The Artwork of Kit Umscheid

Maurice Sendak: Miss You Once, Miss You Twice

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Sun, 13 May 2012 00:29:00 +0000

Maurice Sendak died this past week at the age of 83. He was the first illustrator I was ever aware of as a young artist. Seeing his work showed me that illustrating books was something that an artist could actually do for a living. I've seen quite a few tributes to his life and work that all seem to mention his Caldecott winner, Where the Wild Things Are, but that wasn't the book that made an impact on my life.

When I was learning to read it was the Little Bear "I Can Read" books, written by Else Holmelund Minarik, that I most often checked out from the library. I liked the story, but I fell in love with the art. Chicken Soup With Rice: A Book of Months, one of the four books from the Nutshell Library, is also one of my all-time favorites. Sendak wrote and illustrated this book, and it was the rhyme that drew me to it. It begins, "In January it's so nice, while slipping on the sliding ice, to sip hot chicken soup with rice...sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice" and continues on celebrating chicken soup with rice for each month. I read that book until I had it memorized and could recite it over and over again...and I probably drove my brothers and sister crazy in the process. I checked out these favorites so often that my mother insisted I leave them on the shelf and choose another book so that someone else could check them out. I did, but if Little Bear or Chicken Soup was on the shelf on our next visit, I considered it fair game.

When I was old enough to move on to other books, I used to sneak back over to the children's section just to look at Maurice Sendak's illustrations. I was in awe of his pen and ink crosshatching technique. When I decided to try crosshatching for myself, it was his work that I most wanted to emulate.

I hoped that one day I might actually get to meet Maurice Sendak. I am grateful that he gave a lot of interviews and shared his thoughts on creating books for children. Here is one of my favorites, where he talks about what being an illustrator means to him:

Goodbye, Mr. Sendak. You will be missed.

Chalk the Walk 2012 : Behind the Scenes

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:03:00 +0000

Saturday was the first day of the Mount Vernon, Iowa Chalk the Walk 2012 festival. I think I was smiling most of the day! This was my first time participating in the festival, so I didn't know what to expect. My friend, Michelle Wiese, and I showed up at 9:00 a.m. to get started.

The forecasters threatened rain on Saturday evening, so we wanted to try and get the whole drawing done in one day. We started by marking off every foot on the edges of our 8x10 foot space with a tape measure and then used it to draw relatively straight lines to make a grid.

Using an 8x10 inch drawing as a guide, I drew the outline of all the shapes...starting with the elephant.

Using the grid method to draw felt very constraining. We didn't stick to the drawing entirely. The grid helped to get the overall shape of the elephant in place and it was a good reference for the baseline and letter height of the words, but as you can see, I didn't stick to the grid when it came to drawing the letters. In fact, they ended up popping out of the 8x10 space. I thought we might get disqualified for that, but one of the organizers told us not to worry. I'm glad, because I like the way it turned out.

I love what Michelle did with the lettering. She chose a color that popped more than the original drawing and then she added a cool dimension to them that was giving us compliments from passersby almost as soon as we got started.

While Michelle worked on the lettering and the debris, I worked on the elephant. With me inside the spiral of letters and she on the outside, we moved around a bit and tried not to get in each other's way (although I think I came close to sitting on her head a couple of times).

I drew the elephant in chalk pretty much the same way that I drew it on paper, starting with a mid tone of gray. I had to run over to the registration tent for some extra gray chalk to cover the whole elephant. Next I added shadows and then the highlights.

Here's a close-up shot of the elephant.

With the lettering and the elephant done, all that was left was the debris (which Michelle already had mostly blocked in). We doubled up on the remaining detail.

Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop...and this was one of those times. After a minor adjustment here and a little more shading there, we called it done. What a great way to spend a Saturday. We put a tarp over the drawing and taped the edges down in hopes of saving it from the cats and dogs that were certain to fall from the sky that evening. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

We came back on Sunday to enjoy the festival. Some artists waited until Sunday to begin their chalk drawings, but I'm glad we finished on Saturday. We sat on a bench in the shade waiting for the awards to be announced eating mint chip ice cream that tried to melt faster than we could eat it. We were close enough to hear a few of the louder comments as people viewed our creation. Mostly a child would say, "Look, Mom! An elephant!" My favorite was a boy who said it was "awesome" and that the elephant was "bursting out of the ground." Yeah!

