Week FOURTEEN

This units showed me a lot about multimedia design and what that actually encompasses. There are significant differences between the design world and art. Rather than a boring lecture, it was more interesting and interactive and open for discussion of ideas and thoughts. Ive learn t a little bit of history of animation and the advances in technology and therefore animation that is occurring. What got me excited most was checking out motion graphics and seeing the different ways in which videos are rendered. Skimming through cool music video clips and commercials are probably what I find most interesting... so it was good checking them out and discussing how they could of possibly been created. Theres crazy stop motion and 3d work that go into these videos along with incredibly strategic planning and hard work. Through this course Ive been able to realize specifically what kind of area of multimedia I am most interested in so I can pursue those sorts of units in the next few years.

Week THIRTEEN homies

The final chapter was a great summary of everything that was discussed about in McClouds very relevant helpful book. Ive learnt a heap of stuff about comics I had no clue about before, and has made me appreciate the art form a heck of a lot more. Recently, I went through a book full of short comics that were really funny, and even through that my eyes were opened to the genius behind it. To fully carry the joke across to the viewer the comic artist has to plan the images together with the text in a way that will give the joke maximum impact. I appreciate how you cant just look, laugh, and move onto the next one, you actually have to stop and think a moment about what is going on in the comic to really understand sometimes.. its pretty cool. Also, to the degree on which the artist spends making the images detailed is sometimes unnecessary because the joke is still funny.

for example:



[GoogleImages/ Very simplistic, little detail, yet carries across a message]



[GoogleIMages/ Detailed]

Comics are pretty underrated and loved by many. It carries with it a certain stereotype of readers.. Just like surfing has a stereotype of young shabby blonde tanned males, but thats not entirely the case, just like comic books.

Week THIRTEEN

Chapter 8- A word about colour

Colour is so important in the world of art... and in the world! Theres nothing like crossing paths with a friend that is bright and cheery when the day is looking bland and boring. Black and white are the best "colours" to represent this feeling. Even reading this book in black and white and then seeing hints of colour throughout this chapter was a refreshing experience! When comics in colour were first printed, bright strong primary colours were predominantly used with no single colour dominating. When McCloud said similar colours began to be used on all the superheroes in order to symbolize them in the mind of readers it reminded me of FAST FOOD.


[Images taken from google images]

Fast food stores are marketed using the predominant colours of say red, yellow, and green. Someone told me once that it was because these colours invoke certain feelings in people, in this case, hunger! Colour effects us more than we realise. Anything bland with a little colour added to it, makes it better.





This an insane video I found on youtube.. its a motion graphics reel, and has excellent use of colour interaction. I really like the aesthetic and the style of it aswell.

Week TWELVE

Chapter 7- The Six Steps

Art is so much broader than people think. I like the way McCloud describes art.

"ART, as I see it, is any human activity which doesn't grow out of either of our species two basic instincts: survival and reproduction!"

As I thought about it, I relised he is right! It's not everyday you think about these things, but it really does make sense. All humans wanna do is survive and reproduce. However, what do we do when we are not thinking about how to stay alive and make love? (haha) ALOT of the time, we are producing art. This reminds me of Year 12 doing TEE art an having so many people ask, "so what do you do in the art exam anyways? draw a picture and hand it in?". Umm.. no... there is alot more to art than you think. Art can be as hidden as someone listening to his ipod on the train, or tapping even tapping his foot, to being as obvious as a guy drawing on a train.

The six steps is an interesting new piece of knowledge. The sixth step is the 'surface' an where McCloud believes is the one people most appreciate easily, and is the latest 'fan favourite' even though the Ideas (step 1) and idioms (step 3) were thought up long before but never with established 'surfaces'. This reminds me of work that is inspired from someone else and made better. Obviously the credit is given to the latter, which is fair, but that original thought which made that piece great, was because of the idea which was thought up by someone else.

Week ELEVEN

Chapter 6- Show and tell

One thing that struck me in this chapter where McCloud explores the relationship between 'pictures' and 'words' was when he wrote "..modern art itself became virtually incomprehensible to the average viewer!" It reminded me of those ridiculous paintings you see sometimes selling for millions of dollars or hung up in the most prestigious art galleries, and all it is, is a giant red blob. I am still yet to discover the meaning of it all, as I'm sure there must be some explanation, or maybe I'll understand when I get there and view these art pieces in real life.

Out of all the combinations of words and pictures outlined, the one that struck my attention was in PARALLEL combinations.. where words and pictures seem to follow very different courses--without intersecting. Probably because the combination is so random, the examples are quite humerus. I find some of how words an pics interrelate in art, can also be evident in television or movies.. except the words are of course dialogs. An the PARALLEL combination may have been amusing to me because so much of the humour that is coming 'in' today is all about randomness. When random dialogue gets thrown into a scene that has nothing to do with whats just been said, is now rather hilarious.

