Animation, Process and Production 1 (28th September)

During our first Process and Production session we went right into designing and creating poses for our own caricatures, based upon our own selves.

The idea was to become less concerned with 'perfection' (or anything even closely resembling perfection) and focus more and getting the general impression of movement and form, so that our illustrations became more and more abstract with motion, yet still retaining their humanity and could still be recognised as ourselves.

It got to the point where, when making the smaller illustrations, it would take only upwards of 10-15 seconds to create a form with real life and movement, something I was personally shocked by when I realised how when you stripped away everything but the core character and an action you could make an image that conveyed so much more life and energy than a sketch that could take minutes or even hours.

This eventually lead into a Model Sheet drawing, which was as different from drawing quick poses as could be.

Here every proportion had to be carefully placed in a totally front facing shot, then emulated in a sister drawing that would be a totally side facing shot. Rather than being used to capture the mannerisms and nature of a character, like the previous exercise, but are rather there to show every detail a character has so that they may be replicated later, or turned into a 3D model.

The whole session was difficult at first, as letting go of perfection was a slow process, but the more I let the simplicity take over and just allowed the forms and movement to take shape on their own the more I saw the essences of movement appear on the page.

I still need to work more on Model Sheets, as trying to get proportions correct and have all the same character remain in the more more formal and refined image is difficult, but I know where I need to improve.

Studio Feedback (27th September)

With this being the first day working on our new brief, there were many ideas going on in the initial development of the project.

Many different responses initially came up, from animated caricatures roaming around the real world getting in touch with people (providing a positive social aspect to technology) to flat posters with literal illustrated walls of technology separating people (obviously highlighting a negative)

I eventually distanced myself from these ideas, as they felt massively simple, not only in terms of their concept but also their execution, and wanted to try some new techniques and present the work in a radically new way, which the tutors (Both Jay and Johnny) agreed with and supported whole heartedly.

This lead onto ways to hide an image within another image, first just overlaying an image over the top in Photoshop, then by literally hiding with it with UV or Glow in the Dark inks.
After having the concept a little fleshed out, Johnny suggested, rather than buying £70 UV ink cartridges, having a stencil cut and using paints over a printed image, as well as discussing in greater detail the types of people that could be used as 'case studies' for the projects, such as intense gamblers and cyberbullies, and bringing light to the very serious issue of internet addictions.

Jay reflected a lot of what Johnny said, but also suggested that instead of using made up people to highlight extreme cases of divergent personalities on the internet, using people on campus and asking them questions on their online habits, and using them instead. This would add a whole lot more legitimacy and authenticity to my work, but could make the separate pieces less interesting as I doubt I'd get as wildly interesting answers.

 

Self Presence and Expression as "We're Surfing on the Internet!" (27th Spetmeber)

Cybernetic Self, as the brief is titled, is a project in which we are to represent the concept of self representation on the internet, and how we interact and ultimately change ourselves as more and more of our social lives depends increasingly on the internet.

The project can be broken up into three distinct angles;
Network Self, Autopoiesis and Sociomaterial.

Our Network Self relates to how we present ourselves on the internet, be this how we choose to behave to others, or just the websites we choose to interact with. This has huge impacts in both how we, as humans, socialise with people and spend our time, as well call into question how private our social lives are if we are constantly sharing it with the world, and how ultimately all these things alter us as people.

Sociomaterialism is the concept used to describe how technology and social interaction are both intrinsically linked in the workplace and our day to day lives, and whilst technology cannot be reduced to the social, and vice versa, they are almost inseparable in the way we approach both.

Finally, Autopiesis is the theory and practice of people defining themselves in a social environment, that without social interaction we are no one. People build themselves as autonomous and as though they are completely in control of their own self, but their own self is built purely for interaction with others, and therefore can never be truly autonomous.
So what happens when the human element is taken away and replaced with a computer?

 

This project personally appeals to me greatly, as it allows for a lot of interesting ways to express different sides of people, and the interactions people can have. 

The idea I'm currently investigating, after spending time in the studio, will be a multi-layered print out, using clear UV paint over a printed document, which, when exposed to UV light, will reveal the self that comes out when exposed to a computer.

The current decisions I need to make whilst developing this idea are what styles do I use, using real photos of people or illustrations for the base layer, beneath the UV paint, and if the subjects be fictional and highlight more extreme cases of differing behaviours on the internet, or use real life people and have the internet selves be comparatively more normal.

 

Business and Theory: Working in the Industry. (26th September)

The Business world of the industry is one whole half of Graphic Design (and now Animation) that I had always been vaguely aware off but hadn't ever acknowledged.

But with this lecture there's been an obviously stark awakening.

As designers, we possess skills that businesses and executives lack, our skills and even our ways of thinking and problem solving can differ wildly from people that will end up commissioning our work, which is why independence and confidence are so vital for working as a designer.

There are many nuances within the economics that govern the business of graphic design, but the broad strokes of the concepts are relatively simple to understand and apply.
  The basic principle is that the economy is always shifting and bulging as factors in the world change with it, and this will always effect the scope and outcomes of your work, with local companies and markets eventually feeding into the national and global economy as a whole.

The biggest effect the economy will have on designers is on the markets we will be creating for, and when a market changes so will the marketing surrounding it.

The basic concepts of Marketing are split into "4 P's"; Price, Product, Promotion and Place.

Price are all the monetary values associated with a marketing campaign. The costs to create and sell a product, including transportation and administration, as well as the actual designing, as well as all the profits associated with a product.
  The practice of "Loss Leading" is also enveloped within this concept, of making less profit on a product to become a "market leader" on it, rather than make an immediate profit.

Product is a description on the actual service or item being delivered to consumers. What the product's main function is and what makes it better and distinct from similar products on the market are both key things to consider when designing for a product.

Promotion will be the element we as designers will be most involved with, which is how the market you are designing for will be made aware of the product. Promotion, whilst being important as it's own concept, is largely defined by the three other "P's".

Finally, the Place in which a product is sold is a very important thing to consider when bringing a product to market, as a product sold purely on the internet will not appeal to an older audience who enjoy a tactile and physical contact with a product, where as teenagers and younger people enjoy that convenience.

Whilst these concepts are all fall under economic and business field, it's important to understand, as a designer, the tangential information of the fields we're working in, beyond the simple design process that we are accustomed to, and knowing more ultimately means that our designs will better fit the world we are making them for.