Achievement Unlocked: Bachelor's Degree

I had a great time at the Portfolio Show.  My family came down from Brookville to help set up my booth in the morning and they were a great support system in the few hours before the big meet and greet with the field professionals.

I met many people including the friends and families of other graduates, continuing students from my own major looking into what's expected of them in the end, and several game studios that will surely be seeing my applications soon enough if they haven't already.

As promised, here are a few photos from the show (photography by Dan Dexter):

I am all dressed up to look professional next to my finish display.

This is the final product of my display at the Portfolio Show.  Look at my sexy mug.

My mother and my niece were caught taking pictures.  I love how supportive my family is.

Matt Gillmeister, the winner for the Best of Show award for Game Art & Design, still took interest in the prototypes I had on display.

Overall, I am very excited for the results that shall yield from the Portfolio Show.  Congratulations graduates!  We did it!

Preparing for the Portfolio Show

All this week, I'll been preparing for the Portfolio Show for Thursday and making sure I have everything I wanted to give away ready.  For starters, my custom pens arrived early this morning:

They're the twisting kind so you don't stab yourself in the pockets.

I also had gotten most of the printing done on yesterday (all except for the DVD labels that I had to go home and fix in Photoshop).  But this is essentially what I will be giving away!

Custom pens in my custom mug, DVD demo reels that include a resume insert, business card, and the DVD with a custom label and case cover.  You can find a total of five logos on a single DVD give-away.

I also got a really sexy logo printed that I'll be cutting out to display at the top of my booth:

Sexy logo by Catzi Lacerenza.

Wish me luck!

Deep Breath.

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend.  I had a lot of work going on for me, such as programming the HUD for Modus Operandi, trying to make Pretend a little more appealing, brainstorming for a better demo reel, and working on the construction of my portfolio booth.  However, the portfolio booth is the only thing that I have pictures of right now.  The rest have their own respective places on the internet and you can click on their links to learn more about them.  So without further ado:

Latest photo of the semi-assembled portfolio booth.

This is my portfolio as it sits in my bedroom, minus the top-middle piece of fabric.  I haven't quite decided how I want that part to look yet; but whatever I do with it, it'll need to be done at the beginning of the show because it wouldn't be able to fold up neatly otherwise.  The two on the sides have been folded and stapled nicely.

Also, I got the monitor to stay up!

My monitor staying on the booth wall like a boss.

Last weekend, I was having an issue because it was too top-heavy.  My mother thought it would be a good idea to make a lip in the front for the monitor to sit on, but it is actually too narrow.  Naturally, I asked my mom for help because she's the construction woman of the year, and this is what I got.

Yes, that is indeed crayon.  No, I didn't get my drawing skills from her.

So... It was pretty close.  I just made this instead.

Displaying my awesome girl scout knots (not).

Those are absolutely, without a doubt, lanyards.  Three lanyards, actually.  But unlike my mother's very detailed drawing, the monitor was top-heavy like I mentioned before.  So I had the lanyards pull down on the back of the monitor (reversing what my mother suggested) so that the screen would appear upright and correct.

The lanyard is clipped onto the screw-loop thing.

About a year ago, I wanted to buy a lanyard and two card holders, one for my school ID and one for the bus passes.  However, they didn't seem to sell just one lanyard, so I had gotten a pack of ten.  Over time, I've been finding different uses for them.  My roommate used two to makeshift a temporary strap for her camera.  I have one rigged up to the standing fan in our apartment because it sort of broke and it's holding the fan to face people rather than the ceiling.  Another one was cut and melted to mend a belt.  I believe only one is actually being used as a lanyard for a USB drive (that I don't even use anymore).  Go figure, when I got a car and a fancy purse, I didn't need the lanyard anymore because I didn't want the whole thing dangling from the ignition and tickling my legs like little spiders.

Anyway, I had felt like a genius when I pulled out the lanyards and tied it all together.  They're actually quite stable the way it all holds together.  And no, you can't poke them at Portfolio Review.