Cardboard.

Here are a few miscellaneous cardboard drawings I did with the great Blake Bradley. I like the circus people the best and the hand signs. It's too early to be up for work and I am all of a sudden overcome by the urge to watch The Life Aquatic.

Thoughts.

Pizza Papalis' thin crust pizza is top notch.
I can be kind of cheesy.
I received a letter from Ellyn Marmaduke and it made my week.
Snail mail is the best mail; I love it.
I like how shoes fit together so well in a box.
The Kids Are All Right was good.
I'm in awe of the way that hair grows in a spiral fashion on our heads.
I'm intrigued when I see which genes kids received from their parents.
The Camp Rock 2 songs are good (even though I only like 2 of them).
I really want to paint my nails sparkly, but I lack the nail polish to do so.
I dislike Gretchen on Project Runway.
True Blood only has 2 episodes left.
In the past 5 days, I've worked 62 hours on the movie Real Steel.
I met Miss USA while with Hugh because she's there for some reason.
Summer is almost over and I haven't had any sno-cones. WTF.

Art Graph.

I've been so busy. I'm working on the movie set for 12+ hours a day now. Yesterday we worked 15. Is this real life? My body aches and I'm trying to recover because Monday we start at 6:30 am which means I'm going to be dead. I've been sketching at work and I'll scan that soon. In the mean time, here is a graph that my friend Sean Vacca tagged me in. Any art student (or artist) can relate to it. I miss you all.

Custom Shoes: KEDS!

This is it. This is what I've been waiting to post and probably what you've been waiting to see. I've finished another pair of the custom shoes. These are for me though. I need to be a WALKING ADVERTISEMENT and that is what I intend to be with these. They took me at least 100 years. Actually, they've taken me a really long time, but it went much faster because I didn't have to gesso these and the markers dried less because of it. So, LEATHER IS THE WAY TO GO! Have fun trying to find all of the things I hid in these. My parents told me I did a great job. I guess that's all that matters. I used a ton of Ultra Fine Point Sharpies and a few Fine Point Sharpies. Click for details and enjoy! I won't be posting for a few days. I need to recuperate.

Frands Of Mine.

I'm almost finished with these shoes I'm working on. HOPEFULLY I'll have them done by tomorrow. In the mean time, I wanted to introduce you to two of my friends that are new to the blog world: Meredith Miotke and Max Majoros. Meredith has been posting sketchbook stuff (including some neat challenges) and I like her line weight. Max has been doing comics that are very HIM. Max is a funny guy and his style is really neat. It slightly reminds me of Daniel Clowes with a dash of my friend, Andy Gabrysiak. Check them both out though. They're great.

I'm going to do an ABC type of deal in the coming weeks so I need some things to draw. For each letter, I'm planning on filling two pages full of just random drawings of whatever gets thrown at me with that letter. So, I need things to draw for each letter. Any ideas and/or suggestions are well appreciated.

"Make It Work!"

Tim Gunn was chosen over on The Hallway Show and this is my version of the legend. I did a blind contour and then cut out textures/paper. I love Tim Gunn.

Three Pairs.

Shoe time, all the time. I'm working on a handful of shoes for a handful of friends and I'm watching Are You Afraid of the Dark while doing it. I'm on disc 2 episode 4 (I think). It's The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor. Right now I am taking a break and enjoying a conversation with Christian Barr and the episode that's currently on is my favorite (Midnight Madness) because Nosferatu makes a cameo.

Hello, Detroit!

Summer In The City - The Lovin' Spoonful.

Real DEAD.

I worked on the set of Real Steel thursday as an extra from 6 pm to 6 am. Jesus Christ. I thought movies were all fun and games. WRONG. It was a lot of work and a lot of pain. I had to wear heels THE ENTIRE TIME and I have blisters on each of my toes, but the biggest blister that comes in second place for the "Worst Blister I've Ever Had" award (first place goes to the California Yogurt Cap), is THIS ONE:In the beginning, I was in line for hair and make up and the make up girl just decided to walk down the line. I'm standing there with my sister and 2 friends (the guys waited in a different line) and the girl goes, "You look good except for this foundation smear." I start rubbing my face, "Oh? I have a smear?" and she goes, "Yeah right on your cheek!" and then my friend Jill goes, "That's her birth mark..." AWKWARD.

I got paired up with this arabic guy and he was a creep. My friends just stood there and laughed while I was beyond miz, but then Hugh Jackman saved me.

Today Janine was at work so I decided I was going to get the blender out and make some sno-cones. I put 12 cubes in the blender, turned it on, and then it smelled like burning appliances mixed with the Cedar Point rollercoaster, Disaster Transport, so I turned it off and then it wouldn't turn back on. Janine was right; the ice cubes broke the blender. THEN, I had this BRILLIANT idea, to put the ice cubes in a giant turkey baking bag (because we were out of zip-lock bags) and smash the bag on the ground like a caveman. Too bad after the second smashing, the bag busted open and the ice cubes flew all over the kitchen. No sno-cones YET AGAIN. MIZ!

