visualising...

Just some more bits added to my visual essay.

Yes, that's right. I made teddy bears, and they're having tea! Also made a bowler hat, saucer, whiteboard and an xylophone.

My visual essay so far...

Just some pics for now:

 Turbosmooth, or not to turbosmooth?

Not the actual colouring for any of this. That is to be decided later. :)

Looking at things,

for my visual essay.
I was researching the zoetrope, developed from the phenakistoscope. What i found was Pixar's 3D zoetrope of the toy story characters. It looks amazing, by the way, especially when you figure out how it's working.(apparently Studio Ghibli did the 3d zoetrope first- which i've seen on youtube and is pretty cool too)

I was looking at Saatchi & Saatchi, due to the T-Mobile 'Heathrow' advert, and found a wonderfully animated advert for the NSPCC. It was titled 'Weapons of love'. It reflects on how the hands of parents can help and support children. It's simple in design and colour choice, but quite touching. I love the use of silhouettes, as i did an art project on them in the past.

And i decided to surf the internet for character designer portfolios. I found  some that i liked a lot. All of them had distinct and recognisable styles. My favourite at the moment is Liron Pe'er. The artist has clear talent, which she can adapt to other styles. Her range in her portfolio shows her flexability in drawing and animation. I admire her drawing skills.

Snowflakes!

I just found these awesome websites!

http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/

You can make snowflakes! It's so simple, yet so awesome!

Here's mine, it's inverted so you can see it.

Also found this website:

http://www.zefrank.com/memory/stringspin

which let me make this evergreen tree

and this thing. It's awesome! Woo

eXisitenZ

Weird film

This film made me think, but it also made me disturbed.

eXistenZ
The story was different in slight ways to the world we know. It introduced new ideas and possibilities to us, the viewers. The technology in the film was replaced with bio-synthetics, which just looked damned creepy. There were many clues, in the form of repetition, for the viewers. These clues can only be realised towards the end of the film. "death to the ..." was said far too many times in this film, however it allowed us to link together characters and their motives in the film. Other repeated things were the dog and the gun. Each of these things apparently existing in and outside of the game world. Once again things become related in the film, and interweave 'til the end.
The idea of a gaming world that is so similar to our own, creates the underlying question of the film, are they still in the game? The line between is not known to us, the viewers we can only follow the character Pikul, as he learns the game world and struggles to tell the difference himself.
Overall, the concept behind the film was fantastic. It seems to be a futuristic film. The twist at the end, leaves the viewer with the questions:Has it ended? Are they still in the game? and Is this the real reality?
Personally, although this film was cool, i must now wipe it completely from my memory as all the freaky sexual stuff creeped me out.

Design Methods

The more recent design methods include:

• Reverse Engineering
• Prototyping
• Open Sourcing
• Market Research

-Prototyping
Prototyping is a process of creating part of, or dummy of a product, to test and demonstrate it's strengths and weaknesses. The prototype can be used to test it's functionality, and to see if any more developments or redesigns are needed before the product is released.

Strengths: It can reduce development time. Saves money, only creating one. Helps the users understand how to use the product better. Can be used to see if it relates to the purchaser's requirements.
Weaknesses: If the prototype has a flaw, then they have to make another. It can cost too much to make.

Rule of Thirds

We briefly passed over this in my recent Lecture with Jools. It sounded quite intrigueing so i looked up some more about it. From what i found, The rule of thirds is an important rule of compositon.

Here is the rule of thirds. The picture is split up into thirds, both horizontaly and vertically creating a grid. These lines are lines of interest, and at the points they intersect, are points of intersaection. If the object in the photo is put along one of the lines or points of interesction, the photo looks awesome.

Here, i tried some of my own:



View from my Garden




Orange Sock!




Hawthorn Flowers



My First Cacti

I haven't put the lines on, but if you use your imagination, you can see them. All these photos interact with the Thirds Rule.

Design Methods

The more recent design methods include:

• Reverse Engineering
• Prototyping
• Open Sourcing
• Market Research

-Reverse Engineering-
Reverse Engineering is the process of re-evaluating a product in the attempt to create a better one.
In reverse engineering:

1. A product is taken apart to it's fundamental parts. Therefore easier to analyse.
2. The product is analysed in it's design and uses. How can it be better? What use each part has? What's its function? Can it be manufactured easily? How can it be improved? Is it easily assembled?
3. Then tested against the user. The information is documented and used to improve the product. If the information is not worthwhile, the product is put through a redesigning process again.

This method is a redesigning process used to create a better product, more compact and aesthetic, than before.

My Design Process

To be honest, i never really noticed the use of one in my projects. So to be simple, I'm going to bullet point this, and see if some kind of process emerges.

• Within the chosen subject: I shall create an abundance of ideas, containing small sketches, wordplay, artist research and random doodles
• My crazy and not always related ideas: I narrow down the ideas, using relevance, growth ability and overall coolness.
• One is chosen. now i must implement this idea. I plan its first stages of growth and go crazy
• Plans are made and scrapped.
• New relevant ideas emerge on the journey, which i may add in or combine.
• I travel off on smaller paths to create up-to-date research. This makes the journey more focused on it's end product
• I usually like comments on my work from my peers, critical or not. both are helpful to see mistakes i have overlooked.
• When the product is at it's best, the journey is ended. I have my complete product and shall evaluate it's sweet goodness.

So judging by this, my design process is a mess of re-evaluated ideas that some how make something i want.