rachel oftedahl

sketching with Maya

rae — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:26:50 +0000

Some days I enjoy a good freeform romp in Maya. Ten minutes, a couple of lights, and a totally realistic flower. If flowers floated freely in space. And were all one piece. And cartoony. And blue. And shiny. Still fun.

oh happy day

rae — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:14:33 +0000

A wonderful example of traditional narrative executed in 3D using a pseudo-painterly fashion.

communing with the jellies

rae — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:56:46 +0000

I am lucky to live in Chicago, a city with many fine cultural institutions. I am doubly lucky to have a friend who works for the Shedd Aquarium, one of these fine institutions, that can get me in to see the beautiful Jellies exhibit. I am triply lucky to have had my DSLR with me, and for the jellies to be one of the few exhibits bright enough to decently shoot without flash. They are mesmerizing little buggers.

Here is more of my maiden attempt at indoor contained aquatic photography.

tiny tree

rae — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:19:01 +0000

Christmas is here, and once again I buy my favorite pagan symbol, a tree, with plenty of lights, but then find myself unwilling to buy plastic shiny baubles made in China to cover them. I can’t spend all day staring at a computer (well I could, but if you do, you sort of lose sight of the world and inspiration, in my opinion,) so my inherent fidgetiness comes in handy as I make yarn garland and origami birds to perch in my tiny tree. Merry Christmas, everyone.

a few turkeys

rae — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:46:21 +0000

This is a rehash of an idea born long ago, a spiffing up of some turkey drawings I did a few years ago. I am not a huge fan of eating turkey, but I surely do enjoy drawing cartoon ones.

mountainous dreaming

rae — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:56:31 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be be able to travel to Telluride, CO, where a cousin of mine lives. This particular cousin is also very versed in all the old roads all over the mountains and so we drove to some amazing places and I got to take my Canon Rebel t3i to task. I have a lot to learn, so if anyone has any funding for nature photography… oh the dream…

visual thinking

rae — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:23:58 +0000

I know there are vast quantities of books likely written on this subject, carefully researched and vetted by a range of scientists. But I like this unscientific distillation. Three minutes.

because we all need a reminder

rae — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:42:57 +0000

I will fully confess my teetering on the edge of burnout. Scratch that. I WAS burnt out. Justifying it or laying blame to something will sound whiny regardless, so I will just own up to the idea that I was burnt out. I let myself get bullied out of the process that I relished so much when I was learning how to do this, and got sunk in creating crap as fast as possible merely to keep my head above water at a job that didn’t particularly fulfill me. Wait… that started to sound whiny. (I shall now give myself a ‘get it together’ slap and move on.)

But since I have been lucky enough to teach, I have been lucky enough to get infected by the boundless energy of my students, and get inspired by them, and part of my brain that went into hibernation to protect itself is slowly waking up and shaking off the sleepiness. Then I ran across this video and found it somewhat appropriate. It is not perfect, and my snobbiness can not get beyond the fact that they used Arial as a typeface, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I can name off what I am good at and what I am bad at. Can you?

teaching motion graphics

rae — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:33:35 +0000

I have had the privilege to teach motion graphics at the School of the Art Institute twice now, and it has been by far the most challenging job I have ever had. I love it to death, even the bad days, and it pushes me to try to get a better understanding of motion graphics as a whole, since it is a field I sort of fell into after getting a masters in animation with a thesis focused around character animation. I am constantly reading up, trying to find more ways to explain these things I just sort of do without thinking, and this article popped up on Motionographer recently, prompting me to do a little dance, read it, dig in, and become determined to push the industry in Chicago further. They talk about New York as a mecca for motion graphics, and I can’t really argue that. New York has that… thing. Many years ago as a young theatre professional, I felt the lure of New York and moved there for seven years, which proved to be an amazing and frustrating time, and I understand how it is such an epicenter of art and culture. I can honestly say I would not be where I am now, doing what I am, without that part of my life. But now I live in Chicago, and I’m starting to get feisty. There is an enormous amount of talent in this city, and we seem to be the victims of a brain drain that sucks remarkably talented people out of Chicago and to New York or LA due to their frustration with the ceiling you hit here in Chicago. I’ve pondered it several times myself. But I love the Midwest, and I love Chicago, and I would like to see it shift away from that. So… I have thrown down my own gauntlet. How can Chicago become a place talent moves to, rather than flees? Anyone??? Anyone???

delightful BBC, as ever

rae — Fri, 27 May 2011 04:10:37 +0000

I love all of the BBC Knowledge spots. Fun, fluid, clever.