Spring is coming!
A few days ago had the first real warm weather day since September I believe where the wind was mild and the sun warmed the streets. It was well enough that you could go out in a shirt. A bliss, honestly while we had such a snowy winter to enjoy, seeing the grass greening and flowers and trees start to sprout really livens the spirit. I chased the seasonal change by taking a spontaneous hike yesterday with friends after the original plans of going to the Stuttgart Book Fair were dropped. And what can I say? It was nice! ^.^ I can’t recall the last long hike that I took, there was one at the start of autumn but it only was for about 2 hours while yesterday’s filled half a day. It was a simple hike with a steep climb at the start but then rather even terrain, got to see some castle ruins and finished with some coffee and cake. A very nice end to the month ^v^
Honestly, though February felt pretty bland outside the Convention but more on that later. My internship had nothing exceptional going on, most of my personal project time in the first week was spent doing the trailer to my animation film, which was more challenging than I first anticipated. I was very happy with my first cut and would have called it a wrap if I hadn’t asked for feedback first and the impressions that I got were pretty much all that it had too quick of a pacing made clear even moreso by the rather slow music in contrast. I have made my first version accessible here:
People found it hard to follow and unnecessarily hectic but the general structure of it was nice and had a teasing feel. So I definitely had to redo the editing, which was not very easy considering I had a limited set of shots to be able to use. My movie is very dialogue heavy but I couldn’t use clips in which a character was talking, it would have been too much difference to the voice over and cause confusion. It was somewhere in taht process when I realized the mistake I have made at first: I made the trailer for myself. I know the film in and out and so I was seeking a very thrilling experience with the trailer that teases many shots in rapid succession whereas I should have kept shots for longer and cut more calmly. It highlights my inexperience with editing altogether but it just ads how much this project made me learn new skills that I would never have guessed where needed at the start of the project. And again, it just shows how important it is to reach out to people and ask for their support.
Here’s the finished trailer that you can compare to my first version:
Art wise there wasn’t much going on, my weekends and evenings were all pretty full and I felt a tad lazy to get started on a new project. I’ve been feeling a bit demotivated to do digital art and I can only hope I’ll get back to it once I live in a more calm city where not much is going on ^v^
I did manage to produce a couple more watercolor drawings though, one made for valentines, one as a commission example for NFC and two resulting commissions from that:
When going to NFC this year, I wanted to stay away from much vending and doing commissions, I spent a single shift there to gather some means to afford my con goings this year and I would have stayed longer just to trade with the people at the Artist Alley but I had to be with a friend who just visited this one day and it was on me that we didn’t have much of any time together at EF. Working on comms again was quite relaxing given I only had two watercolors and two book sketches and I enjoy the times when the group is sitting at a table with me focusing on art, it gets the motivation around to also involve in creative activities. Now, this is a big step away from the monochromatic drawings on brown paper with white outline sthat I did last year and I kept the same prices but with a smaller layout. What style works better? I honestly can’t tell. The brown paper ones def had a thing going on with them whereas the watercolor ones haven’t quite yet found a feel that I’m very comfortable with. Certainly there’s a lot more practice to be involved. I feel like I get better results when I work on fewer projects for longer. I’ll have to continue experimenting and getting better with watercolor first to make a decision. I definitely don’t want to offer both types of commissions to not overwhelm people with options as well as myself <v<
But yeah lets get to NFC finally.
