texturing is for winners

Lol! I'm making the textures. I'm painting them by hand with gouache. It's fun, I love painting. So far I've got my woman's skin, skirt, hair, and most of her shirt. I love the picture to the right. I always make my alpha maps backwards, which leads to the amazing hair you see here. The checkered glasses and collar are pretty sweet, too.
I'm pleased with how much she looks like my concept art.
I'm *still* working on my cat rig. I swear, after this project I'm never rigging again! My woman is done except for a few blend shapes that I'm procrastinating on.

Rig!

Woohoo!
I've finally finished the rig for my cat for senior thesis. This rig has been giving me so much trouble because the cat has to twist and stretch in so many weird directions.
I'M GLAD IT'S FINALLY DONE!
Now I can finally start animating. HOORAY!

Global Warming

My friend Pat and I recently finished our midterm project for out Science and Society class. Our chosen topic was Global Warming. We did this entire animation (from concept to final product) in about 2 1/2 days. It was... intense.

Well I guess I should start with "hello"

Thus begins my first artist blog (deviant art doesn't count!). Here I will post my digital art, as well as some of my more traditional things.

My name is Cherie Christensen, by the way, for any of you who haven't met me. You can call me Kitty, though, if you like. I am currently a senior at Pratt Institute and working on my senior project, which, if I do say so myself, is quite brilliant. Most of my postings will pertain to that.

Though I am a digital artist I love to work in traditional media. There's just something so satisfying in oil paints that you can't get with a computer. I love bringing together the digital and the traditional (in fact, my entire senior project revolves around this). Combined they can have so much more depth than one or the other alone, in my opinion.

I am also of the belief that art does not have to have a meaning. 20th century artists were brilliant, but they got this idea into peoples' heads that all art must have a purpose and meaning (and it must always be profound). Why can't art simply exist for art's sake? Why can't a person make something with the only intent of being pretty or visually interesting? So often I am asked, "What's the meaning of this piece?" when really we should ask, "Does this piece have a meaning, and if not does it really matter?"

Please feel free to browse through my artworks. I plan to post most of my things up here, but until then you can check me out on my website, Deviant Art, or youtube.

peace, love, and IK handles,
Kitty