I've been neglecting my DA account for some time, although I have a really good reason why. It's somewhat out of my hands: I've been inhumanly busy at school.

So far Digipen has been incredibly intense. There's tons and tons of drawing homework every week (easily at least 15 solid hours/week D: ), and aside that there's even more to stack on top (animation, art history, etc.). I'm trying my best to get a head start on things so everything doesn't snowball, but as far as I can foretell, it feels like there's always more to do no matter what. Unfortunately, in order to keep up I've had to make drastic sacrifices to my video gaming time as well as net surfing and the like. Free time is a real blessing really, but I can always hope for snippets of time here and there. I thought it'd be kinda dull to not be able to play around much, but despite that it feels good to be drawing my brains out. I just have to always remember that the next drawing that I do is my opportunity to improve and grow. It makes this colossal amount of drawing satisfying to do.

All in all, even though the workload is massive, college has been pretty awesome so far. It's interesting that I can say that even though I'm so thoroughly tired.

As free time arises, I'll try my best to upload my work and respond to messages and such. I just wanted to throw it out there that I haven't died, since I've been so dormant DA-wise.

For now, I'd better try to get solid night of sleep. I'd really like that.

As for the first piece of good news, I'm completely done with the Digipen summer sketchbook project. Approximately 760 drawings in all. From the first workbook exercise, I've been working on this project for nearly two whole months. It's such a load off of my back to be finally finished with it. I'll need to set up my scanner so that I can upload a few of the neato ones. I still have to finish reading the textbook that goes with the project, but that'll be a cakewalk compared to all of the drawing I had to do. *nods*

I'm also pretty much done moving my stuff here in Redmond, and I've been here for around..a week in a half now. Orientation starts in less than a week, and school starts a week after that. So I'm really trying to relax as much as I can for these last few days of vacation. I've done lots of walking the last few days to explore the area, and it's great to see that nearly everything is within a comfortable walking distance. Lately I've also managed to get a few hours of video gaming in. I've really missed the puzzles and brain teasers from the last Professor Layton game, so all day I've been playing the newest one. I can't put it down. XD

Soon enough I'll need to get the last of my art supplies and work out a few more errands, but right now I think I can afford a nice break. I could use the extra sleep. I'm considering heading to PAX at the end of the month since my brother might not be using his 3-day pass for one day, but I'm not sure. I found it funny that PAX is also an optional part of the student orientation for Digipen. XD They have a few buses going to the convention center from the main campus. I guess I'll have to think about it.

Anywho, it's time for sleep. =__= I have a feeling I'll really regret it if my sleep schedule's out of whack when school starts. I'll have to sort through this hefty stack of messages and deviations later.

Alright, really quick update.

I realize that this is probably ultra late to mention, but I've been accepted to DigiPen Institute of Technology, and will be attending this fall. I would've posted this earlier, but I've just been incredibly busy working on well, the infamous summer sketchbook assignment. That and organizing the paperwork and errands for college stuff. Ugh.

I'd write more about this, but frankly I need sleep, and it's a busy day tomorrow D:
So maybe I'll include more in an edit later whenever I manage to find free time.

Ah and about that summer sketchbook, I'm about 240 drawings away from finishing it I think, so there's definitely a light at the end of the tunnel..

(EDIT)

Okay, I've finally found some breathing room to hang on my computer for a bit. Every day for the last week or two have just seemed non-stop. A few days ago, it felt like my brain was absolutely fed up with drawing and I could hardly pick up a pencil to mark a page. D:

Now though, after resting for a good day or two, I think I should be able to manage a couple dozen drawings a day for a bit longer. It would be great if I could quicken my pace. I continue to hear stuff from other students about doing ungodly numbers of drawings per week for the ART 101 class, “a hundred of this, two more hundred of that..”
They're never completely clear about that. =/
Heh, I might just have to assume the worst and prepare myself for drawing in perpetuity for a couple of months.

