Digital Seahorse

Miniature Greenhouse

2011-04-11T22:27:00.004-04:00

Here's something I made in high school mostly out of clay and stuff sitting around at my Grandmother's house. A miniature green house which may or may not be used for stop motion before I get rid of it. I have too much stuff apparently and this is damaged anyway (though you wouldn't know it from some camera angles). I'd need to figure out how to keep the camera still while close enough and take the glass cover off each time moving the subjects inside it...need an idea that makes all the effort worth it...not sure if the little frog should be reworked to be a better looking main character or what I might think up...if anything.
A poor gardener who experiences a loss perhaps?...

Materials are real soldered glass done by me with help holding glass, quick bake clay, plasticine, 2 berry baskets, coat hanger, thick foil, twist ties, real dirt, fake dirt, clear glue, little creamer cups, graphite and wood. No frogs were harmed in the making of this miniature greenhouse.

Women at FITC 2011

2011-03-01T18:24:00.001-05:00

I'm so exited and can't wait for FITC this year! I have volunteered with the Seneca display booth at FITC while I was a student as you can see from some of my earlier posts. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and don't want to fall out of touch if I'm not able to attend this year. As a Freelance Illustrator with passion for animation and Flash games it is very relevant to my interests!

Important reasons why I MUST attend FITC 2011 are:

Networking! This is the most important one because the industry wouldn't survive without any and it's very important especially for women in the industry to be able to network with each other.

Inspiration! Every year there's something exciting and new because technology is always evolving. It's a great thing to keep seeing what is coming out next.

Sharing of ideas! Ideas are what fuels the industry. We should take advantage to share ideas every chance we can get.

Being Creative! There's often opportunities to stretch those creative muscles there too through things like crafting booths or photo stations. As a creative I see every act of creating as a good way to keep those brain waves sharp.

It's in Toronto! I am close to the GTA at the moment and would be able to transport myself easily enough to FITC Toronto.

Memories! Some of the best memories with my friends and making new ones have been made at FITC. I hope to experience many more happy memories from it.

Here's hoping I win a Women at FITC ticket and/or end up able to volunteer this year!

Stop the Meter! Day of Action

2011-02-26T23:50:00.000-05:00

Today in Queen's Park there was a little rally with a lot of voice saying Stop the Meter! NDP MPP, Peter Tabuns made an appearance and answered some questions. Sounds like the NDP also wants to put a stop to the meter and usage based internet billing. I approve!

The Meter would mean bad things for your pocket book and bank account weather or not you are a power user and spells REALLY bad news for innovation and business growth since it's become something as needed as Canada's roads and highways. They didn't call it the information superhighway for nothing. Imagine if you had to pay a toll on every road everywhere you want to drive! Just because some people like to travel a lot and take the back roads instead of the toll highways doesn't mean it's alright to toll every road to get rid of the free passage competition. The petition for those that haven't yet signed can be found here:
http://openmedia.ca/meter

There were also some funny and creative props made for the occasion such as ethernet noose, clever signs and paper badges. (Makes me wish I'd made something.)

First photo of Peter Tabuns MPP Toronto-Danforth, NDP in Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario by Danielle Pepin.

I Do Portraits! - Makes a Great Gift

2010-12-07T20:23:00.006-05:00

Portraiture is a great personalized gift!
I am a Canadian artist that does portraiture mainly from photographs. I can draw your beloved pets and family members! I can even draw your home, your birth month flower or your favorite car! Most portraits unless specified otherwise are done in graphite and coloured pencil on heavy weight high grade paper.

More of my artwork can be found here:
http://dandy-l.deviantart.com/gallery/

For order and pricing please message me on deviantArt or through my website at digitalseahorse.ca.

This drawing was completed for a friend on commission. This one in particular is not for sale but I do have prints of some select previous works available.

Ken Steacy Back this Wednesday!

