This so-called comic isn't finished... but I thought I would post what I have since I think it'll be a while before I actually finish it off. This is just some drawings illustrating Part III of something I've written *cough cough* I don't think many of you have read it. So it may seem kind of... abrupt or like you're missing a big part of the story that has already happened and that's because... uh... you ARE missing a big part of the story. But oh well. I'm not claiming this is a great read (it seems kind of choppy to me) or really illustrates the subtle things I put into the story. But I just had the urge to draw this. So here it is. I might also draw the second scene of Part I someday where they are under the cheery blossom tree at night... and Minako's skirt... and knee... and laying on Rei's stomach... and everything.

Hopefully you can read my pencil writing again.

( +9 pages )

Okay. There are gonna be a million pictures so if you don't want to see them, don't click the cut below. I don't want to be like those neighbors that force you to look at their vacation photos while you silently want to fall asleep and/or throw a potted plant at their head. This is my longest post ever probably... so... uhm. Beware. But here we go...



( coffee+fish+rain )

It was 2 a.m. I couldn't sleep. I was tired from traveling all week and I was laying in the bed I used to sleep in as a child. This is what I wrote. Jumbled up, confused, tired, lonely, sad. Just words. Nothing more or less.

( There are ghosts here. )

I have dozens of photos from Seattle that I will share with you soon. Probably too many (haha). Happy memories will be coming soon. And I will detail my meeting with Sprads and all the fun things I did with Megan. Be well everyone.

I'm flying to Seattle tomorrow!

I won't be around for a full week. I may be able to check my email, but no guarantees. I hope you all survive without me. I'm not sure how you will manage without my liveliness and vivaciousness for life. Just dream about my wit, my awesome kneecaps, and my beautosity. It will tide you over until I return... a Mels snack.

Wish me luck! I'm flying on a plane and I'm nervous!!

Oh my god god god.

But when I land, even if I'm a total mess, my Best Friend will be there waiting for me!! MNM FOREVAH!! And I get to meet Sprads!! Ahhh I can't stop using exclamation points I'm so excited. This is me on the inside: !!!!!!!!!!

Muchas XO lj. Please send me good vibes so I do not act like a dying fish on the airplane and/or turn into a peanut.

Thank you.

I've been digitalizing old family photographs my Grandpa sent me. He wants them in time for Nana's memorial so everyone can have copies. It's a nice project to be working on. I enjoy seeing these little glimpses into my family history. I find them really interesting to look at. They speak novels about another time... when things were different... during the Great Depression and during WWII.


( and we'll fade in the morning light, like old photographs )

Anyway I just felt like sharing them with you all. Next week I'll be going to Seattle with Megan (and also going to meet Sprads for the first time!) and then I'll be down in New Mexico with the rest of my family. I'm nervous and excited for my trips... I love summer time...

How has everyone else been? I feel a little bit disconnected from things. Comment and let me know how you are. Tell me your own family history stories. Anything. I miss you all.

I've been a little scattered lately, but I'm breathing today.

I went running again (my new cure for life).

It's surprising how good it feels. There is pain, yes (usually in the back of my throat, the roof of my mouth, and that small pocket between my lungs), but it's the kind of pain I expect and when it hurts too much I tell myself, "you knew this was coming." And so I run through it, and eventually I hit that stride... I'm sure you've heard of it or experienced it yourself, if you are a runner. It's like an unstoppable kind of high. Everything feels good, even when it hurts. Your breathing is stable, your eyes are focused on the same spot in front of you, and you watch in a kind of amazement as the minutes tick by, as the scenery changes, as your legs keep moving without any effort on your part. I remember this feeling... I remember the rush, the kind of heat that creeps under my scalp, and the vibrating tingles that run up my legs as my feet pound on the earth beneath me. And it's like everything in the goddamn world makes sense and that everything--yes everything--is right.



When I finally stopped, I wasn't even breathing hard. I walked over towards the aviary in the middle of the park, said hello to the emus I could see through the high chain link fence. Then I stretched in the dim sun as it started to rain. The air felt good. The tiny droplets of rain felt good. My muscles and body felt good. I felt more at peace with myself than I had in a long time. I remembered why I used to run everyday. I remembered why I used to sneak out of the house in high school in the middle of the night... just to take a lazy jogging loop around the Capitol before crash landing in my bed to some of the best sleep I've ever had. I remembered that I am capable of making my own happiness, that there are things I like about myself, that I'm living the life I've always wanted. I remembered the color yellow, I remembered that day Megan and I saw a tarantula in the canyons, I remembered the graveyard, I remembered the night we played capture the flag in the fog at midnight, I remembered the drawings tucked away in my old Economics notebook.

