Allusionists Studios's blog

Furry Fandom : "A popular cultural phenomenon and a community of people who are interested in aspects of animals and animal/human beings in art, literature, visual media and/or as the basis for a personal philosophy and/or lifestyle."

The earliest forms of 'Furry' enternainment was way back in the 1800's. An author by the name of Hans Christian Andersen wrote animal related fairytales in 1836. Edward Leir who wrote a poem, 'The Owl and the Pussycat' in 1871, Lewis Carroll who wrote the famous fantasy novel 'Alices Adventures in Wonderland' in 1865, the ballet 'Swan Lake' by Tchaikovsky in 1875. In 1890, Beatrix Potter illustrated childrens books. In 1894, Rudyard Kipling with 'The Jungle Book'. In 1896, the first appearance of intelligent animal characters in science fiction appeared in the book 'The Island of Doctor Moreau' by H. G. Wells, and James Swinnerton was the first to have anthropormorphic animals in comic strips in 1895 called, 'The Little Tigers'.

It's clearly evident that the furry fandom originated in the 1940's called 'Funny Animal Fandom'. People who were interested in animal characters and the like, all gathered at fantasy, comic, and science finction conventions and held room parties. In the late 60's and early 70's, funny animals were mostly meant for adults like the advent 'Fritz the Cat' by Robert Crumb, or the Beatles dressing up in fursuits for the cover of Magical Mystery Tour.

In the 70's 'Furry Folk' was the common term for animal puppets. 'Furry', 'Furry Friends' was a popular name for 'Funny Animals' because it wasn't funny and it was meant for all kinds of animals, not just the ones that stood upright and wore clothes. Even today, such entertainment as the movie 'Over the Hedge', the characters were called 'Furries'. (lol)

Now 'Furry' is a term for animal based fantasy. Richard Adam's 'Watership Down' (I love this movie) and 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' by Richard Bach were best sellers in the early 70's! Fantasy changed though, it began to take advantage of the mature attention it was getting. Ewoks and Wookies in Star Wars as well as the Piers Anthony novels grasped adult audiances everywhere! (I luv doz ewoks xD)

The furry fandom started with a little chat by Steve Gallacci at a 1980's Science Fiction convention, spawned by a drawing in his Albedo (I'm assuming it's a book), about anthro characters in science fiction novels, which then, a group of individuals met up at various sci fi and comic cons. Furries were then meeting up at the World Science Fiction Convention in Boston Massachusetts. Steve Gallacci entered his 'Erma Felma' painting there and it sparked common interests which lead to Rowrbrazzle clubs and more formal 'furry parties'. (yey parteez!)

In 1982, 'The Secret of NIMH (my all-time favorite movie!) and 'The Flight of Dragons (which I think I saw), 'The Last Unicorn (i still have it on VHS lol) and 'The Plague Dogs (sounds cool and never saw it D: ) were released as well as some novels, 'Albedo' (I was right lol), 'Redwall', 'Spellsinger', 'Cutey Bunny', 'Critters', 'Usagi Yojimbo', 'Omaha the Cat Dancer' and TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES'!! Who doesn't luv dem herps? c: By the time 1987 rolled around, there was enough interest to host the first ever furcon!

As internet became more of an outlet for furries all around the world, virtual environments were created like 'MUCK', FurryMUCK and SecondLife. There's more to it, but in short, Furries have BOOMED LEIK FLAOR CHILLENS and now they're as common as the cold lol. :3 Go out and hug a furry! Where would the fandom be without you!?

Reference : furry.wikia.com/wiki/History

Urban : Adj. 1. Of or pertaining to, or designating a city or town; 2. Living in a city; 3. Characteristic of or accustomed to cities; citifid : he is an urban type.
Rural : Adj. 1. Of or pertaining to, or characteristic of the country, country life, or country people; rustic : rural tranquility; 2. Living in the country : the rural population; 3. A person who lives in a rural area.

Personally I’ve lived both lives. I was born between houses (not literally lol) I had one home in the city of Baton Rouge on Truman Street in a 4 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 attic, (which I never knew existed until I was 15 wtf. XD) and another that was out in the rural parts of Zachary on Chaney Road on a plot of 4 acres, living in a double wide 3 bedroom 2 bath. Which is better? Living in a rural setting or living in an urban setting? You can’t have both, well, unless you’re made of money!

