Art Examination Journal

Art Examination Journal
Last updated

As the title suggests this is my Art Examination Journal for summer 2002. Dates appear in blue and links in yellow.

17 June: It seems like forever since I last updated, and it has been a long time. However, despite the lack of updates I have in fact finished the exam peice video for Transformation and I hope to sum up all the details of it in the following updates.

Click here to see the exam video summary.

26 May: Been working on my Panoramic loops for my animation, I intend to use them to the music of "Rhapsody - Epicus furor" (click on the song name to download it and listen to it with a suitable player like Winamp or Media Player).

The panoramic loops can be view on by clicking here.

A little explanation on how they loop endlessly. The photos found in my Panoramic Gallery slide from one side of the screen to the other, and just as one is about to go out of site another appears. As you can see below. If this movemt irritates you, you can click here to stop it. And here to play it again.

23 May: Just finished my Physics Practical exam, so now back to art! The time has come where I have to decide on the content of my Exam video / Animation. I want to theme it on my time here at the Oratory, all 7 years of it! I started by joining Junior House, which we called JH - so I good place to start would be my time there!

My concept for the video is a music video, that brings across how fast the years have gone by, and my feeling of Nostalgia as I cast my mind back to those times with my friends. So I will include anything that has some sort of sentimental meaning to me - that really is the best I can hope to define it!

I can still vividly remember coming up to Junior House and my Guardian Tessa telling me that I would be in my last year at the school and think to myself "Damn that was fast" and at that time I would remember her telling me so. Obviously she is correct. I also remember the fog around Junior House, and how we played football in the cage, and would climb up the trees around "the cage" when we lost the ball. And all the time we spent in the day room.

21 May: Found some screenshots intended for the webdesign study. I have added these onto the end of the What is WebDesign essay.

Also I have finished drawing myself into the Offical Leaver's photo and am in the process of editing the sequential screenshots ( which detail the method and reasoning ).

See the making of my tracing: Offical Leaver's Photo Sequence (pictured right).

18 May: I did some research into my newest idea, where I will use the two leaver's photos. Starting with the offical leaver's photo I will animate myself getting up and walking out of the photo, then the film will follow me through my rather confusing years here at the Oratory, going through all my 7 years here, before ultimately ending up with me returning to the Un-Offical leaver's photo. This is the transformation I wish to show, academic school boy to confident induvidual.

I have also been researching trippy, experimental animation, the sort that is usually assosiated with "tripping" on drugs. I collection can be found on this page.

I also managed to aquire the Offical Leaver's photo. Click here to open.

16 May: I have had an idea for a parody of the "THINK!" adverts on TV, in my sketch, there is a a driver cruising along a road, and he sees a colourful ball roll onto the road - the screen splits showing two endings, one he slowly puts his hand to his chin and thinks "hmmm" and hits the kid who runs after the ball, the other he reacts quickly and simply slams the brakes avoiding the kid.

For research I am collecting the Think! campaigns from their website: http://www.think.dtlr.gov.uk/index.htm

My thoughts and personal copies are on this page.

11 May: Been a few days since the last update, becuase of a little panic over my upcoming Maths exam. I have done quite a bit of experimentation and have come to a few picture which are ready for the exam peice.

The experimental stuff can be found here.

The sequential transformations can be found here.

29 April: After doodling at the end of a Physics test I had a simple idea:

The idea is simple enough... the candle represents life ( the flame being the current state of the person, as measured against the ruler ). The great irony is that everyone is looking to the future for happiness and freedom. People work hard so they will be free to do what ever they want later. When later comes they are old and retired, and too frail to do all the outrages things they would have liked to do; for this reason freedom is at the bottom, the irony being that the candle will extinguish itself before reaching it.

Perhaps life as a process is a good subject for the exam peice. The only problem is that it coveres too much - and my main media of film making will not make things easier. I think I will stick to a photo to symbolism/cartoon approach. I still need to get a copy of the leaver's photo and discuss my ideas with Tomo. I'd like his advice.

Click on the animation to the left.

29 April: Finished the "What is webdesign" mini study. It can be viewed here.

27 April: Mission accomplished - I have collected a lot of good examples of webdesign and some definitions. Please click here to view them.

27 April: I have had a chat with Mr. Tomlinson about the art history of my idea ( photos > cartoons ) and he suggested that I look into webdesign and so on becuase of this page. Everything in my art is done using fairly new technology, the animation was done using Flash; which is about 4 years old to my knowledge.

So today I hope to do some substantial research on "What is webdesign" and get some good examples.

26 April: The leaver's photo arrived today, and with the launch of ths Nintendo GameCube coming ever closer I was talking to a friend at lunch about money matters. In this conversation an idea came to surface: what about turning the leaver's photograph into a cartoon for a T-Shirt. Possibly to sell at the leaver's ball.

The transformation I had in mind included photography being turned into cartoons as it was, but this is a fantasic idea. So now I have a proper starting point. I still need to get hold of the specimen leaver's photo and scan it in, so that I may be able to trace it.

Also I did the picture below:

25 April: Managed to do a little bit of editing.

The wing was cut out from the picture below, and added on top of a new picture (the gold foil, with blurred edges). It is not quite what I had in mind, but it is not bad.

25 April: Did a bit of work in ZBrush, I am hoping to edit it again and make a silhouetted, glowing version.. Won't be easy I don't think..

This is a little bit of experimentaion, on the right hand side are a couple of attempts at making angelic wings (hopefully for us in an ascention, or statue scene) and the left is an organic fantasy tree. I think my transformation will be the real to the virtual and back again ( taking something real, like a tree, using the imagination to make a representation of it, and then presenting the new tree image. )

25 April: Searched the web using Google.com for "transformation", found an interesting website called World Transformation. Found the following in their Spiritual section:

The Rules for being Human
When you were born, you didn't come with an owner's manual; these guidelines
make life work better.

You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's the only thing
you are sure to keep for the rest of your life.
You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school
called "Life on Planet Earth". Every person or incident is the Universal
Teacher.
There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation.
"Failures" are as much a part of the process as "success."
A lesson is repeated until learned. It is presented to you in various forms
until you learn it -- then you can go on to the next lesson.
If you don't learn easy lessons, they get harder. External problems are a
precise reflection of your internal state. When you clear inner obstructions,
your outside world changes. Pain is how the universe gets your attention.
You will know you've learned a lesson when your actions change. Wisdom is
practice. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing.
"There" is no better than "here". When your "there" becomes a "here" you will
simply obtain another "there" that again looks better than "here."
Others are only mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about
another unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself.
Your life is up to you. Life provides the canvas; you do the painting. Take
charge of your life -- or someone else will.
You always get what you want. Your subconscious rightfully determines what
energies, experiences, and people you attract -- therefore, the only foolproof
way to know what you want is to see what you have. There are no victims, only
students.
There is no right or wrong, but there are consequences. Moralizing doesn't
help. Judgments only hold the patterns in place. Just do your best.
Your answers lie inside you. Children need guidance from others; as we
mature, we trust our hearts, where the Laws of Spirit are written. You know more
than you have heard or read or been told. All you need to do is to look, listen,
and trust.
You will forget all this.
You can remember any time you wish.

(From the book "If Life is a Game, These are the Rules" by Cherie Carter-Scott)

25 April: Just added this page using the normal site template. Considering moving to a new site layout completely; depending on the amount of media included in this work.