Heather Dixon Wallwork's Blog, page 4
August 16, 2017
DDC Wrapup–and GIVEAWAY!
Hey! Our Dixon Drawing Class series has finally wrapped up WHAAAAAAT!
It was a lot of fun to create this series–I hoped it helped a lot of budding artists to improve, learn how to practice drawing, break illustration projects into steps, and every good thing.
You can watch the final episode right now:
^^In there you can also see the process I used to create the final project–a Mary Poppins fanart (of course!) And now…you can WIN it!
Yup, in honor of the end-of-class, I’m doing a giveaway for 3 of these lovely li’l 8×10 prints!
You know you want it!
Here’s how to enter: Just comment WANT! in the comments section below, and you’re in! Giveaway ends on August 27th. I HOPE YOU GET IT!
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August 2, 2017
Katie Day
A few days ago was the anniversary of my sister Katie’s passing.
Everyone says the first year’s the hardest, and I hope that’s true because I still miss her so much.
But it will be ok.
A lot of people have asked me how her family–her husband and six kids–are doing. I’ve been super impressed with them all. Her husband Robert always tries to be cheerful, and the kids are such good kids and are always trying to do the right things.
My mom’s impressed me most of all, though.
Every morning, she’s up at the crack of dawn and over at their house, where she wakes up the kids with a lot of “Good Morning” songs (she has an entire arsenal of those) and gets them out of bed.
She then organizes them into teams and leads them in a clean-up of the house, which they really enjoy! How do I know they enjoy it? BECAUSE I HAD TO DO IT EVERY DAY OF MY CHILDHOOD AND I LOVED IT!!!!!!!*
*or else
Anyway after that she gives them a treat, and then does all their hair and helps out with breakfast.
(I told you she was amazing.)
Katie Day was hard on the kids, of course.
Partly because the oldest kid, Christopher, got in a car wreck while he was driving home from his job at Arby’s. It totaled his car.
Naturally he was feeling pretty crummy about this.
Mom tried to make him feel better by telling him a story about my dad.
On the very first day my dad got his driver’s license, he parked in front of his neighbor’s house.
As he was backing up to leave, the neighbors in the window started waving at him.
“What friendly neighbors I have!” he thought
…as he backed into their brand-new Mercedes.
After that, Chris felt a little better.
We visited Katie’s grave, too, that day.
And by “grave”, I mean, actually, mound of grass. There’s no headstone yet. I know! It’s been a year.
The reason is because the hired gravestone company ended up being waaaaaay behind on their contracts. So behind, in fact, that the newspaper did an article on how squirrelly they’ve been and all the people shafted by them. They have terrible BBB ratings. It’s quite the scandal.
I know there’s options, like getting a lawyer to get the money back, or just eating it and finding another place to do it, but the guy’s promised it would be done by July. Hasn’t happened, but maybe they’re close. Anyway right now its just a mound of grass.
Lame.
I told my friend that night about how kind of a bummer this was
and as it would happen, just that night before she had been playing bunco with another neighbor, Suzanne, who was talking about how she’s started a charity that makes temporary gravestones for children. When contractors make granite countertops, the ovals they cut out for the sinks are just thrown away. So she takes those ovals instead and with another neighbor’s help, puts vinyl lettering on them and lacquers them and parents are able to mark their children’s graves until they decide what to do for the gravestone. The graveyard won’t taken the stones away because they know they’re markers. They actually just finished making gravestones for the little quadruplets that passed away in Spanish Fork.
My friend immediately contacted Suzanne
And within 30 minutes, Suzanne was at my door with the marker in her arms.
It looks amazing.
And ya I’m still crying :)
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July 10, 2017
Shark Attack!
A coupla weeks ago, I went to the local aquarium with a friend.
This aquarium has some fun things you can do; you can watch bird shows, pet giant turtles, get a fishy pedicure…they even have a real-life mermaid swimming around with the manta rays, it’s cool.
One of the things they let you do is feed the fish. You pay to get “tokens” and then you use those “tokens” to get fish food. You can choose to feed the manta rays; or you can choose to feed the sharks.
