My First Day of School

Stu in action.

Well, today was the first day of "class". The only assignments I have are to read the first three chapters of The Illusion of Life and get oriented with the site. I have had that book since I was twelve years old, or so, and i read it like it was holy writ. I even underlined key points lightly in pencil. So it's nice to revisit that classic material.

The actual site has had a few technical problems involving a "bunk license" for the software used to create the website. Gradually throughout the day, those problems seemed to be ironed out and everything seems accessible at this point. There are so many nooks and crannies to explore there - easy to get lost, but the orientation video was very clear about the setup and how to circumnavigate the virtual campus.

I had a long chat session with fellow student Kevin in South Carolina. He's in my group (under Charles Alleneck) and we just got to know each other a little better. I kind of feel like a contestant on the TV reality series "Survivor" or "The Apprentice" - busy making alliances and making moves to maximize my success in the program. Not that I'm trying to get anyone voted off - I'm just treating it as though the stakes were that high.

They have already provided us with our first fully rigged model: the lovely and talented "Stu". So I quickly got to work and took Bobby Beck's advice to do some poses. I had so much fun with it! I started with the far left pose, but I decided that interaction is always more interesting than static poses, so I added another Stu to the mix. NOW there's drama. What's going on here? Maybe Stu #1 forgot his pants when he left the apartment this morning...

Then I moved to something purely physical: leapfrog. Trying to convey the character of the movement in one pose, keeping the silhouette clear and the energy high.

And next I decided to tackle some full body contact. Everyone needs at least one hug a day, right? I think they are strong in terms of line of action and strong posing. Silhouette gets a little lost in the hugging image, but I think weight is conveyed nicely here - one really leaning, and one bracing the weight, stroking the other's head, "There, there, now, shhhhhhh... It's gonna be okay..."

I can't wait to start getting into introducing time as an element in all of this. That's the magic ingredient after all -- what happens before and what happens after, and what your mind tells you those relationships mean. Pure magic!!