A few weeks back I got wind of the annual Art & Design Career Expo. I have been interested in getting a summer job or internship in the local area for a while now but haven’t had much luck finding a place to apply or actually securing a internship for the summer which is why I was particularly interested in this expo.

As far as having a portfolio to show in person I didn’t exactly have anything of significance, which is a problem when that’s what everyone wants to see if you can imagine. I had a few drawings from studio classes, a poster or two from random projects, and this-and-that lying around. But what I did have was a week; one week to get my work together and get it in some sort of presentable fashion. Luckily time was on my side, barely, though it’s not like I was in some life or death rush, I just wanted to be prepared as well as I could be. (more…)

Wow. I would have never guessed at how busy I could potentially be this semester. It’s actually pretty crazy. My first semester at the University of Michigan has afforded me tons of work and little free time. Combine classes with a not-long-but-not-near-distance relationship and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a lack of ambition and effort when it comes to being creative.

Because of my transfer status with all my credits that I had already amassed I have to take a total of 3 or 4 regular academic classes in the next 2.5 years which means I get to overload with art classes. The overload is going to be, and is, the worst this school year because I’m trying to get all these art credits for my “sophomore review” even though I’m technically a junior. Whomever says art classes are easy obviously never took more than two at the same time; while they may not have a terrible amount of class work, the projects really stack up. Never before have I had more out-of-class work than now.

With that said, I try not to get burnt out, creatively speaking, on all the mundane and redundant projects assigned. How though? I should be burnt out, but I’m not, I just don’t get it. Perhaps because I have lots of personal projects on the back burners I don’t put my all into the assigned work. Do I take the easy way out? I would hope that I don’t, that wouldn’t say very good things about me as a student and as a artist. Maybe it’s because I take brakes frequently enough to look though books, look though other designers portfolios, and sketch (I always have my trusty Moleskine sketchbook close at hand).

I wonder what other people in my (relatively) same predicament do? Do most people have some sort of recharge mechanism for their creative juices?