We earned an award for our efforts: second place! Not too shabby for our first Chalk the Walk.

Chalk the Walk 2012: It's Official!

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:52:00 +0000

I've attended the Mount Vernon, Iowa festival called "Chalk the Walk" in the past and watched the artists create 8x10 foot chalk drawings in the middle of main street, but I've never participated...not even on the huge community drawing they have each year. This year is different. This year I will be a participating artist, with a little (probably a lot) of help from my friend, Michelle Wiese.

I'm going to draw "The Magician's Elephant" as my entry. It's the same illustration I created for the SCBWI - Iowa conference illustration workshop last week. I've created a lot of pastel drawings on paper, but I've never created a chalk drawing on pavement before.

To enlarge the drawing from an 8x10 inch photo copy to an 8x10 foot chalk drawing, we'll be using the grid method. The photo copy is divided into one inch squares and we'll mark the pavement into one foot squares (one inch = one foot). We'll then use the photo copy as reference while we draw.

Here's a look at the guide we'll have in our hands during the festival:

It's only a week away and I feel like I'm waiting for Christmas morning. I can't wait!

SCBWI-Iowa : 2012 Illustration Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:42:00 +0000

I attended the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Iowa conference this past weekend. The first day of the conference was a workshop for illustrators. We each created an illustration using the same sample text from "The Magician's Elephant" by Kate DiCamillo and brought it that day to share with the group. I thought I would share with you what I created for the event.

Sample text:

     Not far from the Apartments Polonaise, across the rooftops and through the darkness of the winter night, stood the Bliffendorf Opera House, and that evening upon its stage, a magician of advanced years and failing reputation performed the most astonishing magic of his career.
     He intended to conjure a bouquet of lilies, but instead, the magician brought forth an elephant.
     The elephant came crashing through the ceiling of the opera house amid a shower of plaster dust and roofing tiles and landed in the lap of a noblewoman, a certain Madam Bettine Lavaughn, to whom the magician had intended to present the bouquet.

- Exerpt from The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

We were allowed to use as much or as little of the text as we liked. I decided to make a double-page spread for a picture book and only use the second paragraph to describe the scene.

I started by exploring ideas for the drawing in my sketchbook. Once I decided on a rough sketch, I created a line drawing and did a few color studies for the final drawing.

The next step was the pen and ink lines.

Midtones for the elephant were then added in colored pencil.

Next were the shadows on the elephant...

...and then the highlights.

Then I colored in the lettering...

...added the plaster dust...

...and finally added shadows on the plaster fragments.

Here's a close-up view of the final drawing.

The BIG Secret : Approved!

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:32:00 +0000

The interior comp drawings for The BIG Secret are now all approved for me to make the final drawing for the book. Yay! This drawing is for the first chapter in the book. A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of one drawing from the first concept thumbnails to the completed illustration is coming soon.

Sketchbook 01

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 04:30:00 +0000

I've been meaning to post the progress of the illustrations for the chapter book I've been working on, but I've been so busy drawing them I haven't had time to write about the process. I've almost finished the comp drawings for the book with all but three of them approved. I should be starting on the final charcoal drawings next week, so I will post about the process of that project soon.

In the meantime, I took a short break from drawing today to create a video of my first sketchbook which was completed October of last year. I used only pen and ink, watercolor, markers and highlighters in this book.

New Year, New Project

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:32:00 +0000

...or maybe I should say "different," not new. This illustration project for a chapter book was actually started a few years ago. The drawings were put on hold while the writer searched for a publisher. She has decided to return to her original plan to self-publish, so the project have been given the green light again. My next post was to be the progress of the illustrations for my own story, but I'm putting that project on hold while I finish this one.

These illustrations will be created in my favorite medium: charcoal. This photo is a shot of the storyboard area in my studio. I'll share more of this project as the drawings develop.

Sketchbook: A Little Help From My Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 02:13:00 +0000

I've created a drawing in my sketchbook each day (almost) for a month and a half. I've finished a sketchbook for the first time from cover to cover. In the past, I've stopped drawing in a sketchbook about halfway through after getting bored with it only to come back to sketching later on in a brand new sketchbook.

