I've moved...(again)

Well, I've been testing out another blog hosting site and have decided it's time to move on from blogger. And over to tumblr!  I'll be posting there from now on..

http://missyork.tumblr.com/

Happy Easter!

I colored eggs and it was a major disappointment (thankfully it was only six), but luckily at the moment these tulips also resemble eggs. :) Happy Easter!

1/60 sec at f / 2.0, ISO 400
50mm (EF50mm f/1.8 11)

Sketch Month

Drawing by Vanessa for Sketch Month

I love art blogs.

And what I haven't done enough of in this blog is promote my talented artist friends. One of those artists is my close friend/ex college roommate/Illustrator/Graphic Designer/Linguist (phew! hehe) Vanessa, who started a blog called Sketch Month. Every month she explores a different topic (this month is cars!), and I think it's a great way to put her work out there and expand her already awesome skills. I especially like to see her process drawings and renderings in black and white or simple colors. Vanessa and I share the same style in many ways and I'm hoping she'll start up a graphic design blog as well too. :) So check out her blog Sketch Month!! She posts a new drawing everyday (except weekends) from the greater Chicago area.

Mira Mesa Wildflowers

As I'm still on foot, I walked to where these beautiful wildflowers bloomed in an abandoned field about half a mile down the road. I used to walk by the field everyday but during the winter it was pretty bare, however now that it's spring on my walk back from errands the other day I noticed all the flowers!  Sometimes it's really great being on foot.

ISO 100, 1/800 sec at f/1.8, 50 mm

ISO 100, 1/640 sec at f/1.8, 50 mm

ISO 100, 1/640 sec at f/1.8, 50 mm

ISO 400, 1/800 sec at f/4.5, 50mm

ISO 100, 1/200 sec at f/1.8, 50mm

Photography techniques

I'm in the process of relearning the camera. It's so easy to buy a DSLR and let it do all the work aka turning the dial to the little green box. Which is great in some instances, but I've noticed the little green box isn't all that creative. Maybe that's why it's a box. :-/ And some photographers swear by it, but I think they're only limiting themselves. While amazing photography is about the artist and not the tools, it always helps to know how the tools work too. :)  Both of these photographs are two combined into one; foreground and background. While they are boring subjects, it's all about the practice that I know will enhance my work in the future. I'm also including the specs; another great habit. In flipping through the specs of past photos it reminded me of the rude awakening one gets while counting calories in the food they eat. f/4.5 is my equivalent to the donut! :-/

glass: ISO 100 13.0 sec at f/22, 50mm
background: ISO 100 1/13 sec at f/1.8, 50mm

Sedona rock: ISO 100 6.0 sec at f/22, 50mm
background: ISO 100 1/4 sec at f/4.5, 50mm

Blues and Greens

Went out this weekend with my Aunt to La Jolla and it was quite a beautiful day. There were many seals in the water poking their heads out,  curious of the spectators. And curious as to why those spectators were on a roped off beach and swimming in water reserved for the seal community. There seemingly weren't any guards and the sign wasn't overly clear but this isn't a zoo. It's the ocean. There was even a small baby on the beach, inches away from gawking humans. My aunt and I stayed on the pier and with my polarizer I was able to get some really nice colors of the sea life below. The ocean itself was gorgeous.

180 Ladies

Today I drew a little for the first time...in a looong time. I picked up AAU's 180 magazine which has some really great fashion photography in it. I drew these in pencil on a sketch pad then scanned them in and sketched over them in Photoshop with my Wacom. Oddly enough I use my Wacom to animate and drawing with it is harder than one would think. Something to get used to, but I'm happy with my results on this trial run. I think the next step is to attend figure drawing sessions. Hm..

Fresh and Easy Flowers

The crew

Showtime

Since I have some time, here is my best shot from Killzone 3. I was responsible for motion capture cleanup on the face and hand animation on both characters. Stahl looks bug-eyed in the beginning which I am not responsible for. :)

LA Live

Every six months or so I participate in a weekend of portfolio reviews at my universities open house. I've been doing this for a few years now, and it's always a really rewarding experience and a definite change of pace. For eight hours I review student work; everything from highschool level to college to post college, in a variety of different areas; 3D, animation, new media, photography, studio art, illustration etc. But I mostly help out kids looking to make it in the art world by offering advice and answering questions about my own experiences. And in the end I usually end up inspired myself by them (this year I've decided when figure drawing classes start up again I'll be attending!). Regardless it's a weekend away from my little world in Animation. I get to trade in the 20 guys I work with for 20 women all in black, meet a variety of new people and hang out with my fellow alumni in film and graphic design. This year I didn't bring my SLR which was ridiculous since I really love hotel decor. This ones modern decor and solid color caught my attention.

After a very long day, I had dinner in Little Tokyo with the early birthday girl Pepperoni, then drove the much longer drive when you're completely exhausted drive, back to San Diego. No more than 20 minutes in, and by Anaheim, all that tea I had to sooth my throat turned into a desperate need to use the bathroom, and my GPS sent me to the "Happiest place on earth". 

OR the unhappiest if you really need to go to the bathroom. A gas station and two "Starbucks" later I ended up in a hotel lobby bathroom next to some massive party. Ah, Disneyland…

The next day in San Diego wasn't as crazy, but I figured out the best part of Los Angeles is I get to leave. It was good to be back in SD. :)

Love, love, love.

While at Lake Miramar I noticed quite a few of the male Mallard ducks were being really aggressive. And then as I was walking away from the lake I was just in time to catch one grabbing the tail of a female as she tried to fly away. Only later did I realize he was probably trying to get her attention by picking on her. Hm. :)

Japan

This morning I also went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Balboa Park. I was expecting a lot of vendors selling unique Japanese items, not to mention an actual Japanese garden. And maybe...cherry blossoms? I was incredibly disappointed, however if you haven't donated to the Red Cross for Japan please do so. Every bit helps!

Lake Miramar

Today I went to check out Lake Miramar. I had heard it mentioned before and wasn't expecting much, but it ended up being quite nice. There were alot of birds and all kinds of flowers. The lake itself was very peaceful, but don't let it's size fool you. I walked around the entire lake and the path snaked in and out of the surrounding hills. By mile 1 I thought I was half way there. 4 miles later I was regretting not bringing a bottle of water with me!