All about Early Deliveries.

Always. I recently received (very recently actually) a very valuable piece of advice from a very close compadre. In vents my woes against the nerveracking pressures of an approaching deadline, he explained (in my intrepreted jargon) "Always overestimate the amount of time it will take, and then surprise them with an early arrival." Thank you for that.

It stuck out, though, in a way that was both useful as well as memorable...

I had my second revsion of storyboards delivered a little later than I planned in my head, but a day earlier than they were expected. I kicked myself for not meeting MY deadline beffforrree the deadline, but... am keeping this statement in mind as I await a response at the closing curtains on the day "of" the actual delivery.

Over the next few weeks, my schedule will peak for my artistic endeavors and plateau for the airlines. I have a nice break from flying after today. Always welcomed when you feel as if you want to throw the towel in on the sweatshop labor of working with no anticipated breaks in doing your laundry and repacking for a quick return to the airport versus sitting down and watching a movie with your family... That job is great when your finished ONLY. I guess, as is most?

Two weeks of freedom from the rapidfire shifts and full focus on bringing the 2D photoshop sequential set sequences into 3D life. The set needs to be constructed now, and 3D, I feel, is the best way to properly build an animatic without much heartache of angle adjustments. With repitious perpective and angle adjustments, photoshop will make me cry if I had to sit down for another massive angle revision... "If you can just pan the camera 90 degrees and shift everything to the right...?" is like asking "if the earth can rotated upside down and right side up instead of around and around...?". Completely different visuals. Ah, art.

But back to delivery... I'd rather wait, than keep someone waiting. I anticpate getting back to any and all or my personal work in the mean time, along with the occasional match on a bottle of red and a really, really good night's rest. Saying farewell to flying for a bit and hello to the gym, leisure, and all of my other loves.

This Scenic Route Is Not So Scenic.......

There's a few problems that I run into with working downstairs in my office by myself. The number one speedbump, mound, or mountain is that when I need help in a very specific area, I can never seem to master my googling skills to troubleshoot a appaudable solution in an adequate ammount of time. So, I achieve the task I set out to do, but in a solution that is comparable to finding an underground tunnel and having to swim through slop to get to the other side versus climbing over with the guile of a spiderman... I do evennnntuuuuallllyyy get to the other side, but not in a way I consider productive nor conclusive to higher learning. Just like the age old times of when there wasn't a video camera but only a camera for animation--- that's how I "want" to look at it to feel a little better, but surely there is an easier way out there in the world wide web that has nothing to do with in-house development tools or advancements in technology. It just boils down to not being at the advantage becoming my own TD (Technical Director) on any level. I can't give myself a promotion. I must reapply for myself in another year, I guess.... :)

Seriously, it's bothersome. It makes me hate working alone, because sometimes there is no easy answer for what one is trying to achieve and there are no simple resources when projects get complex. In a nutshell. I promise I'm not the only one out there that must feel this way!

Also, I have a feeling that what I am trying to achieve with my website at the moment, is even more diffcult to explain. So I won't bore you with the technicalities.

The main thing: I do have a solution. And it may be longer, more arduous, and teeth writhing, hair grabbing, and provoking of frothing madness, but it gets you to the destination eventually and perhaps a little off schedule.

WHY??? Well, If I seek help online through a forum, I have to wait for someone to conjur up the energy to write a solution or, even worse, wait, and then after some hoping get a response in which they request clarification. No, no. Not that I wouldn't want the assistance, I'm patient, but I feel they'll need a visual reference to fully help me with a solution is webdesign savvy. Unfortuantely, I don't know many people who are deeply involved with web design to pick up the phone and call...

Right now-- it just works. It's functioning and its fine, But it's probably the WORST approach possible. It's reminding me of shoving clothing into a closet because you have nowhere to put it while all along wanting to make the room appear clean. In reality, it's not clean. It's a damn mess.

The way I always try to work, is that if I want to get skilled in multiple areas-- I have to not just do it. I have to do it right. Perhaps I am a perfectionist. So be it. Better off crafting for flawlessness than throwing together something with a core filled of careless errors.

I will seek help after to learn. And hope that someone can guide me down a smarter path, but I can't take the time right now to wait for the solution.

It works. But the scenic route, the "real" scenice route is definitely not this way. I've loaded up my Concept content online, and, minus the desciptions, I am almost finished with the life drawing section. You can view both interactive pages here:
http://www.lisamarie.biz/2D_Designs.php
http://www.lisamarie.biz/GalleryPages/2D/Cycle1/2D_LifeDrawing1.php

Otherwise, here's a snapshot. The same layout, really, as the concept page...



