Sparth interview inspired concept

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Structura 3: Sparth Interview - Notes (29/09/2016)

• Structura book (first art book) Lots of images, little text, explanations when necessary.
• Structura (1) smaller book, easier to carry around.
• Structura 3 - Larger book, images look better in a larger scale, especially with vertical composition.
• been pursuing/developing a more graphic style. Older images more rendered/detailed.
• Graphic style process is faster to achieve.  
• Sparth says he is a better artist with deadlines. Plan in advance, give self a time-scale to produce best work. (30 minute exercises/3 hour exercises)
• Better to have an image that is straight to the point, this is easier to achieve when on a time style because it makes you prioritise.
• He uses flat brushes with no pressure sensitivity. Uses brush tool as displacement technique. 
• Custom shapes, clone stamp tool makes images look fresh, (uses them often in his process).
• Rather than old work with detailed rendering all the way through, he uses his quick graphic design techniques as the base for more detailed, production pieces but just spends more time adding detail after the main image has been blocked out.
• Production vs fast stuff (good to have both processes displayed)
• big pieces can take 24 hours. Not practical all the time however because of time constraints, hence having fast processes.
• Fast pieces have to be snappy with an instant message (with focus on a composition that works.
• He uses a lot of diagonal lines to help with visual flow through an image.
• Concepting is like writing a text, but explain things with lines.
• He talks about where young concept artists struggle the most with image making:
• He thinks photo bashing if done wisely, using specific amount of photos, crediting is important if you aren't the image source.
• Issues come from bad composition in students, foundation of image is often weak.
• Better to have unrendered image, if images are placed in best way with good composition.
• From a distance, no one gives a crap about details.
• Thing that catches the eye is the way storytelling is applied to canvas through good lines/composition. This is way more important than rendering.
• Make a conscious effort to practice compositional skillset.
• THINK: What is purpose of image, what is intent? Everything in image has to prove a function/intent. WHY are you putting a specific brushstroke somewhere?
• He focus' better without having music on in background.
• Silence is most focused atmosphere.
• WHY are you creating this image?
• Linework first > then shape (This is the opposite to what I'm usually told) This is unusual. subject? > composition.
• Wanting images to always look simple.
• Has a graphic nature to shapes in recent work
• Simplicity can drive image to success/less is more sometimes.
• Better to convey something with one great point, than multiple small features. 
• Image never needs more than 3 focus' or viewers attention will be too divided.
• Keep simple path to convey visual intent.
• Creates more experimental work with primitive shapes. Squares, circles, line tool. Maybe bit of gradient at the end. (gives focus point and strong visual lines).
• Learn to use tools differently and originally.
• Use some full bleed images in artbook for emphasis
• By using smudge tool at 1% opacity you can push images around to create different shapes by displacing the image. (create great shapes out of a few design tips and tools, make work very fast by pushing simple shapes around.)

Examples of (quick/bottom 2/3 image sets are 30 min) work from Structura 3:

A more rendered example of work from Structura 3:

Old example of Sparth's more rendered/less graphic design inspired work from Structura (1):

 As you can see, the shapes/concepts are less clear and defined with less/few hard edges, when compared to his more developed/recent work. 

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Meeting with Lynn (27/09/16) and Ryan (28/09/16)

Ryan Notes:

• Concept art and where it comes from.
• New methods of creating concept art, new procedures, what could the industry look like 10/20+ years from now (Look at terrible 90's concept art).
• Alternate versions of the concept art pipeline - 
• developed for VR.
• Hive - 3D painting program.
• Sparth - Artist - 3D concept design.
• Look at Pre-Vis, How things are supposed to move. Look at the watchmen graphic novels (animated).
• How to create ideas quick with these new methods.
• Look at 360-degree concept art.
• Concept art using cardboard VR headset.
• Origins in theatre and theme park design for example. At the base of the project, you are a DESIGNER.
• Think of effects of project for movies that are getting more and more unrealistic (Superman, for example) Benefits of other senses in getting across a concept.(VS Scottish cottage concept where a simple picture would do).
• Solving the problem of not being able to portray VR with current concept art/design process.

