I’ve been procrastinating writing about the last part of my vacation.  Why is it so hard to write about something fun?  The longer I wait the more ridiculous it seems to write about, seeing as I’ve been back a couple weeks and other things have happened since then.  But I was waiting until I had the rest of our photos uploaded to flickr.  And since I hadn’t done that yet I couldn’t write another blog post about it.  And since I hadn’t written my blog post about that, I certainly couldn’t write a blog post about anything else that happened AFTER that because things would be out of order.  So let me write about the rest of my vacation:

We had fun - finally got a couple days of sun - went water skiing for the first time - came home reluctantly.

I still don’t have all the photos uploaded yet but you can see the ones I do have up there (through water skiing day) at my flickr page.

OK, good.

Now I can write about something else.

I’m catching up with my animation blog feeds today.  Here are some pretty sweet posts:

Cartoon Network Acquires Adventure Time
Watch it -> ALGEBRAIC!

Bolt : Storyboards vs. CG
A good illustration of why most 3D animated movies are boring and bland compared to hand-drawn 2D. (Pixar excluded)

So, as I understand the animation process at Disney, here is how you translate a board drawing into a final CG film frame:

1. Remove all the funny shapes in the character design and turn the character into a nondescript blob.
…
5. Repeat this process until you have blown $150 million dollars.

Independence
Fellow Portlander and animator/illustrator Ward Jenkins totally makes me want to go freelance:

But now, being on my own, my appreciation for working has vastly increased. With each new job awarded I’m fully awake and alive, attacking whatever project head-on and staying completely focused. Something about the timeframe in between each job that shakes me awake and makes me fully appreciate the fact that someone has given me an opportunity to do something special here. I cherish it like there’s no tomorrow. Like it’s the only job on earth.

That’s it for now.  Looking forward to the 3-day weekend.  Kicking it off with some early morning surfing tomorrow!

I’m on vacaaaaaaatioooooon.

Sun, sand and surf… well, ok, no. Subways, pizza, lakes and thunderstorms… but plenty of relaxation and fun times.

Todd’s already been up visiting his parents at Lake Dunmore in VT for the past week, but I just met him in Boston on Thursday. We spent a couple days sightseeing, touching the Atlantic Ocean, visiting Todd’s friends… and now we’re settled in at the little house on the lake, about 3 hours from Boston. We got in after dark last night and it was a nice surprise to wake up this morning to sunshine, a beautiful view of the lake and a nice morning breeze coming in through the screened porch where we were sleeping. After coffee and breakfast we took Todd’s little boat out to see the the whole lake. Unfortunately we ended up running out of gas since the engine was running poorly and guzzling gas, and had to be towed back by some nice guys out fishing. We just had enough time for a quick swim and shower (in the outdoor shower) before a HUGE thunderstorm came through with thunder, lightning and hail. The lake level is already really high from storms last week and some of the roads and bridges around here are washed out and impassable. Looks like there are another couple days of isolated thunderstorms and then we’ll get a break, hopefully! Even though the weather’s not perfect we’re still having a really nice time relaxing and visiting with Todd’s family.

Here are some photos from Boston:

Yayyyy vacation!!!

Harbor seals at the Aquarium

North End.. the tourist books call it Boston’s “little Italy”

What do you do at the Paul Revere Mall? Take jumping pictures!

Old, old graveyard in the middle of Boston.

I love the subway

Best part about the subway: Conductors with Boston accents

I am two days away from ditching work for 1 and a half weeks so I can join Todd for vacation in Vermont.  I’ve been working on this stressful project at work, and though it will probably still be there when I get back despite recruiting help for when I’m gone, I will be glad to get at least a break from it.  I’m starting to long for the days back in January and February when I things were slower and I had time for learning Actionscript 3.0 during work. I do like having active projects but it’s a little tiring after, ooh, 6 months of back-to-back quick turnaround websites.  I’m ready for a little break.

Todd has been up in Vermont since Friday, and I will be meeting him in Boston this Thursday, where we’re spending a couple days before driving up to his family’s summer house 3 hours from Boston in VT.  I’m pretty stoked to get a break for more than just 2 days in a row.  I’m not sure that has ever happened in my adult-life thus far.  I plan on doing a lot of reading, drawing, sleeping, hiking, swimming (weather permitting), yoga… AND I might even work on some personal website stuff if I get a hankering.  But, we’ll see.

This vacation comes at a perfect time, right when I’m starting to get bummed that summer’s almost over… one last hurrah before the fickle Portland summer comes to an end.  Sure, it’s 90 degrees today, but what about next week?  Could be overcast and drizzle.  I’m starting to dread winter’s coming.  When I was planning on moving here I thought "I can handle the weather, it can’t be THAT bad", but, it really does wear on you after a while.  Ahh, trying not to think about it too much.  There is one good thing about the upcoming winter, and that is that I’m finally ready to learn how to snowboard.  What can I say, surfing got me pumped for it. Ah, erm: "SHREDTASTIC" !

I took Friday off work and Todd and I headed over to the coast for some sun/sand/salty water vacation fun. We rented a wetsuit for me (Todd has one already) and a surfboard and went to Indian Beach in Ecola State Park, and I got to try out some surfing. I hadn’t even been in the ocean over my ankles before so I was a little intimidated - but it turned out to be one of the most fun things I’ve ever done, and I can’t wait to go back! After my first big wipe out I got over the fear of the waves and just had fun. I got smacked in the face by plenty of waves but I started getting the hang of it towards the end and next time will be so much easier. I even rode a wave standing up once. It’s pretty dang cheap to rent a wetsuit and board for the day. I’d like to take a weekday off at least once a month during the summer and go surfing. Not only is it really fun and nice to be outside and in the ocean… it totally takes my mind off work and I feel 100% relaxed and content, during and afterwards. And wow, is it tiring. You have to freaking work HARD to even get out there and on a wave. (Plus the surfboard we rented was REALLY heavy, Todd said))

We didn’t really get any pictures of either of us surfing since we were out in the water together - just a few at the end. Here’s a video and picture of me (exhausted and ready to call it a day). I actually did stand up on a ride right before this, but I was so tired I knew I wouldn’t get another one so I was just kinda goofing around…

…and some videos of Todd on his last run… er, ride? Uh whatever you call it:

After surfing we hung out in Seaside, ate dinner and watched the sunset. Then drove back to Portland.