One thing that's different this time around is the "words from friends" drawing exercise I explained in my last post. The words give me a drawing challenge. I also have friends who ask to see what I did, so there's encouragement too. Without the words, I might still be working on my first sketchbook. Instead, I've started my second sketchbook. This is a drawing from that book.

Sketchbook: 5 Friends, 5 Words

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:07:00 +0000

I've been asking my friends at lunchtime to say a word. Just one word, without thinking about it much. I then have 10 minutes (or more) to turn their word and the words of my other friends into an illustration in my sketchbook. Usually about five of my friends participate, which is a good list of words (not too short, not too long). This is my latest effort.

This drawing took about 15 minutes to finish, but then I decided to add color...

...which took a bit longer.

Sketchbook: 10 Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 01:04:00 +0000

I've been keeping a sketch journal these days. I've made it a point to take at least 10 minutes to draw in it each day. For two weeks, I've been doing just that. The other day I came home from work with a headache and I was exhausted. Drawing was the last thing on my mind, but I decided to draw for 10 minutes anyway. This drawing started with the eyes, glasses, nose and mouth. I drew the face and the arm supporting the head. When I started drawing the hair I realized I was drawing myself, more or less. So, I decided to add the words about how I felt. 10 minutes turned into a half hour and my headache was almost gone by the time I finished adding the blue color.

Children's Book Illustration Process : 01

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:56:00 +0000

I went to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Iowa conference earlier this year. I met with an agent who likes a picture book story I wrote and is interested in seeing my illustrations for it. I need to create a book dummy with line drawings of the illustrations for every page and one finished illustration. Without giving away the whole story, I've decided to share some of my illustration process here on my blog. I plan to post thumbnails, rough sketches, the finished illustration and the process that goes along with it.

This is an ink drawing from my sketchbook of Simon, the main character. It's too realistic, but I feel like it's close to the look I have in mind for him.

Sketchbook: Goodbye Corn on the Cob

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:34:00 +0000

I will miss you. See you next year.

Sketchbook: Barns for Simon's Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 04:41:00 +0000

The main character in the story I'm working on has a workshop on his property with a machine inside. More on the machine later, but I realized that I not only have to figure out what the machine looks like, I also have to figure out what the building that houses the machine will look like. I've always thought that this would be a barn. Maybe that's because I see so many of them on my drive through the country to work. Anyway, I've been looking at barns and pictures of barns to figure out just what features it should have. I never realized just how many different kinds of barns there are. This is a page from my sketch journal that depicts one of the barns I'm considering.

The Sketchbook Project 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:37:00 +0000

Recently I participated in a unique collective called The Sketchbook Project, which gathered sketchbooks from artists from around the world based on a couple dozen themes that is now touring a handful of galleries across the United States. I chose to have my book digitized, so it is now live on the Art House Co-op site. I've had a lot of sketchbooks over the years, but this is the first that has been filled completely from front to back. In it, you'll find random doodles, observations, attempts at figuring out the design of a machine in the story I'm working on, an illustrated story of my new studio, and a few exercises from a couple wonderful drawing books I discovered.

Studio Transformation 05

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:32:00 +0000

This post is long overdue. My studio is finished and I've started working on my first project (more about that later). I thought I would post final pictures of the transformation and how my studio looks now that I've moved in.

I masked off all of the woodwork to make it easy to paint.

Once the priming and painting was complete, I added cork to the storyboard area.

This room has a lot of storage space above the closet. I'd like to take the sliding doors off of this area, add shelves for books and install a library ladder.

I painted the inside of the closet red. The doors are coming off and a small sofa will be added later to make this a cozy reading area.

Time to move in the art supplies.

The room looked bigger before I tried to put furniture in it. I finally decided on a floor plan that put my drawing table and flat file in the center of the room to allow for more work areas...including a place for my computer which I didn't count on when I started.

My drawing table and flat files are in the center of the room.

I actually found room for my computer and you can never have too many shelves.

My easel and storyboard area are in short reach.

I took the doors off the closet to make room for a small couch. For now, I placed our dog Rerun's blanket in this area to get him used to hanging out here instead of at my feet.

View from the reading nook.

Hardware for a table I plan to build for stretching watercolor paper and other messy projects.

I'm working on a project now so, until it is ready to package up and mail, building this table will have to wait.