2010-11-23T12:33:00.002-05:00

The auctions at Desert Bus for Hope yesterday were exciting with a new spin this year! Ken Steacy was heavily monitored during his visit no doubt due to his popularity with the auction bidders. His two sons Alex and Raymond helped to make this appearance a humorous success. He sold some original comic art including Ghostbusters, Star Wars and Harry Potter. He will be back again tomorrow with more great rare items to be sold for Child's Play so stay tuned! All the fun goodies and entertainment can be found at desertbus.org and on Twitter @DesertBus. Be sure to check out LoadingReadyRun.com too for more comedy!

SOLD - Desert Bus Craft Donation

2010-11-22T20:43:00.000-05:00

My magnet package that went up for silent auction for the Desert Bus for Hope charity even for Child's Play and sold for $100! I am very pleased and would love to thank everyone that bid on it! THANK YOU! :)

Desert Bus for Hope 4 - A New Hope!

2010-11-21T18:07:00.003-05:00

That's the title of this year's Desert Bus! Loading Ready Run are driving 24 hour shifts this year and lots of exciting things happening! Apparently Ken "Value Added" Steacy will be making an appearance of some sort again even though he is currently in Toronto which will likely be either phone or digitally. Plenty of prizes and auctions! It started on Friday at 9pm and may be found on desertbus.org under the two camera links for drivercam and buscam. Watch the ustream and trend topic #DesertBus on Twitter! Also see my previous blog posts for more info especially the one about last year's event and post on Ken and Joan Steacy. http://digitalseahorse.blogspot.com/2010/06/ken-and-joan-steacy.html

Desert Bus for Hope 4 - Craft Along and Donation is OPEN!!!

2010-10-21T19:26:00.000-04:00

I just made these magnets to be auctioned at the 4th annual Desert Bus for Hope. All of them are one of a kind and covered with a plastic coating after being drawn freehand. I'm excited to watch this year's event which has already started to accept donations. For those that haven't seen or heard of Desert Bus see my previous blog about it http://digitalseahorse.blogspot.com/2009/11/desert-bus-for-hope.html and http://desertbus.org/. OH MY! Looks like they've already started accepting donations for Child's Play! Donate as much as you can and keep them bussing even longer and more epic this year!

Oddly Fall Tour Interactive 5

2010-10-12T22:40:00.001-04:00

Something I'm excited about attending this Thursday and Friday is a tour and networking after party that I'd like to share with anyone interested in new and interactive media. Oddly Studios is holding it's 5th annual Fall Tour of interactive studios throughout Toronto. This sometimes includes presentations from some studios outside of Toronto. It is a walking tour around some areas of Toronto where the best studios are clustered. This is an excellent opportunity to see what studios are like from the inside, network with industry leaders, ask questions about what they look for in new hires.

This year they've expanded it to two days for more coverage. The attendance though primarily students in related areas it is open for anyone interested. In previous years the tour had registration fill up almost as soon as it opened because of it's high profile but this year with affordable price there are some spots left as yet. Tickets can be purchased here: http://falltourinteractive.eventbrite.com/

More information including video from previous years can be found on the tour's facebook fan page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fall-Tour-Interactive/118949018136902?v=wall

and my first blog about the event in 2007 here:

http://digitalseahorse.blogspot.com/2007/10/studio-tour-and-etc.html

Filming of Success Stories for YES - Youth Employment Services

2010-10-01T12:56:00.002-04:00

This week I've had the privilege of directing the filming some very inspiring success stories from youth that have used the services available through YES - Youth Employment Services. Our first day of filming went quite well! It's so good to hear that even youth at risk are receiving help they need. YES has really changed their lives for the better and we'd like to see it happen more! This success story filming initiative aims to promote how beneficial and needed these services are to obtain more resources to keep them running and for youth outreach so that those in need know where to go to access them.

