Sorry for the hiatus!

With the heavy-and-hot days of Houston summer in tow (except, you know, it's May and I believe we still should have crisp spring weather), high school prom memory-making, and graduating commencement ceremonies all coming up at the bend of next week, I've been mentally sluggish.
Sluggish, like a melting (withering) frozen yogurt ice cream bar on the Santa Monica boardwalk. And it's not pretty - nor does it feel great. 

To put how I feel in a visual, the first 20 seconds of Fitz and the Tantrums' "The Walker" music video impeccably illustrates how oppressively hellfire hot and foreboding summers in Houston can get (keep yourself hydrated folks! Stay clear of heat strokes!). 

(This video also secretly pleases my fantasy of one day breaking out into a real-life and exceptionally cheesy musical number. But in reality, we call those flash mobs which takes months upon months of planning and integration. Speaking of which... ) 

Today, Monday, starts finals week. I only have one more final exam (which is a reflection essay?) and marketing project due by Thursday, otherwise I've made a 92 on my third test for my Sales & Promotion class, which counts as the final (grr, I wish I scored a 98 or something!). No, please don't excuse my desire for over-achievement.So with the exception of everyone else, my finals' week is a piece of cake, with a dash of easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Skipping out on the humble pie here, folks. 

Speaking of sweets and desserts, would any of you purchase any goods from my very fictional business/charity "The Candy Kennel"? Here's a quick doodle I did on MS Paint (yes, MS Paint) for the logo:

My classmates think it's cute and well-done, but since it was literally a scribble on Paint it bears little pride on my back. The perfectionist side of me also strongly believes that I could do so much better on a program like Abode Illustrator or Photoshop.

The Candy Kennel is something you'd expect of a Etsy store: quality handmade goods sold at a premium, but the pleasantly surprising twist is that there's a program instilled to donate a toy to a local shelter of your choosing with each purchase. This isn't the real manifestation of the Etsy store I was planning on creating, this is just a made-up business for a class.

Creating an entire arsenal of print ads, radio bites, website banners, product placements, magazine features, etc. is part of my final campaign project ... and I realize I want to be a better graphic designer. Just one look at this and I think "Man, I should've bought a [drawing] tablet years ago." I had an account on dA (deviantArt) when I was 12-14 but I mostly uploaded scanned versions of my sketches, and anyone who knows me knows I'm not tech savvy. At all. 

Hopefully though, when I get finals and this IMC marketing campaign project out of the way, I can muster teaching myself how to illustrate on a digital medium (yay!) during the lazier days of the season. One of my friends is also learning C++ for audio plug-ins to elevate his music production level, so if I can draw motivation and inspiration from fellow self-taught students and of course my own free will, I should be on my way to conquering a new frontier to showcase my art. :3

xoxo