This session we spent some time going over how to present our work and what we are expected to create for our final outcomes by looking at relevant examples. The feedback that I received on my work was to once again consider them in 3D and to have less symmetrical Poses.
I started this week by drawing out my props, considering colour, textures, and perspectives. I wanted to combine some of the traditional Christmas elements or design themes with more traditional props. I think one of my weaknesses is designing props, as its difficult to create something that can be unique but grounded and believable at the same time.
Next I started to sketch out my characters in combination with my props in a variety of dynamic poses, I didn’t get to finish these before the session as I also had an Adobe course this week. But I would like to sketch out poses for each of the characters and then choose some of them to clean up.
I also thought about what I want to have as finished pieces to present that I can include in my Portfolio so that I can work to have these created for next week as it’s the penultimate session.
During November, I spent some time doing Adobe Certified Professional courses and exams in both After Effects and Premiere Pro. I spent a lot of time revising and using the online resources given to us in order to prepare for the exams and I am glad that I managed to pass both (especially as the After Effects one is known to be difficult). I really did enjoy the process of honing my skills in these software’s and would love to do more further down the line such as Adobe Animate or Illustrator when I can give them my full focus.
Because I had completed both After Effects and Premiere Pro I was able to achieve an additional Adobe Certified professional certificate in Video Design.
For my SIPS project, I tailored it to the Creative Conscience awards briefs which explore finding creative solutions to solve or improve issues such as climate change, health and wellbeing, and inclusivity. I wanted to find a way to incorporate one of these topics with animation and my interest of social media. I filled out the SIPS form for this project.
In November we had a session with Zoe about how to instil our values into our work which involved a couple of tasks that helped us identify what we value and what we contribute as an individual.
I had to identify one idea for the Sips project so I spent some time researching into both topics and considering which one would wok best. I considered which would give me more potential and resonate more with an audience to have the biggest impact. In the end I decided to go with climate change. I then went back to the original SIPS form and edited it to reflect my chosen idea. Next I started to Mind map out some Ideas for this Project related to the issues of Climate change.
To start with I looked at examples of my theme and process that already exists on social media so that I can build an understanding of what already exists and how I can create something new. I found that I really like the animated climate change stories by Greenpeace as they focus more on storytelling rather than infographics.
I got the opportunity to share some of my ideas at our session and hear from others. It was interesting seeing which topics others had chosen to focus on and how they were going to incorporate it with their practice. I also got feedback on my idea which was to get in contact with the UAL Climate Emergency Network about potential events or collaborations, think about collaborating with a sound student, It can be posted on social media by me, DPS and UAL social media accounts. I also wanted to see if there was any climate change specific animation festivals that take place around next year April / May time that I might also be able to submit to.
Then I started researching into my idea so that I can build off of factual information and use it to inform my design and plots. This way I will have a solid base for my pitch for Creative Conscience. I kept track of all of my sources of research and inspiration In this document which I will continue to build as this project develops.
I then started creating mood boards to gather images to use as inspiration as well as include in my pitch to help give the viewer an estimate at what they could expect. I looked at both real images and style inspiration from art that already exists.
I also watched some episodes of Our Planet for further inspiration. Our Planet is a British nature documentary series made for Netflix. The series is narrated by David Attenborough in collaboration with the conservation charity World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The series focuses on the wildlife and natural wonders of eight different ecosystems, and has been noted for its greater focus on humans’ impact on the environment than traditional nature documentaries, focusing around how climate change impacts all living creatures.
In order to start creating my pitch document for my SIPS project by following the guide we were given, using a template and incorporating some of the research and visuals I have found. I watched a couple of YouTube video’s about building a pitch deck and pitching to an audience to get some advice.
My next steps are to create my pitch presentation, contact the UAL Climate Emergency Network and rehearse and practice my pitch in preparation for when we share for feedback.
This weeks session we discussed what we would like to have taught to us in our tutorial session and I shared this weeks work. I received feedback to make the Santa more dominant, make them less flat in the side views, have the characters in poses that don’t look as tense.
I started this week by finishing what I wanted to achieve last week which was to experiment with the colour of the characters and their costumes. I started by drawing out each character in a neutral pose in their costumes and then experimented with different colours. As well as showing them together because I wanted them to feel cohesive in the same environment by sharing similar colour schemes. I also quickly did a version with some shadows and highlights to make them look less flat.
This week started with a 1-1 session with Isobel where she gave me some feedback on this weeks work and any advice for the weeks ahead. She gave me the advice to practice drawing realistic human figures as it will help me with anatomy and designing characters and suggested the website bodies in Motion. As for my work she liked that I had looked at the volumes of the characters and would now like to see them in more asymmetrical poses. This week we are working on costume design and hair design and so I would like to present these alongside the characters in pose.
I started by drawing out my costume designs for each of the characters as well as some updated designs for my props. I considered how they would all look next to each other, including height and shape language.
Following Isobel’s advice, I spent some time doing some quick sketches on bodies in motion to help warm up before drawing the characters in pose and in costume. I kept the duration short because I wanted to focus more on the form rather than the details. I would have liked to have done more this week but I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to work on this project.