Of course there are lots more pictures in my Flickr photostream!

Heres a video my friend James made, inspired by the sound effects that come with iMovie. You should watch it and enjoy it!

Sorry for the not writing about things, an activity of which I have been taking part in lately. Does that make sense? Anyway, it’s been a really busy month for me! Moving, plus work, plus more work, plus even more work. Plus daydreaming, plus movie watching, plus playing with the kitty, plus drinking and just hanging out. Alright, so I could have had time to write something, but I’ve been trying to hold off until the new design is done. And that’s kind of been off my radar this month. And now that it’s actually sunny and warm here in P-town it’s even harder to stay inside and work on the computer, though somehow I manage to do it on a daily basis - how do I ever do it!?

On the radar for me lately (in list format because my writing skills have deteriorated since my Freshman year in college):

• Freelance animation project that should be wrapping up soon
• Putting in extra hours at the day job
• Moving into house/cleaning house/rearranging house/enjoying house (thanks to Mr. Q)
• Crazy eROI and eROI-related parties (see below)

Portland Advertising Federation Battle of the Bands - this year’s theme was “the 80’s” (and eROI won for the second year in a row!)

James as the Boss with a scratchy voice that makes it even better. And Erin as Courtney Cox.

Victor as Freddie Mercury, including hot mustache. And Chris doing the MC freestyle thang.

And the grand finale… Separate Ways.

Also check out Sam, the bass player in the back, who, in his own words, might be mistaken for Bud Bundy or Teen Wolf.

The same very week as Battle of the Bands, eROI threw it’s annual party. Featuring a fashion show, music, dancing, free food and free booze. It was a big success. I didn’t think we could fit that many people into the office.

Pictures: Don’s photos (setup and party), Pro-pictures (model prep and party), more Pro-pictures

So that’s what’s been happening.

Oh yea, and Summer!!!!

Lots of things changing around these parts.  I’m moving, into a house. That house which happens to be owned by my boyfriend.  My cat likes it there and so do I.  I’m almost ready to hand the keys in for my old apartment.  Just patching up some walls and making use of the wireless that’s still connected (Todd’s house won’t be hooked up until Thursday).  Despite the lack of internet there it really is a nice place and feels like home.  There’s a porch, a big kitchen and a washer and dryer.  I’ll even have a real desk!  I sure am moving up in the world.

Work continues to be good.  It’s busy.

On the non-9-to-5 front I also have a bit of freelance Flash animation work this month.  A really good designer already did the story boards and design and I just have to make it move.  It’s quite fun actually.  It’s a rush job for this month with the potential to bring more of the same in the future.  It pays pretty well too, so I can’t complain at all really.

Once things get settled at home a bit I will get back into working on the new design.  Though the current site looks fine in Firefox, I’m sure I broke the layout in some browsers with that last picture I posted.  It was more to test my new layout to see how a larger photo would look.  Looks great in the new design, but not so much in this one.  Oh well, you can cope, right?  Hope I didn’t ruin anyone’s day!

I must be off now to shop for futon covers, a new broom, and to pick up some tools from the "house" to finish up the walls.  Then I drop off my keys and say goodbye to this shitty apartment management company forever, hooray!  Happy Sunday, everyone.

Here is a small sneak preview, EXCLUSIVE to the readers of this blog (and anyone who views my Flickr stream) of the new design I’m working on for the site. It’ll be cool, trust me. Way cooler than it looks.

I think I’ve decided to use Flickr as my portfolio, using photo sets and collections.  I’ve seen a few other sites use Flickr that way and it seems way easier to use AND to implement than having my own ‘portfolio-style’ solution. I’ll still have landing pages for each category (illustration, animation, web design, whatever else I think of…) on this site, which will contain small collections of thumbnails for each Flickr set, plus the latest blog posts for each category (containing the picture and whatever I feel like writing about it).  The home page will have all of those categories of posts, plus more general blog type writings (boring stuff that isn’t artwork).

There will also be some cute little animations in the header, oh, just you wait.   It looks GREAT. (In my head.)

I’ve been experimenting with symbol-based Flash animation this week. I figure it’s a good skill to add to my animation bag-o-tricks, especially if I ever want to integrate animation into a web design.

Here’s a dog that jumps:

Symbol-based dog animation from Jill AB on Vimeo.

Not bad for a first try… I’m still nailing down the process, and next time the timing will be a lot tighter hopefully. Plus I gotta find a way to get those tricky “caps” (elbows and knees) closed when the legs and arms bend. Character rigging is a big part of this, and I already learned a few things with this one. Mostly, what NOT to do when designing and rigging a character.Another thing I took away from this experiment is to not force myself to stick with one type of animation. At first I created everything as symbols and made myself stick to motion tweens. But it was much easier to get everything to look right if I mixed it up with some frame-by-frame action and some shape tweens. I picked up this book the other day, and lo and behold, that’s exactly the advice the author gives: just do what you gotta do, use whatever tools you have to use to make it work.

Next I want to do a walk/run cycle, and improve the timing and squash/stretch to make it look more like a hand-drawn animation, and not a Flash puppet.