sphere?

Back in March I wrote a post about Getting Older. The gist was if you don't remember or didn't read it was I no longer felt young, not because I'm bald, have a metal hip, am losing my memory and think the music is too loud and teenagers drive too fast, but because I don't understand the concept of twitter or why lady gaga is so popular.

Since that time I've expanded my horizons a bit, set up an account on twitter and have listened to more lady gaga music than the overly repetitive "Just Dance."

Here are my opinions. Twitter? Somewhat pointless, my facebook status is still where I post my clever opinions and ideas and updates on what I'm doing or thinking. But it is cool in that I can read what some of my favorite personalities and celebrities are thinking or up to, such as Conan O'Brien, Neil Gaiman, and Jessica Hische. It was actually Jessica Hische who suggested I start tweeting. Not to me personally, but she came to our school and gave a lecture (one of two useful lectures this semester) and among other things, said twitter is a great tool for a designer or anyone wanting to be known. She also built the website: Momthisishowtwitterworks.com explaining how twitter works.

Lady Gaga? She makes catchy music and dresses like a moron, but it's her way of expressing herself, and the source of a great Weird Al video. (is there any other kind?)

Now that I've overcome 2 things I just didn't "get" my next goal is to try to understand the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movement. I'll let you know once I understand them. Hope to be back soon.

Tread Covers - Take II

So our group's decided on logos, now we're working on covers and layout. Here's what I'm bringing to the table tomorrow, aren't you lucky that you get to see it first! (longer post forthcoming, eventually). The last image is an example layout of what fonts and stuff I think we should use in a spread. The body text is taken from Fight Club, as the teacher hates Lorem Ipsum and the guy just reminds me of someone in Fight Club.






Or Iggy Pop (or Steven Tyler) but they don't have as many good quotes as Chuck Palahniuk.

Tread - Magazine Cover Prototypes

For Typography & Layout, our final assignment is to design a magazine. The class is divided into 2 groups and our group's mag is called "Tread." (I didn't choose it. I wanted Go!, Icon, or Spork.) We're working on our logo right now, and a way to see it with a potential cover. Here are several ideas I have, I don't love any of them, but I like some more than others, but bad or good here they are: