BLAAAAAAARFing up Information....

What a pretty, PRETTY title.

So yeah, last week we had some problems with our 'group interviews' only because there was more talk about what we liked and less about how we could work together to kick off this KIB project of ours.

See children, this is why speed dating SUCKS...or the concept built around it.



1. Why did class devolve into chaos???

It desolved into chaos?! I didn't see that at all! Honestly though, I think there was a little snag in the discussion but it came from two things. One, how we were interacting with each other. Given that we only had like a minuet or so, this really didn't give a lot of leyway for discussing ourselves AND the project. This is why speed-dating is shit; its not REAL interaction. Its just like reading a crappily done summary of a movie that someone copied and pasted from another source. It doesn't tell you anything and often times it leave you with tons of infromatiom missing because of how severly short it is. Two, perhaps we were thinking too deeply about how our own skills could benifit the project without knowing that much about the project. I know we still need to get info from this organization but come on; stuff like target audience info and other easy things should have been given from day one and...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFuck, there I go again getting rage since something similar happened to me not too long ago but based on an entirly different and more stupid matter.What could you have done to keep that from happening?

2. What could you have done to keep that from happening?

Like I said, we needed more time to interact than 2 minuets. Perhaps a more involved group setting would have been the trick rather than some speed-dating type bullshit.

Okay, I will lay off speed-dating but still!

3.Regurgitating ideas you have read is all well and good, but if you cannot apply them, then what is the point?

NOTHING! 

Yeah, there is no point but people do it because its an easy fix and lessens the work load they have to do. One suggestion I would make is applying some 'Seeing Sideways' tactics into it; ask a person to really express how they feel and look into the matter so they can get a better understanding of the idea and what they got from it. If they didn't get anything from it or felt differently about the subject in question, its still a good idea to ask why, at least to find out what can be done to find some sort of common ground or something.

4. What can you do to be more mindful of your team buidling decisions and how to actually implement the techniques we have been learning all semester?Well for one thing, knowing more about the project at hand works as not to cause distraction. If one has no idea what skills to apply or where to bring them up, everyone is left lost in the situation. What do we do? Where do we go?

5. Is always sticking with people you already know the best solution to forming a good team? Working with people you already know may be human nature and the easiest way to make sure you get a good grade on a project, but remember that you are being assessed in this course not only on the product you create but how you work with your team and apply the techniques we have been covering in class... Unlike other classes, the product in this class is secondary to the process of creating the product.Not really, especially since this can lead to a team having too many of one skill-set and too little of another which can lead to a rather bad imbalance of ideas and duties. Even though its FUN to work with people who have the same ideals and hobbies, its always important to look beyond that so you can see and meet other people who will strengthen your team. This way things are able to work and flow together and even if there are bumps along the way, there will always be that support there to iron out the problems and get everything back on track.

6. What did you learn about yourself and team building as a result of what happened in class today?I learned that I hate spee-You get the point. 

No, I learned that I need to be a little bit more open but as I keep saying, I really can't learn that much about myself or anyone else when I don't have that much time to actually talk and get to know them. 

7.How should the potential conflict that could erupt based on discussion todayt be handled in a way that allows for the best teams and personal satisfaction for all people?
I'm not good with solving conflicts considering I get...loud, but I think that if the group does have a few calm heads in the bunch, some action can be taken to calm things down and get things back into order.

8.Instead of just backing down and saying, "Whatever..." what might be a better way to incorporate and include all ideas and styles?
By listening of course! It sounds simple but listen does work wonders since it gives people a chance to bounce ideas off of each other. Doing things like this seem to solve problems a lot better than just simply saying whatever but yeah...it seems like we live in 'whatever' times since that's what EVERYONE seems to be doing!

Pst, whatever.

What did I take away?

Well, what did I take away from THIS class?

Hmmm.

1. I should really finish all the Munny figures I have.
2. I'm sure the janitors will hate us now considering all the bubble residue around the room.
3. I wouldn't mind doing another totem assignment.
4. Beth has an...interesting collection.
5. I just noticed that we didn't have a break in class considering how fast it went.

Rrr, I'm feeling an art block coming on again! D8

1 hour of my time...

And I think I used it to get further along something I should have never put off.

Oh who am I kidding, I always put things off...but as far as creativity and trying to further it goes, allow me to present to you....

KAHUNA! MUNNY FORM!

For those that don't know what Munnies are, I'll give you a short history; Munnies are a product of Kid Robot and are more or less blank, vinly figures that you can customize into whatever the hell you want. The first in this line were Dunnies, little rabbit figures what a lot of popular artist would make designs for and then sell them but these don't come in blanks but you can fine blanks that have been stripped of their paint which can be used for personal customization. Munnies were made in response to people wanting their own blanks and like Dunnies have an animal design to them, in this case the Munny looks like a monkey with a little nub tail. Over the years, other animals have been added such as Trikkey, a cat, Raffy, a giraff and other animals that resemble hippos, a snake/slug with arms, a crocodile and of late a rat/mouse with spiked hair. Munnies themselves come in three size; minis which are about four inches tall, standard which are about 7 inches tall and the GIANT Munny which is 18 inches tall. I've worked with Munnies before but I usually don't display them that often but since the introduction of many of the new characters, there were some opportunities for me to make Munny figures of my characters.

Now, had I gone the MINI Munny route, all of them would have been the same size; this would have been cool but it defeated the purpose since some of my characters are really big. When I found out that stores were now carrying the standard size Munnies, I hoped on the chance to make some of my larger characters and for the first test, I wanted to do Kahuna but Kahuna is nothing without his wife Saimon so along with the standard, I bought a Mini so I could make a figure of her as well. This is still being worked on but for the time being I thought I would paint and finish drawing the basic outlines for Kahuna's designs. I should be happy though, I finally finished the head and while looking back, I SHOULD have drawn his hair a little better, I think this is a good start. The thing I know will bring me the biggest headache are his horns and tail.

