akkien
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Who's ready for Christmas?
3 min read
Hey! Hope everyone's doing fine! Today I wanted to talk to you about something very important for me:
I'm currently going through the last weeks of this semester and I'm almost ready to start kicking it again and leave my hiatus. If you've been watching me and read my last journal you'll know I was going through a lot of stress and meditation, but I'm glad to say that it's finally over: I know what I want to do and I know how I'm gonna do it.
What I'll do is I'll work my hardest to get an art-related job in the video-game industry, be it concept artist/storyboarder, modeler, or illustrator. It isn't just a decision I made because I'm a dreamer, but a focused person. It's a goal I've set for 2017-2018 and I've traced a whole path to reach it. Basically, I'll end this semester and sign up for the next two, four courses at a time, so that I can use my free time for expanding my portfolio, improving, saving money (Commissions opening soon?), and learning french.
Sometime around July/August 2016 I'll move to Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá and continue, but this time I'll only sign up for art-related studies, and french. I'll also keep working on the side taking whatever remotely good-paying job I can get. I'll asist every convention I can and relate to as many artists as I can while I'm there to start building a network. Once I've saved a reasonable sum I'll prepare myself to make a visit to Montréal, Canada (this is why I'm studying french) and get a feel of the place, meet people, ask questions, etc. Next step would be work, work, and work plus a little magic and voilá: I'll have enough money to study something art-related (videogame art at best) in Montréal by late 2017 or early 2018 :_D
That's a brief summary of the plan, but I've seriosly taken the time to detail everything I need to do between steps, and while the whole thing might sound too idealistic I think that as long as I stay focused I'm sure I can pull this off. Of course, this plan is prone to change during the journey, but I'm very happy with myself now that I actually know where I want to go in life instead of waiting for some miracle to take me there. I'll make sure to keep you updated with everything that goes on during the process. You can also follow me on twitter: @akkieng if you want to read random stuff and don't mind me retweeting nonsense lol
I'm currently going through the last weeks of this semester and I'm almost ready to start kicking it again and leave my hiatus. If you've been watching me and read my last journal you'll know I was going through a lot of stress and meditation, but I'm glad to say that it's finally over: I know what I want to do and I know how I'm gonna do it.
What I'll do is I'll work my hardest to get an art-related job in the video-game industry, be it concept artist/storyboarder, modeler, or illustrator. It isn't just a decision I made because I'm a dreamer, but a focused person. It's a goal I've set for 2017-2018 and I've traced a whole path to reach it. Basically, I'll end this semester and sign up for the next two, four courses at a time, so that I can use my free time for expanding my portfolio, improving, saving money (Commissions opening soon?), and learning french.
Sometime around July/August 2016 I'll move to Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá and continue, but this time I'll only sign up for art-related studies, and french. I'll also keep working on the side taking whatever remotely good-paying job I can get. I'll asist every convention I can and relate to as many artists as I can while I'm there to start building a network. Once I've saved a reasonable sum I'll prepare myself to make a visit to Montréal, Canada (this is why I'm studying french) and get a feel of the place, meet people, ask questions, etc. Next step would be work, work, and work plus a little magic and voilá: I'll have enough money to study something art-related (videogame art at best) in Montréal by late 2017 or early 2018 :_D
That's a brief summary of the plan, but I've seriosly taken the time to detail everything I need to do between steps, and while the whole thing might sound too idealistic I think that as long as I stay focused I'm sure I can pull this off. Of course, this plan is prone to change during the journey, but I'm very happy with myself now that I actually know where I want to go in life instead of waiting for some miracle to take me there. I'll make sure to keep you updated with everything that goes on during the process. You can also follow me on twitter: @akkieng if you want to read random stuff and don't mind me retweeting nonsense lol
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I was born a quitter
4 min read
No, I'm not leaving deviantART nor I'm going to stop drawing (lmao, like I drew a lot). What I really want to say with this journal is that there are some things I want to leave behind that I feel are stopping me from doing what I love and enjoying life as much as I can, and one of those is school. Now, just before you start thinking that I'm a lazy, thrashy, spoiled kid (which I might be), I want to tell you what my gameplan is and a brief explanation of my personal case.
This may be a very controvertial subject for many of you, since almost everyone agrees that going to college and getting yourself a degree can give you a better ground to stand on when looking for a job. I don't share the same point of view, and I don't think I can be persuased into it; time has proven that.
I'm 20 (I feel old and I think I'm losing precious time). I've been in college for about 2 years now and I'm halfway there to getting myself a degree on Computer Engineering, which is a very "safe" career choice given how much it has grown in the past years and how it is predicted to evolve in the future. However, I think it's no different from an art career: many argue that it's better not to spend huge amounts of money learning things you could just study from the internet or books, and I agree on that. Having first hand interaction with teachers and tutors is something valuable, on the other hand (or should I say, first hand? //dies), and school also becomes an easy way to start networking with future work colleagues, but is that really a problem for a young one like me, eager to step into the real world and show everyone else its own abilities? I may not be the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, The guys from Twitter whose names I can't remember (and other famous dropouts), but I think my willingness to take risks is enough to compensate the lack of tools.
