Artist Lecture RoundUP

David Clemons

I was really disheartened by the fact that I missed this lecture when he came. This was amplified when watching the video in the library as it was one of the few lectures that I actually enjoyed. Being a huge fan of metalsculpture, I found it refreshing to see a different medium being spoken about. I was especially interested in his experiences as a black artist and what it took to be viewed by his work. This is I feel what made many of his pieces very good to look at since they are metaphorical - so to speak - of the dictation one's social influence toward the interpretation of his work can cause.

Shawn Sheeny

I feel that this lecture was decent. I was excited for for given the complexity of the pop up art displayed on the posters advertising his lectures. When I got there I found it pretty lackluster. This could be due in part to the fact that the majority of the lecture was spent on the history of books, which was educational but very hard to sit through since it was so slow. Now what I can say about the artwork that was shown was that I can completely appreciate the time it takes to make a pop up book. Something that is perceived as such a simple construct takes years and years of meticulous planning and hard work. This was amazing given that his book took him almost a decade to make and distribute all by himself.

Post Thanksgiving Update

Well, here we are again. As of now, I can say that I am 2/3 of the way done with my key animation, maybe a little more than that. The animation that I do have done is a little shakey but if all goes to plan I will still be able to go back and fidget with minute details. What I have to present is basically the final scene. Due to unforeseen complication I had with creating the assets for the scene I was not able to be completely done at the end of Thanksgiving break. So, for class I will show the transition from the microscopic world to the object that it makes up. This object is a star that is shooting off fragments of galaxy-like cells. As with molecular structures, the star will collide with another that will essentially bring birth to the universe.

Update for Tuesday Nov. 23

I have the animation for the second scene done as planned in my schedule. there are still assets that need to be put into the scene but they are minute details that I am trying not to get tied down with. I have already begun creating my assets for the third and final scene.

Update for Thursday

At the present moment I still am not done with my first scene completely, but this is intentional. I am trying to make it a rule of thumb to just finish the overall project and go back to clean up some of the small rough spots. I am still going to try and get the quality down as I work but the clean up will come later. So far I am moderately on schedule with my original schedule but will update it minorly.

As far as the second scene goes, time has been spent experimenting to try and get my idea to work. For the second scene, the viewer will be given a broader scope of the space and the next sequence in the composition. There will be multiple little orbs that will start to link up. The look is to be akin to the neural system and the firing of synapses. It is to speak on how the creation of the universe is the same as that of the creation of man. Thus, speaking more on how each individual is a part of the universe on even the most microscopic level.

November 18-23: Second Act started on. Work a bit on getting aesthetics to work with the narrative.

November 23-25: Second Act done and Third Act begun.

November 25-30: Third act done and resolution begun. If ahead of schedule at this point, will go back and do revisions to make piece more polished.

November 30-December 3: Project complete

Update for Tuesday November 16

I have the majority of scene 1 done. Although I planned to be completely done, I suffered minor setbacks. Fortunately I have just one or two shots to do and I will be done and ready for the next scene. What I do have completed is the beginning of my animation that leads up to the big explosion. I definitely have to make the explosion bigger as well as clean up some rough spots. Other than that, I am not far behind on my schedule.

Calendar for the Rest of the Semester

November 11-15: Revisions to story and finalization of aesthetics. Will revise and finish composition (one major scene) began on November 10.

November 16-18: Will begin on second scene.

November 18-23: Second Act done and third act begun.

November 23-25: Third act at least halfway done

November 25-30: Third act done and resolution begun.

November 30-December 3: Project complete

Aesthetics

So, for my revisions I have took all my critiques and tried to mesh them all together. While doing more research on my topic, I got hit with the idea of having a series of four events taking place. I will treat each explosion/creation as a landscape that the viewer will journey through. As for my aesthetic, I spent a lot of hours working on it and here is what came of it. I wanted the aesthetic to carry a realistic feel. I want to challenge myself in seeing how far I can go in implying depth and space with 2 dimensional assets.

Diagram

Storyboard

Final Project Ideas

For my final project, I plan to expand upon my orb idea. I had so much fun doing that experiment, and it opened me up to many possibilities with it. After sifting through my thoughts, I just decided to pursue the one that I always seems to keep coming back to. I want to create a short musical piece that will affect the objects in my composition. I want the piece to travel the 3d space and to have rhythmic lighting. The viewer will experience the harmony of an indeterminate number of orbs reacting and playing off of each other. I will create the music myself, and I plan on it carrying an atmospheric tone. The piece should not be very long.

