The Job Hunt
02 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
I have been off (not currently working even though I am employed) for over three months now. This is the longest time that I have not been working. I took maternity leave, for obvious reasons, but even when I do go back to work, it is only part time. I am so bored. Not only am I bored, I am broke. I am a starving artist yet again, ( I thought I grew out of this stage in my life). I am looking for a full time gig again, and boy is it hard.
The job hunt is extremely hard. I have updated my resume several times and uploaded it to as many sites that I know of. Everyday I am constantly looking for more new job posts, whether it be on job sites of job boards or even Craig’s List. If they say we are coming out of the recession and things are picking back up, why are there not more jobs opening and less layoffs? I am not exactly sure of this, but the one thing I do know for sure is that for me it has never been this hard to actually get some feedback.
I was reading an article about a man who was make over $100,000 as some supervisor at a top name company. He had worked there for over 30 years was laid off and now is making 1/3 of his previous salary with 2 jobs. The new jobs consisted of management at the local Taco Bell and McDonalds. Both of those jobs he retains in order to have some kind of money coming in. Is this really where we are today. It’s hard to think about “dumbing” yourself down and being forced to bring your skills from an Executive job to a mediocre job such as a fast food restaurant.
At this point, I will not do that yet. I have worked in the food industry and I paid my dues. I know not only how awful it was to work there but also the treatment that you receive from customers and supervisors. I will continue my job hunt with anything and everything I can do to improve my skills for the hunt. I know I will be an amazing addition to someone’s team.
College life for me
08 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
September 21, 2009 marked an extremely important day in my life, the birth of my son Paxten. I had always wanted to be able to give my child everything that he needed and wanted, and with a college education that would be possible. Since I found out that I was pregnant the idea of finally finishing school had been more of a reality to me than it had in a really long time. I had been forced (great thing) to take college more seriously and to take as many classes as I could.
I have been going to school since right after I graduated high school. That was almost 5 years ago. During this time I started working full time in the retail field and my schedule, between work and school, was very hectic. I barely had time for homework because I was working more than 45 hours a week. And I was so young I needed (in my mind) to maintain my social life as well. I was more infatuated with the idea of making money so that I could support a very lax and materialistic lifestyle.
My life as I knew it surely came to an end when I became pregnant. I was forced to view my life and the life of my unborn child, in a different way, a more responsible and dedicated person I would soon become. I quit working as much and started to really dedicate myself to school. I became a full-time student again and took 5 classes each quarter. I really cared about my work this time and didn’t just throw some stuff together that I knew would at least get me a passing grade.
It was then that I made a change in my life. I knew I wanted to be an example to my son; to show him that even through the toughest of challenges you can really do anything that you set your mind to. I wanted to show him what I would soon accomplish would make our lives more wonderful in the end.
Dallas Cowboy’s Cheerleader
03 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
OK….So the assignment was to add another 3 paragraphs to the earlier blog, but since I had written all I could about that, I decided to write about something else.
So this Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader is now being scrutinized because she dressed up as Lil Wayne for Halloween and posted pictures on Facebook about it. Well I think this is plain ridiculous. First off, Halloween is meant to be a time when you pretend to be something or someone who you are not. Some people dress up as movie characters, animals, objects, even real life people. The fact is that she dressed as Lil Wayne, who is black, and the girl is white. That makes no difference. The media does have a small point, that is only that being she is in the “lime light”, sort of, she shouldn’t of had the pictures posted. But the problem with this whole dilemma is that too many people are taking it as a racial thing which it is not meant to be. Why would we scrutinize if the images she took were with 2 other black women? That makes no sense. If they thought it was racial, do you think they would have posed in the pictures with her. And the other image of her with mariachi band members, there again….It’s Halloween people….GET OVER IT!
Brian Viveros
23 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
I recently found this artist’s site and really enjoyed some of his work. It seems to be a lot like a few other artists that I enjoy but in a totally different way. His name is Brian Viveros and his subjects are usually provocative women with cigarettes hanging out of the corner of their mouths. Even though his work seems to be a little mutilated at times, I see something very interesting in what he is trying to convey to his audience.
Brian mainly portrays women as if they do not care. They are often naked and very nonchalantly hanging around the other subjects in the paintings. Sometimes they look manipulated and other times they look as if they had been self mutilating. I enjoy his recent works much more than his earlier drawings, as though they seem to be a reflection of some kind of anger and disrespect for women. His recent works are very military influenced, wether good or bad, but his women seem to be saying something better. They seem to be standing for something, more independent and more self respecting.
The majority of Brian’s paintings incorporate blood in them which I think is a way of showing the pain that these women are going through. Wether they be matadors, boxers, or military women, all of the girls show some of pain in their eyes. It makes you want to stop and ask them if you really could.
These days Brian is working on a menagerie of films which too, are very dark and dismal. Very different from his paintings, the films are shorts rather and portray cultic illusions and transcendentalism. I definitely think that his paintings are more successful that they films however he is a prime example of someone who is doing what he loves and mixing the medium.
http://www.brianmviveros.com/index.html
GD Mags!!
