Update/Pitch Summary and Reflection (Week 4)

Today I had my first progress presentation of my honours project.

It went really well! Got some really useful advice and now have a much greater idea of where I what I want to do next.

I basically put across my vision for my final project. - Which I have just realised hasn't been discussed on this blog.

To begin with, I've changed my entire idea. About a week ago, if memory serves.

Research Domain: Story Illustration and Design

Aim: To design an appropriate universe and artistic style for a story and interpret the importance of visual creation in adaptation.  

(Current) Objectives:
-Examine existing design processes and interpret reason behind creative directions.
-Critique and contract justification of bringing a stories' universe "to life".
-Create a broad visual realisation of a story, and assess the design process.

So basically, I'm going to completely realise the visual feel for a short story. And the process is going to be fun/interesting part.

This is kind of how I envision my final showcase to look. This is of course very early doors. But I like where it's heading.

design process: silhouette-thumbnails-refine-scenes-polished final concept art- high quality clay sculpts.

So this will allow people who view the exhibition to see my entire thought process in terms of design direction and decisions and, of course, experiments. I also would like to add a bit of inter-activity also. For example, I have a set of head phones which should be worn when viewing to add to the experience of the project. The head phones could either: Tell the story, in a compelling rhythmic style, play ambiance & foley sounds appropriate to the story- (through the help of one of the CSP students perhaps)- or even a mix of both.

ANYWAY...

Tips I received from pitch session:

- expand my research horizon, look into more books which cover the design process for films/games.
- consider making a timelapse video tutorial/info video about how I go about designing. (They do say the best way to really learn something, is to teach it). So I'm quite excited about the idea of that.
- What makes my design process/ideas different? What other creative professionals have done this well?

So as soon as I left the pitch session I headed to the library and got a hold of a few goodies.

- 2 DVD's (Gnomon Workshop):
"Character design for Games and Animation"
"Anatomy of A Short Film"

Image courtesy of graphixshare.com

(Gnomon DVD's were particularly recommended by Robin Sloan.)

I also grabbed a book which caught my eye.

Image courtesy of Amazon.co.uk

Because one can never draw too many naked people.

But seriously, I started flicking through this in the library, and ended up reading about 15 pages, so I couldn't not take it home. Some of the points made are incredible, and I only wish I'd discovered this sooner. I will no doubt post more about this book as I read more into.

Up until the start of third year, I hadn't bought a single art book. This fact is more than slightly depressing. But at the same time I'm now getting my hands on every scrap of art literature I can.

For adaptations such as "The Lord of the Rings", the studios release the accompanying "Art of" books. Although some of these books don't really explore the process that well, some of them can be incredibly interesting and can really help illustrate the pipeline behind visual development for adaptations.

So for my personal development I want to become much more well read in these Art of Books, and in Art books in general .

'til next time,