Yes. You can feed the sharks!
The shark food is super gnarly. I swear they just took an eel and chopped it up. You could see the bones inside and everything. It was…kinda gross.
I really wanted to feed the sharks though because I have no common sense.
Anyway they weren’t that big.
One of the workers gave us some feeding tips.
HIM: OK, so all you need to do is hold the food *right* in front of them and wiggle it around a little bit. They have really bad eyesight so they won’t see it unless it’s right in front of them.
ME: Um. They won’t bite my fingers off or anything?
HIM: HAHAHAHA noooo! Their mouths aren’t shaped for that! And besides they don’t have teeth! You’ll be totally fine!
That sounded legit to me.
I went for it!
They totally had teeth!! What the heck was that guy talking about??
(I swear I heard him laughing like crazy in the other room.)
Anyway the moral to this story is that just because a person has a nametag, it doesn’t mean they care about you.
Here’s a next-day picture of the bite:
You might have a hard time seeing it due to all the blood.
I hope I get a really cool scar out of it.
In other news, the West Point City 4th of July 5k took place this past week.
I ran in it. I didn’t get last place…it was just around there. But at least I didn’t cheat this time!
The guy who won only looked like he was 17 maybe. It was hard to tell because we were all focusing on his running outfit–a pair of teeny tiny shorts with the American flag emblazoned across them, and a neon yellow crop top.
When he came up to get his prize (a gift card to Dick’s Sporting Goods) the MC was like: “You can use that to buy a new running outfit!”
Baaaahahahaa. I love West Point.
Speaking of 5K’s, there’s a super important one coming up in August that Imma gonna be doing, up at Weber State. It’s a memorial run for my sis (and a lot of other people…but mostly, my sis :)
THE INFO:
AUGUST 5, 8:00am WSU
5K fun run/walk
$25
All the proceeds go to charity, to help people through tough medical stuff. I’m not gonna twist your arm or anything…but it would be awesome if you were on my team :) :)
http://www.anythingforafriend.org/events/RunRegistration.aspx?eventID=82
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June 19, 2017
Light of Faith {The making of}
I do some work for an interfaith group called FaithCounts. They promote the importance of faith via social media. A few months ago, they came to me asking if I could do something based on a quote by Blaise Pascal–“In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe”.
For ages I’ve really, really wanted to create something based off of “The Ice Book,” a mini traveling theater with paper cutouts and projections. Now I had my chance!
It began with an animatic:
Fun, right?
The challenge now was to make it real-life. We began by recording the people on greenscreen, and then designing the paper cutouts in photoshop and illustrator.
We took the pen-traced layers of the scenes, and sent them to a paper cutter machine. (Contrary to what the piece shows, we did NOT cut these out by hand…are you crazy??! Haha)
Then separated the layers with foam board and put them in frames, backed by double-matted mylar.
With a borrowed projector, we took the greenscreen bits we filmed and projected them against the back of the picture.
Coool.
We ran into some problems, though–particularly with the light. It grows in each scene, which meant that we couldn’t get a consistent exposure. While it looked cool in real life, on camera the paper was either totally black, or the projection completely overexposed.
We realized we had to film the scenes three times, each time a different camera exposure…then composite them together in After Effects. Lots of masks were involved.
Then, we were ready to film again!
…And then composite again. Phew!
Here’s how it turned out.
This was such a blast to direct. A big thank you to everyone who helped ^_^
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June 5, 2017
I’m a Jerk (Episode #315)
Once upon a time, my coworker brought his kid to work, because school had just gotten out and why not?
(I love it when my coworkers do this ^_^)
The kid was maybe like 5 and really shy.
I turned up the Heather Charm™ for him.
All my friends say they can’t wait for me to have kids! Isn’t that sweet??
