067

I've been wanting to get more plants for my room, so I went on a succulent hunt last week visiting about 5 different places looking for them. I did finally find them but it took a lot longer then planned. I hope these last longer than the last ones...cause I don't have much of a green thumb but I can try dammit.

I also wanted to make one of my 7" Munnys into a planter, so I decided to create one that had an old wooden sign/barrel look to it. I only cut my self a few times with the box cutter while working on it, and painting didn't take as long as I thought. Here are some pics of the finished planter and part of the process:

 These are the other plants I picked up and planted in the other planters I had.

 I thought I would try some air plants to see how they fair.

 And this is a planter I made from a reclaimed wood box I pulled from a dumpster a few years back.... yes I do dumpster dive on occasion. 

 And they lived happily ever after on my window sill.... hopefully.

In Other News:
-------
My film was in another festival: 2013 Moonrise Film Festival [Link]
-------
And my grandmother passed away on Friday and I'm still mostly in shock from it. I wouldn't say it was sudden because the whole family knew that she wouldn't be around for much longer. But going to the care home to check up on her after getting a bunch of conflicting phone calls only to have the nurse just come out and say she passed 10 mins before I got there was a little sudden. And my parents were in a different province at the time so everything kinda fell on me for a bit....but it all got sorted out in the end. That all aside....... I will miss her very much and I think it will take some time for it to sink in that she is actually gone.

066

 Failed attempt at painting a cornell box to practice how light interacts with different surfaces... some things should not be started at 4 in the morning. I will be doing many more of these for practice.

Some colour studies from imagination.

065

Decorative Armour.

064

I haven't posted in awhile so I figured I should share a few things I've been working on. I've also added more to my DA account: Link

 I need to start doing more characters again. I've kinda been taking a break from creating characters for the past couple years just because I've found it very frustrating to work on them. So I took that time to work on my environments more, which (at the time) really sucked. But now that I'm feeling a little more confident with my environments, I need to start working characters back into the equation... because I'm very rusty at drawing people >.>

 I'm wanting to do a set of firehouses in different styles...just because I can. So this will be 1 of 4. Or hopefully 4....I've been starting so meny projects lately and then just stopping them cause I get burnt out or lose confidence in myself.

And I've been trying to do more colourful, whimsical things.......but I don't think it's working out very well. I'll keep trying though.

----

I've reached my wits end again. I'm burnt out and I don't know which direction I should head in, but I know I need to do something cause I can't live like this anymore. Some days I'm a chicken running around with it's head chopped off, and other days I just feel like curling up in a corner and crying. It's hard to think when I feel like this. I know I'm being stupid...but I just don't know what I'm doing anymore.

063

I also did a bit of animating. Nothing amazing, but I just wanted to make sure after effects still worked on my computer. I'm thinking of more things to animate at the moment.

MangaMinx Title Sequence from Carolyn Fisk on Vimeo.

I also entered a couple contests on this site so if you want to check them out and maybe vote for them if you like them:

1) http://creativeallies.com/creations/2dn2/contests/766/design-a-dress-for-joy-formidable

2) http://creativeallies.com/creations/z8n2/contests/771/design-commemorative-art-for-onerepublic

3) http://creativeallies.com/creations/x8n2/contests/771/design-commemorative-art-for-onerepublic

4) http://creativeallies.com/creations/t8n2/contests/771/design-commemorative-art-for-onerepublic

5) http://creativeallies.com/creations/l8n2/contests/771/design-commemorative-art-for-onerepublic

062

So I painted another 2.5" micro munny and this time I wanted it to look like it had a wood inlay. I think it turned out well.

And I finally finished this....yay?

Also check out my 'awesome' photo shoot set up...... yeah this is how I do it. That box with stuff taped to it is the 'tripod' for my iphone to sit in to take pictures.

061

So I made another entry for the Tomb Raider contest. I didn't go with my original idea for the 2nd entry because it was too similar to my first entry and I wanted to do something drastically different. Here is what I started for the "other 2nd entry" that never came to be and the BW for the one I went with.

060

This is the final image for my first entry to the Tomb Raider contest on DA: (Link)

If you want to help me out, you can head on over to DA where my entry (Link) is and leave a comment, critique, or even a favourite if you like it. You will need to be a member on the site though.

Here are some process pictures for this image. I tried to remember to take some while I worked, but by the time I got to working on "Lara" I forgot to take some....and I was working all in one layer for her :/

059

I'm going to enter the Tomb Raider contest on Deviantart (link) and these are the roughs I have so far:

Thanks Mel for helping adjust a few things <3 Anyone else is also free to critique and make suggestions. I'll be working on the final for the crouching pose first and will be starting the standing pose later (standing pose needs legs adjusted). The background for the crouching pose feels too empty so I'll probably add more forest canopy and maybe a few buildings/structures.