JoBros In Cincinnati.

I went to see The Jonas Brothers. For those of you tuning in for the 1st time (or for those that aren't aware), the JBs are my guilty pleasure. I adore them. This was my 10th show. It was AMAZING. I went with my equally obsessed pal, Rhiannon.

PROS:
-3rd row tickets (and I was in seat 13 which is my lucky number).
-Free parking.
-Got to stand right at the stage and put our elbows on it (thanks Myles).
-I got the chills twice because the JBs are so incredible.
-JOE JONAS WALKED OVER TO ME, HELD MY HAND, LOOKED ME IN THE EYES, & SMILED.
-The confetti during Lovebug was one of the most magical things I've ever seen.
-Rhiannon and I were one of 12 girls right by the stage.
-When we got drinks out of a machine, it gave us 2 instead of 1.
-Night time noms.
-Making it home safe.

CONS:
-It was one million degrees (99) and humid. I've never sweat so much in my whole life and I can't believe Joe touched me because of how terrible I looked; legit. There were beads of sweat rolling down everyone's faces and legs.
-The security before we got in made Rhiannon take a camera back to the car.
-Wearing pants.
-Giant fire explosions during "Burnin' Up" made it HORRIBLY hot.
-Thinking it was a good idea to drive back exhausted.
-Almost killing us because of the aforementioned.
-Drinking a 5 Hour Energy.
-Driving an hour out of our way because we didn't think to check the GPS and instead just went where it told us to go. It actually wanted us to go to TN.
-We only had about $60 each.
-CAR TROUBLES.
-Not having enough money to do anything about it.

It's not an adventure without the ups and the downs. That's what I love about Jonas adventures though; they're both good and bad (and usually not very well planned). We decided to go to this show two days before the show. It was great though. Enjoy these photos. 1) Lovebug confetti scene. 2) Nick smiling at my polaroid.

Awesome Week.

Wanna know how I know this week is going to rule? Because today I'm going to see THE JONAS BROTHERS in Cincinnati FROM THE 3RD ROW (in seat 13), Tomorrow is Ramadan, Thursday I'm going to be an extra in the movie, REAL STEEL, from 6pm to 6 am aka vampire hours, and Friday it's Friday the 13th. Probably one of the best weeks ever. I'm getting ready now because I'm going to be heading out for the show soon. I know most of you think I'm joking; I'm not.

Clean Up.

Today was, legitimately, my last day of work. We moved all of our supplies to the storage room and really all I did was sweat and lift giant [heavy] boxes over my head while screaming, "I AM ALL THAT IS MAN." I probably have a hernia now. After that fiasco, we went back to the school and I was presented with two jugs of sno cone syrup and that was probably worth everything all summer. However, upon walking in the door and telling my parents how chipper I was because of the aforementioned, Janine crushed my dreams like the ice required for these delicious treats when she told me I was not allowed to use the blender because she thinks blending ice will break it. Now I am distraught and sno-coneless. Miz.

Mr. Roboto!

I made a robot cut out along with the kids. I chose SPACE BOT! I haven't done a cut out in a long time anyway so this is overdue. While I was helping Ethan, Oscar added the gold asteroid under the Robot's arm. I didn't realize it for a good half hour though. The silver paper was SO HARD to cut. I hated it. Under the little red door is the fuel gauge and heart and the glasses are for safety purposes only.

This Is IT.

Well, this board is from yesterday and we finished setting up our final gallery show. This is my wall full of the work the kids made. Today is my last day of work at Cranbrook and it is very bittersweet. I know I will be in tears by the end of the day. I am pretty sad. I just can't believe it's over. I've enjoyed myself immensely. I love(d) the kids and I've enjoyed teaching. I absolutely adore my coworkers and we've had so much fun and have so many inside jokes. I really wish it wasn't over.

Sad Men.

I wanna clear something up. It's not that I'm obsessed with Oscar, it's just that while the other kids switch classes, Oscar stays with me and works on comics all day so he is literally the only kid that I'm with the ENTIRE day. Granted, he'll go off to the office to hang out with Matt or he'll stop by Jill's (or hang out with Proma), but for the past couple of days, he's been consistently with me. We're buddies. So I just wanted to clear that up. Of course, this is probably bad because it means I'm getting attached and therefore means Friday I'M going to be like Niagara Falls.