Studio Transformation 04

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Sun, 15 May 2011 04:58:00 +0000

My husband installed the ceiling light in my new studio yesterday, so now I can get serious about choosing a color for the walls. Those who are close to me know that I could never just "choose a wall color." For something as important as my studio walls, this calls for research and planning. After all, what IS the best color to paint the walls of an art studio?

I decided to do mock-ups of my final color choices to help me decide what color to paint the walls. I took the progress photo from my last post, added cork to the closet wall, added a nicer window (the current window will be replaced), added various colors and lighting effects and the result is what I like to call "Photoshop magic."

White?
My first thought was to just paint the walls white. I wasn't certain of this choice, so I decided to run a search on Google of, "what is the best color to paint the walls of an artist studio?" Lots of hits.

Gray?
A lot of photographers chime in on this issue and suggest that any color other than white, black or a true gray tone will disrupt the color perception of your work. A true white, various gray tones (mid to light) are suggested and even black. Black walls? Sounds good for a photographer, but I know that's not for me. Gray? Maybe.

One of the more interesting results was a link to the Portrait Artist Forum with the historical note: "Until well into the 20th century, artists’ studio design followed a pattern perfected in the era of Velasquez and Rembrandt. Rooms with high ceilings and high north facing windows or skylights were most desirable and the walls were painted a mid-tone grayish color."

The thread goes on to discuss a "magic color" of darkish green-gray that was used at the Art Student's League and gets very specific about the color (you can call it up in Photoshop as Lab color L=48, a=0, b=12).

It looks like this:

I found a couple of artists who have used this color in their studio:
Sadie J Valerie
Casey Childs

Gray-green? (a.k.a. "the magic color)
But is it for me? It does fell warmer than the gray. I like that, but I wonder if a darker color will make my studio feel too dark.

Our first floor ceilings are a little higher than most. I do have one north-facing window, which you can see in these pictures, but it isn't huge. No skylights, just a single light on the ceiling and a work light on my drawing table. Not a fancy room, but I like it. With the historical reference, it did make me wonder how many other artists have painted their studios the traditional mid-tone gray or the new "magical" color, and I wondered if any famous artist studios were painted this way.

Maybe...

White walls with a gray accent wall?

White walls with a gray-green accent wall?

Studios of Famous Artists
What color walls do famous artists have in their studios? This is why I love the Internet:

Tony DiTerlizzi (illustrator of The Spider and the Fly and The Spiderwick Chronicles) = white

Arthur Geisert (author/illustrator of Country Road ABC) = white

Georgia O'Keeffe = white

Norman Rockwell = white

Maurice Sendak (author/illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are) = white

Bob Staake (author/illustrator of The Donut Chef) = white

Mo Willems (author/illustrator of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus) = white
He also has a room with all chalkboard walls - love that!

...all white walls.

I decided to do a further search of artist studios in general. I happened upon a link to a collection of panoramic photos of 129 Seattle area artists in their studios. What I loved most about looking at these photos is that is gave a good sense of what the wall color would look like because you get a sense of being in the room...and what do you think was the color on the walls of the majority of these studios?

White. What is it about white?

Now that I have primer on the walls, it does give me a good idea of how white walls would look. It's light and airy. The room feels bigger somehow. A far cry from the small, dark bedroom of this room's former life.

I decided to go with my original choice. White it is! I did decide to add some color to a small portion of the walls. I'll add photos of that area in a later post when painting is complete.

Studio Transformation 03

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Tue, 10 May 2011 04:43:00 +0000

I've been so busy working on my studio that I haven't posted an update of the progress. Here's a couple of photos taken just before I masked off the walls for painting.

The floors have been cleaned and stained. There's still no light on the ceiling, so this photo doesn't do the woodwork justice. It has a glow to it now that I just love.

Here's a view of the storage area that covers one wall of the room. I plan to add dark cork to the plastered areas to each side of the closet for story boarding.

I've already masked off the room and primed all of the walls. I've even added two coats of paint to the ceiling. In a couple days my husband will have time to install the light and I'll be able to get a better feel for what color to paint the walls.

Studio Transformation 02

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 04:50:00 +0000

Patching the plaster and sanding the walls took a lot longer than I thought. When that step was finally done I has a lot of dust to clean up. It was everywhere. I sponged off all of the walls, the trim and the floor. The ceiling light has been removed too so there's only natural light to work by. We've had a lot of cloudy, rainy days and it was one of them when these photos were taken.

