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bellatrixobsessed1 · 17 days

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The Hemorraging Aether

Summary: Nerissa never wanted to be anything more than what she was. Just a girl with no goals and no intention of forming any. But she has been given remarkable powers regardless. Powers that have enamored her so fully that she can't imagine going back to an ordinary life. And so she consumes quintessence, becomes quintessence.

She was normal back then.

She was quiet.

Mostly she kept to herself.

The evening is quiet, charming, tranquil. Most of them are in her little corner of the world. Usually they close in watercolor shades of orange, yellow, and pink. Back then, when she was just a little girl, she had a bedroom that gave her a view of the Aegean Sea. She had always liked watching the boats pull into Katapola’s port, liked imagining from where they had come and where they would go next. Her father liked to ruffle her barely tamed curls and mutter, “Rissy you tell quite a good story.”

And then one day he had gone out to sea on a ship called ‘Glaucus’ and never came back. It isn’t that he hadn’t wanted to come back. In fact, she imagines that he was desperate to do so.

She had written a lot of stories about a lot of ships. Where they had gone, where they will go, what the crew looks like and how they interact with each other…

She knows where the Glaucus was heading, her father had told her. But she does not know where it had gone to. The rescue crew couldn’t figure it out either. And so she had written a story and then another and another after that. The endings were tragic.

Her mother simply couldn’t take it.

Now she has a meadow facing bedroom, somewhere in America, with billowing magenta curtains and a plush bay window cushion. Beneath which was a shelf full of books and an arrangement of art supplies that her aunt had gifted her to lift her spirits.

Mostly the brushes and pencils had go untouched in favor of the music sheets and her flute. She likes to play with the window open and the breeze in her hair. Something about the wind sweeping up the notes and carrying them down the hillside, through plumes of dandelion seeds is enchanting. On these days she can imagine dancing in the clouds with mother and father. On these days she is able to imagine touching the skies, can picture herself in worlds distant and parallel. If only she could know that she will get to those places in due time.

.oOo.

Yan Lin smells like home, Cassidy thinks. Like smoke and her family’s restaurant and Cassidy couldn’t imagine her smelling any other way. She wouldn’t be Yan Lin if she didn’t smell like takeout—it is her pride and joy. And she is a master with a kitchen knife, a real culinary genius with her own sense of style and it is absolutely radical, as far out as fashion gets. She loves her peace sign necklaces and flower crowns. Her bell-bottom jeans and her very daring crop tops. Her hair beads and bright colors.

Cassidy is a fan of vivid colors herself. Vivid colors and shimmery fabrics, anything that can catch the disco lights. They’re a good team, she and Yan Lin. Just two space cadets with heads full of dreams and hearts full of love.

Yan Lin dreams of running away, being free like the wind. Going to a place where conflicts can’t reach and, perhaps, don’t exist at all. Cassidy dreams of success, of becoming one of those pop girls singing through a spinning vinyl. She doesn’t just want to listen to cassettes, she wants her voice on them. Wants her voice playing through speakers at the discos.

This, she decides, will be her year. She will no longer be a closet disco queen, but the real deal. A fab, funky gal who won’t be forgotten.

“I think that we should just cut out and leave right now.” Yan Lin suggests.

“Oh come on, you don’t even want to give high school a try?”

“Not at all.” Yan Lin replies. “There are better things to do. We can fight for the New Right, the environment. We can continue what our parents were fighting for when we were in grade school.”

“They were in college, Yan Lin. We’re fresh outta’ middle school. What are we going to do to save the world?”

“Well nothing if we trap ourselves in that joint.” She sighs. “We barely made it out of middle school. We were dorks then…”

“Exactly!” Cassidy delcaress. “That’s just us, a putz and a spaz.” She throws her arm over Yan Lin’s shoulder. “We survived middle school, and we’ll survive high school together.”

And then they’ll change the world. Somehow, they will. She just knows it.

.oOo.

“Check out these threads, Kadma!” Halinor exclaims. The girl is practically vibrating with excitement. She has been planning her outfit for weeks now. And she has settled on a wide-sleeved mini-dress with a soft floral print. Oranges and golds have always gone nicely with her hair. But today she picks something soft pink and brown to match those fuchsia gogo boots that her mom used to wear. Gold hoop earrings and small, round-framed sunglasses—rose-tinted to complete the look. “Out of sight, right!?”

“Who are you trying to impress?” Kadma asks. “The new girl?”

Halinor crinkles her nose. “What? No! I’m not trying to impress anyone…” She pauses to apply her lip gloss. “But if I were trying to impress someone it would be Charlie.”

“Buckthorn?”

Halinor flops down onto her bed and swoons. “The one and only.”

Kadma rolls her eyes. “He’s so generic though.”

“Maybe I like generic.” Halinor replies.

“I’d feel better if you were trying to impress the new girl.”

“Yeah that…we’re all going to be new girls. Hello, freshmen, remember.”

Kadma shrugs. “Okay but, I heard that one of our classmates is from Albania or Malta, or Greece or something.”

“And you moved here from India three summers ago, what’s your point?”

“Just that it’ll be nice to not be known as the new girl, you dig? I’ve been here for three years and I’m still that new girl from a ‘strange’ foreign country. I get tired of hearing it. The only reason they stopped making fun of my accent is because…”

“Your dad’s a famous astronomer?”

“Because I talk to you and no one wants to mess with Halinor.”

Halinor cringes. “That was middle school, Kadma. This is high school that we’re talking about. They have their own popular girls who are probably…I don’t know…”

“Well I’m just glad that I won’t be the new girl anymore.” She picks up a large crystal necklace. “How does this look?”

“Groovy, Kadma.” Halinor smiles. “Just slammin’.” She leaps off of the bed. “You know, that’s what I like about you, Kadma. You know how to rock the hippie look.”

