Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011, everyone! This year, I resolve to work hard, keep a good attitude, and stay upbeat! Which is what I try to do every year, but why should I resolve to change one aspect of my life when it's much easier to live a positive life anyway?

So...

It's been about 13 weeks since my last blog post.

Please forgive me. Bah, I don't need to apologize! I've been obscenely busy!

Almost immediately after my last blog post, things started to get a bit hectic. And that's putting it lightly! As the semester went on, the workload only continued to build up. Well, it didn't exactly build up, but we were given a lot of short-term projects with no breathing time in between.

While the workload was almost overwhelming, I am happy to say that I loved almost every minute of it.

At this point, we have the 10 boards that will compose our internship portfolios. At around the 7th or 9th board, we started to re-do out older ones to get them up to shape. Here are some before and after shots:

Do you guys remember this?

14/15 weeks later

I cringe every time I look at an old board.

Crazy what difference a few weeks can make, eh? It certainly helps that we have one (or two/three towards the end of the semester) of these due every week. Here are some more pics of renderings I've done:

A toy in translucent plastic. I (and most of the class) got scolded for using gray.

Not too bad! I really enjoy marker rendering now. It's super-fun and very rewarding. Unlike paintings which are often never "done," there is always a finishing point with these product drawings. The sense of accomplishment after finishing a board is maybe one of the most satisfying art-related things I've done.

As for the rest of my boards...well, I'm afraid I'll have to keep those secret. Secrecy is a big part of the toy industry, but I believe that processes are interesting and sharing knowledge is important. If you ever encounter me in real life, I'd probably be happy to show you others!

That's about it for this blog post. Tomorrow is the first day of Winterim classes. It's three weeks of re-doing our boards and further preparing our portfolios and resumes for our summer internships. I'll keep y'all posted!

Happy thoughts,
-J

P.S. Do yourself a favor and check out Every Day Is Awesome. I'll talk about it more next post, but...just do it.

Oh, and I have my own web address! You can get here by going to http://jordanliv.com now. How cool is that?!

Five weeks in...

...and I'm still kickin'.

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I'd update more frequently. However, I am a Terrible Human Being, and being a Terrible Human Being means doing terrible things.

School's been great, and going by ridiculously fast. I can't believe it's about to be the sixth week (I think?)! The ridiculous amount of work we have in Toy Design is very welcome. In Fine Arts, people (like me and my homies) would often put projects off until the last moment. In Toy Design, that kind of work ethic will get you kicked out. It doesn't hurt that the projects we get are fun; in my last major, I wasn't very passionate about most things we were assigned towards the end.

Thanks to this major, I am now the working machine I've always wanted to be. Every week starts off fairly easy, with a bit of life drawing and a lot of homework. But from Tuesday to Friday, I'm in the toy design lab until at least midnight working on something. Then I have an 8-hour sewing lab on Saturday. But that is only for half the semester. It really helps to have classmates that care as much as I do.

So what have I been working on? Well, I don't really want to delve into specifics, but here are a few pictures.

The results of a Saturday sewing lab. This is Sloppy the Wolf.Marker Rendering Homework

"Try Me!" Toy

Outdoor Toy

That's about it! Looking at my work, remember thinking "Wow, I did a pretty good job," but now I notice a lot of things I can change about everything. Since our projects are overlapping and I'll have at least one board due every week, maybe I'll ACTUALLY start updating weekly.

Now, for some sleep. And more homework.

Quickly adapting to reduced sleep time,
-J

First Week: Not Bad!

