Arts at the Armory, one of Tacona’s largest annual celebrations of the arts, is this weekend! Come hang out with No, Mine! Studios from 11 a.m. -5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and check out the other wonderful vendors, too! I’ll have my game demo on hand, as well as a limited stock of stickers, buttons, and the new “Yeetcosystem Licensed Sales Agent Training Manual (Volume 1)” (the manual comes with a free sticker – included in package). Tim Kapler is also making his return to the arts world this weekend, so come say hi!
Concept art for Yeetcosystem. Suzanne Skaar, 11/2/2022. All rights reserved. Visit yeetcosystem.com for more information..
Due to circumstances beyond our control, there is no South Side Animation Club in September. We are encouraging interested animators in checking out the animation block at the Tacoma Film Festival in October at The Grand Cinema, and we will return virtually in November.
Join the South Side Animation Club at the Grand Cinema (606 Fawcett Ave Tacoma) on the second Wednesday of every month from 6-8 p.m.! Free and all ages. Presented by No, Mine! Studios, with support from The Grand Cinema.
Because the weather has been in our favor lately, we are holding the next South Side Animation Club outdoors!
Join us on Saturday, May 20 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at Wapato Lake Park (6500 S. Sheridan Ave Tacoma, WA 98408). The exact location will be posted on the website (https://www.nominestudios.com/) and Instagram (@nominestudios) once we set up, but we should be easy to spot! Bring camping chairs, blankets, sunscreen, snacks, and cold drinks (non-alcoholic per club and park rules), as well as a sketchbook, pencils, pens, watercolors, or whatever else you would like to work with outdoors. I’ll bring some supplementary art supplies to share (colored pencils, sharpeners, loose flip book supplies). [As this month’s meeting is outdoors, it will be relatively technology free except for what attendees choose to bring.] Wapato Lake is a wonderful setting to work on background art as a group, but as always, everyone is free to work on their own projects and encouraged to share progress with the group.
For those who sign in on Saturday, we’ll have a drawing for some mini-door prizes halfway through the session. We’ll announce the drawing winners at the meeting.
The South Side Animation Club is all ages, free, and intended for artists of all mediums and skill levels with an interest in making animation: digital and traditional animation and stop motion, sound design, writing, directing, and more.
Children are welcome when accompanied by guardian. Please note: We are unable to provide supervision for unattended children. Thank you for understanding.
Please refrain from smoking/ vaping near the club meeting spot out of respect for individuals with respiratory and other conditions. We also still encourage masks and/ or social distancing as appropriate to keep our group as accessible as possible.
This Community Arts Project is made possible with support from the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality and the Tacoma Arts Commission. Please feel free to email any questions you may have about the club to Suzanne Skaar at No, Mine! Studios: nominestudios@gmail.com.
Thank you for your support, and we hope to see you this Saturday!
This is a friendly reminder that our next South Side Animation Club meeting is happening this Saturday, April 22, from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch (215 S 56th St). The club is free and all ages! Please note the shift in time by half an hour; if you try to get into the room before 10:30, you will be put to work. 🙂 (Thank you to everyone who helped with setup and tear down last month! You are all awesome!)
Saturday is also Earth Day, so this is a good time to remind everyone that the Moore Branch is accessible by multiple bus routes.
We do have a few free animation kits left, and they are available on a first come, first serve basis. If you need one and did not get one yet, they will be available at the front of the meeting room as you walk in. We also have newsprint, pencils, loose flipbook paper, and other supplies/ equipment which we will go over at the start of the club. As usual, we will start with a mini-lesson that is not dependent on whether you showed up to the previous lesson. This week, we’ll talk about the 12 Principles of Animation.
If you have work you’d like to share, please bring it! If you’d like to have your work projected, please email a link to nominestudios@gmail.com ahead of time, or bring a USB drive. (This is an all-ages event, so please share work that is PG/ General Audiences friendly.) The showcase will start at around 12 p.m. (or sooner) depending on how many participants we have. We will also plan a longer Showcase later in the year. More details to come!
Local game devs, you are welcome to share your work here as well! Message me ahead of time so we can make sure we have the necessary equipment/ cables.
Share with Friends! Please help us get the word out to as many interested community members as possible!
Acknowledgments
The South Side Animation Club wouldn’t be possible without the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch, the City of Tacoma Arts Commission, the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality, and the support of the greater Tacoma community.
Thank you very much! We can’t wait to see you Saturday!
Happy dinosaur. Gif. Suzanne Skaar. 2020. All rights reserved.
I just received word that the City of Tacoma has approved funding for No, Mine! Studios to start the South Side Animation Club!
This all ages/ all-levels gathering will be once a month, free to the public, and is meant to bring more opportunities in the arts to residents in the South End, East Side, and South Tacoma. (It’s not a requirement to live in these neighborhoods: others are welcome to participate, too.)
