Midterms and Registration

I figured the month is nearly over and I haven't updated in awhile. I wanted to post on how my classes are going, what's up with life, and that I'm already registered for next semester. What's so awesome about that? Well, it's my LAST SEMESTER EVER!!!!!!!

So, as a refresher my classes I'm taking now are:
Graphic Design II
Advanced Layout
Senior Seminar
Art of the Renaissance
Intro to Museum Study

Graphic Design II: Possibly the most frustrating class of the semester. My first logo I spent time and energy and even a little bit of blood, sweat and a few tears, and got a B-. My second project I had no motivation to do and so totally phoned it in, got a B+. Learn your lesson, kids: Don't try. Looking forward to the next and last assignment of the semester: branding the crap out of a company.

Advanced Layout: My favorite class of the semester by far. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have passion, ability, and a teacher who knows what they're doing. I did a photo shoot this week for the cover and one of the features, more to follow I'm sure. The main project is a magazine, mine is called Falstaff, it's basically a magazine made for Austin and by Austin.

Senior Seminar: A very helpful class, I really like the instructor and most of the assignments, but it can get boring, probably because a large % of the class is talking finances.Currently working on making my own logo and brand.

Art of the Renaissance: It's Art History, what can I say? Love it, know it, live it, breathe it. The teacher is fine, not incredible as some of the other AH classes, but at least she doesn't challenge my love of the subject as some design teachers have.

Intro to Museum Study: Challenging Graphic Design II as the most aggravating and Sr. Seminar as the most boring, there are some days I feel like the class should be called manual labor for college credit. It's cool to learn about museums "behind the scenes," but a majority of class time is often spent painting the walls, moving the museum objects, cleaning, etc. etc. I have no problem with work, but it feels like they're taking advantage of us a little in the name of education. How that's different than the rest of my experience at UVU I'm not entirely sure yet.

Here's a sampling of what I'm working on:

^This is my latest rendition of my self logo for Senior Seminar. I liked it until i looked at it here and saw it reminds me of a law office. I'll change the colors.

 ^This is a "support graphic" for the fictional technological device "Lango," a handheld translator. The support graphic is supposed to support both the logo and the product, I wanted to have 2 different people communicating and thanks to "Lango," understanding each other.

^Here is the current cover of Falstaff magazine. The photographer is my cousin Charlotte, the model is my other cousin Carrisa. I got to Art Direct a photo shoot that I might blog about later. I'm pretty excited with how awesome it's turned out.

So that's how Fall semester is going. But last night was early registration for Spring semester, and since I am a senior with only 2 classes needed to graduate, I got to register.

Because of my grant, I actually have to take 4 classes, but I decided to take 2 other classes, partially because I'm about as fed up with most of the art department at that school as I can be, and partially because it's my last semester of college so I'm going to make it count.

To graduate I'm taking Contemporary Art History from one of my 3 favorite art teachers, my favorite art history teacher, it should be awesome. I'm also taking Flash Animation, even though I said I wouldn't learn Flash as it's becoming obsolete, at least more so, it's one of the few classes I'm allowed to take to graduate.

I'm also taking Intro to IS/IT Programming which should be fun, I've heard the teacher is great & I'm getting sick of being the odd man out when 2 or more of my guy friends get together that's practically all they talk about, plus it will hopefully make me slightly more marketable.

Finally and most excitingly, I'm taking a Minimalist Literature class from my favorite teacher EVER. Not favorite Literature teacher or favorite college teacher, but favoritest teacher ever! It should be fun.

And that's school for me, thanks for reading, any of you who still do, until next month, happy Halloween and dia del Muerte!

Pinterest & Me

I've heard of Pinterest, of course. Even looked at it once or twice. Well, in my magazine design/layout class, our teacher assigned us to make a Pinterest account, so I did.

In addition to finding inspiring graphic design and art (I haven't really used it for fashion, decorating or recipes (yet)), I've also made a few quote images for it, that I would like to share here as well, for reasons. Some are my quotes, some are quotes from others, some are quotes I don't know where they came from so I take all the credit.

The Hush Sound Logo

For Graphic Design II, our first major assignment is to design a logo for an Intangible Product or Company. The teacher explained it "Madonna is an intangible product because you can buy a Madonna CD, but you can't buy Madonna." While some of us may have argued that example, the point had been made. Most of the class did logos for events or fictional companies, I decided to make a logo for one of my favorite bands, the Hush Sound. We were supposed to design a wordmark as well as a pictorial logo, and have them "go together."