Now I'm home--showered, smooth, clean, soft, smelling good--curled up on the couch with my feet tucked under me. I can hear the thunder outside but it's not startling or scary, it's soft and rolling, like a cat purring in the sky. I can look over and see Basil. I can breath. It feels good to breath.

Drawings to come soon, don't worry. I know I've been slacking but it's about time I get back to it.

I know that starting over is not what life's about, but my thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth my thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth my thoughts were so loud.

More dumb videos! Just for my favorite little Brit! Remember these embedded media players can be fickle. Just keep pushing play and it seems to work eventually.


Hahaha. I know I know... pretty dumb.

But here is one more... even dumber than the first! Bonus!

Ahaha oh god. I can't believe I'm posting that but whatevs. 

Have a Happy Birthday Sprads!! Go out and do great things!

P.S. Look I used our icon <3

Normally I don’t gush. But today is my anniversary with Basil so you'll have to bear with me. I wrote this note for him.


 

My Dear Basil,

For five years, you have made me laugh endlessly with nothing but the quirk of your eyebrow. You have seen me at my most selfish, my most repulsive, my most vulnerable, my most honest, my worst and my best. You have taught me more about myself and about the complexity of our understanding of one another, than anyone possibly could. I will forever be haunted by your mind, by your ability to dissect and compute and view the world (and mostly by your ability to see through me… You know me better than anyone; my mind is only a ghost). I will always be willing, wanting, laughing, longing for you.

And loving you.

(And only you.)

I will always remember that day… (The sun outside was making everything look silver—the roads and trees, the cars driving past me—and I was sitting alone in the library, my hands trembling on the keyboard. A song was playing in my head. I wrote :

“I heard a little girl, and what she said was something beautiful. To give your love, no matter what is what she said... Guess now you know… I love you so…”

I sent it.)

I am yours. And you are mine. And it fills me up.

I am happy.

Mels

Dear God. It's been sooo long since I've actually posted REAL SKETCHES. Last semester was crazy, I spent all my artistic energy just revising all my old work. I haven't sat down to think of new ideas for probably 5 months. This is supposed to be a SKETCHBLOG after all. But now that school isn't kicking my ass, I have all this lovely time to spend drawing (and sleeping... mmmm). Here are some results (as you see... I went a bit crazy with color... It was like I was born again and had all this freedom and just went overboard with punchy, saturated color.)


Red and black pen and red sharpie. Textures in photoshop. This was one of those poses I saw and immediately said I MUST DRAW THAT. Don't ask me why she's holding a big ass fan. It's cool at least.


I dream of the ocean too. Ballpoint pen and blue highlighter :3 I always draw in pen.

This is a typical page in my sketchbook:

Flat colors in photoshop but whatevs.

Photoshop is my friend. Here look. This is my original sketch:

And here it is after 10 mins in photoshop. Slap a few textures on, put a giant sun in the background and bam:


Chun-Li. I stole this pose from Chamba (Street Fighter comic KING). I love the way he draws women's lips. He can bust out these sketches in like 15 minutes probably. I hope I can be as good as he is someday.




And don't ask me what i was thinking:


Okay that's it! Byee for now.

P.S. It's almost my 5 year anniversary ooooooooooooooomg!! I <3 Basil!!

The official post about

GRADUATION!!


This is the arena before it is filled up with graduating students.

( photos and words to follow... )



( and more for you! )

My friend wrote me a letter in his blog. Now I'm returning the favor.

A meme! A belated meme. Shut up shut up. We are all busy people.

My Real Name:

A: Artistic, will draw all day long
R: Ready for anything
I: Idealistic, optimistic and hopeful
A: Awesome kneecaps
N: Not always user friendly
A: And she'll blow you away

My Screen Name:

M: Mmm-hmm
M: Mastermind
M: Maybe more trouble than she's worth
E: Eccentric (but only a little >_>)
L: Laughs away on a fast camel (all day long)
S: Smart and sexy


Anyway. I can't believe I am graduating this week. It hit me when I was coming home from my last session with Yoda and my other amazing professors from axiom design firm. I realized what a great opportunity I had, to know these professionals in my field and get their honest feedback from week to week. They showed us some of the projects they have been working on this semester and I was blown away. I sat in awe of their capabilities, their insight, their talent, their level of craftsmenship, their attention to detail. I feel so lucky to have met them and to be in this amazing field where such incredible work is produced.

