Sutefeni

A different direction

2013-09-13T07:27:00.001-07:00

Things have been crazy and not at the same time!

Freelance is going pretty well and I am still grateful as ever for all of these opportunities. I realize that there is a big chance I will not have those jobs for long. Which reminds me a need to do a few hand written thank you cards.
Other than that, I suddenly had a inkling to paint in photoshop again. This time, I'm pushing myself in a completely different direction. I do this for myself and no one else. I've been able to separate art for work and art for pleasure and well...I'd like save my photoshop painting/sketching for pleasure so I can do whatever the hell I want!

I AM A LIAR! and graphic dump :)

2013-04-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

OK! So I lied. I got too lazy to move to wordpress. I'll just keep posting here.

It's been a CRAZY year (almost a year since my last post!). I'll just give you the main highlights:

Worked as a salesperson, walking around Home Depots. Exploded me out of my shell and boosted my confidence levels by a million points. I talked to, on average, 70 people per day. Got nice comments and got told to "fuck off" a couple of times by grumpy customers. I learned great life lessons and grew mentally! Even though I lasted 3 weeks (because I wanted to work in art again), I will never, ever forget that experience.
Worked as a freelance motion graphics artist at a skin care company that allowed me to try out different hats! Customer service, crm software, analytics, adwords, marketing campaign, social media marketing etc. Fun people to work with and more learning involved!
Got to travel to Istanbul for a month for a freelance project! It was an amazing, amazing experience and I got to meet so many talented, rowdy and intelligent people from all over the world. I'm still counting my lucky stars :]

Now that I'm settled back down for a bit, I've decided to really start working on my graphic design skills. Collabing with other graphic designers through all my different jobs was so inspiring that I just wanted to give it a go!

These have been made with either Illustrator, Photoshop, AfterEffects or C4D or all! Check em out:

Masks, Keyframes and Animation Aren't Scary in After Effects part 1

2012-04-12T19:54:00.001-07:00

This was designed by Henry Deleon

I'm going to start focusing a little bit more on motion graphics practice and take you along with me so we can learn together!

I've always had this fear of masks in After Effects and I didn't know why. Just the thought of having to manipulate a bunch of those yellow outlines and knowing the difference between add, subtract, invert etc. got my hands all sweaty.

But I've realized it pretty much came down to me wanting a quick fix and not wanting to have to resort to too many key frames. I was scared to approach it because it would mean me spending too much time on projects.

Well, I've finally gotten over it, especially after watching so many awesome mograph animations with masking involved. I'm sitting down now and approaching it with a different view; one more of curiosity than a need to "git er done."

I have some very basic masking animation going on in this piece. There was actually more masking involved with a logo, but I'll save that for when everything is finalized.

The main things I had fun with was the bounciness of the shapes when they popped out. When you animate something popping out, you want to overshoot the size or length first and then bring it back down to the size you want it to end up. That gives it an organic, "springy" feel.

I didn't do that for the far left and right squares because it just didn't feel right. And when it comes to animation, your feelings can definitely come in handy!

I've also added little particles to bring a little more excitement in this simple animation.

Go ahead and check it out! I've provided the file for you here: http://www.mediafire.com/?40eot621smyvmb0
Feel free to play around and try your own things out!
It's CS5 and the white lines were done using Trapcode 3D stroke. Now that I think of it, I totally could have done that with masks too!

Leave me a comment or email me (sutefeni(at)gmail.com) if you want to show what you've done or have any questions!

Chrome Dokuro + PSD file

2012-04-06T00:40:00.000-07:00

Hi M,
If you are still following this blog, this one's for you!

Whew! Been a while since I've used my tablet!
I didn't watch any of the episodes of Reborn! but from the pics I've seen, this Chrome bitch loves her staff! I would too. I love long pointy things :D

Anyways, here are some initial doodlies taken by my iPad. I didn't know the quality was that bad! So, I tried to spruce it up a little...

And if you're interested, here's the photoshop file to mess around with! :D
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?4up3s4t4hcei3v5

Boogiezone Escape

2012-04-02T13:29:00.003-07:00

Here's a little video I shot and edited back in 2010 for Boogiezone.

SIMPLIFY and MERGE!

2012-03-25T12:05:00.002-07:00

As some of you can see, I've imported posts from a different blog that I have been keeping up parallel with this art blog.
The other blog was going to document my journey into forming my own business. However, I realized that I can only multitask so much. Having two blogger blogs plus two tumblr blogs plus facebook plus twitter was just getting to be too much for me and I ended up neglecting them!

