Progress Presentation 4.

Before I go into detail about my Presentation, I should first talk about my Concept Development and Pre-Production Portfolio feedback, as this was the focus of my presentation.

The main points made in my feedback were:

• Lack of focused attention to related media. 
• Likewise, practice-based research didn’t underpin sources well enough. Clearer influence.
• Deeper relation of theory and practice. 
• Structure of Project. Study Pipe Lines... Critical Framework?

At a time where I felt like I was just meandering from place to place in my project, this feedback helped me regain an understanding of, and appreciation for, my project, while also giving me a kick up the butt.

So I'll try to address each point, individually.

Lack of focused attention to related media. 

This was a big one. Robin had brought up this same problem in my Project Proposal feedback. Basically, I was getting so caught up in sporadic ideas during my studies, that I sort of waltzed past the basics. Most of my practice based research up to about two weeks ago all stemmed from studies of games ("Journey" & "Fable 3"), or original animated stories ("Ratatouille"); Not to mention, in my Proposal, I suggested a case study on James Cameron's "Avatar".

None of these works are adaptations.

I did of course have my reasons for each of these studies, and the work surrounding Journey and Fable have indeed proven to be very inspiring and fruit-bearing to my practical works.

But this doesn't take away the fact that there has been a serious lack of focus towards books which deliver and argue the art behind adaptation.

The Art of Tangled, 2010.

Based on this problem, I began a case study on Disney's "Tangled".

Tangled is an adaptation of the classic Grimm tale "Rapunzel". I liked the way in which Tangled found its visual style and the way the artists realised the world in which the tale unfolds. (Case study to follow shortly).

The study on Tangled initiated a clump of practice-based research focused on visual development aimed at a young audience.

Practice-based research didn’t underpin sources well enough. Clearer influence.

I feel my afore-mentioned clump of practical work was a much more focused routine of iterative creativity. (again, see follow up post.)

Deeper relation of theory and practice.

I tried to be far more critical in the development of my designs following this point. As a mentioned in a previous post, this project so heavily relies on this critical attitude towards my creations. By enforcing shape, colour, symbolism and composition/staging, my work began to take on more interesting and appropriate forms, which seems to go down well at my presentation.

Structure of Project. Study Pipe Lines... Critical Framework?

Eventually, people began to notice that I didn't have a solid critical framework in place. I touched on this in my last post, and finally, I now have a critical framework formed to funnel my work, and existing works, through, in order to fuel my reflective research. *THUMBS UP*

The Actual Presentation.

Throughout the presentation, I covered everything that I just mentioned, and also unveiled some of the practice-based research I had in turn, created.

I also set aside some time to cover my exposition/final outcome, which is, understandably I think, the part I'm most excited about.

I originally stated that I liked the idea of beginning a whole new adaptation process. However, the X-factor judges turned me onto the idea of just focusing solely on this story. I've already created a somewhat large array of visuals for it. So why don't I just keep iterating on them, and end up with one, fully realised, adaptation. This would also mean I could convey this entire adaptation process from start to finish almost like the "Art of" books which have so heavily transported this project. Which leads me onto my next topic:

A Book. 

Ryan informed me of a website: www.blurb.com, which allows you to upload files, text, etc, and ultimately just create your own high-quality bound book.

I strongly feel that this would be an excellent way to express the journey of this project. Ultimately, the visuals of this project are that of a design process. If I can literally lay this work out as an odyssey, clearly conveying the decisions and thoughts made and encountered along the way, and a reader can fully understand and appreciate the final aesthetic qualities of the project, it would surely harness a far greater appreciation.

Also, the concept of having a book of my art printed has me excited to no end.

Ps. I feel like I may have horribly repeated myself in this post. If so - apologies!

Progress Presentation 3.

It's been over a month since my last blog post, which isn't like me. Nevertheless, I have been working hard on my project during this time.

Last week I gave my third progress presentation, in which I covered some of the practice-based research I'd undergone in the weeks prior, and my findings and thought processes which had stemmed from said research.

The reaction to these seemed overall positive, (despite my powerpoint breaking), which was a nice motivation.

I received great constructive feedback, which centered around the fact that I didn't have a critical framework, per se. I had been researching through an implied critical framework, yes, but I didn't actually have a tangible pipeline on paper on in a document. The feedback I received really revived my opinion towards the idea of a critical framework, which, prior to the presentation, had always been negative or muddled. Despite the (imo) slight tediousness of creating a critical framework, it goes without saying that it's invaluable to your research progress. And now that I have my framework finalised, I feel much more confident and extrovert because of the way it vehicles my creative thoughts and studies.

The tutors also scrutinised my "Fundevogel" character designs which was hugely appreciated. Because I so desperately needed some critique on the actual artwork that wasn't just my own opinions.