Lynn Notes:

• Look at pipelines - Animated, graphic novels, concept art, world building.
• Look at pipeline processes for games and film, decide which you would rather develop for (processes are very different)
• Media tests - (move/animate work that was not designed to move vs stuff that is/was, see how processes compare).
• Set tasks per week, schedule time. In a week do a reading task, making task, reflecting task and a case study.

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Week Three: Lynn's Lecture - 21/09/16

Today we talked about what research methods are, and research in practice.

• Research methodology is how to undertake a project.
• Research methods help us to generate/gather data.

Research aim: General statement of intent.
Research objectives: Core research questions under a research aim.

Context is important! (Who is the research for? What are the key theories in my ares of interest?)

Ways of conducting research:

1. Observe and measure, discover laws and relationships.
2. Seek out interpretations by conducting research among people.
3. Seek to confirm a hypothesis through collecting data.
4. Develop a theory from observations, test theory by experimenting and observing, determine if hypothesis is confirms theory? If not, refine and repeat.
5. Research through making things (practice).
6. Observational notes.
7. Interviews.
8. Focus groups.
9. Case studies.

Mix methods together to strengthen research.

Research Finding Types:

• Primary Data: Discovered/generated by me through application of research methods.
• Secondary Data: Publicly available, pre-existing data done by other people. Can be used to support my case. 

Analysing/Evaluating Data:

• Key theories
• Reflection
• Analyse objectively
• Generate data
• Present/defend findings

Ways of conducting research in an artistic field:

• Developing/making work for analysis/reflection and presentation
• Photography (of world) - observation
• Analytical drawing (of world) - observation
• Video (of own practice) - observation
• Mind maps
• Sketchbook
• Sculpture
• Reflective Journal
• Audio reflection
• Sweatbox process
• Peer groups
• Case study
• Interview
• Questionnaire
• Focus Group
• Contextual Review

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Brian's Class follow-up

Whilst Brian's class helped me map out some ideas, I still felt like I wasn't confident in my direction so I continued working on sorting my project direction at home.

Mind Map No.2:

All the areas I've looked at seem to correspond to world building in some way, whether I want to do comics/illustration/an art book or something interactive.

I really like the idea of creating an interactive art book, or an art book that accompanies some interactive pieces. This wold create audience engagement, it would be a good portfolio piece and would allow me to create an art book (which really excites me).

I also think adding interaction to concept art would be really interesting, it would aid world-building, character development and the concept development process. It would help put a concept across more effectively by involving human senses (other than sight). 

All in all I think interactivity would make concept art more effective in portraying a concept. 

"Imagine a dingy back-alley concept piece with smell and light and movement? For example..."

* * *

Continuing this exercise has helped me figure out what direction I want ot go in for my project an what I can begin reading about/exploring. Using these mood boards, I can begin to answer some of the questions talked about in Lynn's lecture this week:

Q: Make your project about an issue that has current social, economic or professional significance.

A: Out of the three, I think my proposal idea has the most professional significance. By looking at adding movement to concept art I will be altering a current, set professional practice. (Hopefully for the better).

Q: What are your current problems, ideas or knowledge gaps?

A:  My current problems are that I know, not much, about adding interactivity to concept art. Obviously I know interactive art is a thing and that adding animation to art isn't a new concept. My brief google searches into adding interactivity to art books/concept art though have come up blank so I don't know whether it has been attempted before in any significant way. An issue I may face is that adding animation to concept art/art makes the concepting process too time consuming and impractical for professional practice. Despite this though, for a final work up of a concept, I feel the extra time spent on a small amount of interactivity could really help get a concept across in a much more effective way, making the additional time spent creating the piece worthwhile.

 

Q: Build a rational argument and demonstrate the value in your research; Who will be interested in your research? What can you gain from it? Where does the research take you? Why is it interesting? How does it help you? 

