National Portfolio Day Weekend 2014

Hi there! This past weekend was National Portfolio Day at MIAD (Milwaukee Institute of Art/Design) and SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago). Once again, the weekend was great- lots of very good advice and met with some new and old friends. Here are the schools I went to:

Saturday NPD at MIAD
Ringling College
Rhode Island School of Design
School of Visual Arts
MIAD
SAIC
Maryland Institute of the Arts
Columbus College of Art/Design

Sunday NPD at SAIC
CalArts (California Institute of the Arts)

I received a great portfolio review (that was 35min) from Ringling on Saturday and two reviews from CalArts on Sunday (Waited in line for 2 hours for the 2 reviews- worth it!). I just need to keep going with some new minor things in mind. Hoping to visit Sheridan College this spring too.

(Bold are the schools I'm planning on applying to next year for animation)

Here is the portfolio that I showed to admissions reviewers:

Click to enlarge

and then I also included my animation reel!

Last update: July 20, 2014

Yiynova MSP19 Review

I've waited a couple days to write and post this review so I could get a feel of the Yiynova first before telling you the pros and cons of the alternative-to-cintiq tablet monitor.

So for Christmas, I got a Yiynova MSP19 Tablet Monitor, a 19inch LCD tablet from Panda City.

The thing is great.

It can be adjusted into many positions for animating and drawing, the pen is working well, and it was 500$, tons cheaper than a 2,000$ Cintiq. Overall, the Yiynova has
filled all my expectations and more.

The only downside that I have come across is when drawing slowly. For example, if I'm quickly sketching a character out, using construction lines and shapes, after I finish the rough, I want to go over it in dark ink and get rid of all the extra lines. If you draw very slowly and hard, the line gets kinda bumpy. Now, this can probably be fixed by changing the hardness of the pen tip while going over the lines but still, this has been my only 'problem' with the Yiynova.

Overall, I'd defiantly recommend this product. You can buy it on Amazon

Thanks for reading!