In an Urban setting, everything seems so much closer. Your job is at least 30 minutes away (without the traffic), the grocery stores are within your reach, the parks, the schools, the activities and fun places to go to on weekends like theatres and bowling alleys. Gas stations, apartments and restaurants too! But with all good things, there are some bad qualities. The crime rates are higher, prices get ridiculous, you live way too close to strangers, all the noises that keep you up all night and annoy you all day, constant construction, (Hwy 51 will never be finished LOL) horrible traffic, smog (which gives you health conditions), and time is your enemy. There never seems to be enough time in the day to do everything you need to do. Because of the traffic, you make it to work late, you possibly get fired, which means no money to pay rent, groceries, etc.
You walk most of the time because there’s no point in driving a block or you know you won’t find a spot to park.

In a Rural setting, the only loud noises you hear are tractors and those only start up five to six times a month. Everything is quiet and peaceful. Your nice and helpful neighbors are miles away from you, and there’s nothing but sky above you. Privacy, a sense of security, good clean air, and there’s always someone’s grass to cut for money! :3 But this too has its cons. There’s wild animals that can get into your garbage, your gardens, your home and even your car! (I found a petrified frog under the drivers’ seat, looked like it’s been there for years. XD) If there’s livestock around (yours or not) there’s always a possibility of them getting loose. Common diseases from wildlife infecting your animals. Pests in your homes (like mice and rats, but even Urban areas have this problem). You have to drive for miles to get to a city to get what you need like food and gas for your tractor.

There’s always a possibility for thieves (because who sits out all night and watches flood-lit porches?)
You have to constantly keep your yard up or it will grow up to your knees.. (quite literally);

Even though I’ve lived the majority of my life in the rural setting, I also enjoy the comforts of the urban setting. So, thinking about your future and where you will most likely move to (because you will have to leave the nest someday xD) Where will you go? Are apartments fair for you? Most don’t allow pets and have strict rules (most have rules but some are ridiculous wtf); Or would you rather buy a small house (or build) or a trailer on a plot of acreage? You’ll be a good ways away from any help or supply, but you’ll have your solitude!

They should have a name for living on the dividing line of Urban and Rural.. It seems better that way. xD…

3D Computer Graphics;

The term ‘Computer Graphics’ was being used as far back as 1960 by a man named William Fetter. He created the first film that uses computer animation called “Futureworld” in 1976 at the University of Utah and was produced by Ed Catmull and Fred Park.

3D Computer Graphics are similar to that of 2D graphics. They both use lighting, shading and dimension. 3D however, is a mathematical representation that makes the objects (living or inanimate) look more real to the viewer. They can not only be confined to a blank mid-air position with nothing around them, but they can also be places in scenes that look much like our own like living rooms, backyards or even places of fantasy. Such movies like Monsters Inc., Shrek and Toy Story were all created using 3D Computer Graphics. Today even a few 2D movies have a touch of 3D animation in them.

3D Computer Graphics have a handful of steps to go through before becoming a model or animation.
3D computer graphics use algorithms much like 2D computer vector graphics in the wire-frame model and raster graphics in the final 2D rendering. Not all 3D computer graphics use this wire-frame technique. Some use photorealistic effects and are sometimes indistinguishable in the final form.
3D computer graphics are also called ‘3D models’ which is contained within the graphical data file, and will not become a graphic until it is visually displayed. A 3D model can be displayed as a 2D image by 3D rendering or be used in calculations and non-graphical computer simulations.

There are colleges you can go to that teach their students and even websites that help you to create 3D computer graphics such as Renderosity that gives advice, tips, tutorials etc.

My reference : www.reference.com/browse/3D%20animation

Science Fiction : “Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a wide range of subgenres and themes. It is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media. In organizational or marketing contexts, science fiction can be synonymous with the broader definition of speculative fiction, encompassing creative works incorporating imaginative elements not found in contemporary reality; this includes fantasy, horror, and related genres.”

Movies like Star Trek, Alien, Predator, Star Wars etc.. are all Science Fiction or Sci-Fi. They deal with future ideas and creativity. Since this is such a broad subject, I’ll stick to one genre. Movies.

Star Trek and Star Wars are the definition of Sci-Fi when it comes to movies. They have robots and technology like light sabers that don’t exist in real life. What would the world be like in the future? Will we actually live in a world similar to them both?

