Crafts: Sharon's 25th

Yesterday was Sharon's 25th birthday! We went out for hotpot for her birthday, Katrina and I chipped in for a stitch filled gift. I decided to take this opportunity and draw her a card to go along with it.

Personal: Diploma

After months of waiting, my diploma finally arrived about a week ago. It feels good to be an official graduate, but at the same time, I know I'll miss school. Anyone know of or have any graphic design job openings? Or maybe need help with design work? Feel free to contact me: luidana@gmail.com

Adventures: Pixar Lecture with Mark Andrews

Yesterday a couple design friends and I attended the AIGA lecture series. This time, the design lecture was focused on Pixar, and the directer from Brave, Mark Andrews, came to speak! Not only was his talk amazing and inspirational, but his sense of humor made his talks more interesting. He showed the audience how much effort he puts into every bit of his work and the amount of dedication he puts into it. The lecture started out with him introducing himself and telling everyone about his back story in animation, including getting shot down by Marvel comics. He then told us about his opportunities to work in both the animation side of story boarding as well as motion picture. Motion picture films are harder because you need to go along with when the sunsets and rises, while in animation, you do not have to worry about the lighting changing. After that Andrews showed us a video of the story board that he created for the first Spiderman movie. He told us that when he draws, he gets really into what he's doing, he becomes the audience of his own art and makes sound effects for them as well. Next he showed us a story board that he created for The Incredibles. This set was called the tone setter, where the one scene helps portray how the rest of the movie would feel--whether it would be serious or more comical. The next story board that was shown was for the movie, John Carter. This time, we were shown how the story board was transformed into motion picture. After all these videos, he saved the end for questions that anyone had. A question lead him into telling the audience that the once you get something started, you should keep moving on with it or else you will lose the idea. He also told us that in order to be good at something, you need to keep practicing it. Andrews did not let anything or anyone stop him from drawing no matter how many times he got shot down. No one can tell you no but yourself.

As he went on answering questions, I felt that one of the most important piece of information he gave us was something that I learned in class, be inspired and to keep looking for things that inspire you. If you are stuck on something, take a break, rest your head, and continue later. A tired brain does not produce something you want. Ideas come best when your head is relaxed. Keep a sketchbook near your bed so that when you are about to sleep and an idea comes up, you can quickly write it down. Even when you wake up in the morning, an idea comes up, write it down.

Lunch Holy Grill before heading into the lecture.

Entering the building!

Got there early so we were able to get close up seats.

Highlight of my day, getting my Pixar infographic signed!

Group photo with Mark Andrews! (Missing Judy)

Though the lecture was not within graphic design, it was something I really wanted to attend because I have a fascination with the arts in general, as well as Pixar. Also, many different art forms somehow intertwine with each other, a lot of what Andrew's talked about applies to designers. Stay inspired, folks!

Adventures: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

August 17, 2013. A group of friends and I decided to take a mini day trip to Six Flags: Discovery Kingdom before they began school again. It was a nice getaway just for a while. My dad was able to earn enough coke rewards for us to get in basically for free. John used his own points, but I was able to use my dad's points for Alvin, Eric, Jason, and I.

There was nice blue skies.

Our first ride was V2, a nice quick roller coaster.

After V2 (left) we decided to ride Medusa (right), the longest roller coaster.

The sky looked amazing while waiting in line for Medusa.

Penguin watching.

Jason & John decided to try this three point challenge... they weren't too successful.

Lunch time! These tenders were surprisingly tasty.

After lunch was followed by some intense bumper cars where Eric's sin started bleeding and his neck received a hickey from the seat belt. As for me, my leg was burnt from the steering wheel.

We then went into a ride which is similar to Mad Hatter Tea Party in Disneyland. We were the only people spinning really fast. Jason and Alvin loved it so much, they went on multiple times.

Tigers!

After settling our stomachs, we decided to finish riding all the roller coasters, including Superman, their new roller coaster. The ride was okay, but was not amazing compared to the one in Magic Mountain.

Nice view from the parking lot.

Dropped by Oakland on the way home for some dinner. Jason paid for my dinner because I gave him a ticket. :)

I had a great time being able to ride roller coasters again! It was a great way to get everyone together one last time before they start school.