Hopefully it’ll be enough to take them through high school and beyond. Halinor has never been good at with thinking in the long term, anything beyond high school seems so fantastical. Unreachable.

.oOo.

Back then, when she was still a girl standing on a Katapola dock, Nerissa hadn’t really any wishes for change, no higher goals, nor a need to move on. Frankly she had been content to remain stagnant, to keep her spot by the window and her view of the Aegean Sea until the day that she would die.

She still doesn’t long for something grandness. Truth be told, the pressures of grandness and extravagance are daunting. Enough is almost more than enough, is almost too much.

She picks up her flute.

She brings it to her lips.

But there is nothing that she’d like to play.

Sometimes—most of the time these days, she stares blankly at the rolling fields wondering what Katapola looks like now, what kind of ships tether to its docks. She props her chin in her hands and imagines the Glaucus. Dreams of it sailing gently towards New York City. Mostly because that seems more likely than the ship pulling up to Rhode Island of all places. She dreams of her father stepping onto the pier. She thinks of anything but her first day of high school. American high school.

And now that the day has arrived, she regrets having put no thought into it at all. She could have at least thought of what to wear. Something that won’t have her spending lunch alone for the rest of the year. Bell bottoms, fringe, and bright colors are in, at least that’s what the magazines say, the ones that talk about disco and boho-chic.

But Nerissa is more for earthy tones and high-waisted pants, hair beads and mood rings.

And she isn’t sure that she is even reading the right magazines.

She bites the inside of her cheek, just how different can’t American fashion be? She plucks a pair of high-waisted pants from a hanger, the ones that happen to be bell bottoms too. She holds them against her waist and frowns. Maybe she should go for the boho-chic look; she isn’t certain that she wants to have a run in with the hippie crowd, her aunt has made it quite clear that that lot is troublesome. “It’s all those drugs and all of that ‘free-loving’, if you know what I mean.” Nerissa had nodded yes but, truthfully she only had a faint idea or two. “And that music! Oh, it’s God-awful. Isn’t it, dear?” Nerissa had nodded her agreement to that as well, despite never hearing a single ‘hippie’ song. Her aunt likes swing music and old patriotic wartime tunes.

And what does she like?

Sometimes she doesn’t know.

She used to want to be a sailor like her father. She also, at one point, wanted to be in a soap commercial. Perhaps she simply doesn’t have any dreams. No ambitions at all. And maybe that is why her aunt isn’t so fond of her these days.

More than anything, Nerissa just wants to get by. She wants to pass through life so quietly that she eludes its cruelties. Yes, Nerissa decides, that is what she wants…

Nothing at all.

Simplicity.

To be entirely unremarkable.

And so she dresses herself in those earth tones, those high waisted pants, and the most unremarkable, perhaps unflattering, linen blouse that she can pair with them. The blouse that reminds her the most of home in its threadwork and pattern. She grabs her flute and her over the shoulder bag, and the lunch that she had prepared the night before–a sandwich with raspberry and peach jam, a bag of grapes, and a danish ring or two—and she makes her way to the door.

The sun is shining but it is cloudy and the clouds are peculiar. There is something electric in them, perhaps the making of the storm. The way that they are haloed, prismatic with pastel rainbow outlines. The birds are lively this morning and she can smell sea-salt in the air, carried miles upon miles inland from the coast. Nerissa calls a goodbye to her aunt and uncle and closes the gate behind her.

She wishes that they would drive her instead of leaving her to bike for several miles, on roads and sidewalks she is far less than familiar with. She spares one last glance back at the gate, it has come open again but she doesn’t go back to shut it. And so it flaps in a breeze that is steadily intensifying. There is a hum, a soft vibration that seems to set the world off-kilter. It is something that she can’t quite place, etched into the insides of petals and hidden within the rustling of the canopy. A soft song that she finds herself humming along with or playing on her flute when she gets home.

She supposes that she has always felt it, ever since she was little. Ever since she had taken a fall from father’s boat and caught a glimpse of something else. Something higher. Something strange and incomprehensible that sometimes resurfaces in flashes in the dreamscape. Something that she only understands for the duration of the dream.

Dreams.

She would like to stay there. To create a world of her own.

Where nothing hurts and everything is soft.

She pedals harder. Faster. But she can’t outpace that subtle frequency. That dull charge in the air. That feeling that something is amiss. She rounds the corner. Suddenly, immersing herself in the clamor and chaos of high school seems much more pleasant. Much more in line with her desire to remain lackluster and unassuming.

Sometimes the world hums and vibrates.

Sometimes the world talks to her.

She can’t quite make out what it wants to tell her.

What it wants to show her.

The wind whips through her hair as she pedals over puddles, wheels distort a reflection that is already in a way distorted. By the time it settles, her wings are gone.

Nerissa is good at ignoring signs that she does not want to see.

#w.i.t.c.h.#c.h.y.k.n.#w.i.t.c.h. nerissa #nerissa #cassidy #halinor #kadma #yan lin #fanfiction

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dweemeister · 3 years

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Best Animated Short Film Nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards (2021, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

NOTE: For viewers in the United States (continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawai’i) who would like to watch the Oscar-nominated short film packages, click here. For virtual cinemas, you can purchase the packages individually or all three at once. You can find info about reopened theaters that are playing the packages in that link. Because moviegoing carries risks at this time, please remember to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by your local, regional, and national health officials.