After dozens of sketches and tries, I decided to make their logo an owl, as it's a silent hunter, as well as a cool animal. (the runner up was a "rest" in musical notation, but there wasn't much customization to a rest symbol.)

Below is my original wordmark, done by hand, followed by the evolution of the owl, to the finished product at the bottom.

Final Fall

This is my last fall semester in college. I took the summer off, and was actually eager to get back to school, despite the fact that I don't come home until 8 or 9 pm 3 days out of the week.

Here's my list of classes and my opinions on the class and instructor:

Graphic Design 2: The only class so far I've been to twice. Also the only class where I've had the instructor before. I like him a lot, he's funny though at times a bit tightly wound but great at helping us realize our potential and put forth our best work.

Senior Seminar: I thought it would be another lecture class, and fortunately such is not the case. It seems like we'll largely focus on what to do when we graduate, so we'll have projects like: creating a new portfolio website, refining our current portfolio, meeting with a graphic designer and interviewing them and having them critique your portfolio, actually doing a freelance job, etc. I like the teacher so far and expect to get a lot out of this class.

Advanced Typography & Layout: Possibly the class I was most looking forward to as I greatly enjoy Typography & Layout but also feel it's the area I need to most improve. The teacher is very smart and helpful and fun and in the running for favorite teacher of the semester. I've only been once so we'll see how it goes.

Art History: Renaissance: I needed another Art History class, this one won because 1) It meets only once a week and 2) It concerns one of my favorite periods in Art History that I feel most knowledgeable about, after Impressionism/Post-Impressionism. I'm headed there in about half an hour as of this writing so I can't say much about the teacher as I haven't met them yet.

Intro to Museum Study: As UVU has recently severely limited the choices I have in the classes I can take to graduate, this was another I chose because I'm slightly more than marginally interested in the subject and it also only meets once a week. That class is on Friday so again, I'll keep updated on what I think of the class and teacher in an upcoming post.

Those are all my classes, however I've also endeavored to undertake the position of Technical Editor for Touchstones, the UVU Literary Journal. So far I've done about 3 posters for them advertising their opening social, I expect to spend a lot more time at the end of the semester working on its layout and copyediting and things, which should be time consuming but fun, or at least another line of experience to add to my still tiny resume.

That's my fall semester, with that and working @ 30 hours a week, I expect to drink lots of caffeine and have at least 1 fit and tantrum before the end of it, but the end really is finally in sight!

**********UPDATE!**********

I've had Art History and Museum Study twice now. I like the Art History teacher, she seems to know her stuff and I don't. I've made several statements and observations that she and once the class disagreed with, but she didn't try to make me feel stupid, which I was grateful for, as I often do that well enough on my own.

Museum Study I think will be the most boring class and I'm kicking myself a bit with "what was I thinking!?" But hopefully it won't require much of me, the teacher is nice and very knowledgeable and looks a lot like Jane Adams.

Last Hurrah and First Hooray in a Hurry

Now comes the part where I remark how "bad" I've been about blogging, or the lack thereof. I've been debating whether to continue blogging or to just stop. I think eventually I'm going to make my own website I'm happy with and have a blog or journal there. In the meantime, Austintatious will remain.

My brother-in-law is serving a mission, and I try to write to him every week. It's good to keep up with him and get to see how he's growing and progressing and helping others while in God's service. On the downside, at least the miniscule-by-comparison blog side, it means I write all my news and thoughts to HIM each week, instead of on me blog. Still, things keep happening and I would like to post it on my blog because I'm still here, it's still here, we might as well get together once in awhile.

The Last Hurrah

We had a fairly uneventful summer, though Tracie and I were severely worried about BOTH of our jobs/job security for a chunk of it, all is currently well on that front. Mr. Moby continues to grow up and be cute, his language is still improving but still about a year behind where he "should" be.

Before school started we went on a "stay-cation," meaning we stayed at home but took time off work and did fun things in Utah.

Last Wednesday we went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum, which was a lot more fun than I expected. Morgan enjoyed it but was a bit apprehensive about all the giant fossils and statues, as he did not wish to get out of his stoller, except when we went to the dinosaur digging display, then he just couldn't get enough. We had a minor worry that we lost an iPhone, but it turned out to be back at home.