The basic idea for the piece is infinity. I was stuck on this idea proposed by many discovery science program about how there may be multiple universes, or how there is a bit of the universe in each living thing. The orbs in the piece will contain a galaxy of its own. The spheres will start off kind of big at the beginning of the piece, giving the illusion that they are masters of these little universes. As the piece ends, the viewer will zoom out to reveal the there are infinite amount of spheres that in turn make up a universe.


Here is one example to visually explain what I want to do. At the end of Men in Black, it is revealed that the entire story takes place within a little marble.



And these are example of audio animation and how I want to animate this project.

Final Project Ideas

Well, its time again to come up with a concept for the class. After this weekend, I think I want to employ the techniques I learned to my final piece. I still have to mull over what exactly it is that I want to do, but it deals greatly with the 3d aspect of the program as seen with my demo for class.

Effects Fiasco Roundup

I must say, this has been a very fun and interesting weekend for After Effects. Not everything has gone to plan, but I think I produced some decent demos. I really wanted to see how far I can take myself in this program. Even though I used tutorials for some of my experiment, it was still a challenge to pull everything off. There were even some projects I started that did not work out at all. I made three experiments in all and I will to sum up my process the best that I can.

For my cavern project, everrything came together at random intervals. I took the photo of a glossy blue surface and set the spherize effect to it. I set the key frames of the spherize to and animated it pulsating. I then took the photo into Photoshop and adjusted the colors via curves to give it a fleshy tone. Last, I focused on having a wet lens effect. I used cc Mr. Mercury and adjusted the levels of the longevity, gravity, velocity, ect.

For my water, I had to create a texture. I took a solid and added a fractal noise effect, adjusting the spline to make it more unified and softer. I added colorama, to change the grey to a cooler color. I then added a ramp to give it varying degrees of light. Last, for the texture I added a cc starburst. I then made another comp. I made another fractal noise solid, but this time I made the fractal type swirl to give it a wavy look. By setting the evolution, I was able to give it motion akin to waves. By taking these textured comp and nesting it into another, I lastly added an adjustment layer. On the layer I added a turbulent displace. By keying the offset, it made the waves look as if they were flowing in a specific direction.

Typography Update

The original idea that I had for the typography project turned out to be pretty impossible given my skill limitation and the fact that what I had envisioned required completely different software. My new idea deals with my characters of Fontland. I am still trying to decide where the story goes beyond the introduction of the hero of the piece and his love. The are so many places I want to take the characters. One scenario is of the hero's girlfriend being stolen away by the fontmonster, a despicable character that spews out fiery breaths of hated fonts. So far, my approach is simple and I am liking the results as I progress. What I am trying to primarily accomplish is to give personality to extremely simplistic characters since I usually go about creating complex pieces. Hopefully I get this done with great success.

Typogyaphy Project Idea

The idea of my next project is relatively simple in conception. I want to do something more abstracted with my next project. My idea consists starts with texts falling in a black void. The text would resemble water droplets as they create ripples in the void, which are made up of glowing letters. These glowing letters will begin to cluster and rise, eventually exploding. This idea may require me to use the 3d tool in after effects. So depending on the level of difficulty this project may present, it may be subject to change.

Video Examples

I have been hit with the realization that the lot of typography work that I have seen so far is very literal/commercial and have very little to do with my idea. But I did find this one. Here, it shows what I want to do with camera work. This is what the 3d tool may come in.

Midterm Afterthought

Well, I am going to be honest. I did not enjoy this project at all. I was once excited about bringing this vision I had to fruition, and putting it in my portfolio as a piece that I was proud of. Unfortunately as time went on, I began to lose all passion for it. Not only did I have to make massive compromises to my story but I had to rush it just to meet an extremely short deadline. I have no problem at all with compromises but I have a MAJOR problem with doing rush jobs. I guess part of the blame falls on me for thinking that I would have time to do a full length narrative. Had I known that I was on such limited time then I would not have invested all that I did into this particular story. I have no desire at all to revisit this project but I will try to press on to get a decent grade, finished or not. All I can do with this midterm project is take it as a lesson learned and try not a make a project that cannot be finished and of desired quality.