Continuing with one of my favorite Oscar-time traditions, here is an omnibus review of this year’s Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Short Film. This is an older category than many might believe to be, with some of the first nominees and winner including ‘30s and ‘40s fixtures: Disney’s Silly Symphonies, Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes, MGM’s Tom and Jerry and Happy Harmonies. These days, the category tends to be more democratic (perhaps not so much this year), but certainly more experimental. Here are the nominees, as they appeared in the order of how they appeared in the short film packages released to theaters and virtual cinemas in the United States:

Burrow (2020)

Burrow, directed by Madeline Sharafian (story artist on 2017’s Coco, writer on Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears), is the eighth in Pixar’s SparkShorts series, in which Pixar’s junior animators craft a short film on a limited budget and timeframe. This is the film that played in front of Soul for those lucky enough to view that film theatrically. This dialogue-free, hand-drawn film stars a young rabbit, looking to dig out and furnish her own home – complete with a bathroom-disco (or something like that). Her best-laid plans, however, seem dashed when she keeps digging and running into other animals’ underground abodes in this area. Not that these animals seem to mind the intrusions too much. The rabbit, so anxiety-driven in her eagerness to project a picture of self-assuredness, soon realizes that these nearby animals she fears to have disturbed are all neighbors, a community ready to lend a paw for the newcomer.

Sharafian credits her sense of impostors’ syndrome when first working at Pixar as the film’s primary thematic inspiration. With only a bare number of lines, the rabbit expresses a vast array of emotions, endearing the audience to her self-dramatization and youthful insecurity. Drawn flatly but nevertheless suggesting some depth, the cutaway animation depicting the burrow neighborhood recalls Richard Scarry’s books and other such colorful ensemble illustrations found in children’s picture books. Burrow is a worthy addition to Disney/Pixar’s animated short film legacy, despite the lack of innovation and obvious low-budget appeal (it uses the third movement of Mozart’s Oboe Concerto as its soundtrack), and seems like something that could have been made during the heyday of Silly Symphonies or Warner Bros.’ Merrie Melodies.

My rating: 7/10

Genius Loci (2020, France)

From the Latin term meaning “the spirit of a place”, Adrien Mérigeau’s Genius Loci is the most difficult, abstract film of this year’s slate of nominees. Genius Loci stars a young black woman named Reine (Nadia Moussa), a solitary soul who embarks upon, while walking the streets of Paris at night, an existential revelation. Reine, who is supposed to be babysitting her nephew that evening, decides to have a small adventure instead. She will find this experience and this Parisian neighborhood disorienting and chaotic, in many of the ways that life in a sprawling metropolis can be. The film’s sound mix clangs, whispers, vibrates, and echoes into Reine’s soul, injecting feelings of harmony, but mostly those of displacement. The distant rumbling of traffic is subliminal here, crescendoing and decrescendoing to control the film’s tension. Throughout, Mérigeau provides a fragmented narrative (do not fixate on the plot) and the protagonist’s intangible, occasionally abstruse, narration. Spiritual and existential loss colors Reine’s ambling, as well as a sense of modern France’s racial otherizing that makes the city feel unwelcoming, if not antagonistic.

Mérigeau (background cleanup on 2009’s The Secret of Kells, art director on 2014’s Song of the Sea) collaborated with Belgian comic illustrator Brecht Evens (production designer on the excellent Marona’s Fantastic Tale from 2019) for the film’s dumbfounding backgrounds, as well as storyboarding the changes in aesthetic as Reine continues her journey through Paris. Marona’s influence is felt keenly throughout Genius Loci – from the lack of recognizably human figures among strangers to Reine and the ever-changing color scheme. Unlike Marona, Genius Loci commits to watercolors (or computerized animation meant to resemble watercolor paints) during the film’s entirety. The watercolor animation serves to loosen the character animation and the backgrounds’ definition, and serves as a paragon of expressionist animation. Genius Loci will bewilder audiences, challenging them to understand Reine’s painful attempt to find belonging and solace in a place that disallows such reflection.

My rating: 8.5/10

Opera (2020, South Korea)

Opera, directed by Erick Oh (an animator at Berkeley-based Tonko House, which crafted the 2014 nominee The Dam Keeper), is an independent South Korean/American production that owes more to Sandro Botticelli and Hieronymus Bosch than anything ever seen in animated cinema. This is a cinematic fresco teeming with activity, intended more as interactive art than for a movie theater. The setting is a pyramid filled with souls living, laboring, luxuriating, dying. As the camera pans downward from the godlike or prophet-like figures occupying the top, it later zooms outward, all timed alongside a day-night cycle. Opera’s story is that of human history, distilled in eight minutes of repetitive activity. The design of Oh’s film is as a museum installation – projected on a wall or the ground (the only instance Opera has been screened as such was at the Ars Electronica Animation Festival in Linz, Austria) – that loops continuously, and, if one looks closely enough at the pyramid’s sections, there are loops within the film’s loops. If viewed in a museum, Opera does not pan selectively as it does if projected in a theater or a home media screen.

Pieced together in between Oh’s other film projects over four years and a pandemic, Oh and his animators (some of whom participated voluntarily, without pay) concentrated on different sections of the pyramid at a time, synchronizing the action in a specific section to match the surrounding areas – and, ultimately, the film as a whole. Opera contains intricacies impossible to realize on first, second, third viewings. Even in its limited, virtual cinema form, it engulfs the viewer in its hierarchical animation, the intentionally simplistic character animation serving to universalize the drama of its beings’ existence. It is rapturous art, the sort that defies description, and undoubtedly will echo across Oh’s subsequent films.

My rating: 8.5/10

If Anything Happens I Love You (2020)

For some American viewers, I imagine that this title alone has already spoiled the film’s content even without seeing any footage. A Netflix production directed by Will McCormack (co-writer on 2019’s Toy Story 4) and Michael Govier (bit roles in American television), If Anything Happens I Love You is the only nominee in this category directed by individuals with no background in directing animation. McCormack and Govier met at acting school; acting remains their primary profession. Without dialogue, the film opens with two parents eating dinner at opposite ends of the table. They seem aloof, their minds elsewhere. The background is spare, with only a jumble of pencil sketches making sense of any barriers enclosing them. Flexible, animated silhouettes appear from their bodies – sometimes arguing vigorously with each other, at times shadowing the person and attempting to call their attention. Grief overhangs their household, expressed through a largely monotone palette, minimalistic designs and backgrounds. The background artists exclude any detail unnecessary to the story.

