Arnold & Helga

"I don't know. I think your heart is more pure than you know."

Words cannot explain how satisfied I am with Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, and I'm pretty sure every 90's kid who loved the series growing up can vouch for that. <3

There's no animation, but here's an inked version.

Mamá Coco

I've watched Coco three times already in the theaters. I didn't realize how much I would love the film. The visuals, the story, the characters, the music—everything about it is amazing!! But also, I think the reason why I love it so much is that Mamá Coco reminds me so much of my Grandma Betsy. :')

Anyways, Lee Unkrich is the best!!

Fake Happy Stub

because it's still my favorite Paramore song in After Laughter.

did you get to watch their music video?

Flower Stub

So I was going to finish outlining this sketch that a put aside in my sketchbook, only to see that I already finished it and it only needed to be scanned lol.

I can’t remember when I actually sketched this out, maybe 2015? Anyways, it’s been a character concept I’ve had in mind lately and I would like to start drawing her more often. I was inspired by a quote from Shane Koyczan:

“I sit before flowers


hoping they will train me in the art


of opening up”

Brighter

And if it ends today ...

Well, I'll still say that you shine brighter than anyone

my second image for Inktober

I was inspired by Melanie Martinez's "Mrs. Potato Head." Honestly, I think this is her best-written song as it has a deep and meaningful message behind it—and it's my favorite song on her album. 

I finished this yesterday but decided to post this today since in the music video Mrs. Potato Head's appointment was today lol. The music video is also haunting yet beautiful, really capturing what the song is about. I won't say anything else 'cause I want yall to listen/see her artistry.

Also, Happy Halloween!

my first image for Inktober

you can blame the teddy bear before you ...

(via source)

"I wanted to kiss you goodnight"

It's crazy to think that it's already been 2 months since Grandma left and so much has happened too. I've actually had this animation drawn out a month ago, but September was pretty hectic and I never finished scanning or coloring them. Aside from that, my family and I have been doing well. It's still surreal to me knowing she's not here anymore though.

This is what it looks like in my sketchbook:

The saying "I wanted to kiss you goodnight" is from a Meg & Dia song that I was listening to, my inspiration for this animation. It's based on my most fond memory of my Grandma.

On August 12th, the day before she died, I just came back from my bible study's camping trip and I went to visit her. It was pretty late, maybe around 6 or 7pm, when I saw her. Although, I could tell she wasn't getting better and she looked more tired than how she was the past two days. I got to tell her about my camping trip and told her I thought of her every day, but her eyes were very droopy and it looked like she wanted to sleep. "Are you tired, Grandma?" No answer. "Grandma, do you want to go to sleep?" No answer. "Grandma, do you want me to leave?" "No" she replied quickly. After that, I stayed with her and held her hand until she started coughing and I had to get my mom and my aunt. That was my last conversation with her, but her response back to me meant the world to me—and that, I will always treasure.

Grandma Betsy

Back in June, I went to Kaiser to pick up my grandma after her blood transfusion was done. She had her sunglasses on and I asked her if she could take them off because she wasn’t outside. When she did, a lot of the nurses kept complimenting how pretty her eyes were and that she shouldn’t hide them. This is what this image is based on.

My Grandma has been suffering from congestive heart failure, in addition to all her other ailments. On August 1st, she collapsed and the medics took her to Kaiser, where she was admitted for several days. My auntie was told by the doctors that two of her heart valves were leaking and her heart was functioning at only 30%. The doctors strongly advised against any surgeries due to her age and existing health condition. After much discussion, they recommended hospice and my mom, uncle, and aunt decided to bring her home. She was kept comfortable with family always by her side.

On August 13th before 7pm, our Lord took her home. It’s still surreal knowing she’s not here, but I praise God that she’s given her life to Christ and that she’s with Him and not suffering anymore. We love and miss you, Grandma. ❤️

“For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness.” Lamentations 3:32

Idle Worship

I got your hopes up

now I got you hoping

but I’m gonna be the one to let you down

Self-Portrait

... well, sorta. I was inspired by my new favorite song lol.

[done in Adobe Illustrator]

Summer Camp 2017

For this year's Summer Camp, the theme was "sword" that is based on Hebrews 4:12, emphasizing the importance of sola Scriptura. Compared to the last four years I've attended as staff, this year was much different—I've had the privilege of designing the team name tags this year! All of it was done in Adobe Illustrator.

This camp was also different as we were short on staff and I got to put together the slideshow. Personally, the week was very exhausting as the emotions were out of control and I wasn't getting a lot of rest, but God was (and still is) faithful to help me get through the week as well as minister to the girls I was able to talk to. The nights were rough as I worked on the Summer Camp slideshow, but it also reminded me what a joy it is to serve Him as I thought of what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:15: I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.

Happy 4th of July & Happy Tsum Tsum Tuesday!