Oh, didn't I mention that? Like the sticker of the tiger I showed off last week, Huni here is part of my story arch that involves characters that are based off the Chinese zodiac. Huni is the ram of the series so yeah...he has big twisting horns and from this point, I think CLAY would be the best way to do it. The only thing that SUCKS is the fact that even though it looks cool....Kahuna is like more than 8 feet tall and big and bulky with a tiny head! Munnies have HUGE-ASS heads and these weird bodies so it takes away Kahuna's crushing, muscular huggablness!

But still, it looks like its coming out pretty well nonetheless.

Making the other characters would be a possiblity...if I could do it. I already ebayed for some Dunny figures which means I can finally do Weegii (the hare) and I can easily do Rufus (dog), Gelly (tiger), and Bug (cat) with Trikky. Rye (rat) and Sonny (rooster) can be done with both a Foomi or a Munny and the rest could be done with Munnies as well. But the one character...THE ONE CHARACTER I needed the slug figure for I can't even do anymore! Serpentine, the freaking SNAKE, needed the Rooz figure and it looks like they don't even make it anymore!

Say it with me now...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!

Well, there is ebay. Sigh, even though its nice that there is always ebay....its a little sad too. Especially when they jack-up the price with shipping. God, I hate shipping prices.

So for your pleasure...here are the Kahuna pictures. See him in his half-colored glory!

Front view

MARVEL AT KAHUNA'S GIRLY EYELASHES! THE VERY THING THAT HE PUNCHES PEOPLE IN THE FACE FOR MENTIONING!

Side View

Saimon's lip mark that will make sense once I finish the Sai figure

Side View again

Just a shot to see his chubby cheeks

Back View

Yeah, I should have sketched the front of his hair better which would make the need for his pony tail make a lot more sense. And yes, I wanted it PINK. I was going to go with red since that is a bit more masculine but then I remembered the thing is made from a piece of Sai's shirt...which WASN'T red. It was PINK. Later on,  he gets a tie that's a darker shade but the first once Sai used was this color...but being the ram/man he is, he wasn't embarrassed by the color. No, more like;

'OH GOD! SAIMON MADE THIS FOR ME! PURE BLISS! PURE BLISS!!'

*passes out*

Budy view with the head attached

You can't see the design on the shirt but its supposed to be a closed fist, sort of a symbol to his giant fist which he usually uses to plow people into the ground. Oh who am I kidding? Kahuna's just FLUFF.

I tried to take a picture of his back which has a Samoan flag on the back but it wasn't coming out too well so I had to leave that out. Besides, without the star, its just a BOX.

Another full body shot, standing on its own

Yeah...I still have a lot to do...:|

A picture to post...

Wow, its not like I can post on other places since I have a dA account, a FA account, a FB, a Tumblr....

YEAH

Update on the issue of 'character'

Still going on with all this racist bullcrap in the club. At first I was just going to end it with banning the guy for his behavior but I was convinced by one of his little buddies to try something different; I said I wanted more group interaction so I ASKED the members what they thought of the situation and whether or not it would be right or wrong to ban him for his actions. Thus far, its almost an even scale. I will not tell you what side has been winning but so far, I’m surprised that I’ve gotten ‘yes, ban him’ ‘No, give him a second chance’ but ALSO a lot of middle grounds, thoughts that feel bad for both sides and eventually have given me the final say on the matter.

I will admit this now; I did get angry. I got very angry. Did I go too far, I did, I will admit that but I will also add that my anger from this entire thing just wasn’t something that came about from this one incident. No, I’ve run into this person BEFORE on a lot of occasions in the past and believe it or not, HE was the one that basically inspired me to make the group. In the past, he has gone on other people’s work and told them that they were ‘wrong’ for drawing characters a certain way, as his post explained ‘too dark or Afrian’ (No, that is not a typo on my part. THAT is how he spelled AFRICAN and it wasn’t a single mistake.) and that people who drew any of the characters as people of color were only doing so because it was PC. To back up his claim he brought up things such as people wanting to ban Tom Sawyer in school (what does that have to do with artist wanting to draw black characters again and for their OWN enjoyment?) and also linked me this;

http://thisorthat.com/blog/5-examples-of-political-correctness-gone-too-far

Its so nice to know that even in 2012, there are still people in this world who act as if even seeing more than two or three people of color anywhere in any medium is too much, as if their presence is some sort of distraction or there is no real place for them. 

As someone who noted me with their thoughts, he was basically was stating ‘I’m not racist so I’m all for diversity but not if its TOO diverse.’

And this is where the problem lies; what is TOO diverse? How does one be TOO diverse? Its insulting because its basically saying that if there are too many people of color, it becomes a problem because its TOO MUCH. The same argument was said by his friend who more or less went on about;

Some people become frustrated when they are forced to change.

THE CLUB HASN’T BEEN FORCING PEOPLE TO CHANGE.

When I started the club, I wanted to create a safe haven for people who drew humanizations of ANY color; it wasn’t JUST for characters of color, it was for EVERYONE. I haven’t told any of my members to go out and tell artist who drew white humanizations to tell them their wrong or that they should only draw black characters. Hell, I even told them to help me find MORE humanizations since I couldn’t do it on my own and that has only INCREASED the number of submissions but guess what?

FORCING PEOPLE TO CHANGE WAS EXACTLY WHAT THIS GUY WAS DOING.

Opinion can only go so far. I’ve been told to let the guy have his opinon but here’s the thing, he didn’t word his statements as;

Well, I don’t agree with Celestia being black since my head-canon is differnent but I can see why other people would do it.

He went on like this;

This is wrong. Everyone knows that Celestia can’t be black because she is an all powerful deity who is supposed to represent grace and beauty and you can’t do that with dark skin. Zecora is the only Afrian character in the show and as far as I can see Celestia has no zebra in her so she can’t be black. Its canon so its wrong.

