I don't know where to start, so I'll just throw up some words and pictures, again sorry if the pictures are too big/blurry/late late post:
I HAVE been doing work (sorry no scanner):
most people here get around on a bike....now I can't really ride a bike, but I'm hoping that getting a neon yellow bike with orange/blue/pink stars on the spokes will be bright enough to stop an accident....or maybe it will start one....
my bike keys
the other international gang's bikes---we've basically become the POWER RANGERS!!!!
those shoes are uh...mandatory...f- for dance club!?!?!....yeah....they do say PLAYBOY in the back
found a pathway to a quiet shrine, if only my life was like Spirited Away. I'd cross the bridge to a fairy land never to be seen again, condemned to a life of eating and cleaning. I could do that
.
yeah I totally ate that cake on a parfait. It was almost as good as mayonnaise on mayonnaise.
trying to make friends with people way cooler and better looking than me. what's the best way? FOOD. (The japanese and korean students are really awesome. the language of food knows no barriers!!!!)...also I'm in one of these, try to find me, I'm the asian one!!!!
JAPAN I LOVE YOU AND HATE YOU!!! HOW am I supposed to FIT in your SIZE O/ONE SIZE ONLY CLOTHES if you keep GIVING ME FOOOD!?!?!?!?!
Japan gets you to buy things by overwhelming you with loud noises, colors, variety and uncomfortably helpful service
.
sometimes I eat these calorie bars because I'm out of food and being cheap. I found out that it's actually lemnus bread and the Japanese are descended from elves.
I should have posted earlier...now I'm just overwhelmed by the thought of posting events from 2-3 weeks ago, so I'll just bullet main events/thoughts of the week and put up pictures. Easy for everyone and if you want you can just look at the pictures...:
Week 1:
10-14 hour plane ride, why doesn't Dallas airport have any clocks, WHAT KIND OF AIRPORT DOESN'T HAVE CLOCKS!? I unecessarily sprinted to my gate. Also sat next to a man who looked like Sigmund Freud who studied Go moves during the flight and zealously ate the airline food.
International Coordinator Hisano san is very nice to put with us and drive us around and still have to pick up his daughter....btw her name is Sarang and she's adorable.
It's the hot, muggy country side, but everyone is still fashionable and walk around in layers of clothing and heels. I don't know how, but no one sweats.
Everything is my height, YAY~ and my apartment is marked by a flag with a happy man on it!!!
Somehow made it to and back from Kyoto with the international gang with a little set of directions, a month of Japanese lessons/years of Japanese dramas, and a whole lot of balls (Joyce's, who would go up to people asking questions, while I provided meager vocab.
Phrase I use all the time: Toiletto wa Doko??????
Went to Nanba, lots of food, Host club advertisement, and all the colors almost blinded me
2 cafeterias, 1 cafe, 1 chinese restaurant, 1 convenience store, 1 bakery, 20 buildings, WHAT KIND OF SCHOOL IS THIS!?!?!?!?
Week 2:
I now know how the ESOL kids in my school felt like. The Korean international students must scoff at our pathetic Japanese level.
I'm back in highschool, where should I sit at for lunch, will anyone be my new friend, does my outfit look okay....?
Crashing other people's classes and falling asleep in the back, just trying to fit in.
Printmaking department welcoming party. Making takuyaki and trying to memorize everyone's names....
The clubs share this clubhouse, which are basically grouty cement storage houses full of stuff and dedicated members. It's so AWESOME!
Festival where all the clubs showcase their skills and recruit, traditional Archery Club, Traditional Dance, Anime club, Juggling Club, Power Ranger Club, Tennis, Baseball, and it goes on forever....In the morning I ended up on stage grabbed by a shirtless man into a circle of people screaming in some traditional celebration dance, at night I ended up under a bridge attempting to pop and lock with the Dance club.....I don't know how either happened. And I have no pictures, thank god.
Week 3:
One of my teachers is a ninja. Literally.
I now speak a cross between bad English and bad Japanese. I was explaining photoshop to some new friends in English, Joyce translated into korean, and Rin ( korean international student) translated in Japanese to Asa ( fellow classmate).
This week's not over, but too lazy to put anything else up now. btw sorry if the pictures are too big, too lazy to put them on flikr first.
Production is well underway on the third year films here at AIB, and I've been working with two different teams producing animation and tests for their films. At AIB, the third years work on their final films with a team made up of other animation students: a core group of fellow third years, as well as second and first years to round out the production. Together, they make a complete film that will be shown at graduation and also in the various festivals that AIB participates in.