I was working with watercolor when the kids were painting their self portraits and made these two portraits. I asked random kids what they thought these character's names would be and I got a few different answers. One of the kids said the man on the left would be into going to church, but this one girl, Paige, walked by and I said, "Hey Paige! What would this guy's name be?" When I said "name" I meant 'Jim' or 'Dan' BUT she stood there for a second and said, "The Crying Man" and I was like WHOA! YES! So that is his name. Perfect. Another girl, Meg, that sassed me asked me why my characters look so sad. I don't know MEG. Maybe I am sad. Maybe I'm sad that this job is ending. The kids always give me something to think about.

Whatever Wednesday.

Today it was whatever in every sense of the word. Oscar hijacked the board with MEEPS. He also made me an official Meep character. I cannot wait to show everyone what the kids have been doing this week. Pictures to come tomorrow!

Oscaroid.

I busted out the polaroid and took a picture of Oscar next to the french flag as well as the Dali quote that he wrote: "To be a good artist, you've got to be a little stupid."

The Meeps.

I tried to draw my own version of The Meeps (as inspired by Oscar), but mine don't look as cool as his. I settled on the little french man in the bottom right hand corner.

HOW IS IT AUGUST?!

I was hit by the realization that this year is almost over last night at 12:01. I said, "Sarah. It's August." I don't think this was a staggering conclusion for her, but for me, it was. I was dizzy! How is it that it will be 2011 in 5 months? Christmas in 4? and Halloween in 2? Is this real life? Where's my time machine? Miz.

Meeps & Pizza!

Today was a wonderful day. Highlights included: A Backstreet Boys dance off to the song EVERYBODY (the music video was pretty rad), complete and total dry erase takeover by myself and Oscar (the meeps are the french characters that made a cameo), PIZZA PARTY, and for some strange reason, I deemed it "Frightful Friday", which seemed like a great idea until it was actually implemented. I started off strong, I scared 13 people, but then Mr. Dan scared me 4x and it went downhill from there. I ended up getting scared like 19 times. I was SO MAD. It was a great day though!

Sno-Kones!

Today's drawing consisted of Sno-Kones, a poll, and some characters. I wanted to say HEY! to Lia! And, although unrelated, Santa Claws is coming to town.

I'm Burnin' Up!

Yesterday it was really hot at work so I drew this picture of me on the board. I added 4 other quotes that I often say which included: "I'm burnin' up worse than the JONAS BROS!" and "Don't touch it" as well as "STOP WHINING!" Good times. Last week, I had the opportunity to teach a lesson plan on nature and a big publisher is going to pick some of the work the kids did and put it in a book. Bonus! I let everyone interpret nature as they wished. This is Laura's piece. She came up with all of these animals that protected various aspects of nature. They're NATURE WARRIORS.

For Oscar.

I've been drawing in the kid's sketchbooks, but most of them have taken their sketchbooks so I can't scan my work, but Oscar has been drawing in his sketchbook so I've held onto it. Oscar's sketchbook is full of these characters that he makes called The Meeps. The Meeps are from France and they are very small and ride caterpillars around. It's so fascinating hearing him talk about them. We worked on a diorama that I can't wait to show his lovely parents at the end of the camp. Here are two pages that I drew in his sketchbook for him. He inspires me.

Shoe Commissions.

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that two of my friends have commissioned me to create shoes for them. I've started on both pairs. I'm really excited to finish (and will once I get some free time), but until I do, I'm taking it slow. Remember, if you're interested, you too can own a pair of shoes with whatever you want on them.

New Things.

Yesterday I tried SEAWEED compliments of one of the children and I almost threw up. After work, I enjoyed a nice dinner and then went to try to meet Miley Cyrus. I actually ended up meeting her driver and about 6 of us talked to him for 15-20 minutes. The people that were also there said all of the girls they've met, including Miley, have been NOT NICE. Her driver told us he was going to pick Miley's mother up from the airport. We waited around til 10 and left. I am really tired right now. I need to scan some work. I'll have something real tomorrow.

Mr. Roboto.

I've been drawing a bunch of random robots lately. This is a good thing.

Wedding!

I woke up at 9:30 am to prepare for Vince's brother, Tom's, wedding. It took me 3 hours to get ready, and my efforts were destroyed by the heat and I was a mess by the end. I had a lovely time though! I now know all of the Joys (all 7 and both parents), other family members, and friends. I had TOO MANY cokes (I think 9?) and I danced (even though I'm terrible at it). Everyone made me feel welcomed and I thank them for that. I also received compliments on my hair and that made me happy. Charles picked me up around 9 because I'm like a 12 year old and get picked up and dropped off, but it was a great night! Here is a candid shot with Vince and his sister, Brigid, and her boyfriend, Chris at the end. Chris and I bonded. We discussed movies and thought about the possibility of a pair of raptors coming into the reception. I am overdo on a bunch of art. It will come soon!

Good Week.

