Cause I'm a Platypus

I found this today on the interwebs. On I Am Bored

I love it!

Grapheme Magazine

Grapheme Magazine by ~SyntheticPlatypus on deviantART

Design a Magazine.

Though this one did not take as long as the others, the majority of this one was spent cussing and fitting about because I knew what I wanted to do, but goodness was my computer and programs against me.

I would say that about 80% of the time was spent on things that did not work. Grah. But now I know how to make pictures from text, so I learned! Which I guess is the point of all this.

So, Welcome to the first issue of Grapheme Magazine a magazine dedicated to all things typologically related.

I wanted this cover to be a bit tongue in cheek about typography. So for those of you who do not know the vocab:

Grapheme:is a fundamental unit in a written language.
Ligature: where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph
Kerning: refers to adjusting the space between two letters
Bleed:a printing term that refers to printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet after trimming.
Serif:semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols.
Sans-Serif: the opposite of above!
Helvetica: A font. The best font ever, really.

I wanted this to read like a Vogue or Seventeen magazine, where there is bits of innuendo and relationship advice. It was fun coming up with the headlines.

Besides the bits I had trouble with (namely the person) this was fun to stretch a bit back into the graphic design territory and using the computer again. I'm glad I could, the undo button came in handy for this one.

Also normally, I wouldn't have left such a big space to the left of the word Helvetica, but I left that there for shipping stickers if someone was to get a subscription for this magazine.

Black Condor Vs. Black Condor Inking Commission

Inking Commission by ~SyntheticPlatypus on deviantART

Pencils: Larry Guidry

Inks: Me!

So I won't lie, it was a bit intimidating inking a piece of art drawn by an already established artist. What happens if I messed it up? Luckily, the whole process went as smooth as butter.

I worked in small increments daily, because inking while fun can be a tedious and tiring procedure. Coupled with my fear of screwing up, little bits seemed the way to go.

I worked where I was comfortable first, namely the people. I used several sizes of Sakura Micron Pens in order to keep the detail and vary the thickness of the lines. I used a large black marker for the big areas of black.

The transparency in the human looking Black Condor was difficult, I didn't want everything to look the same in DC, it had to look like something was in front of it, even though the cape was see-through. Uber thin lines and cross hatching the ink pen for shading became my new friend.

The Helmeted Black Condor was a different kind of challenge. In the practice sketch of the cover that Larry Guidry he very much drew the feathered cape that this Black Condor has. I think he forgot to finish it in the final draft cause I had to. Another terror of messing up, drawing and inking my own stuff on someone else's work. Eeek.

I saved Washington DC for last. Which also took the longest. I don't really ever draw landscapes and what a landscape this was! I filled in the darkest areas at first and then worked with my thin pens to fill in the rest of the detail.

Walah!

My Dog, Gala

I love her to death (even when she is being annoying as ALL WHAT). She's the first pet I've had except for a pet hamster (wiskers, when I was 10) and a failed attempt with a dog when I was in the 2nd grade. Evan and I got her in late September of '09, she was born in April according to her vet, which is when Evan and I started dating!

She is an awesomely sweet puppy. She loves to cuddle, rarely barks, does this fun thing where she sits on her hind legs and pulls your hand to her tummy to scratch it, and sleeps in the weirdest positions. She also follows me everywhere around the house, like when I was cleaning yesterday. I was in the kitchen, there she was. I was cleaning the bedroom, and she was lying on my comforter, the bathroom she was sitting looking at me, and in the office she was chasing the rolly chair as I moved it.

She can be a bit needy, but I think that's cause she loves us so much.

She is great and it's been a good experience so far. I miss my 12 pound puppy though, she is nearly 50 lbs now!

A Forest- Make a Painting

A Forest by ~SyntheticPlatypus on deviantART

"Make a Painting" was the next card that I drew.

I love this painting. It took absolutely forever though. When I draw a card I have to figure out what I'm going to do. I knew I wanted watercolor, but I didn't know of what.

After a few days I was doing laundry and hanging up my clothes. I love dresses and as I was hanging them up I noticed I had quite the collection and array of colors and patterns.

"How pretty this would be" I thought to myself. But how to approach it? I ordered the dresses in rainbow fashion (ROY G BIV) with brown, white, and black at the end. I then took several photos of close-ups.

After deciding which photo I would use, I printed it big and gridded it, I added a grid to my paper and then drew everything square by square by square. I erased my grid as I went so I wouldn't have to backtrack.

Then I very patiently started in on my white saver (a lovely liquid rubber that you paint on your paper that saves you from accidentally painting something you wanted to keep light or white) and then started in with the colors, layer by layer by layer. I really wanted to take my time and not rush myself.