You see what he did there? He used CANON as an excuse to harass artist into doing what HE wanted to see. The problem is, in CANON, the characters aren’t even HUMAN. In CANON, there is no clear indication of WHAT an of these characters would be even if they were. In CANON, there is nothing stating from these characters’s actions of what they can or CAN NOT be. Yet this guy has been insistant from the start that HIS views are right and everyone else is wrong.

So its no longer a matter of him having an opinion. He has been stating his words as RIGHT and trying to use that to tell the club and other artist that they are wrong, all the while pushing racist rhetorict as a way to defend himself. He stated that black skin isn’t graceful or beautiful and expected memebers, many of them who are black women themselves (myself included) NOT to take offense to that. He stated that her location, mannerisms, and voice also didn’t fit black skin and still expected people to see this as ‘correct’. I had lost it by this point and this is where I laid it out on him full throttle. I had already had enough when he was going to other artist to do this shit and I wasn’t going to take it on a club that I founded and made just to get away from stuff like that.

But yes, I did went a bit far and anger is what fueled it. Nonetheless, I still stand by my point and I found his comments to be VERY insulting, VERY hurtful, and against the basic functions of the club. If I were thinking from the very start, I would have put ‘Going out to other artist and harassing them is a bannable offense for the club’ which is something I AM going to put up once all this is over and the results come in.

He has said he ‘doesn’t understand’ or that ‘he can’t get his words out clearly’ but considering that he’s done this before and to other artist, I think its rather clear that he knows EXACTLY what he is doing and EXACTLY what he is saying.

I’m going to quote another person who noted me on the issue;

Agreeing to disagree on racism is not a good thing.

No, its not, especially when the person in question has done this shit multiple times BEFORE with no real clear indication that he has taken anything away from this at all. The first time, when the artist was being very nice and calm to him, should have acted as a warning but the second time should have been a sign to stop. But he didn’t stop; he did it again, and again, and mostly likely AGAIN since he seems to find his way to EVERY picture of a black Celestia or a random picture of a any of the cast as a person of color, especially of African decent. It seems to be the only race he has an issue with though since he asked about Chinese, Greek, or Italian portrayals, all of which have been done on more times than I can actually count but when it comes to African-Americans, there is suddenly a problem and that’s when it becomes ‘too much’, especially if there is more than two or the character is someone as powerful as Celestia.

I have already had people telling me that they are now uncomfortable with what he said and how he potentially will view their artwork (and to an extent, THEMSELVES as women of color) and in my heart, I feel that he SHOULD be banned. That is MY view and my feelings since I feel that his interactions will only hurt a lot more people, especially if he has more access to pictures through the feed. He could have chosen to express himself better or IGNORE the pictures he didn’t like but he didn’t and considering he has repeat actions on this type of thing, I don’t know if this incident will stop his actions and its something I do not want to put my members through. They don’t need any more negativity thrown their way just because of how they portray a character.

But as I said, I want the GROUP to look over what has been said and how they view it. Many of them are pretty made that I even considered allowing him back in but what happens, will happen and we will see. I have just told you my feelings and what has been going on as well as what I have to deal with because of all of this crap. Its a headache, one that I played part in, but a headache nonetheless but it also shows that people still haven’t changed when it comes to how they view other people. He isn’t and won’t be the last one to tell artist that drawing characters as people of color or anything that strays from the DEFAULT is ‘wrong’ but that doesn’t mean I should allow him to be that cruel to other members without letting him know that his statements are not needed and as I said, very hurtful. Next time, it will be worded better but I have to put my foot down sometimes and this is one of those times.

Diversity is magic but that does not mean I’m going to let people walk over ME or the members who only want to draw. If you continue to offend, you WILL be blocked and you can’t use an excuse of ‘LOVE AND TOLERANCE’ when you’re not even showing that yourself and you continue to act hostile even after people say STOP.

I'm a fort woman....

Second post, different than the first...

A few weeks ago, there was a class and in that class, a fort had to be constructed. How did it go?

Well, if you read my first post about it, you already know I basically stood and helped when I could, moving my body out of the way to ensure I wouldn't get crushed by a tower of chairs. I've thought of a lot of crazy stuff in my life but for some reason, chairs fall on me is something that I DON'T want to happen.,,,but as far as team building goes, the experiences was....

was....


.......

It went WELL. Like I said, I just didn't want to get pummeled by falling chairs.

Now on to the next part!

Focus

The focus of the task was of course trying to create something with the chairs. At first it was going to be a tower but somehow, fort came to mind but then BOTH where somehow created using both the tables and the chairs. I was just waiting for the moment when either formations fell in on themselves and we would all be expelled for 'student endangerment'

No, I'm kidding....but still didn't want to see anything fall over...

Clarification

WHAT clarification?

Okay, I'm not trying to be meeeeeeeeeeeeeeean, but perhaps there was no clarification simply because we were making things up on the fly. Unless we're taking about the simple fact that we had to build something from the chairs and desk, I GUESS that counts as a clarification. The actions that lead to those creations though....well, we all saw what happened.

The mouse

ME. ME ME ME ME ME ME.

The loud-mouth

Well, there were a few who seemed to know more about what they were doing but I can not recall anyone being 'the loud mouth' in that sense

The written record

There were a few times when the idea about stacking chairs DID have to be redone, all for the sake of making sure they didn't fall on anyone....

Feedback (negative)

As far as I can remember, there wasn't that much negativity when the fort and the stack of chairs was being constructed.

Feedback (positive)

Yes, there as plenty of praise...and lots of  'HEY, WOULDN'T IT BE A GREAT IDEA IF WE CLIMBED THIS THING?!' 8D

Handling failure

There were a few doubts about how certain formations would result in the chairs actually standing up correctly but when faced with this, the group would try a different solution to make the plan work.

