Summer Days

So since summer started I've been extremely busy.  Luckily, I was able to fit in a few fun stuff.  My boyfriend had his commencement at UCI and my sister also graduated high school.  I went to Universal Studios with my boyfriend and his family for his birthday, which was really fun.  I really like the new tram ride and the King Kong experience.  I also celebrated my high school friend's 23rd birthday.  We made jello shots in fruit cups! It was really cool.  We poured the jello into carved out oranges, so that when it sets, we can cut it into slices and eat the jello that way.  Yum. Then for fourth of July, I attended a BBQ, went to Wild Rivers, and watched fireworks from the Huntington Beach pier!  But beside those things, I've been pretty busy working.

I was able to get the art internship at Neopets, so that's been taking up a lot of my time. I can't go into the details or show what I've done, but so far I've been designing and executing different items that the pets can wear.  The art team is very fun and nice.  I had some little issues when I first started with the paperwork, but it's resolved now so it's all good. :D

I've also been taking those classes at Concept Design Academy.  That pretty much takes up all my time.  So usually my day would be as follows: go to work at Neopets, then to classes at CDA, come home and do homework until way hours of the night, pass out, and  then wake up and start all over again.  I'm learning SOOOOO much though.  There's so much knowledge that the different teachers have and such great tips on making things easier.  I'll post what I've done in the first five weeks below! I only have the homework to show.  I haven't recorded anything I've done in class yet.

So first up is my Figure Invention for Animators class with Rad Sechrist.  The first week we focused on  breaking down the construction of the head, so for homework we had to do studies.

Then we moved onto the torso.

And then we started on our personal projects.  I'm doing character designs based off of a Vietnamese fairy tale.  So far I've only gotten the ideation sketches done but you can check them out anyway.

Then onto the next class, Analytical Figure Drawing. Kevin Chen knows SOOO much, it's incredible. If you have the time or money to take this class, TAKE IT! It's definitely worth it. I just wish I can execute all the great things he taught. I've been also attending Laguna's Saturday workshop every week to get my homework done for this class. So been busy doing that as well. So here's my homework.

My last class is Environment Design with James Paick. My Environment Design teacher from LCAD, Jason Schieir, is sitting in the classes so I get to see him there. :) I feel as if I'm struggling a little still, but I'm learning a lot. So far these are just thumbnails.

For our first design assignment, we have to design a Magic the Gathering card! From the description it sounded like a swamp card to me. This was challenging because I usually like pretty stuff, so the decay was something new. Still really enjoy working on it!

So sorry for the long absence, but at least you get a HUGE update.  I'll try to find more time to update more when I can.

School's Out for the Summer! Finals and Online Portfolio

Yay, so I'm finished with finals and it's now summer! I thought I did pretty well on the finals, and it was a great semester overall.  Just to start off, I finally have an art portfolio blog to show professionals. It includes my portfolio, animations, and resume. You can find it here: www.alexandravo.blogspot.com  I hope you enjoy it. :D


Anywhat, in Computer Animation with Mauricio Hoffman, we had to do a collaborative project for a dialog scene. I made mine with Jennifer Wynters. We took a dialog clip from Dodgeball, and animated it. She animated the first half(scenes 1-4; 1-13 secs) , and I animated the second half (scenes 5-11; 14-26 secs).

Touche: Full from Alex Vo on Vimeo.

It was pretty fun. The most fun project we did the whole semester. I wish we had more time to polish it though. If you just want to see my half you can see it bellow:

Touche: My Part Only from Alex Vo on Vimeo.

Then in Sketchbook Ideation with Kyle Kane, we pretty much turned in all the work we did the whole semester. I still haven't recorded the traditional stuff yet, but you can see the digital stuff bellow. :)  I was originally really worried about this class, but it ended well, so that's good. :) The last section that we did were environments.  Some of the ones bellow are master studies, so you might be able to recognize some of them.

Then in my next class, Figure Drawing for Animators with Lou Police, we choose our top 50 drawings and submitted it on a CD. I've been posting the drawings I've been doing throughout the semester so I won't repost those. Just the new ones. :)

Then in Modern and Contemporary with Bill Havlicek we just had to turn in a final paper. This was my least favorite class by far. I'm not really a fan of Modern and Contemproary-both the art and philosophy. However, it was a very easy class and I ended up doing well, so that's good.

Lastly I had Environment Design with Jason Schieir. I learned a LOT from this class. I walked in not knowing much about photoshop, but I came out pretty proud of myself. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I still can't believe that I was capable of doing the work I did. I struggled a lot at first, but I kept at it, and it was worth it in the end. You've seen some of the work I did throughout the semester in my previous posts. I'm just going to upload my final work in the layout that I presented tot he class. We had to give a pitch, which I was really nervous about, but I made it through. :)

Overall, I learned a LOT this semester.  I know two of my classes won't count towards my degree, but it's the knowledge that counts. 

Over the summer, my plan is to take a few classes at Concept Design Academy.  I'm planning on taking Analytical Figure Drawing with Kevin Chen, Figure Invention with Rad Sechrist, and Environment Design with James Paick.  I'm soooo excited to take those classes.  I'm still trying to look for internships as well, but no luck there yet.  I haven't gotten a call back from Nickelodeon after that interview I had a month ago, so I think it's a no go. :(  Hopefully something else will come up  though. :)

Anywhat, everyone have an awesome summer!  Keep drawing! :D

Work Work Work

So, it's been a while since my last update. I apologize. I've been really busy with school work, as well as trying to apply to internships. Last week, I got a call back and a phone interview from Nickelodeon, so here's hoping I get that. :D

I also got a new camera, and it's super nice. We had an animal day at LCAD, where a baby kangaroo and a serval came so we can draw and take pictures.

I also got a tattoo a couple weeks ago. I really love it. It's nice, delicate, and really pretty.

And then last Sunday, I went to a charity event for Vietnamese orphans. My family decided to sponsor two children, so I'm excited about that too.

My boyfriend also recently graduated UCI with a degree in Neurobiology, so I'm very proud of him. We went to Disneyland to celebrate, and it was extremely fun.

On top of being the school's blogger, I will also be starting to give campus tour guides too. So that should be useful in the wallet department.

So lots of things going on in my life. It's good to keep busy. :)

Anywhat, on to the art!

In computer animation, we had to animate in sync with music, so I decided to do a dance. I animated it to a Korean song by T-ara, called "I Go Crazy Because of You." It was a pretty interesting but frustrating experience. Here's the animation.

"I Go Crazy Because of You" Dance from Alex Vo on Vimeo.

Then in sketchbook ideation, we've moved on to figures. I'm more comfortable in this area, but I still have a long way to go. Like the other work done in this class, it's mainly traditionally, so I don't have copies of it in my laptop to upload yet. Sorry.

Then in figure drawing, I've been having some good weeks, and then not so good weeks, but overall it's fun. Since it's been a while since I updated, I have a lot of work to post from this class.


















And then in Modern and Contemporary, I still dislike the class, but I can appreciate some of the art a little more. I guess that's good.

In Environment Design, I'm learning a LOT. I have a lot of work to upload for that class too, so I hope you enjoy it. At first, I was having a hard time with adding color to my gray scale pieces, but I think I'm getting better at it.







Anywhat, onward to improvements!