So in accordance with my new lifestyle of simplifying things, I have combined my art, business, and personal life together all in one blog. This way, you can get to know me better and I can get to know you better!

Stay tuned for more changes soon! :)

Read this book if you want a good kick in the ass and the brain.

2011-10-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

I've read a LOT of books the past few days, but Seth Godin's Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? has completely inspired and really encouraged me to push myself further. It's so good that even after I finished reading it, I decided to purchase it for $10 for the Kindle just so I could keep it for future reference.

Now the book isn't about just business/self employers, it's also for the employees who dont mind keeping their job at their favorite company. It's about really pushing yourself to be the artist you truly are and bringing creative ideas to the table. We're taught that by following the rules and listening to whoever is in charge without question we will be rewarded with a gold star or a paycheck. However, the ones with the good ideas, the ones who question the way things are done and offer a better solution, the creative ones are the ones who will have the upper hand.

You can be a good employee who only does the minimum of what is asked of you and grumble if you are assigned to do something you aren't paid for. Or you can be the awesome employee, amp up the your creative side and eventually, if the job really does suck, you'll have these other opportunities because others notice how excellent you are.

I'm actually guilty of this. At one of my previous jobs, my boss told me to take the initiative. I didn't really understand why because they were my boss and I was their employee so shouldn't they be telling me everything that I needed to do? Plus, I didn't want to take any hits at work because it wasn't on my agenda. I wanted to make everyone happy. Now, obviously I see that I made my boss's job a little bit harder because I forced them to micro-manage me along with all the other work they had to do; I could easily be replaced by someone else. Live and learn.

Everyone was born to be an artist. And not artist in the traditional sense. Making people laugh can be an art. Your ability to talk to and calm down an angry person is an art. Connecting people with each other is an art. Just being able to hold a conversation with someone you just met is an art. Programming is an art. You get the point.

BUT this is not to say that all artists are really artists. A painter who just follows the technique but doesn't provide emotional content is just another cog in the painting machine who can easily be replaced. As a true artist your work, your gift, whatever it may be should somehow evoke a change in whoever is on the receiving end.

I wouldn't exactly call this a business book, though I found it in that section. It's more of a motivational or self-improvement book. Seth says the reason we're afraid to do certain things is because of our "lizard-brain" telling us the bad things that could go wrong.
"The lizard brain is the reason you're afraid, the reason you don't ship when you can. The lizard brain is the source of the resistance."

This book completely challenges the old aspects of business. I know that there are quite a few people who will be offended by what Seth has to write about. But it just resonates with me!

Here's one last quote for you:
"Do you remember the old American Dream?...
Keep your head down
Follow instructions
Show up on time
Work hard
Suck it up
...you will be rewarded. As we've seen, that dream is over.

The new American Dream, though, the one that markets around the world are embracing as fast as they can is this:
Be remarkable
Be generous
Create art
Make judgement calls
Connect people and ideas

...and we have no choice but to reward you."

So I've really decided to just get over myself, ignore my lizard brain and finally start "shipping" my idea for business.
Stay tuned for my finalized mission statement, business idea, and another book review.

Screw formal education, I'm going to be a millionaire. +Mission statement

2011-10-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

Being inspired by his post, I decided to read Michael Ellsberg's book The Education of Millionaires: It's Not What You Think and It's Not Too Late.

I really want to know how to "hack" into success into any field and I want to know how others do it. Michael provides tons of examples of millionaires who dropped out of college or never went to one. He also has a lot of reference and suggestions for other books and sites to read up on which will definitely help my list.
My small gripe about the book is that the content in the chapters kind of go all over the place; I lose track of what I'm reading about. Other than that, it was an inspiring read!

After reading, there's not really much "hacking" involved; it's more of having the drive and the willingness to work hard at what you believe in, actually LISTEN to your clients needs and paying your dues. Michael does make the process a little clearer for us people who need structure by providing the steps as chapter titles:

Success Skill #1 - How to make your work meaningful and your meaning work (or, how to make a difference in the world without going broke)
Success Skill #2 - How to find great mentors and teachers, connect with powerful, influential people, and build a world-class network
Success Skill #3 - What every successful person needs to know about marketing, and how to teach yourself
Success Skill #4 - What every successful person needs to know about sales, and how to teach yourself
Success Skill #5 - How to invest for success (The art of bootstrapping)
Success Skill #6 - Build the brand of you (or, to hell with resumes!)
Success Skill #7 - The Entrepreneurial mind-set versus the employee mind-set: become the author of your own life

With these type of "Step by step" books, I find that it's okay to not follow them in order (OH LAWD A REBEL). But after reading the book, I find that I'm really stuck on Skill #1. Or at least was anyway.

