Painting a Day Series

Here is a selection of pieces for my painting class where we had to do one painting a day. Most of the stuff is not worth posting, but here's a few I think turned out ok. The first week, we were instructed to paint what we were comfortable with. So I decided to start with a series of Star Wars portraits.

My New Website is Live www.JeremyDFisher.com!

After months of pain and agony, my site is done. Its very simple and showcases my new love affair with woodgrain, Helvetica, and the color white. All of the links open in a sweet seudo popup that keeps you from having to go back and forth between pages. Also all the pictures, videos, and info automatically updates when I throw something on youtube or flickr. Less html headaches for me :)
Check it out and let me know if it works/what you think.
www.jeremydfisher.com

This animation made me really happy today

I just wish I had thought of it first!

"Animals," by Minilogue (dir: Kristofer Ström)

This short work is a music video he created for the Swedish electronica band Minilogue. The track is "Animals," and the video features colorful critter-blobs wreaking hyperfun havoc all over an urban real-life-scape.

More about the artist on BoingBoingTV

Happy Holldays :-D with some awesome cake wrecks

Thought this was pretty appropriate from Cake Wrecks:

Today's Wrecks speak for themselves. Or at least attempt to.

I find myself wishing this said "holladay", just so I could work in a lame Gwen Stefani reference. But since I'm just a girl (in the world), I guess I'll leave that up to you guys.



Now that's a stingy well-wisher.



What's worse: making this cake, or serving it to all your employees at the company Christmas party?


Ignorance can be beautiful. Unless of course this snowman is named "Happe", and belongs to someone named "Holidey".



"Mercy" is right; get a load of what Rudolf is holding!

[singing] "I'll have a POO Christmas, without youuuu..."



"Let it is snow"?


Careful; buying this cookie "cake" may enter you into a binding legal contract.

And lastly, an oddly emphatic proposal:


Christnos, you sly dog, you, I bet you get this cake for all the girls. [wink]

In case these failed to get the message across: Merry Christmas, all. May your day be sweet and utterly wreck-less .


Many thanks to holiday Wreckporters Jenn S., Irene D., Bergen W., Todd T., Abby C., Jennifer L., Jessica C., and Angela M.!

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Animation Almost Ready To Go!

So I just got my Canon Rebel XS camera last night and have been playing with it all day today. I figured I would take some shots of where my animation is thus far. I have the environment almost done, its mostly green screen right now, but will be a full forest of trees when its completed in after effects.My yarn monster is all done, he took forever to cover in yarn, and now has a light up eye, that may or may not work in the filming :/ The green thing behind him is his rig that helps him stand, its covered in the same green material so I can remove it later in after effects.The trees look terrible right now, but soon they will be covered in the same yarn as the main monster. The piece of plywood I'm using for the floor will look like it continues forever into the distance once I do some fancy work in after effects. I'll post some of the storyboards soon so you have a better idea of whats it all means. I'm still working on the lighting right now too. I bought some cheap lamps and mounted them to the ceiling with some J hooks and old wire squares from a shelf I no longer use. I still need at least 2 more lamps to get sufficient lighting for the scene. I'll probably figure that out tonight.
I was hoping to have this all completed for the end of the semester, but it looks like I will have to present what I have and keep working on it over break.

New Stop Motion- Yarn Monster

So I'm really excited to almost be done with my stop-motion character. This will be my first foray into stop motion since high school and I'm ready to get behind the wheel again. My character, "yarn monster," is about 85% done right now. I just need to finish wrapping his stomach, legs, and head; then I'll be ready to animate. Here's a grainy pic of what I have so far.The metal behind him is the rig that will suspend him for animating, so I don't have to balance his weight on his two feet. It will give me a lot more freedom when I move him frame to frame. The rig will be covered in blue fabric so it can be edited out later.

This photo just made my day

If there is any photo that can accurately represent what the past 8 years have been like, its this one. I'm 99.9% sure that Bush has no idea what the hand signal called "the shocker" (nsfw) means, which makes it even more precious. Then again, it could just be the Arizona State University pitchfork, a reference to the Arizona State Sun Devils. But that idea isn't nearly as entertaining.

"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!