It has to do with a lot of fantasy as well. Such technology has to be made up otherwise if it were possible, we’d already be living Star Wars and Star Trek lives! Allusionist Studios work with Sci-Fi. We use that in our Graphic Novels. Our locations and living structures, towns, cities, Empires etc. will all derive from the Sci-Fi prospective and that’s a lot of ground to cover!

Sci-Fi is a make believe world, where in reality, could never occur. It’s a world of play, where the imagination can run wild and everything sounds reasonable. The point of Science Fiction is to make everything sound reasonable. That’s why Star Wars and Star Trek were so believable because they had a definite reason and logical explanation for everything. From the Starship Enterprise to the Vulcan Science Officer Spock, everything had a realistic history and believable friendship.

Alexandra here :D I know it's been a while, but I've been so busy. :( I was researching some environments for ideas for future drawings of mine, and thought that these photos could be of interest to some of you. I was at first searching photos of trees, and discovered images of trees taking over ruins. So, here is a long list of links to those images.

http://weburbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/overgrown-trees.jpg

http://image32.webshots.com/32/2/70/69/252827069ejwupv_fs.jpg

http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/26730/146013/t/1038977-Pips--ruins-and-trees-0.jpg

http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2007-03/ta-prohm-banyan.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_EXhZUV1045Q/RbvTPSR58vI/AAAAAAAADQ4/xmk_-R05tIk/_MG_6561.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/160/348306257_19eb35196e.jpg

Aaand I went to look up rock formations. Re-watching Attack of the Clones inspired this. I really loved Geonosis.

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=66461&rendTypeId=4

www.traveltip.org/pix/photo.php

www.h4ppy.com/blog/uploaded_images/Saharan%20rock%20formation-740814.JPG

www.kinsilclose.com/imageLibrary/Rock-Formations.jpg

RockFormations,BackSnapper.jpg

And I like this one just for the hell of it. www.windsox.us/SPARES/SP/5.jpg

Allusion : "A reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned; a covert indication; indirect reference; a hint." Noun

"On the busy dirt trails of the South, Farmers lead their cows to another pasture on the other side of the road. He places a thick, sturdy wooden board over the two inch separated steel round bars fixed into the dirt as wide as the gate opening, to allow his fattening and slow hefers to cross without breaking their legs. Every hefer seems to look the same. Their color, their size, their gate at which they walk, their big pink wet noses and the ceaseless noises they make all seem eerily duplicated.

A weathered old man under a trucker hat points out something that caugth his eye. It was so discrete and minuscule the younger more inexperienced boys that are with him this day, wouldn't of caught it. In their mass of 50 or so hefers, there was one that didn't look quite the same. She had the same color tag, same number, but the branding on her left rump was slightly different. There have been cow thievery mentioned in the news, talk of it from ear to ear.

The old man didn't point it out, but leaned into one of the younger boys behind him that's perched on the fence and feintly uttered something, "..he's at it again.." His eyes watching a truck making a trail of dust down the dirt road away from them. He knew it fairly well. A farmer, well known in the agriculture circles, with a grudge, was attempting to steal the old man's cattle, good thing he came today."

Every day of our lives we do things we know to do, that we don't always tell others. In the morning, you wake up and take a shower and brush your teeth before you sit down at the kitchen table or couch and eat your breakfast before work. No one that lives with you, asked you if you did these things, they just look at you and notice your fresh clean uniform, your wet hair, your food, the lazy droop of your eyes. They put it all together and realize that you work today, that you just got up 30 minutes to an hour ago, and despite a hot or cold shower, you're still croggy, sleepy and probably unaproachable from the unusual "Good Morning" you omitt.

That's a sign of something supposed to be known, but not usually or ever mentioned. They know not to talk to you or even acknowledge your presence when you have that 'look' about yourself. That look of, 'Don't bother me, I feel shitty.' look. You didn't have to tell them this, they just know. Probably after a few times you've blown up on them a little bit when they did, and now they know the signs of your grumpyness and don't bother you in the mornings.

Most kids and preteens these days don't read Shakespeare or watch MGM, but they know Shakespeare existed because of word of mouth before they went to 7th grade English 1, because they know black and white movies are really really old movies because their grandparents watch them all the time and associate the two.

"Oh her, that girl, yea, she stole my notebook, the little witch." Whoever stole the notebook know's who this angry girl is referring to, even though her name was not mentioned. Probably the whole school knows about it and will associate school theft with the notebook thief from hereafter.