Written and crafted in collaboration with (so as to not spoil the film, I am about to opaquely write about this film’s intentions) a prominent, deep-pocketed political non-profit so as to shear the film of any thematic excess, If Anything Happens I Love You has, unlike its fellow nominees, broad support among certain prominent actors in Hollywood. Laura Dern is the executive producer and various actors – including Chelsea Handler, Rashida Jones, and Lesley Ann Warren, among others – have openly contributed or advocated for this movie. The visualization of the parents’ pain, even without dialogue, brings the viewer into a space unfathomable to most, unbearable for those who know too well. The use of the King Princess song “1950” meshes awkwardly with what is being portrayed on-screen at the time. But the character animation – McCormack and Govier’s experience as actors endows the couple with indelible humanity – and its visual discipline carry the film to its heartbreaking conclusion.

My rating: 8/10

Yes-People (2020, Iceland)

Icelandic film Já-Fólkið (Yes-People) is the epitome of cheap European computer-generated animation. Directed by Gísli Darri Halldórsson (a former Cartoon Network Studios character animator), Yes-People – the Best Icelandic Short winner at the 2020 Reykjavik International Film Festival and the Children’s Choice Award winner at 2020’s Nordisk Panorama – is a largely aimless movie following the zany lives of the people who live in an apartment complex. That is all I have to say about the film’s narrative. The sketches it draws in each character’s life always feel disjointed and disconnected from all the others – save one scene of the elderly couple fornicating loud enough for their downstairs neighbors to hear. Halldórsson describes his film as a mosaic of personalities, but even a mosaic has a thematic consistency that unifies its disparate parts.

The desaturated colors of Yes-People are meant to resemble old photographs. As much as I respect what Halldórsson is aiming for, the results make the film look muddy, half-rendered – like a knockoff Pixar short from the early 1990s. Inspired when Halldórsson described to some of his Irish friends about the different tonal meanings of the word “Já” (“hello” in Icelandic), Yes-People only has one repeated word of dialogue throughout: “Já”. Is this supposed to be funny? Philosophical? I am not sure; and I am not sure the film knows it either. Reading some of Halldórsson’s interviews following his Academy Award nomination, he mentions that the film’s positive response from Iceland and Scandinavia might be culturally specific, as opposed to other parts of the world. As to what those cultural differences might be that prevented me from liking this film, I hardly have a clue.

My rating: 6/10

^ All ratings based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

Three other films played in this package as honorable mentions: Kapaemahu (2020; 7.5/10), The Snail and the Whale (2019; 6.5/10), and To: Gerard (2020; 6.5/10).

From previous years: 85th Academy Awards (2013), 87th (2015), 88th (2016), 89th (2017), 90th (2018), 91st (2019), 92nd (2020).

#Burrow #Genius Loci #Opera #If Anything Happens I Love You #Yes People #Madeline Sharafian #Adrien Merigeau #Erick Oh #Will McCormack #Michael Govier #Gísli Darri Halldórsson #Arnar Gunnarsson #Kapaemahu #The Snail and the Whale #To: Gerard #Oscars #93rd Academy Awards #31 Days of Oscar #My Movie Odyssey

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azure7539arts · 6 years

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What I have learnt in 2017: Artistic & personal advices

Making friends in an already established community is very difficult. Mostly because people would rather interact with people they already know rather than strangers, which is entirely the right thing for them to do.

Not to beat oneself up over #1. Even if you’re having problems or just feeling lonely, there’s no reason to teeter your well-being on other people, who have problems of their own, to interact with you.

Relating to a lack of motivation/ art-block: Just show up and do the work. You cannot wait forever for the light of inspiration to shine on you to work. It’s not dependable, and it’s counterproductive.

Try to draw or doodle or sketch everyday, no matter how little, no matter how unmotivated you feel. (A cliché advice, I know, but it works.) Doesn’t mean you have to feel bad over not being able to do this every single day despite having tones of works/ duties/ troubles, but trying is the key. Drawing often keeps your hand from getting stiff and helps improve your coordination, hence allowing your lines to flow better.

If you’re burnt out, however, take a step back and rest. There’s no shame in allowing yourself the time off. Take steps to once again nurture and replenish your inner creative pool, but make sure not to fall (again, in my case) into that spiraling pit where a 2-week time off turns into months, and even a whole year.

Let go of people that are toxic to you. Who are these people? People who have somehow managed to adopt very negative default assumptions about you: every debate is you trying to ‘start something’; every time you talk without fluffing the conversation with constant pleasantries means that something is wrong with you; every time you try to talk about how they are emotionally unavailable (even though they were before and something has suddenly changed without them telling you) sounds like you’re trying to manipulate them into doing what they don’t want (even though it’s the first time you even mention this, and you told them before that you just want to figure out what changed and that they don’t have to do anything they don’t want to.) There are countless of other signs, other problems, and you have to keep an eye out for these signs.

Loneliness does not define you. Being lonely shouldn’t be the driving force to your trying too much to interact with others (and your trying too hard can and will discomfort them; people can, after all, smell these things very well), or trying to hold on to toxic relationships just for some human contact.

Staying static artistically will bore and burn you out, so try and change up your mediums. If you draw traditionally, perhaps treat yourself to buying a couple of new colors for you palette, a new brush, a new pen, or a new type of paper. Or you can try out a different medium, one you have not yet used! Start out with a limited set of colors (maybe the 3 primaries) and buy from an affordable but reliable student-grade brand, just so you will not waste money on something you are unsure about. There are a lot of mediums to explore, watercolors are the basic; there are also gouaches, oils, pastels, color pencils, color brushes, inks, etc. There are lots of opportunities out there waiting! If you draw digitally, I have found that, personally, going back to sketching with a pencil and a sketchbook (any sort of sketchbook, if you’re only using it to scribble out ideas) can help freshen up your instincts and artistic flow. The whole point is for you to be able to change gears and not staying in the same spot.