I am getting a bit anxious now that school is just a month away. With all of these drawings and errands it feels like that month will go so quickly that it'll seem like it never existed. Currently I'm looking for roommates to room with in Redmond and I'm also as getting ready to move up there. I'll at the very least be getting my stuff up there in less than two weeks. It's all coming so soon. =0

Hopefully I'll have at least another week or two of summer left to relax until school starts. After finishing these drawings, I might consider hanging back and going through a couple of these neat looking art textbooks. And a bit of video gaming wouldn't hurt. The sword fighting on WiiSports resort is so satisfying with the new motion control. It'd be a crime not to play with that.

But first things first! Another 216 or so drawings to go, including a few more drawing exercises. I hope that they accept them even though they're slightly out of order. >>

Yup, that's right. 800 drawings, more or less so. =0

As far as I'm hoping at the moment, I'm going to be accepted to the DigiPen Institute of Technology, which in short is a video game college. New students in any of the art programs up there have to do a summer sketchbook project for the ART 101 class that they take first thing in Fall semester. So some of the basic requirements of the sketchbook are that you have to repeat these drawing exercises from this workbook 3 complete times, (Almost done with the first time through!) which takes..well, a while. And after that, you need to fill the rest of the sketchbook from drawings from observation.

It sounded simple enough until I looked at the sketchbook that I had to fill, which is almost 200 pages, and that each page has to have 4 drawings. D: It's a good thing I'm starting early, as far as what I think is early. With a project with this much work, I guess it's sorta hard to tell if I'm starting -too- early or not. It's a good thing that the observation drawings aren't meant to be fantastical, photographically rendered pieces of art. Each one should take, 5 or 6 minutes tops, so not super detailed, but enough for practice.

So I guess it goes without saying that I'll be working on this for the next several weeks, provided I get accepted. If anything cool comes out I'll try to upload it when I get the chance.

Oh yeah, and a happy 4th of July to everyone. =] Be careful with all of the neat-o pyrotechnics that you're eager to play with. I always find it funny that everyone is also inadvertently celebrating my brother's birthday.

Yup, no doubt it is that time again. I sorted through my messages and came across 's latest journal, which sent me for a loop. =0 It's probably swirling around a bit now, but Nintendo has released a trailer for a new DS Zelda game to come out some time this year.
Here's the [link] (no pun intended)

Apparently it's from the GDC, which is something I should be following to some extent..
Anywho, the title of the game is "The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks" and when you see the trailer, it kinda speaks for itself. From what can be seen it looks like it might be related to Phantom Hourglass, and that Link has ditched his steamboat for a railroad train. He uses the train in order to travel throughout a great and wide land (Hyrule?). He also has a new sort of train conductor getup, which is kinda strange for me, considering I'm used to seeing Link in the good ol' green tunic and hood attire, although the trailer does show scenes in dungeons where he's wearing those.

The whole trailer raises a bunch of questions in my head, and I suppose there's not a lot of use postulating until more info gets out. But the biggest one on my mind is really, "Why a train? And what is he doing with the train?" I've heard that Link's new costume suggests that he might be like a mailman or something similar (edit: I realized that I totally got this from this fanart - [link] ), but I guess that might seem a little lackluster of a career for the hero of time. *shrugs* Then again, I forget the whole Windwaker backstory...I think Windwaker Link is actually just some guy that looks like the hero of time and has his same name...But egh. I digress. Mailman or whatever, we'll just have to see where it takes us.
I'm also curious about where the game takes place, considering that Hyrule was totally flooded, which obviously creates a setback for the whole railroad deal. >>;

On a last note, I was hoping more for a new Zelda game that had a more mature atmosphere, like Twilight Princess, but I suppose Spirit Tracks will have to do for now. If it's anything like Phantom Hourglass, I bet it'll be fun for quite a bit.

Spring break's about to end for me, which is fantastic considering that I got my wisdom teeth pulled and that I've been recuperating for most of the week. Anything beats laying in bed with an ice pack while only being able to eat mashed potatoes and applesauce for a week. I'm also going to be taking another drawing class and a graphic design class this quarter, so it's probable that I'll have some stuff to post from those classes soon.