In 2011 for Halloween, I wanted to be the house from Up and asked my mom to help me make this costume. I saw a picture of a girl who did this idea, and I thought it was really cute how she attached the balloons to her head and wore the house as a necklace—and props to my mom making the house.

Since I've been collecting tsum tsums, they FINALLY came out with tsums from Up! I've been wanting to do a stop motion with them because I still kept the house my mom made 6 years ago. The animation is kinda sloppy because I literally took the pictures, photoshopped, and edit everything today. But it was still fun to do, I apologize for the messy bits.

Happy Tsum Tsum Tuesday!

For my Physics of Animation class, we had an assignment on creating a stop-motion character animation. Like my last stop-motion, I wanted to use my Tsum Tsums. However, for this animation I wanted to make to create my own story. I also wanted to challenge myself on not having any dialogue and try to have the Tsums communicate with their bodies and add sound effects to it. I had an idea of the Tsum Tsums wanting a snack, but they couldn't get it because of a bigger Tsum Tsum. They then devise a successful plan in distracting the bigger Tsum Tsum, yet there's a twist at the end. The Tsums I decided to use were Mickey Mouse and his pals, along with a bigger Pluto Tsum. I even added "mean eyebrows" on the big Pluto Tsum to show that it's not only his size the mini Tsum Tsums are afraid of him.

In creating this, I used a DSLR camera to take the pictures, used Adobe Photoshop to edit them, and Adobe Premiere to make the video. Compared to the last stop-motion, I had a harder time working on this due to the number of characters I had—which lead to more movement—and the weather conditions that was happening during the weekend. Other than that, I enjoyed making this!!

 

 

(some storyboards)

(before I photoshopped myself out)

homework in progress

stay tuned for another Tsum Tsum stop-motion!

Beauty and the Beast

Finally got to see Beauty and the Beast on Monday! Honestly, I really enjoyed it. There were some things that I felt skeptical about, but that's only because I love the animated version way too much. I did enjoy the new songs that were played, especially "Evermore"—I guess you can say that is my new favorite song at the moment lol. After watching it, I was inspired to do a drawing I've been wanting to do for about four years now.

“why is it always the woman who has to see past the beast in the man? why does she always have to clean his wounds, even after he has damaged her beyond repair? why is it always the man who is worthy of forgiveness for being a monster?
I want to see the beast in the beauty.
the half smile, half snarl. the unapologetic anger. I would like to see the man forgive the monster. to see her, blood and all, and love her anyway.”
—Caitlyn Siehl

my new favorite song

According to iTunes, I've been listening to Royal Teeth's cover of "Heartbeats" 256 times. The first time I've heard of Royal Teeth was when they were opening for Rooney with Swimm on December 13th, 2016. Since then, I haven't stopped listening to this song. I also loved their EP album cover that I wanted to do some animation to it—a simple animation that illustrates the complications within a relationship as the girl keeps hiding from the guy whenever he comes into view.

If you want to listen to the song, this is them live!

Happy Tsum Tsum Tuesday!

Last week for my Physics of Animation class, I had to create a stop motion animation of an object falling. I knew I wanted to use one of my Tsum Tsums and I was inspired by The Lion King Tsum Tsum edition as I was reminded with one of the most painful memories of my childhood—Mufasa's death.

 

The first video shows a believable fall of the Mufasa Tsum Tsum falling, including him landing to his death. The second video was just for funsies, where I reenact the scene of Mufasa's death. To accomplish these, I would drop the Mufasa Tsum Tsum to see its path of action for reference. I would also re-watch the scene of how Mufasa falls in the movie. After watching the scene a couple of times, I noticed how Scar flings Mufasa off to his death, giving him a tipping motion. For each frame, I took a picture after the other. I first taped the Mufasa Tsum Tsum to the rock, and after having the Scar Tsum Tsum push him off, I taped it to a sharpening stick to create the falling motion. I used Adobe Photoshop to edit the stick and myself out of the frame. After I was done editing, I imported all the photos to Adobe Premiere to create the animation video.

My neck started hurting from editing the pictures and putting the video together, but it was so much fun!!! My professor in the class also mentioned how he was having a guest judge to look at our animation, where the top 3 would get bonus points in the class. Yesterday, my professor finally revealed this mysterious guest judge, and it was Jay Hasrajani—the current animator and storyboard artist on Cartoon Network's show, The Powerpuff Girls! Not only did that surprise me, but I was part of his top 3!! I am very thankful and praise God for this privilege to have an industry professional look at my work as well as getting feedback from them. Here's some words from Mr. Hasrajani that I just wanted to share for anyone in the design/art industry:

"When you enter the real world (and out of the SJSU bubble we form), you will have to push your efforts to the limits - no matter how small the job/task is. The industry is tough and you have to be someone people can depend on for stellar work!"

I also have a blog for this class if you wanna see more things we've done!

sarahinphys123.blogspot.com/