I'm itching to paint, but first there's one more step. The previous owner didn't mask off the woodwork and cover it up when the room was wallpapered and painted, so there are paint splatters everywhere. Here's a photo of the worst spot in the room.

I'm almost done cleaning the woodwork. Next I plan to patch the stain on the woodwork and floor. Then I'll finally be ready to paint! Woohoo! Of course, I plan to protect the wood when I paint so hopefully there won't be anymore paint splatters to clean up.

Studio Transformation 01

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:49:00 +0000

I’ve begun transforming a room on the first floor of our house into my new studio. The previous owner of the house decorated this room with a wallpaper made of small ripped pieces of brown paper bags that were sponge painted in blue and gold. I started by scraping this paper off of the walls with a putty knife.

I used a steamer to get rid of all three layers of wallpaper. Most of the walls are the original plaster lath, but the wall to the right is drywall (which was more difficult to remove the paper from). It’s amazing how much brighter the walls are.

There are cracks in the walls that need to be patched. That’s going to keep me busy for awhile. I’m patching them now and will post more progress photos soon.

Blew the Dust Off My Story

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:45:00 +0000

I made a New Year's resolution last year: to add illustrations to a children's story I've written and get it ready to send to publishers by the end of the year. Funny how time can get away from you. Last year's resolution has become this year's resolution. Last year I struggled with the story. There were parts of the plot I just didn't like, and I was stuck. I let it get away from me and sit undone.

This year a few minutes talking to a professional children's writer lit a fire under me to blow the dust off my story. I took a four-day weekend to focus on it. That's all it took to get things moving again. I'm happier with the story now. I'm putting the finishing touches on the words and have begun working on the art.

I'm working on some quick thumbnail sketches for the storyboard. I'm trying to break the story down into a standard 32-page picture book format. At this point I'm looking at how the story is revealed as the pages are turned and I'm starting to think of the composition of each double page spread.

My goal is to finish a pencil sketch book dummy and two completed illustrations by the end of this year. That's all I need to package it up and send it to publishers. I'm happy that this project is finally moving forward again.

Beta Testing : Hello Kitty Online

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:36:00 +0000

I asked to be a Beta Tester for the new Hello Kitty Online for North America and my wish has been granted. I don't know how choosy the folks at Aeria Games are when accepting requests, but I'm happy to participate and let them know what I think.

Hello Kitty Online (HKO) is a MMORPG: a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Game. After downloading and installing software to your computer you can log in and explore the game along with other players from around the world. I assume this will be a MMORPG for kids, but I haven't found a recommended age listed on their Web site yet.

The game promises to be "brimming over with cuteness" and allow players to create their dream home, their own farm, go on quests, play mini games and interact with the Hello Kitty characters. There are also social media tools like blogs and video sharing built into it. You've got to admit, that little cat is pretty darn cute. So, if they've built an entire virtual environment around the character I would expect nothing less.

My familiarity with the Hello Kitty characters is limited. A friend of mine gave me a Hello Kitty photo album when I was nine years old that could store a dozen photos in. It was very cute and had the main character, Hello Kitty, on the cover. I've seen other items like notepads, pencils and plush toys in gift stores. That's about all I know about the characters, but I won't let my limited exposure to the world of Hello Kitty inhibit my enjoyment of the MMORPG.

I had planned to post my thoughts about the game here, but after downloading the software I read during the sign-up phase that I am unable to post screenshots or comments about the game. I guess that's what makes it a "closed beta." So, if you want to see what it looks like, you'll have to apply to be a Beta tester yourself.

If you want to request to participate in the beta, all you have to do is click the link above and apply. As of the time of this post, they are still accepting requests for beta testers. I have to warn you though...downloading the client software takes a long time. When Firefox estimated the download time at 15 hours I decided to walk away from the computer and let it run overnight. Total time was actually a little over 13 hours (and I was doing things on my computer during part of this time which is NOT recommended). This shouldn't stop you from downloading it though. If you wanted to play another MMORPG like World of Warcraft you would have to wait just as long. The long download time tells me that there is probably a lot of detail and depth to the game.