This first chapter was basically about balancing idealism and practicality:
Idealism: Following your passions and dreams will lead to a fulfilling life. BUT the risks that you incur are greater and you could end up broke/homeless/starving/etc.
Practicality: Take the safe route that will guarantee financial stability. BUT you'll end up living a life of "quiet desperation" and regret.

What I found weird is that technically as an artist, I'm already following my passion/dream. However during some of my art jobs, I was living quietly and desperate. I didn't feel fulfilled at all.
After pondering this and writing down a bunch of ideas, I realized that my problem isn't that I'm NOT following my dreams, it's that I'm not using my artistic powers for the greater good. I'm just using my passions to get by in life. I'm selling myself short of my capabilities and not really contributing anything I find meaningful to the world. I'm not pouring my heart and soul into my work.
I guess you could say that having a full-time job as an artist at a company is contributing to the greater good of the company, but it may not have the same beliefs and ideas that you hold.

With just the 1st chapter, I've discovered my mission statement (at least, that's what I think it is);
As a small business, I would like to provide my artistic services to companies and individuals who vibe with my beliefs for the greater good of the world.

Not exactly professional wording, but to hell with big words. I want everyone to understand that. Whether the greater good be to make people laugh, dance, make lives easier, or even to inform others, I'm willing to contribute my art services. Does that still sound kinda broad?

FUCK IT! I'm starting my own business in animation

2011-10-13T23:55:00.002-07:00

I've decided I want to kick start an animation business.
Now how in the world did I come to that decision?

ONE.
I came across this guest post by Michael Ellsberg on Timothy Ferriss' blog (Tim's work has been a big inspiration on my way of thinking, but more on that in another post.) If you're too busy to read it or even click on it, Michael describes his 8 step method to getting a job in whatever field you want without needing a degree for it, basically learning on your own (he makes a point though, that jobs that require licenses, like doctors, will probably still have to go through the usual education). Of course I am extremely inspired by it; I'm all for self-learning.

TWO.
I had a friend on Facebook ask whether or not he should go back to school for a Masters in Business. Everyone on the thread pretty much said, "Yes." I, on the other hand, told him to save his money, learn from other actual business owners, and linked him to the Michael Ellsberg post. He liked it, which was pretty encouraging!
But...I've also been trying to steer other people I know away from owing money to schools of higher b.s. education, to pick themselves up from not being able to do what they want (or making the money they want) and encouraging them to learn for themselves hands on. I provided links to blogposts, authors, and books. They would say, "oh that's cool" and then just go on with whatever they felt was right for them or continue wallowing in zero self confidence and self hatred. BUT I don't blame them at all for not taking my advice because I'm pretty much spouting hot air. I don't have a business nor have I shown success in the things that I tell people.

So I said FUCK IT. I'll stop trying to help people with my lack of experience, start taking my own advice and actually try out the steps in these books and posts I've been reading to see if it will work.

THREE.
In the same post by Michael Ellsberg, he challenges people to follow his steps and create a new blog that will document the journey of self-education. A little reward that he provides is his mentoring service for six months! And if we don't win, we still gain lessons from our own experiences.
What perfect motivation!

FOUR.
I really don't have anything else to lose. I'm just floundering around here in the states waiting on a call from the Spanish consulate, unemployed (and not getting unemployment checks, mind you), and bored. This blog should count as new since I only have 3 entries and I was already going to teach myself animation.

So what exactly am I going to do?
Create these new jobs and experiences for myself:

Animator
Entrepreneur
Business owner
Marketer
Public Relations person
Sales person

I technically have experience in animation, but like I said in my previous post, it's only for motion graphics. As for the other 5 bullet points, I have absolutely no clue as to how those really work. In traditional education, I would need a degree in business or even an MBA, public relations degree, and marketing degree. Sallie Mae and the government would be SO happy to take my money.

In other words, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'll document the steps that I take, the successes and failures and whatever else comes my way. I also wouldn't mind feedback and tips from my (currently low number of) readers. I think this will be a great experience for me and for anyone who's still kind of teetering on the edge of uncertainty when it comes to this subject. Maybe I can try to work out the kinks for you or anyone else you know.

Well then, let's start! Time to hit the books!

Or punch them in the face. Whatever you're more comfy with (yes, I like to sketch what I feel).

Bending the rules is FUN! (plus random rewards like $50!)

