The Grind.

Remember when you were a kid and people told you "You can be anything you want to be if you just put your mind to it."

They forgot a little footnote that says: "Well, first you put your mind to it, then you will need to sacrifice a lot for it and never give up, no matter how difficult it may be. There will be tears, there will be low points, there will be times you will question yourself and skills and there will be times when you feel like it's all for nothing, but you have to keep going."

I am quickly realizing all this and more as the semester is progressing forward. My applications are in and I'm waiting for acceptance or rejection letters. I'm preparing my portfolio all while trying to stay focus during school all while trying to live my old life. Then I had a few weeks of low, low points in which I thought, THIS MAY NOT BE FOR ME. After a lot of back and forth, I understood what the problem was, it was me. I was trying to do everything I needed to do, while still trying to maintain my former life.

No, there is very little socializing to be done when you have 30+ hours of homework and projects to do. No, you cannot buy new and beautiful things because you are saving money for school and rent and eating $.29 ramen. No, you cannot participate in fun things all your friends are doing because they have full-time jobs and can afford it. No, there is no way you can just stay out late and relax because there is no time to just relax. And no, you can't keep socializing with everyone because it gets exhausting trying to reach out to people who don't respond and it will only make you feel inadequate.

Things have changed, because I have changed and this is exactly what I signed up for.

I signed up for late nights of practicing my sketches. I signed up for working on my 10th draft of a design. I signed up for the excitement of finally feeling more confident about life drawing. I signed up for the thrill of finishing a project after hours upon hours. I signed up for all the lows and the highs and I can't waste time questioning it.

I lost sight of this for a while. I felt left out from social activities. I compared myself to others and felt suffocated by my own grievances. I forgot that this was my path, my journey and my pace. I will get there. No good comes from rushing. I want to be the best designer I can be and that means constant learning, studying and practicing. I can admire, but I should not let it be muddled by envy. Let my admiration be my fuel for motivation. Let envy be just a fleeting moment. Let me push forward because there is no going back.

So I'm here to tell you, in case you didn't know, some friends and people may mot be there at the end of this, but those who matter, will. You may not get to do many fun things, but in the long run it will all be worth it and there will always be other things to do in the future. There will be low moments, but you have to push forward because nothing will beat that deep breath you take when you've finally reach your goal.

Yes, put your mind to it, but don't forget what that means. It means fully investing yourself into it. Sacrifice what you can. Trim the excess and push to always be better. Your future self will thank you.

It's A New Semester!!

Horray! I was always that kid who got uber-excited about the first day of school with my brand new notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils.

This time around, I have my new drawing pencils to replace the ones I worn down last semester, sketchbooks for all my drawing classes and drawing pads. I've cleared out my portfolio and I am ready for this semester.

For this semester I am taking six classes. Some may call it crazy, and I agree, but I love being pushed to the limit with all the assignments.

I've gone to 4/6 classes already and I can already tell it's going to be an extremely challenge semester, but I'm ready.

So these are my classes this semester:

Life Drawing - The instructor is intense and I'm looking forward to what I'm going to learn.

Drawing 2- This class is set up to be more of an independent studies class with more research of artists and working with color in my drawings. Excited about all the new projects.

Art 2D- The catalogue best describes this: The course in the visual organization of the elements and principles of design as fundamental concepts in visual problem solving, composition, and color theory. Emphasis will be on the underlying nonobjective and abstract structure of visual art.

Photo Lab Practices- I'm excited to get back into the dark room and learn more techniques in developing and printing. From learning the old adage, over expose and under develop to trying different developers for a variety of film. I've been wanting to take this class for the past 2 years and am ready to dive right in.

Art History- The book is huge. Ready to go to the museums though.

Pre-press - This is the only class that involves a computer this semester. We will get to use all the programs and learn about working with printers and getting images color ready to go to press. I hear we get to visit a few printing studios to learn about the process.

So these are my days:

Monday: Work 6am-10am, class 2pm-5pm

Tuesday: Classes 9am - 10pm

Wednesday: Work 6am-10am, classes 2pm-9:30pm

Thursday: Classes 9am - 10pm

Friday- Sunday: Work and homework!

I value my breaks in between and there will definitely be no time to procrastinate. Coffee will be my best friend and sleep will be a luxury. EXCITED!

Here's to a new semester! Cheers!

An Update & Paul Rand

It's been a while since I've posted and that's because I've been swamped with a fun load of projects to tackle in preparation for the end of the semester. I have about two to three big projects to tackle per class for the final, on top of the ongoing assignments. It's been a challenge, but great exercise on multitasking and stretching my brain creatively. My days have consisted of waking up extremely early to go to work around 5AM or 6AM and then class and homework afterwards. Some days, my days end around 11PM after spending more than 12 hours on the computer or drawing.

However, as I'm doing all this I am SO happy. I am grateful that I get to go to school to do all this. I can't believe it at times.

There are days where I do feel like I am in a rut creatively, but I take a step back and allow myself to just relax. I do find myself feeling a bit guilty if I feel as though I am sitting idly by, but I remind myself that rest is just as important as working.

I haven't posted any work for a while, but here is a layout I had done a few weeks ago on Paul Rand. I chose not to use any of his photos in the layout because so many people had done that in previous classes. Not only was he iconic for his work, but his black glasses, which I thought were synonymous to who he was.

This is my final layout after working with my professor to go over some changes such as the leading, font size, alignment and placement. This professor has engraved GUIDES into my head, and I am actively trying to always use them. Guides are not there to be restrictive, rather it gives order to layout, even ones that look random.

After the tweaks, I was very happy with the layout. I chose to enlarge the glasses even more to have them fall off the page, which made it feel less constrained.

I enjoyed doing my research on Paul Rand. He was a brilliant man who made a huge impact on the design world with all his work. Another fun fact I stumbled upon was that he had worked with Steve Jobs. Very cool. Anyhow, take a read at the article I had put together and maybe you'll discover something new.

Enjoy!