Adventures: Off The Grid - North Beach

On August 14, 2013, my Professor Pino Trogu invite me and a couple other students and past TAs to join him at Off The Grid North Beach. I have never been to the one in North Beach, it was a lot more mellow then the one at Fort Mason. The Trucks that we tried food from was Koja Kitchen and Kara's cupcakes. Both delicious food! I had the Korean BBQ Beef Koja, along with Kamikaze fries (which is not pictured because I was hungry).

Group photo!

Afterwards, almost everyone left but Sam, Judy, and Professor Silvann Linn. So we headed over to Pino's house and chatted about life and new opportunities. It was nice to catch up with everyone!

Random: A Little Motivation

I was browsing through my Facebook and a friend posted a video about Ashton Kutcher where he reveals his real name and gives an inspirational speech. Anyways, thought I'd share!

Design: Hipster Logo

(VIA http://hipsterlogo.com/)

My sister sent this to me about a week ago, I thought it was interesting and funny. The design for this information was also nicely designed.

Design Lecture Series: Pixar

It is finally almost time! I will be attending the Pixar Design Series hosted by AIGA on August 22! I bought my ticket a couple months back, and now it is finally almost here. Super excited, anyone else going?

Adventures: State Fair 2013

Something about the Sacramento State fair makes me happy. On July 26, Alvin, Eric, John, and I drove down to Sacramento to attend the fair. Our first stop was in Davis, where we grabbed some delicious pie from Ikeda's. Then after we went to a junkyard so that Eric could look at a car part. At about 12:30pm, we finally arrived at the state fair! And there it was, the Disney California Adventures "California" letters. I felt like I was at Disneyland!

Had to sit inside the A like what I used to do.

We explored the fair and its attractions and then decided to grab something to eat. After eating, we went into the little science exhibit, where there were cool little knick knacks to play with.

Throwing a ball into a tunnel to see how fast you could throw a ball.

As always, we had to watch the hypnotist show to see people make fools out of themselves. Even though the tricks that the hypnotist uses are the same most of the time, its funny because the people who participate do different things. After the show we decided to walk around the carnival area and pick one ride to ride. We rode the zipper, that ride was more frightening then I expected, I actually screamed on a ride for once! After riding the ride, we grabbed some drinks to cool down and walked around some more. We finally got into the Hall of Heroes exhibit.

Some design and art work.

High-fiving Iron Man.

Taunting the Hulk.

After a long, hot, tiring day, we finally decided to head back to San Francisco. Before heading back, we made a stop at Fenton's in Vacaville so that John could try eating there for the first time!

 Overall, it was nice being out in the sun for once and getting to walk around seeing new things. I was also really happy to see the California letters again!

Adventures: Los Angeles after Cruise

After the debarkation (June 22), we wanted to spend a day in LA. We were off the ship by 8am, a lot early then we had expected. We decided to find a place to grab breakfast and then wander around Long Beach. After a while, we drove towards our hotel but took a pit stop at Manhatten beach. We wandered around the beach and watched the surfer catch some waves. Then looked around some shops and ended up eating lunch at the famous, Roscoes!

After lunch, our hotel check-in was not until 3pm, but we decided to go anyways to see if we were able to check in early. To our luck, we were. Our hotel was the Courtyard Marriott, we checked in, put our luggage into our room and looked around the facility. Then we got dressed and headed to Santa Monica Beach to relax in the sand and look at the Pier. Too bad the Pier was under construction, it was not as nice as I last remembered. We also checked out the outdoor mall near Santa Monica beach and grabbed some drinks to quench our thirst.

Before heading to dinner, we decided to check out the view at the Griffith Observatory. We had dinner at Red Corner Asia, where they had delicious jerky, pad thai, curry duck, and pad see ew.

Some curry duck to end the day.

On the second day of LA explorations, it was basically just a half day because we had to head back home later in the day. John & I woke up early to chill at the hotel's hot tub and pool. Once Kevin & Alvin woke up as well, we packed our bags and got on the road to get some all you can eat Korean BBQ! After that we went to Milk to get some macaroon ice-cream sandwiches, and then Factory Tea Bar to get a drink for the road home.

And this ends my trip, what an amazing getaway.