058

Another experiment...not really refined too much.

057

Experiment.

056

Finished.

055

So this is where I'm at with this... I was wanting to do some really crazy design work for the background but I might be rethinking that idea... I'm not sure I want to sink a too many more hours into this. I've decided to work on other things until I figure out what to do with the background.

So I worked on this one since it's something I started awhile ago and never finished, even though it was so close to being done. I still feel like something is missing from it. But I'll finish it up later today and post the WIP's.

---

In other news...

Since I don't have any illustration work to do for my contract job atm.... I really need to take the time to update my portfolio. The job hunt has not been going well....the probability of my parent's house (where I still live) being sold looms closer....and if I tried to move out at this point I financially wouldn't last a month.

So I need a job (full time/part time/temp)....but I don't think I can mentally handle working another customer service job....and other than applying to various studios, etc (that haven't amounted to much).... I'm not very good at brain storming work opportunities that don't involve being a cashier or a server at some place. I'm a very hard worker, but it's frustrating and upsetting to do a job that I can't use my skills in. I just end up flailing in the wind looking like a fool. Unfortunately saying all this has me coming off as sounding whiny and entitled (I should just shut up. Find any job. And do it.). Which is why I usually don't say anything. I just send my resumes off quietly.... have a couple of slightly hopeful conversations with various HR from different places which amount to "your work is very good, but try your luck next time"....."position is filled"..."maybe try somewhere in the states?".....etc. I feel like an idiot not having a job/not finding a job I can support myself with. I'm probably just not looking or working hard enough...

At least I've become very good at writing cover letters, resumes, and other formal documents. I've learned more about presenting myself professionally, building a network, and building a portfolio on my own (and through friends) then I ever did in school. And I know I need to work on my portfolio; I can do better and show more variety. I almost feel like I need to go back to school to learn more so I can apply to other positions...but I don't have the money for that and there is no guarantee it would help me either.

My nerves are just shot from all the uncertainty...the stress...the depression....those times when everything looked like it was going to be better only to suddenly take a nose dive a moment later...I guess that's life.

Sorry for the rant.

Anyways, I've also been thinking about animating again. I have more ideas for possible short films, but my projects are limited to what my current computer can handle. It handles photoshop fairly well, but other programs are touch and go depending on how complex/large the project. But I'm going to see how far I can get with what I have. I just have to get around to doing it.

** I may read this back to myself later, realize it sounds stupid, and delete it. So read it while it's still here.

054

Update on that sketch I was doing. Refining some details and blocking in the background.

053

So I finally got the UPS charges sorted out for the contest (link) I won back in December. I wanted to wait until I had that over and done with before posting any pictures of my winnings. The prize again included: 1 Mega Munny, two 7" Munnys, 2 Mini Munnys + 1 Mini Trikky, 4 Micro Munnys, and 5 MW zipper pulls.

Before I knew that I had won the contest, my girlfriend bought me 2 mini munnys and 1 micro munny as Christmas gifts. Needless to say when she found out I won the contest she was not very impressed. But I assured her that I would love whatever she gave me...and I did...and still do. With her gifts I ended up with the full range of available colours for the micro munnys.

Although I plan to paint over all of them so it doesn't really matter what colour they are (But I might keep the blue one as it is). I've already painted the red one to look like it was made out of wood.

I will eventually get around to creating something with all the Munnys, but the Mega Munny will be the last one I work on. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, but I want it to be a design worthy of it's massive size and original price tag. So it'll be a few years for sure. One of the family cats (Shadow) really enjoys the box it was shipped in.

052

So I wanted to practice drawing without reference, and it was mostly successful. I'll fix the mistakes and finish this one later....along with all the other half started projects.

051

Some sketches/ideas I've been doodling. Also I wanted to test out a scanning app on my phone which I'm fairly happy with.....just need better lighting to take scans in.

050

My mom's birthday was yesterday and I made these two pictures for her. One was actually supposed to be a mothers day card, but that's another story...

049

These are succulent arrangements I put together as christmas gifts this past year. 

I made this one using 2 glass containers and connecting them with self drying clay (I tried to make it look like stone but it doesn't show very well in the photograph.). Then I added some fabric to the bottom so the planter wouldn't scratch whatever surface it was placed on. 

These 3 are ones I ended up keeping for myself because I had quite a few extra succulents. 

The only other planter I worked on was the cup in this pic. It was an antique cup I found while looking for old pottery/ceramic shards a few years ago. The handle was missing so I remade it using sculpey and then painted it + the inside of the cup. 

I don't have much of a green thumb so I'm happy that none of them died in the process of transplanting them (though a few came close). I had to get my mom to help me with the first of 2 transplants and to help me pick out the proper soil, extra. Needless to say I don't think I'll ever be a gardener, but I will be putting more of these together in the future.