Today in class one of my students was having trouble coming up with the subject and theme of her project. We had a group discussion about it and bounced around a few idea. After a dozen failed attempts we sat in silence for a few moments trying to think of new and better ideas when all of a sudden one of my more sarcastic students brilliantly vocalized “True Friendship Is Mutual Insanity.” This became an instant tag line for my class and I promised them I’d post about it on my site. What a good group of kids.
In the lighter world of Ryan Zlomek, I have officially started a sketchbook for “Crayon Work.” It’s a wonderful 11″ x 14″ dry media book and it will hopefully teach me to color between the lines as I never learned how to do that in kindergarten. Here is the first piece I created while day dreaming about singing in a Syracuse hardcore band:
If you look closely you can start to see the my second crayon experiment.
Thanks again for checking my site. You’ve been a wonderful audience.
…the kids in my digital photography classes are pretty cool.
Today was my first day back to teaching after a two week long vacation that consisted of vegan milkshakes, hardcore shows, family time, thrift stores, and an insane amount of traveling. Long story short, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about transitioning from my Chittenango/Syracuse (relaxed and resourceful) living situation back to my East Machias (professional and high stress) life.
I woke up at 6:30AM with crusted over eyes and a bad attitude that would make Mike Tyson jealous. I went to school, quietly ate my breakfast as everyone around me talked about their vacations then went to teach my first period class. I couldn’t shake the feeling and, at times, felt like I was letting my students down because I wasn’t giving it one hundred and ten percent. I kept to myself for the most of the day and ached for my fourth period class to end as soon as it started so I could go back to my room and sleep the foul mood away.
My students came in for fourth period and we started it off by talking about our vacations. I eventually lead that into a lighting demonstration and before I knew it the class had turned into a ridiculous photo studio. It’s amazing how something as simple as media creation with a group of eager high school kids could really turn my day around. I was re-energized after class in a way I hadn’t felt in a while. I went back to my room, collected my advisees, and we built a snowman outside for about half an hour.
Things may not be perfect here but at least I have the energy my students throw out.
Thanks again guys, class really brightened my day.
After about two years of pinching pennies I finally saved up enough for the camera that has helped me create some of my favorite material. This baby shoots at 24 digital frames per second which gives the footage a nice filmy look. It, also, just so happens to be the same camera the television show It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is filmed on. The long and short of it all is that you lovely people can expect to see a lot more video work from me in the near future.
Since I received the camera I’ve started shooting After Hours which is going to be a documentary about the fine maintenance gentleman I work with at Washington Academy. On top of that I created some nice time lapse (or intervalometer for the true film nerds out there) material at Prospect Harbor, ME over Thanksgiving. One excerpt can be seen below. It’s about one minute and ten seconds of awesome so give it a watch.
…and the only solution if more 1930’s Betty Boop animations. Give this video a watch! Not only does it contain a nice collection of Betty Boop material but it also has animation legend Dave Fleischer HIMSELF!!! I’ll reach his level of greatness someday, but for now I’m going to gawk at Betty riding a pen like a witch on a broomstick.
After making a habit of sitting on my couch at least a couple times a week to sketch immature drawings I’ve decided that illustrated literature for children will be my next route. I figure if I change career mentalities every couple weeks while working a steady job I’ll run out of alternatives and eventually settle on one. With that said the next in line is writing and illustrating a kids book. I’ve started sketching character designs and the lovely creature above this is one of them. The main character of the story can actually be found on an earlier post but it would be way too much fun to spoil all the surprises now. Hopefully I can make some massive headway on this project and have it out and ready to go by next summer.
In other news I discovered today that Internet Explorer 6.0 hates my website and doesn’t display it properly. The tabs at the top shift around and the register icon is placed over the home button. Unfortunately I’m guessing that IE6 is not the only browser that despises my website. If you discover any other browser problems or general quirks with the site please let me know. I have enough enemies without having to include basic computer programs.
That’s about all that is new on this end. Be Excellent To Each Other!
Ryan Zlomek (That's Me!) is an independent filmmaker, unconscious animator, amateur illustrator, creative writer and professional educator from Chittenango, NY.
Ryan Zlomek (That's Me!) is an independent filmmaker, unconscious animator, amateur illustrator, creative writer and professional educator from Chittenango, NY.
