Flowering tangles

Stuff will possibly soon be on this account

2009-10-09T01:40:27Z

After ignoring this account for a good half-year (shocker! Given my track record) I now may actually be putting Stuff up here. Like, possibly. Significantly possibly.

Art stuff, that is. I'm developing a graphic novel series. I'd be less pretentious and just call it a comic book, but that makes people think I'm doing like FUNNY stuff. Dude. If I could, I would. Nah, I'm doing the same snotty pseudo-intellectual quasi-literary examination of the human condition crap that I've always done. (Even when I was writing Naruto fanfiction. No, really. You can actually inject a good chunk of metaphysics in there, given all the chakra jazz and stuff about demons.)

Anyway, this Thingie is being developed. So I'll probably be posting Bits of Such here. I'll put it all behind cuts and stuff, so people's flists (I'm sure there's a DW term for this, but it's an effing flist regardless) won't be jammed up.

Buuut, I just thought I'd give notice for people who might want to de-friend the journal.

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Back at art school, woo

2009-05-07T01:01:56Z

And wow, the registration systems have not gotten any less annoying.

GRANTED, they are much better than the voicemail nightmare UBC had in 2000. Still, sitting around this morning registering and dropping courses was a real blast from the irritating past.

However, I am excited.

Plan is, I pick up my design certification, a specialized post-grad fine arts certification, and then see about cutting a deal with program advising to let me into some upper level fine arts courses. The point here is not to get another degree, just to actually take advantage of the whole art school thing WHILE NOT SICK.

Nice thing about art school is that it's less stringent about RULES and CREDENTIALS, if you can prove you have the ability, you can apply for honorary credits. I'm reasonably certain that I can get into some degree-stream stuff without being in a degree program (again.)

I <3 art school. Seriously. I missed being at Emily Carr. I'm looking forward to riding my bike there for classes again. The plan is, I guess, to just start going to classes here and there and never leave.

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So I did something productive dreamwise today!

2009-05-04T19:01:26Z

(Though before I get into that... wow, I should upload some icons already.)

ANYWAY.

I am working as a graphic designer now. I actually kind of like this job. It's a very good day job, it has flexible hours, two out of three of my bosses are hilariously crazy (in a good way), it's $$$$, it lets me use my visual arts and design skills. I know that a job that didn't let me do this would SRSLY KILL ME. I'm not even joking. I couldn't stand to not do art all day. I don't care how bad the recession gets, I am not taking a non-art job.

Fortunately artsy things are everywhere and you just have to be kind of a lateral thinker to get your mitts on 'em.

But yeah, so here was the problem.

I am not entirely better! I'm like... oh, maybe about 85% better. My blood sugar behaves itself so no more fainting in public (thankfully!) Whatever was wrong with my thyroid has chilled out so I'm no longer bleeding calcium and iron and having a hemoglobin count of about minus two million. The emotional symptoms have eased off, and I appear to actually have some serotonin now, which is NICE because I don't know about you guys? BUT ANXIETY SUCKS. I do not enjoy having anxious freakouts over nothing! I also don't enjoy having like, zero impulse control so I start 20384398 projects at once and finish none of them (plus feel anxious about it- NOT good times.) I still am kind of a moody bitch, but the endorphin lows that create THAT are easing off. Dopamine levels seem okay! (Caffeine, unironically? Helps. LOTS.)

But I'm not 100% better.

So I've held off on finishing my design certification. I don't have the energy yet to formally get my (formal) portfolio together. And yeah, design (and in fact most art jobs) are weird in that you can actually start working before you get (all) your certification. All they care about is your portfolio.

And I had this idea that I had to wait to be BETTER to finish. But eff that. I'll pick up my one last course, finish it, and get my certification.

I have a job, I can wait on my portfolio for better!job later.

I am also going to pick up a fine arts/illustration certification! I do have a BA, but EH. I was so busy fighting my illness that I feel like I didn't take advantage of the main benefit of art school- time to really nurture and develop your style and abilities. So I'll do that now. I have the $$$. I have the time. And I'll finish up with not ONE piece of paper, but TWO pieces of paper.

Plus, this will nudge me towards getting cracking on both my illustration and design portfolios.

PLUS, I get a discount as an ECIAD allumni (local art school, I'll squee about it in another entry). I enjoy saving money. I really enjoy killing like, four birds with one stone.

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Introduction post

2009-05-03T21:31:48Z

The bitchin' post I have about DW marketing doesn't really explain who I am very well, does it? I figured I should do a, y'know, PROPER INTRO POST. So I'm not just a collection of anonymous and slightly weird pixels running around adding people.

I'm stealing the add_me form since it's sunday, my caffeine mojo isn't working yet, and composing an articulate intro to the glorious freakiness that is meeeeeeee requires like, way too much thinking for a lazy morning when I'm still in my pjs. (And it's after noon. ahahaHA. crap.)

Name: Indicia
Age: 29ish
Sex: Female
Location: Canucksville
Relationship Status: Single
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual.
Occupation: graphic designer, semi-pro illustrator
Children: None.
Pets: None. (allergies :/ )
Siblings: younger sister and younger brother.
Interests: the drawing/writing/design triumvirate of doom, anime/manga, fannish stuff in general, science!, paranormal woo, zoology and nature.

List 3 words to describe yourself:
1. Freak from another planet
2. Tenacious as all hell
3. Open-minded. I try to be, anyway.

List 3 interesting/random things about you:
1. I spent so much time sidelined by illness that I feel (and look, oddly), about 18.
2. I have had a near death experience! No, seriously. I also have seen ghosts.
3. I believe my three artforms are kind of.. the same thing. One macro-artform.