We're conducting more sessions periodically this month when our crew is accessible. If you or anyone you know has a success story that would like to share it with other youth and with YES we'd love to hear from you! The contact for scheduling available time slots is all through Whitney Pyper at Toronto's main office. You can also find YES on facebook and may be followed on twitter here:
http://www.facebook.com/YouthEmploymentServices?ref=ts
http://twitter.com/yestoronto

Acorn Craft!

2010-09-10T13:56:00.003-04:00

I found some acorns earlier this week. About to make some finger puppets or something equally cute and amazing out of the little caps...this is the result of the first attempt which became a gift for my Grandfather's 80th Birthday.

Ken and Joan Steacy

2010-06-26T23:14:00.000-04:00

My friend's folks are conducting some courses soon at Max the Mutt Animation School. Ken Steacy is a well known in his field for comic illustration and won Joe Shuster award in 2009. If you've been following my blog you may remember I posted earlier about him helping with the Desert Bus children's charity. I've seen some of Joan's work too. Both are amazing artists and are very fun and friendly.

Intro to Graphic Storytelling with Ken and Joan Steacy
http://www.maxthemutt.com/blog/index.php/2009/12/09/intro-to-graphic-storytelling/#more-1582

Visual Story Telling with Joan Steacy:
http://www.maxthemutt.com/blog/index.php/2009/12/12/visual-story-telling-with-joan-steacy/#more-1602

Please pass this on to anyone you know that might be interested.

2010-06-22T00:32:00.001-04:00

Last week I volunteered at the NXNE (North by North East) Festival in the interactive and film portions of the event. It was really fun and I met some really cool people there. The interactive days were very similar to FITC in type of presentations and panels. My interest in the National Film Board of Canada and a dream of producing animated shorts that help spread awareness on things like human rights and other good causes was addressed in a few of the sessions I saw there. I heard about youphonics.com and obtained access to try it out. No doubt I'll be blogging again if it's as cool as it sounds.

Out of the film area I most enjoyed the films Year of the Carnivore and Suck. Both were very funny and with director in attendance. It was good to talk with some of them after the show. There was an after party for all the volunteers before the main party and more chance to network.

All of the great people that coordinated and helped to make it run smoothly were pretty awesome at what they do. I'm looking forward to next year.

Women at FITC WINNER!!!

2010-03-08T12:13:00.002-05:00

I get to attend FITC for free! I revised my entree a bit since the extension so here's the final version.

Women at FITC Contest Entree

2010-03-02T14:06:00.006-05:00

This is my entree for Women at FITC 2010. I found out the deadline was extended to this Friday though after submitting so there might be some tweeks in order before then...or some just for fun since I had some other creative ideas for it.

H1N1 isn't the Only Virus We Need to Guard Against

2010-01-22T11:04:00.008-05:00

Here's a reminder to make sure your anti-virus software updates regularly.

If you don't have auto-updates set you can also send yourself reminders to do it through weekly recurring calendar event that sends you email alerts...though I don't know what good anti-virus doesn't have auto-update set as it's default...some don't apparently.

Extreme Texting in 2010

2010-01-16T02:49:00.010-05:00

The sport of 2010 no doubt will be extreme texting...the outlook for digital media is good so far but how will it look in the years to come? I think we'll be making cars that can text people and do GPS simultaneously all in one interface right on the windshield so people won't even have to look away from the road for a second...as for preventing accidents I'm not sure this would work but at least they'd see where their crash destination is ahead of time.

Holidays Etc.

2009-12-17T14:38:00.007-05:00

During these poor economic times with the holidays upon us I thought I'd dig up some of my cartoons to post.

More to come. ^__^

Desert Bus for Hope

2009-11-24T10:49:00.003-05:00

Really entertaining and exciting things happening! I've been watching Desert Bus for Hope this week. For those not aware already Desert Bus for Hope is a charity gaming marathon put on yearly by Loading Ready Run for the Child's Play charity.

