mangaka7

If you’re one of my old friends here, I’m talking about 5+ years, I’m looking to do 1-2 art trades for old times’ sake. It’s always fun to draw each other’s characters and I miss that feeling. If you’re interested, feel free to send me a note.

Hey all!

I hope all of you are doing well. It’s been a while since I’ve done any surveys. I doing this new survey out of curiosity and to see if my watchers are still active. I will give 7 points if you are already watching me and you answer all the questions. Bonus points if you put effort into your answers!

Be honest and please keep your answers clean!

1. What type of art (category) is your favorite to see here on Deviant Art?

2. What are your goals here on Deviant Art?

3 If you are an artist (any kind), what inspires you to keep going?

4. Have you commissioned any artists? If you did, what did you get and how much did it cost?

5. What do you think about my art in general?

6. What do you think I need to improve on or try?

7. What type of content would you like to see from me in the future?

8. How interested would you be if I posted my own tutorials and resources here?


That’s all the questions I have for now. If you made it this far and answered everything, thank you! You will be receiving your points and a reply shortly. If you have any questions about anything, please let me know.

-mangaka7

It's time for an update!

My classes ended late December last year and January was my "month off". Well, I had a Winter semester class and that was U.S. History: Civil War to Present. I just finished that today. The month of January was a somewhat productive one. Much of the time went to the class and the HTDM Game, which is making okay progress. Four days from today, I will be returning to Spring semester. I will have seven classes and they are as follow:

Interface Design
Advanced 3D Computer Modeling
3D Computer Animation
Music and Sound Design
Motion Graphics
Drawing for Animation
Cultural Expressions of Non-Western Dress and Fashion

Based on the program descriptions I read, I have some idea of what these classes are about, but I won't really know until I take them. Sometimes the teachers may stray away from the course objectives and teach things that are not stated in the description.

School

I received my grades early January and if you're interested, here they are. I will also link to some of my terrible work for some of my classes. I can't post videos here anyway.

CG 314 - Programming Concepts

Grade: A

Learning JavaScript was tough since I'm not the code guy. Like everybody, I'm capable of learning it, but it's tough when you have so many classes. Sacrifices and priorities have to be made. Some of my classmates really enjoyed this class and had projects that blew mines away.

CG 321 - Design and Authoring for Interactive Media II

Grade: A

Same with ActionScript. Learning it was tough.

CG 341 - 3D Modeling and Animation

Grade: A

I'm seeing a lot of potential with Autodesk Softimage as I practice it more. However, other programs such as ZBrush might be far better for modeling. There is just so much to learn and explore and I don't really know how to approach it. I might have to get a subscription to Digital Tutors or something related. I do have a Lynda subscription, but they don't have Softimage stuff.

Here is my final project, a short animation with a poorly rigged, animated and modeled character. We didn't really learn to rig and animate characters yet and this is my own attempt at it. As for the model, it's based on one of my Strawberry Marshmallow Miu figurines. It is not traced, so the proportions and shapes are not accurate. The pigtails were avoided.

3D Final

CG 344 - History of Animation

Grade: A-

Learning the history of animation was interesting and in some ways inspiring. However, the last class killed it when we had to watch Terkel in Trouble, an awful Danish animation. I should have walked out...

CG 346 - Principles of Animation I

Grade: B+

I expected a grade of C or C+, but I got a B+. This class was by far the most difficult class I ever took. I have never animated before and this class gave me good insight on the process. Animation takes a lot of patience, far more than illustrating a single piece of work. Not only that, some of the twelve principles should be applied and to do that isn't something I'm ready for. Animation is a field of its own and mastering it will take many years beyond graduation. At the moment, it isn't something that I think I will specialize in.

Here is a compilation of my animations done throughout the semester. It isn't anything special, but you can see how much trouble I had. We started with the bouncing ball, move on to flour sacks and then walking/running cycles. We also practice weight and exaggeration along the way.

Animations

CG 351 - Storyboarding and Storytelling

Grade: A

The last three weeks of this class was just horrible. It was spent watching and critiquing animatics from classmates. Most of them didn't make major changes. Watching them over and over again was tedious. I was expecting lectures. There is so much in storyboarding and storytelling that we didn't cover. Sure we can learn from others, but it should take three weeks (three classes) to do that. This happened because some classmates didn't hand in their work on time.

Some of you have seen this already, but here is my animatic. It's about a girl who is up to no good.

Animatic

IL 302 - Drawing for Animation I

Grade: A-

I probably got a A- from this class because I refused to do the last in-class assignment, which was to draw expressions of fellow classmates. In addition, you would do the same. It's not that I'm shy, it's just that I had no sleep that day. My face was stiff and I was grouchy. Also, I wanted to draw models.

Nevertheless, this class was a good refresher because I haven't done life drawing for nearly two years before.

HA 347 - Costume and Fashion in Film

Grade: B

I did poorly on the final exam, which was to analyze clips from movies and answer some questions. I'm sure the girls in the fashion majors had an easier time than I did. This class is not suitable for absolute beginners in fashion. You should know something before you take it. Regardless of my poor performance, I really learned a lot. I would definitely take this class again if I didn't have to do the assignments.

Schedule

I will continue to record my experiences throughout the years to come. Next semester is when the serious and intermediate level work will come. It should be interesting.

Thanks for reading! Good luck and see you all around!