If I had to summarize it in a sentence, my first impression would be that it was way too short. Especially compared to last year, I felt like I was doing much less different stuff. Back then I had done Artist Alley, met at a room party, did so much doodle for charity, had two days at AA, did a ton of trades at the DD, did the haunted house, attended the avian meet, hung at the drawing corner, went to the arcade… this time? Hmm it feels like half of those things and that despite having the luxury of staying at the Clarion this time around. But for that reason, it really had me being nostalgic with our first con; the same group but larger, doing the same things. It was chill and fun, I liked it a lot. I think the impression of ther enot going on much was me being more adventorous the last time, it definitely also was stressful back then which is often overlooked ^v^
But sometimes it had me thinking I was too attached to staying with a group, which had me less open to form new relationships. I regretted sometimes not going with the group to get food or attend panels but that was just me chasing them and not do the aforementioned adventuring. I think it’ll get easier as the veterans say; it starts to become all like a big family meeting, you know everyone and can reach out better. I dread the days though, once I cannot really get in touch with everyone anymore because there is simply so little time during a con and sometimes my social batteries cannot carry me around to stay the days after. It’s getting me melancholic now, so better look at the experiences I had <3
I took on the route by train this time around, and not flying to Sweden already meant I was saving on quite a bunch of money. Given my flights last year were more expensive than my accomodation, I had to compensate the higher hotel costs this time somehow. It also meant that I was awake at 3am and had a very lengthy journey ahead of me: of course there was some trouble and my route got delayed by around 2 hours, making me arrive at Copenhagen at 18:00. There I stayed at friend’s place sadly not able to see much of the city. It had a nice vibe cruising through it at least and I had a delihtful stay at a furry home. It’s always such a ncie feeling when you open the door to an apartment and the first thing that greets you are lots of anthro drawings on the wall <3 Arriving at the Main was us slowly finding another and getting together in the hub of operations – our room :3 Enjoying snacks and drinks, the opening ceremony with a bingo card and of course exchanging chit chatter. The following days become a blur. I definitely had some well needed shuteye and some premium delish breakfast buffet that I ate enough from to fit for two meals. Yes I miss the breakfast we had there… hmm good scrumbly eggs and tomato juice, paaancakes with whipped cream and marmelade… melons and grapes~
I had a great time, doing some errand runs in the dealer’s getting in touch with the people there, mostly, though I’ve just been hanging around. Also what’s the deal with everything being crammed into the first whole con day? I felt like I had no time at all! A highlight for me was definitely the Paws on Fire dance comp. The first one I’ve seen live. Usually I just watch the recordings but witnessing them was a whole new pleasure I discovered. At least this time I knew where it was, the venue only now has made sense to me layout-wise.
Being with so many suiters also gave me some good insights to suitmaking and wearing in general. I got to wear a head, took some detailed looks at the structure, different ways of attachment, seams and what fans are used. All valuable info on my bachelor project. By the way, I made some mor econcepts for it:
It is a crud 3D model but acts as a blockout so I know how the proportions can work in relation to my own head. For that, I made a 3D scan of my head, then remodelled it for the typology and started building the head structure from the ground up from there. It was almost braindamaging with all the different things I had to keep in mind, but I realized I just needed to start, tackle things one by one and make plenty of revisions. Currently, I’m quite happy with the shapes just need to make different versions to find out what fits best. The optional goal with detachable ears is something I might scrap for simplicity’s sake, they seem too large for me currently, again, something I need to experiment with.
If anything, the con once further solidified my desire to wear my character on myself and the appreciation for others who have done the same just grows every time! It will be a difficult project for sure but a challenge I want to succeed in.
There are several things happening in March. One being that my internship ends in just three weeks and then half a year will be over and so much more will begin. I’ll have to move to my hometown for the intermediary period to my bachelor semester and the last one at that, which will include difficult decisions. In March, I will also need to work on an animation and other graphic design for the animation festival, write the protocol on my internship and try to do some art on the side. While there’s no bigger things planned at the moment, I’d at least like to do some art trades and collabs to keep me motivated and engaged in my hobby. I’m very much looking forward to that!
Since I’ve still got some things to do today, and got quite rather hungry. I think it’s time to wrap up the reflection.
Next time, I’ll write it at either my dad’s or grandma’s place and have another moving behind me and perhaps another in front of me. I hope I make the right decisions!
Here’s to a nice following Marchy month!
~ Souvillaine