Do not be too harsh on yourself. Being critical and reflective about yourself and your actions, are not bad things. But, when you’re trying to nitpick at things that are too small, too inconsequential, that’s when you’re bound to spiral. Breathe, take a step back, and remember that mistakes help you grow if you learn from them. Mistakes are not there to chain you down.

Validation is good, but it does not define your artistic abilities. The number of notes or comments on your posts should not reflect on your own capabilities. Sure, validation feels good, and reading through appreciative comments and tags on your works will make you feel elated, but it should not be all that matters, and it is not. When you stop creating art that is reflective of you, of your artistic vision, and start creating art to appeal to other people... that’s you hurting yourself, your artistic side, your love for art, and your motivation.

Please stretch. For the love of everything, do not sit at your computer/ laptop/ work space for hours at a time. Stand up and stretch! Rotate your wrists, get your joints moving. And rotate your wrists! I know I just repeated myself there, but I cannot stress it enough. I made the mistake of not rotating/stretching my wrist, and now my wrist is a pain! Please, to anyone who’s reading this and anyone who’s made it here, do not do that to yourself. Be a benevolent ruler to your body, not a tyrant.

Exercise. I don’t think there’s anything more to be said about this topic. Nothing wrong with keeping blood pumping through your veins. 15-30 minutes a day for at least 3 days a week, is the usual standard.

I’m a hypocrite for saying this, but do not stay up too late if you can help it. It really doesn’t do you any good. It just leaves you feeling tired and awful and drained the following day.

Be kind to yourself. The world is already a harsh place, even friends and family can turn on you/ annoy/ be mean to you, so why personally make it harder on yourself? Try to enjoy the little things, have some fun whenever you can squeeze it in.

You are worth it.

#end of 2017 #end of the year compilation #random ramblings #NOBODY ASKED ME TO DO IT. BUT I DID IT ANYWAY #letter to my future self #sort of

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joanndromeda · 7 years

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Welcome Back

Hello. I had quite the experience last month; three weeks ago, I graduated from university! The final weeks following my graduation day were filled with nothing but relief, anxiety, excitement, and a culmination of uncertainties waiting to be explored. On the day of the ceremony, my friends and family joined me for this important milestone. It was a significant moment for all of us to see me walk up the stage, receive the embroidered casing for my diploma, and get hooded with the final piece to my regalia. First-generation student. First surname of my kind in the family lineage to earn a bachelor’s from a four-year institution. First woman in the family to graduate from university. Woman of color. Magna cum laude graduate. As my friends used to tell my old timid self, “Say it loud and proud.” So yes, this is my greatest achievement thus far. I’ve since then been relaxing while taking time off from job hunting and composing my cover letters. It’s been a restful intermission in my life so far, and I don’t take it for granted.

Initially, I thought I would take this resting period to begin blogging my experiences in college, what I’ve learned thus far since entering young adulthood, what I should or plan to do with my position in larger society, and everything else fueling my existential crisis. I have A LOT to say. My mind is racing with thoughts and I’m excited to break them up and delve into their different dimensions. I, however, recalled a post that one of my beloved internet celebrities posted on his Instagram. He finished writing in his 12th journal. In other words, he finished journaling 12-books worth of his own thoughts that no social media outlet can ever bare witness to. I find that awe-inspiring. When I think about how much people overshare and curate their identity in the cesspool of social media, I become less and less enthuse about others’ integrity. The amount of filters, needless perfection, curation, artificiality, and overexposure we feed into how we want people to perceive us and how we apparently live our day-to-day lives on the media is alarming. Just scratching the surface, it’s an arduous and dishonest interaction we have with ourselves, others, and the rest of the world. Obviously, I don’t want to conflate these people with those who are actually genuine (if being truly genuine is even a thing in the online world) and non-showy on social media.

There is just something about having a sense of liberation and peace of mind that journaling in your own private space provides. I can’t put my finger on it, but how intimate, how raw, how sincere. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t see myself fully quitting blogging. Taking a dual approach, though, I’m considering the possibility of starting up a journal and being fully (but humanly) committed to it. There are just so many things I want to say, and I want to be openly and boldly honest with myself as I go about it. I want to have a physical archive that I can easily access right in the palms of my hands. And perhaps one day, I want to use the journal to express and share my innermost, intimate words with those dearest to me. I don’t have an empty, quality journal at the moment. But I don’t mind starting one of my first entries on here. As long as I know I’m true to myself. So one of the things I’ve learned in this journey we call life is that I am not a one-dimensional, static character following some simple linear path. I am multifaceted. More specifically, it’s surreal to me to learn how many of my hobbies and interests make odd couples or juxtapose each other. And that’s what I love about myself; I love the unusual or atypical combination of hobbies and interests that make me who I am. That’s what makes me multifaceted. So here it is:

