Random sketchbook drawings!!

I finally got my scanner up and running, so I thought I'd share a few pics from one of my three sketchbooks!!!

(Interesting fact about me -- I feel like I always need a sketchbook, but I'm also incredibly messy and incredibly forgetful. I'll often misplace my sketchbook in my pigpen apartment, and after a few days going crazy, finally go out and buy a new one.... and then find the old one again. XD So yes, I have three active sketchbooks right now, which is nice after a couple years of MAYBE having one...)

First, I drew this while I was at Calarts, after coming to California from snowy Northern Arizona and seeing all the students lounging on the grass -- something we haven't been able to do at NAU since Winterpocalypse began back in November or earlier.

I'm seriously proud of that picture. It's so.... not typical of me. XD A background? Say waaaaah?

And this is me after the "Epic Art School Visiting Adventure of Spring Break 2010" trip, when we had to drive down to Phoenix for my boyfriend's fancy-doctor appointment. I. Really. Did. Not. Want. To. Go. XD Thankfully, he drove.

Other random sketchbook images....

My friend Eric making his signature "...really...?" face


My roommate Alyssa, doing what she does, and her cat Quiz, doing what he does.


Some random anime chick I drew when I was SERIOUSLY bored during a psych class. (I can tell it was a psych class cuz I recognize the table I have her sitting at as one of the lecture rooms in the Social and Behavioral Sciences building)


And, last week we had a Japanese group visiting us, all the way from (guess where?) Japan. (Sendai, to be exact). I've recently been LOVING to draw sucky little journal pages (a la Angela Mellick of Wasted Talent and Erica Moen of DAR)



(My comics definitely leave a LOT to be desired, but if I decide I want to do one, I have to crank it out RIGHT AWAY!! or else I forget, because my memory blows.....)

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In other news, I have fallen in love with TWO THINGS!!!

1) Lolita Fashion! ^3^ (You have Futurama Assistant Director Aimee Major Steinberger to blame for this!)



Come on! How adorably cute is that?!?!? :3 It's the cutest thing EVAR is what it is!!!! Too bad it costs oodles of money to get into... -_-

2) Keep Calm and Carry On posters.... and spoofs thereof! XD



I would love to start a collection of them! XD Wouldn't that be swell?? (Again, money....)

That's all I got tonight children. My senior BFA show is in TWO WEEKS! (omg...). I'll be taking pictures of all my finished art pieces and posting them for your enjoyment.

Best wishes!
~Megan

Santa Clarita, lawl

So, I'm in Santa Clarita, home of Calarts. (Okay, technically it's VALENCIA that's home to Calarts, but Valenica is in the Santa Clarita valley and yeah.... shuhddup.... -._.-)

Anyways, I'm in the general vicinity of Calarts, and in fact, I visited it today. I just parked and walked, just to kind of take in the campus and stuff.

And HOLLY SHEET if it wasn't overwhelming and intimidating as FACK!!

(XD I was initially gonna swear outright, but when I wrote "holly" instead of "holy" it just fell into place. Plus, I like writing "fack." It makes me think of Angela Mellick.)

But yeah. Aside from the really skinny pretty graceful dancers prancing around (I'm a short chubby Hobbit with less foothair and more facial blemishes), the big empty confusing hallways and staircases, and the complete inability to find the admissions office without asking someone (I'm really, really, really, petrifically shy), um, I thought it was, well, AWESOME!! But like I said, intimidating.... and overwhelming.... by the end, I just wanted to run away and hide in a ball in the darkness and mutter "I'm not worthy... I'm not worthy...." between wheezing panic attacks.... cuz that's how I roll.

At one point, I found the animation department, and walked through it, looking at the artwork on the walls with total and complete awe.

I want to be there. I want to be there so bad. PLEASE let me be there.... PLEEEEEEEEASE!?!?!

CCA visit

So, at the moment I am in "sunny San Fransisco" (and by "sunny" I mean it's been pouring and by "San Fransisco" I mean one of the many little towns far from it but still part of the bay area). We drove alllll the way here from Arizona in one trip, after leaving at 2pm because the boy had work. We got here at, like, 3 in the morning California time (which is an hour behind, wow), slept in the car in the middle of Piedmont, but I couldn't really sleep because of bad stomach problems, so I drove around for awhile. Went by Pixar (OMG I FANGASMED ALL OVER THEIR STREET!) and went up into the hills to see a beautiful view, and drove down towards Berkley and back. Then, after the Cory woke up and we got breakfast, it started to rain, right in time for our tour of CCA.

I have to say, I was not impressed. I think High School Me would've been okay with it, even excited about it, but Already Dealt With College Me is like "Ugh, what's new?" They have an interdisciplinary mindset, which is fine and even awesome, but so much of it I've already done and part of it is me feeling bad that I missed out on the better classes, and also just, I dunno...

