CONCEPT TASK week 2: Character

A PERSON I KNOW VAGUE, DRUNKEN, INTROVERTED, UN-MOTIVATED HIGHLY TALENTED!!! SCENE DESCRIBING PERSONALITY! Sitting in alleyway near a dance club, Iain takes swigs of goon from the extracted silver bag he hid in his vest. The rest of us have just come out from some intense boogying in the club. We ask him if he's going to come join us inside at some point. He says yes, but we know it's not going to happen. I start to talk to him about having fun, and if sitting in an alley drinking goon while his friends are inside dancing is fun for him. He finishes off the goon sack that he alone has consumed over the last few hours and rambles about the philosophy of enjoyment in a purely subjective manner. We begin to discuss some unique ideas for a collaborative street art project that we will never do. Iain feels sleepy and takes a nap... WEATHER: CLOUDY WITH RAINBOWS ANIMAL: MANTA RAY HOUSEHOLD OBJECT: CRAYON MACHINE: HOVER CRAFT PLACE: SOFT TOY FACTORY MUSIC: HIP HOP MIXED WITH SESAME STREET COLOUR: OLIVE FONT: GRAFFITI FICTIONAL 'archetype' or stereotype: THE SLEEPY GIANT

CONCEPT TASK 1(a): PERSONAL STORY

What the ENVELOPE reminded me of:

I remember in year 10, I was offered a place in the student exchange program with our sister school in Japan. Being 15 years old, I was the youngest person to have gone so far. My time there was very difficult and I became very homesick. Using my creativity to keep me from going crazy, I would spend long hours in my room, creating beautiful, hand written letters for all my family and friends back home. I would include diagrams of my host family's house and detailed descriptions of each member who's sometimes tedious and annoying natures I would rant about.

These letters would be covered in illustrations of the many new things I was experiencing, like foods such as raw beef and squid meat, and the numerous festivals that took place throughout the year. Decorations filled any free space on the paper, as my boredom forced me to make the most of any moments i could spend writing and drawing. This spilled over to the blue envelopes I was supplied with, making it impossible to read any address or official information. All over the front and back my illustrations and ramblings spewed, using the striped air mail design as something I could make pictures out of. The paper was so thin and flimsy, barely able to withstand pressure all my ink and pencil lead put upon it. I would amass a large wad of these letters - and in some cases miniature booklets, and then mail them out in one big parcel as their addresses were illegible. I would include an instruction manual of how to open each one and who they were for. It was a time of stewing in my own mind and making the best of my circumstances. Not entirely positive or negative.

RESEARCH TASK FINAL

FIVE IMAGES OF MY CONCEPT

RESEARCH TASK week 3

VISUAL RESEARCH

BETTY BOOP (Fleischer brothers)


So imaginative. I like the way that almost anything can become a character. Beautiful, smooth, bold artwork and design.

AEON FLUX (Peter Chung)


Believe it or not, this guy also animated 'Rug Rats'
Aeon Flux has always been one of my favourite animations, since I started watching MTV's Liquid Television in the mid nineties. The sometimes, meaningless stories were what I loved most. Where so much care and precision went into animating such a weird situation or short story. I highly approve.

THE MAXX (Sam Kieth)


Another Liquid TV favorite of mine. This series was adapted from the MAXX comic book and turned out to be a huge success. The animation followed the editing cues from the comic very closely and pulled it off really well. I love the unusual and confusing storyline and the amasing comic style gritty artwork. Brilliant.

REN & STIMPY (John K)


A disgusting, violent, stupid, adult orientated cartoon put on for kids? Yes please.
This series captures the humor i love the most. Acts of pure insanity that edge on utter darkness, but mix with cuteness and an accessible plot. Its all so good!

John K (Bjork video clip 'i miss you')


When an animator is let loose to animate characters in the most contorted and crazy positions possible, we get this video clip. I hope to be able to do similar things with my project.

INSPIRATION FROM MIAF-2007>>>>

'EARTHMAN' by: Taylor Freshley>









Delicious, rendered pencil animation. Such attention to detail with his character'sanatomy! I love it! Such a psychedelic trip!

'Taste of Life' by: Ulo Pikkov>










I loved this story so much! its all about a cannibal masseuse !!!

'The Eye of the Cyclone' by: Julien Bisard>








Julien Bisard has an amazing eye for the design of his characters and world. The colour palette he choses really accentuates this. I loved this piece

'El Doctor' by: Suzan Pitt>

Extremely Detailed drawings! Makes you wonder if this person has a life!