I don't need the degree. I've gone far enough through my courses to know that everything I need to learn from now on, I can do it alone. All the money I spend on college every month could be helping me get better equipment, books, start a small internet business, or fund some app/game development, which would be far more enjoying for me to work on. All the time I spend in collegue and thinking of homework and exams could be used to focus on investing on myself or expanding my portfolio. No matter how much I think about it, I feel there's always more disadvantages for me at school: one of them being suffocated by work that doesn't have anything to do with what I want to do in life.
I could write a thousand paragraphs on this subject but then I'd be getting too side-tracked and I haven't even mentioned what I'm gonna do yet, which is, ironically, staying in college. I'll keep studying this semester (ends on Dicember 15th) while preparing something to drop into and only time and circumstances will tell if I'll keep studying the next one, but that's it. I've made up my mind on this and I rather not lose more time, which is why I'll be telling this to my parents at the end of this semester and pray for their understanding and support. In the worst of cases, I'm still moving to Panamá and I sorta have a guaranteed job spot there with a nice pay that could help me stand up again, so the reward outweighs the risk. (Actually, the worst case is being kicked out from my house, but I doubt my parents would do that, considering how dangerous this country is. Still, I'm mentally prepared for it)
SO, WHAT DOES THIS MEANS FOR YOU?
It means more hiatus, YAY! (not like I've been doing anything deviously productive the past two weeks). So again, for the third consecutive time, I'm sorry for all the inactivity and I hope some of you understand how stressful it's been to go through these two weeks of drowning from school work and meditation of what probably is the hardest decision I've had to make in my life. As always, thank you for reading. I'll stay around answering comments and such.
This may be a very controvertial subject for many of you, since almost everyone agrees that going to college and getting yourself a degree can give you a better ground to stand on when looking for a job. I don't share the same point of view, and I don't think I can be persuased into it; time has proven that.
I'm 20 (I feel old and I think I'm losing precious time). I've been in college for about 2 years now and I'm halfway there to getting myself a degree on Computer Engineering, which is a very "safe" career choice given how much it has grown in the past years and how it is predicted to evolve in the future. However, I think it's no different from an art career: many argue that it's better not to spend huge amounts of money learning things you could just study from the internet or books, and I agree on that. Having first hand interaction with teachers and tutors is something valuable, on the other hand (or should I say, first hand? //dies), and school also becomes an easy way to start networking with future work colleagues, but is that really a problem for a young one like me, eager to step into the real world and show everyone else its own abilities? I may not be the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, The guys from Twitter whose names I can't remember (and other famous dropouts), but I think my willingness to take risks is enough to compensate the lack of tools.
I don't need the degree. I've gone far enough through my courses to know that everything I need to learn from now on, I can do it alone. All the money I spend on college every month could be helping me get better equipment, books, start a small internet business, or fund some app/game development, which would be far more enjoying for me to work on. All the time I spend in collegue and thinking of homework and exams could be used to focus on investing on myself or expanding my portfolio. No matter how much I think about it, I feel there's always more disadvantages for me at school: one of them being suffocated by work that doesn't have anything to do with what I want to do in life.
I could write a thousand paragraphs on this subject but then I'd be getting too side-tracked and I haven't even mentioned what I'm gonna do yet, which is, ironically, staying in college. I'll keep studying this semester (ends on Dicember 15th) while preparing something to drop into and only time and circumstances will tell if I'll keep studying the next one, but that's it. I've made up my mind on this and I rather not lose more time, which is why I'll be telling this to my parents at the end of this semester and pray for their understanding and support. In the worst of cases, I'm still moving to Panamá and I sorta have a guaranteed job spot there with a nice pay that could help me stand up again, so the reward outweighs the risk. (Actually, the worst case is being kicked out from my house, but I doubt my parents would do that, considering how dangerous this country is. Still, I'm mentally prepared for it)
SO, WHAT DOES THIS MEANS FOR YOU?
It means more hiatus, YAY! (not like I've been doing anything deviously productive the past two weeks). So again, for the third consecutive time, I'm sorry for all the inactivity and I hope some of you understand how stressful it's been to go through these two weeks of drowning from school work and meditation of what probably is the hardest decision I've had to make in my life. As always, thank you for reading. I'll stay around answering comments and such.
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+ Finish the Kiriban Prize I should've done months ago.
+ Open Requests + Commissions.
+ Draw a whole collection of OCs that live in the same universe (Most of the designs are already done).
+ Tweet more (Follow me! Info on my profile ;D).