Customers that buy from a certain store often, getting the same things at the same time of day on the same day, become regulars. The staff train themselves to pick up on this and to satisfy the customer and get him/her to come back, they have their usual things already in bags, ready to be purchased. It's also a rule, something staff should already know about even if you don't work in a store or have worked at all.

Drivers today still flash their lights breifly both during the day and night, signalling there's a hidden cop somewhere on the street. It's common curtesy (at least drivers do this in Louisiana). Some drivers won't notice this, but most drivers know what that means as soon as the lights flicker. I'm sure almost 80% of Lousiainians know what that means. You don't see any on Cops or Worlds Wildest lol.

In the internet world, WoW written this way means World of Warcraft. DA; Da means Deviantart etc. People who use these abreviations not only know what it is they are referring to, but they also know that these initials are a widely known abreviation for these places. D&D, La, LA, TX, PA, L, R, U, D: Dungeons & Dragons, Louisiana, Los Angeles, Texas, Pennsylvania, Left, Right, Up, Down. We all know these little initials. Most learn them on their own without some one telling them what it means. "Oh.. look ___p and notice the squirrel on the ____ight! They are hints of actual whole words we use every day.

Allusionist would be someone or something that reminds others of things not neccessarily mentioned in every day conversation, but it's known that Allusion means hints or covered up, known secret, and they know that -ist at the end must mean it is a person or thing associated with these. You put them together and you know the meaning, but not the actual definition.

The meaning you know and attach to 'Allusionist' is some one or something, if seen, would resemble or remind someone of particular things. All kinds of things. Like common folklore or old wives tales, people know it, they know the stories, but they don't really speak of it much because even though most are entertaining, some are not true or worth the breath at certain times.

Allusionist is actually not even a word. It's not in your dictionary, not even in the internet dictionary I use. -> dictionary.reference.com

So think about it, what do you see your friends or siblings or parents, or even your pets doing? When they are not in the livingroom, are they usually in the kitchen or outside? Do you usually find them on the porch in the evening taking advantage of the cool northern autumn breezes? Do you know their habits and usual way of things?

My dog Sharron knows when my clock goes off the first time, it's time to go outside. She knows it's supposed to go off a second time, which means breakfast. I never had to tell her this, she just knows it from experiencing me getting up every morning after the first alarm and leading her outside to go to the bathroom and then going back to bed when she comes in. Then when the second alarm goes off, I go into the livingroom and dig her blue bowl into the dog food bag, turn the focet on and let it run a bit until it turns warm and run it into her bowl of food so she can have soft food.

Take time to notice the little things that you come to know during your routine without word of mouth and you'll understand Allusion. :3

Hey all! Alexandra here. This is the first installment of weekly (hopefully weekly) entries by me. My first subject: films. I know everyone gets in a rut, so here is a list of steampunk-themed, or inspired, films.

Disney (with IMDB links):

Treasure Planet

Atlantis

Other (with IMDB links):

The Golden Compass Actually, read the books if you have the time, I read them when I was younger and they first came out, and they were AMAZING!!!

Stardust

Wild Wild West

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Sleepy Hollow Just Ichabod Crane's gadgets...the blood tree is fascinatingly disgusting, too!

The Time Machine

Fantasy, "The forming of mental images, especially wondrous or strange fancies; imaginative conceptualizing." noun, plural -sies, verb -sied, -sy-ing

There are many types of fantasy. Horror like Freddy Cruger, Sci-fi like Star Trek, Liturature like Watership Down and real-life Urban myth stories featuring creatures like the infamous and elusive Chubbacabra! Fantasy is all around us when we daydream and a part of us when we dream in sleep. Without fantasy, humans would live in an unimaginative, colorless world. Imagination triggers fantasy images and themes. Because of fantasy, so many things we've seen developed in the real world and captured in photographs or on location were made reality over time.

I dream alot. The colors, creatures and locations I see or experience in my dreams give me fuel to create. I'm sure even emotions like fear helps make every-day experiences like rustling of leaves at night make one think there's something unearthly "out there". A major part of fantasy comes from art. Paintings, drawings, sculptures etc. are all apart of a piece of mind that lets us create from fantasy.

