You sit in the quad, and think, "Oh my God! I am totally gonna go far!"

Quad Couple preview
Originally uploaded by tallychyck

No innuendo intended :P

New painting, "Quad Couple" up on Flickr and available for purchase on E-Bay.

And now, now that you're gone, I will go on really believing

UP was delightful. I saw it this morning with my friend Kayla, since, apparently, children's movies don't have midnight premiers. :P Between us, we have enough enthusiasm for Pixar to form our own fan club. We both squealed at the film's clever humor, fast pace, and fun designs. And I may or may not have cried. T-twice... There was an old man watching with his wife a couple of rows behind us who sobbed several times. I thought it was sweet. I feel like Pixar doesn't try to trick audiences into emotional responses; everything feels necessary to the film and natural in its context. Definitely a must-see! I don't consider it Pixar's best movie, but that's only because they have set the bar so high. It's kind of a given at this point that the animation will be impeccable and innovative. On the negative side, though, I would have liked another half hour of movie, and perhaps a second human living in the S.A. jungle to bump into. And what the heck was up with mentioning a cool labyrinth and then never seeing it?!
I loved the characters, the idea of the floating house, and several of the issues about growing old addressed in the movie. I didn't even care that there wasn't a main female character for most of the movie--it was so well rounded that I didn't notice any absence. And okay, I absolutely adore Russel. Cutest human character they've ever made.

And apparently there's a Toy Story 3 coming out next summer?!!!!


Gave myself a little grammar refresher on 'lie' and 'lay', which I mix up all the time...http://wvde.state.wv.us/tt/2002/grammartips/grammartip0014.html

Underneath the swirling skies for all to see

I'z paintin.

One day I'll come back if the door's still open

Adorable!


I finally filled my spring wardrobe holes (sandals, shorts, a summer dress, and a summer jacket). My mom was really kind and gave me the same budget that she gave my brothers (even though I should be able to afford my own clothes at this age...not having an income hurts!). I found some really cute clothes I'll post pictures of it I can muster the energy. :) Forever 21, you are still my crack.

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Mine was great -- I went to central Oregon with my family and had a flashback Nourigat family vacation a la 1995. We swam, fished, rode bikes, visited family, sunbathed, hot tubbed under the stars, and had a few lazy, outdoorsy days together. I had to stay in the notorious 'Spider Room', which my brother Nick and I trade off on each vacation. It has never reclaimed its former glory since one winter vacation, when we arrived at the house to find that a spider had hatched its eggs in the room since our last trip. There were fast, black spiders everywhere. Ick! Though I'm pretty sure there was only one in the room this weekend, I had the unfortunate experience of it dropping from the ceiling onto my shoulder. x___x Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Damn Spider Room...

I am still working hard on school and art. I have less than 2 weeks of school remaining, then final tests, putting me home mid-June. With only 13 credits, this term has been a guilty pleasure. I enjoy all of my classes, and have no excuse to not do my homework. I'm 'that nerd' in my Japanese lit class this term. Seriously. Last week, while our teacher was talking to someone else, a classmate turned to me and a few neighbors and laughed sarcastically, "I love this class. No, really, this is my favorite class." In my head, I was like, "I...I actually look forward to this class all week..." xD Wednesdays are hard because I know I have 6 days left until it meets again!

On the art front, I have a long to-do list of maintenance on existing projects and a (possibly longer?) list of new projects. I have a couple of minicomics I'd like to do for the Portland Zine Symposium in July, an anthology story, a fun/experimental project, and possibly another story for freelance (which will take precedence if it materializes). There's my watercolor project and my thesis comic for next year, too. Time passes so quickly -- I really have to jump on these things before I find myself with a full summer schedule! Oddly, I think that these last school weeks might be more relaxed than my summer will be. :P Must draw while I still have access to nice scanners and printers!!!

Another big thing still on my mind is summer work. There is yardwork, paperwork, and house fixup for my generous dad, and there may still be hope for a 9-5 job, but I would love to make a profit from art this summer. We'll have to see whether or not I can a) make enough good new stuff and b) find a market for it.

Get it on! Get it on! Get it on! Nothing to fear

It was SO HOT in Eugene this weekend!! I was sticking to my desk so badly, I had to give in to the impulse to go for a walk by the Willamette and laze around on the lawn with a book. It's great to need sunglasses and shorts again.