The Chef: For a young audience, he doesn't strike you as the bad guy. I feel his silhouette succeeds more on that level. Ultimately, the final design didn't live up to the promise of the silhouette.

Also, the skin tone for The Forester is paler than The Chef, which doesn't really add up. The forester spends his days patrolling the woods, and the chef spends all day in the kitchen and pantry. This is just a classic case of me getting carried away and overlooking the basics. Which I'm slowly improving on. These basics obviously cannot be overlooked if your goal is to invent creative design solutions to the characters profile.

I think there is an appropriate variety in the diversity of the character designs. However, it would be interesting to push the designs even further and discover just how far you can push this pixar-esque style of illustration before it becomes to distant from the target audience. (Which is what adaptation is all about).

The leads me nicely onto the topics of discussion in my last meeting with Ryan, in which we went back to basics and reinstated the worth of my project. Such as:

The purpose of adaptation?

What makes it awesome?

Should the adaptation deviate from the prowess of the original story? Why? When has this been well received or done with great artistic merit before?

We got onto the topic of case studies also and how I should consider putting more time into that. So that's task for the next few weeks.

First Critique.

Despite my critique presentation being almost entirely practical, I received a lot of welcomed compliments on my work from Brian, Ryan & Lynn.

 I didn't record the feedback, but I did manage to quickly take note afterwards on the trusty iPad. 

What to improve on.

The "Why?" of my work. 

This was the resounding feeling in the air throughout the majority of the feedback.

I'm very guilty of getting to carried away when creating that I often forget to document or analyse decisions along the way, a least on a conscious level. I guess I've always been a bit of an introvert that way. And that doesn't help when you have relatively lengthy proposals and papers to write regularly. 

So as a suggestion from Ryan, I'm going to assess one of my previous original paintings and discuss the goods and the bads. Lynn suggested circling areas on the painting itself and writing about these specific parts which may or may not work, and what I can learn from this. (So basically a self-review).

 I actually saw this process done somewhere else recently, but unfortunately I can't remember where. So that's my task for today. 

Vehicle and Weapon design. 

I, perhaps foolishly, included a picture of some Star Wars vehicle concept art in my slideshow. 

Now I'm not, or at least hope I'm not, one of those people who draws the same thing repeatedly and tries to convince themselves that it's "relevant to my studies". 

However, I now realise that by including this picture, people naturally assumed something like: 

"Oh, he's going to do a bunch of Star Wars inspired vehicles and learn nothing. What's the point?!"

And I would have thought the same. However, it was purely just to say "here's an example of vehicle design for a film." 

If I need to design these, I'll be aiming to design fresh and interesting vehicles and weapons. I wil be developing with task in mind, not Star Wars or any other original world visual styles. 

The Positive.

Most of the practical work I've been doing has been studies of existing work by industry professionals. I like to do this because I often pick up on where new artists have perhaps received inspiration from the old masters. 

Bobby Chiu's work echo's the warmth of late art legend Norman Rockwell

This reasoning seemed to gain a few nods of agreement from my piers and tutors. So hopefully that was interesting so some people.

What's Next?

• Research Proposal. 
• Theories which resonate my questions. 
• Comparing the design process between Animation and Games.
• Analyse my own work. 

Interview with Kenneth Anderson.

Yesterday, freelance artist, Kenneth Anderson, was nice enough to grant a structured interview.

Despite going in with a list of specific questions, Anderson would often pick up on something from these and a whole new area of conversation would stem from that, which made the interview much more interesting.

I guess you could say it was an informal structured interview? 

Regardless, I received a lot of personal information about his career, his journey (so far), and also where he finds his inspiration. Which was obviously enormously helpful to someone like myself, hoping to make it out there in the big ol' world not too long from now. 

Anderson often gathers inspiration walking his dog. 

Thankfully, about 5 minutes in I remembered to begin recording. I always forget to record things, so I'm glad this one time I actually remembered - even if it was belated. 

One of the main things we got talking about were other professional concept artists/illustrators/fine artists that we were interested in. I managed to find out a whole bunch of artists who I had barely researched or sometimes even heard of, but were informed these were "must-knows" in the industry. So that was a big step in research direction.

One of the ideas this brought to light for me, from that meeting was the idea of comparing concept artists from the 60's/70's, and examining the styles, the influences, and really just the whole purpose of the concept art then, compared to the concept artists of today.

Bobby Chiu is part of Imaginism Studios Inc.

Imaginism Concept Art

So that'll give me a tonne of arts to look into for a while.

Also, after my previous post about my adaptation of song lyrics to art, I've decided it's time to begin experimenting with interpretation and using different styles of approach when drawing. 

So I guess I'm going to find a short description of a story world, (there's tonnes online), and draw up several adaptations of the same description and explain the decisions of the art created. 

'til next time.

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,