Create your own visitor map!I sometimes feel like a broken record when I post journal entries to DA because I end up saying a variation of the same things: I've only had time for some photography, art is in the works and will eventually get posted, etc. etc. All of that is true, but I thought maybe a better approach would be a general overview of what exactly I've been up to and what my plans are for 2013 so my oft-repeated excuses have some context, especially for those who have recently put me on their watch lists (and thank you for that!! You guys are awesome).
The past few years in general have been tumultuous for me (though mostly in a good way!). In 2011 my then-fiance and I bought a house together, then planned and had our wedding in September. A week after returning from our honeymoon, I lost my job, found a new one within three weeks, and then my new husband lost HIS job only a few weeks before Christmas. In all that chaos I found it nearly impossible to find time or energy to sit and draw anything. Photography is always something I've loved, but it's also fast, easy and accessible. I have a great camera on my iPhone which lives in my purse or pocket, and I love to go shooting with my Nikon. This is why so much of what I've posted in the past couple years has been photography work; not just because I'm proud of the pictures I take, but because it's what I have the time and energy for.
2012 was another exciting, busy year. My husband found a job that wasn't fantastic, but gave him breathing room to secure a much more satisfying and well-playing position with another company (he is also in the graphics/video/animation industry and makes TV commercials primarily). Things were going well with my e-learning production job, and I was also offered adjunct teaching at my animation school for both the spring and fall semesters. Although "only" two nights a week, the outside time commitment and energy drain was enormous, occupying nearly every evening of the week and many weekends. It was a very satisfying experience, but again the time and energy I could have spent drawing and creating new illustrative work was eaten up by my teaching commitments.
We also took a few very nice trips, including San Diego Comic Con (my second time, my husband's first time), a family trip to Rhode Island, and celebrated our first anniversary with a lovely weekend cabin trip. We also spent a lot of social time with friends and family, hosted a summer and Christmas party, and generally enjoyed life away from computers, which we spend our days on at work. After 8-10 hours of heavy graphics and animation work every day, coming home to more of the same is difficult, and socially booked weekends make anything beyond photography a real challenge.
In late summer of 2012 my company was bought by a larger one, and within 2 weeks they decided they didn't need our entire development department anymore, and gave us 60 days layoff notice. Within a month I managed to secure another job with a long-term freelance client, and I started with them in December. I get to do motion graphics, illustration and layout, and hopefully even more as time goes on! It's a very exciting time for me in my career (I'm now almost 7 years post-graduation from animation school) and I'm pouring a huge amount of creative and mental energy into being a valuable asset to my new company (which is a small shop, only three people besides me, and therefore has to fight to maintain its existence in this economy).
In light of this, I chose to forgo teaching this spring (and possibly for the foreseeable future, but we'll see) because I desperately want to return to making my own work again in the evenings and weekends as much as I can. This is especially important to me because in 1-2 years we want to start a family, and once I'm a mother that will most likely take top priority for me for as least a few years until I can carve out more time for myself.
So here we are in January 2013, the start of a new year and new adventures, and I'm hoping to finally make good on the promises I've made in these occasional journal entries. I greatly appreciate all the faves, watches, badges and comments I receive, I love a that piece of myself is always out there in the world for people to discover and enjoy, whether it's a sculpture I've made, a story I've written, a photo, a piece of illustration, or Transformers fanart that's given someone joy. I love to create, but I also love to share, and I will always strive to be a part of the online art community as much as possible.
If you're interested what I've been doing professionally, please take a look at my recently re-done website,
www.jessicaentis.com/ and my Linkedin profile
www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaent… which may give some insight into why I've been so absent from DA. Thank you all for your patience and interest, and I hope to give my watchers new work to enjoy as soon as I can. Have a fantastic week!
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Stuff to do:
Be a mom; visit the
Grand Canyon and Yosemite; go to New Zealand, Australia, Ireland,
England, Europe, Africa, China,
Japan; learn to skydive; work on a major film; go to the
San Diego Comic Con, Wizard World, New York Comic Con; drive a muscle car;
drive a smart car; finish an original comic; make another personal animated film; learn to cook a really complex dish; climb Mt. Fuji; learn to ride a horse properly; learn to scuba dive;
drive cross-country; work for Pixar; write an original novel;
walk on a glacier; visit the Egyptian pyramids; attend a summer Olympics;
live in a foreign country; successfully train a dog to do something;
see a Space Shuttle launch in person; see an Aurora Borealis in person
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