For example in Will Farrels (semi-latest) movie titled "Semi-Pro", there is a scene in the basketball locker room after practice, where Farrel walks out then walks back in remarking something along the lines of 'if you see the squirrel (or something?) dont shoot it.. its a pet'. What is seen, what is said, and what is happening within the storyline has no relation to that random comment whatsoever, but people love it!

Week TEN

Chapter 5- Living in Line

The use of lines and word balloons etc in comics to represent emotion is a huge part of comic art. McCloud outlined all the importance of lines to express emotions very clearly and well in this chapter. In the first week or so in Xaviers drawing class I did pages of expressive lines that represented certain words, such as 'jump' or 'leap'. It was actually difficult to find lines to show the expression of that word, and exercise became harder than I thought. A lot of symbols are now used universally and so are understood world-wide and used by many artists.

It makes me think how interesting it is, that the way a symbol as simple as a line is drawn, can relate with certain ideas and feelings we have as humans. For example, imagine a line drawn lightly with a HB pencil, as opposed to a thick, heavy, sketchy drawn line. The two are both lines expressed very differently, an causing two different trains of thought. Lines are obviously used a lot within comics and cartoons to represent motion or even 'smell'. Enough about comics, what about the use of lines in the design world! Lines are awesome for a modern looking background effect! Diagonal identical lines are sheek and modern (to me), until they're overused and not so 'in' anymore i guess..



Some crappy old graphic I did ages ago to frame in a video. I.e. the video would play where the white rectangle currently sits. But how great are the lines..




(some flyer I did last year) notice the lines!


ok, so what about lines IN FASHION.
my skinny uncle once said to me in year 4, clothes with lines make you look bulkier.



he was right!

but seriously.. lines are much more than we give them credit for! They give expression and represent symbolically what we take for granted when looking at art.

Week EIGHT

Chapter 4- Time Frames

I never really thought much about how time and space worked in comics, this chapter was thorough in explanation! McCloud explains how time is depicted through using the panels, the shape/size of the panels, sound, and motion lines. Time within comics is taken for granted, and excellently executed. All the different techniques create a unified sense of action and movement. The comparisons made between Western and Japanese artists are interesting to see. The distinction between the two styles is becoming more apparent to me, both are equally effective and of great quality for readers. It is also evident within the world of animation. Western and Japanese animations develop and evolve as they take bits and pieces of ideas from each other, yet the styles remain distinct.


[Images taken from GoogleImages- here to the distinction of styles between Japanese and Western animation]

Kimba the White Lion which aired in Japan during the 1960s and was the first colour tv animation series. It represented the manga style, with the characters often drawn with large over-sized eyes. The theme and concept of this series is very similar and followed by Lion King which was produced by Disney in 1994. Obvious concepts are assumed to be directly derived from Kimba the White Lion but the Lion King (Simba and co.) are drawn and created with Western style animation. As McCloud concludes, "..no matter how bizarre the workings of time in comics is--the face it represents to the reader-- is one of simple normality. Or the illusion of it anyways." Sums the whole topic up nicely =)

Week FIVE

Chapter 3 is an informative chapter about the meaning and use of 'closure' within comics. It is interesting to see how our minds actually work, when we see lots of images, it is amazing how we can bring those images together in our head and work out a story.

[Image taken from GoogleImages "bellyflop"]

The image is an example of how closure works. The fat man is diving off a diving board, yet we do not see how he lands, the viewers mind creates closure as they imagine the landing of the man in the water. Closure is helpful because our minds can finish off what happens more imaginative and thus funnier then watching what really happens.

The role of 'gutters' was also outlined within this chapter. Gutters are the space in between panels. I like how there are several distinct categories of panel-to-panel transitions, and how they can be all used in one comic (though rarely are) and done in such a way that readers are able to easily read through and enjoy the story. I appreciate the strategic element of it. Its amazing how certain scenes may be left out but because of our own minds we fill in the gaps and still manage to enjoy comics. This is a new concept to me and reminds me of the role of in-betweeners in animation. The difference is, we are the in-betweeners, and our minds determine how one panel relates to the following one. In betweeners draw all images from subject to subject so that the animation moves along smoothly. In a comic, the story line moves along thanks to the help of our own heads.

[This incredible graphic was created by me in photoshop]

The above image is just a quick example of the use of gutters. The gutter in between panels is where the viewers mind assumes what happened from the first panel to the second one.

Week FOUR

Chapter 2- The Vocabulary of Comics

This chapter interrelates with our workshop assignments. McCloud offers an understanding of the way cartoons are presented, the way we see them, and why. He talks about abstraction of a fairly realistic drawing of a face down to an obvious cartoon drawing which is created by symbols but still resembles a face.


