Promotion! Art Fundie to SENECA ANIMATOR!

Woahhhhhhh my god! After 2 hrs of sleep from the night before tweaking some fundie projects, I woke up Tuesday, 28th of March, at 8am to tweak some more. I finished my stuff, walked to school, and took a deep breath to face my 2nd most important day of the year...

Today, (well yeseterday now, I guess), I had a meeting with one of the program coordinators at Seneca regarding my animation portfolio score. I was lucky enough to be able to talk with him since realistically, I should have been made to wait longer for my results to come through the Ontario College Application Service.

After some waiting (he had to get out of a meeting), I finally was able to speak mono-a-mono with Mark Jones. What happened next was intensely nerve-racking. After battling what seemed like an eternity, I finally heard the words I so longed to hear, "well, you will most likely recieve an offer of admission into animation".

Heart pounding, body shaking, my mind nearly exploded on me. After such a build-up of tension with me waiting for him to type in his computer, he told me exactly what score this little unknown person standing in front of him was waiting for. The words dribbled over me as if it was sweet nectar melting over the most exquisite delecacies you've ever had. I had scored a 9! A freaking 9 out of a possible 10!!! Walking into this, I was hoping for at least an 8 and something in the ranges of 7. It blew my mind that I had done so well.

I politely thanked Mark and as I was leaving his office, I couldn't take it anymore. I wasn't even two steps out when I started giggling manically. I picked up my pace, started running, hopping, dancing, fists pumping into the air as a sign of victory, accomplishment and achievement. I ran to everyone who possibly knew me to tell them the good news. Today was a very good day. I just hope my friends will be able to feel the way I felt today when they find out their scores.

I guess you could say this is a cinderella story. A summer's worth of art lessons, a less than strong background in high school art, and a year's worth of SENECA FUNDIES of working your ass off until you pass out in exhaustion in front of your classes, will get you where you need to go. My advice to any fundies who have high hopes of getting into animation: Attitude is everything. With it, you can do anything. Being able to do hard work will follow, you just got to be willing to bear the pain and push yourself to the best of your abilities. Surround yourself with people who encourage you, support you, and help you through the glistening days and the late nights of work. Befriend your classmates, you can always learn something from those who are better than you, but as well, those who are worse. I'll probably have more tidbits as I complete this art fundies blog. My mind is a little tired. I'll continue another day.

Just Little 'Ole Me

This was a self-portrait taken with a digital camera in first semester Art Fundamentals. Look Ma! No Tripods! (My hand that I'm resting my head on is actually holding the camera) Unbeknownst to me, my photography teacher, Ron Erwin, decided to take a bunch of first semester student's work and post it onto the public televisions scattered across our college campus. I didn't even know my picture was up until my friends would tell me funny stories about how they "saw" me. I'm both flattered and humbled with this picture.

First Semester Fundie Photography

This is one of my very first pictures taken from first semester photography class at Seneca's Art Fundamental's program. I really had a fun time with all the pictures and I actually got to travel a bit and have quite an adventure. Some things were photoshopped for colour, sharpness, and cropping, but other than that, most of the pictures are in their original condition. Holding digital cameras with super shaky small hands is not for the faint of heart.

More Bark - I found this strangely appealing to my senses.


Grass - Who knew it could be so interesting. Cows must have a time with this stuff.


Tree Leaf - Beautiful even with all it's imperfections.


Feather - Definitely didn't expect it'd look this cool in the lenses. The lines are dynamic which makes me really love looking at this. It's amazing how we pass by such a dirty thing, only to find out as an artist, you can attempt to make it beautiful, more beautiful than it already is.


Bark - reminded me of some cavernous mountain range of some sort. Other than that, I just took a picture of it for the sake of taking it. No hidden emotions in this one.


York University - thought I'd play around a bit with lines and perspective. I've always wanted to do a picture of a long winding road with trees on both sides, but I guess I can only use what I got.


Queen Subway Station


Queen St. Again


Eaton Centre - freaked the crap out of myself with this one. Here's my mentality at the mall:

"Okay, so take the escalators to the 2nd floor....right...okay...now take off the cover...right, okay make sure I put the camera over the railings....holy sh*t I'm falling! Breathe, breathe, you're not falling Jacqueline....okay...*click*, oh sh*t the flash was on! HIDE HIDE! Okay, wait from some people to pass to take more pictures, that idiot down there was picking his nose..."

and so on and so forth. Taking pictures at high places when you're afraid of heights isn't exactly the best situation to be in. Then again, I'm proud of myself for getting a shot and at least being able to make it through the ordeal alive.