IF ANYONE CARES TO READ THE TECHY END OF THIS THREAD, HERE IT GOES:

Right now, my main struggles are the iframes of the submenu (CHAIN WITH LINKS) and how they are working with the main design pages. I want the chain holding the plates (when clicked) to appear as if its dropping... but when clicking the iframe links, they are referencing each other (and appearing to drop), instead of referencing their complimenting background pages.

I'm not sure if I can keep the iframes but have them reference TWO things when clicked-- I doubt it. Must find out, but, for some reason I believe it might be unlikely without major coding outside of html. This area in particular that I am speaking of:




I could have done flash (it probably would have been easier in the long haul) but I wanted a stop motion sort of feel for now. I may change this later because I really like the organics of flash, but for now.... I like bareboned.

I got rid of the iframes (which I'm not a fan of anyways) and created a div incorporated into the Design Pages, and now have a different Design Page for each "placement" of the plate in each of the following topics: CONCEPTS, CHARACTERS, TATTOOS, LIFE DRAWING, CELL.

Where this leaves me:
WAAAY to many pages for my liking + (besides the changing divs) mostly repitious content per Topic.

I was also considering a php include as an alternative... to cut down the ammount of pages accumlating and slim the site down, but I'm not sure how I would do this when the background needs to change on each topic?

Anways, so yeah.
Techy troubles in the land of web design.
I'll let you know what responses I receive to the problem.

In Contrary to a "Best Work Only" Portfolio?

Loading in the content is more difficult than I thought. Along with having one of those funk days where I needed to force myself to get motivated to work, I found myself struggling with whether or not I'm adding an overload of content. I heard it quite a bit of times to only show your best work, at least when it comes to demo reels. I'm almost sure the same applies to everything else.

But why, really? Shouldn't one be honest with their selves? Show the strengths that come along with the weaknesses? Display the whole packag, ready for a reaction to the reaction, whether to duck from tomatoes or catch flowers. Take the good comments with the bad? You only learn from this-- and I find it to be a bit pompous for a viewer, employer or other, to not expect someone to have any areas that are more intermediate than others.

My first content page as it currently appears:



So, decidely, I'm putting it all out on the table for review-- and welcoming whatever comes with a sense of levelheadness, that I'm not Boris Valero by far, I adore the talent and design skills of Mr. Bobby Chui and Mr. Jonny Duddle, I admire the success and unabashed realism captured by the females artists Ms. Marta Dahlig and Ms. Katarina Sokolova, all of them are my top favorites and I can never cease to get amazed by the flawlessness of their work, but I'm just me. Just me, and I've given it all I got in my past and I'm still hopeful that I can get even more out myself of the future.

So, again, what's really the right thing to do? Best Work Only ... or All or Nothing? I step with my best foot first, but I do still have two....

Anyways, please do check out the work of these artists. I promise that you'll be floored. All of them are truly amazing:


http://digital-bobert.cgsociety.org/gallery/
http://www.katarinasokolova.com
http://www.blackeri.deviantart.com/gallery
http://www.imaginistix.com
http://www.duddlebug.com

The Euphoria Of Seeing A Finish Line...

Tonight I'll be adding in my collection of work to my website. This are stand alone pages that will represent skills outside of my 3D reel from artwork I've built over the last decade. These galleries will display are wide varitey of areas I've dabbled in with some being more specialized than others. Overall, though, I really felt a need to share an general proof of some sense of an ability for each.

My main gripe with this, now... (There's ALWAYS some kind of gripe with me)... is that I won't be able to stuff-up all of the thumbnails. And as I work out the style of the actual galleries during this work session in Photoshop-- I still don't even know how many thumbnails there with be yet. Thinking through, I've been contemplating whether of not to put in "Coming Soon" placeholders icons, sort of like the link icons... and just fill them as I accumlate a denser portfolio, which is next on my list inbetween the free moments I have with my current freelance gig.

I will say that the feeling that surfaces lately from this all: RELIEF. As if crossing the finish line, I do all of the things a finalist would do, with hands on my knees suck in all the breaths I can thankful that I can still breathe, throw back my chin to the sky with a jug of water to my lips remembering the taste of water that I just want to forget while along the way, the wedgie factor finally freed without worry of reoccurence, the anticipation of a shower and a massage........

OK, so I'm overexaggerating. :)
But you get the idea of how I starting to feel.

Now back to the finish line I haven't QUITE crossed yet. Well, hello, focus!
I'm not sure if I should sprint, but I know that the last couple two days I was running at a slow pace in luxury of thinking I'm actually winning-- Watching movies, exercising, reading, socializing with coworkers at my airline job over dinner and drinks... And it feels like bliss.