Midterm Update

Midterm Development

Theme and Story

The theme that of my project is technology's negative affect on man. My story draws parallels with the philosophy of Primitivism, the belief that with technology came the loss of mankind's humanity. Though the ability to advance is one of our greatest strengths, it is also has the potential to being the key to our downfall. As with the Romans and the Babylonians, I want to tell the tale of man's great folly when given the gift progression.

The story start with a colossal vessel soaring hauntingly in the sky. The brilliance of this craft lies with its creators, a highly intelligent civilization that inhabits it. This was society of luxurious, peaceful beings that managed

to bring about incredible technological advancements. The flying craft happens upon a city populated by individuals of seemingly lesser intelligence than they. The beings become intrigued by what they see and desire to know more. So, they charge an adventurous individual known as the Traveler with the task of exploring the land of the Primitives. What he finds made a shocking impression on him. This is a society of great builders. But unlike the Traveler’s people, the primitives functions do not go beyond the necessity of survival. They are living in very harsh environments where the air is filthy and water is scarce. After seeing enough, he decides to make his way back to his home. He brings news to people about what he saw. Feeling sympathy for the primitives, the beings decide to share some of their technological secrets with the hard-lucked people. The Traveler makes his way back to the darken city and share with it people the means by which they can advance. Looking down from their great metropolis, the Traveler and his people observe as the primitive begin to make great strides of progression in their society. Everything was improving for the people. No longer did they have to suffer the conditions nature burdened them with. But as time goes on, the once primitive civilization start to exhibit radical changes in personality. More ambitious they became, more greedy and arrogant. Eventually they set their sights on the beings that gave them to key to advancement. Before the gentile beings in the sky know it, they are attacked by the once docile primitives. Angered by the destruction of their city, the beings strips away all power from the primitives. Every and all things that made up the primitives' utopian society were taken away forever.

Character Breakdowns

“They who touch the heavens”

• Advanced civilization that is of supreme intellect
• Origins are unknown
• Are a tranquil and humble society of technologically advanced beings
• Believe in the potential of all sentient life forms
• Like to observe other life without interfering with the natural course of things

“The Traveler”

• Is part of advanced civilization
• Very intrigued by the unknown
• Is a great inventor
• Likes to explore existence beyond the boundaries of his home
• Feels it is the purpose of his people to enlighten and aid in the progression of lesser life forms
• Greatly enjoys the luxury of his home but likes to take part in culture of other civilizations

“The Primitives”

• Lesser advanced society
• Have great ingenuity
• Are hard workers who struggle to survive
• Is oblivious to what exists beyond them
• More withdrawn socially
• Are very docile, most likely due to their condition

Outline

Act I (setup)

The setting is introduced (highly advanced technological city in the sky).

The Traveler is seen looking down upon a ruined civilization. He has been charged with the task to explore this world by the council of his people.

He travels to the city. He finds a mass population that seems to be keeping themselves from extinction with backbreaking labor. The Traveler takes notice of the extremely poor conditions of the environment and reports back to his home. After giving the news of what he saw to the counsel, his is told to give the people some of the secrets to their technology.

Act II (confrontation)

After receiving the secrets to advance technology, the primitive civilization begin to progress. After a while, they are all living a more luxurious life. The primitives start to grow arrogance at their achievements and are no longer content with living in the shadow of the people in the sky. After building ships and weaponry, they stage an all-out war on the people in the sky.

Act III

The primitives cause great destruction to their would be saviors, in an attempt to overthrow them. Angered by the audacity of the primitive, the gentile beings take away the gift of their people. All the technology that helped the primitives flourish has been stripped away. The advance civilization in the sky turn their backs on the primitives and set course for a new destination

Storyboards

Midterm Project

For my midterm, I decided to tell a story that revolves around my prevailing interests in the class so far. Most of my research dealt with much of sci-fi and mythological lore. I have always been a huge fan of both genres of fantasy and aim to create a story that involves and/or is inspired by classical mythology and science fiction films. The story revolves around the hero who is loosely based off of Hermes. Hermes was known as the fleet-footed and mischievous god of Greek mythology. Mostly seen as a messenger, Hermes was given the ability to travel places freely that would be otherwise problematic or fatal to anyone else. The main character is seen in the middle of an invasion. As the invading fleet makes its way through the city, the hero takes it upon himself to protect his people by attempting to defeat them using deceit.