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May 22, 2017
The Benson Solution
Here’s a story you probably haven’t read before. It’s one of those you only hear by word of mouth. When my brother-in-law was in the army, he had a long car ride with someone who worked abroad for the Dept. of Agriculture. When asked about Ezra Taft Benson, the guy got a smile on his face and said, “Let me tell you a story about him…”
Since then, I’ve done a lot of research and though all the pieces fit, that story is unfindable. I don’t think it’s ever been written down!
(Until now.)
(I love this story.)
Back in the 1950’s, after the thin years of the second world war, agriculture took off. New technology, tractors, etc, led to increased crop production. At this same time, the New Deal (a policy where the government subsidized farmers, leftover from the Great Depression)* was still in effect. This meant that the government was paying a whole lot of money for food that no one needed to buy.
It was about that same time, 1952, that Dwight Eisenhower was elected. To tackle these agricultural issues, he appointed a man who had been the Executive Secretary of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, who had also organized a near-impossible relief effort in post-WWII Europe, and who was an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
This man’s name was Ezra Taft Benson.
Ezra Taft Benson was a controversial Agricultural Secretary of State. As a farmer himself, he believed that the government should not subsidize farmers. This made him unpopular among the farmers who were getting subsidies. He sometimes had eggs thrown at him when he went out on campaign. But; he gained followers as well–many farmers were independent, like him, and didn’t want to depend on the government.
They also admired when he showed up at their farms ready to help milk the cows. He wasn’t like the other government reps.
When Benson was appointed, he inherited a massive grain surplus problem. Up on The Hill, they called it “The Farm Problem.”
With the post-war boom, the US had all the grain they needed. And all the extra grain was stored in government silos. The transportation and storage of all this grain was costing upwards of a million dollars a day. Every day the government waited to fix this problem was a million dollars gone. The only solution was to sell it to other countries–who didn’t need the US’s grain.
Except for India. At this time, Northern India & Pakistan was in the throes of a food shortage, and they would have gladly bought the American grain. They had the money. The problem? The United States government didn’t recognize the Indian money, the rupee, as legit currency. The US couldn’t sell their grain to them.
Some parts of Congress pushed to give the grain to India for free. Benson felt strongly that this was a bad idea. He was concerned that if they gave the grain to India–who could pay, after all–they would become dependent upon the US for their food. India had only just gotten their independence from England, and Benson wanted to help them remain self-reliant.
But they did need the grain.
Benson immediately got to work. The same year he stepped into office, he managed to pass the “Public Law 480” act. This allowed him to “dispose of {The USA’s} surpluses for foreign currency by barter or donation.” With the help of this new act, he was able to sell a massive amount of grain to India and Pakistan–37 million bushels of wheat!
In return, he ended up with a lot of worthless rupees.
Or were they?
While the US didn’t recognize the rupee, the Japanese government did. Benson took the money he had gotten from India and Pakistan, and exchanged it for yen. But he didn’t exchange the yen again for US dollars. Instead–and this is where the story gets a little crazy–he bought dozens of Japanese trucks.
I make this not up.
Each of these trucks had an oven in the back. Benson hired drivers for the trucks, and sent them all out across the Japan countryside.
The drivers also cooked up a storm, and almost instantly, these little food trucks were the cat’s pajamas, attracting people for miles for the delicious, warm, sugar-encrusted deep-fried taste of…
DONUTS.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaa
(A side note: Donuts and donut trucks were all the rage in 1950s America. Your grandparents might be able to tell you about their experience with Dunkin Donuts, or the Helms Bakeries trucks when they were kids.)
The Japanese people were enamored with donuts! (Hahaha. They’re a lot like me!) What was this delicious new food? “They’re called donuts,” the drivers told them, “and to make them, you need merikan-ko.” American wheat flour. Or in other words, grain.
Almost immediately, the Japanese government and the American government struck a deal. Between 1954 and 1956, the two nations signed a series of agreements where Japan consented to buy the US’s surplus grain.
(The Japanese taste for wheat, in a twist of revenge, spiraled to instant ramen in the late 1950s, from which we are all casualties….delicious, delicious casualties.)
