The Graduate

Well, that's it. Fd Animation and BA Hons Creative Practice graduate right here. I'm officially no longer a student.

Yesterday, I was asked what it felt like to be out of education and honestly, I didn't really have an answer. Well, I did but not really a definite non-rambly one. But for the time being, all I can think of is how weird it'll be to not have to attend school in September. For the longest time, I always had that consistency in my life, whether I enjoyed it or not. But I was familiar with it. Now it's just... gone. S'weird, man.

I dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into this but it's kind of a lot to take in. I think it's because this year I've had a lot of big changes happen in my life and it gets a bit overwhelming. It's not that I want things to stay the same, far from it. I want to face new experiences and see where life takes me. But it's also quite a lot to take in and losing those things you were once familiar and comfortable with can be a bit daunting. 

But at the same time, I'm also excited and looking forward to the next chapter in life. I know for a fact that I'm excited to start working properly on Crumbs. I'll be in Spain for the next week and I'm planning on bringing my sketchbook so that I can get some pigeon sketches and doodles done and maybe even plan some more parts of the story if inspiration strikes. But I'm not going to force it and stress myself out. As well as this, I gotta find me a job as well as work on setting up the company with Ashleigh and Rachel. Ooh, the possibilities! Scary but exciting, as life should be I suppose.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, here are a couple of photos on graduation day. Apologises in advance for those who faint at seeing my face. Either from lust or disgust, your call.

Pre-robes.
My dress IS greenish, I don't care what Kat says.

Robes acquired. Stupid yellow and blue thing
kept sliding back, ugh

Me seconds away from death
(I got better.)

"My daughter is graduating, DEAL WITH IT."
This is probably the only time I will be as tall as my Mum.
Unless she bullies persuades me to wear heels again...

Dad kept accidentally choking me with the blue and yellow thing. I think
he resents how much my course/graduation cost.
Just wait 'til I earn squillions with my new animated series Dad, it'll pay for itself!

I love you Mum and Dad.

I'll have the actual professional photograph come along in a few weeks, along with a graduation t-shirt. And I now have this years grey alumni hoodie to go with the navy one I got at my Fd Animation graduation. I like hoodies.

Anyway, I'll have to start job hunting and serious comic developing very soon but from now until I get back from Spain, I'll be taking it easy for a while. I've noticed myself getting worked up from lack of ideas and I know forcing it'll just make things even harder. So I'm gonna calm my tits, relax for a while and if I get some new ideas, I'll go with it if or when that happens.

... You clicked on it, didn't you? God, you're shameless.

Have a good week, guys.

Final Show Show Reel

Wow I am literally the worst; I meant to have this entry up like, a few days or so after the last one. I don't have an excuse, I'm just a lazy turd.

Anyway, lets cut to the chase. Since the last entry, a few things have changed. For example, none of us were particularly enamoured with the company name and so that is going through yet another change. We haven't settled on anything definite just yet but aim to do so as soon as humanly possible. I'll be speaking to Ashleigh and Rachel at some point on Skype tonight so maybe this issue will be resolved then. Not making any promises though.

We're making some progress with deciding the exact things we want to achieve and creating business plans, as well as personal goals (in my case, as you all probably know, this will be Crumbs) and we always have more things to add to the list with every discussion we have so as far as I'm concerned, things are going quite well on this front. Of course some things still need to be organised before business can really take off. There's a lot of stuff to consider.

So yeah, over a month later after Final Show, quite a few things have changed. But it occurred to me that I never actually put the Virtual Magic show reel onto the blog. I asked Rachel and Ashleigh if they'd mind me doing this and they said it was fine, considering it's mainly a blend of our individual projects anyway to illustrate our individual animation skills. So while this company name won't be a thing anymore, hopefully you'll still enjoy the show reel. We'll have our own brand new company show reel in the future but until then, there's this.

As for Crumbs, it's getting there. I've been doing more planning and writing than actual comic page creating though. I think I might need to forget working on a chronological order and just create the pages I see clearly in my head and then work around them, if that makes sense.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I changed the design and look of the 'site'. It seemed much too busy and distracting before with the bright character filled background. Now, it's a plainer design and looks more like an actual webcomic site would. I'm considering creating a side blog for people with questions about the comic but that's probably something to worry about once the comic starts uploading. Until then, I have the FAQ section although it currently features questions about myself artwise than the comic itself. That'll hopefully change once the comic actually starts.

To see for yourself, click on the 'Crumbs' link right at the top of the blog. You can't miss it.

Well, tomorrow is graduation. Gotta go practice walking in high heels some more. You all look like ants from up here...