The 3rd annual event started 9pm EST, this past Friday and they've been playing the most boring driving simulator, Desert Bus, from Pen and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors and doing what Loading Ready Run does best as an intenet comedy video group. All this in the name of collecting as much donation funds as they can possibly accomplish so that sick kids will have games to play during hospital stay. This year they are doing phinominally well with donations having more than tripled their first year's totals in less time than the duration of the first year's event!

There are even more exciting things happening this time round! For example, Ken Steacy, well known illustrator for George Lucas publications and on titles such as Astro Boy and The Real Ghostbusters, was in attendance yesterday to auction off some of his illustrations. He is planning to return later today to auction some more items. Ken Steacy's website is at http://www.kenspublishing.com/.

His son, Alex Steacy, a part-time member of Loading Ready Run and friend of mine was in BC this year to help them out with technical operations and camera overlays which has made the facade more graphically involved. Alex has also been involved in part of the comedy performance and donation challenges such as having gone to see the dreaded Twilight dressed as a vampire himself along with other LRR member Jeremy Petter. Matt Wiggins went to the movie but had to make up for not having suited up complete with eyeliner. He succeeded in doing so with Gay Bar performance found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9mF3mISUeo/.

Tune in to Desert Bus for Hope at http://desertbus.org/ to view their drivercam broadcast which is quite hilarious and their bus cam feed to see the game as they are playing it. Loading Ready Run regular videos may be found on YouTube or on their own website at http://loadingreadyrun.com/.

I'm on the MegaTag network!

2009-11-01T02:49:00.002-05:00

Visit MegaTaG

2009-10-16T06:35:00.003-04:00

New site very soon to come at digitalseahorse.ca which should include some interesting Flash design.
I just downsized a little demo for web viewing.
http://digitalseahorse.ca/video/smallSCAcity.mov

2009-09-11T01:04:00.004-04:00

Here's my latest extensively digital artwork. It was inspired by a few of Alex Steacy's characters from his comic script 'The Tower.'

What I learned from doing this was not to keep too many layers going all at once because it bogs things down way too much. I also learned that while photo reference is ok at times it should be used with caution and knowledge of how it effects perception. Prints available by request at danielle@digitalseahorse.com.

Image is copyright Danielle Pepin and DigitalSeahorse.

Beginning of comic by Alex Steacy may be found here:
http://www.eximworks.org/thetower/phpslideshow.php?directory=.&currentPic=0

Photoshop Composite Dragons

2009-06-07T23:24:00.003-04:00

Here's a composite I did a few years ago and more recently had printed and made into buttons. It's composed of seven images taken on my old Canon Powershot A540. It was fun to make and gives an idea of how creative one can be with photo compositing in Photoshop. Click image to view in full size.

2009-06-05T12:21:00.003-04:00

I love doing this stuff as a hobby and even after doing it for a living for a few years it still doesn't get old. My background includes CMYK colour matching and photo manipulation for print. The radio in my previous post is a great example of the level of quality and complexity of projects I have done. The radio project had a deadline of a week's time and this small 8-ball was done in only 15 minutes at the most.

Digital Radio

2009-06-04T21:13:00.007-04:00

A while ago I learned how to create anything photo realistically from scratch in Photoshop. Simple things like gradients and drop shadows on shape selections can prove amazingly similar to the real thing. As you can see from the layers pallet in this radio example I made there are many complex layers, even for each dial and element. The mesh speaker alone is comprised of 8 including adjustment layers.

I no longer have the reference used though it wasn't an exact duplicate and still looks very much like the real thing at a glance nonetheless.

SCA Award Show / Digital Media Arts Graduation

2009-06-03T19:44:00.011-04:00

I graduated in April from Digital Media Arts program at Seneca College. Now having a bit more time on my hands and need to share my work, I'll be posting some of the things I've worked on that are portfolio worthy and deserve attention.

The last motion graphics piece I produced was for the SCA Media Award Show intro sequence.