I just did a little a day work-wise constantly moving around the paper to make sure I didn't bleed into already wet areas. When I felt like I would mess up if I went further I quit.

I borrowed some glitter from a friend who does crafting because the orange dress I own is glitter-riffic and I have noooo idea how I would have pulled that one off.

I'm very pleased with this piece and I think it's the one I've had the most enjoyable time making.

On to the next!

Hey!

So, I'm irritated and worried.

Probably for absolutely nothing which is what I am hoping for.

I'm not looking for sympathy, empathy, or pity (at least not yet, :p).

But things suck when it does not go according to plan.

I made a doctors appointment the other day for a physical. I am going to be 25 this year and never have had a physical so I thought it would be wise to have one.

Things went great, she looked at my skin, talked about diet and exercise, told me I probably need a new prescription for my glasses soon but that I was still well within the limits of seeing good. Then they drew some blood and said they'd call me.

They called yesterday and told me to come back in for ANOTHER blood test. I'm all, "what?" Reason being is that my white blood cells are low (wtf?) and my kidney function was not as good as it should have been (huh??). This was not the plan. The plan was for me to get a phone call with the words: "thumbs up Sara, everything is uber fine!" not "another blood test and doctors appointment to discuss everything with the doctor" >_<

Not cool.

And of course, the internet is really not the best thing to look at when you potentially have something wrong with you. There are several different types of white blood cells and whatever one you are low on is what is wrong with you. For me it could absolutely nothing or I could be anemic (which admittedly, would make sense) or it could be very very bad.

Please nothing. Please?

So I'm going today to get my blood drawn again for the white blood cell test. Then making an appointment probably for Friday to get with the doctor and chat.

I'm really not thrilled by any of this.

Salad!

So not lately but for the month of May basically (monday-friday) Evan and I decided to eat salad every night. We wanted something healthy and easy because quite frankly by the end of school we were both just absolutely sick of cooking. So we decided on uber salads, because we started going to Sweet Tomotoes and we were basically paying 20 bucks for salad.

So, our salads are so delicious I thought I would share the how-to process of making them. Mind you there is no dairy, soy, or tree nuts because of Evan's allergies.




First we have the basic salad mix. Get actual lettuce and spinach. They have actual vitamins. No iceberg lettuce allowed.




Then I add sliced baby sweet peppers, found at Walmart.



Then open up a can of beets and chop 'em up.



Then a little bit of broccoli. I try to chop near the head because the stalk is just gross.



Then we have super yummy hard-boiled eggs.



Then let us not forget the fungus among us with some mushrooms.



CUCUMBER.



Then I dice up some pickles too. I think dill relish would work fine too, or the pickle chips.



Then some kidney beans or chick peas, either one is suitable.



Then some canned chicken.



Toppings! Salt, Pepper, and some olive oil and vinegar (balsamic, raspberry, red wine, whatever) No ranch dressing here!



Then we have our finished delicious product.

Now, you probably have some toppings that you are wondering where they are at. It's fine to add or substitute ingredients. I personally hate tomatoes, so poor Evan never gets them on his stuff cause I just don't buy them.

If you hate chopping things, a lot of stuff you can buy pre-chopped or take a day like Sunday and chop everything and put it in some tupperware, then you can just quite literally throw it all into a bowl!

Enjoy!

The School Updatage

Alright, I am back from my honey moon, have a new layout, and ready to blog!

Today I would like to talk about my job as an elementary art teacher.

I finished all the grading and cleaning out of my classroom with plenty of time to spare. I worked on everything on and off all the last week of school and by Friday (the day after the kid's last day) I was able to come in the morning and completely check out for the school year. I had a meeting at 9 am with my arts boss and the rest of the arts peoples so after I was done at school I hopped off to my meeting.

Not a good meeting.

I'll spare you the details but essentially here is what is happening to me next year, because they screwed up. (I'm being nice when I say it that way, btw.) I will be working four days a week teaching elementary art for 50 minute class periods (oy, kindergarten...I'm still trying to figure that one out) and then on the fifth day I will be subbing.

SUBSTITUTE TEACHING.

I think I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions on how I feel about this, because I do like my job and would like to keep teaching.

I dragged most of my own belongings out of the classroom and brought them home so I could sort and organize throughout the summer. It's a bunch of stuff and I really just threw it in boxes, I need to go through it more. I did try to sort as I packed but by the end I was just throwing things into boxes.

I will say on the bright side I do get to stay at the school I've been at, so yay for that. My principal is still my principal and my good friend Amanda is still there as well. (she teaches choir, goooo arts!)

So the only things left is too sort some stuff, call about adding the hubby to my insurance to see how much that costs (he is currently freelancing, employed freelancing tho...it's not code for unemployed), and then change my name over once I put all the official paperwork in.

So hooray for a new post, yes?