A large portion of the funding received will be used to compile starter kits with drawing paper, pens, pencils, etc. and more for participants who need supplies. There will also be a projector and screen on hand so that participants can share works in progress.
There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work to take care of before the first meeting in the Spring: securing a venue in the South End Tacoma, getting the word out to interested artists, securing supplies/ equipment, and more. If you want to get involved, please email nominestudios@gmail.com.
I am grateful to the City of Tacoma for this opportunity. I’ll share more news as it becomes available.
The Countdown to Tacoma’s Arts at the Armory is on! Mark your calendars for December 10 and 11, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. for your chance to support local independent artists.
While you’re there, stop by my booth to play test my in-progress dinosaur game demo. I will also have a limited supply of stickers and buttons for sale.
In honor of Screenshot Saturday, here’s a glimpse at what I’m currently working on:
Sticker Sheet! The Pink Series by Suzanne Skaar, 2021-22. All rights reserved.
This is a few days later than I had hoped, but I wanted to say thank you to everyone who attended the Tacoma Arts Month Kaleidoscope Kickoff Party at the STAR Center. Thank you to the City of Tacoma and Metro Parks staff and the Tacoma Arts Commission for this great opportunity! And a special thanks to the Arts Commission for accepting my game into the 2021-2022 Tacoma Artist Initiative Program. The game demo went well, and I can’t express how much I appreciate the support!
It was great to see 2021-2022 Tacoma Artist Initiative Program recipients Curtis Ashby and Tamiko Nimura! [Tamiko is a 2022 AMOCAT Award Winner! ] Thank you to the Tacoma Arts Commissioners, artists, and staff who popped in to say hi and check out the game in between taking care of other duties for the party. And I loved seeing how far indie game devs will go to support each other, like Natasha who came all the way from Seattle! (Check out her work!) It was absolutely a packed house at times, so I didn’t get a chance to thank everyone personally.
I am especially grateful for my co-parent Tim Kapler and Izzy’s hard work. In addition to helping with the setup and tear down processes, I was informed by several attendees that Izzy did a great job directing people to the game demo, as well as pitching the game itself. Despite being encouraged by both parents to focus on enjoying the party, multiple trips to the pancake station and the Grand Cinema’s table for popcorn only strengthened the Junior Tester’s resolve to make sure everybody in the building had a studio business card and tried the game for themselves.
I ran out of stickers and buttons at the event, but more will be available for sale at the Grit City Comic Show on October 22 at the Tacoma Convention Center. Please let me know via email (nominestudios@gmail.com) if there is a specific item you are looking for, and I’ll do my best to have it on hand (within reason). I also have a smaller set up for those who haven’t gotten a chance to check out the game progress yet.
Because a few individuals asked, I am available to speak to local classes and am open to teaching beginning animation and digital art classes. Please email nominestudios@gmail.com.
For those who asked about the tools I am using to make my game, I’ll share a more in-depth blog post later this link, along with links to tutorials that I have found helpful.
A common theme of the night was talking to people who had either made an indie game and not released it, or wanted to make an indie game but didn’t know where to start. If you are interested in seeing more indie games flourish in Tacoma, let’s connect! There are so many talented creators here in the 253! I want to see the local dev’s game about revolution in my Steam account!!! (I didn’t grab your contact info, so please contact me if you see this!)
There are many ways to help support No, Mine! Studios. If you haven’t yet done so, you can like and follow No, Mine! Studios for more frequent updates on the following social media platforms:
Financial contributions are appreciated. I am considering options such as crowdfunding to hire a local programmer to help get the game ready for publication. Until that campaign kicks off, you can buy a dino a coffee here. And you can buy some of my art onlinehere.
Thank you again for your support, Tacoma and beyond!
Suzanne
Pixel Art Minizines by Suzanne Skaar. Layout of zines on table by Izzy. Photo by Suzanne Skaar. 2022. All rights reserved.Photo by Tim Kapler. City of Tacoma Arts Month Kaleidoscope Kickoff Party. No, Mine Studios Game Demo. Artwork by Suzanne Skaar, 2020-2022. All rights reserved.Photo by Tim Kapler. City of Tacoma Arts Month Kaleidoscope Kickoff Party. No, Mine Studios Game Demo. Artwork by Suzanne Skaar, 2020-2022. All rights reserved.Photo by Tim Kapler. City of Tacoma Arts Month Kaleidoscope Kickoff Party. No, Mine Studios Game Demo. Artwork by Suzanne Skaar, 2020-2022. All rights reserved.
Hi all! We’re meeting at Fern Hill Library at 11:30 a.m. to discuss the Incubator project. We’ll be at Red Hot on 6th Ave (Tacoma) at 4 p.m. to discuss the upcoming film project. See you soon!
No, Mine! Studios 