Let's go through the schedule! On Mondays, I have Anatomy for Toy Designers. We have a wonderful professor by the name of James Reid. I have heard from other professors that he is a master of anatomy; something that my classmates and I soon discovered. This guy REALLY knows his stuff. It is like being taught by an old master from the Renaissance. To be completely honest, I feel like I learned more about general figure drawing from a 2.5 hour lecture than I have in all my life drawing classes combined. I am psyched about the coming classes. I appreciate how laid-back the class is; we're allowed to use essentially any material and work in any size we want. We also learned that you can use skim milk as a spray fixative for your drawings. Awesome. On Tuesdays, we have Drafting and Product Materials/Safety Considerations. Drafting is, well...drafting. The first class I've ever had on the subject. Looks like it might be tedious, but I do love precise line drawings and schematics, so it'll be cool to learn how those are made. The Materials/Safety class is interesting, too. We learned about several types of plastic used in manufacturing this week. The second half of the semester will be focused more on electronics and stuff. At the end of class, we got a project: A toy that we will eventually take apart and examine. Mine is a medical kit: Included is a stethoscope, thermometer, syringe, band-aid, blood pressure checker, and a nose/throat examining doohicky. Wednesdays start out with Developmental Psychology, a course that I'm fairly stoked about. The professor seems really enthusiastic and very articulate, and the subject matter is extremely relevant to our major. We're going to have team debates later in the semester, which I am somewhat nervous about. I never got to do much of that in high school and I'm not excited about doing it for a grade. After that, we have Marker Rendering. The professor we have is new, but he seems pretty laid back and I'm excited to learn cool rendering techniques. His style of rendering objects is different from the one we learned in the summer workshop and Intro to Toy Design class, but I'm eager to see what he has to offer. Rendering things in marker is super-fun. Industry Overview is the name of our only Thursday class, and it's a really cool one. Each week, an industry representative will come and give us a lecture. This week, Franklin La Barbara (Vice President of Product Design) from Hasbro came and told us about the development of an R/C Car that just hit store shelves. It was such an interesting story and we learned a lot about what kind of work goes into the making of a toy. Check out the Ricochet 4x4; it's a really cool toy that can flip over and has a monster truck mode.



We will be making field trips in this class, as well! And on Friday, we have our hardcore classes: Drawing for Toy Design and Toy Design I. In the first one, we learn how to draw products in perspective and how to use our tools. We'll work out a few toy concepts later in the semester, but first comes the practical stuff; how to draw a toy concept and how to make it pop! The second is the meat and potatoes of the semester. Each week, we'll have a new concept theme to explore; for example, our first theme is a "Try Me!" toy. We'll have a week to research and come up with at least six toy concepts around that theme, then another week to make a presentation board and render it. It starts out slow, but we'll eventually be pumping out one board a week because the projects will start to overlap. We'll receive a new theme and have to research it while turning in concepts for the last weeks' theme while turning in boards for the theme from two weeks ago for a class critique. Whew. This week, we recieved our mission and took a trip to Toys R Us to research and play with the "Try Me!" toys on the shelves. It's a pretty broad theme, so I'm excited to see what our class will come up with. My first week of classes went very well and I'm pretty flipping enthused about the coming months of work. I try to not worry about the sleep I will loose or the social life I won't have; instead, I focus on where I'll be in two years' time. Worrying about stuff is a waste of time and energy.

Sorry about the lack of images, but there isn't really much to show yet. This coming week will be a short one, with class only on Tuesday and Wednesday. Sewing lab starts up this week for me as well; Tuesdays from 9-12 and Saturdays from 10AM-6PM. I'm not sure if I'm excited about that one yet.

Stay Tuned, -J

P.S. Here is what I ate for breakfast today. Bacon-pinach-egg-pepper jack on a soy pita. It's my breakfast taco. I love the Trader Joe's that opened down the street. I also love having an entire package of bacon to myself. The flash isn't very flattering, but...

Great Successes and other Fun Things!

Guess who's going to be a Toy Design major next fall!

ME!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I heard last Saturday that I got into the program and the first thing I did after calling my mom was to update my Twitter and Facebook status....sorry Blog, you kinda got shafted. But better late than never, right?! RIGHT?!

...right?

***

Things continue to fare well in my other studies. Since we're pretty much at the midpoint of the semester, there should be a lot of projects due and tests coming up. Fortunately for me, that doesn't really seem to be the case and I only had one midterm which was this past Wednesday. Woo, Maya Art and Civilization! Interesting class, indeed!

In Painting class, we began work on a new figure painting, this time with two models. It's a pretty decent setup, and both models are really awesome and fun to paint. I think this week will be our fourth week working on them. Here are my progress pics:

At the beginning of the second week.

My professor pointed out some major issues with the figure in the foreground, which I fixed last week.

Her back looks a lot better, doesn't it? I also had to change her face because she is now looking in a different position when she poses. I'm mostly disappointed about the face. Here is a closeup of what it looked like before:

I wasn't finished painting it and I thought it didn't look that great anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. I think my professor is irritated/concerned that I put in too much detail in facial features so soon XD. Here's a closeup of the other model. Lookin' all nonchalant!

We still have 3 or so weeks left to work on these, so expect them to look plenty different by the end!

