Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone enjoyed our concept art tutorial. Don’t forget that you can get lots of nice Photoshop brushes from concept-on-mac at Deviantart. Also cgtextures.com provides lots of free textures that can be used for 2D purposes as well as 3D. Finally, if you wish to learn more about concept art techniques James Paick, a professional, offers video tutorials online.
Be aware that next Wednesday is Webster Works Worldwide. There is still time to get signed up for charity work with Melissa Howell’s group. We will be painting walls for the Salvation Army from 9 am to 4 pm.
Also officer elections will be held next meeting. Anyone can run for any position, even if you aren’t an animation student. Some of the officers will be graduating in December, and we need people to step up in their place so continue SIGGRAPH for years to come. All positions are available, such as treasurers, president, vice president, marketing and secretary.
Kinematifest will be taking place on April 6th and 7th this year. If you wish to be part of the planning committee you are welcome to sign up, and if you have work please submit it to us, so it can be featured at Kinematifest. For more information visit http://kinematifest.com/.

Hello everyone,
This past meeting we gave a demo on making a landscape using displacement maps in Photoshop and Maya. The next meeting we are planning on doing a concept art demo.
Next meeting there will be a drawing for a prize, so please submit your creative work based on the theme elements. The prize will be anything off of Amazon under $50.
Also we still need more people to sign up for Webster Works Worldwide. It’s a charity event painting walls for the Salvation Army on October 5th from 9 am to 4pm. Lunch is provided and everyone gets a free tee-shirt. Don’t worry about missing classes that day, because school will be canceled for the event anyway. Additionally we are selling Webster SIGGRAPH tee-shirts, so if you want one please tell us your size.
The St. Louis Artists’ Guild is hosting Homegrown Comic Jam, an art even featuring artists teaming up for one night to create a giant piece of collaborative comic art. It’s free and open to the public on Friday, September 26th from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm at Two Oak Knoll Park. For more information click here http://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/new/homegrown-comic-jam .
Finally October 1st is 24 hour comic day, a challenge held around the world to create a 24 page comic in 24 hours. View the link for more information http://www.24hourcomicsday.com/.
-Helen

Hello SIGGRAPH members!
I hope you all had a good first meeting. We played Pictionary, and gave a Photoshop gradient tutorial from www.digitaltutors.com. This website offers tutorials in many other programs, such as After Effects, Flash, Maya, Zbrush and more. It’s a little pricy, but a good way to learn or stay in practice when you aren’t in school.
On January 27-29 Webster is doing Game Jam, a student competition to design and create games over the weekend. You don’t need to have a lot of experience, because participates will be working on a team. It’s a great chance to network with professional companies, such as Semitronics. Talk to Dave Derington for more information or visit www.stlgamejam.com.
We will be having a contest with prize giveaways every month. Instead of just doing drawings we are now excepting music, models, games or any other creative work. This month the theme is elements. Remember, the goal of this is to create portfolio pieces.
Please volunteer for charity with Webster Works Worldwide and the Salvation Army on October 5th from 9:00am-4:00pm. You can sign up online at www.webster.edu/www/.  When you sign up search for our president’s name, Melissa Howell, to join her team. We will be painting gym walls. Participating is lots of fun, and will look good on a resume.
Come to our next meeting on September 14th. We will be creating a 3D landscape using Photoshop and Maya and discussing this past International Conference. Hope to see you there!
-Helen

Hello everyone!

The only thing we did last meeting was prepare for Kinematifest, but the hard work really payed off. We had many more events then last year. Next meeting on the 13th we will be electing a new treasurer. Anyone can run, so please step up. Also for next meeting don’t forget to draw a Disney character in a different style.

Hello Everyone!

Thanks to everyone who made super hero and villain drawings this month. We are doing a random prize drawing for people who complete the monthly drawings. This next month’s challenge is to draw a Disney character in a different style. The drawing to make for the next meeting is any character from Metalocalypse.

This past meeting we watched Adventure is Out There – This is an awesome documentary the tells the story of the filmmakers’ own trek to the tepuis mountains of South America to research the design and story of the film.

Here is something I thought was interesting; a video explaining alittle about the process on making Repunzel’s hair in movie Tangled with Kelly Ward, senior software engineer for Walt Disney Animation Studios.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10337

Chris Sagovac is going to the St Louis Art Museum on Friday at 1 pm to see William Kentridge’s animation. Please contact Chris if you want to go.  

