"If You Believe" by Jeremy Fisher

If you haven't made up your mind yet on who to vote for (where have you been the last 2 years?!) than I present to you this list of my final argument as to why you should vote for Obama come November 4th.

If you believe we have lost our focus on the war on terror by invading Iraq...

If you believe that health care should be a citizen's right rather than a privilege for those who can afford it...

If you believe that it is important for the American image to be respected abroad...

If you believe that the most progress is made by sitting down with foreign leaders who we disagree with rather than giving the cold shoulder...

If you believe that a woman has a right to choose...

If you believe that there is no real or fake America, that there is only the United States of America...

If you believe that the wealthiest Americans do not deserve the biggest tax breaks...

If you believe we need to regain our standing as the leaders in technology, medicine, and science...

If you believe that companies should receive tax brakes when they keep jobs here instead of outsourcing them..

If you believe the best way to reduce the amount of abortions is to promote abstinence, birth control, and increasing the support for woman who want to keep their baby...

If you believe the solution to our energy crisis is not as simple as "drill baby drill" but requires a fresh focus in alternative fuels...

If you believe our president should know how to send an e-mail...

If you believe that Social Security should be protected and not privatized...

If you believe that No Child Left Behind has left many students behind and needs to be reformed...

If you believe that every student should be able to afford tuition for school if they have the drive and determination...

If you believe the next president should end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home...

...then you should join me in voting for Barack Obama on November 4th.

For more info on Obama's stances on the issues: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
Find your polling location here: http://www.voteforchange.com/

Birth of John McCain Animation

While John McCain claims to be his own man, he is merely the latest in a series of right-wing politicians trying to win your vote using the same failed Republican ideals. See who John McCain's "friends" he always refers to are...

read more | digg story

Last Minute Halloween Costume Decision

Ok, so Halloween is fast approaching and I am stuck between two really cool ideas for my costume. Originally I was going to be the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, but that idea was dashed after I realized how hard it would be to assemble the costume this late in the game. So now I'm stuck between two awesome ideas for a costume: Dexter Morgan the Serial Killer or Doug Funny as Quailman.

With the Dexter costume, I would be wearing his thermal shirt with some blood splatter, leather gloves, cargo pants, and boots. Possible accessories: fake knife, black trash bag with body parts, police badge laminate, amputated foot, fake syringe.

With the Qailman costume, I would have the belt, towel cape, converses, and shorts with underwear overtop.

So I would love to hear your input as to which to go with.

Make It Work!

Hey guys I'm back!
Since Project Runway just started up a new season last week, I decided to bust out the clay, wire, and tin foil and sculpt a bust of the show's fashion guru: Tim Gunn. I based the look off a caricature Lindsey did last year. I still might add a suit jacket to finish him off.

Right now I'm working on a Dexter bust. I was originally going to try another caricatured look, but I couldn't get down his features in the drawing. So I'm doing a straight realistic sculpt this time. I should have something to show in a week or two...
In the meantime, let me know what you think of Mr. Gunn. :)

21 years and counting

So today is officially my 21st. I guess this is the last big birthday before my 50th. (unless you count being able to rent a car at 24).

Besides the obvious new privilege of drinking and going to over 21 clubs/ bars, here's some other happenings over the past month or so.

-Bought a 98 Monte Carlo dubbed "Monte." Its red and its a speed demon.

-Got a job (finally!) at Circuit City. I really like it there so far. I was worried at first about not knowing every mineute detail about laptops, computers, cameras, car audio, etc. but I'm learning slowly but surely. I really like working with customers and its the best feeling when you help someone find exactly what they are looking for. The guys I work with are great so far too.

-Saw M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening last night. In my opinion, it was good, not great. It had some really freaky parts that were not for the squimesh, but it failed in my book due to never fully explaining why these horrifying occurrences were taking place. Go see it though if you're a fan of gory death sequences...there's a lot of them.

-Went to Tampa with Lindsey to see Obama deliver a speech. If you get a chance, definitely see him live. Although we were in the nosebleed section, it was still really special.