Then I came home and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote. It's kind of like a graduation speech. Maybe I'll post it someday. For now it joins the many files on my computer.

BUT let's get to the important topics...

WHAT SHOES SHOULD I BUY FOR GRADUATION?

I've been hunting. And I've narrowed it down to eight... Here. I made a handy chart for all of you:


My favorite are the top two... but of course they are also some of the most expensive. But... just... LOOK AT THEM!!! I like the bottom two next best. I was getting way too excited about them. I was doing that *squee* + *stupid grin* combo while sitting at my desk. Shut up shut up. I think I have a very distinct taste in shoes. It's mostly in the shape. As you see, most of the shoes I like are round toes and very tall. 

SO WHICH ONES SHOULD I BUY?! GUH! *G*

I think... after four years and all my hard work... I can splurge a little, can't I? I've already paid thousands and thousands of dollars towards my education so what's a few more hundred dollars? Right?

Er...Right.

Mwah! I lurve you all. Comment okay? I miss you.

Hey everyone!! Guess what.

everyone: what?

I have a new portfolio website. Woohoo! I know a lot of you already know this, but I might as well post an official link and everything. [ OMG OFFICIAL LINK ] Of course I'll be editing all the pieces on the site, narrowing them down, etc. Yoda will be helping me with that. The owner of the site is really chill too. He contacted me when i joined just to say he liked my work. It was nice. And then he picked me as "artist of the week" to spotlight on the front page. Check it out.

OMG IT'S ME!

Of course it'll only be up there a week but it's still amazing.

I'm feeling unmotivated when it comes to school work. I know these are the last few weeks and I should be busting my ass but instead I spend my time taking ridiculous photos and playing in photoshop. Sigh. Proof:


I still have two commissions to finish too >_< Okay okay. I need to go make a list.

*runs off*

I couldn't resist.

LIVEJOURNAL:  LJ IS DEAD. DEAD.

I know I am not popular (like phaet is) but my friends page is a ghost land. So WAKE THE HELL UP. POST SOMETHING. TELL ME HOW YOU ARE DAMNIT. 

AND YES I'm talking to you KIMI and SPRADS and WOLFIO and NEURO and SAMMEE and ELLE and even ANA. I mean like a real update. Trupe is the only one who updates me anymore. I know I have been kind of absent in the internet world but I am getting back in the swing of things. SO SWING WITH ME DAMNIT.

(I took a swing class with Megan once (do you remember that?) and we also learned how to waltz together. Basically, I am an excellent dancer. The fact that I can tap dance is only an added benefit.)

HEALTH: Okay so I had a massage yesterday. My mom's solution for everything is for people to get massages. She was like "You are sick and stressed!!! Oh my god let me buy you a massage!!!" (Yes, with all the exclamation points.) Next thing I knew she had made me an appointment. So I went and had a massage with this guy Chad. He's really good, but it hurts!! I'll be lying there happily and then the second he puts his hands on my back he somehow  finds the hidden muscle behind another muscle that has secretly been HURTING LIKE A MOTHER FUCKER ALL MY LIFE EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NEVER KNOWN. He presses on it once and it awakens all the tension in my body. I swear. My back, my neck, my fucking forearms, my ankles, my hips. Wowza wowza. I was like a zombie coming alive again. There is not one part of my body that does not hurt now. He found every fucking knot in my body and worked the hell out of it. And it hurt. A lot.

But I also feel like I'm standing up straighter and that I'm not harboring 22 years of tension anymore so that is good. But I am soooooore and moving hurts. Sitting hurts. Even typing this hurts.

ART: Yoda critiqued my portfolio for the millionth time yesterday. It's kind of like having a sledgehammer rip through my head, my laptop, my artwork, and through the floor and ceiling below us. Then I am left with all the rubble and a little scribble of notes on a scrap of paper to try and put it back together again. But I find the whole process very cathartic. I leave the critique so inspired to get to work, tackle each project and make them better. I feel like I have at least 20 good pieces to go in my portfolio if I keep at them. But I only have 4 more weeks to wrap it up. WILL MELS BEAT THE CLOCK?! BEFORE IT EXPLODES? KILLING OFF 30 INNOCENT BYSTANDERS?!

Basically, this could be an action movie.

Someone pay me. My imagination could come up with a new movie idea every minute. Jesus.

Three new illustrations I'm adding to my "Box of Water" redux. Still works in progress.