For the look of my animation, I want it to have an art deco feel. Much of the sci-fi elements are going to be reminiscent of old 30's and 40's science fiction movies. The story itself should not be no more than 3 minutes as the story would already taking place near the climax. Also, I think that most of what I am trying to achieve will be done majorly on the 2d place as done in my exercised throughout the semester.

Proposal

My proposal for the semester is to create a fast-paced narrative. The concept that I thought of dealt with the character that I had built earlier in the year. This character will find himself in the middle of a war in which he has to try and put an end to. Though his purpose in the war is liable to change, the main aspect of his character is to show the viewer the intensity of battle from his perspective. My idea was inspired by greek mythology's own god, Hermes. His character was one of harmless, mischief and great speed. I was always interested in combining sci fi with mythology in some form or fashion. So, my concept this semester is going to serve as possibly a small introduction to a bigger story

Durgin, H. Frank, Krista Gigone, and Rebecca Scott. “Perception of Visual Speed

While Moving” The American Psychological Association, (2004), pp. 339-353

Gunderson, Keith “Robots, Consciousness, and Programmed Behavior

The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 19, No. 2 (1968), pp. 109-122

Ackoff, R.L and Churchman, C.W. “Purposive Behavior and Cybernetics”

Social Forces, Vol. 29, No.1 (1951), pp. 135-149

Aper, J. Michael. “Cybernetics and Art.”

Leonardo, Vol. 2, No. 3 (1969, pp. 257-265

Villers Human, de Suzanne. “Explosions in Visual Art, Literature and Music/ Prskanja u likovnim Umjetnostima, knjizevnosti I glazbi.”

International Review of the Aesthetic and Sociology of Music, Vol. 36, No. 1 (2005), pp. 179-197

Speed, Christopher. “Tele-Spatial Research.”

Leonardo, Vol. 34, No. 3 (2001), p. 198

Batterman, W. Robert. “Defining Chaos.”

Philosophy of Science, Vol. 60, No. 1 (1993)

Bisdorff, A.R., C.J. Wolsley, D. Anastasopoulos, A.M. Bronstein, and M. A Gresty.

“The perception of body vertical (subjective postural vertical_ in peripheral and central vestibular disorders” (1996)

Research Package Thumbnails

Research Package Word List

My idea is connected to the last assignment in which my character tries to complete his mission amidst chaos.

Words that deal with my topic:

1. chaotic

2. anarchic

3. pandemonium

4. disarray

5. disorderly

6. wild

7. frenzy

8. hectic

9. hyperactive

10. manic

11. amped

12. turbulent

13. intense

14. energetic

15. fierce

16. severe

17. vigorous

18. overpowering

19. spirited

20. eager

21. zealous

22. acute

23. dynamic

24. aggressive

25. high-octane

26. bold

27. powerful

28. determined

29. audacious

30. combative

31. violent

32. blunt

33. sturdy

34. blinding

35. fury

36. rage

37. rampage

38. vertigo

39. blistering

40. supersonic

Antonyms

1. slow

2. order

3. half-hearted

4. timid

5. apathetic

6. lifeless

7. meek

8. peaceful

9. submissive

10. diffident

11. mild

12. dispassionate

13. unemotional

14. uninvolved

15. subtle

16. serene

17. humane

18. lenient

19. restful

20. undemanding

21. lethargic

22. listless

23. fatigued

24. weary

25. tired

26. sluggish

27. weak

28. powerless

29. feeble

30. inadequate

31. inept

32. tame

33. craven

34. appeasing

35. pacifying

36. peacemaking

37. quiet

38. puny

39. calm

40. tranquil

Project 2 Write up

Starting this project, I had an idea that would involve the viewer as an individual witnessing the birth of land and eventually traveling through it. Each object in the piece was to have a different texture to give it a multimedia aesthetic. Given that the animation takes place at sea, I was immediately met with an unforseen challenge. In order for my original idea to work I would have to move everything along the z axis. Also, to convincingly have material move through water was beginning to become daunting.

