DEGREE PROJECT IS OVER

Yes, thankfully I have successfully finished my Degree Project, and I am very happy with the way it came out. It was a difficult journey but one worth taking. This is is pic of my poster for my movie. The official title it Lurkey Turkey, and it will be posted on JessicaKlement.com very soon for viewing. Now I am diving into the rest of my portfolio work and term papers. Woo! So close to being done. I promise to keep you more posted from now on. =)

Ten Days

That's right, ten days left until the Degree Project is due. At this point I am just excited to have the end in sight. My sound designer came through for me and it is AMAZING. Now, I just need to finish animating the last few scenes. I have more than half of it colored as well, so it's all coming together. Tomorrow will be coloring 101, Monday will be the final shoot of the frames, and then we can start editing it together to make my MASTERPIECE, and i shall yell "PULL THE SWITCH" and it shall come ALIVE. or something like that. As you can see my mental status is still deteriorating.

So tired. But pushing through all the same. I have started coloring all my frames. So I am still animating, coloring, editing, and sound designing all at the same time. It's kinda like when you are doing spring cleaning, and right before things start looking good, the room looks its worst because you've dumped everything in the middle of the floor. Yeah, that's my DP right now, all dumped on the floor, and I have two weeks to sort it out.

So, this weekend was very tragic. I realized that the plot for my degree project was failing. I had to make the ultimate decision to cut some major scenes from the film, and rework the animation and story so that they worked better together. Looking at hours of work laying useless on the side was excruciatingly hard, but it had to be done. *sigh* And now for the final push to get everything finished in four weeks. Crap! I better get on that. Toodles

Preparation

Brown paper bag: Check,
Bottle of Valium: Check,
80% of my animation done on my degree project: Uuuhhh.....maybe?
Yeah, so I've edited my animation into a rough timeline, and it's slowly but surely coming together. However, it seems like I still have miles left to go on it. Monday is a big deadline for all of us, and I hope to have things more concrete by then. Until that time, I am trying not to panic but focus my energies. Oh, and I also have to write a midterm paper, study for a quiz on Villas, work at my job, and do portfolio. No problem! ;)

Spring Fever

I want it to be spring sooo badly. Upon returning from the 70 degree weather of Virginia Beach, I realize how depressing cold weather really can be. Thankfully this weekend has been nicer thus far. I am just hoping that the warmer trend will continue.

As for my productivity, I have a 100 frame day scheduled tomorrow with Julia. We shall persevere together until the end!

Decisions, Decisions

Okay,
So last semester I did a style test for my Degree Project. I got great feedback, and was very happy with the outcome of it. I am now doing all the pencil animation first, and then going back to do the ink and charcoal highlights. However, I was told that some people enjoy the plain pencil. I am torn because I really do like the look of the ink, but that will take up more time. So take a look, and tell me what you think. Thanks!

My friend Julia is a constant doodler in class. She will draw at least five or six squirrels per class which accumulates to be a lot of squirrels. Caroline, who sits next to Julia, is a frequent doodler of bunnies. (She owns quite a few) I saw an icon the other day that combined two animals, and the light bulb went off in my head to think, BUNNYSQUIRREL! And who better to draw it than my friend Julia. I hope to get another one done by the Julia/Caroline collaboration.

This is all to say that I am sick with the flu and don't have much else to talk about. =(

The Essentials of a Nap

There is a reason that it is called a power nap. It indeed gives you a new and fresh burst of energy. Last year Psychology Today published an article about the benefits of napping during the day. http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20080204-000001.html Now I am not talking about sleeping for hours at a time. I'm talking about twenty minutes to close your eyes and let your mind wander and your muscles relax. I find that after coming home from a long day at work, I can't sit down and get to work on my projects right away. It's like my mind is still at work even if my body isn't. So, after having dinner, I rest for twenty minutes and wake refreshed and ready to tackle my projects.
So to all those out there who cannot just put their feet up and relax after a day of work, take a nap and continue on with your productivity. I promise you, it will help!

P.S.
SET AN ALARM!