Author: dgallucc

Rebecca Sugar is a Jewish American animator, composer, and director – she is behind the success of the children’s TV show Steven Universe and has the title of the first woman to independently create a show for cartoon network.  Her work endeavors to communicate a variety of themes that are typically left out of children’s media. In particular, she works to include a great diversity of characters and situations within her show – characters of all ages with all body types and life experiences.

She strays away from the typical means of animating women in cartoons, using instead very basic primary shapes in a variety of ways to communicate a variety of acceptable body types. She focuses very heavily on the importance of relationships – whether this is in the form of the differing types of familial connections – single-parent households, non-traditional families, and the “nuclear” family – friendships, or romantic relationships. Perhaps the most notable aspect of her work is how she strives for better representation of LGBT+ people – especially in a non-sexual way intended for children. Her work will doubtlessly affect queer children’s view of themselves in a more positive way – especially given how frequently LGBT+ people and issues are coded as “mature themes” not appropriate for children. Her work is the first step to creating a more positive means of communication with children of all backgrounds.

 

https://www.instagram.com/rebeccasugar/?hl=en

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/rebecca-sugar-steven-universe-lgtbq/

http://rebeccasugar.tumblr.com/

 

Paloma Smith, who goes by the Instagram pseudonym “octoplum” is sculptor, artist and designer, who uses her cross-genre expertise in her media as a means of communicating feminist ideas. Her work is astoundingly detailed – from her lovely drawings to her full-body sculptures, she does not shy away from nudity – in fact, she embraces it. Her work is meant to emphasize all the odd things about human bodies that are too often criticized or condemned. Her work tends to feature people with body types that are looked down upon in society – bodies with fat rolls, stretch marks, cellulite,  etc. She makes sure to include such specific details in her work to emphasize that none of these things are meant to be ashamed of – her work showcases the beauty in all these things.

Additionally, her work is meant to make certain types of people uncomfortable – and then make them question what it is about this natural human form that does that to them. She has a series of pins that she sells on her etsy store which are silky nipples –made from ceramic in a variety of skin tones and nipple types – some pierced, some not. She also custom makes then for the skin tone of buyers – encouraging them to pin them on their shirts or jackets in a way that looks like their actual nipple is out on display. In doing this, she is supporting the “free the nipple” movement – specifically, questioning what it is about this part of the body that is considered so offensive. Her work receives greatly mixed reviews, but its quality cannot be disputed.

https://www.instagram.com/octoplum/?hl=en

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Octoplum

 

Charmaine Olivia is an artist based in South California who uses primarily paint to express her colorful visions. Her paintings utilize an expansive color pallet, and typically feature women’s faces in some way. In her works, she explores themes of beauty and the mind. Her images evoke strong whimsical vibes – visions of ethereal planes and beings communicated in fluid stokes, with various hidden details.

 

She combines realism and abstract aspects into her paintings. Her subjects are a varied blend of beautiful women, and communicate her passion for women and their strength. Her non-painting illustrations are similarly wonderful in their color pallet and imaginative composition. A great deal of her work is then placed within intricate frames and displayed. Her works are typically very large as well – her work times are spaced into hours of labor for each session. This being said, she produces a great amount of work. She works typically in oils, but the medium she paints onto differs depending on the meaning of the work she is producing, the general emotions she hopes to convey with the finished piece. As a very talented artist, she also tends to merely practice her skills on different media. The most inspirational aspect of her work is its constant evolution – despite maintaining a constant theme and cohesive feel behind her work, it is constantly changing and improving alongside its artist.

 

http://charmaineolivia.tumblr.com/

http://www.charmaineolivia.com/

While all the information presented was interesting and having learned it all will certainly will not hurt me, a great deal of the material was a bit redundant to me. Most of it has been covered by other classes by this point. I understand that this is mostly due to the constant reconstruction of the IGST major, but this class felt a bit unnecessary or late.

Post-graduation, I hope to

1. Land an entry level job – video game industry, animation industry – no real preference so long as I can do art and get paid
2. Accumulate money, experience, and credit
3. Alongside this: continue work writing/publishing – generate enough income to afford a nice apartment and at least one animal friend pal.
4. Begun saving for overseas travel – think about time long term overseas, japan, etc. – again, time not too relevant – create lasting system that makes sure I can do this
5. Take (brief) trips around the world, accumulate stories
6. Work my way up & around the corporate ladder.

Before I get to work on any of this, I need to finish school and make sure that I have a holistic set of skills for the future. Whilst doing so, I will also be building a network – a social ladder I can also climb and use to advance me professionally, and as a person. Over the summers and during breaks I will endeavor to create prints and other small things to be sold to get my name out there in some way. In the same way, I will continue to write every day.

My long term goals are vague, as of this point, but they involve a happy life with pets, friends, art and travel – I know I need to be a published author eventually, and I will certainly have a part in story-boarding some masterpieces, but for the moment, I am unclear as to how, what, and when.

Part 1: In class Monday we had visiting speakers who work in the local video game industry. Write a short response to our visiting speaker presentations. Who were they? What do they do? Did you learn anything new through their talk?

A. Manuela Masaleña from Team Dogpit talked to us bout her card-fighting PC game “Loteria del Adios!”. I learned a lot about game development, especially from the creative aspects, which is where I hope to make my career one day.