I designed the look after being given a general idea of a Roman and Coliseum theme and idea of camera trucking through a Roman city. The archways were drawn fully by me and the surrounding buildings were made to match the style of the drawings. I made textures for the ground and drawn buildings and composed the animation in combustion. Music is a clip from Mozart 7th Symphony. The rest of the animation and stills made for the show other than the logo already produced was matched to the look of my clip as well. I kept thinking while making it, "Rome wasn't built in a day...it was a week!" I managed to meet the tight deadline and was able to assist others in meeting theirs as well after my part was finished.

My segment as you see here was later stitched together with a logo segment before it and a clip after it entering the Coliseum to a main still frame from other animators and presented on a large screen PowerPoint spider system of 2240x768 pixel size.

I was glad to work on and attend the show and all of the people on the team did a great job. Most of them I would gladly work with again.

Full size animation can be viewed here for those patient enough to wait for the QuickTime to load: http://digitalseahorse.ca/video/smallSCAcity.mov

A smaller example of in class work that the intro was based off of may be viewed here:
http://digitalseahorse.com/SCA/Pepin_Danielle_Room3D.mov

Mp3 Player

2008-04-21T23:09:00.000-04:00

At the end of semester two we did mp3 players in Flash CS3. This is the one I came up with. I had trouble with getting the mask to work at first. It was a fun little project after I figured that bit out. I placed a silhouette of my DigitalSeahorse logo on it.

Does your doctor prescribble?

2008-02-12T23:48:00.003-05:00

A while ago, after spending enough time at Grandma's listening to her tell about her troubles getting her prescriptions filled, I was inspired enough to submit a new word to the urban dictionary. Here's the link to prescribble and it's definition: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=prescribble

Toy design and finished skate deck

2007-12-11T10:03:00.001-05:00

My finished deck design ended up having two versions cause I wasn't sure how the different darker shades of gray and the black would show when printed. It's a good thing I thought of making a gray version cause I ended up printing after 7pm yesterday and the levels still needed adjusting at that point. I lightened the background and they let me adjust the levels in the print program at the print place. I think the keys turned out pretty well...must have been about 8 vector objects for a single finished black key. I just realized after cutting it out that the dials on the left don't show up well on the gray version. This is good so I'll know to make a test print before I submit something like this to a client. I should have gone even lighter with the background gray.

My tatoo design on people's arms:

My toy design is now sculpted and design work handed in. I thought of some versions of packaging that could be implemented too.

(Click on any images to view full size.)

That brings me to the end of my first semester in DMA. Having been here last year you'd think I'd have become used to getting up early. I'm looking forward to a few weeks of getting the right amount of sleep and catching up on life outside of schoolwork.

P!MPED skate deck keyboard

2007-12-09T10:13:00.000-05:00

K ..I just had the idea of instead of just copying text from a keyboard's actual settings I could use funny ones like P!mp, word, PWN, 1337 ..etc. and it would appeal to a more hip hop or internet crowd than just someone who skates and likes piano. XD

Here's what I have so far...some of the dials and the ebony keys still need work. I might add more words than just the four shown here.

Lets see what else have I been doing... lots of things. I did some thumbnails on post-its for the sculpture and I think I'll have the larger rabbit sitting down so I won't need to have the block of wood to keep it upright. Hopefully when I bake it tonight it won't get destroyed.

There's a lot of pics I took a while ago when I went on break and thought I had to take pics of a toy doing funny things. I'll post some more later to flickr when I resize them in Adobe Bridge but here's a few.

Rockets are quite possibly the best candy ever!

Just playing games.

A meal that didn't look as good as it tasted.

Every now and then I like to play with my artwork creating something else out of it..this here is a photo I took that I duplicated and altered one so it makes a magic eye like puzzle when you cross your eyes at it for long enough.

Chapter of my psychology text which I'll be studying a lot from until the exam Tuesday.