[Abstraction drawing of a photo of my own face- using black artline pens. Mouths were drawn separately to be used later for animation]

A cartoon drawing helps people to identify themselves with that character,and thus get a lot more our of the story. This relates heavily with techniques learnt in class. I took a photo of my face and traced it, but the final result was purposely abstracted. I also thought it was interesting how he says that we can't help but see two dots and a line and automatically see a face, even though the symbols hardly resemble what our eyes and mouth really look like. We experimented with this theory as we had to take 100 photos of found faces in objects all around us, such as ovens and taps etc. Once found, one is chosen to animate and create a talking object. This is an example of how we can cause objects to 'come alive', just as in cartoons where cartooning is mixed with realistic backgrounds. This chapter shows the complexity behind the way things are drawn and why. Certain styles and ideas are drawn in a certain way to bring across a certain message.

Week THREE

The first chapter of Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud was a bit of an eye-opener for me. Previously.. and currently I wasn't a real fan of the idea of comics. I used to buy them from Red Dot when I was little because my brother did, so I wasn't greatly impressed by comics. When we were told to buy the book then READ IT I was shocked.... Especially when I OPENED it and found the whole book was written in comic form. But its Ok, because as I started reading it was actually pretty cool. I liked how McCloud attempted to define comics and then researched into the definitions in order to paint a picture to the reader and enabled us to make our own conclusions on comics. It helped me realize what makes comics comics and how they are relevant not just too the younger generations. It helped me realize its not just a picture book for kids. As I was reading I realised 'Boy Im glad the pictures are there cos otherwise this would be so boring'. McCloud illustrates the points well in a format that easy to read and understandable. This appifany also occured in class when my eyes were forced to watch MANGA. However, it turns out I nearly cried watching the first bit of "Grave of the Fireflies". It is just another example of how expressions of art are misunderstood and written off as clichés when they communicate much of the same emotion and energy as other forms.

Week TWO

3. Process is more important than outcome

I agree with this. When you are focused heavily on the outcome, you tend to forget or miss things you may have achieved during the process. When you understand the process is important you will find on the way to your destination there is much learning along the way. On the way, there may be stretching and challenging
times that make you who you are.

Oprah back in the day Her talk show today
[Images from GoogleImages]

Oprah Winfrey currently has a worldwide talk show viewed by millions everyday. She didn't get there over night, Oprah had very small beginnings and her fame and success today is a result of a long journey and process that was at most times difficult. However, without that journey, who knows what she would be doing now or what kind of person she would be.

18. Stay up late

There is some truth to this. I find if I'm struggling with something I'm working on..the big breakthrough idea comes to me at the latest hour, or after I have worked my butt off on something else but then realize its actually not that great. When you come to the end of all your ideas and thoughts, at times the most creative ideas comes at the end of it all.

34. Make mistakes faster.

Interesting.. It caught my attention, because its kind of a valid point. The earlier you stuff up, the earlier you learn from your mistakes (hopefully), which means there is a less probability that you will re-create that mistake in the future... or at a crucial time where it could potentially ruin what you are doing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stuffing up once in a while. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone. A mentor of mine says, "It's okay to fall, but when you fall, fall forwards" . In other words, when you stuff up, learn from it.

Week ONE

I went for a stroll around campus during a break.. (like many others)
and noticed some REALLY EXCITING STUFF. .. .. ..... not rlly, but seriously,




The first thing I noticed about this ridiculousy boring plant, is the combination of the old/dead leaves with the fresh green leaves. This became a running thought and theme for the rest of my walk.. Once I initially noticed it in these plants I started to notice the pattern in most nature. Im not sure exactly why I find it so interesting.





The grass is greener on the other side.

Again, the contrast in old and new co-existing beside one another, as well as the strong contrast in colour. Grass, we walk on it everyday, at Curtin we walk past the same old shubbery and plants all the time, its just interesting to me that nature all around us is existing with the old- but of course we don't take notice of it..



Ok this is kinda cool.
Amongst all the beauty Curtin has to offer, the environment is slightly interrupted with this strong red THING! I love it. This fire hydrant offers variety a sort of power amidst its environment. It screams 'look at me'! But no-one really does. So what makes me look at it? Besides the obvious loud bright red coat of paint, its like it shot straight up out of the ground without being asked. The second one reminds me of some sweet SWAT TEAM agent dude hiding in bushes thinking no-one can see it.. what a doof..




Texture is the thing that captured my attention here.
You gotta love bark. If you closely, on each layer of bark is a new texture and shade of those earthy brown tones. The layers look like they've been ripped off in different areas, leaving it looking splodgy but still 'tree-ey' if I can call it that. Only tiny bits of the outermost layer is lift, with its more vertical rough texture, which is so visually nice too look at I suppose.



And finally, the giant random building.
Thats precisely what struck my attention however. I was just happily strolling back to the Architecture and Planning building when this big old thing stood in front of me. I just had to take a photo of it and comment. I love the shape of this building, its massive curve stands out so much. It sits in a sea of geometric, tall, same-coloured buildings, and makes a statement.