Manifesto for Growth

Although I agreed with many points on this list, there were three that did stick out to me the most. 

“14. Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.”

I really like this one because it really enforces the idea of being comfortable with yourself and not being afraid to be weird and really dig deep into yourself to find that creative side. I mean sure it’s ok to indulge in some of the trendy things of the time, but I think I’m the end you just have to be you and flow as far away or as close to the current as you need to in order to be successful. And I think what message this is also trying to convey is that sometimes we get so caught up into trying to “fit in” with the crowd that we loose the true sight of trying to grow ourselves to be better people rather than trying harder to “fit in.” And I really agree with the above statement because I know that even though I’ve gotten caught up in trying to “fit in”, I try harder to make myself grow as a better person. 

“18. Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from there rest of the world.” 

This one really hits home for me because I’ve experienced it first hand. I know there’s been times when I know I’ve clearly not gotten enough sleep and school is a lot to handle, yet I’m still up past midnight with sudden urges to go draw. And some of those have been the most successful drawings I’ve had. So I know from experience that this is true. Sometimes you have to get yourself to that point where you’re alone and letting out feelings you didn’t know you had and opening up parts of yourself you didn’t know existed in order to grow. 

“41. Laugh. People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.” 

This one is probably is my favorite and the one I love to enforce all the time. Laughter is such an important thing to me because it can brighten the day and make you feel better all the time. That’s my go to thing if I’m upset or too stressed out over something. I call up or text someone who I know will let me vent for a bit and then make me laugh uncontrollably. Or I go watch something that makes me laugh. Because now this way instead of moping around and stressing out I feel so much better and ready to tackle on what problems I have. And I also so agree with the statement above because laughter is a great way of expressing yourself and bonding with others. 

Infinitum

At the Infinitum art exhibit at the Fashion Museum that we visited last Friday, we were told to pick an artist that we found interesting and resonated well with us.

And considering the fact that I went to that museum for the third time on that FYE day because of going with my 3D and 2D Composition classes, I had some time to reflect on the exhibits I thought were interesting.

But one did seem to stick out every time I went, and that was “Red Bridge” by Peter C. Johnson.

I absolutely loved the dripping effect of the red “liquid” on top of the bridge. The way that he used solid materials to create a liquified form is something I always found to be interesting. 

And just by looking at some of the other artwork he had done on his gallery page, it was very interesting to see how he had created a softer look to these solid sculptures. 

Something like that is what really inspires me for my future special effects makeup artist career.

Sculpting smooth features to faces or body parts is something that not only is fun for me but also something needed for the field that I’m going into. 

And another thing that really inspired me about the piece I saw in the exhibit is again that dripping effect it had. 

Part of me wanting to become a special effects makeup artist was also because of that fact of how much I loved horror and scary things. I wanted to go create spooky creatures and body parts. 

So that dripping part of the sculpture really had an effect on me because I I love the dripping effects of fake blood or fake drool or other grotesque things. And although the piece I saw in the gallery wasn’t meant to come across as gross or too horrifying, it still inspired me and made me think about how much I love sculpting things. 

It made me wanna go create my own clay sculptural creation and try to get a dripping effect. 

Or maybe  go on to create the bridge monster of doom with red drool.

Who really knows, but I do know that I enjoyed his work very much. 

10 Photos for Project 4

   
    
    
    
    
 

3D Comp Blitz #4

   
 

What Inspires Me

  

 
I could go on and on about things that inspire me, but I know that probably the biggest thing that inspires me and my artwork greatly all the time is horror. 

Horror movies, haunted houses, spooky things, all of it. 

Ever since I was able to watch my first scary movie (Return Of The Living Dead) when I was about 11-12 years old I knew there was just something so special about it all. 

Something about splattered body parts and ghostly demons has always been something that intrigued me and I love the adrenaline rush you get from watching a horror flick. I love diving into the creepy twisted storylines and creepy characters that only the genre of horror can provide, and I think that creating all those terrifying props and all that ghastly special effects makeup for those movies and haunted houses is the most amazing art form I’ve ever seen. 

And as time went on since my first scary movie and art became a bigger part of life, I realized that my main driving force behind creating my artwork was the genre of horror. 

Creating portraits of zombies, famous horror icons, and even members of horror rock bands had become what I loved to do. 

And the more I thought about how much I loved horror and art and creepy props and costumes and makeup, the more I realized what I wanted to do with my life is become one of those special effects makeup artists. 

Not only did horror help me find my calling in life by combining it with my art, it also inspires me every day to just wake up and keeping going. To love something with as much passion as I have for horror gives me the most life. 

Isosketch Drawings

   
 

Stop “Emotion” Videos

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A.L.I.C.E. Training

9am on a chilly Friday morning, my roommate and I stumble into Bowman hall only to quietly enter in the back of the lecture hall late as the presentation was starting.

Thankfully we hadn’t missed much and were able to get all the great information they shared that day. Although it was a bit unsettling to have to think about a shooting actually happening around me at school, it was good to know what to do in that kind of situation.

A.L.I.C.E stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. And the presentation covered these methods of safety as well as how to care for people who might be injured during the attack.

Alert for making sure that everyone is alerted of the danger now present and for keeping everyone updated on the situation.

Lockdown for locking doors to classrooms with things such as shoe strings, other string, or any rope like material found in the room. As well as barricading the doors with things like desks and other heavy objects found in the room.

Inform to keep yourself and others informed of the situation and to keep each other safe.

Counter to fight back against the shooter. Such as all tackling from behind to get the gun out of their hand, throwing things at their faces to distract them, and doing anything possible to get the gun out of their hands. It was also mentioned here that if you get the gun away from them, to put a trash can on top of it and sit on it to show you are not involved in any part of the shooting and are just keeping the gun away from the shooter.

And finally Evacuate, to have us all understand that if we have the means to do so, to run out of the building so that you can get at least two buildings away from the building the shooter is in.

As far as injuries go, we were taught how to carry an injured person who cannot walk themselves as well as ways to stop bleeding from gunshot wounds. One way was to use things such as tampons and pads because of their high absorbency to soak up all of the blood, and also how to make a quick tourniquet to help stop the bleeding as well.

Instead of locking ourselves in and hiding the darkness of a key locked classroom, this method of A.L.I.C.E. training teaches us how defend ourselves and do everything we can to get ourselves to safety. So it was overall a very informative session.

Bezold effect

   
    
    
 

Student Success Series

The Student Success Series I attended was called “Confessions Of A Golden Flash.”

What happened there was that they had three older college students sit in front of our crowd and answer some questions about college and life here as well as they could share and stories they had of their experience.

Things that they had to answer were things such as “How was it like being away from your family at college?” and “What was a challenge you had to overcome?”

What seemed to be somewhat of a common theme was kind of how they all had a bit of a rough time at first adjusting to college life and making friends and getting themselves involved.

And I had felt some of those struggles as well. Sure my best friend of life is my roommate, and I was doing fairly well being on my own, but it was still hard as more and more people around me in my classes were getting to know each other better and I just kind of sat there for a while. And even though I was managing to be on my own pretty well, I still felt scared out of my mind on the inside.

But the thing that those three college students told us was that they all found their friend group and adjusted after a while. Each sharing their own stories of overcoming the struggles or fears that they had.

And now that I look back on it, I feel myself overcoming those struggles as well. The more and more time I spend with the other art kids in my classes the closer I’m getting to them and the more I feel I was meant to be in this community. And the “Confessions Of A Golden Flash” session definitely gave me the courage to keep moving along until I found my place too, and I did.