LAWL DOES THAT GIRL LOOK FAMILAR? I was actually using these characters for a fanart piece I was working on. I put them in as place holders for this layout until I could draw new figures but then I kind of liked them there. So I kept them. Haha. I'm so lazy sometimes.


Wazzat iphone. This girl kind of looks like me.

Yoda says I need to work on the pacing of this book. Sigh.

SUMMER TIME: It was raining and snowy in the mountains today. But summer is in the air. I can taste it. I'm already making a list of books I want to read with corresponding spots in the city where I will read them. I can't wait to be free. I can't wait to lie on hot cement, to see Megan again, to eat a pushpop on a ferris wheel. God I'm so happy right now I could dive into the air feet first and never surface.

And we'll swim along the sky and everything will be fine.....................

Mmmhmm.

I'm working on two commissions, four character developments, four relief prints, two books (including illustrations and binding), photographing all my old work, and then I still have homework to do.

I'm also sick.

And it's snowing.

Remember my self portrait idea? Here's what I ended up painting those many months ago...


Been digging through my old work. Found this from junior year figure painting:


Working on some posters with my old relief prints....


Despite the rush, I'm feeling pretty good. The other night I was working and one of my best buddies, Mags, gave me a call. "I was out getting some food and wanted to drop some off to you" she said. I met her in the cold winter air, and she offered me a warm paper bag full of delicious treats. I felt so glad that after 8 years as friends, we can still meet on random street corners and be in each others lives.

"I owe you," I said, smiling.

"That's what friends are for," she replied.

Ahhhh the simple things.

Oh and just so you know............... BASIL FINALLY GOT A JOB. He hasn't told me many of the details except that he makes exactly double what I make. Sacre bleu.  Everyone just loves his big, sexy brain and I am only a page monkey in a dying print industry.

Still. I finally feel better  about spending money now. I went to this paper store today... oh goddd it was sooo orgasmic. I got to walk around all the aisles (it was like a fucking warehouse) and touch all the papers and hold them and bend them and smell them. Okay. I know that sounds weird but it was just sooo nice. I found this ammmazing 80 lbs. linen cover stock for my book. I got a whole box of it for $30 so I'm way excited. I know I know. I'm a geek. I geek out about paper the way Trupe geeks out about her motorcycle. Haha. We really are opposites.

I haven't been around online much. I guess it's kind of deliberate. Sometimes I just need a break and want to spend more time working on other things instead of checking up on twitter or devart or whatever. I sat and listened to the rain. And I went through all my old stacks of art and visited my dad and lounged around with Basil and did some proper sketching and relaxed and slept until 12:30 p.m.. I think I need a little bit more of those moments in my life... and a little less... distractions.

Mmm when I look out this window at my office I can see the tops of all these old buildings. There are little birds nessled up as it snows outside.

Hope everyone is well.

I'm not feeling too well today. I think I just have a lot on my mind. I cleaned the house with Basil and that always makes me feel better. Haha. Something about organizing and getting things cleaned is like meditation to me. But since we were both working on cleaning it only took like 20 minutes (lol tiny apartment), so now I'm back to sitting... and waiting.

I'm still working on revamping my portfolio. I started messing around in photoshop with some old illustrations I had done for a class. Two years ago, I hardly knew anything about photoshop. I knew how to use the magic wand and fill in color, haha. Since then I've done a lot of self teaching. It's kind of nice looking back at old work and seeing how much farther I can push them now with just simple coloring and lighting.

Before and after:








They aren't done yet or anything. Not sure what I will do with them, so I'll have to brainstorm with Yoda on Thursday.

I went to go see an old friend of mine, Mr. Matlin the other day. He was my math teacher in 7th grade and I've been visiting him ever since. That's 9 years of a friendship with a guy who is older than my dad. But he's always respected me and treated me like an actual friend. He calls me "the best math student he ever had" haha. We always sit around his office, or at the pastry shop down the street, or out at the Salt Lake harbor watching the sun set and laugh and talk and tell stories and it's always so good. He tells me about his times in college. He tells me about what it's like to watch his kids grow up and fuck up. He tells me about sailing out on the Great Salt Lake during the first full moon in April, drinking scotch with his sailing buddy, getting drunk and falling asleep with the anchor light flashing in the dark. "I'm going to retire," he said, smiling at me with that distinct aloof grin. "And I'm going to live out on the water."

It makes me feel all sorts of things. I don't know. I don't know. I'll be graduating this year and even when everything feels so complicated, sitting around with Mr. Matlin reminds me that it doesn't have to be. When all is said and done, I just want the simple things too.

