Complexity of an Art Degree

Every fucking time I have a friend or family tell me that art is an 'easy' degree I want to slap them in the face.  For many reading this it's preaching to the preacher but to continue trying to make it on my own or with a tiny group of friends is not easy. I'm not trying to work for a big company, I have my own stories and ideas that are bursting to be released. I'm like a zombie but instead of craving brains and entrails I crave time and paper because I always have ideas. I have ideas I think I can sell, I have ideas that I think people will buy and I have skill and talent, and it's hard. I always want to draw, but I'm always up for social engagements, take tonight for instance: I have my journal comic that I need to continue inking and preparing to upload. I have pages I need to go back to and refine and I need to rescan everything I've scanned/posted so far because days didn't have full shading, but I went to listen to Christian Lander speak instead. Dude was funny and it was a good evening, but I didn't work on my comic. I need it get off the ground so I can start selling my fiction and not just my reality.

What makes art so difficult is that even as I'm laying on my be typing this my fingers are itching to pick up a pencil and draw something, ink something create something anything and I have a million other things I need or want to be working on first. I have offers left and right to create things to sell, which I need to get going on before I forget for one thing, and I have other offers to get my name out there and be published once again in my college newspaper. I want to drop out of college so I can devote more time to comics, but I don't have the money for that. I want to take out a hypothetical loan on my future for now, I'm not going to because there are things I want to improve while I'm in this environment to find ways to make things better. I'm working at getting more of my work known and out places. And art degree is serious and difficult business because of the market. The work isn't especially 'hard' because you're selling what you can do, but it's harder then other jobs because every project is tailor made for whoever you're selling things to or creating things for. I'm taking everything I'm learning now, flipping it on it's head to make it all work for me.

In doing all this I talk big. People tell me I sound like I know what I'm doing. I don't, I'm fucking terrified. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to move home, that I'm going to fail and I'll just keep dreaming that I made it in comics and sequential art. I'm also terrified that I'll succeed, I'll make comics that people like, I'll have fans and people will want to buy every stupid thing I draw. I also fear staying in the middle, being known to a handful of people and selling some things, but spending most of my time in some horrible office job were people didn't know I spent my night and weekends creating comics and my life ever got better.

These ideas keep me from picking up a pen and being jealous of everyone who has made it. It also inspires me to grab hold of a pen even sooner so I can prove my worth and get my foot in the door. I want to be known, but I'm afraid of what I have to do to get to that point. That time comes every night where I have to buckle down and get things drawn, it's time for me to work on my journal comic, I've put off doing more than a few pieces of spot shading for a about a week and I need to be prepared to spend Monday scanning and prepping more pages. I can make it, I'm not so afraid and my work is good enough. People will want to buy my pieces and I won't be too afraid to sell them.

Jasmine P.

Happy Day

Oh, God! I’m in scuh a good mood right now. I got the position I wanted at the USBG and I have my badge and such to get into the Staff areas and such. It’s all sorts of fuck awesome and amazing.

I get home today and watch Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Pure gold and black comedy love everywhere! Alex called and we hung out, diner then watched KKBB. Awesome sauce, bitches.

Only area of suck was when I broke my nail. I only care when it hurts. This one ripped from the nail bed, but thankfully no blood. Not as bad as being electrocuted through one’s balls, thankfully I’ll never have the chance to ever have to feel that. Ever. But my thumb hurts a might fine bit from it bending. I swear, my nails only give me trouble when they’re short.

Time to sleep…well, not quite, but definitely time to stop typing, using my index finger for things my thumb normally does sucks monkey balls.

That reminds me. Some cunt who can’t park her 4Runner got a nice little note describing just how sucktacular their parking job was from me. I don’t know, I felt compelled to be mean spirited. It felt good. Maybe they’ll learn how to not park so terribly. I doubt it, but it did make me feel better.

Amusingly enough, Word didn’t know how to spell ‘cunt’…now it does :evil grin:

Adios for now
:salute and bow:
Jasmine P.

English Paper - entertainment 2

So, remember how a few months back I wrote about 'Shawshank Redemption' then changed the paper? Well, here's the final paper =D I have a real/whiny journal to post in an hour, once it's typed and griped over.

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Trying to define a ‘favorite’ anything for me is never easy. I have groups of favorites, not one single favorite movie, book or television show. Thinking through my groups of favorites and the longevity of things I have liked with how flighty I am in my decisions my favorite television show is and has been It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Sunny is a show about a group of friends who are all narcissistic and vain as they try various ways to make money and get laid.

Sunny was originally a movie idea from star, producer and sometimes writer Rob McElhenney and his friends Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day. McElhenney originally had the idea for Charlie’s character to one day tell their mutual friend, Glenn, that he had cancer, under the secrecy that he would not tell any of their other friends when he visits to simply pick up a bag of sugar. The skit ends with Glenn showing his compassion to Charlie in his time of pain and need, but still just wanting to get away with the sugar so he could drink his coffee and move on with his day.

The film, which they used as the pilot, was picked up by Fox for their cable station, FX and turned into a Thursday night sitcom. The trio of Rob, Glenn and Charlie are named Mac, Dennis and Charlie accordingly, and Sweet Dee, Dennis’ twin sister is added to the cast of characters. She also exhibits the self-centered and self-gratifying traits of the other four characters. Sunny moved from taking place in California to Philadelphia and the characters were changed from being actors looking for work to being the owners and employees at Paddy’s Pub.

Each episode of Sunny revolves around the self-gratifying aspects of each character’s personality and how their plans always backfire. In one episode from the first season the group decides to become the place for the high school students could go to drink watered down and overpriced beer. Dee starts hanging out with the popular kid while Dennis is taken by the ‘hot’ chick, and a girl chooses Charlie, Mac was never chosen because he tried too hard. By the end of the episode Dee, Dennis and Charlie are all invited to the prom and Mac decides to crash the prom in envy when it is revealed that the two students were using Dee and Dennis to make one another jealous. They go to the prom together and Charlie goes having never gone to the prom when he was in high school.

Sunny is fun to watch because of the extent of the ridiculous situations the characters get into. They’ve been injured, almost arrested, evicted from the bar and they never learn not to exhibit the more idiotic aspects of their personalities. These are people who say what every wants to say, and do what everyone wants to do. They’ve exploited gay men for money because it was misconstrued that the pub was a gay hang out. They pretended to be physically disabled for sex and at the end of the day that would just as quickly go back and repeat their actions, only smarter.

In the second season the main cast of Sunny was increased from 4 to 5 when fan of the show, Danny DeVito joined the cast as Dennis and Dee’s father who is looking to regain the vitality of being young, poor and trying to live it up and getting laid. Devito’s character, Frank, was rich but after separating from his wife he decided he needed to return to the freedom of being a young adult with the city ripe for the picking and for fun. The addition of DeVito to the cast for the show was not for the novelty of adding a big name to a little show, although that did help in some instances. DeVito’s presence in Sunny adds another creative spark, a character the others look up to one moment and are disgusted with the next.

Sunny is a show you can’t be offended by, because the characters are just so ignorant in their actions that you have to laugh at them. They never change but each character is steadfast in their morals and the reasoning behind even the worst things that they do to one another and those that may be around them. I enjoy the show because it’s a funny look at life and how these people don’t always intend to be as terrible as they can be.

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Adios for now
:salute and bow:
Jasmine P.