If I have learned one thing about myself as an artist this year, it's that I thrive on deadlines. Creativity honestly comes easiest when I know exactly how much time I have, and it looks challenging. To tap into that drive for my summer projects, I've calculated approximately how many units of work each project requires (about an hour each...units of work could be "scan a page" or 2 units of work for "pencil a page"), and the total for all projects. Then, I can divide the units of work remaining by the days remaining and set a daily goal to get everything done. A little OCD, but excellent for my motivation. I love the feeling of racing or 'beating' a daily goal. Right now, the daily goal is 4 units of work, so I inked one page (2 units) and penciled one (2 units). Now I'm going to smack that daily goal down with another ink! >:D

I've been job-searching more fervently as we reach the one-month-till-summer mark. I applied for 2 receptionist jobs this weekend, and have considered a wide variety of other jobs while cruising Craigslist. Dental hygienist, waiter, bartender, graphic artist, painter...ice cream truck driver??

Yup. I could be that creeper handing you or your kid a choco-taco this summer. :P


I don't really mind what I do, but I'd like to know what I'm doing before too long!

Nick's Birthday_color

Nick's Birthday_color
Originally uploaded by tallychyck

Finished watercolor image:

If you didn't notice boy you meant everything

Nick's Birthday_ink
Originally uploaded by tallychyck

I've been playing around with brush inking this month, and have decided on a new project to help me learn: I'm going to attempt to recreate 5-20 of my favorite old photos with waterproof ink and brushes, and then watercolor them. Ideally, this will help me learn 4 things I could use practice on (anatomy, environments, brush inking, and watercolor), and be a very fun time, too! Who doesn't love reliving happy old moments?

This recreation is from a photo of my little brother Nick's 10th birthday, with my little little brother Neil making a great face (Are they not adorable??):


Oh hey, third benefit I just thought of: I'll be ahead on Christmas presents!! xD;

My homies and me be drinking butterbeer forties!

Harry Potter Partyyyyy!
The Cave's first party was on Friday, and it was wicked. Check out my friends Morgan and Ally's sweet costumes above--Hedwig and a Golden Snitch!

Simplest party drink recipe ever:
Electric Lemonade - 1 fifth of vodka, 10 crappy beers, 2 cans of pink lemonade concentrate. Mix and enjoy! (carefully, as it is extremely delicious and extremely alcoholic)

And a great non-alcoholic recipe (AHEM, under 21ers):
Butterbeer - 1 cup club soda or cream soda, 1/2 cup butterscotch syrup, 1/2 tablespoon butter. Measure butterscotch and butter into a 16 oz. glass. Microwave on high for 60-90 seconds, or until syrup is bubbly and butter is completely melted. Stir and cool for 30 seconds. Slowly mix in club soda. Mixture will fizz quite a bit. Serve!

Cut my hair, grew it long, played my song, and I watched the sun

Did I say that my Rosemary & Co. brushes came? They came! They are gorgeous and finely crafted gifts from the old country! I have attempted to ink with them, but the pictures kind of suck so far, so I am not in a hurry to go scan them.

I got a $40 American Apparel gift card a couple of months ago, but I didn't spend it until yesterday. I went into their store on 3 separate occasions, intending to spend the card, and walked out thinking, "I...just hate their clothes! I can't spend money here!" Even when it wasn't my money, I couldn't bear the thought of paying $20 for a $4 T-shirt. In the end, though, that's what I did, twice over. It was the only cut in the store that didn't cling or hang in an unflattering shape. I have to admit, they are very comfy shirts. I think American Apparel is just a very expensive basics store, and in order to build a decent wardrobe you need to infuse their overpriced t-shirts with personality from many other stores. Yes, supporting the American economy! No, trying to make plain cotton cool.

I think that everyone is slightly OCD about something. I have a friend who only gets out of bed when her clock reads a time ending in a '0' or '5'. For me, it's stepping on the last stair of a flight with my right foot, stemming from a game where I tried to give my right foot more points than my left foot (lmao). I try to count stairs as I go down flights and figure out if I'm on track for my right foot to hit the last one, or if I should double-step to get ready. It's gotten better as I get older, but it was so bad at one point that I had to go back to the top of the stairs and try again if I messed up! I think we cling to little oddities like that, though, because they're nostalgic and because the weirder they are, the more we can be sure they're unique to us.