2011-10-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

My cousins and I enjoying a day in Santa Monica (I'm on the right in the red)

My cousin and I randomly jumping into a taped off area as they were rehearsing choreography at the Santa Monica mall.

Me ending up in the central group of the mob with a possible chance of seeing my face for a little bit on TV. (Click to see if you can find me, I'm in the red and yellow)

The story:
My mom and I decided to take a trip to Santa Monica so I could show my little cousins around. When we were walking around in the mall, there were cameras and lights being set up. So we asked one of the workers what was going on. Of course, everything was confidential, but she just told us to come back around 8pm for the taping of a cool new show.

At 4:30pm my mom called us all back to the mall because there was some kind of dancing going on. So we got there and saw the crowd of people rehearsing choreography. So being the dancers we are (more so my cousin than me), we went under the red belt and tried to blend in with the other dancers, picking up the choreography that they were practicing.

My cousin decided to leave because he was hungry, but I stayed just to see how long it would take for someone to notice I wasn't part of the crowd. One of the main dancers from FannyPak came over and told me to follow her. "Oh well, I'm getting kicked out," I told myself. But lo and behold, I ended up in the "candle group" that would walk forward once the large mob finished dancing and split apart.

I was then told that I would need to go to wardrobe to get a white shirt. 1st, I didn't know where wardrobe was and 2nd when I got there, I was confronted by a security guard who wouldn't let me in because I didn't have a wristband. Of course I wouldn't have a wristband because I didn't sign up for it in the first place! But by this time, I heard the significance of my role (even though it was just walking with a candle) and was determined to get in. So I found one of the workers from the show, told him I was part of the candle group but didn't have my wristband and he led me straight into wardrobe!

In between tapings, I talked to another person and they said that everyone was going to get paid $50. Now, I totally thought this had been a free event! I was definitely going to see how far I could get. If I didn't get paid, it would be no biggie, I had a fun experience. I really wanted to test my luck, though and see if I could get this $50.

After everything was over, I ended up in a huge room with lines for last names. I went up to the person at the table, returned my shirt and waited as they looked through a pile of papers for my name. Of course they couldn't find it, but one of the producers/workers was nice enough to lead me to all the other tables to find my paper. In the end, it was no where to be found so he just had me fill out another one and handed me $50. I also got my $9 parking validated.

The moral:
Don't be scared of rejection or trying things out. I'm not a balls out crazy person (...yet), but I was still able to pull this off! If you tell yourself all the possible consequences of your actions and feel like you can deal with them, then go for it! In my case, the worst possible consequence I could think of was that I would be kicked out, banned by the producers, and go back to watching on the sidelines like I had already intended to do. I would have been able to go home early too, seeing as my family was super tired from waiting for my .01 seconds of possible fame.
This little experience I had has boosted my confidence by 200% and now, I feel as though I can apply this lesson to everything else that I do, including animation.

So do you have any cool stories of testing your luck?

Journey...start!

2011-10-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

Name: Stefanie Huynh aka Sutefeni
Age range: 20-30
Location: SoCal and Spain
Occupation as of blogpost: Unemployed

Traditional Animating's been a dream of mine for a long, long time. But like many people, I put it on the backburner because of lack of direction, passion, commitment, and pure, unadulterated laziness. I have a bachelor's degree of science from the Art Institute of Orange County and about $25,000 owed to government mafia queen known as Sallie Mae (which is less than what a lot of other people owe).

I was a great student from kinder to high school, graduated top 10 of my class with 6 AP classes and played sports (woopdee). When it came to the Art Institute, however, I should have just listened to my teacher when he advised me to leave and save my money. I graduated by the skin of my teeth. In fact, one of the comments on my 2nd final portfolio review was "Just let her go, she already has a job (from the same teacher, I think)." Yea, somehow I was able to get a job when I FAILED my portfolio review the semester before because I was much better at making friends than making good art.

My job was a motion graphics job! This propelled me into the world of self-teaching because I knew absolutely nothing about After Effects when I started. My coworkers who hired me, bless their souls, showed me tutorial websites, books, videos, etc and encouraged me to learn on my own; they were doing it too. In those 2 years on the job, I learned so much more than my 4 years and overpriced classes in college. AND I was getting paid to do it. Something's wrong with that.

Here's my demo reel:

Fast forward to today, another 2 years later. I am currently unemployed (voluntarily quit), waiting on my residency visa to live in Spain (which also guarantees no job), Sallie Mae blowing up my phone, and again, lacking direction and commitment.