Children imagine themselves as,on, in and around their toys. Imagining themselves outside the school window climbing the playground jungle gym. Every walk of life, every creed, every stage and age of human life, dreams, imagines, experiences and even sometimes lives in their own fantasy. We read books and get lost in the plot, we care about the characters or even fall in love with them. We watch movies and find ourselves apart of it, knowing things that the other characters don't.

Is there any part of every day life you live that doesn't have any form of fantasy in it? You would be surprised with the answer. Even common inventions, like the computer, were once fantasy. Things like the car, the can opener and even the refrigerator magnet were imagined by people that want to improve the lives of human kind. That ink you write with, that toilet you flush, even the very tv you watch fantasy with!

Images from www.allposters.com

SO0802 24x36~Metamorphosis-Pos…

AB737~The-Enchanted-Flower-Pos…

10102~The-Dragon-Dancer-Poster…

7938~Planetary-Unicorn-Posters

World Fair/Steam Era

steamman

So it's time to post another blog entry partly for visitors, but mostly for the Allusionists.  When you sign in and check the albums you'll notice a new hidden from the public album specifically labeled Steam and Brass era.  As you come across images like this while you're on line feel free to upload them into this album for the rest of the group to see.  Up to this point I've mentioned a lot about character and me and Christle have mentioned a little about Steam Era influences, but today, pretty much by accident I tripped into the image of a Ross Microscope (like the images above)  I new what I wanted, but didn't really have a name for many of the things I pictured in my head that I have see, probably like rest of you in various media.  Anyway I think we haven't given just do to digging up references for Steam era inventions and architecture, so this is my attempt to kick start an effort for that again.  The architecture during the Steam era is very interesting because it was a "pretty much anything goes" as long as it's grand ideology behind it.  You will see grand marble arches that mimic the great Greek and Roman traditions of architecture and you will also see buildings and other large structures that would be considered ultra-modern and were made like caging sometimes under glass.  The best way to get a good sampling of these is to research images and the history of the World's Fair.  The "World's Fair" events were HUGE during the Steam/Victorian Era they represented, many times, the culminations of years of research and sometimes the unveiling of of one's life work.  All of these things are important because they are indirectly related to the story.  The Steam era represented a huge transition into the industrial age and then into the informational/high technology age we are in now.  Gliese 581c is also heading into a major transition and so hopefully the idea of invention via conventions of the Steam Era will foreshadow the basic idea of inventiveness and transition that will be forced on the planet down the road.  Some more visual representations of designs that were common in the Steam/Victorian Era. (Also see some invaluable resource links to start research below images.)

World Fair/Steam Era

World Fair/Steam Era

World Fair/Steam Era

World Fair/Steam Era

Ray GUNS!

Steam Era Ray Guns!

Steam Era Ray Guns!

Links:

www.antique-microscopes.com/brass_microscopes/ad2.html

www.antique-microscopes.com/mics/pistor.html

shop.webomator.com/

www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/quekett/origins.htm

www.fleaglass.com/index.php

www.wetanz.com/rayguns/

www.arsmachina.com/ross.htm

www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artoct07/iw-Casartelli.html

www.bigredhair.com/steamman/index.html

 This is where things start getting good again...

The general overview

 Interestingly enough this was a question posed by Christine, but she was only asking about that, in reference to the logo we're in the process of developing.  Imagine her shock and sense overwhelmedness (lol) when I poured out the studio mission all out and started philosophizing.

Truth be told I had it in my head and I think most you already had this in your head, just based on the concept, but I never really thought about crystalizing it and really putting it down.  So without further ado and with quite a bit of thanks from Christine here's OUR Vision/Mission statement:

The studio vision/mission is to create captivating and empowering stories about morality, mystery, heroism, comedy, tragedy, evolution and environmental responsibility vicariously through anthropomorphic characters and societies.

I think that says it all...lol.  

Since we don't have an actual book as of yet "leaking" any other plot or story info isn't a good idea. 

 I have a pretty clear idea in my mind how it should work out, but if you have any questions (studio members) don't hesitate to shoot me an email.  The idea with the photography is for us to build a nice library of images, from two photographers, for the sketch artists and people refining sketches, doing environments, painting textures and overpainting to pull bits and pieces from before hitting the 3D modeling/sculpting stage. Hopefully, this will reduce (if even necessary) the pressure of starting from a blank page. Just let me know what images you are pulling from so either myself or Habib (the modelers) have as much reference material to work from as possible in the modeling phase.  