Not only had Ezra Taft Benson solved the wheat surplus problem for several years, but he also gave India the dignity of buying their own grain, gave work to those drivers in Japan, and also gave the farmers here in the US the sense that their hard work had merit. It was the Benson Solution.
After his eight years on Eisenhower’s cabinet were up, Benson returned to his position as an LDS apostle, and eventually became the president of the LDS Church in 1985. He passed away in 1994, but is still admired by many people today.
Including me. I really love this story because it reminds me that when I think the only solutions to my problems is bad solution A or bad solution B, there might be a Great Solution C I haven’t thought of yet–a Benson Solution.
And I can almost always find it ^_^
The post The Benson Solution appeared first on Story Monster.
May 8, 2017
Date Food$
Sometimes when I’ve gone on a first date, the guy leads me into a dark alleyway
And I think, this is it. He’s going to kill me for my watch and leave my body in this dark alleyway. He’s going to snap my neck with his great, large hands and he can totally do it because men are so strong and have so many wonderful muscles…
but then it turns out that he’s not going to kill me at all. Instead, he’s brought me to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant tucked deep in the alleyway. A restaurant that I’ve never heard of, and the sign doesn’t help because it’s usually in a foreign language or, worse, cursive.
We go in and it becomes very clear that this restaurant is not a franchise. It has weird light fixtures. The pictures on the walls are abstract and full of deep meaning. The floors are wood or maybe even cement but most definitely they are not the God-fearing orange tile you get at any decent, normal restaurant.
I start to get nervous. This restaurant looks expensive. I don’t think my date can afford this place.
I take a look at the menu and it becomes very clear. He most definitely cannot afford this place.
They don’t even write the dollar signs by the price at places at these. They don’t even have the decency to add the cents, either. It’s just a number delicately tucked to the side of the menú. At first you might think that number is the number of salt grains they put on the food.
But it’s not.
What the…??
This is the worst!
I give my date the coy “I-don’t-think-we-can-afford-this-maybe-we-should-go-to-another-restaurant?” look.
Yes, I know he’s paying, but why should that make a difference? It is an unwritten rule of the Sisterhood that frugality on a date is imperative. Every penny we spend on “Champignons Degoutants” is a penny less we can spend on the wedding.
My date doesn’t notice.
It’s like he’s not even thinking about the future!!
What is going on in his head? I don’t want to wash dishes! I don’t want to have my wedding in a cultural hall! How will we buy milk for the baby???!??
The waitress comes to take our order.
The waitress is very beautiful. She has aqua hair and many piercings and tattoos that are abstract and full of meaning.
DATE: I’ll have the Boule De Pâte Cher.
*Waitress and date look at me.*
ME: I’ll have a water.
The things I do for my children!
When the waitress arrives with the food, I get a thrill of exhilaration. The plate is HUGE!
Well! No wonder the food here is so expensive! It’s a whole freakin’ platter! My date will have to share with me, he’ll never be able to eat all of that on his own!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Why did they need such a large platter for such a tiny thing of food? That can’t be all there is, can it? Why in the world is it so expensive? Is the sauce made of gold? Is that sprout sticking out of it from a magic beanstalk?
My date gets to work.
I stare at the food.
It’s so tiny, there are approximately 3 and a half tastes to it.
Four, if you count the bean sprout.
I can’t rob my date of his dinner. No matter how hungry I am. I can’t. It’s a sisterhood thing.
The waitress comes with the dessert menu.
And thus ends the night. My date escorts me out of the alleyway, does not kill me, or even look at my watch (it’s a nice watch!)
He says bye and that’s it. That’s the end of the date.
What??
What the heck? He doesn’t even ask for a second date! After I starved myself for him and everything!!
I suddenly realize that my date hadn’t asked me out on a date because he wanted to marry me. He just wanted to try a new food place and didn’t want to go alone like a loser! What the!
At that moment, I realize I should have ordered the Chevronné Lobster, sisterhood be hanged. In fact, he’s really lucky I didn’t drag him back into that alleyway and snap his neck!
(I could have, too. You wouldn’t like me when I’m hangry.)