No more sitting around! As much as I love motion graphics and after effects, I itch for that feeling of pencil and paper and exaggerated movement and life. I want to learn and study from the best animators out there whether it be 2D or 3D (but 2D is more preferable). After watching Takeshi Koike's Redline, and reading this post by Steve Pavlina, I'm getting my mind right and going for what I've really wanted to do.

002.

2011-06-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

More experimentation!

001.

2011-05-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

Just experimenting more in after effects

Boogiezone 3.0

2011-05-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

A new intro I made for Boogiezone 3.0 along with some I.aM.mE dancers.

BunchaSketch

2011-03-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

So I hurt my back but I've been sketching! I'll get to the commissions soon when I can sit at a comp for more than 30 minutes lol.

Meowkernaut Commission (flash file)

2011-02-22T23:33:00.000-08:00

Click here for a bigger version: my deviantart post
Free commission for

My interpretation of the word "Meowkernaut."

I thought I'd experiment a little more in flash :)

I am very much inspired by Winston the cat on youtube.

Trigger Happy Samus.

2011-02-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

Whenever I play any game that involves shooting, I love shooting all over the place! This would be me if I were Samus.
PEW PEW PEW!!

Here are some initial thumbnails haha:

Finally getting those free commissions going again. Finally getting those free commissions going again. This one's for

Geko.

2011-02-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

I just watched Aachi and Ssipak a South Korean anime! It was super SUPER fun. My favorite character was Geko. Everything got way violent and super cool when he came on screen. I definitely recommend it :]

Synopsis: Sometime in the future, mankind has depleted all energy and fuel sources, however they have somehow engineered a way to use human excrement as fuel. To reward production, the government hands out extremely addictive, popsicle-like "Juicybars", which in turn also act as a laxative. Aachi and Ssipak are street hoodlums who struggle to survive by trading black market Juicybars. Through a chain of events involving their porn-director acquaintance Jimmy the Freak, they meet wannabe-actress Beautiful, whose defecations are rewarded by exceptional quantities of Juicybars. For that reason, Beautiful is also wanted by the violent blue mutants known as the Diaper Gang (led by the Diaper King), the police (most notably the cyborg police officer Geko), and others. (from Wikipedia)

Happy Year! & brush markers

2011-01-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone's new year was great! My family and I took the new year out with a Nerf war. It was amazing :D

I bought a set of Brush Markers at Barnes & Noble a couple of days ago since they were pretty cheap and I never used any before. So here are my first attempts!:

001. A little timid as to what to do with the damn thing.

002. A little more confident. Btw, it's true what they say about True Grit. It was a very entertaining movie.

003. Some Sartorialist studies to get my confidence going a little more

004. Cute animals...Why not??

005. Tried my hand at scary things...Kalen's right, it's not in me.

006. I am no environment artist that's for sure.

007. Tried a little exercise where you draw a random shape and try to fit something in it. I was using a pink brush marker, so I decided to make it girls. Plus curves are so much fun!

Anyways, it's going to be VERY VERY busy for me these next few months. I will try to keep you updated :]

Christmas Cards for Cousins

2010-12-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

Coworkers xmas

2010-12-23T22:33:00.000-08:00

I made some cards of my coworkers for xmas! I think after these, I am getting a little bit faster in photoshop. But it still took me a while!

Cousins...a preview

2010-12-18T14:10:00.000-08:00

These are some caricatures of a few of my cousins.

A small preview of things to come :]

Hair in the way

2010-12-17T15:41:00.000-08:00

Just a little flash practice :)

Ladybug nom and NDS

2010-12-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by this adorable vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkr0VYcZ-eY

Here are two quickie animations I did on my Nintendo DS. I'm a couple years late to this program but better late than never! I love it!

Tug of war.

2010-12-14T23:29:00.000-08:00

It's that time again in which I have a naked tug of war with myself. Mostly with my art. I feel as though I've been going down a different path than what I originally had in mind. One side of me is saying, keep doing what you're doing...people like it and the job market for it is bigger! MO MONEY HONEY. The other says, do what you really want! It'll be harder, but that's what you genuinely want to do! *sigh* It's a bit frustrating, but I already know the answer and which side will win.

Anyways, here are two more old men with beards. I'm enjoying these! I will color later.

I got frustrated because I couldn't draw a hand the way I wanted to. So I went on an anatomy rampage and did studies of some classically drawn hands as well as referencing photos. I'm actually having fun with it! o_o

That address is for an awesome burger place called "The Counter." You get to customize your burgers and they are delicious!