Posting of some of my 2009 work

The truth is that when it comes to artistic things I tend to just do it and think it's a waste of time to upload it online. Especially when it's hard copy stuff and I have to put the extra effort in to digitize it all. But I've been listening to and reading a lot of resources that basically say that it's bad to try to develop your artistic skills in isolation. It is far better and more productive to let people critique what you do, and improve from that. So in light of that, I will actively make an effort to post some of the sketches and animation exercises I do here on this blog.

So to start off, I'll be posting some of the things I did last year (2009) and early this year (2010). Then after that, I will post shortly after creating something share-worthy.

For now, here are some of the Christmas card caricatures I drew last year for some of my family members:

My brother, Christian, being tossed about by the wind.

My nephew, Dylan, as the wild boys that he is.

My nephew Jesse - as the sweet little nerd that he is :)

My brother-in-law, Rado, as the business entrepreneur.

My sister, Silvia, as the problem-solving warrior

More to come next time.

Feedback on whether my website has been hacked

Hi guys,

I don't want to give a second thought to my old websites now that I'm embarking on animation mentor road, but I got a wierd email and got a message before mentioning errors with my website: www.nicolettekiss.com that suggested it's been hacked. I couldn't see anything strange on the index.html page. All the same, could anyone who reads this please check it out and lemme know if it loads properly for you?

Thanks a bunch! Nico, over and out.

Animation Mentor has begun

January 4 was the big day. I finally started AM. I decided to do the Maya Springboard class first to fill in any significant gaps in my knowledge of Maya, to lose any bad habits, and to help develop a better work flow. As suspected, this class will be far less demanding then the future classes. The 1st 4 weeks will be orientation stuff, and then from week 4, it's orientation plus Maya Springboard content. The syllabus looks interesting and I'm keen to get stuck into it.

I've met some of my class mates, and we have a nice diverse range. I think AM'll be a pretty fun time, though when the busier times come I'll have to shut myself off the world a little. Good thing is that I have some other regular weekly stuff going on (work, piano lessons, church, etc) so I won't be completely blocked off and can still have a study-work-life balance :)

In the mean-time while I wait for week 4, I plan to continue reading the recommended animation books, doing Jason Ryan tuts, trying my hand at some more simple animation exercises, and just prepping in general. I also hope to keep this blog fairly visual - so will post some of my drawings and exercises that I haven't had the time to yet, and hereafter will attempt to post visuals as I go along.