Handling deadlock

A common ground was made when everyone finally figured out how to stack the chairs TO PREVENT THEM FROM FALLI....you get the point.

Sign posting

I guess the delightful cheers of everyone once the project was finished counts as this.

Avoid single solutions

And YES, this is OBVIOUS. Some of the original ideas for the chair stack as well as the fort would have never had worked, mostly due how the objects themselves were either too heavy or their shape prevented us from doing what we originally planned with them. I keep mentioning the chairs, mainly because of the way they are built. Though you CAN stack many atop each other, once you hit a certain number, this no longer becomes possible. After a number of perhaps five or six is reached, the chairs actually begin to face FORWARD a bit and the more they are stacked, the more and more then lean out which forces the weight to the front and without any bottom support to carry this weight, BOOM. CRASH. Down it comes.

How did we fix this? 

By creating another tower of chairs that was of equal height to support the other so they would actually stand correctly. In the end, THIS solution was the one that worked.

Active communication

Well, we were pretty excited to get the chairs up but I think everyone was more excited to get the task completed....SO WE COULD BASK IN THE GLORY OF OUR CREATIONS! MWAHAHAH!

Homework and other crap.

I am just going to say this before I start my homework for the night;

FUCK. RACISM.

I know that's a weird thing to say but the reason I am saying it hear and now is because I have just gotten away from two of the biggest mother fucking assholes I have ever SEEN in my life and a discussion about animated characters. Any of my teachers reading this know the path I am on or the path I am trying to get on; character design, comics, animation, whatever. You know something that really pisses me off? Someone asshole telling me that just because I have a collection of stories that feature people of color, its being too PC and that would be 'frustrating'.

Frustrating?

You want to know what's frustrating? Being told that you can never be pretty because you're skin is too dark. Being told that you can not be creative just because you're black. Being told that no one is interested in your stories because you're black.

And the sad part is, this all had to do with a show that is already on and has no fucking human characters but all of a sudden, to draw them human is to draw them wrong....IF THEY'RE BLACK OR ANY OTHER PERSON OF COLOR THAT IS.

Fuck you. Really, FUCK YOU HARD. I don't care if I'm 'mean' to you; what you said was HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. And you expect me to feel sorry for you? That isn't happening, especially when you consider the skin I'm in, the skin that frustrates everyone, as PC and unnecessary.

This is why I should stop being emo to myself and get my work out. If people are that fucking afraid of seeing black characters than BOOGY BOOGY BOOGY, I'M GONNA SHOVE THEM IN YOUR FACE ASSHOLE and take that shit because I had to take the notion of having so few female characters of color to enjoy for the past 26 years of my life. A few seasons of seeing black character portrayed as human beings isn't going to hurt you and if it does, boo-fucking-hoo, that is your problem you close-minded asshole.

.......................

:|

What was for homework again?

Right...Seeing Sideways...

What I got out of class is that I shouldn't be so hesitant sometimes when it comes to creating things for assignments. I don't know why, but seeing how the class is becoming more used to each other, I do feel the need to share more things but there is always going to be that tiny part of me that will go 'DON'T DO IT! WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO SAY SOUNDS STUPID!!'

...

I should get rid of that voice.

If there is anything else that can be said, at least I know I can't get any weirder than the instructor! I'm in the clear! 8D

Tigers Tigers Why Tigers

Really?

I have to do a blog about TIGERS?

Oh I have created something based on tigers...but that thing based on tigers expands beyond that so perhaps my thing that is based on tigers can be called something based on tigers that is based on something larger. I don't know but for the sake of getting more of my crap seen, I'm going to introduce you to Gelato;

She is part of a group I would like to call...the Rebels.

Yes, that's SO ingenious!

No, that is not the full name of the team but she is a member of it. You see, Gelly belongs to a SPECIAL project of mine that I want to do for my capstone...something I've been working on for some time now but I've had no real idea what to do with it. Despite what her animeish-vomit colors are telling you, yes. SHE IS A TIGER and the Chinese symbol on your left indicates that she is. The theme of the series in which she comes from is based on the Chinese zodiac and as you can guess, there are 13 other DELIGHTFUL characters she is friends with.

Wait...13?

There are 12 animals in the zodiac...how did I come up with 13?

Don't ask, there are more but there is a reason why there is 14-NOW WAIT A MINUET! D8<

Considering that I didn't want Gelato, or any of the other characters, to be based 100% on the personalities linked to them according to the zodiac line, I came up with idea to take SIX of the most common personality types associated with each sign and make them into something more unique to that character. For instance, Lily, the cow of the group, is SUPPOSED to be hot-headed and stubborn according to the zodiac but I turned it around, making her overly cheery and her 'stubbornness' is based more on the fact that she doesn't know that NO means 'FUCK YOU I SAID NO!' when she keeps annoying people to cheer up. So she's stubborn in her NICENESS rather than being an asshole. Gelly....oh god...well, tigers, especially FEMALE tigers are known for their fiery nature, coldness, and their....sex drive.

Yeah, I said that here on a school blog.

Now how do I turn THAT on its head?

Well....I kept all but the second, turning her ice-queen personality she is supposed to have into a POWER. Yes, Gelly's powers are that of controlling ice and snow, so she is a literal ICE-QUEEN.

TIGRESS.

Yeah, this explains the blue colors.

As for the other personality traits, I tweaked them to the point where she sometimes comes off more goofy than anything else; she's not an airhead but she is flighty and can let certain things grab her attention TOO much. Think of her as that one friend who is always touching and hugging you without your permission but you're too nice to tell her no. Also, she's obsessed with styling people's hair and eating meat.

SHE'S AN EXCELLENT ROLE MODEL!

I'm a tiger and I'm glad that I'm not like her. I would probably be horrified to know a person like this in-never mind....

