Happy President's Day!

[ellenmillion]

Jake reminded me yesterday afternoon that he had today off! I did not, because I forgot to schedule it. I got up a little later than usual time, but fully intended to work on getting orders out in the morning, as usual, before ye olde day jobbe.

"I wanted to take you to the hot springs," Jake sulked from bed. That sounded like an awful lot more fun than filling orders, so I finished the ones I'd started (because the pool doesn't open until 10, so leaving at 8 would've been pointless), and we went to the hot springs! I was half an hour late for work, but called ahead, and all is well with the world. I still feel like my bones are all half-melted.

Happy President's Day!

Comments

[hailerro.livejournal.com]

I want to know what you said when you called ahead to work.
"Er, sorry, my doctor told me to have a hot soak to lower my stress levels"
Whatdidyasay? Or do you have the kind of boss that'd be cool with that?

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

I have an awesome boss. I called from the road and said 'driving back into town from the hot springs, going to be a little late.' He said: 'drive safe, don't hurry, see you whenever you get here!' (And probably, if I'd called in the morning and said 'help, I'm being kidnapped and taken to the hot springs and won't be in at all today,' he'd have been cool with that, too. As day jobs go, this is a Good One.

[hailerro.livejournal.com]

Wow. That sounds like the Mother of all Awesome Day Jobs!
Second Question: I want to learn more about both drawing and graphic design. Any books or things in particular that you'd recommend?

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

*clutches day job* You can't have it! Mine! (He also supplies me with Coke and bought me a 24 inch monitor...)

Books? Loomis! It's out of print, but the pdf of Figure Drawing for All It's Worth is GOLD. Graphic Design I have entirely cobbled together in my engineering brain and would benefit from a good book myself.

My really basic, super important advice for drawing is: DRAW. All the time. Doodle from imagination, but even more, draw from life. Sketch a LOT - whatever you see, while you're watching a movie, little unfinished thumbnails. Take a life drawing class if at all possibly possible. Nude models are a staple of art schools for a reason, and photos, while also valuable, are not nearly as good. Drawing from life is not as fun as drawing from imagination, but it is hugely necessary.

/my 2 cents

[lvictoriaart.livejournal.com]

How fun! When I was 10 or 11 my family visited some hot springs in Rapid City, definitely a highlight of our trip, very memorable. That's great to be able to visit the springs at a drop of a hat, you must live close by?

[hailerro.livejournal.com]

He gives you COKE and super huge monitor. OMGosh I WANT YOUR JOB. *Dude, Coke is my nectar and ambrosia...tho we have a love hate affair. I can live off it for days but then that's not good for me so I drop it like a rock...but I always come back...I'm so weak!)
Thanks for the book tips. As for drawing I need to do more of it. I do fairly well at sketching what I see though I do have issues with shading. It's pulling an idea from my imagination and translating it to paper that I'm not very good at *yet* I usually end up just sketching and seeing what the lines turn into as I draw because the imagine in my brain is so much more beautiful/complicated than I can translate it to on paper.

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

What a sweetie!! I'm glad you had a chance to relax!!

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

About 1 hour, 15 minutes driving in the winter. It's an awesome place, too - an outdoor 'rock pool' that's about breast-deep when you're standing and about 100 billion degrees, so it's perfect for winter soaking. :) A wonderful unwind.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

He's a keeper!