Sitting out on the water. Laughing with lifelong friends. Watching the big full moon rise.

Maybe one day between busy and rushed, I'll find what that feels like again.

Until then, take it easy everybody.

With the fall of newspagedesinger.com I realized I no longer have an online portfolio for news design. This is just one post with a few pages and isn't meant as a permanant solution. I hope I can find something better eventually. I would love for people to be able to download the original PDF and everything.

Game Guide Covers
Every Friday we ran a Game Guide for the Utes Football team. I always had a chance to design the covers. I have dozens of these, but only managed to find the pdfs for these two. This was before I redeisgned the whole paper (including the name plate!). I need to dig through The Chronicle archive and see if I can find the covers I did full Illustrations for.  Those were fun (remember the Ute playing cards for Vegas and the giant rollercoaster with each player as a bobble head? haha).



Nothing like a 1200 point Helvetica "V", is there? In RED! *cheeky grin*

Redux
Redux was the student entertainment and arts magazine that was published once a week alongside The Daily Utah Chronicle. I always had free reign to go wild with the cover story. I loved that kind of freedom.


Unfortunately this one was black and white. It looked killer in color. All the Illustration elements I did myself (although I think we got the stars background from NASA, haha)

Deseret News
Since moving to the "big leagues" I haven't been granted the same kind of freedom I had at the student paper. Putting type on photos, cutting things out, reversing type, blowing something up into a big cover story... all these things get frowned upon by at least one editor working each night. But I've managed to sneak a few packages in, despite the restrictions. Sure, I sometimes get testy emails the next day but I also get the winks across the newsroom from those who can apprecaite the risks. It's worth it to me.


They handed me a big ugly map and said "this is your lead art." I felt like dying a little until I decided to spice up the package. I think I really saved the day because otherwise this page would have been UGLY GREY AND MORE GREY.

Sports is the only department I can get away with anything in. *shifty eyes* This was a tribute to the owner of the Utah Jazz, who passed away recently. I was happy we could really give him a proper package instead of just a regular story with a glorified mug shot. The Deseret News is pretty conservative. I know they want to distinguish themselves from The Salt Lake Tribune, who isn't afraid to go anywhere as far as I can tell... and I know they think most of our readers are old LDS members who just want their sturdy Dnews like always... but still. They all gasped when I put rounded corners on the photo. Like... really? Rounded corners? Sigh.

But hey, I think they are easing into some more risky design. I know our design bosses are all for it. It's just the duty editors and especially the photo editors who have been getting on our case lately. But I love it. I love designing, I love newspapers, I love the atmosphere of a newsroom late at night, I love the adrenline rush at deadline, I love throwing things together so quickly you can't even stop to think about it. I love my job. I just hope the newspaper industry, with all the changes and challenges going on right now... will come out better than it ever has been before. We just have to embrace the change. We have to stop being in denial. We need to offer our readers what Moholy-Nagy described in his essay "typophoto" as a change from "the linear typography of today." If even he could see it (when they were using BLOCK TYPE in the 1920s for god's sake) then why can't we?

Let's breath life into the printed page again.

 

It's been snowing all day, goddamnit. It's the gross, wet, sloshy kind of snow so I've been walking around all day with cold/wet feet. In like a lamb out like a lion. Or something.

BUT GUESS WHAT? I FINISHED MY WANNA-BE GRAPHIC NOVEL.

Bitches.

Making this book reminded me of how much I enjoy book binding and finding cool paper. This is a Japanese style binding. The thread wraps around the spine and through the center so it's visible. I think it's sweet. Photos are kind of dark, sorry.
Check out that paper. It's all cloudy-looking. I printed full black on it and it was so lovely. Just look how sexy and weathered and mmmmm it looks. Yes. I've resorted to making noises I am that pleased. >_>

I know you can't really read it in the pic but the last page says "Catch you next time."

I've updated all the illustrations since you last saw them, but I'm too lazy to upload them all. Maybe I'll just show a few thumbnails. I ended up naming it "After Dark." Shhh...







Lol it took me like 4 hours alone deciding how to light that cigarette up there. (Remember, Kyle?) And don't even talk to me about rain. I hope I never have to draw rain again for the rest of my life.

I'm just so happy to be done with this project. I hope I get an A (oh please oh please). But even if I do it's only 25% of my grade. The other 75% will be from my portfolio. But hey, I'm feeling great. Summer is so close I can taste it (despite the snow). Mmm that reminds me of one of my favorite poems by Robert Graves. I know it by heart. Here ya go:
Cheers everyone!