A: The value of my research is something I will be looking at exploring over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I will be better equipt to answer this question when I have done more research into my subject matter.

Q: It is important to distinguish what your project is not about, as much as it is to explain what it is about.

A: I want to look at adding interactivity to art to benefit world/concept building. I don't want to end up getting too wrapped up in interactivity and animation to the point that it is no longer accenting the art, its just becoming an animated/interactive piece in its own right.

Q: What methods, materials and tools will you use?

A: Photoshop, Unity, some kind of printing service (or I could look at binding my own book), I also want to look into ways to make the art interactive/tactile/involve different senses. I'm not sure what I'll need for that last point yet but I'll look into it. 

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Week Two: Brian's Class

In Brians class, we started producing mind maps to narrow down our project ideas. I feel like this is something I really needed at this point in the project as I feel like I've been a bit floundering and directionless over the last few weeks.

Mind Map I made in Class to explore my project direction:

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Practice Sketching

Started sketching/painting a Roller Derby girl based on a mermaid aesthetic.

Also started redoing another CAP S1 (Third Year) rushed & rubbish final piece.



I also really disliked this painting at the end of the year (Due to not having left anywhere near enough time to render it well). I decided to completely scrap this idea/design as Ryan said in my feedback that my antagonist was a much stronger design. I decided instead to change this character for a male character to practice male anatomy.

 I wanted to kee the stork/airy/feathery influence in the design, however, I did not design/fashion/silhouette research before this painting, I literally doodled it up on my down time. Because of this, the design isn't as strong as in my first redo but I still really enjoyed the process.

I learnt a lot about tonal shading. As you can see I stripped the shading back before finishing the image. This is because the dark/light tones in  the image make the design elements in the outfit much clearer than the light-direction-based tonal shading.

I redrew the male design in a more airy/athletic/stork-based pose.

I thought I could use the redraws of these previously developed third-year characters to base my project narrative on this year. I don't think I have a strong enough narrative behind them, or a strong enough idea of what I want my project to be yet, to start drawing character designs, though. I feel like I'm sketching with no direction so, for now, I'm going to stop designing characters and get back to basics with mind maps/flow charts etc. to try and define the direction for my honours project.

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Week Two: Lynn's Lecture - 13/09/16

In this lecture, we discussed "introducing the research proposal" and "structuring a research project".

The Research proposal goal:

• Present a clear, concise and informed case for your research. 

The proposal builds a case for the research and makes clear how the research is driven by...

• A current issue or thinking that has current social, economic or professional significance.
• A gap in current industrial and/or academic knowledge.
• Potential connections between theories and practices.

The Research Proposal is a 3,500-word document (Due Week 10) which addresses:

• What is the proposed research about?
• What is it trying to find out or achieve?
• What is the body of relevant literature?
• What is the current thinking in this area?
• How does the literature support or inform your position?
• How will you undertake your research?
• What methods, materials and tools will you use?
• What are the expected outcomes and benefits?
• How do ou plan to structure your activity to achieve these outcomes?

Sections of The Research Proposal:

1. Abstract (Overview) 200-300 words

• The abstract is a summary of the entire proposal. Anyone should be able to read this and know what your project aim is, why this is a worthwhile research project , how you plan to go about your research and what the value of the research is.
• This is like the description on the back of a book or a Blu-ray, but it spoils the ending for the reader.
• This should be written last – it's easier to write when you have the rest of the content in place and know what the project is. 

2. Introduction (Setting the scene) 500 words

• The introduction provides an overview of the area of interest and will present enough information to make the project engaging for the reader.
• The proposal should be written for a general audience, therefore, the introduction should avoid specialist terminology and will provide enough information for the reader to understand what the rest of the document is about.
• The introduction will also highlight the main research questions within the proposed project and will finish by setting out the research aim and objectives.