This week we started with our session with Isobel Stenhouse to get feedback on this weeks work, I had already emailed by work to Isobel in advance of todays session so she could take a look at it. The day before our session, she responded to my email and gave me some insightful feedback on my designs.
This is a good start. You’ve used a good methodical approach, and the character of the different character, Santa and the Elf especially, are coming through, which is great. I think it’s fine to be sketchy at this stage, but I think it would be worth investing some time on volume and structure, and really thinking about the proportion of different shapes and body parts too. Doing some work on that will help improve the quality of the drawing. The best approach would be to see if you can find some good videos on that topic. Although it’s early days, it’s still good to imagine how the characters would look if turned around and how someone would model them in 3D if needed. Also think about do the characters have elbows, knees etc, as quite a few of these seem to have very straight limbs.
Isobel Stenhouse
During the session I got to see how everyone else’s projects were developing and its evident now how unique each of these projects are going to be. I had some technical issues when presenting my ideas, but Isobel elaborated on the feedback she emailed me which made it easier to understand the direction that she was coming from and it applied to everyone else as well. Going forwards I will consider the volume and 3D design of the characters to tailer it more to the game concepts of the brief. I also had some personal feedback in relation to the props to consider how to make them more unique or complex by incorporating the Christmas theme into the design.
So to start this week, I wanted to elaborate on my chosen character designs by exploring their volumes and their design from different angles.
I then started looking ahead at character outfit inspirations so that I can combine them with my character designs and pose them. I want to try and do something more original than the traditional costume designs and be more influenced by their roles and personalities. It was also good to start looking at colours, patterns and textures.
In this weeks session we learnt about distribution and funding for film projects. We were then tasked to discuss a possible genre and basic plot/story (original) you think could travel across globally, Think of what are the benefits to seek from accessing global markets/funding. Think of some of the ways you could garner distribution and funding for the project (what would work best) and then Present in a short write up or slide show. In our Breakout room, we used Google slides to complete the task and present what we discussed.
This is the last typical session as now we are preparing for the showcase in two weeks time. I signed up to be an attendee. Then I continued working on the second Sprint which I wanted to get done quickly whilst aligning it to the marking scheme.
I started this week by finishing the first sprint and then reviewing it against the brief and marking criterium to make sure that I had completed the entire task to a good standard. I quite enjoyed this task as it built upon what we had been learning in the online sessions and allowed me to apply it to something that interests me. Personally, I am interested in the use of social media as an artist so this sprint made me consider approaches to my own practice to consider global reach and aligning to different geographical audiences.
This weeks session was about immersive experiences and we shared different immersive marketing and experiences that we have interacted with in our own lives and countries. We were then tasked with choosing an existing brand or identity and create an immersive experience that incorporates different ways of immersing the audience. We chose to do Lego as it exists internationally and has a wide audience. I felt like we all brought different ideas to this task which helped us to create an experience that aligns with their brand and that is targeted to their audience. I quite enjoyed how we all collaborated together on the slide to provide ideas, images and compositions. It opened me to the endless possibilities that can be harnessed when marketing for a brand and how these experiences are developing with modern technology. Afterwards I answered the manifesto questions reflecting on the experience.
Later in the week we were given the choices for the second Sprint that we must complete and so to get ahead I read through them all and ultimately chose to go with option D. I started similarly to the last sprint by creating a project document and outlining the different aspects that I need to do and include.
This week we started with our session with Isobel where we once again shared our work from this week, it was good to see how everyone else’s projects were developing. Although everyone was receiving similar feedback to stop jumping ahead to designing the characters without first exploring who they are and their personality, this did not apply to me. When I presented mine I received feedback that I have created easy to imagine characters. My next steps are to start doing some character sketches experimenting with shapes, expressions and body language.
Now that I’ve explored a bunch of different designs I chose some of the ones that I liked best and annotated their features to see what works best and what doesn’t. Once I get feedback on these designs, I can start creating full roughed up versions.
This week I prepared for the session by looking at the first sprint task. We have 2 weeks to complete this short project and I got to choose between 2 different options and ultimately I chose option B which is outlined in the image below. I chose this one because It aligned with what we did in our last session and I wanted to expand on that as I enjoyed the task.
I then looked at the marking scheme for the sprint so that I could identify what I should aspire to and include in order to meet the requirements of the task. This then helped me set out what steps I needed to take so that I could start a document where I can collate all of my research and outcomes. Then once I have decided which brand and new market I wanted to focus on I can start researching into them individually.
In this weeks session we talked about cultural differences in communication when co-creating. We were given the tasks to “Reflect on the cultures represented in your breakout session: which differences regarding the communication do you need to consider for your co-creation process? (suggestions, moderation, feedback). In our breakout group it was just 4 Canadians and me so we didn’t have a wide variety of cultures to consider but it meant that my contributions were highly valued. I do think that there’s lots of similarities between Canada and the UK and so it was good to get to hear some groups present at the end as it allowed me to hear from different cultures and experiences. I do think this task was very complex because our personal communication preferences sometimes differ from what the stereotype of the culture would be.