As for the picture itself, seeing as the story is set in New York and there is a large Urban art scene in that area, I created a series of stickers featuring all of the characters in the series. Why does Gelly have two? Well, I actually thought I had lost the first version (the one on the right) so I went about and drew another one, only to find that THAT one was actually in a folder with a bunch of other stickers I thought I had lost. Considering my attachment to these stickers, I will mostly likely never use them but it was a fun project nonetheless to work on....which I am still working on since some of them still need to be inked and colored.

God, I hate getting into a slump in the middle of a project.

The gallery with the rest of the stickers can be found here; http://inkbottleinc.deviantart.com/gallery/31147653

Now on to the next phase of this assignment, what a-do about those 50 questions?

Oh god, I actually am a bit embarrassed about this consider the stickers is just ONE step in the project I want to do for my capstone and I'm still embarrassed about the concept and the idea. Geeze, its not like my capstone is a PORNO. Its a pitch I had for a cartoon series I wanted to do; what's so embarrassing about that?

I don't know but I still feel the pit of 'Oh god, what am I doing?' forming when I even talk to anyone outside my immediate friends about this. FFFFFFFFFFFfuuuuu-!

Forget this, I'm going in! Here are the 50 questions for this tiger and possibly anything else related to it.

1. Why did I chose to use the read stickers for this instead of the green or blue versions?
2. Why did I use Chinese characters instead of using English to describe the character in the sticker?
3. Why can we only see part of her face rather than her entire face any other part of her body?
4. Why did I put the original in a spot where I knew I would lose it?
5. If I had lost the entire set, would I have redone those as well instead of just redoing the pieces I had lost?
6. What if you had used Photoshop to create the original image and the print them out using a printer?
7. What would have happened if you done this and you ran out of toner while printing?
8. What if people became interested in this set and wanted to see more?
9. What if any of the other characters from the story were the tiger instead of Gelly?
10. What animal would Gelly be if she were not a tiger?
11. What if I had continued my original story based on Western zodiacs instead of Asian zodiacs? (I say Asian because the tale is actually different depending on what countries you go to. In Japan, the story is a little different and in other places, the animals are different such as the rabbit being a cat and the pig being an elephant)
12. What if I changed the design of Gelly...AGAIN?
13. What if Gelly was just a normal orange tiger instead of a Siberian tiger?
14. What if people got offended by Gelly because of the way she behaves?
15. What if Gelly becomes liked for reasons I DON'T like. :|
16. What if I'm asked to try this sticker project again?
17. What if I actually had the nerve to sneak out and post these things around the city?
18. What if these things actually became well known around urban and street art?
19. What if I introduced more tigers into the story?
20. What if I could actually make up my mind about Gelly's backstory and insert more circus things for her like I promised I would when I was reworking the entire idea?
21. What if I can't think of anything else?
22. What if I can't use the whole 'circus tiger' thing with Gelly?
23. What if Gelly was from a Las Vegas show instead of a circus tiger in Italy as she is in the story?
24. What if I actually get to go to Italy?
25. What if I discovered that cirucses are not as popular as I thought in that area?
26. What if I wanted to name Gelly something that is not based on a tasty Italian ice-cream that I wish I was eating right now?
27. What if I could use the name Gelato for some unknown copyright reason?
28. What if I could stop scaring myself when I attempt to draw any of these stupid characters and finally do full character sheets like I wanted to.
29. What if some of the other teachers saw them?
30. What if my friends and family saw them?
31. What if I stop my obsession with trying so hard to get things so perfect in this story it winds up making me exhausted in the process?
32. What if this show actually gets green-lit?
33. What if this show airs and I can get away with more?
34. What if I don't the final outcome?
35. What if I started drawing Gelly and the others more realistically?
36. What if I stop being interested in tigers?
37. What if I changed Gelly into a boy?
38. What if I completely threw out most of the animal elements in the series.
39. What if I do more with tigers in the show?
40. What if I just chose the animals at random?
41. What if the tiger is not part of the random choice?
42. What if people start to ask me how the hell a tiger can be Italian when they are native to ASIA? (Gelly: Well, my great-great-great-GRANDFATHER who was the first tiger of the circus was from central RUSSIA but we all moved down here when the circus relocated and now-!)
43. What if I decided to change her tiger species considering there is more than just one type than just TIGER. Plain, vanilla, TIGER.
44.  What if no one got the joke that her hair is SUPPOSED to look like swirls from a soft-serve icecream machine?
45. What if everyone notices the jokes I was making about how tiger people are supposed to act according to the Chinese zodiac?
46. What if they don't?
47. What if I want to do more with her in art?
48. What if took a picture of an actual tiger and Photoshopped it so it looked blue like she's supposed to be?
49. What if Gelly's entire backstory wasn't as happy as I am making it now?
50. What if Gelly had no love interest at all in the series?

And for a final point!

51. What if all my questions actually made SENSE?

So there ya go...50 questions all based around a stupid tiger I have from a stupid story I am working on from a stupid idea that I made in the form of some STUPID stickers. 

Missed Class on Thursday

I am the proud owner of my first porciline filling since dentist are apparently no longer supposed to use metal?

*looks in mouth*'

Ah forget it. I just need to take care of the one that was broken....

Now for today's assignment! Group dynamics is the name of the game but with all the examples I have to my disposal, how can I narrow down FIVE interesting things I could find about the concept? Well, after scrapping my tired and mostly insane brain, I was able to come up with five things I managed to pick up;

1. The Bruce Tuckman stages of team development- For one thing, I was surprised that someone would really evaluate how teams form and build around each other this closely. Granted, it is important but then again, I'm not the type of person who could hold my attention span towards something like this (or could I? I always down myself like this...) I like how things always start out in such a mess when a group comes together; its so true in so many cases so it makes a hell of a lot of sense. What kinda gets me is the simple fact of this; I've been focusing most of my brain cells writing a comic/wannabe series based on something like this...and the answers just slapped me in the face. What the hell? I've been worrying for the past year and a half about how to ensure that my characters, as a group, come together in a non-cliched or forced way...and I read this and then a minuet later BAM, it hits me. Gee, now all those 27 intro stories that I wrote can flow a lot better now that I know how to connect them and how to fucking establish a group and their team work together. Why the hell did I not find this sooner? 