Tonight to celebrate the big 2-1, Lindsey is taking me out to Ybor and Tampa to go window shoppin and checking out the sights. Should be fun. :)

back to PA

So school just ended Tuesday, moved back in with Lindsey yesterday, and today I'm heading back to PA for a brief visit (4 or 5 days). I should have said something earlier, but with finals and moving, I really haven't had a breather in weeks to let anyone know. So if you're in the 717 area, let me know and we will rock out.. or hang out.

Lots and Lots to Do

One more month of school. Crazzy thought I know.

Here's some catch up with work I've been doing as of late:

I'm almost done with my sit stand project thats been about 3 months in the making. Here's how the above scene compares to the original concept art. I still need to add some little gritty details, fix the reflectivity of the floor build the chair which is represented by a cube right now.

These two characters are for my Concept class. We're making 30 sec. comercials and I'm doing a Purina Dog Chow ad where the slightly crazy dog character drags Lenny all over town just to get a bag og Purina dog chow. I'll post th video soon.

I stated working on a Marquette model over spring break in my spare time. I haven't had much (any) time to work on it lately, but I'm happy to be doing some sculpture that doesn't involve the computer. He's based off my turtle character I animated last year Link to animationHe's still in the very early stages. He barely has any sculpy on right now, but I look forward to working on him in my (non-existent) spare time.


On to another subject, I really want to get back to writing for the sake of writing for Smell Like Art School. This blog has kinda turned into a bare bones art blog with no real substance or soul anymore. I miss writing about live shows, movies, current events and things that I deal with as a 24/7 art student. I have a few ideas of topics I want to discuss and hopefully I'll have the drive to write those soon. Maybe some topics to start a few debates eh?

Valentine Update

I've been pretty swamped over the last couple weeks since coming back from the Sex:Tech conference. Since then, I've been working on 2 commissions I got through the conference as well as my animation homework. One is for the Sex, Etc website that I mentioned previously. They launched their new blog, "Beyond the Birds and the Bees: Sex Ed for the Next Generation" on Valentine's Day and asked me to design the header image. I was trying to go for something that was a modern twist on the old theme of "birds and the bees" I decided to use the idea of Instant Messaging and emoticons to relate it to today's youth. I'm really happy how it came out and excited to see a piece of my work on a reputable site for once :)
My other commission was for the South Carolina Emergency Contraceptive Initiative and their 4 newspaper ads. They wanted me to design 4 different "morning afters," with 3 being the "best case scenarios" (breakfast in bed, both checking mail on their laptops, and sleeping in) and one being the "worst case scenario" (regretting not using protection and the chance of being pregnant). I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best cartoonist, but I like how they came out, given the fact that I didn't have a lot of time to work on it. You can see the work starting on Valentine's Day in South Carolina newspapers (not sure which one).

Here's a quick run through of things I'm excited about:

• Barack Obama's book: The Audacity of Hope is awesome and you should read it right now.
• Juno was an amazing film that showed that a girl can make adult decisions about havuing a child and the film has an great handmade aesthetic to it. The dialouge is intelligent, the soundtrack is awesome. Plus, the movie is hilarious!
• We went to see Girl Talk a couple weeks ago and got our minds blown. The way he combined a seemingly random collection of songs was incredible. First he would lay down a beat, or in some cases a snippit of a lyric. Then he would pile sample after sample of recognizable music until he created something entirely new and lots of fun to dance to!
  
• Valentine's Day was a lot of hard work this year trying to top last year's effort and having a tight schedule to work in. I ended up getting Lindsey 2 dozen tulips (her fav., plus roses are overdone). A heart box of chocolates, a handmade card, balloons, etc. and she loved it. :-D
  

"He's no good to me dead"

Lindsey came back from Philly the other day and got me a chubby little Boba Fett. He's pretty amazing and is protecting my desk from Rebel scum.