One of the things I'm trying to get is an overall feeling of connection with a place, you know? And I didn't really get that there. I couldn't see myself swiping my card to get into the animation department, I couldn't see myself living in and walking around this area of the Bay, I just couldn't see it.

So maybe that means I should just not. Even though I have a scholarship, even though it would only take two years, I think I probably will just not. I'm not going back to complete my current education - I'm going back to start a brand new one. That's my vision. (Well, if I manage to cut out some english etc classes, that's always good XD). And I want to learn everything from the best. So that's what I'm gonna try to do.

I visit Calarts on Tuesday. I'm super excited. But today, my aunt is gonna take us to the heart of SF. We're gonna take a ferry! Now I wish I knew the "I'm on a boat!" song better....

Another character

This time, an adorable little bundled up girl. She needs a name, and I might be drawing her more.

Character Design and stuff

Basically. I keep wanting to draw people, but not just.... draw people.... I want to learn how to add life and history and memory behind the drawings I draw.

So here is my latest attempt... and might I say, it is totally rockin!


She's totally just all like "EFF YOU, JERK!" cuz I feel like that sometimes, and I just love her posture and her expression and everything. XD The finger, that was totally an afterthought, lol.

(Crappy quality due to my cameraphone.... and I wanted to crop that other sketch out, but photobucket is a butthead)

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

So, I'm currently working on Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), by Green Day.

And I can't help thinking of one very distinct memory I have of this song.

When I was in 8th grade, I found myself a complete social outcast, all my friends having ditched me out of jealousy when I got into the full-time gifted program, and all the kids in the full-time gifted program ridiculing me for my awful fashion sense, my weight, and especially for not having been smart enough to get into the program sooner. It was a very lonely time for me, and a huge turning point for me when it came to my mental wellbeing (in that, it took a big plunge and I still haven't quite gotten to the point I was before then).

We went on this class trip at the end of the year to a ranch out in the white mountains of Arizona for four days. It was pretty fun, mostly because I got to make the others jealous when I got to go, say, horseback riding without them, because my mom chaperoned the trip and could sign the waivers.

And I distinctly remember one night, maybe it was talent show night or something, but one of the kids - Will, I think. He was a cellist in the orchestra with me - had a guitar, and he was playing this song, Good Riddance. Everyone sat around him, and they were crying. They were crying because the school year was almost over, and they would all end up going to many different high schools.

And because they were crying, I was crying.

But then, someone turned to me and went, "Why are you crying, Megan? We've been together since first grade -- you just joined us this year. It's not like you're going to miss us."

So I cried harder. In fact, I ran out of the room, out into the chilly Arizona mountain air, sat on the wall outside the lodge, and just cried. I cried because it wasn't so much I was going to miss them, because honestly I wasn't. I cried, because no one was going to miss me. I cried for the fact that I didn't have a reason to miss anyone. No one liked me. I had no friends, no one wanted me, no one cared. You know how they say "Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?" Replace "love" with "friends." I was devastated that I hadn't made any friends, that everyone had just shoved me aside without even trying to know me.

While I was crying, someone came up to me. This girl, Yue. The gifted program was split into two set of classes, and she was in the other one, so I really had never had much contact with her before. She walked up to me, asked me what was wrong, and actually tried to comfort me.

And what did I do?

I spat out "It doesn't matter. What do you care?" and ran off to cry alone in my tent.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I hadn't run off, if I had actually explained to her what it was like for me. I wonder if any of them realize what it was like for me?

Amazing, how strong such memories can spring up, all from a little song.

Ukulele Repetoire

(I just love that word - repertoire.... rep-e-TWARRRR!)

So I first got my awesome Lanikai LU-21 ukulele in October of 2009. It is now March 2010, meaning 5 months has passed since I first started learning my uke. And I thought it'd be interesting to compose a list of songs I have learned since I started.

Also, to just say how proud I am that I've even gone this far! So many times in my life, I've said "I'm gonna learn something," and then, I get to a certain point, and then I quit.... but I think this is different, because it is relatively easy, and it's REALLY easy, and not a crime, to just say "Okay, I'm bored with this song," and move on to another song.

It also helps that I keep my ukulele on the part of my queensized bed I don't use, so it's easily accessible when I have problems sleeping...

Anyways, on to the song list! (Which will be updated periodically)

(I'm ignoring all the beginner songs like "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain," cuz seriously, they're lame XD)

Completed songs (for the most part):
~ Leavin' on a Jet Plane
~ I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab for Cutie
~ F.U.N. Song - Spongebob Squarepants XP
~ Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett
~ Shit Towne - Live
~ Let My Love Open The Door - Pete Townshend
~ Like A Prayer - Madonna

Works In Progress:
~ Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles
~ All You Need Is Love - The Beatles
~ Big City Dreams - NeverShoutNever!
~ Good Riddance - Green Day