Posted

Aug 21st 2009

Mood

Bored

Music

"New York City Cops" - The Strokes

Hi folks, been a while.

I was in San Francisco from late June to August 2nd. I was at a pre-college program at Academy of Art University. It was a lot of fun, a lot of hard work, a great experience, a way to improve my artwork, four college credits, a way to make new friends, and it made me change my mind about what I want to major in. I took four real college classes, passed all of them, and got certificates of achievement in two of them (Intro to 3D Modeling and Character Design).

Lately, I've been making a lot of more design-focused art. Stuff that is not so much focused on looking like something, but rather on looking good based on the principles of art. Also some abstract junk. I've also been playing guitar a lot, and have a few song ideas (without lyrics, unfortunately) and am thinking of covering some songs.

Thanks to the pre-college thing, I now know for sure that I want to go to AAU for college, and that I want to live in San Francisco. I'm not a city person, but I say San Fran is the city for people who don't like cities. It's laid back and relatively clean. Plus, it's a great place for people who love art and/or music. I went to this great music/movie store called Rasputin Music. It has five floors, and sells new and used CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and vinyl. I got five CDs in one trip and it totaled out to a little over thirty dollars. None of them are scratched. I also bought a buttload of DVDs. I also went to Guitar Center a few times (hooray for loitering in guitar stores!). I laughed at how everyone was playing either METAL or BLUES. Because, y'know, those are the only genres of music that utilize guitar, right? There was even the obligatory 13-year-old playing the opening riff to Metallica's "Enter Sandman" over and over and over. Meanwhile, I was playing a BRIGHT PINK, sparkly, Daisy Rock guitar on a Line 6 amp, making use of the reverb and whatnot, playing this spacey stuff. Either that or just turning off all the effects and playing ska. I was shocked that a guitar marketed to teenage girls actually sounded okay.

I joined Spreadshirt yesterday. I'm gonna talk to my mom about getting a Paypal and selling shirts online.

There's also something I've come to terms with. I am not great at drawing. I'd say I'm mediocre at best. However, drawing is not a talent. Sure, I suppose you can naturally have a knack for it, but in the end it comes down to practice and experience. I can get better at drawing with time. However, I have a knack for design. Design is something that really can't be learned. That's why all these color combination sites exist, to help people who aren't just naturally good at it. I mean, yeah, you can learn the principles of design, but if you don't have a knack for it, you aren't gonna get far. Therefore, I have a skill that some very skilled draughtsmen don't have. If I work hard, I can reach their level of drawing skill, but they can never be as good at design as me (unless they also have a knack for design). That makes me feel better about myself as an artist. I may not be the best designer, but I'm damn good at it.

Anyway, if you actually read this whole journal, I commend you. I probably would've just skimmed it.