Queen St.


TTC - Same flash paranoia with the Eaton Centre. Apparently people didn't notice, or didn't care.


Logitech - Photoshopped the blue with curves.


Nano - Nane on a lightbox, photoshopped for some colour tinting.


Wine - no flash created a warm undertone for me. Wine over a lightbox is quite nice.

Storyboard Composition

A first semester Fundies project with David Bluestein, my program coordinator and Drawing Studio teacher. Some background info on David is that he had the opportunity to work with an amazing artist called Todd McFarlane, the creator of Spawn comics. I'm really fortunate to have had him first semester, because he basically whipped me into shape for the grueling projects of second semester. Thanks Blue ;)

Hey Bucket Brains! Try Some Of This!

This piece was done for my stylistic drawing teacher Jim Graves in Fundies. Jim is also an animation teacher at Seneca as well as a freelance illustrator, not to mention a great guy. We had to create a comic page with various camera shots depending on if there was a lot of action, or very little. It was also an excercise in seeing if students could communicate a story effectively.

Two Point Perspective - Build Your Room

Honest Moment #2: My room is not actually 10 by 10 ft. Using your imagination DOES save you from sticky situations :P

Two Point Perspective

Honest Moment #1: three quarters of this stuff isn't even in my actual room.

Animation Portfolio Life Drawings

Another pose by Shawn which just so happened to make it into my portfolio. I think I did something strange to his scapula, (shoulder blade) but it appeared larger than life when I was drawing it. I guess I can't always trust my eyes, hehe. Im pretty happy with the feet though, just gotta draw more :D

Keep It Loose, Make It Flow

If there's anything I've learned this year that sticks out like a sore thumb, it's a little gem that my life drawing teacher Phillip Woolf shared with us. He said, "your conte should be flowing over your paper. I shouldn't hear your conte scratching, but flowing, like water." So simple, but the imagery is so powerful.

Clue: Peter, With A Pole, In the Life Drawing Room

I always can bet my friends that Peter will use a polestick at one point or another during a life drawing session. God, he does some mean poses with that pole. I think I managed to capture the gesture, but I think I still need to work on proportions.

Rob The Muscle Man

Early Fundies second semester life drawing. The model, who's name is Rob, has very stationary poses. However, I've learned that in order to life draw, you have to be able to tackle not only the dynamic poses, but the subtle ones as well.

1 Hr Extended Gesture

A 1hr extended gesture pose for Studio 2 Drawing class. I'm pretty used to long poses by now, but the poor model was having trouble staying awake. Good thing it was only 1 hr :]

30 seconds of Shawn/Sean/Shaun

Another one of Shawn/Sean/Shaun. His poses are great and I actually used these two for my portfolio submission. Go figure ;)

Life Drawings - Model Shawn/Sean/Shaun?

These life drawings were from an extra life drawing class that was open to all students from 6pm to 9pm, Monday through Friday. There's something really beautiful and relaxing about drawing the human body and really trying to understand how our bodies work to bend, twist, crouch, and most importantly, show emotion. I don't know what it is yet, but something about life drawing fascinates me.

Hands, Hands, Hands

The first of the two hands, I obviously had a harder time trying to think how I was going to approach drawing my own hand. It kinda appears manly and chubby, but by listening to some friend's advice, I know what to do next time to make them more thinner, girlish and delicate.

Enjoy 'Em While You Still Have 'Em

Some hand drawings I did for Seneca's Portfolio again. I didn't like the hands I drew last year when applying to their Animation program the first time, so...I went on a hand-drawing spree and drew hands for 6 hrs until I pulled off 2 nice ones. I think they turned out okay :]

Remember Guys, I Want Clean Lines!

Here's another object drawing for the Seneca portfolio. Who knew that there were so many forms in a soap dispenser?

Woo! First Post!

I did some object drawings that were required for Seneca's Animation portfolio and here's what I managed to whip out of my brain. Strangely enough, I never really appreciated an artist's design of household items until I had to find something structured to draw. Lamps are quite beautiful in this way.