2. Group size and diversity DOES matter!- I don't know but this one feels more like an 'I TOLD YOU SO!!' feeling on my part since there are times when yes, I do feel this important. The site that featured the article (http://wilderdom.com/group/GroupSize.html) basically had my thoughts summed up; there is such a thing as too small....but also TOO BIG. One thing that happens when people find themselves CROWED amoungts a group of many is that they get lost and its really easy to do so. This can lead what I called the 'drowning effect'; you feel like you're drowning in a sea of activity and it feels like there is nothing you can do to get help or even have your voice heard. On the opposite end, when a group is too small, depending on the project of course, it hinders the ability for the group to try new things. The best thing about having a group of many is that you often end up with MANY views, views that you can all share. Again, it depends on the activity; small groups do work but it does seem to fit in best when you're handling small task (take the kite activity which could have worked with two or three people which is a small number) but when you're doing things like, say, PLANNING A SUPER BOWL (dohohoho, aren't I clever) you need many in the group....

But you want what's ironic? Those many sometimes get split into SMALLER groups which means that you start off with something LARGE but then break it down into something small to get the job done. So in this case, large works because its then turned into something small but not too small to lack any sort of rotating thought and not too large to allow people to get lost.

Wrap your head around that logic for a moment.

3. Risky business is thwarted by groups?- I never knew that? Hell, when most of us in highschool were put in groups, we DID risky business....maybe the business was just LESS risky compared to what it could have been like if we were on our own? I don't know but perhaps there is more points to this than I am giving credit to, especially if there is a good leader on board.

....Then again.....*thinks back to high school*

Buddy: Shall I do the 'I'm stepping on someone's grave dance?' 8D

Me: *face palm*

And that was a group....but then again....we were at Crown Hill....on an assignment....to learn things I can not remember.

God, my high-school was weird.

4. The group support group (brought to you in part by The Department of Redundancy Department)- Another obvious fact but one that bears repeating; yes, working in groups can help people out socially since it introduces people to others and allows them to work together in order to solve tasks and other problems. It sounds simple enough but I will give you another hint; this doesn't always sit well with others!


HINT HINT ME


I guess for some people, its not the WORK that scares them but the interaction with other people. I basically said my beef with groups in my past entries but I will spare you the entire details and give you this little piece of history that basically sums up why I hate working in groups; past experience was shit. Just shit. Shit kids, shit activity, even now at 25 I'm still bitter and a good time warp would involve me chasing some bad-ass kids around with a phone book. THANKFULLY HOWEVER, working with mature adults has shown me otherwise and I no longer have the same hatred for group work as I did in the past...

Well, SOMETIMES but that is a tale I will not repeat on this site only because....it happened here at the school...but about two years ago thankfully.

5. There are different types of teams?! I NEVER KNEW!- I know this has nothing to do with groups per say but its bears some repeating only because it sounds interesting to say the least. Yes, there are indeed various types of teams...there isn't just one thing called a, ya know, TEAMS. Depending on the situation and the way the members are communicating with each other, a teams can be labeled any sort of way. For instance, we have the formal and informal teams; the teams where you're just thrown together on the fly without any sort of thought going into whether or not you want to claw the eyes out of the person you've been put with. You know! THAT type of team! 8D We also have the problem solving team; this team is put together to figure out complex problems or situations that whatever group/company they are working for is facing. Perhaps this is the one where most of the stress comes from. I mean, its not like an entire company is riding and HOPING for ideas to come from these guys to ensure that nothing negative happens, in particular the falling out of a company and....oh wait.

And those are my five things I've learned about group dynamics, with a bit of team building tossed into the mix for some seasoning. I'm still a little scatter-brained about the first one only because now I'm becoming preoccupied with my sudden discovery about what I want to do for my Capstone...all because I looked at some list about they dynamimcs of groups. Urgh, I

KITE KITE! WATCH MY FLYING KITE!

So yes....we flew kites.

I'm pretty sure most of you are wondering why I haven't said anything totally off the wall yet but to be honest, I can't say anything random because it was just FUN.

Yes, I HAD FUN.

It was COLD but it was FUN!

The kite project was of course something simple; the class was split into pairs and were required to come up with a kite design that DIDN'T crash and burn to the ground like a flaming lead balloon. Thankfully, my partner and I were able to come up with something quick and easy and the result?

It...FLEW.

IT FLEW?!

ITS A MOTHER FUCKING MODERN DAY MIRICAL CREATION! *faints*

Yes our sled-kite, which had to be down-sized due since we didn't have enough wrapping paper (I SHOULD have brought in the roll I had bought but I was thinking 'Nah, I'm sure my partner will have the perfect paper. I don't want to look stupid and bring in this roll of strawberry print crap!', actually FLEW and it was WONDERFUL.

But still, very cold.

I hates teh coldz. :|

Urgh, at least THAT was nice. The next thing I have to get prepared for is my final dental follow up. Say it with me people; PLEASE GUM-LINE! HEAL! HEAL! HEAAAAAAL! Don't turn into a PIT in my mouth and please random filling that I swallowed like nine years ago, don't prove to be a breeding ground to something else.

Fuck, at least I have the money to do this now. I'd rather have everything done NOW than wait, and wait, and WAIT while suffering through painful agony just because the only appointments I could make were on days I have class. I know I used up my three strikes ALREADY but at least now, I can actually SIT in class and not worry about my head fucking hurting and being miserable until Spring break were I would only have a WEEK to get everything done. MOVE THIS SHIT OUT OF THE WAY.

