My first real week back

It’s felt weird coming back here. I don’t have the drive to create or push myself as I used to. Let’s hope I can turn it around.

 

Monday:

After a reintroduction week that was a bit too lax for my liking, Monday through me to the wolves. We were tasked to make an avant-garde sculpture with movable parts. To be made out of wood, metal, and other industrial materials. And it had to be done in one day! The movable parts were necessary so it could be filmed the next day as part of a group animation collage. All of our sculptures are to be animated, then the animations will be compiled into a film.

 

We were shown a selection of 20th century sculptures as possible guides. I found them all very ugly and not at all inspiring. But I did notice one name that stuck out to me Naum Gabo. An artist hold in esteem. I thought about it and decided to take inspiration from his ‘Spiral Theme’ work.

Irregular, imperfect, and haunting

I too would use the spiral theme. It is instantly recognisable, simple to make, and it would make for interesting movements. More than a little cynical on my part. But I had a tight deadline to meet,

 

It only took me few minutes to have the thing designed and planned out in my head. That’s the beauty of my mind. It can visualise things quickly. But I had help. The teacher in question, Sarah,

Gave me advice on what materials to use and how to put them together, without which I would have been lost. For that I am extremely grateful.

I used to study sculpture before moving to animation, But I was extremely rusty. And I was never great at woodwork. My drillwork was sloppy, My attempts to get things the right size or length often backfired spectacularly. And in one embarrassing moment I cut the wrong piece of wood off. I was able to counter all these mistakes in the end. But I think all the adjusting meant the sculpture came out smaller than it should have. But it came out pretty much as I imagined it. An asymmetrical disk with a pattern and surface similar to a cockle shell.

I like it. The design echos early abstract sculpture of the type in the time of Gabo. But it is smoother and gentler. Like a thing out of nature. It has an air of mystery to it. And the way it spins around reminds me of a toy.

 

There are two bits of fin-shaped mesh on either side. Part of the brief was to make sculptures that would cast interesting shadows. I focused on making it move. But the fins will make sure there is some shadow on the thing as well as underneath it.

At the last minute I added a plasticine ball to the top. Partly to make it more asymmetrical. And partly to echo a pearl. To add extra weight to the shell influence. (The “Pearl” rolls around the disk in the first animation but not in the other two).

Even some of my mistakes came out in my favour. The hole in the centre of the work is at an angle thanks to my poor drilling. Meaning the disk is at an angle instead of being parallel to its base and the surface the base is on.. But I like that. It looks cool. And it gives it a more organic look. In keeping with the shell theme.

The dick itself is made out of a cardboard base with foam tubing making its body. I had a lot of fun putting it together. But I had to glue the foam on, and near the end I burned myself with the hot glue gun. That was not so fun.

 

I have been told that I should be taking photographic evidence of my physical work as i make it, like I did in my sculpture days in local college. I wish somebody had told me this earlier. Like say last September! Never mind. I’ll do what I can. I hope for now this written account of the work will do.

But I don’t see the point. These journals are supposedly for showing my growth. Showing the nuts and bolts of making the art just gets in the way. Maybe I’ll put those bits in seperate folder. Filled as “tedious rubbish” perhaps. It’s certainly boring and uninformative to write about. I can’t see how it would be fun to read.

Also I guess I need to buy a new Camera. I lost mine last year. This sucks.

 

Tuesday:

 

The next day I put the final touches to my sculpture and took it down to be animated. I was again working alone. So far this collaboration project hasn’t involved much collaboration.

I was very stubborn about needing a tripod to film smoothly. With one secured I started filming. Turns out I was a bit out of practice when it came to stop-motion. Despite my best efforts my speed and pacing were off. Some continuity mistakes crept in. and most embarrassingly a LOT of frames have my hand in them. I was able to dial it down a bit as I went on.

To make it extra animat I made the ball roll around the disc in the opposite direction to which the disc was spinning. This required a lot of hard work and I wasn’t able to make the speed of it consistent. Hence why I let the ball stay static in the other two tests. But I still think it looks good.

 

For the second test Morgan was keen I do the animating while holding the camera. This sounded like an insane idea, It would be impossible to get consistent footage. So I decided to not even try. I filmed as badly as I could. The camera is indeed all over the place. But Morgan actually liked the result. And strangely so do I. It has a manic energy that my work normally doesn’t have.

 

Fiddling around with the program settings I found that the camera had been filming on twos. That’s why I had gotten so much done in such a short amount of time. While I was grateful I was also annoyed. I like to film ones where possible. So for my third test I vowed to do the whole thing on ones and get a large chunk of footage while doing it.

To try to get some interesting lighting and shadows I turned off one of my lamps and put a blue-green plastic filter over the remaining one. None of the that tinting in post nonsense for me. Do it right or not at all.

To try to get a nicer result I timed the movements very carefully. I wanted to keep the disc turning at a constant speed. Like a wheel. It didn’t really work. The end result looks janky and a bit stiff. But it still has smoother animation than the first two tests.

The smoother movement and blue-green lighting gives it an ethereal, unearthly look. I like it a lot. Maybe I can use it as inspiration for something else down the line.

 

Anyhow. Here are all three tests in a single video. Enjoy!

 

Once again McCory helped me edit it on the computer. But I was able to do parts of it myself and uploaded it to youtube on my own. I think I maybe be starting to get the hang of this whole computer editing thing. Let’s hope. I think up loading many small projects and getting used to the process is the way to go. Let’s hope I have something good soon!