List 3 things you look for in a friend:
1. Funny, intelligent, fun to be around.
2. Open-minded and curious about the world
3. A basic level of empathy and respect for others. After all, I try not be a total asshat to people myself. My illness made it real clear to me that I do not have room for asshats in my life. Yes, even if they're fun in other ways.

5 Favourite Bands/Artist/s:
1. U2 (I am a fangirl, and yes it's totally irrational.)
2. NiN and Tool (a tie! Yeah, I'm cheating.)
3. Duran Duran (DON'T JUDGE ME xD)
4. REM
5. Old good stuff like the Beatles, Ry Cooder, Joan Baez and Van Morrison (my dad's doing)

5 Favourite TV Shows:
I don't watch television much anymore. I really would, given that I like to listen to talk radio while I'm working, and could easily 'watch' tv as well. I love ensemble dramas, though. When I figure how to get around Hulu's streaming restriction, I'll check out more tv.
1. X-files (the last show I watched like an addict)
2. Star Trekses (primarily TNG and DS9)
3. House (last I saw it, anyway)/
I've been told that Leverage and Burn Notice are really good? Should check them out.

5 Favourite Books
1. Idoru, William Gibson
2. Famous Last Words, Timothy Findley
3. The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood
4. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
5. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

5 Favorite Artists
1. Wendy Pini (No one has influenced me more).
2. Moebius (love his complexity of line)
3. David Mack (he's also a really cool guy to his fans, plus he's a designer)
4. Hiroaki Samura (I fell in love with pencilwork because of him)
5. Haijime Sorayama (for sheer hyperrealism, plus his artbooks make my mom think I'm a perv. And I am, but. Not that kind of perv. xD)

Why do you think people would enjoy reading and commenting on your posts?
I'm likely to post about what I'm learning in art, writing, design etc. I like to analyse various media (shows, movies, manga, etc) to distill down ideas about what works in terms of creating characters, plots, stories, etc. I'll be posting preeeeeetty photos and art too, so maybe people would like to see the pretty. I'm very chatty once the caffeiene starts working, so maybe people would be entertained by all this? I also think it would be cool to meet other creative people.

Tell us about your life and what you want to do with it:
I have been to university, but I did so in a hypoglycemic coma; I feel I couldn't really use the opportunity to learn properly. I may go back to university to pick up art and writing courses, though mostly just for education and kicks rather than a piece of paper. I feel a bit like I've been given a second chance on life. The time I spent being sidelined by my illness also allowed me to get really clear on what I want to do.

And yeah, I want to make my living with art and design and writing. All three at once! I want to make colorful sprawling imaginative stories with them. And I figure that, as the woo says, if you Follow Your Heart and stuff, then The Universe gives you everything you need to do so. I do have to be relatively successful so I can take care of my parents (they supported me like whoa while I was sick.) But I guess I feel confident that through my abilities, determination and smarts, I'll be able to carve out some change AND do what I want with my life. Or, at least, I'll have a blast trying. I did have a NDE (near death experience) in 1987 and then again in 2003. In both cases, I got the impression that life is not so much about success in the consumerist dominator paradigm sense. It's about doing what you actually came here to do.

If you could swap lives with a person for a week, who would it be and why? (whether fictional or in real life)
I used to fantasize about being a cyborg like Motoko from Ghost in the Shell. I later recognized this as a fantasy of escaping the annoyance and discomfort of my body. These days I actually don't really want to be anyone else. I want the challenge of being me. After all, I know how to handle that. I wouldn't know how to handle anyone else's life.

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So, Dreamwidth. Are you worth it?

2009-05-01T17:35:02Z

I considered getting a Dreamwidth account.

I thought- why should I?

Because: I am in the process of becoming an artist/writer creature. Illness has stopped me from really seizing these raw abilities and making something of them. But as I heal up, I have the focus and energy to learn, polish and consolidate these talents. Talent is nothing if you (a)don't use it and (b)don't nurture and feed it with training. Dreamwidth bills itself as a site where creative people can display their work and connect with other creatives. I'm not yet better enough to have a body of work made and ready to show. But: I could chronicle the process of learning and creating it here.

The idea appealed to me.

But then I thought- you are fully aware this is hype, yes?

Yes. I don't understand everything about this service yet, but so far it appears to be a LJ clone. Cool features are promised, a more fluid interface is promised, I'm reserving final judgment. But I understand the marketing lure the developers have used. By presenting their service as a portfolio/exposure site, they associate it with the desire of all creative people to win notice and validation for their work. By offering codes to various big name online creatives, they create a mystique for the service- this is where the famous and talented are. Wouldn't you want to be famous and talented too? Don't you want to be on Dreamwidth too?

This tactic worked brilliantly on fandom. Dreamwidth started to glow with the halo of status symbol.

Can't lie, I felt that lure tugging on me too. Wouldn't I want to jump on this too? True- what wins exposure for my work should be my work itself. But I also know that a little marketing synergy helps that process along.

But- this mystique is entirely constructed by marketing. It's a brand image. In the same way an ipod won't make you have the fun, cool, carefree groovy life that the commercials present, Dreamwidth won't make you famous and talented. Obviously. It's an LJ clone. It's marketing.

But then again, what can I say? I like me some shiny. I have an ipod. I enjoy it for what it is.

And lookee here, I have a DW account. The conclusion I came to was this. I love woo, and one of my favorite articles of woo is the idea of The Universe and Your Dreams. If you accept and pursue your dreams, The Universe acts in it's mysterious ways and sends you little opportunities to help. I've actually seen direct personal evidence that this is not entirely bullshit. So I said to the universe:

"If it's going to do some good for me to have a DW account, send me one."

So I've got one. We'll see.

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