Thursday we went to the Salt Lake Aquarium, which, although it's a converted grocery store, was a lot of fun and really cool. It was very impressive what they were able to do with it, and a lot of fun. My favorite part was the otters. Tracie will have to tell you her favorite part, but Morgan's favorite was the miniature coral reef, complete with clownfish and blue tang (Dory). He kept shouting "NEMO! NEMO!!" Which was adorable. At the gift shop we bought a stuffed clownfish for Moby. Normally when we look at toys at the store he plays with it briefly and then says "all done!" But not this. When we tried to take it away he gave a stern "NO!" and kept giving the fish kisses. We also went to the chocolate shop across the street from the Aquarium and it was so good we may go back to the aquarium soon just for a chance to go to the confectionery again. The best thing imho was the honeycomb, which they for some reason call "seafoam." After that we went to visit my grandparents which was nice, they're some of the coolest and nicest people ever (wish a bit more of it rubbed off on me) and we had a nice visit with them.

Friday we were planning on going to the SCERA pools, 7 Peaks or Veteran's Pool but because school is started/has started they were closed or at least had their hours reduced, so we mostly lazed around, did some light cleaning and had some family over for dinner.

Saturday was similar to Friday, mostly lazy relaxation, we thought about going to the Lehi Rec Center pool, but that was closed as well, so we just went to our community pool. Morgan is a very good swimmer as long as he has his floaties on he can paddle and kick, though he mostly wiggles his body and pedals his legs like he's running under water, I'm still impressed. The only bad part about him taking to swimming like a fish (and I'm proud to say, like his daddy) is he used to hug me the whole time we were in the pool, now he can't wait to get away from me so he can swim. Oh well. Still love that guy.

That was our Stay-cation, now on to school, next post incoming once I write it!

My Name Is...

I've been a bit depressed lately for various reasons. Today I realized I haven't done anything that creative or artistic. So I dusted off a gift Tracie gave me awhile ago and decided to devote the month of July to it.

Project #1 is to create a brand for yourself. Being or wanting to be being a graphic designer, branding is kind of important. You're only supposed to spend a certain amount of time on it, I think it's much better than my first foray into designing for myself, but regardless, here it is.

Tolkien's Troubles

I believe in the special features/Appendices of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy a Tolkien scholar/biographer mentions something to the effect that Tolken and C.S. Lewis were disappointed that there weren't any stories available that they wanted to read, so they wrote them. I'm not a scholar of languages or one of the most famous atheists turned apologists nor author of two of the best known groups of fantasy novels in the world. But I do wish to read more blogs, and I've finished reading all of yours and still want to continue.

You may have noticed I've slacked on my blog lately. I like to imagine that everyone who reads my blog often wonders "What is wrong with Austin? He hasn't blogged in over a month! I hope he's ok. Also, if only there was some way to pay him in money or favors for the joy he gives me in reading his blog!"

Alas, there is not.

In June I'm again going to endeavor to write one story (likely not a novel as I prefer short stories and can't write that long anyway) every day for thirty days. I'm not sure what I'm going to write, which may be a bit of a challenge because I'm finishing writing this on June 1, but I guess that's part of the challenge. I hope so anyway.

In other news, last week my mom came to visit and it was awesome. In addition to cards and games we went to Thanksgiving Point and Salt Lake City. I miss my mother terribly but it was wonderful to have her visit. Moby especially had fun with his Nana, he even remembered her after it being nearly a year since we saw her last.

Re: school, 2 semesters left, (God willing), this summer I'm taking off so I can teach myself a few things, I plan for C#, novel writing, and Ruby on Rails. If I have time I'll crack back open my php and javascript for dummies books, but not likely. I also have a few graphic design projects for friends and family I'm working a bit on, one I'm actually getting paid for(!) so that's cool. I'll let you know more details later.

Our home is still in flux but it's a bit roomier now as we've loaned our couch to some friends for a few years until we get a bigger place, the living room seems massive now without it. Hopefully we'll be getting rid of Tracie's old desk as well. The office has been completely revamped and is about 80% done (Tracie may argue with the amount of done-ness, but I'd prefer I was 100% done, so I think it's a good compromise ;)) with 2 new desks, a new printer, my desk in a new place, another bookcase, the room painted, a futon or something similar in the near future, now we need to decorate it.

That's about all I can think of, til next month, oh, it's here!