I’m Joanne. I am multifaceted. I like doodling, drawing, sketching, and watercolor painting. Watercolor painting is the hardest paint medium I’ve used, but I appreciate the small and certain progress when I see it. l like baking and making sweet treats. I’ve recently made cookies ‘n cream bars and homemade marshmallow matcha cookies. I’m considering dedicating a separate journal to all the cooking and baking recipes I’ve mastered. I like writing poetry. This hobby is new for me and I just finished my first serious poem back in February. I’m obviously not good at it and I sometimes feel discouraged when I jump right into the writing process. About a month or two ago, though, I had the honor of attending a private lunch and poetry reading by an award-winning Southeast Asian-American poet. She was incredibly inspiring, and she definitely boosted my poetry game as a Southeast Asian-American myself. In my future journal, I plan to incorporate my own poems. I like using psychological and sociological concepts to help inform my everyday life, politics, and just larger society. And I just like discussing them in fruitful conversations. Although it’s pretty difficult for me to get a jumpstart in reading a psychological or sociological academic journal, once I get started, I become pretty engrossed in the author’s argument, theories, and findings. I archive some summaries of journals in a separate file folder because I think they’re that valuable and fascinating. I like feminism. I hold strong feminist beliefs but I don’t slap myself with the title. Feminist has become such a buzzword. I think holding that title should only be honored to those who are active in the sociopolitical climate, who speak up against misogyny and patriarchy on a regular basis, and who make strides in restructuring the system that produces and maintains institutional inequality. Calling yourself a feminist because you simply “believe in gender equality” just to then go right on about your merry day? Lazy. I like listening to underground and alternative hip hop. A few of my favorite groups that I’ve been listening to since middle school include Hieroglyphics, A Tribe Called Quest, and Pharcyde. Just a few years back, I read a few books about the origin of hip hop and its prominent role in Black youth’s sociopolitical commentary, political activism, and Afrocentrism. Since then, my appreciation for (non-)mainstream hip hop has grown. But don’t get me wrong; I think mainstream artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole are spitting great, woke material. I also recommend giving T.I.’s “Warzone” song a good listen. Along with hip hop, I like listening to Japanese hip hop instrumental beats. Old favorites include Nujabes, DJ Okawari, and I can’t forget my beloved, TOKiMONSTA, who is Korean American. Low-key artists that I like listening to when I want some simple, feel-good electric beats are COR!S, AZUpubschool, and their musical collaboration, KiWi. I like photography. Although I’m still a novice, I finished a social documentary class project last month on the communal and environmental degradation of my city’s parks. Artist proposal and statement, window matted photographs cut and framed by hand, the whole shebang. Social documentary photography is one of my favorite types of photography; I just really appreciate the impact of different social commentaries. Honorable shoutout to Barbara Kruger for revitalizing the conceptual art scene and calling out capitalism, consumerism, and racial and gender stereotypes in her work. I like anything that is deemed cute. Extra brownie points if it’s also something I can use. I own a cat pencil pouch that I had used during my final year in school, I sleep in a pink blanket that is printed with ponies, and I just have a large Darth Vader Tsum Tsum sitting on my bed. Speaking of Darth, I like Star Wars and any action-packed story with a good plot. As a kid, I actually used to be pretty well-versed about the Marvel and DC world. Boys at school used to test my knowledge and were always surprised at how much I knew. I drastically strayed away from comic book movies and shows over the years, though. I like anime. The anime world has serious problems, though (e.g., pedophilia, hypersexualization of young female characters, etc.), and I fully acknowledge that. Otherwise, I’d like to say I don’t have a preference but I know I gravitate towards shonen and seinen anime. Any show or manga that incorporates some combination of comedy, dark fantasy, science fiction, action, relationships, mystery, and politics makes for a promising watch. Light-hearted, easy-to-watch shows like Shirokuma Cafe are hard to pass up, though.

I have some other hobbies and interests that I could talk about, but I think this thorough and exhausting entry does solid justice. I’m Joanne. I am multifaceted.

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mmj-worldsofwonder · 5 years

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Multimedia Apps for Art Making

ARTSTUDIO FOR IPAD

ArtStudio has quickly risen to the top of the art app pile thanks to their multitude of tools and awesome functionality, allowing users to take control of their own artistic vision. There are different brush settings, an advanced color palette, and in-depth, smooth functionality that allow you to rotate, crop, or scale the images in your creation.

If you are a beginner who is just interested in creating cool drawings in your spare time, this app will make you feel like a kid in a candy store. If you are a professional or experienced artist, you will appreciate the attention to detail and range of abilities that will allow you to create a drawing and make it feel like you are actually sketching with pencil. Once you are finished, it will be difficult to tell a drawing created on the iPad from a drawing created on canvas.

Get ArtStudio for iPad here

IDRAW

In some sense, iDraw is eerily similar to ArtStudio except with a narrower focus. This app, while expensive, is quite simply the most comprehensive and interactive drawing and illustration app available for your mobile device. Created by the good folks of Indeeo, Inc., this app combines professional vector drawing and editing with a slew of cool features that they are constantly improving to make sure that the artist can add as much detail to their creation as they wish.

Whereas some of the early illustration apps can feel like they are doing most of the work and you are just the guide, iDraw is designed to empower the user so that they feel in control of their art and they are exposed to every tool that can help them create the perfect illustration. Like ArtStudio, it doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or a professional; iDraw is equally interesting and useful for all types of artists.

Get iDraw here

SKETCHBOOK PRO

If you are an artist, especially a sketcher, just go ahead and write Autodesk Inc. a thank you note now, because their intuitive and aesthetically pleasing Sketchbook Pro app has become one of the most popular apps for artists on iTunes. The app borrows the painting engine from its counterpart for a traditional computer and teams that with a wide range of cool features, tons of innovative sketching tools, an eye-catching color wheel, and an easy-to-use and intelligent interface.

The sign of a good art app is that both novices and professionals can reap the same rewards from the product, and that is the case with Sketchbook Pro. If you are a novice, then you should have no trouble enjoying the cornucopia of artistic tools that you suddenly have at your disposal. And if you are an experienced professional, you will be impressed and pleased to find that Sketchbook Pro has incorporated tons of details and advanced tools that won’t make it feel like you are trying to use an Etch-A-Sketch.

Get Sketchbook Pro here

PROCREATE

Procreate has rapidly risen to become one of the most well-known and commonly used sketchbook apps on the market and is the top competitor for Sketchbook Pro. Developed by Savage Interactive, this app is billed as a studio-grade sketchbook for the experienced sketcher. There are more than 40 brushes that you can choose from, a smudge tool to add realism, high definition layers, and downright incredible functionality.

