Happy Groundhog's Day!

Is it just me, or does this day just seem to keep happening over and over and over...?

Although it is too early for Puxatawney Phil to look for his shadow, I doodled this little furry guy, who just needs to look down in order to see his. Whether it is six more weeks of winter or six more weeks till spring, have a wonderful arbitrary holiday!

Long overdue updates.

Hey there invisible people who don't actually read this! It has been a super long time since I have posted anything. In the time since I lasted posted, I have moved to Oregon, almost completed my first freelance animation project (I can't talk about it yet, since I signed the confidentiality agreements), and illustrated the poem in one of my earlier posts (I will post some of that later). For now, I present this doodle of a giraffe I just did. It took about five minutes, if that. I hope to update more frequently, as I hope to start drawing more regularly. I am also starting to completely redesign my website (www.sandybouman.com) as it still has my Ohio contact information and none of the things I have done in the past three years. Any who, here is the aforementioned giraffe doodle.

love birds

Here is the doodle I just did that will probably end up as this year's Valentine's Day card.

Turning boredom into productivity

So, since I didn't have to work today and the world is too covered in snow for me to go anywhere, I decided to dust off my cintiq and work on my photoshop skills. This is a little sample of the children's book I have been working on. I don't think I will do the final product in Photoshop, since I am better with other mediums, but I had fun coloring this in. Here you go:

Happy Thanksgiving!

It has been five months since I have last posted, and that has been five months too long. However, I am back now. After such a long hiatus, I have decided to start showcasing my artwork again, and not neccessarily just animation, since I haven't had so much time for that since graduation. So, since it has been a while, a little life update is probably in order. I have been working part time at Kmart to pay the bills while I look for more creative things to do. I haven't found an art related career just yet, but I have been working on some creative projects. I am doing some illustrations for a children's story my sister's friend wrote. I don't know how much he wants shared with the world, so I won't post anything about that right now. Something that I have just whipped up today that I can share is the Christmas card I am making for my mother to send out. I hadn't worked with colored pencils in a while, and it was good to get them out again. I still need to decide what sentiment to write on the inside of the card, but here is the drawing:



Also, I have had my animation website up for a while now. It is www.sandybouman.com if you are interested in checking out more of my animation and other portfolio work that I did in college.

Post-Class Updates... and a poem.

I don't think anyone looks at this anymore now that digital cel is over, but I figured I might still update every now and again just for fun. I just got a Cintiq of my very own (its the 12 inch one, but it still works the same way), so I want to get back into the swing of animating on a regular basis while I continue to work on my reel and portfolio and try to look for a job. Also, I wrote a poem. I am thinking about illustrating it, especially now that I got my Cintiq. Here it is, for the enjoyment of anyone who might still check their blogs:

Patapillar the Caterpillar
By Sandy Bouman

This is Patapillar the jolly, green caterpillar.
He lives in a tree with his Mom and Dadapillar.

One sunny day, on a Tuesday last spring,
Something happened -a horrible, terrible thing!

On his way to meet his friend Jeff at the zoo,
Patapillar noticed that he had lost his left shoe.

He looked here and there, and he searched far and wide,
But he couldn’t find it, so he sat down and cried.

While Patapillar sat there sulking under a tree,
Along came a rather glad looking bee.

The little bee stopped when he saw the sad fellow,
Who looked up at the bee all happy and yellow.

The bee asked, “How can you be sad on a day like today?”
“The birds are all singing, and the sky is not gray.”

Patapillar replied, “This day could not get any bleaker!”
“I’m late for the zoo, and I’ve lost my left sneaker!”

“Well,” said the bee, “I think you’re in luck.”
“Look at that over there, in the mud, nice and stuck.”

“My shoe!” exclaimed Patapillar, “thanks Mr. Bee!”
“Would you be so kind as to help pull it free?”

They grabbed on to the shoe, and they held on tight,
And they pulled and they yanked with all of their might.

Then, all of a sudden, with a loud squelching sound,
They got that left sneaker up out of the ground.

Patapillar said, “Thank you for finding my shoe!”
“Would you like to come with me to meet Jeff at the zoo?”

“Sure thing!” said the bee, “That sounds like fun!”
“But you’re already late, so we’d better run!”

So, off ran Patapillar and his new friend,
And now all that is left to say is: The End.

Final Reflections on the last Day of Class...

Here we are, it is the last day of class. My project is finished and in the drop box. I feel relieved, but also a bit sad. As I always do at the end of a project, I wish I had done more. It would have been nice to have a bit more time to perfect my project. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with my final product, but I am a perfectionist, so it will never live up to my expectations.

I think I did pretty well for someone who had never used Flash before this class. If I could go back and do it again, the biggest thing I would fix is my character design. I like the character of the cactus, but he changes from scene to scene. I should have been more careful about that.

Also, if I had had more time, I would have loved to have animated the whole thing frame by frame. The puppet animation was easier and still worked fine, but I just prefer the look of hand drawn, frame by frame animation. I think using puppets is almost like taking the easy way out.

Overall, I think that this class was a fun learning experience. It has given me the great new skill of being able to animate in Flash. I am excited about that, especially since I am about to graduate in a few days and won't have access to the 2D animation capture stations here at Montgomery Hall any more. I liked the class, and I liked my project, so I think this quarter was a success.

Also, I would like to thank everyone who gave me feedback on my project along the way. I really appreciate it!