Basic Drawing - Finished Homework

It is done!!! After 4 hours of work, it is done. I think I must have moved the same lines about four times each. Just tweaking the line a bit to the sides makes a lot of difference when you're looking at it as a whole. I also turned my board upside down. Funny how things that look okay right side up becomes deformed and out of proportion when it's upside down. I seriously need to find a new way of capturing these drawings too. My current method is a 50/50 chance of being slightly blurry or showing the lighting source in the worst way.

Check out the work-in-progress drawing: Basic Drawing - Work In Progress

Basic Drawing - Work In Progress

Last night I spent about an hour and a half working on my Basic Drawing homework assignment. The assignment was to replicate one of the figure plates that were given. Make our drawing 12-13 inches in height, using the whole 11x14 Stonehenge sheet. Jason said it would take about 3 hours to finish. I'm almost there. I'll probably spend tonight tweaking lines. I already noticed that the raised arm is slightly too low and needs to move outward a bit.

Here's what I have so far...

Plate III, 45

Side by side

My work (so far)

They Love My Handwriting

I've been known for my penmanship since I was in middle school. My handwriting has evolved so much and it's very interesting to follow that evolution. I think I'll try to find some of my old writing samples and compare them.

I've been handwriting invitations for the Advancement Events Office. Next time I write them out I'll post a sample.

My handwriting sample

Notes from Heat Transfer class - Summer '08

I love reading about what your handwriting says about you:

Handwriting Tips: http://www.paperpenalia.com/handwriting.html

Handwriting Analysis: http://www.handwritinginsights.com/lesson.html

Drawing Class - Nude Model

I mentioned in some previous post that this was my first and last chance to take an art class while in college. I'm taking Basic Drawing and the class is awesome. I love to draw and this is a more guided way to learn how to really see things and draw them as shapes that flow with one another. Today's class was different from the rest... we had a nude model. His name is Rich.

What's new in February?

Okay, so there's a bit to catch up on since I realized that I've been too busy to update with anything substantial. There was a Mega Career Fair at Northeastern University on February 5. I attended and passed out my resume to potential companies. It was a good opportunity and because of that day, I got an interview this upcoming Wednesday with United Technologies Corporation (UTC) for their Fire & Security division. Cool. Now I need to borrow my sister's car or my boyfriend's. We'll see.

My independent study has been lagging. Right now my professor is figuring out what hardware and software to use and probably realizes that there a lot of choices out there for him. I need to schedule a meeting with him to keep things on track so I can actually design the labs for him before I graduate.

Capstone is going okay. My group has visited the research lab where our device will be used. I need to rewrite the report for our Midterm Presentation. Oh fun. I'm not much of a report writer. I find that they are usually dry and boring. Well, academic reports tend to be especially when you involve numbers and terms that most people wouldn't know about.

Planning our trip to Thailand has progressed a bit. We decided to visit Hong Kong on the way to Thailand. Possibly stop in Honolulu, Hawai'i and Los Angeles, California before heading back to New York. I need to figure out if my friend's mom can host us in Hawai'i. Poor college students have to think cheap and efficient if they want their money to last. =)

I finished my Starburst hotpad yesterday. It's pretty cool. I plan on making some for my boyfriend's family.

Starburst Hotpad by Loretta Schepp

Capstone Presentation

A lot of people are amazed when I tell them that I get nervous speaking in front of people. I guess it depends on the situation. I love to talk, that is true. I just don't like to give presentations. If I'm not prepared for it, I choke and then I freeze. It's pretty bad. I usually have to practice at least 5 times on my slides to feel somewhat comfortable.

On Thursday my group presented our Capstone project to our design advisor. We met an hour before hand and practiced as a group. During the first two rehearsals, I just messed up and couldn't think of something to say. Actually, I just couldn't start the slides. So I wrote down what I would like to say and practiced hitting the key points. The guys took a break, but I knew I had work to do. I asked Bryan, one of my team members, to read the previous slide before mine and introduce my section. I practiced my slides three more times by myself and each time it was a bit better.

I managed to calm down and focus on what I need to present. Our advisor finally showed up and I was glad it was just him. It was originally planned that we were going to present to him and his graduate students. My part of the presentation was great. I didn't stumble and I spoke loud and clear. I made eye contact and delivered my section with ease. I breathed a sigh of relief after it was over. I did it.

My teammates all have different techniques for presenting and they were telling me to "wing it." If you know me just a bit, you'll understand that I don't do that. I prepare and I practice. I memorize a lot of things and that's how I learn. I remembered that back in 11th grade, my English teacher had us memorize all 40 prepositions. In order to do so I wrote them out in alphabetical order 5 or 6 times. When I took the quiz, I pretty much wrote it out from memory. That's the same technique I used to memorize my "lines." If I say it a few times, it'll eventually stick.

That was only the draft presentation. Our real midterm presentation is right before Spring Break. Then the final presentation is mid-April. I believe it'll be on the last day of classes or the reading day after that. Okay. I need to do some research on Robotic curriculums. (My independent research assignment.)

(Taken from my blog - My So-Called Engineering Life)

Senioritis

Ah, it's that time of year when I really don't want to do anything but read, crochet, and maybe attempt my art homework. I spent about 13 hours or so yesterday doing nothing aka not doing my work for class. I didn't start on it until 11 pm and finished around 1 am. Something so simple I definitely could have done it any time during the day. Anyways, I'm up early to go to work. I have some things to take care of today that's been on my mind since Saturday.

I started a new hat yesterday and it's coming out really nice. I can't wait to finish it. I have to do some art homework today too. I'll take a picture of my work so far. Sean was pretty impressed with my skills. I think it's the engineer in me wanting the drawings to be perfect... the right angle, the right values. Okay, I have to move away from the computer. =)

To Drop or Not To Drop

Okay, so I only needed one elective and my Capstone class to graduate. But to maintain my financial aid I need to take 12 semester hours (3 4-hour classes). Then 3 classes cost as much as 4, so I decided to take another. I was thinking of dropping my CAD/CAM class. It's okay, I guess I'll see how it goes until next Friday.

I'm also taking Capstone, Basic Drawing, and an independent study. My independent study got changed. I'm supposed to redesign the Dynamics and Vibrations labs, but the professors like their old, forgettable labs. I got reassigned to designing new Control Systems labs. They never had a lab class before. This will be a great opportunity for me to create and find cool experiments to perform. I'm working with Jeff Doughty and Professor Rifat Sipahi. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Okay, I'm going to do the in-class assignment for the CAD class before I go to it so I can leave after lecture. Fun.