Part 2: Next class we will have some faculty presenters. This is your chance to ask them anything, no matter how absurd. Post at least one question on your blog. You can post more if you like. I will collate and choose some of the common questions that come up.

A. When did you first realize that this is what you wanted to do with your life? How did you know?

• http://roosterteeth.com/about/career-position/93
• https://jobs.disneycareers.com/job/-/-/391/3351606?codes=INDEED
• https://jobs-issinc.icims.com/jobs/1903/motion-graphics-artist-intern/job?mode=job&iis=Indeed&iisn=Indeed.com&mobile=false&width=1584&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-360&jun1offset=-300
• https://blizzard.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?job=16000TZ&src=JB-1052

1. How planned is your future / how is it customized to you?
   1. My future – or my major, rather – is focused to my specifications: I am learning the hard skills of my hopeful future profession, while not sacrificing the attention to the creative fields that I love: creative writing and art.
2. If you could travel abroad where would you go and why?
   1. I would love to visit Scandinavia – just take a tour of the entire area, absorb the stories in that part of the world, and experience them a bit more. Additionally, I think a visit to Japan could prove helpful for my major – I would love to explore the culture and technology that has become so intertwined with the video game world.
3. Are you part of a student group? what kinds of extra-curricular activities would you like to see?
   1. I am a part of It’s On Us, and I would like to be more involved in Command_G, and perhaps see some sort of Horror Club on campus – critical analysis and deconstruction of what makes something scary in ours, or foreign cultures.

Kate Clark is a New York based artist specializing in sculpture, but her medium is a bit unusual. She works with animal bodies in a bazaar twist of taxidermy, endeavoring to create human-looking faces for the final pose of the creature. Since her rise to art fame, she and her works have been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Cool Hunting, VICE, and more. Her works feature lifelike taxidermy, with an added bit of something familiar – Clark sews the warped facial flesh of the long-dead animals and creates a human face, adding pins to secure her every detail and lifelike, dreamy eyes to finish the piece. Her work is frightening to some, inspiring to others. Regardless, there is tremendous skill involved, and the results cause the viewers to be filled with a curious sense of wonder.

For each class ask yourself the following:

1. My greatest strengths in _[Class specified]___include:

1. Biology: perseverance, teamwork, drive to succeed.
2. Video Game History: Previous knowledge, genuine interest in course material, curiosity, analytical mindset
3. Visual Seminar: Past work/experiences to draw from, previous college experience.
4. Audio Design: a good ear, creative mindset, minor past experience with the tools involved
5. Ethics: critical thinking skills, previous exposure to course material, understanding of basic rhetoric – past education with high focus on morality/ethics (catholic high school)
6. American Dilemmas: Up to date on current affairs, politically active, past and current activism, debate experience

2. For greater success in this course, I need to:

1.  Biology: Set up more study sessions with classmates, spend more time taking notes and flashcards, and actually ask questions when our teacher goes too fast.
2. Video Game History: Get more engaged – go beyond class material to bring more discussion into the mix.
3. Visual Seminar: Make sure to arrive on time and get work done promptly.
4. Audio Design: More study sessions with classmates, more field work, asking more questions in (and out) of class
5. Ethics: Attend more extra credit opportunities, continue current activity level in class
6. American Dilemmas: Continue activity, get outside class requirements scheduled ahead of time

 

 

 

Computer skills:

1. My computer skills include:

1. Word, powerpoint, paint tool sai, partial illustrator and photoshop knowledge, visual basic, minimal knowledge of Java

2. I still need to learn:

1. Premiere, audition, unity, at least one modern coding language, industry grade software, etc.

Research & writing skills:

1. My greatest strengths as a researcher/writer include:

1. The strength of my arguments, the evidence behind them, and a style that is easily enrapturing to a variety of readers.

2. I need to work on these aspects of research and writing:

1. Limiting my word count. I tend to be a fluffier writer, and more generally speaking, a person who wants to say too much at once. I need to condense what I’m writing about to one argument at a time, and limit spill over from other subjects/thoughts.

3. I learn best & accomplish most when:

1. I begin in a very strict, scheduled learning environment – once I’m up to speed about the way I’m meant to interact with course material, I tend to speed up on my own – I need training wheels initially, but later like to rip them off. If I’m in an environment that allows for too much freedom initially (or assumes that I already understand the course material and how to go about learning more) I tend to becomes flustered and overwhelmed.

ACTION PLAN

To improve my grade/performance in my audio design class, I should

1. Schedule study sessions in close proximity to class times so I can reiterate what was learned in that time
2. Do field work with classmates, to get their feedback and otherwise learn from them
3. Edit alongside someone else – ask questions, compare, etc.
4. Do more independent reading/research into the actual profession of sound deisgn
5. Email my teachers about actually learning the software we’re meant to be using
6. Get ahold of my group members, and actually get ahold of the recorder I’m supposed to be using for once
7. Read ahead in the textbook to make sure I’m caught up when we discuss things in class
8. Stay on top of my recordings, and organization of my Box folders
9. Stop letting my anxiety control me – going to class even when I’m having a panic attack about my work not being good enough
10. Realize that I should not compromise my learning experience because I’m afraid of a group of nerds thinking that I don’t belong there.