The first film I signed on to was Sol, which compares the Greek myth of Phaeton with the Apollo moon missions. It's a very pretty film, and I'm excited to see how the final product looks with its impressive background paintings and elegant ancient style. I animated two constellations - Gemini and Aquarius - who will be watching Phaeton's chariot as it races through the sky. The animation needed to be very slow and elegant, bringing across the massive size of these celestial figures. That means there were many similar, anatomical drawings that I had to do.
The second film is Risk, about a chess king who gets dropped into a game of Risk. It's a completely different world, one where four armies are all poised to clash right where he's standing. Will he make it back to the world of black-and-white safely?? This film looked entertaining and fun to draw. It has dynamic action, and strong characters. Whereas Sol feels like a moving illustration, animating on Risk is like creating a cartoon. Between the two, I'm getting a great range of animation practice.
AIB and MICA work as a great team; where MICA lacks, AIB excels, and vice versa. I'm glad I chose to come to this school, which is even greater than I had thought at first! I only wish I could stay for the next term as well, to see the films to completion.
Almost at entire week 2! The first week of classes is over and I've switched one of my classes several times. When I got here, SACI surprised us with about 284 arbitrary mandatory Itallian state government/SACI related fees which was frustrating considering what the rates for dollar to euro are right now. But I decided to avoid a big studio fee for the screen printing class and switched into a creative writing workshop and then finally settled into Renaissance Literature which looks awesome! The bad side is I won't learn screen printing in a classroom environment. The good side is I can still use their facilities for the MICA independent honors studio (with Noel teaching me) and the only real studio course I have is that independent one! What a nice contrast to the vortex of pain last semester!
Conservation is freaking awesome too! In Painting Conservation we're making practice boards which show us all the steps used in making a wood panel. We made our own gesso with rabbit skin glue and whiting gypsum and on Tuesday we'll sand it down to a fine flat surface and begin re-creating a Bysantine looking painting on it. I'll scan it and put it up when we're finished but I have no work to show for myself yet... because I'm lame.... but I will have a comic for Illustrophillia! If only I could get my hands on a scanner. I've been told there are ones in the design building so that will be my adventure tomorrow!
They've got weekly life drawing sessions pretty much everywhere, if you look hard enough. But the good thing about AIB's life drawing is that it's for animators. As in, they organise it. Which is cool. But the better thing about AIB's life drawing is free paper and drawing implements!!How can I pass that up, when MICA charges to walk into the school store? As Ariyana can tell you, I'm a whiz at going to life drawing every week,* so the only thing stopping me is a 45 minute wait for the bus home afterward. Ouch... Or "brrr," rather.
Anyway - here's some of the highlights. I've never worked with chalk on black paper, so that was fun. The first years also have a life drawing requirement every Friday; the graphite ones are from that session.
Apologies for the bad quality. It's pretty much impossible to take a good photograph of a drawing. At least with my camera. Click for larger images. Oh yes, the little numbers (as good art students could probably figure out) are the length of the pose.
* Okay, maybe not "Life Drawing," but finding naked people? Sure. * cough cough
I've been in Bournemouth for a whole week now, so I believe a nice sketch post is in order. My Little Moleskine* is getting good use! People from the seaside, people from McDonald's, people from the bus, and some other exchange students from Paris who are in the Animation Programme as well. The course has been going great so far, and there is life drawing every week, so there will be some naked people in the future!
Helloeveryone! I've made ittoFlorencealiveandtired. It's 8pmhereand I've beenawaketoolongbut I havetostay up a littlelonger so that jet lagdoesn't eatmybrain. So far I cantellyouabout the amazinginnovationof the aeroplane. I consider myself an expert now considering I've been on three in the past 24 hours. Unfortunatley my luggage was lost in the process and I patiently await its arrival because I would like clothes and shampoo :___:.....I'm not sure how they're going to let me know when it gets here since I couldn't leave them a contact number and left the school address as the delivery address. On the bright side, I live like two blocks away from the Duomo in a crazy little fourth floor appartment. it's very cozy.
But I'm here in Florence with Noel and one of our other roommates, David, who's really cool (and goes to normal school!!). Orientation starts tomorrow and if they try to make me play ridiculous character building touchy feely games I'm gonna put a hole through the wall!