3. Literature/Contextual review (Lay of the land/what have others done) 2000 words

• The case for the project is made by presenting relevant evidence from outside your own practice (i.e. you put the research aim in wider context)
• Within the research proposal, this case will be in the form of a contextual or literature review (2,000 words) which sets the scene for the research, drawing from legitimate sources (Journals, literature, video presentations, articles etc.)
• Here you will establish the conceptual, theoretical and practical context of your proposed research.

Continue building the case...

• Identify and discuss related social, artistic and/or media theories
• Discuss examples of work published or exhibited that has tried to address similar research questions
• Provide rationale for the proposed research and demonstrate the value of the research
• Underpins the proposed research methodology thus when the reader moves on to the next section they can understand why you have chosen the methods you are using. 

4. Methodology (How I will "do it"?) 500 words

• The proposal also provides a structure for the research which makes it clear how the research will be undertaken and what the outputs will be.
• This structure is presented in a methodology section which details what you will do in order to achieve the project aim.
• The methods you select will be informed by the literature/context review and should make sense to the reader

5. Project Plan (Eg. Gannt chart, plan of how to split up time) 

• The proposal includes a timeline to help to showcase that the scope of research is appropriate to the scale of the project.
• A timeline will help you to determine whether you’re trying to do too much or not enough
• It will also help to build a case for the project as it will show you have considered all practical, logistical and personal angles of the project.
• The schedule can (and will) change over the course of the project but helps to show that you are prepared to undertake this course of action.

6. Conclusion (Why is this a valuable project?) 200 words

• The conclusion will summarise why the research is valuable.
• What will the research achieve? How does this help to address the problems, ideas or knowledge gaps identified in the literature review?
• Research is all about generating knowledge and at honours level that knowledge is new to you, but should also be of interest to others at your level.

Note: 

• Don't get bogged down in specifics of the document, but start to build a foundation of knowledge now upon which you could build a case.
• The proposal is graded.
• The project can change from what is proposed, the final project in semester two is not graded against the project proposed in semester one.

Key Pipeline stages:

- "Ideation and scope" is the point I am currently at in my project.

- At this point, the project is broad. There are many questions and lots of ideas.

- In order to set a research aim, I need to find out what I don't know.

Developing Ideas

These are methods I can use to explore my questions and ideas:

Developing and structuring methods:

• Mindmapping
• Post-it's
• Sketching
• Flow Charts

Contextualising Methods: 

• Reading
• Interacting
• Seeing
• Listening
• Talking
• Critique and analysis

Ideation Process:

• Begin reacting to questions and ideas.
• Try to read something new, related to addressing these questions.
• Try to make something inspired by or exploring these questions.
• Try to analyse existing media that is dealing with similar questions.
• Reflect on everything you do - think about what worked, what didn't, what you've learnt and what questions you have now.
• Blog and start again. 

- The research proposal is a milestone. 

- It is a specific project that addresses a research aim in context. 

- It proposes a project that you believe can be achieved in the timeframe of a year.

Research Aims and Objectives:

• Research objectives are the steps you are going to take to answer your research questions, or they are a specific list of tasks you will perform to accomplish your goal.
• You must emphasise how the aims are to be accomplished.
• The aims must be highly focused and feasible.
• The aims must address the more immediate project outcomes.
• The aims must make accurate use of concepts.
• The aims must be sensible and precisely described.
• The aims should read as an individual statement to convey your intentions.

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Concepting AKA. Getting started somewhere - anywhere

Because I wasn't sure where to start, I began by redrawing a concept from Third Year: CAP S1. I learnt a lot about design and silhouette and painting during the project and whilst a learnt a lot, I was unhappy with my final result. Because of this, I decided to redesign the concept with the benefit of hindsight. This would show what I learnt during the project about silhouette and design, and would allow me to render it much more to my satisfaction, as I did not leave enough time at the end of the project for my final concepts so they were rushed and n where near as good as they could have been. 

Redraw:

I used similar influences for the fashion/design of the character but embarked upon the drawing process in a much more knowledgeable way. This painting is still unfinished but I'm much happier with this result.

