Update: Studying Computer Animation in Canada

Well, hello, Carol from the future!
Here I am again, trying to make an effort to write on this blog. For myself, basically. Let's face it, people don't read blogs anymore)

I'm in Canada right now, I've been here since August 2017. I came to Oakville (ON) to study Computer Animation at Sheridan College. Studying here has always been a dream of mine and I'm finally having the chance to do so. I really want to remember how it was like being here, hence why I want to keep track of my experiences and artistic achievements. I know how Carol from the future loves to find those things from the past when she's feeling nostalgic.

I should've started this diary thing sooner but, oh well, there is no point on thinking about it now. Better late than never, right?

To summarize what's happened until now, I basically learned the basics of Maya, Nuke and Zbrush on my first semester here. Modeling on Maya, sculpting on Zbrush, opening UVs, learning to rig, texture and animate...I did all that.Oh, and there was a College strike as well. It was an intense semester with ups and downs all over the place, but overall it was great.

My greatest accomplishment to this moment was, for sure, the 10 seconds Interstitial Assignment that I had to do. Take a look:

It had to be 10 seconds, the character had to be a toy and the message " Stay Tuned" had to be included somewhere. It was a fun, stressful and an amazing learning opportunity. For years I thought I would never be able to finish any project so this experience was incredibly reinforcing. I absolutely loved modeling my character and working on the textures for this assignment.

Here is the Animatic and the Layout:

I guess this is it for now. All I can say is that I'm proud of what I was able to produce until now and I can't wait to see what else I'll be able to do by the end of the course. The new semester started last week and we're already working on our 1 minute final films. More on that on the next update!

Trying to go back to my animation project. I'm not expecting much of it. I will just tryto make some progress, I guess...any progress would be nice. Since it had been a long time until I worked on Guará, I felt the need to warm up a little a do some pose studies. Nothing really dynamic but it was a good start. I feel like I'm more prepared to work on the storyboard now. We'll see. :)

Attempt to paint with guache

Well, like I promised myself, here I am to post stuff.
I'm currently taking a much needed drawing course at Quanta, a famous art school in São Paulo/Brazil, and I'll probably post many of the stuff that I create for the course here just as some sort of record for the future Carol.

In this course we have a few modules, like chromatic theory. In this module we learned to use the color wheel to produce  colors by mixing them up, just like in kindergarten. I was really excited about those lessons because I felt that I really could use a break from the digital tools I rely on to create art. And, also, because I need to strengthen my art fundamentals background.

We used gauche, which is a paint I've never used before. The technique we learned was to used the paint with less water, going for something more opaque. I've briefly painted with watercolors so I had and still have to adjust my way of thinking when it comes to painting with gouache. I still don't get how to achieve a cool texture with it. Not too dry, not too diluted.

Sadly I lost most of the classes in this module so I probably didn't develop as much as I could if I took all classes and practiced more at home. However, I'll still try to develop my abilities regarding painting with gouache even with a new module coming up, anyways. We'll see...maybe I'll just go back to watercolors. However, I know for a fact that I miss painting traditionally.

And since I don't have a proper scanner at the moment, the pics were taken by my phone.

Coming back from the dead

I know the title is a little exaggerated but in a way it isn't really.
This will be a sort of different post compared to the old ones I have on this old blog. The truth is that I need a place to find something I've lost for a long time now: motivation to create.

Every artist is bound to face this eventually, some with more frequency than others. Sadly I'm one to experience those a little more often than I would like. Don't get me wrong, I get that this is normal and perfectly healthy when it comes on moderate dosages. We all need to look inside every now and then, make a pause and try to reevaluate what drives us to do the things we do and why we do them.

I'm now 25 years old and I still have a lot of doubts regarding what I want to do with my professional life. People regularly try to remind me that I'm still young as a way to calm me down and, as much as I do believe it's true, I've been hearing those things ever since I was 19 years old and was beginning to walk down the road to become an artist. I don't think I'm less anxious than I was before or more knowledgeable regarding what I wanna do . As a matter of fact, I've never felt THIS anxious before.

I promised myself I would try to make this post as short as I could but I can feel I'm probably gonna fail. HARD. Anyways, I suppose I need to provide some context  for this to make sense.

By the end of 2011 and middle of 2012 I was going through and amazing moment in my life when it came to art and my professional life. I was blossoming as an artist and was given the opportunity to develop my art skills on a level I could never imagine. I was meeting awesome artists and learning a lot from them. On the other hand, I was facing a rough time in my personal life. I was trying hard to focus on my work and set goals for my future but everything felt a little too overwhelming and I simply couldn't handle everything that was going on. As a result, I  withdrew myself from all the things going on in my life. I isolated myself physically and mentally from everything I knew and decided to go solo in a journey through self-knowledge only to realize that I would end up trapped within deep sadness and solitude.  I had lost all my will to draw and to create. All my imaginary worlds and ideas were just gone. I felt disconnected from everything I thought I was or could be. Call me immature, I don't mind, to run away as a way to find yourself....But it was a phase I had to go through. It lasted 2 to 3 years for me to recover and for my wounds to properly heal.

I still face some ghosts from this time. However, what haunts me the most is the realization that I still don't feel completely healed. I'm haunted by the all that time I've "lost" trying to tame this monster who insisted on controlling my life.I know I'm stronger now and I'm ready for another round. I was on a break for too long. I'm ready to pursue all the things I've lost and all the unknown things I still  wanna conquer. I'm still fragile, though, but I'm fighting between the ashes to be reborn. (This was meant to be profound but it probably sounded lame. meh. whatevs)

I'm writing on this blog again because I need to keep track of my progress. There is so much I wanna achieve. For that I really need to focus and fight to maintain my motivation levels high enough. It might be weird but it really helps me to have a place I can be honest about my expectations and fears. There is no social media that makes me feel safe like my blog does. In here, there is  just no pressure and this is exactly what I need right now.

I will write about my art related goals in future posts because this one is already longer than I anticipated. I plan on posting objective art studies here and then analyze what I've learned, where I found more difficulties during the process and etc. I don't have an agenda even though I really think I need one eventually. For the moment, I'm just trying to find my passion again without putting too much pressure on my shoulders.

For now, have some wolfies.

Doggy Body Language: Wagging Tails

I decided to upload one of the first images I've been developing for a series of dog body language. This one is about Wagging Tails and their possible meanings. Not every wagging tail means the dog is friendly! So here is something to illustrate that idea! Hopefully some of you might think this is interesting!

I will upload more in this page: http://www.facebook.com/CaninusCuriosus
There is an album for the pictures translated to english!

Random maned wolf.

I have this in my computer for a while.Sorry for the bad lighting and capture...I wish I had the right equipment and knowledge to record this accordingly.