Sand the floor!
Sounds like Ian didn't miss anything too exciting at Day 2 of the Guildhall video game education summit. The art he produced for Friday's presentation is incredible, however! I'm so impressed with it. Ian showed me last night something that is probably one of the most complete pieces I've seen from him -- a little gnome dude in a factory full of explodey looking wooden barrels, and with some gothic elements in the columns and windows. It's neat! (Okay, why isn't the word "gothic" in my spellchecker? Nonsense!) When it's all done, I'll encourage him to display it on his DeviantArt page. Oh, meanwhile, Ian posted one of the pieces from his directed focus study last term. He ran into some technical limitations with rendering the whole since the file sizes are so massive (what you see here is a snapshot, but he really created this as a 3D space so it's very Involved technically). You can see the Creekwood Cottage project here. (Click on the picture for a larger version.) He also updated a shotgun he did near the start of his education at Guildhall (again, clicky for a larger view). Oddly (or so I thought), this was one of the pieces the Gearbox Software interviewers liked best. They were impressed that Ian thought to include the detail of a carrying strap for the weapon. I think he's going to be working on concept art for weapons for them during his internship, so I can see why even something small like that caught their eye. I'd wager that most of the other artists in Ian's cohort strongly prefer organic subjects for their art, whereas Ian has an architecture and drafting background, so he's good with the environment pieces.
Ian's not thrilled with his Guildhall experience at the moment. He's got one class that is beating him down. To a degree, a lot of the work there is "sand the floor" as Mr. Miyagi would say. It's repetition of the basics to make sure they're ingrained when they move on to the good stuff. Wash, rinse, repeat. One of his current classes is filled with painting fences and sanding floors and basically Ian just can't see the use of it. Understandably that's frustrating to him. He seems pretty bitter about the experience lately -- fortunately, he's still working and using his bitterness to spur him on to dreams of doing something he perceives as better. When Ian was teaching martial arts when he was younger (speaking of sanding the floors), some little 8 year-old boy once said to him, "When I'm sad I try not to be sad; I try to be awesome instead." That phrase has been a strong theme in Ian's life lately, and I love that about him. It's tough, we all know it, it's tough to be awesome when the world is encouraging something else. This term has less than one month to go, however, so it won't be forever. I just feel bad that he's not feeling especially awesome about Guildhall right now and I don't feel that there's much I can do to improve the situation for him. He's just gotta sand the floors and ride it out. Hopefully the announcement on Tuesday about Team Leads for the capstone project will bring gladder tidings.
My life? Three days no Coca-Cola. Someone stopped by this morning and told me that Coca-Cola is loaded with sodium. This started an Internet hunt to see just how much sodium it has (approximately 50 mg per can) and whether that's a big deal. I don't think it is. Still, I'm determined to get my ten days out of this.
Grilled sirloin burgers from local beef via Whole Foods last night. Watched an episode of CSI that had both Six and That Lawyer from BSG (it was the one with the sisters who are fashion models, and one is homeless, and the other keeps a log of all her input and export from her body). It makes me wonder if those actors are connected socially, and that's how they both ended up on the same show later?
Finally got two characters off Newbie Island in Conan. Finished the level 30 Destiny Quest for one last night and got my first sight of anything outside of Cimmeria. Happy.
Liberty Mutual has cut a check to the car mechanic. The mechanic called to say they have to order a part. Our insurance company is filing with the other driver's insurance company.
Really, that's all I have for you today.
T$
Ian's not thrilled with his Guildhall experience at the moment. He's got one class that is beating him down. To a degree, a lot of the work there is "sand the floor" as Mr. Miyagi would say. It's repetition of the basics to make sure they're ingrained when they move on to the good stuff. Wash, rinse, repeat. One of his current classes is filled with painting fences and sanding floors and basically Ian just can't see the use of it. Understandably that's frustrating to him. He seems pretty bitter about the experience lately -- fortunately, he's still working and using his bitterness to spur him on to dreams of doing something he perceives as better. When Ian was teaching martial arts when he was younger (speaking of sanding the floors), some little 8 year-old boy once said to him, "When I'm sad I try not to be sad; I try to be awesome instead." That phrase has been a strong theme in Ian's life lately, and I love that about him. It's tough, we all know it, it's tough to be awesome when the world is encouraging something else. This term has less than one month to go, however, so it won't be forever. I just feel bad that he's not feeling especially awesome about Guildhall right now and I don't feel that there's much I can do to improve the situation for him. He's just gotta sand the floors and ride it out. Hopefully the announcement on Tuesday about Team Leads for the capstone project will bring gladder tidings.
My life? Three days no Coca-Cola. Someone stopped by this morning and told me that Coca-Cola is loaded with sodium. This started an Internet hunt to see just how much sodium it has (approximately 50 mg per can) and whether that's a big deal. I don't think it is. Still, I'm determined to get my ten days out of this.
Grilled sirloin burgers from local beef via Whole Foods last night. Watched an episode of CSI that had both Six and That Lawyer from BSG (it was the one with the sisters who are fashion models, and one is homeless, and the other keeps a log of all her input and export from her body). It makes me wonder if those actors are connected socially, and that's how they both ended up on the same show later?
Finally got two characters off Newbie Island in Conan. Finished the level 30 Destiny Quest for one last night and got my first sight of anything outside of Cimmeria. Happy.
Liberty Mutual has cut a check to the car mechanic. The mechanic called to say they have to order a part. Our insurance company is filing with the other driver's insurance company.
Really, that's all I have for you today.
T$