This is a very fuzzy photobooth image of a sketchbook page doodle of mah frands! I'm not sure why I didn't scan the image. Face shapes are fun. Don't have too much to blog about this morning so I'm just going to leave it as this image.

It seems as though a lot of the people that I follow on Blogger have been leaving for tumblr. I don't say that I really blame them. Tumblr is how I hope the future or writing papers will be. You have a source and you can see where images and ideas have come from and who has added input before it gets to you. I still like my blogger and don't plan on getting rid of it too soon. Tumblr is also more busy than Blogger is in terms of updates and the blogs you can view.

My online classes have started up at AAU and I really like my professors they have lots of office hours and are really quick to review your work and in some cases allow resubmission as long as its completed by the deadline.

This past weekend I went to a wedding of one of my very best friends ever Jess Jones her and Matt have been dating about 5.5 years since our Jr. Prom and yesterday was the first time they kissed. So it was a very "B'AWWWE" moment. Also got to dance with my husband to a married couples dance at the wedding and I was very "SQUEEE".

Oliver and I have also started work on a territorial TCG. I would like us to have something functional before one of the three Lancaster Gaming Cons next year (yeah, Lancaster, Pennsylvania is BIG for traditional gaming who knew?). That is also an excitement that we are both passionate about. Me gaming and card illustration and him with card games and designs.

Ponyo and Model Mayhem

"Ponyo, ponyo, ponyo, fishy in the sea,

tiny little fishy, who could you really be?

Ponyo, ponyo, ponyo, magic sets you free.

oh pretty little girl will you swim back to me?"

Yeah more fanart this time for Ponyo while I was taking a break from 3D modeling.

After saving the same file as an .obj like er... 3 times it finally worked. Deadline is suppose to be Friday for these models, but we don't have a place to upload them yet so I think we're going to have until Sunday. I've also discovered that I like modeling objects/ props, I like texturing whatever, AND I like animating already modeled and rigged characters; I hate modeling characters myself. I don't know why. I just have never gotten the hang of the whole thing. So unless something clicks and whatever my brain is doing that holds me back from making good 3D characters I'll just be modeling props and animating open source characters. >>

Where did July go?

Ok, well since I've updated I've worked a bit more on Gob character designs as well as animating in blender. Unfortunately my computer really hates 3d animating a lighter program such as blender. I also have been working on story boarding a few shots that are more cut scene-y unfortunately with the shape the apartment is in I misplaced a sketchbook and had to draw in a different sketch book and now I'm condensing the shots back into one sketch book. Hopefully meet up about them soon. My favorite concept for gob so far has been theses two krakens.Top one would be a total pain to model with my still basic modeling skills.

San Diego comic con also happened while I've been away and I was full of jealous the whole time between the adventure time pizza, ponies, LOONEY TOONS, and Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. people. I really hope that in the not too distant future to be able to comic con out there. It doesn't really look like a great next working place but at the same time it does so I guess you have to go to find out.

I also got back from Otakon over the weekend. It was cool stuffs. Saw the FMA movie that's still in Japaneses theaters which made me feel special. Also got to see the Trigun movie dubbed and that was really exciting 'cause doughnuts. Also bought all the pokemon... well not all the pokemon but pretty close to it. Over all between watching more things this year and hanging out with friends more I enjoyed Otakon '11 more than the past ones.


Also perhaps most importantly I got married. I also got my last name upgraded because well Mrs. Sparkes is pretty awesome sounding.

This face is possibly the best face I have ever made on camera before. Oliver is making fun of his father for being short. That's also my uncle who gave me away.

I'm hoping it won't be so long in between updates, but I like posting things that are a bit more polished art wise then what I've been working on which is super unpolished.

Vidjio Games and Hearts!

Ok so today was the most fun I've had on a day that I didn't request off of work. Not saying that I was working 'cause I was off, but I didn't request the day. I went up to Harrisburg and watched as a few super cool high school presented their video game demos as well as tested a few out. Then in the superest coolest part Harrisburg University has a Virtusphere.

You get in this over priced hamster ball with a couple senors and you can be emersed into a world that's on the computer. Not quite X Men Danger room or anything, but it was still amazing!
This Russian game that came with the system is what we experienced. Despite the fact that the textures didn't blow me away the fact that I was moving in real time and able to go any direction I wanted and that I was only looking at this area (though goggles). I was a bit unaware of reality. When it was time for me to exit I was wondering why I didn't see Tony who was talking to me. That last bit may sound a bit derp, but I was really emerced in this walking around a Russian town that and when in the Virtusphere you have all the motions and work of walking up hill with all the momentum of walking down hill.