Sorry for the teddy lovers and legitimately depressed people... but last sketch I did from an idea I had in sketching class is EMO Bear. The name is almost self explanatory. It's a mock emo teddy that is dressed in stereotypical-? emo attire with lip ring single tear and comes with his own fraudulent suicide note and in place of razor blades a nifty seam ripper! :O Oh noes! This will be an im-popular toy idea that only certain people would get and would probably be pulled off store shelves. ..oh and possibly also including a little pill bottle labeled "needless anti-depressants".

skate deck

2007-12-03T08:42:00.000-05:00

A further developed skate deck...the stroke on the lines won't be so thick and a lot of the keys and buttons I plan to add some depth to. I had difficulty with some of the objects in illustrator doing unexpected things. The logo I get I think will look best applied to the little monitor.

...I just noticed that there's an extra key on the right that shouldn't be there. I'll fix that when I get colouring and shading buttons. I think I'll colour the buttons and dials cause all black is a little boring. Stay tuned for the final version with logo.

Painting

2007-11-30T18:40:00.001-05:00

I forgot about this in my previous blog. I painted a water colour for class from a pic I took from my balcony at sunrise. Usually end up with shots like this when I've stayed up all night doing homework.

So much to do...

2007-11-28T22:50:00.000-05:00

I've decided that a milk carton shaped box (2L size) might be good for the toy project. I have one already that wasn't for milk but the shape seems right. I could make the toys look like they are missing (from your collection) like missing persons on milk cartons...not sure of the appropriateness but I've seen at least one cartoon with a lost character seeing their own face on milk and thinking "wtf I'm right here!" I also thought about designing the box like a little boat so it gets recycled and used as a toy itself. Though I think parents would probably end up tossing the package regardless. I've thought of a logo for the toy that incorporates both caracters too which I'll be posting later.
As for the caracters themselves I may attach them to eachother somehow so the smaller one doesn't get lost easily...though there are no shortage of toys on the market that are easy to lose anyway. I don't know how I'll do the clothing yet...probably just mold it out of sculpey too and paint it eventually.

I also have a logo design for me and all that I do as an artist that I'd like to use for the tatoo design art thing. I named the blog digital seahorse cause of the logo that represents me and obviously cause I'm in digital media arts.
(designed last year)

The skate deck designs I did were all approved so I get to choose. I'd like to do the keyboard one as long as it doesn't get too difficult. The idea is that it's multi-purpose and people into music can practice their piano fingers.

2007-11-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

I finished my turnarounds for the characters I'm going to attempt to model from clay. I think it will be a challenge to get the sizing accurate without making one too big or too small. The bigger rabbit is supposed to be able to hold the other in one hand. Perhaps I'll end up doing a model of the arms folded around the other as I imagined for the logo...? I'll figure it out with some thumbnails of poses and testing different things if I have time.

2007-11-09T14:57:00.001-05:00

Over study week I did a bit of toy play like in the sketching class outline. I'm not sure if we were supposed to or not but it was fun. Most of the photos are posted to my flickr account and the ones that aren't yet will be. The first set is Bop and Beep the uglydoll helping me build a desk. The doll is two faced with Bop being the green side and Beep is the pink.

I made 'their' utility belt from electrical tape. XD
Click the desk to see all the steps to completion.

2007-11-09T04:15:00.000-05:00

My group for the video project went out on Thursday morning to shoot 'Walter Bruce' and it was hilarious to say the least. It was freezing out and we're really glad the rain held off long enough.
I think the video will be really funny when we are done. We have a lot of side splitting outtakes too.

After that we found out that we need to have group meetings for the Interactivity project and each of us blog the minutes of those meetings. This prospect is seriously making all of us feel really overwhelmed...and just when I've had appointments rescheduled and had to go book camera and take it out for filming and not been able to focus totally on my presentation for psychology. Nobody has ever had an A mark on the presentations apparently and the outlook isn't that good for me either at this rate.

2007-10-19T23:30:00.001-04:00

The toy character creation project is one that I think I'll really like doing. I've been designing my own characters since childhood so I've had a bit of practice anyway..not so much with the building a figure which is going to get interesting. I've been wanting to try making my own characters into toys but for some reason I'd usually thought of plushies instead of sculptures.

