From Minneapolis with Luv!

Weekend concert and skinned knees

2008-06-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

The week went by really quickly! Besides lots of drawing (I still have to scan my sketch book sometime) I went to see Chris Koza at the Main Room in downtown. Bought some really awesome posters the concert by a local artist, Andrew Turman and completely took the skin off both my knees when I was biking around. :( Over all it was fun fun and BTW Bandaid brand makes a kick ass wide knee band aid!

Main room club!

They play animations during intermission.
Chris Koza!
The aftermath.

Biking on the weekend

2008-06-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

I got another bike from another co-worker and embarked on some trail riding this weekend. Since Minneapolis is the City of Lakes, I biked around 4 of them roughly 20 miles or so. I got lost part way and ended up 4 hours off my original path and thus mayhem occured :)

I got caught in a 20 minute hail storm - fun fun fun... (photo borrowed from FLICKR site - not mine!!!!)

Buildings at Lake Harriet
Boating at Lake Cahoun
Kayaking!

Outdoor concert Hall!
Lake Harriet Beach.
Red Hot Art festival!

Many, many, many bike paths.

Robots and other cool toys!

2008-05-29T12:06:00.001-07:00

So I went to this new place called Robot Love and SOO

and found a lot of cool stuff to look at. I bought myself a little companion since I was getting a little lonely at nights...

Nabaztag - WIFI rabbit on crack!!! (eat that Mike!)

A lot of fun toys!

There was a really cute show by Erin Currie

featuring some really unique dolls and paintings.

Meet Silver Gloomi, my bedtime snuggler!

A night on the town!

2008-05-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

So I did two useful things today: 1) I applied for my US Social Insurance # so I can get paid, unfortunately it should be coming in 4 weeks.
2) On the spur of the moment, I got a cheap seat at Eddie Izzard's show that was at the Orpheum. He did a 2 hour long stint with no breaks and was extremely, EXTREMELY funny!
YAH EDDY!

Life drawing and Duck vibrators

2008-05-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

I decided to get a little life drawing done and joined a small group called Dr. Sketchy's anti-art school. It was life drawing in a bar with booze, thematic lighting and burlesque dancers (named Lady Ascensia and Tomahawk tassles) for models. All in all, it was A LOT of FUN! - See more under.

Definitely not one of my better pics, but I had downed 2 pints already...and it was really dark.
Both Tomahawk and Ascensia (she a poet) posing together. I had one more pic I really liked, but one of the models really liked it so I gave it to her :)

The drawing set-up, bar room seating!
Yes people actually sat down and drew like this!
They gave out supplies....
We had a host and the models on the stage! There were drawing contests and I ended up winning twice, I got a gift certificate for Smitten Kitten and......
A vibrating massaging ducky.

And a Kama Sutra bath set complete with lubricant (or bath gel). What I really wanted was the $25 coffee gift certificate...

First work week done!

2008-05-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

Watched IRON MAN today and all I can say is "WOW". Highly. Highly Recommended. On a lighter note I ended up eating at "White Castle" and to be honest, Harold and Kumar got gyped, burgers were very thin and overly salty and really, all I thought was I should gone to the Wendy's a block back.

Time off work

2008-05-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Where to go where the 9 to five grind is over? Midnight coffee shops and crime bookstores. See read more for more info!

Since I've gotten here, I found some pretty sweet spots to hang out. One is the Bad Waitress cafe it's a superhero themed dinner that's open till midnight. Offers free wifi.
Another place is the Spyhouse, another midnight coffee/wifi place (coffee is really good, though midnight coffee drinking isn't that smart!)

I've also gone to a really cool bookstore - nothing but crime stories.
A really tiny MCAD gym (seriously it's a sections studio space with machines) that make Sheridan's gym look huge!
And the following pic was something that I couldn't resist taking.

WIMP!!!

2008-05-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

So ever feel like a complete dork? In my case it started with a bike...And here is the rest of it.

Bruce was really nice and lent me his bike to use for the summer. I decided then to overcome my enormous fears of riding in city traffic. Which then made me decide to make the following purchase.

And yes, even with the helmet and a long three hour bike ride which took me from Uptown to Downtown and a lake, weaving in and out traffic (the city has bike lanes to boot). I'm still scared shitless of riding near cars, trucks, traffic, lamposts, children little animals etc. but at least I'm still riding...

until 6:30 this evening when I left the bike at work cause my ass was sore like hell....

Minilogue/hitchhikers choice - short version (Longer on DVD)

2008-05-21T07:34:00.001-07:00

Cool stop animation video that was sent to me! Check it out, animating through stop motion

Look Ma I'm drawing!

2008-05-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

I've started attending an opening life drawing session at MCAD. They have it on Mondays 7-9pm. So it's a summer of draw, draw draw.....
A 20 minute piece in my sketch book, see more below.And here is the rest of it.
This is the studio that they use at MCAD - $5 a session folks!

Let the studying begin

The workplace! Say hello to co-op!

2008-05-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on work (and a few pics), welcome to the next 3 months of my life - reelworks.
Outside of reelworks!And here is the rest of it.
My work station! (I have an animator's table).
They give out supplies too. I have all the blue pencils I want, a two screened MAC with intuos tablet (and free coffee and tea to boot!)
And this was my first day at training. I did 3 practice tweens for an old animation which were critiqued and reviewed by Brett. The average tweens done by an animator 3-5/hour, what I did, 3 in a day. I did better today though, I did 6 in a day. Whooo....oooo.....(meh!)

I'm supervised by Brett, the assistant animator, and also work with Bruce, the head animator, Audrey (one of the producers) and Thom (the fixer guy/digital works etc.) Everyone is really nice and fairly laid back and there'll be lots to do this summer!

If this experience has taught me anything, it's a complete new respect of animator's and the work they do. Heart the animatoooooors! (But I still am an illustrator first and foremost)!

Trip down under!

2008-05-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

Hey there! This is it my trip to Minneapolis. So first was the wait at the TO airport for 2 hours (where I was charged $130 extra for an extra bag and excess weight - that sucked!)

Then I was on the plane, heading to Cleveland (where it looks really green). From there after a brief look at the terminal (which was surprising big) and then off to Minneapolis.
Where it was raining - but the view from the airplane was interesting - it's really patch like, just like the prairies!

Updated website!!!!

2008-05-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

I finally updated my website including all my illustration, textiles, animation and design work from this semester - check it out here!

Starting freelancing

2008-05-18T23:11:00.001-07:00

My really good friend Karen is getting married next year and I'm helping her illustrate her invitation. This was the initial sketch that was based off my silk screened couple series (see couple series). Although it didn't really work out in the end (I'm doing another sketch that I'll post after the invites have been sent) I like it and will likely do a silkscreen in September.

Hey there! I am not in Canada!

2008-05-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to create a blog for this summer. One so I can track what is happening with co-op and two so I can tell everyone (who is interested about it)