***

Look for an update on what we've been doing in photography and Abstract Painting soonish! I promise!

Yatta!
-J

Toy Design Hometest

So Saturday was the big Toy Design interview day, and boy was it exciting! And bit nerve-wracking, but totally exciting and fun and interesting! I met a lot of interesting people and I think my interview went pretty well. We should hear in a few weeks whether we get accepted or not.

There were about 20 students being interviewed that day...I'm assuming that there were other interview days because I heard a lot more than 20 people apply every year. A wide range of people showed up-from a guy already interning at Hasbro to a lady who worked with autistic children to losers like me!

We started with one of those awkward periods where people slowly trickle in and sit around and stare at each other and all around the room. There were a number of hard and soft toys set out for our drawing test. We had 30 minutes to draw a still life composed of one hard toy and one plush toy. After that, they gave us a time slot and we were free to roam about until our time came. My appointment was earlier, but I ended up sticking around for almost the entire time because there were so many toys to play with and a few of my friends were at the interview too.

Since the interview is over with, I can safely (I hope) post my designs up! Our mission was to design and make boards of three toys in different categories. Here are my designs, followed by the Toy Specifications from my idea book.

Child having nightmares? Afraid of monsters under the bed and things that go “Bump!” in the night? Have no fear, Sir Galen shall slay all fiends who seek to prevent sleep!

Designed to help kids fall asleep without fear, Sir Galen is the perfect bedtime buddy. A key feature of this plush toy is his sword, which is large enough to hold and doubles as a night light. A twist of the hilt activates a soft light that operates on a sleep timer to save batteries.

Sir Galen has several phrases that are activated by touching both metal studs on his gauntlet. This style of activation seeks to prevent accidental speech and to enhance the “experience;” kids will be comforted while holding Sir Galen’s hand! To increase play value, kids can take off Sir Galen’s helmet and put a crown on instead. This will change his phrase set to sayings that are exploration-oriented.

Prince and Explorer by day, Guardian by night, and best friend for years to come, Night Knight Sir Galen is an excellent companion for any child!

***

Safari Snap is a special digital camera with two primary goals:
1.To get kids outdoors
2.To educate kids about animals, particularly endangered species.
The camera, while able to operate like any normal digital camera, comes with a built in safari game and animal encyclopedia. A typical round of the game flows like this:
1. The Safari Master gives you a mission. For example, “Track and photograph a tiger! It was last spotted near some yellow flowers!”
2. The kid goes outside, finds some yellow flowers, and photographs them. Using color and shape recognition technology, the camera knows that the right object was photographed, and the Safari Master gives another clue to the tiger’s location.
3. Once the end of the trail is reached, the image of a tiger appears on the screen. The next picture taken will feature the tiger’s image overlaying it. Now the kid has a picture of a tiger in any setting he or she wants!
4. Once the tiger is photographed, the animal encyclopedia is updated with information about tigers. New missions would be unlocked as more animals get discovered.
The Safari Snap accepts an SD memory card so children can develop their photos. It also features a small solar panel on the front. If technology is advanced enough, it would ideally allow the Safari Snap to be at least partially solar powered. Otherwise, the solar panel detects sunlight and will adjust the variety of missions according to the amount of light. Nocturnal animals would only be found at sunset, for example.
Fresh and exciting, the Safari Snap is just the toy to get kids back outside and exploring!

***

“Hey, this is a cool action figure! Wait, why can’t the arm bend like this? Let’s see...”
*snap!*
“...Oops.”
How often has the above scenario played out in households across the world? I cannot count how many action figures I’ve broken (even now!) because of restricting joints. Nothing is more irritating and depressing! One of the features that sets Little Legendz apart from other actions figures is the way it addresses this problem: with the Universal Joint. Combining the motion range of a swiveling joint, the unrestricted pivoting ability of the peg-and-hole joint, and the shape and adaptability of a ball joint, the Universal Joint allows for a far more dynamic playing experience.
To compliment the Universal Joint, a system that I have dubbed the “Universal Link” allows for a completely customizable action figure. Because all of the pegs and holes are the same size, virtually any body part can fit in any location. Combined with the countless mythological creatures and legends to pull monsters from, the possibilities could be endless. Children would be able to create their own legends, limited only by their imaginations!

So, yeah. That's that. So now I'[m busy playing catch-up with all my other assignments...Expect an update about my abstract paintings and the latest figure painting sometime soon!

Happy Monday,
-J