Feet are really hard to draw. D:

Snowdrift

Snowdrift
Originally uploaded by tallychyck

I started joking around with haiku and haikai poetry after studying it in Japanese literature this term, but it's too fun to stop there! I've been sporadically working on an experimental project (no real goals for it except to learn and explore) mixing poetry and illustration/sequential art. I plan to go back to this piece with a wet paint brush and make the felt tip marker lines bleed a bit to soften it. I'll do other examples as I feel like it, and maybe put out a collection of them for the Portland Zine Symposium in July.

Sleeeeeep!

I couldn't stop writing my thesis comic story tonight! I'm scripting it now, or taking it from a rough outline of what happens in what chapter to actual dialogue and descriptions of the scene and 'camera' angles. I got on a roll tonight and had to keep going until a chapter break while it was all fresh in my mind. 3 chapters down, 2 to go. There will be tons of revisions and adjustments in pacing, but so far it is working out to be way shorter than I'd feared. It's probably a good thing to keep this one as short as possible, since time will be a factor when I actually get to the art...

Also, I definitely am still finding glitter in my lashes from that fake rave costume 2 weeks ago. Nast.

Love From The Depths

I LOVE Tomihiro Hoshino's haiku and illustrations. My high school Japanese teacher showed me some of his work, and I always meant to go back and learn more about him. I got to incorporate his art and poetry into my paper for disabilities class on artists with acquired disabilities or impairments (he was paralyzed from the neck down while teaching gymnastics), and had an excuse to read Clocks of Different Paces, one of his many books. So good!

Two beans rather than just one.
Two people rather than just one.
I think that is surely more natural.
I eat green soybeans side by side with my wife.

A spear flower bears little red berries among dry grass in the shadow of the bank.
And those red berries can't be created by the big tree towering next to it.
Nor even the human beings who went out into space.

Also, if I was at this concert, I'd be going significantly more crazy than this audience:

Clam Chowder Face

I've been working all weekend on a story I want to use for my senior thesis next year. If I start work on it in autumn, I'll have 9 months to draw it, so I'm aiming at a medium-long size comic (around 120 black and white pages). I swing from being very excited to being very critical. This morning I had a crisis when I realized that a large part of one character's back story was pretty much the Naraku/Inu Yasha/Kikyo plot from Inu Yasha. *headdesk* The spice must flow!

The story is set in New England, and in my search for reference, I found the blog of Jeff and Louise, a retired couple cycling around the world and posting gorgeous photos for homebodies like me. :) I'm really shocked and impressed with all of the places they have gone and how far they've traveled on a tandem bike! Who knew two people could see so much of the world in such a short time? I know what my dream retirement is...

Blog once in a while May: 1

Ah, the end of Blog Every Day April. That was fun. I liked not having to think up post titles for a month.

A Softer World has been one of my favorite sites for almost 4 years. Its sad, funny, and sadistic strips satisfy in a way no other webcomic (can I call it a webcomic?) can. I just bought their new "Mistakes aren't always regrets" T-shirt. So stoked to wear it!! I also like the phrase "A life should have secret plans", but I'm not feeling the shirt design. :-/

Everyone who knows Ms. Shatiya Hamilton knows that she is a great artist. I just...forgot how great she is. I follow her Livejournal, but I only found her Deviant Art last week, and was really blown away all over again looking through her gallery. Check this out! How awesome is that??!

Last night was Barn Dance--the annual spring dance where all the schwastey Pi Phis load onto a school bus and drive out to a barn in the countryside for dancing and fried chicken. (Mmm, friend chicken...I'm hungry... T__T) It was great this year! My roomie Heather set me up with a blind date who was a good sport, and our other roommate Emily brought a nice blind date as well. We played Apples to Apples to help everyone get to know each other and then went out to a large prefunk to make sure we got a chance to see everyone we wanted to before the craziness of the dance. When we finally came home, Heath and I curled up on the couch and watched Sex and the City for a while. May or may not be my next addiction...

And I suddenly have 4 art projects on my hands. Not bad! I love the conceptual stage. Also, my new Rosemary Co. brushes should be coming this week, so expect more practice aaaart~