The Midwest Teen Sex Show

While I was at the Sex:Tech conference in San Francisco this past week, I got to meet and hang out with Nicol and Guy from the Midwest Teen Sex Show. If you never have seen their "podcast" (its more like a vlog, I suppose), drop what you're doing and go to their site and watch one of their videos. While it sounds like some sort of Wisconsin porn site, The Midwest Show takes a fresh approach to sexual education. Instead of diagrams, grotesque images of stds, and abstinence-only lectures; the guys and gals at the Midwest Show inject tons of humor, insight, and refreshing (and sometimes brutal) honesty into their sex ed videos. The topics range from the anything from "gym class," "homosexuality","female masturbation", and everything in between. High School sex ed classes should take a page from their book or better yet, make the videos recommended viewing for class. This is a giant step in the right direction of where our sex ed programs should be heading.

Its really hard for me to pick just one video to feature, so if you like this one, go to their site and watch a few more. This one's about Gym Class. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMh4Rc2AN78
Check out the rest of them here:
http://midwestteensexshow.com/

Sex Sex Sex:tech

So I'm blogging from the Sex:Tech conference in San Francisco and its been a busy past couple days. I can finally let everyone know that I've won 3rd place in the Fresh Focus Video Contest. I get to take home a Nintendo Wii and a lot of great contacts.

The sex:tech Conference itself was a great gathering of health professionals, web site designers, youth organizers, and among others. I've been going to a ton of meetings on everything from how to reach youth through facebook and myspace, to how to ways to utilize young people as resources to get a youth perspective for sex education.

Here are a few of the great sites I've found out about:

This site is great resource for youth to learn about about anything sex related. The site is almost completely run by teens too.


RH Reality check is a very forward thinking site that reports on sexual issues, health issues, gay rights, among other things in the news. Very informative.

I'm going to San Francisco!

So I just found out that on Monday the 21st, I'm going to San Francisco!!!

I still have no idea if I got 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, which is maddening, but I'll find out at the conference on the 22.
The woman I spoke with said they're flying the 3 finalists plus a few other "noteworthy contestants." That means that there's still a chance that I didn't win anything, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. An all expense paid trip to San Francisco is a great prize already.

I want to give a giant thank you to everyone who took a moment of their time to vote, tell a friend, or gave me encouragement. As obvious as it sounds, I really couldn't have gotten this far without your support. Every vote mattered and I was really touched by the the support I got for this competition. I also want to give a special thank you to Ringling College of Art and Design, Susquehannock High School, and York Arts for publicly supporting me in the contest.

Thanks again!

You can find out on the 22nd what place I got on this site: http://www.dogooder.tv/freshfocusvideocontest/

Voting Ends soon for my animation!

I just found out that you can keep voting till 2 or 3 am on the 17th!
And don't forget you can vote as many times as you want.

VOTE VOTE VOTE

From what I've heard, its getting pretty close, so if you have a few minutes to spare please go here and vote number 10:
http://www.dogooder.tv/freshfocusvideocontest/IsisVoting.aspx
Thanks guys!

Please Vote For My Entry For The Fresh Focus Video Contest Entry

So I'm currently in the final round for the Fresh Focus Video Contest and I need your help.

DoGooderTV's Fresh Focus Video contest asked students to create a video answering the question: "how would you change the Sex Ed programs in high school?" Over 50 videos were entered and a panel of judges selected the final 10.

If I get the most votes, I get sent out to San Francisco for Sex::Tech, the first ever conference focused on youth sexual health and technology and my video gets played for the event and $3000 in cash. Second place isn't too bad either. I get the choice of a wii or iphone. :)

I've made it too the final round, but I can't win without your help.
http://www.dogooder.tv/freshfocusvideocontest/IsisVoting.aspx
Please take a minute and vote, my video titled "Sketching out a better sex ed program"
(it's the very last video on the list, #10)
This Just In: YOU CAN VOTE AS MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE!!!
so if you could just refresh the page as many times as you like and click away.
Thank you very much!!!
http://www.dogooder.tv/freshfocusvideocontest/IsisVoting.aspx

Here's my facebook group, you can join and get your friends to join.
http://rsad.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6796337301
If you use Digg.com, go here and upvote my video, so more people can see it:
http://digg.com/comics_animation/Please_Vote_for_My_Animation_For_a_Sex_Ed_Vid_Contest_SFW

Happy Christmas! This Just In: War is Over! (If you want it)

I think nothing is more fitting of the Christmas season than John and Yoko's message in their song Happy Christmas! (War is Over) if you want it. Its seems to be just as relevant today as it ever was.