These two bunnies are the ones I've decided on...yes two of them. I think they are simple enough I might have time to do both and they are supposed to go as a pair anyway. I've named them Bouncy Bunny and Rapid Rabbit. They'll be fleshed out soon with turnarounds and probably some clothing. They were inspired by the likes of Spumco and I'm thinking of making the serious one a little like Cartman from South Park ..grumpy yet ridiculous.

2007-10-18T03:36:00.001-04:00

Ever since I bought a digital camera last year I've appreciated being able to have the camera with me all the time and not missing those little things I notice every now and then.

Now I just need to apply the same principal to my sketchbook... lol

These two are older ones from before September but are a good example of me having the camera at a good time and just experimenting with it. The last part of the sign struck me as funny with the pet being above the trash basket as well as it's mess...funnier if you don't read the words.

Reading week is here so I should be posting more blogs that I didn't remember to make time for earlier like posting updates to assignments and the artwork I'm doing.

Drip...Drip-drip....Drip

2007-10-14T10:18:00.000-04:00

Well before I blog about anything else today I think I should mention my ceiling is leaking like a faucet right now. It's been leaking on and off since I got here the first week of September...It was obviously happening a while before I moved in because it's leaking pretty badly. This morning I decided to try to capture the sound of the leak since my audio class has me thinking of sound and I have the Audacity program which is similar to the school software for sound editing. The microphone I tried gave off too much background noise as one would expect from spending less than $10. I also took some video on my digital camera as well as still shots.
The ceiling in the hallway outside was taken out to try to find the source of the leak...lol...This place sure has character and surely will be the source of some creative ideas.

Studio tour and etc.

2007-10-06T19:36:00.000-04:00

On Friday there were tours of some of the busiest studios in Toronto and for the first time students were able to see where they may end up after graduation and network a bit. The tours started from FITC. A rather obscure looking building that you wouldn't know was there if you weren't looking for it. They gave us free stuff like calendars and buttons...yay cool free stuff! I had the best cream puff ever at lunch and then watched people falling asleep during a presentation.
Most of the studios looked like places I wouldn't mind working. Some of them had a lot of toys and looked like relaxed places to work. All the studios on the tour were Organic, Henderson Bas, Blast Radius, Teehan+Lax and Critical Mass.

The washrooms in the FITC building were rather odd. Almost thought it was part of their design concept.

It was interesting to see how some people at the studios think. I think this was drawings of their lunch...made me hungry.

We saw some interesting things that weren't part of the tour too. Some things I thought might be good creative reference for later.The sewing theme on this corner attracted our attention too.

I thought this ad was cute so I saved it for future reference.

After the tour I browsed downtown for a bit. There was a guy balancing bricks in seemingly impossible ways. Saw him finishing one of his little towers.

We saw some neat looking milk ads in the subway and street cars. Here's a milk ad "pouring" out of it's holder. lol I went to Silver Snail and bought a book about Dr. Seuss and a new toy for sketching class. Lastly I tried some unique ice cream flavors at Greg's Ice Cream and would recommend to anyone. I tried Ginger, Roasted Marshmallow and Coffee Toffee. The flavors taste like the name literally!

Something New: Nuit Blanche

2007-09-30T13:44:00.000-04:00

On Saturday night I went to an art exhibit called Nuit Blanche. Normally I'd go to something like this in the daytime and wouldn't even consider traveling the subway or streets of Toronto at night. This event was rather unique and provided an opportunity I wouldn't normally get. I had a good guide with me too.

Other than just being out viewing art at a strange time I went to a resaraunt that normally I would have turned down based on the outer looks of it. I discovered they have really good chicken and fries there. I also ate it while sitting in front of a mirror which I don't recall having ever done before.

