AMIGURUMI

Back in December I taught myself how to crochet so I could make amigurumi dolls for friends as Christmas presents. The first thing I learned was how to make a chao from Sonic Adventure. My fiance got me a pattern and I picked up from that. I got a good amount of compliments and made five for my friends before starting my own Etsy shop selling nothing but crochet chao dolls. The first one bought was by a guy that requested a custom made dark flying chao. I had to figure out how to make it by trial and error, which was actually a lot of fun.

I guess I did good since the tip he gave me was waaay more than generous! He gave it to his girlfriend on Valentine's Day.

I made another one in case the first didn't meet his expectations. I put it in my shop and I think that's how I got so many views. A couple people approached me for a pattern but I'm not sure if I should make one or not since I still consider myself a newb and would hate it if I worded things wrong or made it difficult to follow.

I made other things like slimes from MapleStory and Dragon Quest (Irene Flores bought my first one for her friend's video game themed wedding!), Kirby, and Boo.

About a week ago I taught myself how to make my own patterns. I made a moogle based from FF6/FF9 designs since most are similar to FF10. Other than chao dolls they are becoming more popular. c:

I'm thinking about becoming more pro with the shop, making my own creatures, and try making more iconic amigurumi dolls~

Anyway! You can find my shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/STiRsItemShop

Here are a few. I'm also thinking about redesigning the chao dolls to make the proportions cuter.

ALMOST A YEAR

I am really bad about keeping up with this blog. Seriously.

Since the last post I graduated with honors, joined an honors society (Alpha Beta Kappa), became the recipient of the Dean of Student Service Cup award, moved back home to help parents (dad had a stroke and mom had knee replacement surgery - neither could really leave the house), had my own art exhibit at the Lawrence County Art Council (also may have some of my art at the Hartselle art gallery), modeled for a competition and advertisement...

I'm sure I skipped some things, but those were the main highlights.

Right now I'm doing freelance work and making tons of amigurumi dolls in my Etsy shop: Check it out, guys!

Since there are hardly any local animation/art jobs in or around my hometown I started working in retail again. Part time has some really unreliable hours. First few weeks were 32-20 hours a week. Next week I have a total of 4 hours. I'm in this awkward position where I would like to move to a larger city for more opportunities to get a job in animation, but can't earn enough money where I am able to move nor am I completely sure if I'd even get a job in animation since I feel intimidated with my lack of any animation work experience. School related stuff was good, but knowing I have to apply that to the real world kind of frightens me. And next month is the first month when I need to start paying for student loans. Bye bye grace period!

Anyway. Here are some things I've doodled since this year began! I think my art is getting... cutesier?

Last quarter here!

Been a while since I posted anything. I'm in my last quarter at the Art Institute. This quarter I have maxed out my classes... plus one. Kind of difficult to manage, but I really want to graduate now! Haha. This has been an odd year, with tons of ups and downs to say the least. A lot of personal ordeals that have made my stay at AI not as enjoyable as it could have been, but I will say I am thankful for hardships. They build me into a stronger person.

But back to animation.

This is kind of old, from last year, but I want to keep up with what I've done here. It's from my 2D Animation Principles class. Done traditionally and using the "lunchbox".

Next one was a group project done in 2D Animation Studio from last quarter. I was able to be the director of the project and came up with the concept of the story and the characters. Everyone in the class broadened it (location mostly, I imagined it to be a medieval setting while most wanted Oriental) and came up with additional characters. I animated the guy in the dragon suit in the first three shots. The backgrounds and other animations were done by the students in the class.



HALLOWEEEEEEN! ... tomorrow.

My roommate is going through a rough time right now, and recently my car broke down, so we're going through a rough spot. Luckily Halloween is so, so close and it's my favorite holiday, EVER (that EVER is said/typed in the most serious way. EVER).

I missed out on celebrating it last year since that was around the time I moved to Nashville for the Art Institute and didn't make many friends right off the bat (I was so dead set on going, getting my degree and having the least amount of human interaction as possible in the process. Horrible decision, but once I snapped out of that mindset it was kind of easy for me to make friends) so I didn't dress up or even celebrate it. This year... I'm dressing up. I was very tempted to buy an... airplane costume? Found it in the kids section at Target. Getting an aviator hat and goggles were the next steps but once I saw the price tag I bid it farwell... after I got a picture with it.

Also! I've been trying to stay active with drawing. I get lazy. A lot. So, joining groups and trying to post in this blog is kind of helping. Ahaha. I ended up entering into a Hetalia Halloween contest at http://usxuk-club.deviantart.com/

America and England as Ed and Shaun from Shaun of the Dead! PFFFT. I love that movie SO HARD. unf.

I think I might join the USxUK lj group... maybe. I need to stay active! D:

Style change?

I'm going through that phase where I feel the need to choose between keeping a Japanese style or adapt an American one. Might swap it around every now and then.

My roommate said she noticed that I tend to draw more in the manga style when I'm mellow/sad and vice versa when I'm hyper/in a good mood.

Either way... I need to work on backgrounds, buildings and body proportions.

Instead I keep drawing faces. I already know how to draw faces! Well, can practice more... but I definitely need to practice on other stuff. Like perspective. Bluh.

Ahaha... Look at that lovely skyscraper with the 3 point perspective while using the rule of thirds...

So, my roommate (she's awesome you guys) got me into a small group on dArt that are all about some kigurumi stuff. KiguRumble. Pretty much you're a character that wears kigurumi pj's, and if you're a fighter you get a furry form. The picture up above is my character, Russel. His kigurumi is a hyena. I'll probably draw more of him soon. Right now I'm stuffing my face hole with multicolored layers of cake. DEEEELISH! ... while watching our cat stick her face in a cup of milk that she can't quite get....

Last year at Ai... maybe?

I'm almost halfway through my first quarter of the new school year. Or not! My transfer credits screwed over the usual line up of classes before I got here so I have no clue if I'll be able to graduate by the school year or need to stick around a bit longer. Ahaha...

Thought I'd share some of my projects for this quarter and possibly get some feedback. Want to meet new people that are into animation or just meet new peeps in general!

Cheers.

Concept art for a little character I'll animate with Flash. :D Haven't named her... So, I'll just stick with Witchy Witch since I keep naming my file that (or some weird variation of that). Wanted to do something that was Halloweeny~

And practicing with SAI. Still a hardcore fan of Hetalia...