The next Kiriban is 66,666. Catch it if you can.

WTF? I just heard form my mom that the school is making it mandatory to take the AP exam for the students in the AP ART class (as they should), but then some mother complained that if the school was going to make it mandatory to take it, that they ought to supply the slides for the students too? And then they made the test optional.

This is my reply to my mother, word for word in the e-mail and to the Principal of the school. As you may tell, yes; it is a bit of a rant. Yes, I am angry. Why? because people are so quick to point fingers before looking at the whole big picture.

As for the AP Art exam, hel-LO!? Read the course description before you take a class. They all KNEW they would have to spend money on that class. Class expenditures for supplies COVERS paying for your friggin' art slides! Oh, I'm sorry parents, YOU can dish out the $200 to pay for the exam and the school can cover the what? $50 it takes to pay for slides if you go to the right people AHEAD of time! And if you wanted to know exactly what you would need to buy for the class and preparing for the exam, you can ask the teachers! For pete's sake! I thought Highschool was prep for college. I'm sorry, but no one's going to pay for my tests and supplies out here! Heck, I'm paying for my schooling! It is a HUGE privilege to be able to attend ANY art school that has an art program like this. I attend my drawing class with kids that had never been to a school with an art program like this. This is golden opportunities here! If a kid from here wanted to take the AP exam, they'd have to pay for the $200 test, and what? $50 at most for decent slides? Oh and then art supplies, which don't come cheap. And even then, they'd be lucky to find a teacher capable AND willing to help them put their portfolio into good order AND go over their artist statements. The course is called AP Studio Art because the entire course is about preparing for this one exam! If you don't want to spend the time or the money to chase after artistic achievement, then don't even start down the path! If you don't want to be a writer, why take a whole bunch of writing classes and prepare and prepare, and then decide you don't want to take the test because something involving the test costs you some money? The ENTIRE year, the ENTIRE class is ABOUT TAKING THIS EXAM! And you don't want to because it will cost you some extra dollars? Um, excuse me? College, at it's cheapest, costs thousands of dollars. And guess what? Professional artists? Yeah, those artists you admire, the great ones we can't even imagine getting close to in talent? They USE slides. Why? it's a convenient way to carry arround your portfolio to future clients and college campuses. I JUST attended an Art Seminar class, and guess what? We viewed the pieces on a slideshow. Sure, if the artist's work is in the gallery, we go down to the gallery to go and see the work after. But in the actual seminar when he's expainging his process, and telling us the history of the piece, it's always on the screen in front of us. I'm sorry, but it boggles my mind that you would spend hundreds of dollars on art supplies(some of which, I might add, is provided by the school) and spend your time working your heart out for this test you're not going to take because you're going to spend a fraction of what you've spent so far on getting another important piece of an artist's portfolio. And here; here's the site I got my slides from for a very decent price: [link] . I still have them, and I plan on using them to apply for a scholarship here at my school. It's insulting as an artist that someone would get so touchy about $50. In my own opinion, the information you get back from the exam is well worth the money used to take it. I'm grateful that I took the test, and I always thought about it as mandatory. Anything else is failure to me. There is no better way to kick a butt in gear than to make something mandatory. You students ought to be grateful such an opportunity is made so readibly available to you! The test is mandatory for ALL other students taking AP courses. Why should you get special treatment? You don't want to spend the money for slides? I've spent so much money working for commissions that never pulled through and I didn't get paid for. Should I just not do art anymore because I don't want to spend money on my art anymore? That's not an artist, people. That's an excuse. And excuses don't make art great."



As a side note. I graduated from that school in 2007, with an advanced diploma and a certificate of program completion in the Architectual and Engineering program. I did not recieve credit for completing the Art program because the teachers did not have out Points (credit for attending art shows, galleries, plays, etc) in proper file. I completed all classes with passing grades. I also got a 4 out of 5 on that test.

Commission information:
To set a commission, send an e-mail with the title "Commission Request" to Ftepainting[at]yahoo[dot]com (and as always, replace the [at] with a "@" and the [dot] with a "."). Please provide all the information to complete the commission (if I have any questions, I will ask ). Please send all payments to my paypal address (same as my e-mail) OR you can send a check, I will e-mail you who you should address it to. I will begin the actual commission when I recieve payment. You can opt to make a deposit of half the commission and pay the rest after I finish. I have been tricked into free commissions before, so please don't ask me to deviate from this rule. As for not having paypal, it's free to get an account and send money, I don't accept concealed cash because I don't want to risk money getting lost in the mail.

Commission Types:

Traditional: All pieces will be done in traditional media of ink and/or copic markers on marker paper approximately 8.5x(11-14) inches. Anything larger (up to 14”x22” must be specified.
Black and white single character: $15

Color single character: $30 full color, $20 monotone or duotone

Additional characters: $10

Add Background: $8 simple background, $15 for a detailed background

Shipping costs: $7 if


Digital: All pieces will be done in Photoshop, in an 8x10 document set at 300 DPI, unless asked for another setting.
Black and white single character: $15

Color single character: $30 full color, $20 monotone or duotone

Additional characters: $10

Add Background: $8 simple background, $15 for a detailed background

Shipping costs: $7 you want a print of your picture. Otherwise I will just e-mail you the picture

If you want to commission for photoediting, prices will be negotiated depending on what needs editing.


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What I would like to do, but have no clue on what exactly it should be:
-bookmarks
-buttons
-serialized chapters of 666
-Cosplay (never officially done it, but I'd like to try)
-faerie pics
-general illustrations of my other stories (suggestions on the best ones to do would help)

Illustration/general Suggestions:

Humanoid variations (multiple arms)- suggested by Zillah