After all the fun was over at the University. Then my video game makin' homies and I went walking around Harrisburg and found a place to eat and talk about Gob's Rebellion we mapped out deadlines that we'll have to keep to be able to to get a finished looking demo done by the end of the summer so week can look up/for game/young game competitions and get some feed back before finishing the game. It's getting exciting because things are really in motion with the programing and now with the art; modeling and rigging is starting soon, animation will be in the game.

Also I'm getting really excited about getting married in 9 days *dances and prances*.

Good days good times next time I might post some more art, but this was a really eye opening day not just for restrictions in the entertainment technology fields we are fighting still in the 21st century. I am also trying to figure out what else I need to learn with art to make me more useful to the entertainment industry. The only way to know what you need to improve on is to create more challenging work, and I'm seeing through this gaming experience that working with other people who have high expectations make self challenging easier. I don't know if any of that made sense, but it does to me.

Interests, Bells, and Online!

Ok so last time I was complaining about not being able to afford Graduate School, well I'm going to start attending classes online and I hope I'll be able to afford to go out to California by at least my third year. I'm excited about school and the curriculum. I have been looking into more video game studios and I hope than an animation masters degree over an entertainment technology degree will be more beneficial because it it too much money to get a degree that I'm not going to use.

Also I'm going to be getting married soon. As in 23 days I wasn't really counting until it hit 3o days and I've just kind of been counting down with excitement jitters since.

My friend Liz posted this link and it had me thinking a bit about the bio. This blog is sort of just a giant bio, but on my other social networking sites it's more "here's some art and I'll throw in some context". There isn't too much of myself put in there. I never really thought people cared about the bio, but some people might. I haven't formally sat down and written a good one but I have been thinking about them. I've also been looking at the art of Richard Perez so I decided to also make an illustrated list of things I like.
Honestly it was a nice relaxing way to spend my evening and to get me thinking about a formal art bio rather than just an artist statement of purpose.

So I've Graduated...

... and I didn't get the grant money I was hoping for from the Delaware Scholarship Incentive Program. So I can't really afford graduate school next year. I spoke with my one friends sister who has 1 bachelors degree and 3 masters degrees and she said that after Oliver and I get married financial aid becomes a lot easier to come by. I can see that being true. Still not attending graduate school right away even though I got in and even was able to skip a class is a pretty big downer. So I'll be working saving money, paying back loans, applying at game companies, and today I sent out about 100 postcards for various illustration jobs that my work seemed to fit into. I am also reconsidering going to graduate school specifically for animation. I'm thinking more of an "Entertainment Technology" program and to specialize in animation, because I think I might rather work in video games because of the constant production work flow and I like being busy. That and with video game you don't get the out sourcing that comes with the animation territory (at least television animation).


So since graduation other than working I've also been working on food illustrations as seen above because Charlie suggested it to me after he saw my postcard 3 months ago and I'm finally getting around to drawing some

I've also started preproduction work for my next animated short "Level 4 Goblin" Title still in the works. I've pretty much started on making a map and fleshing out the map a bit so that I have and idea on where this goblin is going when I storyboard it. The basic concept is this goblin gets dropped into a game of dungeons and dragons while the world is being built around him I expect the run time to be between a minute and 2 and a half minutes. That'll sort its self out after I do the story boards and throw them into an animatic. I also want to go to 3 film festivals that have animation as part of their work and depending on what happens next year I really want to go to the Ottawa animation fest.

I have also watched this one anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica and between that and The Amazing World of Gumball airing on CN I am really taken a back by their animation. They are very different types of shows; Madoka Magica is a sad sad show with amazing character development and upon watching the ending my tears caused Lancaster PA to rain for a day straight, and Gumball is a silly show with less developed characters and convenient situations and over all hilarious shenanigans. Both these shows that have recently been airing in their respected countries have several different animation styles and techniques inter graded in the show and pull it off really really well.

This is a .gif from Madoka Magica and it doesn't show how awesome these combined techniques really look, but it does show the gest of what I am talking about. (Also from this show I learned that Joan of Arc was a magical girl).

The character designs are really adorable and between that and the way the backgrounds are build and the lighting in some of these shots I'm really blown away. (This show has the most intelligent humorous cartoon mom).

I'll try not to wait too long between posts because the result tends to be super long.