+ And IF I get a new laptop + internet provider, I'll start making Hitbox.tv streams and streaming some games and VNs (:
So that's already a lot of stuff, and I'll probably just end up shooting at the stars, but I hope that this list will give me enough courage to prove I'm capable of managing all of it while going to school. In regards to my distant future plans, I see myself moving to Panamá sometime around next year maximum, which I think is the perfect country for me as Venezuelan/Italian. It is a decision I've already made and I'll be working towards it during all this time.
I think that's all I really wanted to say + A big Thank you to everyone out there that reads these journals.
Edit: OH GOD, I DIDN'T NOTICE BEFORE BUT I HAVE NOW 200 WATCHERS EVEN THOUGH I HAVEN'T BEEN UPLOADING NEW DEVIATIONS ; W ; I'M SO SORRY FOR THAT BUT THANK YOU VERY MUCH, EVERYONE!!
By the way, please don't forget that I'm holding a kiriban for my 5000th Pageview; just a few hundreds left so pay attention to it if you want to win! (:
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100% Back on Sept. 13th
3 min read
If any of you have been following me or at least remember what my past journals said, you'll know I'm in Italy. At first, this trip was more than just vacations (actually I was here accompanying my father, who needed to solve some stuff), and we expected to be back in June. This was a chance for me to stay and study Illustration in one of the nearby universities, as I didn't have to pay many expenses because I could live in my grandfather's house. Sadly, after many months we've come to realize such thing is impossible for me in our current financial situation so I'll have to return to Venezuela, finish my current studies and then take a leap to somewhere I can afford to live in.
A lot of unwanted events happened to us during this time, which is the reason why I'm still here. My grandpa's medical condition got worse, and my father almost had a fulminant heart attack (two events completely independent from each other). Thankfully, my father's is much better now that he's been treated, and everything's come to cotidianity for him again. As for my grandpa, things are not going so well and we're not even sure how much time he has to spend with us, but hopefully he'll be able to make it back.
On a different note, going to Venezuela frightens me a lot. We've only heard bad things about the country, and how everything is getting worse. Criminality is off charts; basic products can't be found on stores; everything is extremely expensive now as our currency's value is getting lower. I'm afraid of Venezuela for many reasons, one of them being how hard it'll be to move out in the future, yet I still want a piece of what I've always longed for in my stay here: tipical food, comodity, friends, and spanish lol.
It's been really hard for me to keep motivated for drawing, practicing, and even playing Super Smash Bros. (which is something routinary I do almost every day) when there's so many things to think about. I want to apologize for the inactivity because I'd be lying if I said I didn't have the time to finish what I've promised to do. At the end, I'll be returning to Venezuela the 13th of September and going full throttle again with submissions and probably commissions/requests. In the meantime, I'll be sending llamas to random people and replying anything you leave around (:
A lot of unwanted events happened to us during this time, which is the reason why I'm still here. My grandpa's medical condition got worse, and my father almost had a fulminant heart attack (two events completely independent from each other). Thankfully, my father's is much better now that he's been treated, and everything's come to cotidianity for him again. As for my grandpa, things are not going so well and we're not even sure how much time he has to spend with us, but hopefully he'll be able to make it back.
On a different note, going to Venezuela frightens me a lot. We've only heard bad things about the country, and how everything is getting worse. Criminality is off charts; basic products can't be found on stores; everything is extremely expensive now as our currency's value is getting lower. I'm afraid of Venezuela for many reasons, one of them being how hard it'll be to move out in the future, yet I still want a piece of what I've always longed for in my stay here: tipical food, comodity, friends, and spanish lol.
It's been really hard for me to keep motivated for drawing, practicing, and even playing Super Smash Bros. (which is something routinary I do almost every day) when there's so many things to think about. I want to apologize for the inactivity because I'd be lying if I said I didn't have the time to finish what I've promised to do. At the end, I'll be returning to Venezuela the 13th of September and going full throttle again with submissions and probably commissions/requests. In the meantime, I'll be sending llamas to random people and replying anything you leave around (:
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Traveling!
1 min read
Hey! It's been a while since I last wrote here. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be absent for a longer period of time now. Starting on April 1st I'll be traveling to Italy (:
So yeah, don't expect many submissions during the next week. I don't know if I'll have internet there nor how soon I would be able to get it but I'm taking my laptop and tablet with me. This will last at least two months but I'll make sure to keep you guys informed!
As for art trades and drawings I owe/promised to do, I'm sorry but they'll have to wait a little. I expect them to be ready in at least a couple weeks though. Anyway, that's pretty much all I had to say.
Love y'all~
So yeah, don't expect many submissions during the next week. I don't know if I'll have internet there nor how soon I would be able to get it but I'm taking my laptop and tablet with me. This will last at least two months but I'll make sure to keep you guys informed!
As for art trades and drawings I owe/promised to do, I'm sorry but they'll have to wait a little. I expect them to be ready in at least a couple weeks though. Anyway, that's pretty much all I had to say.
Love y'all~
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