I hate to burst the bubble of my Mac friends, but it's only available for Windows. You will need to be at least 18 years old and a resident of the United States or Canada to be eligible to be a beta tester.

The Quest for Augmented Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:43:00 +0000

It all started with a video on YouTube. GE posted a video ad with the words "digital hologram" in the description and I was curious. Here's the video I saw:

After watching this video I had to try this for myself! I clicked on the link to the GE site (which you can find here), printed out a PDF of a simple black and white image called a "marker" and held it up to the webcam on my laptop. After seeing that animation pop off the page, I was hooked. You can even blow on your microphone to create more wind! It made me wonder "how did they do that?!!" and has inspired a quest to find the tools to create something myself.

This "digital hologram" is Augmented Reality, or AR for short. AR is what you get when you overlay computer generated content over reality. Some of the AR projects I've found on the Web involve putting on a headset or helmet in order to view the computer data and others are very simple examples that use a webcam or the camera on a mobile device. I'm interested in creating something using free software or a free plugin to software I already own. I also want to be able to share the content on the Web.

Last weekend I downloaded a free AR plugin for Google SketchUp. I've never used Google SketchUp before, but the price was right for both the plugin and the program. I installed both and then grabbed a 3D eagle someone posted to the Sketchup library and ran it through the plugin. The eagle was very cool and showed up fine on my camera, but I'd rather find a solution that allows you to share content on the Web, not from a single desktop.

I think I may have stumbled upon a better solution tonight. Check out a page on Saqoosha.net about the FLARToolkit here: http://saqoosha.net/en/flartoolkit/start-up-guide/ It uses Adobe Flash, FLARToolkit (free for non-commercial applications), Papervision3D (Opensource 3D engine for Flash), a webcam and a printed marker. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like the final image can be shared on the Web.

I hope to have time to play with this on the weekend.

I Can't Get This Out of My Head!

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:03:00 +0000

I’ve had this song in my head ever since I caught this video on YouTube, partly because I love the tune and partly because I love the animation. The group is “The Real Tuesday Weld with Nick Phelps and Geert Chatrou.” The animation is by Figli-Migli Productions.
Brilliant. : )

Goals in Bite-Sized Pieces

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:34:00 +0000

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

I've been having a hard time choosing a New Year's Resolution. There are a lot of things I want to accomplish this year: I want to have the children's story I'm working on rewritten, completely illustrated and ready to send back out to publishers by the end of the year; there's another story I want to finish writing so I can start working on the illustrations; I want to continue to learn Adobe Flash; I want to learn to write script from scratch in Second Life; I want to rework my Web site to make it more interactive; and I want to improve my chess playing skills so I can win when I play my father-in-law next Christmas. There's a lot of things I want to do by the time 2010 rolls around. I realize, however, that none of the things I've listed here are a resolution. These are all goals.

I do this every year. Instead of coming up with a resolution I come up with a list of goals. There's nothing wrong with that I suppose, but anyone who knows me and has watched me attack a goal knows that when I decide I'm going to do something I dive in head first, learn everything I can about it and spend a lot of time working towards that goal. That sounds like a good thing, but I eventually end up working too much and sleeping too little. It's good to be focused, but sometimes I turn it into too much of a good thing.

With this in mind, I've decided to do something different this year. This year I'm going to actually come up with a resolution that can help me acheive my list of goals. My resolution this year is to acheive things in bite-sized pieces. By working towards my goals in small steps, I can find time each day to play, leave enough time to sleep and enjoy the journey.

If you're actually reading this, I encourage you to watch the video at the top of this post. It is the last lecture of Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon who died in 2008 from cancer. I'm reading his book, "The Last Lecture" which was written after this lecture was filmed. I'm not reading it the way I usually do, which is cover to cover in one sitting...like watching a movie. I'm reading it in my New Year's Resolution style; a chapter at a time every few days. Bite-sized pieces.

An Effort to Simplify My Life

noreply@blogger.com (Kit Umscheid) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:11:00 +0000

In an effort to simplify my life, I've decided to delete a blog I created titled "My Second Life" and include that information here. So, from time to time you will see posts here about my exploration in virtual worlds, mainly in a program called "Second Life." I have a virtual shop there where I have my real life art, illustrations and virtual artwork created in the program. One person, many interests, but only one blog.