But back to kites....yes....I have SO many instructions on how to make kites now and to tell you the truth....I don't think I'll EVER buy a store bought kite again. Yeah, I know that sounds weird but why do it? Why PAY for some crappy kite when you know you can make one yourself? I have the instructions, I have the curiosity, and I have the sudden want to draw some designs on kites.

Yeah! Yeah! I should totally makes some kites for spring or something!

After the bowl and other good things

So many classes to worry about right now and other crap...but still I must go on because I WANT to go on and I WANT to succeed...

But in truth I feel a little crappy because it feels like the TEACHER is the only person reading this crap. Am I not witty enough for the rest of you?! D8

I need to get back on track....and now for the assignment.

Go to a library, bookstore, or your own book collection and look through the books. Please do not read any. Just pay attention to what catches your eye.

• What is it that stands out to you? Why?

The fact that I have so many books crammed into this tiny bedroom of mine. I commute and I have...ISSUE with how my books are stored, where they are stored and how they are kept. I have to have all my books NEAR me so I can access them not only when I need reference to look up but to entertain myself when I get bored and I want to look at things. I am such a lazy git and worried about water damage that I refuse to have any of my books in the basement. In the summer and on wet days, moister SEEPS into the place and you can FEEL it. I can't even draw downstairs because it fucks up the paper so do you think I want to keep any of my books down there?

I am such a dork.

Choose a red book and open it to page 6. Close your eyes and put your finger on the page somewhere.

• What did you find?

I found one of the biggest, REDDEST books I have; CHINA. No really, THAT'S the name of it...just CHINA. It has this fakie velvet texture so it basically shines and glows under the light which is something impressive. Also impressive? The price. This thing is like 400 pages and I only paid 3 bucks for it. YEA ME.

On page six was the following; THE FORWARD!

:|

EXCITING!

• If your finger landed on a paragraph, how many times does the letter P show up in that paragraph?

An even 28 times. 

• If it landed on a picture, how many straight lines are in the picture?

THERE WERE NO PICTURES! Just red and white colors and grayish text! The most uninspired forward ever....but of course, once I turn the page THAT'S when the pictures begin! >8I

• If it landed on white space, what is the white space surrounding?

There was white space but as I mentioned, it took up a nice portion of the page and was only accomppanied by more text and boarders of red.

• Can you imagine the white space as a sea and the other parts (words, pictures, etc.) as islands floating in white water or space?

Not really, but I can imagine the entire set up to resemble...a hallway? A wall print? I have no idea. :(

Using your other senses, explain what the paper feels like.

• Is it slick or rough?

The paper is very slick and cool to the touch. Despite being almost a year old, the book still has that new print smell to it which I enjoy.

• What does the cover feel like?

The cover has a velvety feel to it considering that both its front and back are covered with some sort of material. I have no idea what the EXACT material is but it gives the entire book a silk look and texture which plays well into the fact that the book IS about China. Of course, this ISN'T silk (if it were, I'm sure it wouldn't have cost 3 bucks...) and after feeling it for a while, its not a material I would want to wear as clothing. XD

• Can you feel the ink of the words if you close your eyes?

Nope, like most ink-jet prints, the type is perfectly printed on the paper so it leave no texture or feeling. The same is true for the cover text which has been printed perfectly on the cover in such a way that it seems like text was SEWN into the text

• Do different colors feel different with your eyes closed?

Not at all; no matter what color, what font or what size, all the text feels the same.

• What else can you discover about the paper?

That it still smells new...I don't think I should go as far as LICKING the paper but....but....

NO. NO I WON'T.

• What about the cover?

The cover is one of the most interesting designs I have seen. Besides having a silk-like exterior, the portion of the cover (both on the front and the back) that shows in detail some of the people and culture is actually placed lower on the cover, as if the picture is layered BELOW the portions where the title and other text is placed. Its hard to explain and hard to see in the pictures I have but if I brought the book in and people were able to see and feel the book was designed, they could see what I am talking about.

Without destroying the book, unless you own it and want to, see if you can figure out how the book was constructed.

• Is it stitched?

Yes, portions of the book have been stitched together and placed on top of each other in layers.

• Is it glued?

The book has also been glued at the spine to ensure that the book itself is secure to both the other pages and the cover. 

• Is there any cloth on this book or is it all paper?

Both the front and back covers have some sort of fake silk-like material donning it while the rest of the book is your basic paper filler.

• Is it a hardback or paperback?

This wonderful book is hardback and it makes me wonder how the fuck a book that was designed so nicely could be so CHEAP.

• Does it have signatures? (Hint: you may need to look up what signatures are in the context of making books…)

If pre-printed signatures count then YES. Not only did the author sign her name in basic English text, she also put her name in traditional Chinese characters. Sadly, these seem to have been added pre-printing and are bound to the paper, rather than being an authentic signature.

• If it has signatures, how many pages are in each and how many signatures are there in the whole book?

This signature only appears on page 7 of the book and appears once. Even though many people took part in the project that eventually lead to the publication of this book, the main author, Anchee Min, is the only one who is mentioned predominately. 

 

• If it does not, look at the glue on the ends of the spine and discribe what you see.

I see layers and layers and layers and LAYERS....of pages. SO MANY PAGES.

Flip through the pages and look at the end papers.

• Is there any writing in the book, other than the printing?  If so, what does it say?  Why is it there?  Who wrote it?  If you do not know, then imagine who might have written it.

None that I could see or find. Everything here seems to have been done with printing.

• If there is no writing in the book then how does it make you feel to know you are the first person (possibly) to think about it?

Well, seeing as this is MY book, that means I can write in it as much as I can and seeing as I'm going to be using this for RESEARCH, this is going to get a lot of use! XD

Examine the book more.

• Are there any stains on the book?