Here's a great music video for the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVcz3MSexwU

Happy Christmas Everyone!
-Jeremy

Seasons Greetings!

So I made it back to PA safely, and for free! (my mom works for the airline now). I managed to make it down with all of my wrapped gifts intact and safe. Here's a lip sync animation I did of Luke Skywalker when he hearing for the first time that Darth Vader is his father.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DOmZCnDHCI

Here's the final environment for the sit/stand project where a fast food fry cook gets startled by something catching fire.

Too Much Egg Nog: A Christmas Mix

Now that finals are almost done, I can start to enjoy the Christmas season. Here's the special mix I made last year called the "Too Much Egg Nog. Its got some really great finds to get you and your loved ones in the Christmas spirit. Happy Christmas!







Click Here to download the .zip file

1.Belle and Sebastian - Christmas Time is Here
2.Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!
3.Alvin & th Chipmunks-Deck The Halls - We Wish You A Merry Christmas
4.Weezer - Christmas Celebration
5.Sufjan Stevens - We're Goin' To the Country!
6.The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
7.Sufjan Stevens - Put The Lights On The Tree
8.Sufjan Stevens - That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!
9.Arab Strap - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)
10.Sufjan Stevens - What Child Is This Anyway?
11.Bright Eyes - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
12.Sufjan Stevens - Ding! Dong!
13.John Lennon - Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
14.Sujan Stevens - Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming
15.Bright Eyes - Blue Christmas
16.Sujan Stevens - O Holy Night
17.Belle & Sebastian - O Come, O Come Emmanuel

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4XHB-Rci8E
Thought this was pretty appropriate.

After overeating we're gonna stay up late and wait in line for Black Friday! Yay!

New Concept Art

Here is some concept art for 2 new projects in my CA class and Concept class.

This is the original concept design for my monster. We're working on creating a character for a simple walk cycle and jump.
Right now I'm at the modeling and rigging stage.

In my concept class, we're creating characters that will later be used for a sit/stand exercise.
This is my fast food serving teen character:

And here's a color study for the character:
Still working on finalizing a lot of it.

Turkey Day is almost here!

It seems like ages since the last post. Every time I thought about writing something, I got distracted. I have been quite busy with my classes though. Lots of animations. Here's a few:


This one was for my Traditional 2 class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgFVGWNx8KQ
I was pretty happy with my Maya project that was due 2 days after the traditional project( lots of sleepless nights). We had to make simple characters and some kind of interaction.



Mine involved two blob characters meeting in a dark alleyway and are unable to get past each other.

I was slightly disappointed this year with Halloween. We did get to go see a midnight showing of Rocky Horror, but we were the only ones who dressed for the occasion. We went as Victorian vampires. The make up wasn't as gory as last year's zombies, but they were quite scary. We even won 3rd place at the schools costume contest. There was no time for us to decorate Lindsey's apartment, and we ended up watching The Descent on Halloween and carving pumpkins.

Lindsey and I went to Jacksonville last weekend to the Tallyrand Music and Art festival. We actually were featured artists at the event which was pretty awesome. They gave us a little spot to set up our work to sell with other artists while bands like The Bravery, The Format, The Polyphonic Spree, among others, played on three stages.

We only made about 80 dollars altogether, but it was exciting for people to take notice of our work. We handed out a ton of business cards too. I only got to see a few songs by The Polyphonic Spree, but they were incredible. I want to see them again soon.


It appears that I will be staying in Sarasota with Lindsey for Thanksgiving. I kinda miss spending Turkey Day with the family, but everyone is doing something different, and most of my friends are off in distant lands...

We'll make it nice though.