As I would imagine a marathon runner would feel as they look ahead and saw the end of the 26.something miles they just invested. The story of the mararthon, however, in hopefully not in my own fate. My friend, Geroge, I credit this knowledge to, but quote it from the wonderful works of Wikipedia:

"The traditional story relates that Pheidippides (530 BC–490 BC), an Athenian herald, was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece. He ran 240 km (150 miles) in two days. He then ran the 40 km (25 miles) from the battlefield near Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia in the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) with the word "Νενικήκαμεν" (Nenikékamen, "We have won") and collapsed and died on the spot from exhaustion."

I reinstate my euphoria, yes, although after I do finally finish this site after my long haul of alliance to it, I am hopeful to avoid the "collapse and died" extreme. I feel quite exhausted, but still can't wait to go out and have some downtime and then advance onward to other personal projects!

So, It's been awhile...

Things have been hectic, Things have been busy, but still nothing much has seemed to change in my life. I can't say I'm necessarily happy, and not necessarily sad. Overall I'm content with a few ticks of discontent. Sometimes I wish that things would pick up a bit more or move a little faster, but that's always been the way I operate. I keep trying to remind myself that there's no rush, but time goes by so quickly and I there's still so many things left unchecked on my to-do list.

I still feel the need to keep the world posted on what I've been up, too, as if to soothe over some guilt that you all may feel I'm lazy. Please believe, I've been working my toosh off. Always am with occasional slumps of downtime outside of my job at the airlines. Yes, next month will be a whopping 10 years in the airlines business <--- That's the epitome of time flying right there.

So, here's what been on the home front of my true passion. My art. I've decided to go with a new theme for my website versus the lame theme I started blogging about way back in 2006. Over time, I filed away ideas and inspirations of other work I had seen, including mediums outside of the presentation of an attractive website.

I found inspiration in the 3D reels of other artists, the mood and balances of digital paintings, and over exaggeration and feature of character designs... I just wanted to store away all that I could (even added some to my favorites) and thankfully I felt somewhat fulfilled by all the talents out there rather than discouraged. And now I find that I'm on the road to try and be part of that line up.

I start with the presentation right now: My new site, Carousel Science, which should be completed, skimmed of all junk coding, equipped with clean and fluid navigation, and ready for an official shout out on Facebook by the end of next week. This 3D version of personal web project of mine has been in the works since the end of the summer, but had to be put on hold a few times for some freelancing. Oddly enough, the work I've been getting of late HAS been web design. I feel that presentation, at very least, says a whole bunch of something, if it isn't looked at as being 'everything' in this day and age.




2011: I've defined more of a focus now on what I aspire to do as a career with the help of some friends I've made over the summer. I don't want to jinx myself so I will withhold from that revealing that label. In any event, I'm not quite there yet and I am welcoming all work in any medium.

Currently, my most recent venture, between the airlines and this web design, is hashing out the preliminary rounds of a web-mercial for a shower drainage system. I can't post the thumbnails or storyboards yet because I'm still in production, but will take you through my process after I wrap the project up.

I expect the project to last around 2 months or so... It is only me and I running it the way I was schooled to run it-- thumbnails, boards, animatics, model sheets and modeling, layout and placement, filling into animatic placeholders to make a previs, and then onto replacing the previs with finalized comps, postwork, sound fx, etc etc etc. (That long list of stuff ahead that I try not to think about except in broken terms and one at a time) Otherwise, it's overwhelming.

My largest trouble, I predict, will be figuring out the technicalities of the best and most time-efficient way to approach the shots in 3D. R+D, gotta love it.

Anyways, it's nice to have the time to sneak in a small comeback on here. And I really am set on keeping these post steady.

The term Carousel Science the theory that all life is a cyclic science only because without science we wouldn't have technology, and without history we wouldn't have the ability to advance technology . They are both borrowed necessities to the fundamental roots of improving the future of life.

Here are some screenshots of my revamped site of 2011:




The site is www.lisamarie.biz

I wanted a hybrid of both the natural and the mechanical, as my opinion is a close relation to our current time... A Juxtaposition, as well, motion from stills, to convey stop motion. I aimed for RAW and user friendly as possible-- (flash and Javascript free with a 600x800 center of interest).

My next steps are to finish cleaning up the remaining files, to work out iframe issues, then load up my work, and get a functioning CSS image preloader to diminish any choppiness or wait-time after loading.

If anyone would like a how-to on any component that you may like in my site, please feel free to comment and I'd be glad to assist where I can.

Thanks for reading and for being there.
It's good to be back!