Here's a rough outline:

Story Development

Character sketches/reference sheets/character sheet

Story Refinement

{Note: This is very important for people modeling and overpainting to know exactly how much or detail needs to be in a particular panel}

Book panel layout designed (panel size and scale locked down)

Character sketches/reference sheets/character sheet

Plot/Story Refinement (Plot/Story Locked Down)

3D character modeling/sculpting from reference materials

Storyboards (environment panels with characters in them)

3D scene construction/ Storyboard composition

Pre-Painting re-coloring/Manipulation

Overpainting

Final Manipulation/extra FX

Printing

Right now I feel like our book should definitely have it's own physical proportions, which could be problematic for certain publishers, but I think we should risk it.  The aesthetic value of drawing someone into a lush graphic novel that even has the dimensions of a film frame could be very important.  What's probably more important is that working to this overall size will make the story exponentially more readable by the casual person looking at the book.  One thing that I think has repelled people from looking at graphic novels/Comic Books (the industry is in sharp decline) is the utterly nonsensical and confusing ordering of the panels; typically there is no order and panels are put together in a way that "Looks Interesting", but people have idea which panel is the first and which is the last making it impossible to actually know where the story is going or what the plot is. I would like to go with a more cinematic frame proportion.  Something closer to old school "Cinemascope" frame size which roughly had a ratio of close to 3:1.  With this kind of long rectangle and a few other technical considerations someone reading will absolutely know that on every page they can read the images from left to right and they will know what the Hell's going on with the story. 

4.25 x 11 would give us a nice and clearly rectangular cinematic canvas to tell our story on. Doubling that would be a whopping 8.5 x 22 which will almost definitely be a problem.  BUT 1 1/2 times our original dimension would be 6.38 x 16.5 which should be workable even if pushed up to 6.5 x 16.5 which shouldn't be impossible in this age of digital print setting.  Definitely let me know what you all think. 

 Okay Everybody Claudia asked me to post this for her.  She's the newest addition to the studio and will be working to support the development of 3D assets for the environments and textures for mapping that we'll be building with some of her Photo images as reference.  Claudia has really exceptional taste in capturing environments with lots of details and the light to accentuate every nook & cranny.

__

I've had the opportunity of living abroad for 17 years, in California; Santa Monica and San Francisco. My love lies mainly in Europe. I am fascinated by the UK, Germany and parts of the middle east. I've been back in Brazil since 2001 and have been living and working here as a freelancer.

i've been active in photography for the last 4 years, work independently and have shifted from working in a handful of different business service industries for the past 10 years. in summary, my efforts have always been geared towards business services: marketing, sales, public relations, strategy and risk management and communications.

i have a full career in hospitality in marketing and sales, working several well known hospitality organizations. working with hospitality has developed well my capacity to deal with people, multi-task and most all other industries in the business sectors. currently my intentions are to create partnerships and work with projects that will include photography. one of my ultimate goals is to partner, in a project, in the environmental sector, to be able to work alongside a well known organization to create awareness, enhance and educate people about environmental issues, to communicate and work to create more quality in our lives.

i shoot digital and have recently upgraded my camera to a canon powershot pro 1, a great camera! in the past i shot mainly with a canon powershot s330 and a nikon coolpix s6. for photo processing, i use lightroom, photoshop and/or corel paint shop pro photo softwares.

although i do not limit myself in photography to specific types of images, my works tend to be mainly bw. my tendencies lie in shooting urban, cityscapes, city life, portraits, nudes, landscapes, nature and some macro photography. in my self portraits, i am my own subject/model and enjoy exercising expressions, body language and working with the senses.

you can follow my works here >>
flickr - www.flickr.com/photos/kikapu
ipernity - www.ipernity.com/home/claudiaschulzm
art limited - 5307.portfolio.artlimited.net
wooloo - www.wooloo.org/claudiaschulz
facebook - www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=585824498

My name is Mina Rho.

Sorry it took so long to write up an entry about myself.

I'm a comicbook fan, and "artist". I use that word loosely. As with many things, I have a love-hate relationship with it.

If pressed, I'd have to say my specialty is painting and coloring with form being of secondary importance. But I love form. I'm just not as <i>good</i> at it.

I live on the West Coast U.S.A. I'm female... Biped... Covered in an approximation of skin. Right handed. That pretty much sums me up.