They opened the old Bay station for the Ghost Station exhibit. They don't normally allow anyone to photograph the TTC stations legally but for the exhibit it was encouraged. (Wish I owned a good tripod instead of having to borrow all the time. I didn't have one and it would have made shooting easier.)

I came across this drawing while trying to find other things. The things people think up... :P

I noticed time again a number of times while I was out. Before getting to my friend's place to be on time and then keeping track of how late it was. As I was walking along I saw the sculpture of Atlas with a clock on his shoulders. A clock on someone's shoulders is good imagery to finish my time trek with since we are all pretty much slaves to it.

Clocks and Time

2007-09-28T17:59:00.000-04:00

Wednesday:
For the week we were asked to choose something we often come in contact with that we don't normally think much about. On Wednesday I woke up and realized how much I look at clocks and wondered how many times I look at the clock each day. I know I check the time really frequently but lately I haven't had a watch that works so I thought it would be interesting to see how many times I come into contact with clocks or the subject of time comes up in conversation and someone says what time it is. Funny I thought of this on a morning off when I didn't need to get up on time for anything. Still I pressed snooze 3 times on my laptop..and then died. :P

I must look at my laptop and PC clock more than any other time piece. Wednesday was my day off and I got up and first thing I look at on my laptop screen is the time. I look at it many times while doing homework to see how slow I'm being at it. I wanted to go somewhere before it got too late so I was rushing through homework. Think I looked at the clock over 40 times and lost count that day. I keep missing count but I know it's one heck of a lot on the computer. At a friend's I was keeping track of how long I'd been there with laptop time too. After I got back I chatted online for a long time losing track of what time it was until 3:25am.

Thursday:
I use my cell phone a lot to get the time since I don't have a watch. I'll look at that on the way to school and sometimes use it for an alarm clock too. Looked at cell clock 5 times on the way to school Thursday. I used the laptop alarm clock as it has different alarms for each day of the week. When I got to school it was about 9am. I noticed that Alex has two watches he wears, one on either wrist. At lunch Amanda mentioned she was keeping track on time too and we talked about it. I watched some comedy and noticed when Dylan Moran mentioned a grandfather clock in his routine. I also took note when people asked what time it was and how long we had the audio room for.

I was on Facebook and remembered how it posts the time people do things in the news feed and how msn will tell you the time the last message was sent in each message window. Sometimes the time on both applications is inaccurate. I then got reminded of how time is different depending where you are. In Greenwich Mean Time I visited the website that shows the correct time from the origin. http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/

-I set my clock early so I can get stuff done before class tomorrow.
-Looked at clock some more while doing homework ..over 10 times ..sometimes not even registering the exact time in my head beyond what hour it is.
1:43am finally got blog to email forgotten login info cause somehow there were two accounts created...wtf
-I have an occasional leak in my ceiling that happens at about the same time if it does happen...this is the worst apartment I've ever lived in! Starts usually after 2am and finishes a few hours later...4:20 ceiling still leaking and no rain out!

Friday
-I got up with laptop and checked cell only to find out if I had time for breakfast once I got to school.
-Kim and Craig talking about what time to take bus home.
-"What time is it?" in French = "Quelle heure est-il?" On Friday the subject of telling time in French came up.
-3:32 Craig mentioned time and Amanda wrote it down...then I asked the time and made mental note of it...craig and amanda needed to catch rides with parents and GO bus.
-noticed bell tower chiming in music and remembered that way back old days the bell tower would ring to tell you if it was time for school or time for church or midday..etc.
-looked at a clock over 20 times after 12am Saturday.

4:01am thinking of going to bed...Nuit Blanche tomorrow so don't wanna be sleepy for the all night exhibit...which brings me to things I'll be doing that I don't normally do. This weekend is easy to find things to do and see that I normally wouldn't even think of doing so the next blog should be way more interesting with better photos...and maybe I'll find some clocks there too.

Today I'm still keeping track of time cause I don't want to be late meeting a friend for Nuit Blanche. 1:22 time to stop blogging and get ready to go out.
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