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Week One: Lynn's Lecture - 06/09/16

Today in the lecture we talked about breaking down the honours project:

How it's looked at conceptually, by looking at how to undertake creative research projects at an honours level.

How it's looked at logistically, by looking at the year and the project.

and then finally, we looked at good things to know about the honours project.

* * *

Important information I took from the lecture:

Undertaking Creative Research at Honours level
How the year is broken down into modules:

Term 1:

Honours Project Proposal (20 Credits)
- Associated tasks: Research Proposal

Honours Project Pre-Production (20 Credits)
-Associated Tasks: Pre-Production Portfolio

Additional Taught Module - Professional Contexts and Entrepreneurship (20 Credits)

Term 2:

Honours Project Dissertation (20 Credits)
- Associated Tasks: Dissertation

Honours Project (40 Credits)
- Associated Tasks: Honours Project portfolio, Learning Contract, Final Presentation

* * *

Overall, The Honours Project is  about:

1.  Undertaking a creative research project in my own specialist field of practice.
2. Asking a lot of questions and answering many of them.
3. Using a range of methods to address my questions.

The aim is to come out of the year as an expert in my field. I should:

1. Have an advanced understanding of my craft/area of interest
2. Contextual and critical expertise in my topic
3. ability to communicate my findings/outcomes to both professional and general audiences.
4. Self-direct my learning.
5. Define a research aim.
6. Define research methods to help address research aim. 

A research aim should be fuelled by curiosity about my subject. It could be a hypothesis, a question or broad statement of enquiry.The research aim may shift/change to suit my developing understanding and interests throughout the duration of the project. 

Note:

• A research aim should not be trivial or superficial.
• It will be broad to begin with, but will become more specific as  I learn more about my subject.
• The aim should help me develop knowledge that is new to me.
• The aim should address valid research questions in my domain.
• I should be able to say why it is a good aim/project to undertake.

The research aim cannot be solely based on a creative project. There needs to be a route of enquiry in the creative process.
It must answer some form of curiosity.
It cannot be: "I want to make: (Insert thing here)".

How to get started - ask yourself:

1. What subject am I passionate about?

Concept art, it's the area of industry I always wanted to go into. (Illustration/world design/character art more specifically.)

2. What do I already know about that subject?

I know quite a lot about concept design (strong silhouettes, painting skills, iteration, model sheets, thumbnails, referencing, fashion design ect.

3. Where are the gaps in my knowledge? 

My environment painting techniques could be stronger and I always want to look at better/faster/more effective ways to world build with art. Especially making the concept immediately obvious and visually effective. My compositional strength could be improved to really sell the narrative clearly in images.

4. Are there any practices/techniques/theories I want to develop a better understanding of?

Using animation/cinemagraphs with concept art to make the concepts more engaging and get the feel of the story they're concepting across better. 

5. How much do I know about current discussions about my topic?

Basically nothing - I should research this. 

6. How much do I know about the history of my topic?

Basically nothing - I should research this. 

7. What about this topic interests me?

Improving my digital painting skills and techniques, world building, narrative, adding movement to images, engaging viewers in the experience world or character rather than just a flat image of one.

8. Why would this topic be good to research?

From the little research I've done so far, animation/human senses have not really been combined with concept art. They have with illustration and installation pieces, but I feel viewer experience is something that would work really well in the concepting field. 

Potential Research Methods:

1. Creative Practice: Drawing, Prototyping, Jamming.
2. Media Case Study: Studying films/games/audio.
3. Literature Review: Analysing literature and considering my work in context.
4. Interviews: Identifying and interviewing practitioners and experts for their perspectives.
5. Reflective Writing: Connecting all you've found to what you're trying to achieve.

Note:

• Keep a blog/project diary to document process'.
• Honours handbook is on Blackboard and it answers all of your questions. It is very important.
• Library is filled with loads of resources/guides/journals - use them.

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