Whoo! All of a sudden, strangely, I’ve got a whole lot going on and I’m trying to balance it all. The day job sucks up a lot of time that now I’m wishing I could devote to other things. In fact, I feel kinda guilty taking up valuable time to type up this post.

So what do I need time for? Cooking! I’m a casual cooking enthusiast – not to mention I’m trying to get more fresh food into my diet. One of the nice things about being home is I actually have time to plan meals.

So last night, I set off to the grocery store knowing I wanted to make chicken katsu for dinner. But when I got to the meat section, a cheap packet of lamb caught my eye. Lamb, eh? I’d never cooked lamb before. I couldn’t resist.

And yay, this was the first night I managed to cook the whole dish without having to glance at a recipe. I also sauteed a few vegetables just to add a bit of color. And to my… relief :p it was quite delicious.

I’m actually quite fond of baking too. Last week my dear friend Sarah posted a pic on Twitter of a mixed berry pie she and Roy bought while on vacation. I was so infatuated that I decided I must bake one of my own. Another first; I’ve never made – or eaten – mixed berry pie.

…There’s something flying around in here….

Anyway. So also on my plate is drawing, and this is where day and night really clash. I spend most of my time on the job thinking about all the drawing I could be doing… but then when I get home, I’m so tired that I end up lazing about until it’s time for bed. It’s a test in time management and keeping myself motivated… look how those Ringling battles don’t go away just because you’re not there!

I’ve got a few comics I’m working on – one of which I am currently illustrating. Luckily it doesn’t start updating until the end of September, and I’ve got the first two pages inked, but I’d like to get a little farther along than that. The other two I have a year to work on, but a year can easily come and go.

In the meantime, I’m also experimenting with illustration styles. On a whim I decided to come up with something and bring it into Illustrator. I started with a sketch and color key to get an idea of the look.

It’s been years since I’ve used Illustrator, but I’m pleased to see it hasn’t changed too much. In fact, it’s just as tedious a process as I remember it being. This took four hours, and I haven’t even gotten to the background.

I’ve started listening to showtunes, which just makes me wish I could sing and had more acting experience. I’d run away to the theatre right now, dammit.

Makes me want to draw more, too. Wish I could draw faster. But as it is I’m very slow :p so it’s only one idea at a time, for now.

I keep wanting to be able to post more than just one image at a time, but I don’t draw fast enough. ;.;

I also keep wanting to write an actual update… so why don’t I do that, right now? To start us off, here’s a very useful bit of advice for upcoming and recent art school grads.

So I graduated Ringling in May, and I’ve been at home for just over four months now. The plan was to spend the summer focusing on getting a studio job – and with luck, to have said studio job before September. But as I’ve learned, there are some things in life you can plan for, and some that you can’t.

At the moment, I’m working at a publishing company helping to convert and distribute e-books to electronic vendors (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, what have you). It is in no way art-related, and that drives me nuts. It is related to my past degree and work experience, which is why I got the job – and even that came as a surprise, because I haven’t had a single call/e-mail back all summer.

All the same, I find many days at work are spent daydreaming about all the drawing and creating I could be doing if I was at home. It seemed that the smarter thing – and what had been the plan – would be to stay unemployed a bit longer and focus my attention on improving my work, updating my reel and portfolio, and marketing myself.

But then I discovered that my student loans had kicked in. Not Ringling’s. The ones from my last school, that I deferred to attend Ringling. And apparently I’m a month behind (thank goodness the late fee isn’t as astronomical as credit card late fees tend to be). So, not working is no longer an option. I have bills to pay.

I’ll need the money anyway, if I want to move to L.A., or decide to try freelancing. In this economy, I just can’t take a chance on maybe finding a job elsewhere.

So it’s frustrating, watching my friends get hired at various studios around the country, feeling like I’m stuck. I try to keep my whining to a minimum, because at the same time I’m happy for them, and at the same time I want to be positive and encouraging to other friends who are still job-hunting. But I’m not going to sugar-coat it. I’m frustrated. I can be happy and sad at the same time.

It’s the nature of the industry. It’s incredibly competitive, and there are no guarantees. Talent’s important, but so are networking and the right timing. It could be that I get a call tomorrow, and I’m off to my dream job. It could be that I never get the call at all, and I’ll have to move on to the next thing – not saying that I’d give up on animation, but that I’ll just have to find a different avenue to reach my goals.

Last year I experienced a windfall. My grades were good, I had an amazing summer internship, and all seemed right with the world. This year, I often wonder if I deserved any of it. Ups and downs. That’s how it is, sometimes. Right now, I’m feeling down. I’m in a rut. So the next course of action is to climb my way out.

One of my favorite lines from An American Tail: “Hope for the best, work for the rest.” That’s all you can really do. Like the link says, be open to opportunities, and be persistent.

Annnnd apparently my word count is nearing 700, which was the typical length of my articles back when I wrote for the local paper. o__o I just made you read a whole feature article. Sorry. I’m done now.

And it’s back to the werewolves. Though to be honest, give me enough time and it always come back to werewolves.

Still, I’m on a rather big Avatar: The Last Airbender kick right now, so I decided to try a bit of fanart of Katara. In the TV series, the Water Tribe culture is based on arctic Inuit cultures, so I styled Katara with this reference in mind. She looks a bit too old, so I might give it another try later.

Uh… posting on my blog reminds me… I have to finish modeling my cat!

Instead, I am modeling a cat.

And I’d be worried that this could mean I actually enjoy modeling… but really I think it’s more an indicator of how much I like cats.

But I am getting a bit of 2D experimentation in…

I just read a novel series called The Queen’s Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. It’s so, so good! It makes me feel so inspired, like I need to be writing and creating great stories.

I just haven’t figured out what I want to say, yet.

I’m at home, and the job search continues.

But for now, I’m just having fun working out the ol’ drawing muscles…

School is officially OVER!! And (grades pending) on Friday I walk across the stage. That means it’s time to get back to some long-awaited drawing. This is just a quick thumbnail for a scene.

So I’m working on my thesis process DVDs, and as I’m looking through my files I happen upon this piece of horror from the summer that I pushed to the deepest dregs of my memory. This dude, older than my dad (and my dad’s old enough to be my granddad, btw), was straight up feeling me up and propositioning me on the bus. Every morning. It got so bad I had to change my schedule to avoid him. If there’s one thing I took away from L.A., it’s that it sure has some interesting people. And apparently they all need lovin’.

In any case. One more week of school. Two more weeks till graduation.