Good Day!

Min

I guess I've been thinking about this for a while, but learning new things about you folks, including some deep passionate love for traditional media art I was thinking it might be good to toss it out there. It seems as if in terms of commercial art sales, atleast the higher end material, digtally produced and easily reproduced artwork is practically worthless regardless of how well crafted or designed. The idea of being able to easily reproduce it or even have someone steal it electronically and make however many identical digital clones at no real expense to them is what's created the low value of digital art and to a slightly lesser degree photography. However, an interesting trend that has not seemed to take off, thus far, but seems to pop-up here and there is mixed media which (just an example) might take something like a character created digitally and have it printed, on canvas, over a traditionally oil or acrylic painted background, maybe painted over in some way, distressed in some way and detailed with something as exotic as gold leaf even and framed. This blends the best of traditional and digital media into unique art that, if desired by some group of consumers/clients will maintain it's value. So, while I understand we haven't even gotten close to getting off the ground yet and Sci-Fi/Fantasy characters probably wouldn't sell well maybe doing traditional art like this with small accents of Allusionists Studio fantasy (whatever that might become) could be a nice secondary business for the studio. What do you think?

In additional news it looks like we have many studio mates on here and posting which is pretty sweet. Feel free to blog about anything here you find interesting in your day to day and stuff that is or could be relevant to the studio.

Also [Very Important] I believe I've found a pretty comprehensive contract template, which I'll upload here for everyone to look at. The amount of legalese, and overall number of pages was quite intimidating, at first, but I think it's just good to have everything thoroughly covered and there's no way I would have thought of all of those things. I think it's a good idea to try to take advantage of of all of that experience though. I'll post the contract as a "Private" document so you'll have to login to get it. Anybody ready to Skype yet?

...Another thing if, or when you leave a message on the Blog post or any other, since we are all signing in under the same account please remember to add your name to the post, so we know who's posting.

Hello friends, my name is Kerem

I am a self trained designer who's working in 3D Modeling, Digital Painting and Design area. My aim on 3D Digital Imaging is to create the worlds and places in my mind since childhood. I am glad that I was fortunate enough to work with some of my favorite artists for their album cover illustrations and designs and also digital paintings for their videos. Also I worked freelance for Interface Media and Far Star Productions - but their projects are still in progress.

Hey there! My name is Shaylee, but you can just call me Shay. I am currently a senior in college attending Brigham Young University. I am majoring in Animation with an unofficial emphasis on design and concept work. I will be graduating this April (eeeeek!) and I'll be headed out into the big, wide, scary world.

I've always known I was destined to be an artist. There was simply no question about it. Its just...who I am. All through grade school I was known as "the girl who can draw". I didn't start taking art classes until high school and I took it for four years. I owe a lot to my art teacher, because she was absolutely amazing and taught me so much. But while I was studying traditional art during school, in my free time I was beginning to explore different styles - cartooning and character design. I was influenced by the art of Lilo and Stitch, as well as artists I was discovering on the web. Yet, as much as I loved these knew styles I was developing, still I thought I was going to major in illustration when I got to college. My sister was already in the program however and told me it was a waste of time. So I was kind of stuck. I didn't want to waste my time, but I wanted to do art. That's when I discovered BYU had a newly created animation program. Even though I was terrified to apply and didn't think I would get accepted, I put together a portfolio, and applied. And I got in.

Although most people's focus in the program is a technical position, I decided to continue with what I love - drawing and designing. Yes. I know there is no guarantee of a job doing design seeing as its intenstely competitive. But it's what I love. And with this business you have to choose between focusing on a skill that gets you a job, or a skill that you love. I could have learned other skills, but they won't make me as happy as designing does. So that's what Im sticking with. Im not saying I don't learn other skills. I enjoy animating and I appreciate the other skills involved with creating a 3D animation. But MAN I love design. Its my drive. X)

Im not entirely sure what I plan on doing come graduation. I want to apply for different internships/programs/jobs. My dream would be to work for Pixar (duh) just because they create GORGEOUS and BRILLIANT films, plus the atmosphere there is absolutely amazing. The people are so down to earth and friendly and they really want you to succeed. Its an environment I could  thrive in. So who knows. Maybe one day when I get some skills my dream will come true. 8) For now, I'll find other jobs to help me learn and grow as an artist and team member.