after the first semester

what i learned:

i’m not the best, but i’m certainly not the worst.

not all boys are clueless and ridiculous-on one particularly terrible wednesday, two of my *male* classmates exhibited such kindness, sensitivity and sweetness and carefully guided me through my day of extreme frustration and emotional turmoil (ok, that's an exaggeration, but it was so terrible i almost cried). this was my favorite day of the semester.

things classmates do that i hate:

bounce their legs repeatedly, thus vibrating the entire floor.

eat whatever out of a crinkly starbucks bag while the instructor is talking. repeatedly reaching in for a bite, then out again. just take the damn thing out of there!

wear loud clacking shoes and inevitably walk in and out of the classroom at times of maximum distraction.

talk at full volume during critiques while the instructor is talking.

really, just general noise issues and complete unawareness of ones self. my nemesis goes without saying as taking the prize for being the most ridiculously obnoxious and unself-aware of them all.

oh yeah. i learned that i do indeed have a nemesis. and as a nemesis does, she’s able to disarm me in ways that no one else can.

i learned about line quality which transformed my figure drawings.

about color theory and light, character design and creating scenes.

i earned myself a drawing callous, where a small writing callous used to be. it’s pretty great.

drawing is exhausting. i have a knot in my right shoulder that i mistook for bone one day.

i’d forgotten how fun it is to be in class, and the comraderie and community that happens amongst the students.

i’d also forgotten how obnoxious people are. but more lovely than obnoxious, i found.

the new-to-me, or revisited animated movies i’ve seen and have loved this semester:

kung fu panda-so SO good. i can't get over it. i was reluctant to see it in the first place, but it is spot. on. the acting is impeccable and it's just so clever. and beautiful. and awesome. love it love it love it.

lilo & stitch-i wasn't expecting it to be so good. and funny. lilo is a great character and i love the 'broken family' angle, the thick legs of the humans and the alien captain guy. alien design is really cool overall.

surf’s up-also brilliantly acted and very cleverly executed. the surf documentary style is really accurate and mmm what... just great. and hilarious.

paprika-this movie gave me one of the weirdest, loveliest dreams i've ever had. and it's about dreams. it's japanese and freaky, but i'm usually reluctant to spend any time with anime, but this is different and beautiful and weird and awesome.

dumbo (a revisit)-parts that i laughed at as a kid still make me laugh and the characters and story still hold up over all these years of my life and since it was released in 1941. dumbo is one of my most favorite characters. ever. he's sweet. he's adorable. he's sad and devoted to his mother. love that.

aladdin (also a revisit, but freaking brilliant)-man, aladdin is so great. it's beautiful. aladdin's a fox. the design of jafar is so perfect. the story is wonderful. i get a little sick of genie after watching it repeatedly, but overall he does good things. the songs! the scenes! the story! abu! love it.

wall-e, arguably one of the greatest movies ever made. ever. i think i could get a job at pixar purely based on my love for wall-e. i can't believe that movie was made. and that it's marketed to kids! and subversive and saying important things. man. i got to see ralph eggleston speak IN the class room where i had clothed figure drawing. he's worked at pixar since toy story and was the production designer for wall-e. of the five or so talks i got to hear throughout the semester, that one was by far the most fascinating. oh i love wall-e. and you should, too.

ponyo-it was nice to see the NEW miyazaki in the THEATRE! but it was the same day as the folsom street fair (refer to an earlier post for THAT story) and i was unable to hold still and really appreciate what was happening. but i love that it addressed ocean pollution and that it opens with jellyfish.

spirited away-i hadn't seen this one for years, but it's my favorite miyazaki, though i haven't seen 2 or 3 of them. it's so imaginative and i learned that miyazaki does everything himself. he draws out the storyboards, writes the whole thing, designs characters, etc. all of it. he has a big team of animators, but he works all the time, even writing song lyrics.

bambi-pretty amazing.

mulan-i didn't love it, but there were some really beautiful aspects.

aristocats- i freakin LOVE the jazz cats and i really appreciate the way the aristocracy is portrayed. they're fun-loving and polite and gracious and just lovely lovely characters.

the emperor's new groove-this movie always makes me laugh. yzma and kronk are two of the most hilarious, awesome villains .

movies that weren’t great-

robots (there were some god points, but over-all...meh. it's cool LOOKING, but that's not everything, despite what many making movies would like you to believe. and the character of aunt fanny was ridiculous and heavy handed.)

road to el dorado (though tulio is a FOX, i hate hate HATE the character of chel. good looking and i really love kevin kline and kenneth branagh together, but chel really soured it for me.)

undecided-

fantastic mr. fox- like ponyo, i couldn't hold still. after listening to abigail talk about wes anderson's portrayal of gender roles, i find myself disappointed in him in that regard. the girls don't get a lot to do but be pretty and slutty. it's beautiful, of course. the music is great. the animation is really well done. overall i was amused, but also distracted by how small the foxes were in comparison to the humans. overall, it was charming.

where the wild things are- unexpected. but delightful.

those that i’ve met have reinforced the notion that i’ve arrived in just the right place, exactly when i was supposed to. my professors were all so patient and so generous with their considerable knowledge and talent.

i don’t remember my undergraduate professors being quite as engaged, as interested in our success and as present and engaged in teaching.

i so would’ve liked to have squeezed them all, but fear that may have been inappropriate.

the new friends that i made also proved to be a huge support. santiago and james, for so sweetly helping me through that emotional wenesday, joao for understanding my disdain for ‘the laughing girl’, cody for patiently helping me through my constant photoshop frustrations and teaching me exactly what i needed to know, emily for supplying me with tools i desperately needed, diane for telling my future and soothing my spirit, sunny for being the sweetest lady ever, and photographing my outfits that were particularly amusing to her, gene for a steady and amusing support.

i do NOT recommend taking ‘visual elements of the story’ and ‘drawing from imagination’ at the same time. i wasn’t able to devote enough time to either class to satisfy me, though i came through alright and learned more than i ever could’ve expected. i knew it would be difficult, but man, i didn’t know to what extent. but it was so awesome.

so awesome.

i don’t know how any subsequent semester could possibly rival this one.

the spring will teach me: traditional animation 1, acting for animators and the history and techniques of character animation. i hope the work load won’t be anywhere near what it was this semester. it was a nice explosion onto the world of grad school. like anne says, i’ve gone through a kind of rite of passage.

and i grew one big tree ring.

honorable mention to my two lovely roommates who witnessed several transitions, several moods, who listened to all my nonsense, and told me theirs, cooked me many many dinners, drove me to school on the one day i most needed it and for offering a general support and company that without which i wouldn't have survived.