Thanks to their painting engine, these developers created a smooth, responsive, and life-like painting ability that includes pressure sensitivity and realistic stroke movements, all while helping you create a sketch in the blink of an eye. Like any app worth its salt, you can save all of your works of art, arrange them in a gallery, or export your artwork to iTunes, your email, or even social networks.

Procreate just goes to show that a simple yet effective interface combined with an attention to the details of painting can create an incredible resource for artists.

Get Procreate here

ARTNEAR

The saga of Artnear and Artnear Pro is almost as interesting as the app itself. An interactive app that allowed users to quickly and easily find cool art exhibitions or museums near their location, Artnear was a huge hit a few years ago before disappearing from the map recently.

But take heart art lovers because the apps have been bought from their previous developers and the new developers behind this app are working on re-releasing this once-popular art tool and making it even better than before. A quick glance at their website shows that they are planning on rolling out functionality that will allow art lovers to find a museum or gallery near them, find artists with current or upcoming shows in the area, and a bookmarks tab that will let you save your favorite spots just in case you want to go back.

Unlike all the apps above them on this list, Artnear is hardly a complex interface or complicated idea, but that is by design. Occasionally, someone gets a hankering for art. And when they do, they don’t want to go search Google for the nearest art museums. They want something easier and quick, which is exactly what Artnear and Artnear Pro will provide.

Get Artnear here

ART AUTHORITY

If you can spare $5 and you have been feverishly searching for a database of art collections and art information, then buying Art Authority should be a no-brainer. Designed by Open Door Networks, Inc. with the hopes of becoming a real-world art museum on your phone, this app is one of the most beautifully designed apps on iTunes with tons of high resolution images and some of the most stunning works of art ever created.

If you want to just scroll through some of the world’s most famous works of art, Art Authority has more than 1,000 to choose from. If you want the background story and complete gallery for your favorite artist, Art Authority lets you easily search for it. But perhaps the most fun thing to do with this app is just to let yourself go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, immersing yourself in some of the most beautiful works of art and learning the stories surrounding them. It is basically like a digital art museum for your phone.

Get Art Authority here

TYPEDRAWING

At first glance, this app seems too simple to be included on a serious art apps list, but look closer, and you will find a simple yet innovative idea that can be a lot of fun for users to experiment with. Most small children would be able to use this incredibly easy typography art app and even serious artists might be able to enjoy fooling around with the different features available.

All you have to do is type a sentence, or a word, and then you experiment with different features, colors, and tools while using your finger to create an aesthetically pleasing and meaningful work of art. The folks at Hansol Huh didn’t just make it an amateur tool though, they incorporated shading features, a large panel of colors, and cool ways to change the shape and size and font of the text.

We admit, this app probably should be used more for fun and entertainment than the creation of serious and long-lasting art, but this is a different take on the plethora of drawing and sketching apps flooding the market. And it has been very popular, which means there are enough people that like it.

Get TypeDrawing here

INSPIRE PRO

At this point you probably saw Inspire Pro on the list and said, “Oh no, not another painting app, these things are all the same!” Well allow us to respectfully disagree. Inspire Pro is similar to the apps listed above in many ways, but it also stands out in a few big ways. For instance, Inspire Pro doesn’t care for a large collection of brush tools or multiple layers.

What they do care about is creating the best possible simulation for wet paint on canvas. Their focus on this simulation has resulted in what everyone seems to agree is the best color blending capabilities of any app on the market. The fluid interface allows you to work quickly and the dry brush tool makes some for some of the most beautiful and eye-catching color blends.

Beginners will be able to use this app but it is truly targeting professional artists who should be able to use the color-blending technology and independent brushstroke technology to create breathtaking art on your phone or your iPad.

Get Inspire Pro here

MOODBOARD

If you love social tools like Pinterest, then you will love Moodboard just the same. An app that is eerily similar to Pinterest in that you can basically create limitless numbers of boards, filled with pictures and designs, and then you can share them with your friends, your family, or perfect strangers. If the idea seems simple, that is because it is. This app isn’t about layers upon layers of functionality and features; it’s about sharing inspirational artwork.

But, that doesn’t mean the features that this app does have aren’t great. You can upload photos from the web or import them from wherever, you can do some light editing to the photos, add some colors, some text, maybe even a background, and then it’s interface allows you to easily sort and organize your different boards how you would like them to be arranged.

This app is the perfect opportunity to showcase your inspirational work if you are planning a wedding, showing off your design work, and sharing your photography. You don’t need to be a professional to use it, you only need to have a passion for photography and design and art.

Get Moodboard here

AURYN INK

Do you have a burning passion for realistic watercolor painting but don’t have the tools or the resources to go out and set up your own, in-home, watercolor studio? Well then you should probably consider Auryn Ink as an alternative. This award-winning and innovative app blends an intuitive interface with a wide variety of tools that allow you to quickly and competently create magnificent watercolor paintings.

The intelligence of the app allows for the user to control the brush pressure effects, blend color pigments, and take charge of the levels of water dilution or concentration you wish to include in your painting. At points it almost feels like you are actually painting using a brush and canvas. Beginners may be overwhelmed at first because of the sheer volume of tools and options afforded them, but it’s easy to use, so they will get used to it. Experts can marvel at how this app allows you to come as close to actual watercolor painting as you possibly can without using paper and pen.

Get Auryn Ink here

ART

Like we said, we didn’t try to rank these apps ahead of each other because it was just too difficult. But if we had ranked these apps based on popularity, the simply titled Art would probably be near or at the top of the list. The idea itself is hardly revolutionary. The app is an enormous and constantly updated database of artists, complete with their biographies and most famous works. The search function allows you to track down your favorite artists easily, and the app even added a quiz section where you can put your art knowledge to the test by matching paintings with the artists who painted them.