A lot has happened this week that I can't talk about right now, but soon I will. I passed out last night and missed out on several things. The job is great, but it drains me. No art or pictures today. It's an off day. I am going to get my hair and make up done in 40 minutes. I'm going to be someone's date at a wedding. It's going to be hot today. I really hope my hair and make up stay. Pictures to come tomorrow.

Fun Fact #7!

Johnny Knoxville!

I wanted to say something about the last post regarding the watermelon. I found that fact in a fact generator. I doubt it's a lie. I looked into it and it turns out it's both a fruit AND a vegetable. Don't take it out on me though; it's not my fault! Don't shoot the messenger (or in this case, illustrator), I'm just over here DRAWING, OKAY?

I went out for pizza and randomly went with Alex to Detroit to go Celeb Hunting. We were looking for Miley Cyrus. I saw a bunch of cop cars and I'm like, "Alex! Park it! Miley's out there!" So she successfully parallel parked and we ran as fast as we could to the crowd cluster. We were in the middle of it and I was like, "Who is that? OH MY GOD! IT'S JOHNNY KNOXVILLE!" He pulled up in an old 1970's pimp mobile convertible. He was trying to get away, but not before Alex snapped this candid shot. Excuse myself for looking like a mess; it was HOT and I was so excited and pumped full of adrenaline, my muscles in my neck tensed up and I started jumping like a bull. It was AWESOME! We didn't feel like waiting for Miley so we went and found the movie set that Hugh Jackman is shooting on. RAD! Then we got celebratory slurpees and called it a successful night. DETROIT IS THE NEW HOLLYWOOD.

Fun Fact #6!

Arrested.

Today I went with Sarah to visit Luke Wandyg. Luke is a government official with a business card (that I now own). He is a BIG DEAL. He let us look at his police gear and Sarah tried on the bulletproof vest. He said it isn't a bulletproof vest anymore; it's BULLET RESISTANT. Here is a picture of Sarah modeling the vest (it's dark). He showed us his firearm(s) and he asked if I'd ever been handcuffed by REAL HANDCUFFS, and seeing as to how I have not, I leapt at the opportunity to be a faux felon. Luke took it EASY on me and loosely attached the cuffs in the front, but then I was like, no, do it the RIGHT WAY. So he put my hands behind my back and made them tight around my wrists and it was horribly uncomfortable and I got agitated instantly and wanted them off of me, but he had to go upstairs to get the keys. Sarah just laughed, but trust me, if you haven't been in real cuffs, you don't want to be. That was probably the highlight of my day because it was like a 6th grade field trip to the police station, minus being in the 6th grade and they probably wouldn't handcuff 6th graders like that. Although it is difficult to see, I am handcuffed!

Best Sunday Ever.

I had been up since 5 pm saturday, went to Ram's with Maria and Danny, afterwards went to Leo's with Chris, went to Shelby's, went to MJR to see INCEPTION with Brother Chan, after that went to the Henry Ford to play with Maria, Danny, and Nick (check out our awkward photo), got pizza, and finally hung out with Justin Riopelle and swapped stories while getting slurpees. Then I passed out around 10 after being awake for 29 hours. I haven't done that in a long time. It was beautiful.INCEPTION IS THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE SEEN ALL YEAR. Maybe even in my life. Not even kidding you. Christopher Nolan HAS DONE IT AGAIN because this movie blew my mind. It was amazing. It was like Waking Life, but obviously a million times better (although still had the same concept in mind). It's a 2 1/2 hour thrill ride and it is nothing short of incredible. I can't wait to see it again.

**IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE, DO NOT READ PAST THIS***

OKAY. I think the end was a dream. Here's why; at the scene where Leo is in the bathroom and splashing water all over his face and one of the guys walks in and asks him if he's okay, he grabs his totem from his pocket and tries spinning it, but it doesn't quite catch the surface of the counter so he knows he isn't dreaming and he tells the guy he's fine. At the end of the movie, the totem catches and it keeps spinning. Granted, Nolan cut the movie when he did because he wanted to leave it open to interpretation, but because of what I just mentioned, I think it's a dream. It spins for an AWFULLY long time when he gets home. I also think that he's finally gotten over the guilt and shadowing of his wife that he's allowing himself to create this new dream for himself and finally, Leo tells us himself, that you never know how you wind up where you do in dreams; it's like they always start in the middle and how does he get to the house at the end? He just shows up. That is why, ladies and gentleman, it is a DREAM. The only person to agree with me is my sister, Shelby. For all you optimistic dreamers that think it's real, keep on dreaming! Feel free to leave comments explaining your theories. I can't wait to see this movie in IMAX!

Fun Fact #5!

James Bot.

Two posts today! I made this robot for James. James is one of the kids and it was his birthday yesterday. He's great; very helpful and intelligent! I worked extra hard to make this robot for him. I asked him what kind of robot he wanted and he said he wanted it to have propellers, glasses, a balloon, and he chose the colors.