I'm using Paint Tool SAI and Krita on my personal PC because they're both FAR less expensive than Adobe CC or Corel. Krita is a free, open-source software and is actually my favorite of the two. I just got used to Photoshop so this is like learning to draw all over again. Progress is slow, but I'm working on it. I hope to share even better results with you as time goes by :)
So I have my amazing new graphics tablet (there was an embarrassing moment where I couldn't get it to work for about 3 hours then realized I never put a battery in the pen) and have been playing around with it in a couple different painting programs. Overall I have been semi-successful. Drawing with a graphics tablet still feels a bit like using my left hand to draw but I'm improving slowly, but surely. I've been exclusively traditional media for so long - learning digital media is a bit of a hurdle. But I want to learn it!
I'm using Paint Tool SAI and Krita on my personal PC because they're both FAR less expensive than Adobe CC or Corel. Krita is a free, open-source software and is actually my favorite of the two. I just got used to Photoshop so this is like learning to draw all over again. Progress is slow, but I'm working on it. I hope to share even better results with you as time goes by :)
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My sister is currently gallivanting all over Europe with her boyfriend (a three week trip sponsored by his parents) and I'm pretty jealous about that. It's so unbelievably cool. Today I got something that soothed the big green monster though. My mom - eternally awkward with feelings but extremely loving, nonetheless - got me the best "Sorry you're sister is on a European backpacking extravaganza!" present ever. Which is... MY VERY OWN TABLET. Drawing tablet. I use a Wacom in my office to do all the designing and drawing things and really wanted one I could use at home. And she got me one. A Huion. Because they're cheaper but still awesome and I'm about to go play around with it for the rest of the afternoon.
I had the horrifying realization today that this time next year I will be in New York City, auditioning with Bama on Broadway for agents. Or I will have just been and will now be wallowing in disgrace or triumphant in the face of my fancy New York callbacks. It's something I've been thinking about on and off this whole year, but now the immediacy of it all is really scary.
I'm almost done with my junior year of college (and jeez when did THAT happen?) and I just feel so unprepared. This is not unusual I know, most people of the cusp of the real world in the way college students are feel this way, but my whole nebulous future is just wavering in front of me. This is my make or break moment. Okay. I'm being a little dramatic. But this is the culmination of my college career and will be my first step into the "business." This will be my first time being seen professionally by people who don't know me from Eve. It's thrilling but probably the most terrifying thing I'll have to do in my college career. Drama right? So I need partners and scenes and a type and God, what's my type? I realize that I have foolishly not considered what type I would play. I've thought about it in a vague, distanced way but now I'm seriously thinking what do I want to be? This upcoming year will be filled with me asking people to be brutally honest about my appearance and personality and would they please tell me what they think. I've already made a few of my friends uncomfortable. Score. Oh well. Panic only makes me want to work harder, so that's what I'll do. In the end - the only thing I can do is work my ass off and leave the rest to them. I ultimately want to go into film. That's not secret. Endgame = film. If I have to make some pitstops on the way that's ok. One problem - the film part of my resume is a liiiiitle shabby. So what am I doing? ANSWERING EVERY AUDITION FLYER AND CASTING CALL I CAN FIND WITHIN MY AREA. So a lot of student films. I filmed a TCF (Telecommunications & Film here at UA) project last Friday that was tons of fun, even if the subject matter was not. In this silent short, I played a homeless woman who finds herself at a point of no return. It was super cold outside but the crew was very sweet and it was a very efficient shoot. From my meager film experience, however, I notice that crew is VERY kind to their actors. This may not be a industry wide occurrence, but the three shoots I've done have all been very pleasant experiences for me. I understand how actors get big heads now. After every take someone was telling me "Great job, yeah that was perfect! You're great! etc ad naseum." It's very flattering but felt very undeserved. I just sat on my fat ass while the crew did all the hard work. Acting is a lot of hurry up and wait. I'd never say acting isn't hard (it really really is) but the crew deserves so much more appreciation. So to my once and future crews - you guys are AMAZING!!! and we actors would be horribly lost and destitute without you. Check out Krissy Brown's (my fab director's) short below! The Stranger Within Us from Krissy Brown on Vimeo. Everyone has their "acting" face. Their go-to expression when they're partaking in the noble art of theatre (please read that in the most dramatic way you can). The more acting classes I take, the more faces I see. I have no desire to know what mine is to be honest. I'm afraid I make some wide eyed, false ingenue face. I see plenty of those. Hopefully the face I make is effective and honest looking and not overwrought with the drama~
I did almost bust out laughing in class today though at some. They weren't even bad! It was the jolt of realization that "Oh there goes the face!" that got me giggly. I blame the DayQuil. Back in class for junior year pt deux. Envigorating. Directing and Shakespeare today - both classes I'm simultaneously excited and terrified by. Fingers crossed!
I'm blond now. You know what that means? Neewwwww headshots! As frustrating as those are, they're also really fun to have done. At least for me - a massively vain photo-holic. Expensive, but a necessary evil. And being a blondie aa opposed to my usual reddish IS tons of fun!
So I've finally finished my first semester of junior year - 3 semesters to go. This semester has been amazing for my career. I was in two stage shows, befriended some faculty, have my first television and radio appearance for interviews (however small it was still exciting), started this website along with other online portfolios and generally threw production into high gear. When you are your career it seems to take a lot of extra effort to get things kickstarted. There aren't as many surefire channels for success, you just have to gun it and be the very best you can possibly be. Sell yourself in the best light. Stressful as it may be, it's also very rewarding and I've had some pretty nice returns on my efforts. So that's the optimism I'll take into the new year.
So no big deal or anything, but I'd really like to do a performance internships or summer stock position over the summer. The catch is that they're all a thousand miles a way and lack financial support. Good thing I'm already game for the peanut butter and coffee diet because I'm gearing up to be dead broke for the rest of my life. Acting is a wonderful, noble profession - saturated with highly strung, under-paid, under-fed, sleepless night of the living dead creatures.
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