'Gotye Heart's a Mess' by: Brendan Cook>



I saw Gotye live and there were large wooden cut out statues of the creatures from this animation on stage. I really like their design as far as their ability to be silhouettes and also the balance of weight and simplicity of their form.

ANIMATRIX:

WORLD RECORD (Takeshi Koike)



Beautiful artwork. Nice editing and 'camera perspectives' I am really inspired by the quality of the drawings and the stylized exaduration of the character's mannerisms.

RESEARCH TASK week 1

James Jean has become a big inspiration of mine over the past few years. From Checking out the sketchbooks and illustrations on his website, I have been motivated to practice harder. It has made me push myself to attain an ultra productive work flow of pure illustrative bliss.


Jean was born in Taiwan in 1979 and moved to America at an early age. His natural talent at drawing led him to study Fine art, and in 2001, graduate from the School of Visual Arts - New York City. Forthwith he went freelance, working as a cover artist for DC comic's 'Batgirl, Fables, Green Arrow and Monolith' whilst contributing his illustrations to numerous private publications like books records magazines etc. His clients include: The New York Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Simon & Schuster, Mother Jones, NYLON, Playboy, Popular Science, SPIN, Men's Health, ESPN the Magazine, Target, Marvel, and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Proud winner of five consecutive Eisner awards, three consecutive Harvey awards, two gold medals and a silver from the Society of Illustrators of LA, and a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators of NYC, James has become world renowned for his mighty Illustrative powers.

From reading about Jean's work ethic and daily routine, I have picked up that most of his time is spent creating illustrations. His only apparent hobby seems to be playing trumpet, which he does quite proficiently in the video below. He is heavily inspired by traditional Japanese wood block prints which shines through in his works. Jean and as his wife collect numerous art books and large anatomical prints, which broaden his base of study inspirational material.

When asked in an interview where his personal ideas come from he stated:

"There are so many things that are visually incredible, like the bright colors of kids running around, beating each other up in the park, or that indecipherable white in the clouds in a dry, night sky. So the hardest part, for me, is getting over a sense of smallness I feel in the face of the beauty we are confronted with everyday, and mustering up the nerve to do something halfway meaningful. I believe that limitations are liberating in a way, that one choice or mark can sort of guide you along the way to finishing a picture. What ends up happening is frustrating, suprising, disgusting, and rapturous."* - James Jean

The elements that most interest me in his work include:

His well considered approach to character design. Here his approach to the balance of realism and graphic representation creates an elegant balance where the viewer can recognize Jeans attention and accurate realization of all details.

His sense of design and composition are extremely well practiced. We can see this in the flow, movement and balance of negative and positive space in his works, which flows over to the colours, texture and graphic representation of depth.

His ideas concerning subject matter with the combination of different characters and situations are what makes his work stand out most to me. He takes us on dreamy, surreal wanderings through landscapes populated by familiar elements from real life, combined in situations that are unique and unusual.



REFERENCE LINKS
His site>>>link
His blog>>>link
Fan made site>>>link
*In depth interview>>>link

RESEARCH TASK week 2

NON FICTIONAL STARTING POINTS

Scientists Create a Black That Erases Virtually All Light

>>>Link to article

Article reads:

Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black.

The material, made of hollow fibers, is a Roach Motel for photons -- light checks in, but it never checks out. By voraciously sucking up all surrounding illumination, it can give those who gaze on it a dizzying sensation of nothingness.

"It's very deep, like in a forest on the darkest night," said Shawn-Yu Lin, a scientist who helped create the material at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. "Nothing comes back to you. It's very, very, very dark."

etc......

Immediately from just reading these first few paragraphs, my imagination is fueled and burning with some scrummy ideas. The vivid and evocative depiction of a material sucking in all the light in a room truly draws one in. How can something be so dark? Is there no limit? What is utter darkness? It reminds me of when I went on a cave tour and the guide shut off the lamps to show us a true zero-light environment with open eyes. It was the blackest experience i ever had, but could there be something darker? If I had a piece of material darker than the cave, could i see the difference if i took it in?

I noticed further on into this article that the military have shown a great interest into light manipulation technology. Could this be used as a weapon? In the same way that we are are blinded by intense light.... could darkness on a similar extreme scale have a consequence? Bleeding eyes? Enlightenment? Hmmm lets hope the military just stick to their cloaking devices and not create darkness rays of utter doom!

WATCH OUT!

CLASS TASK 3: BOOK COVER