End of Summer 2009 Report

So I basically fell off the face of the Internets and have been spending the past couple of weeks making the most of the remaining summer. However, I still occasionally had time to draw:
My last batch of characters from Southern Oregon. Starting with the lady decked out in a charming watermelon-print dress and literally ending with the guy on the bottom right with a baseball cap that was precariously balanced on his large scalp. The cap didn't touch his forehead and looked like one breath of wind would knock it right off.
To the Oregon drawing crew: He was occupying The Black Sheep. Hopefully you guys will see him again. :)

I also visited the local fair that took place shortly before I had to move back for school. 102 degree weather made conditions tough, but overall it was a good time. I love me some carnies, cankles, and cows.

And so I've since packed up my car and made the long 680+ mile trip back down to Valencia to begin a whole new school year. Ever wonder what dawn looks like while driving down Interstate 5 in California?

Now you know. Last Monday I had to hit the road early after spending the night at my Grandma's house. I left at 4:30 in the morning(still dark)....not planning on doing that again anytime soon. Way too early to be conscious. At 10:30 am I arrived in Valencia, met up with my roommates, and we all started moving into our new apartment. This was adventure too, living on the third floor with no elevator made moving very difficult--particularly when it came to the things we moved from storage like the couch and various boxes that weighed way too much--it was also 99 degrees and hazy from the fires far south of us(driving and moving all in one day! I was dead to the world by 9 pm). Anyways, that's all done with and we're all settled in.
Now time to welcome the local Valencia peeps. I spent some time at the local mall and spotted a couple characters. However, the female subject on the bottom right was not anywhere near the mall---only 5 people(myself included) know her story and her impact on our group's outing. All's I'll say is she was a Grade-A cougar, and that's the "classiest" summary I can think of for her. The End.
Today, myself and a couple friends headed over to the LA zoo to get back into drawing. School doesn't officially start until next Monday(14th) so we're trying our best to get back into the frantic pace of CalArts. Anyways, fun drawing day--very nice weather(upper 80's and no smoke!), animals were a little more active than the last time I visited, and we even saw some chimpanzees go on a rampage! Basically the one dominate chimp decided to put another chimp in its place by tackling it(on the lower left area of the chimp drawings...that's basically what they did). Both went tumbling into one of the area's pits(several feet!) during the climax of the brawl. They came hollering and screaming back up, the dominate male strutting around and swinging his arms all manly-like. He even went so far as to pick up a piece of cucumber and hurl it over the exhibit's walls and into the crowd of human onlookers---no one was hit, myself and my friends were about 10 feet away from the cucumber's impact(it exploded and chunks of it went flying in every direction). Very, very entertaining and nothing could ever top that temper tantrum.

Anyways, tomorrow the character animation freshmen have their orientation in the department and I'm looking forward to peeking in on all the new faces(it's really surreal to think back on those first few days on campus...just feels like a month ago I was moving into the dorms and getting ready for my first year. Time is flyin' by.). Well, I sign-up for classes and a cube this Friday. Just from looking at the online schedule, this year should be pretty intense, but can't wait to get started---bring on Year 3!