Also don’t forget Kenimatifest submissions are due on March 1st. Everyone keep drawing those caricatures to raise money for SIGGRAPH!

Good day, SIGGRAPHers.

There are a few deadlines coming up to be aware of. The submission deadline for the SIGGRAPH conference student volunteer is due on February the 14th. Those who volunteer get free admission to SIGGRAPH 2011! The submission deadline for Kenimatifest, our annual animation festival has been changed to March 1^st.

Webster’s Opportunities fair is going on in the UC from 11:30 to 1:30 on the 15th. Come see our booth! We are planning on presenting student work for free comic book day at Star Clipper. Please submit 2 samples of your work, and we will compile it into a larger book.

Also we may showcase student work in galleries at Star Clipper, Schalfly, the Koken Art Factory and CJ Mugs. Finally, if you have drawing talent you can participate in the fundraiser by drawing caricatures for people in busy places, such as Marletto’s or the UC at lunch time. We charge $5 a drawing.

Hello again, people. Today in SIGGRAPH we planed on seeing a movie. The choices were between Gnomio and Juliet, Sucker Punch, Rango or  The Illusionist.  We voted on Rango. The date of the movie excursion has yet to be decided, however it comes out in theaters  on March 4th. SIGGRAPH is starting a fund raiser doing caricatures. If you are interested in participating contact Marie Enger.  Kinematifest, our annual animation festival, submissions are due 5th of February. We will be having drawing contests with prizes given away to the best drawing. The cartoon character to draw for the next two weeks  Matthew Sherry. The drawing of the month is anything involveing superheros or supervillans.

If you are interested in working as a team and building a video game from the ground up join Game Jam. Development goes from January 28 to the 30th in Sverdrup 202. If you want to participate please register at Stlgamejam.com.

Finally, don’t forget about this year’s SIGGRAPH conference in Vancouver, Canada. Start saving up for the airplane ticket, so you can come, too.

Hello once again everyone!  Quick meeting this week.

We are making a list of people who would like club t-shirts so if you have a spare $6 and need cool clothes, here is your chance!  Just let Amanda Walker know you would like one soon because she would like to fill in the order forms by the end of the week.

We are all getting together for the midnight release of Tron Legacy December 17th.  The school will pay for most of the ticket price, so come with us for an awesome movie experience!

Siggraph 2011 is being held in Vancouver, Canada this upcoming year.  If you would like to go, don’t forget to get a passport!  Also, applications for student volunteer work will be released soon.  It pays for a large chunk of the ticket price so sign up now before all the spots are filled!

We showed off our Gaston drawings and Inspector Gadget is for next time!

Finally, we held our elections for the spring semester and here are the results:  the new president is Melissa Howell, the new vice president is Marie Enger, the new treasurer is Robbie Speers, the new secretary is Helen Rowlett, and the new public relations person is also Marie Enger.

Hello, Folks!!!

I hope you all had a great fall break, I know I did! Not too many announcements this week.

Just a reminder for anyone who wants to go to the SIGGRAPH conference next year, you need a passport!  It takes a while to get one registered, so do it sooner than later.  They last for ten years, so it wouldn’t hurt to have one anyways.

For those of you who don’t already know, the internship fair is tomorrow.  It will be held in the UC Sunnen Lounge from 11 to 1.  There will be all sorts of people from different companies.  If you’re looking for work, this is the place to be!  Remember to wear something nice and to bring a resume.  Resumes aren’t necessary, but they make you look fancy.  Even if you aren’t looking for work at the moment, it never hurts to make connections.

We also showed our awesome Link drawings.  I’ve never seen so much epicness in my life! Next meeting, have your Aku drawings done.  (Aku is the evil shadow character from Samurai Jack)

Juraj, a Webster faculty member, has an animation project he would like to get up and running.  He needs some animators who know Maya to help him with a 4-5 minute short he has been working on for about a year now.  If anyone is interested, email him at jurajb@webster.edu.  It’s a great thing to put down on a resume.  I would jump right on it for those of you who know Maya.

Two meetings from now will be officer elections.  A lot of us are graduating and we need replacements!  It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s not.  As a secretary, I only do this.  It’s a pretty sweet gig, plus I get to say I was a student leader on my resume!

We are getting a group of people together to see the new Tron movie opening night December 17th.  We will have more info about this later. Get psyched!

We finished the night by having Mike Diliberto giving us a character design tutorial which included puppets!