About


Hello, My name is Valerie. I am an artist at heart and work as a freelance concept artist. I have experience in Photoshop, Adobe programs, and Maya. Born and raised in the State of Hawaii I started drawing at a young age. I soon became very passionate about the stories I'd make up. Some were matters of the heart others about awesome super hero women who kicked ass. I went to an all girl private high school because I didn't get along with boys at that age, in fact I hated most guys. I met the most accepting friends there who would listen to me bitch about stupid boys and mean teachers. One day in Mrs. Alves Sophomore Algebra class I drew a comic. The comic was about how angry I was with this guy I had a crush on. And how he made me feel, because he was mean to me and teased me constantly but I still thought he was cute. I based it off a true event where in the same class I had drawn a likeness of him then randomly started punching the picture on the desk repeating the words stupid stupid stupid. My friend sitting next to me thought it was funny and started laughing. It made me feel good because out of my misery she laughed. The name Class Notes came from the page I wrote them on which was my Algebra "Class Notes".

From then on I would draw little by little till one day I just stopped because I focused on other forms of art. It wasn't until I graduated when I started to re-do most of the them and even create new ones. My friends loved them because they were mostly about the things we would talk about or events we had. Until one day those same people I based it off of had gotten angry that some of the comics also included this guy I had been seriously dating. They thought that he had taken over my comic and that they were out of it. I stopped making them once again to do other forms of art. But also because these comics seemed to get me into trouble with some of my relationships.

Until recently about a year ago I restarted them again. Even though some people come at me, being upset that they think this comic strip is about them. I can't help but laugh a little because It's a FUCKING comic strip. It's an expression about life and how sometimes you have to laugh at your own flaws or smile at the dark times to enjoy the good times. I never meant to hurt people's feelings in this comic it's in a way how I vent.

To be honest I am not even like Val in Class Notes. I seriously don't have the balls to tell people some of the things she's said. In fact I usually think these things weeks or months after the event happened. When I re-started Class Notes for the third time I knew at that moment I was doing these for me and for the people who enjoyed them. I thought "Do what you love and fuck the rest." I figured the people who didn't like it don't have to hit the like button. (Simple)

In the past I've had people tell me they didn't like it. For a wide variety of reasons. Until one day I met someone who made me feel like I was doing something that made people laugh. And that's all I wanted to do. He came up to me in a club I didn't know who he was and I had never met him at all in my life. He said "Your that girl with the Class notes comics!" I looked at him in shock (O_O) I asked him; how do you know that? I mean we aren't even friends on Facebook? He told me that we had a mutual friend who told him to look at my Facebook page and read my comics. His friend said "You have to read this, this girl is funny." It made me feel like, really good. Because all I would hear from most people was negative things, only my family was supportive. It inspired me to continue with Class Notes Comics to give people something to laugh about. Because if you can laugh at it, you can survive it.

I have a degree in Media Arts and Animation at KCC. Also known as 3D animation similar to Pixar and Dreamworks. While I do Class Notes on the side. I do share a love of Nail Art and Painting which I haven't been doing much of lately because work won't let me paint nails and Painting takes time that I don't have.

No comments:

Post a Comment