18 Nov 2008 2 Comments
Soon, god willing, magazines will be off the racks all together completely and entirely at your fingertips on the world wide web! Thats great because this will help give jobs to you and me. Anywho…here are some good sites that I found while completing this assignment.
http://www.atlasmagazine.com/win98r.html
This is a pretty crazy site because it doesn’t exactly look like a publication or even the traditional magazine at all. But this is what makes it interesting. The entire layout of design yells Graphic Design at you, therefore I’m happy to say that I have found inspiration here. While this sit wasn’t exactly too easy to navigate I thought the design just over powered all it.
http://www.phirebrush.com/issues.php
Okay originally I thought this might just be your average anime magazine, but I actually found a lot of different styles and a wide variety or art from a wide range of techniques. I thought it was great because it has a link for interviews and different editorials. I overall enjoyed this site and think if I were to actually subscribe to a magazine online, then I would want to read one like this. The site was easy to move around and not confusing as to how to navigate and to understand where things were grouped together.
finals resources.
18 Nov 2008 1 Comment
http://www.dinpattern.com/
I liked this site alot. It has CSS style sheets as well as it having a plethera or patterns and backgrounds I will be using are use as reference to creating my own. I really like the background that is on the page itself and thought it helped me reinterate my take on pop art influencing my site’s design.
http://whateverlife.com/
I love this site. I have been using it fore myspace layouts forever. I think this site has a complete representation of different directions I want to take my site when I’m done with is. It very fun and definitely pop art.
More Designer Sites that inspire…
05 Nov 2008 1 Comment
http://mrtoll.com/
This site is not exactly one artist. Its a 2 artisits with a rather unique background in “experssionalistic” art. The site views what the artists call “street poems” and a large. oversized creation of pop art behind it. The work is very different that some things that I have seen and it really shows me that there are real artists out there not shy to spread their opinions. The art is unique in its own and mush to be respected.
http://www.adamwallacavage.com/
Adam Wallacavage is the site of a different kind or designer. He creates octopus chandeliers and is also a photographer. The chandeliers are extremely intricate and detailed to a “t”. He has several different themes or designs in his collection of chandeliers that can turn any room into a completely different atmospheres.
http://diane.gfxartist.com/
Someone called out this artists in the second week class. I looked her up and thought she was absolutely amazing. Her style and concepts are to intriguing. Her works are so detailed and descriptive. Some are extremely fantasy and others are the perfect middle between fantasy and reality. She makes every character glow and shine and the viewer is drawn in the face.
Graphic Designer sites that inspire me….
29 Oct 2008 2 Comments
http://www.edithlebeau.com/
Edith LeBeau has a very interesting and dark creative. She creates women using her inspiration of superheros. She often makes parts of their bodies into the features that makes them villain of superhero like. Every emotion that the character conveys is mostly somber and sad. These women tell their own story through their eyes. The site is very simplistic and therefore easy to navigate through.
http://www.brianmviveros.com/
Brian Viveros’s work is also very dark and mysterious. His site shows a little more of that than his work, but his work is, to say the least, very moving and too very emotional. His trademark has come to be a cigarette in the corner of the mouth of all of his characters. They often convey many controversial social and political statements.
http://www.spizak.com/
Adam Spizak’s site is definitely one of the craziest and well executed (design wise) sites that I have been on in a long time. There was so much going on in the background (its another one of his works) that I could stop looking around. My focus went all around, therefore I was able to view pretty much everything on the site. The links at the top of the page do not even go to other pages instead there is a box in the main content that scrolls different link options.
http://www.sylviaji.com/
Sylvia is one of my favorite designers. She primarily uses oil and acrylic on something like ply wood. The background of her site is actually one of her mediums…wood. Her work is so expressive and its just all around amazing to me. He attention to detail and use of creativity blows my mind every time i see some of her new work. The site has recently been updated and is a bit too simplistic, but I enjoy her style and find it refreshing.
http://www.kathystaicoschorr.com/paintings/index.html
Just stumbling around I found Kathy’s sight. Her work is just plain crazy. Talk about attention to detail. There is so much going on in her paintings but they are so well defined. She uses similar monotone colors in most of her work but her fantasy ideas are so intriguing. the site is plain, but i think that her work adds so much character to the site there is no need for too much design.
What is Web 2.0?
21 Oct 2008 1 Comment
Web 2.0 is all over the Internet these days. It stems from sites such as Google, Flikr, Facebook and Myspace. Terms like blogging and podcasts are the terms that are used for applications that give users the ability to see, have, buy, and download whatever their heart desires. Essentially Web 2.0 brings content to them. NetVibes and iGoogle are websites like many others that are customizable to the users request. The concept of Web 2.0 is probable one of the most brilliant ideas for the web. It makes the web and all of its millions and sites and links a little easier to understand as well as organization being easier. The Advertising Industry as well as many other Interactive industries that have been involved with Web 2.0 and will continue to be apart of its rise and the other shakeouts to come. The best part of Web 2.0 is that is allows users to access applications from other devices than just your basic computer.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
http://www.andybudd.com/presentations/dcontruct05/
Web Design in my career!
20 Oct 2008 Leave a Comment
Honestly, at first I wasn’t really sure or even cared how web design would effect me in my career. I have not even began to imagine how to script or even learn the language. It is very confusing to me and basically I am a little scared. I hope gain the knowledge that I need to overcome this obstacle because I know that the industry is going more and more interactive everyday. Being and Advertising major, I want to be able to openly know and understand all media’s, as that’s what is going to help my broaden my career more.