But I don’t, because like any self-respecting American franchise, Cafe Rio was only just a block away….and it might just have saved me from committing a terrible crime.
Thank the stars for Cafe Rio.
HEY! It’s WINNER TIME!
Congrats on the Alice in Wonderland Print winners–Elizabeth, Susan:), & Nick! WOOO!!
I’ve sent youz guys emails.
I also want to say, thank you so much everyone, for all your kind support of the etsy shop! I’ll admit I was bowled over by all your orders! Wow! You make me want to draw even harder ^_^ (SO I WILL.)
The post Date Food$ appeared first on Story Monster.
April 24, 2017
So close, McQueen
I’ve had “The Great Escape” on my brain this week, so I put this together.
The Great Escape (a tribute). I both love and hate this moment.
Posted by Heather Dixon on Monday, April 24, 2017
Baaaaahahahaa
This moment is both glorious and painful.
(For reference:)
I guess I should’ve said “spoilers”.
(To be fair, the movie is over 50 years old)
(1:38 – Bill Nye, is that you??)
The post So close, McQueen appeared first on Story Monster.
April 17, 2017
ETSY SHOP OPENING! {+Giveaway!}
GUYS
Guysguysguys
After a HUGE learning curve (mostly how to use a mouse) I finally opened an etsy shop!! WOOOOO!!!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/storymonsterart
If you’re reading this blog post, you’re attending the Grand Opening ^_^
You can also be eligible to win this pretty 6.5×10 Alice in Wonderland print!
All you need to do is comment “WANT!” below and you’ll be entered into the drawing. (I’m giving away 3, drawing will be closed Monday May 1st.)
You can also visit the shop and if you type in the promo code RAWR20 you can get 20% off your order! (That’ll last til May 1st too)
Thank you for all your encouragement! I appreciate the sweet messages and emails you guys have sent. Do you see any artwork I haven’t put up that I should? Let me know!
The post ETSY SHOP OPENING! {+Giveaway!} appeared first on Story Monster.
April 10, 2017
Early Morning Escapades
I’m an early riser, and when I say “early riser,” I actually just mean “insane.”
Every morning I get up at 3:45 AM then make the sleepy trek to my sister’s house to go running.
We do this because we’re too tired to talk ourselves out of it. And also, the neighbors won’t see us in our grungies. Everything’s nice and quiet and wonderfully boring. Not even the dogs and mosquitoes are awake. All the crooks are in bed, too. I never see anything happen at 4 AM.
Never…
Like, really weird.
There was one time at 4 AM I saw a clown riding past on a tandem bike.
Oh wait…that was me.
Ok I guess a few weeks ago something happened–I saw a white truck parked in front of someone’s house. It was idling and when the guy saw me drive past, he turned of his lights and sunk real low in his seat.
I called the cops on him.
Since then, I’ve driven past the house several times and…have…seen that same white truck parked…in…the driveway.
So…I uh…I guess I uh called the cops on someone who lived there.
*coughcough*
WELL MAYBE HE SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ACTING SO SUSPICIOUS!
(My neighbors love me.)
Anyway, last week…
I was up and making the short drive to my sis’s house, when I see a bunch of flashing lights up ahead.
Lo and behold there were three cop cars (including the Sheriff’s truck) all lined up in a row, their lights flashing and driving very, very sloooowly.
Slooowly, they drove through the red light.
And sl-0-o-o-wly they drove into my lane!!
They were coming at me head on!
Then one of them blared their sirens at me so I stopped real short because whaaaaaa
And then, out of the darkness
emerged a big black
COW
It stared at me for a second and then trotted around my car and back into the other lane.
Lights still on, the police cars slowly, slooowly followed it
It was definitely the most entertaining thing I’ve seen all month.
In fact when I got to my sister’s house I convinced her to bike after it.
(She loves me.)
ADDENDUM: This morning we were jogging and there was a guy going real slowly around a house with a flashlight…and a crowbar.
We, um. We decided that he lived there.
#fin
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