No, but there is a bit of wear on the corners....YOU KNOW, JUST LIKE WHAT REAL SILK DOES WHEN ITS PUT UNDER A LOT OF STRESS RIGHT?! 8D

• Are there any fingerprints?

Slightly but only on the paper and those finger prints are so faint they are only noticeable when light shines/sheen on the paper.

• What do they look like?

Small, smudged markers, especially near the bottom corners.

• How might they have happened?

From my constant looking through this book of course. :P

Look at the pages of the book.

• What is the color of the pages? I bet they are not really white.

Why no, the backdrop is WHITE but considering that there are many examples of text, photography and illustrations, there are MANY colors in this book. Red and white are the most common color themes however.

• How would you describe the color? Is it warm or cold? Bright or dull, etc.

The red in this book wouldn't be a 'basic' red; its bright and firy and considering that red is the color of luck in China, this makes sense.

• What other visual things can you explore with the book?

There are many examples in which Chinese characters are dotted throughout the book, as well as small markers and maps which are used to indicate exactly where certain pictures are taken.

Think about the history of this book.

• Can you see any other evidence that someone else has handled this book?

Aside from me, not at all. I may not have been the first person to actually TOUCH this book but I was the first to open it and remove its original plastic sealing.

• What are the edges of the pages like? Describe them.

The pages are still crisp and pristine, a sign that I DO care for how I handle my things! 8D

• Can you imagine what someone else might have been thinking as they read this book?

'Wow, this book is hella big!'

'These pictures look kinda cool...'

'I wonder how many things I can hide between the pages of this....'

• Do you think anyone else has used this book like you are right now instead of reading it?

Unless by some massive coincidence, a student of yours from nearly two years ago went to the now closed Borders downtown, found this book, looked at it for about 30 minuets, wrote down all the details they needed and then used that information for the assignment, I very much doubt it.

Flip through the pages quickly.

• Can you hear the sound? If so, describe it.

The sound is of...paper pages flapping against each other. If I were to leave my room and the gravity from the weigth of the book caused the book to close, would there be a sound?

• If not, what is your experience like? Can you feel the breeze? Can you move something with the wind generated from the book?

Of course there is a nice breeze generated from the movement of the pages of the book which only bring forth the scent of the paper inside. Considering the sheer size of this book in general, small things CAN be blown with it but its not like I could actually move anything significant, like another book if I stood it on its edges.

• Could you use this book to win a game you created using the book's wind power?

I have no idea....I mean, if I cheated, SURE! No, no, we mustn't cheat. Not at all...but wind power from this book? I'd be lucky if I could get this book to blow out a birthday candle or a very, very, very, VERY weak flame.

 

Drop the book on the floor.

• What did you experience?

A gust of wind, a loud thud...and the sound of my dogs barking like crazy because they think any sort of movement means 'ATTACK! EAT THEIR FEET! THEY'RE BREAKING INTO OUR HOUSE!!'

• Did you sense the vibrations the book made?

Yes, but only for a short time. I am on a sturdy foundation after all and its not like I'm on glass or something. Even if I stood on my bed, the vibrations would disappear very quickly. Perhaps if I had a WATER bed...*strokes chin*

• Did you feel it in your feet?

Yes, but again for a short time.

• Take your shoes off. Now drop the book. Was there any difference?

I felt the impact of the book a little clearer as well as the chill of the wind it produced.

Hold the book between your hands with one hand on each cover and the book closed. Close your eyes.

• Is the book cold? Hold it like that for at least one minute.

Yes, this book was cold but after holding it in my hands for some time, it began to warm up.

• Now feel the cover. Can you feel the temperature change from where your hands were to where they were not?

Yes, but this too shifted once I held the book for some time.

• Have you ever been aware of this before when you were holding a book to read it?  If your heat transfers in this situation and you noticed it because I asked you to, why do you think you have never noticed it before?

Yes, especially with book that have glossy covers which tend to have lower surface temperatures than my books that have textured/non-glossy(matte) covers.

• If you have noticed the temperature of a book you were holding before, describe why you noticed it.

I only noticed the temperature change in comparison to the other side of the book which felt cooler.

Smell the book.

• What does the smell make you think of?

The smell makes me think of bookstores and freshly printed paper.

• If you can't think of anything, describe the smells you can sense. (Interesting fact: Did you know that I have friends [many librarians, actually] who choose their books partly based on how they smell? Honestly.)

The smell is that of fresh paper, a woody smell mixed in with the scent of ink.

I do not recommend tasting the book for health and safety issues… :-)

TOO LATE. OM NOM NOM!

Now, finally, read the first page. If it is just pictures, read the story of the pictures. 

• What is the title of this book?

CHINA: People|Place|Culture|History

• Based on the first page, explain why you think the book was titled that.

Isn't it obvious? ITS A BOOK ABOUT THE HISTORY OF CHINESE CULTURE AND PEOPLE! XD

Reflect back on this entire exercise.

• What is your experience like with the book now that you have experienced it differently?

I can't say that I really view the book any differently. It feels more like I appraised the thing now! XD

• Do you still find books to be boring, assuming you did in the first place?

No, why would I consider books boring....

MUST! RESIST! MAKING MENTION OF HOW THE LATEST EPISODE OF MY LITTLE PONY HAD A THEME ABOUT A CHARACTER THINKING BOOKS WERE BORING! MUST NOT! *explodes*

• What, if anything has changed for you in regards to books?

Not really. I still see the book as something to draw inspiration from.

Now think about this class.

• How did I "fishbowl" this assignment?

Well, considering I still really don't like the fishbowl concept that much, I can imagine that you threw a book at the fish bowl, breaking it. That would look so cool in high-speed...

• What do you think the point is of this exercise?

I have no idea but I will throw out a bone; to try to get us to notice details more? To just show how insane these assignments can be?

• What can you take from this exercise that might help you with future projects?

I have no idea...but if I do use some of the observation details brought up in this assignment in later projects...OH THE IRONY.