Breaking News:

College has been going on for a while. It's not getting old yet. The trees are still pretty damn amazing. Plates are still making sure I improve my cramming skills. Early morning Scrabble (it's my PE) is a pain in the butt.

Operation Day Seizing v5.0 starts next week. Wish me luck.

I think I've celebrated my triumph everywhere on the internet and on the real world except for the one art related site I actually go to: dA!

So, let me first say sorry to my friends who have been told this story multiple times, and are probably sick of my not-so-discrete gloating. This entry will be extremely redundant, but go ahead and read if you want to see me just as ecstatic about college as I was since April 17, when the results came out.

First year college, CSB - aka. The Dark Ages

As a background to everyone (Er, who reads this anyway? ANYWAY!), I studied in the College of Saint Benilde, taking up AB Multimedia Arts, for my first year in college. I didn't get in to UP. I blame my high school's unfair grading system, but there are so many factors to my rejection that I'm confident to say that it was not a reflection of my poor performance as a student nor my weakness in the Smarts department. But there's no use arguing with the past, so let me move on.

I was unhappy with going to CSB initially and I decided that I will do good in my first year so I can transfer to the school I really wanted to go to, which was, once again, University of the Philippines Diliman. I chose CSB because the course AB-MMA is extremely shiny and tempting. Basically, it's a course devoted to... well, multimedia. This includes digital film making, digital photography, digital everything. They've got Cintiqs, Apple computers, kick-ass-expensive digital SLRs and video cameras.

Of course all of it came with a price. A very hefty price. Let's just say that it's so fucking expensive in CSB. REALLY fucking expensive. SO EXPENSIVE that I had to use profanity. Not mentioning the unfair stigma it has to the eyes of others. People have called it the "tambakan" or the place where flunkees go to study. CSB's been the butt of too many jokes. Even now that I'm no longer going to be studying there, I still disapprove of the attitude most people have towards CSB.

It really isn't half bad. But, well, let's just say it didn't butter MY parsnip, and I did end up wanting to leave in the end.

So since I apparently am much smarter in college report cards than on my high school report cards, my grades were high enough to make me eligible for transfer to UP. By the end of my first school year in CSB, I was warming up to the place despite my lack of any intellectual stimulation (Oh now I sound snooty, but SERIOUSLY!) and I figured that the digital track just wasn't what I wanted. I craved traditional art and classes that built on art foundations instead of skills in the more high-tech field.

Plus my parents were getting really broke. So I applied for transfer into UP Fine Arts, the course I have spent an entire year trying to convince myself that I didn't want.

You can start reading here, it's basically the gist - aka. The Renaissance

After much brooding and repetitive I CAN'T DO IT!s, I got my act together, compiled a portfolio from scratch in a month, and did all the paper work for the application. I braved the interview and did, if I may say so myself, really well (Now I sound snooty again!).

I became convinced, for a week or so, that nothing could go wrong with my application. Until the Talent Determination Test (TDT) came along. It's this test that every applicant must pass in order to be considered for the Certificate Program of Fine Arts (You can graduate from this course, but not be an official graduate). I was aiming for the Degree Program, btw, which I qualified for in terms of grade (Praise the sweet baby Jesus!) so it was the TDT that I really had to worry about.

The test consisted of two parts:
First, we were tasked to draw a random statue realistically. We were divided into classrooms, where there was a different statue in each room. I got a pretty easy statue - It was a guy with no arms and no head. Whew. Still, it was FUCKING HARD. But not as hard as...
The second part was just some sort of interpretation thing. We were given a piece of paper that had printed on it four boxes containing random shapes. We were tasked to draw using these shapes in accordance with the theme of Saving Mother Earth (LAME RIGHT!)

By the end of the test I was so sure I was going to fail. Spoiler alert! I got in.

Now what - aka. NOW WHAT!?
I'm so excited. SO EXCITED. I'm so happy to be out of CSB, so excited to be in UP, the school of my dreams with the course of my dreams studying with people I can only dream of. Okay, maybe I'm scared about the mixing with the crowd thing, since I'm pretty socially awkward, but still.

Okay. Now I'm blabbering.

THE REAL GIST IS:
Starting this June, I'll be studying Fine Arts at UP Diliman. Awesome. Awesome.

OPEN FOR ART TRADES: ONE SLOT LEFT

Decided to do art trades for now. Stepping stones for commissions and all that. It's also sad that I've never done an art trade, nor have I received gift art, so this should be a start! Soooo, just leave a comment and I'll contact you through notes. I'll probably do three for now.

To-Do List

1. - Dagfinnur Loa, waist-up ([link]) (What I receieved: [link])
   
   
2. - Steam Punk Psyche, Waist-up, ([link])
   
   
3. FreeSlot
   

PS. After learning how to use the icon commands, I will be abusing them nao.

More to come soon. Aleksandros told me that if I uploaded more shit on my dA, I'd get more pageviews. also urged me to scan more stuff from my sketchbook. said nothing much but I thought it'd be nice to have all their avatars on this post. Plus I just learned how to link to people with their icons.

I'm supposed to be bathing in comments and faves now.
*waits*

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I have been reading Fight Club, the book the awesome cult classic was based on. It should be a really short read, but even when doing something I like I find ways to procrastinate. It's been really good so far, but really hard to read when you've seen the movie because you already have these set ideas in your head (plus you know how it ends - people who've seen it should understand). I'm interested in reading more from this Chuck Palan-guy-whose-last-name-is-hard-to-spell.

I like treating books as if they were uh, drugs or something (not that I would know anything beyond what DARE taught me). I like reading something heavy, then something light, then something really doofy, then something gritty and edgy. It gives a generally more well-rounded reading experience. After this, I'm planning on reading some of 'em Marvel or DC comics. Then maybe a more serious graphic novel afterward. Any suggestions?

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Yyyeah. I've decided that maybe if I do do commissions, the proceeds would go to some definite goal. Definitely not something noble like a kidney operation or something, but something that would be really worth saving up for.

Sooooo...

It's been a really long time since I updated my dA journal. I have no intentions of keeping you dudes up to date with my extremely boring life, so I'll just talk about my art, because other than being arrogant to think that you guys would actually carrreee, I have nothing else dA-relevant.

Right now everyone's broke.
Well.
Most people are.

But because I am ubertastically cash-less, I have formulated a plan for pure success money-wise. I would start selling my drawings. But oh, how do I advertise? Here are my plans:

- Attack Gaia online with Yaoi avatar art
- Attack dA with Yaoi fanart of... uh, Harry Potter? Twilight? What are you kids up to nowadays?
- Join every LJ community for fandoms and whore my art there
- Any suggestions?

I'm thinking of going $10 (Php 471*) below. Like. The highest would be like... shaded pencils. Or uh. Lines. Or something. Or like, cel shaded? And uh 2-3 doll-hairs (94-141php*) for a clean-ish pencil sketch.

Um, technically advertising on my dA journal isn't part of the plan, but if you're interested just note me. I don't have a Paypal account YET but if I get enough interested peeps (preferably from outside the Philippines because that would impress Mom waaaay too much) I'll either borrow my brother's account or make one for myself.

*Uh. I guess I'll do meet-ups or something? Yeah. I need to start invading the local dA-er's pages and make myself visible.