At any rate, I just tweaked my idea a bit. Going back to the drawing board for minor adjustments, I decided to have the viewer witness an eruption. This proved to be much easier and maybe even better than what I had original planned.

Project 1 Plot outline

I am still interested in the idea of a solo journey. What I thought I would do for this assignment is have an individual (in first person perspective) sailing in the vast ocean an finds him or herself swept up in an inescapable current that takes the individual to a place unlike any other.

Solo Play

Here, I am doing the one thing that gave me great joy a long, LONG time ago. It was alot more difficult than I remember, but still extremely fun.

Group Play

I decided to get together with a couple of friends to play video games. Like always, the fun came from the intense competition that came from pitting our skills against each other. This kind of play was a huge part of my childhood. Coming from a competitive family, even video games could cause intense rivalry.

My Favorite Games

Classic Games:

Checkers

Chess

Sorry

Scrabble

Operation

Connect Four

Taboo

Uno

The reason why the majority of these games are favorites of mine is because they require strategy. I love playing games that put your wits to the test. Checker, chess, and Connect Four requires you to think about every move you and your opponent makes. There is a rush to be had when trying to out-strategize someone. With games like Scrabble, it challenges your vocabulary skills. A very educational game, in my opinion. All in all, I love games that employs my intellect.

Video Games:

Mass Effect

Legend of Dragoon

Mario series

Ghost Recon/any tactical military game

Max Payne

Tetris

Donkey Kong series

Star Fox

Pokemon

Most video games I love speaks to many things that I find interesting. Mass Effect, Legend of Dragoon, Pokemon, etc. are all fantasy/ scifi games that offers a deeply intellectual story with a vast universe to explore. The reason why I love video games in general is because they allow me to go on adventures and be part of a fantastic world from beginning to end.

Play History

Thinking back on my childhood, I fondly remember the days where my activities were often dictated by my imagination. I was in love with playing, and doing so made the day for me. Though much of my play time was by myself, it never really made a difference in the amount of fun I would have. As I stated earlier, my imagination would often lead on adventures. In this stage of innocence, I would try to replicate what I see my favorite heroes do on television or become curious as to where and how they do the things they do. So needless to say, I would don a cape and try to fly or create swords out of legos to battle monsters. Often times my curiosity would end in a messy or potentially unpleasant outcome, such as putting an egg or a bag of chips in the microwave. Looking back on the things I did as a child, it was all pretty silly. I would not dare do half the things I did when I was younger. But I see this as mirroring my art in a sense that the best of times came from when I had no obligations or standards to guide me, only the love of what I am doing.

Going to art school I completely respect and cherish all that I learned. On the other hand, I felt a loss of passion and creativity simply because none of my creation was born out of personal interest but out of the need to get a grade. Art is indeed subjective. But instead of viewing the artwork on the technical aspect of it, the work has to conform to the tastes and sensibilities of the teacher. As an artist, one's work should not be stifled by anyone else's approval or lack thereof. The lot of artists, including myself, have fallen victim to this. I think that is why I am so passionate about my BFA show this year. I am doing a project because I think it is fun. I am not creating an artwork to touch a person's soul or to provide commentary on our crumbling society, but because I just find the subject matter very interesting.

Ideas for the Fall

The primary idea I have for Dynamic Imaging would be a journey. On this journey one would make his or her way from the world of the physical to that of the metaphysical. This particular idea would go towards my BFA project. The animation I am currently working on has a scene in which the hero must travel to the realm of the spirits to save a little girl's soul from being devoured.

My second idea is more steeped in mythology. I would like to bring to fruition a world unlike our own. This world would be an amalgamation of fantastical Greek lore and technological advancement. In this short animation, I would like to give the audience a glimpse of a world whose existence mirrors that of Metropolis. This is a world where the Gods live in highly advanced buildings on the upper level of the city while mere mortals try to survive on the "blue collar" level. Of course, those who perish end up in the slums.

Another idea just came to me.......Hide and Seek of DEATH!!! In a dense city, an unknown number of individuals play a secret game. A game that involves players trying to make back to base before they are it. Of course, "it" means death.

Speaking of the world, I also want to show the evolution of life. Not life as we know it, but one full of wondrous mysticism and fictional characters of different cultures and myths.