When compared with some of the more complex apps on this list, Art pales in comparison. But there might not be a single better art resource available for your mobile device on the market. This is an app that can be used by serious art students to help them research projects, or it can be used by people just interested in learning more about the fascinating world of art and the fascinating people that populated that world.

Get Art here

ART IN MOTION

The developers at PDJ Apps must have seen all the other painting and drawing apps available and decided to step their game up, because Art in Motion is one of the most graphically enthralling and beautiful art apps you can find on the Internet. If you want to just create a standard sketch, use one of the apps above. But if you want to create a scene with moving objects and vibrant colors, than look to Art in Motion to satisfy your curiosity.

Basically, you create and customize small orbs and then watch them bounce around your screen thanks to the app’s innovative Psychics engine. If you don’t feel up to the task of creating your own scene, that is fine, because Art in Motion already has 20 scenes to give you a head start towards your creation. The interface is slick, and the functionality is smooth, allowing the user to control every aspect of their scene with just the slight touch of their fingers.

Get Art in Motion here

ART RAGE

We will save one of my favorite art studio apps for last because Art Rage deserves some lauding for the interactive, intuitive, and multi-faceted app they have created. Art Rage doesn’t differ tremendously from the apps that we have already listed, but it does seem to incorporate all of the best parts of those apps into their app. There is a plethora of painting tools to choose from including oils, watercolors, and even crayons. There are layers so you can add to elements of your painting, and an intuitive interface that effectively simulates watercolors being painted onto the canvas.

When it comes to the inane details of painting, Art Rage made sure that professional or experienced painters would feel as if they had every possible tool at their disposal. But despite all of the tools and features that this app boasts, it is surprisingly easy to navigate and use. The paintings can be done quickly if you know what you are looking for, and if you don’t know what you are looking for, the interface is so slick that you can find it easily.

Then, as added bonus, if you want the step-by-step breakdown on how you created your last painting, the app allows you to record your work and play it back. This app is truly awesome for painters and those who love to experiment with paint. It’s like bringing your personal, full-service art studio to you couch.

Get ArtRage here

Source: https://www.theartcareerproject.com/blog/15-art-apps-you-should-be-using

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scott-scribner-blog · 6 years

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Interview with Kelsie Vang

For this blog assignment I held an interview with my classmate Kelsie Vang, a fellow photography student who enjoys dolls, drawing, and anime. In this one on one I was able to gain insight in the way she approaches art and how she perceives her future working with it.

Vang, Kelsie. Lexi Krueger. 2017.

Would you say that photography is one of your favorite mediums?

Yes! It’s quite funny, because before I began taking photography classes in college, I didn’t like photography class. Only because I was quite worried that I wouldn’t be able to grasp the technicality of it. But now taking photography in college, I’m having quite the blast. I find the medium much more fun than drawing, arts & crafts, and watercolors. I think it’s mainly because photography can be used in ways to be created and expressed digitally through our electronics.

Being a student of the fine arts, what would you say is the biggest creative challenge you have to get past for every assignment/project?

One of the scariest and challenging matters that I had to do for my projects and assignments was trying new things that I wasn’t used to, and try to think up of ideas that was really out of the box for me. I like to express my creativity and work with what I know, what I love, and what I’m used to. Trying new things is scary for me, even now it is, because I’m not familiar and not used to something that I don’t have a vast knowledge about it yet.

I noticed that you like to draw a lot before class, would you say you use your drawings as inspiration in your photography?

Of course! Using photography is one of the best mediums that help bring my drawings to life. In drawing, there is only a white page as the background, and the shades of grey and black streaks of mechanical pencil to convey shape and form of the subject being sketched. Photography is an advanced form of drawing. Cameras can quickly snap shots of subjects and backgrounds in one second, and there you’re sketch is finished. In drawing, it takes 15-30 minutes for me to sketch a whole figure of a human. Cameras are quick, while pencils take longer.

Looking at your previous and perhaps upcoming project, what seems to be the reason for your attraction to dolls?

This also has to do with my drawings too. Most of my drawings are 2D characters, they’re flat, and the only thing can do with a drawing is to look and stare at it. Dolls are 3D-figured toys, you can physically interact with them. You can bend their articulated arms, legs, brush their hair, and change their clothes, or even sew clothes for them. Every doll I ever bought was solely because of my fondness to collect each doll’s characteristics that conveys the dolls personality, ranging from their hair color, eye color, skin tone, and fashion clothing. Dolls are 3D reality of a figure drawing.

In relation to your projects, what is your process for creating them from start to finish?

It varies with the level of difficulty the project is. If it’s a project that I like, then I already have a mapped out plan and artistic vision in mind, and execute it. But if it’s a challenging project, then I have to think deeply. At this point, it’s hard for me to envision a picture, so I look up online to Google images to see other artist’s artwork, and get inspired from them. I would then get scratch paper, and quickly sketch out each scene that I have in mind. Afterwards, I would set up at the scene of the location I want to take pictures of, and then edit them onto Photoshop.

Looking outside of school, what do you see yourself doing after college?

After I graduate college, I’ll have to find myself another state to move into where art entertainment thrives, like either California, New York, or Chicago. I want to go into cartooning and animations someday, and work for Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. Afterwards, I want to open my own cartoon studio and air my own cartoon-anime show on public television.

What are your plans/goals for your art? What do you hope to achieve or say with it?

I want my drawings to have a unique style that pulls in a viewer’s eye and make them amaze. I want my drawing style to be a combination of realism and naturalism mixed in with anime. I want to set a new original drawing style, where everybody can recognize that it belongs to me. For my photography artwork, I like to set atmospheric moods. My favorite element to convey that is through color. I don’t like black-and-white photography, because I think the photo is missing out the colors that life offers. My favorite color palette for photography is bright and warm hues to convey comfort, warmth, home, and positivity.

You can find out more about Kelsie and all the work she does at https://kelsie-vang.tumblr.com/

#interview #kelsievang #digitalphotgraphy

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