The 'What If?' Metropolis - Digital Thumbnails 18-38

I think I've had some really successful ideas in this load of thumbnails! Before I talk about what went well, I wanted to quickly write about something I'd like to improve on as a reminder to myself and also to let others know what I'm thinking! The main problem I'm having at the moment is posting thumbnails regularly, but the problem is that it's hard to do that when you're not actually drawing thumbnails regularly. This is the main thing I want to focus on  because it's really frustrating me! The OGR is on Wednesday and I really want to focus on that and getting some solid thumbnails in for it. I've not got any extra shifts at work and it's also reading week so I think I'll be able to get some good drawing time in. But as a general reminder to myself - draw more and even when you don't feel like it or you're busy, get at least a few ideas into your sketchbook!

I really like thumbnails 19 and 20, and I think this could be quite a valid idea for a city. I originally started with number 18 and quite liked it and then began to develop in the next few thumbnails. However, I was only on a low number of drawings at that point so I didn't want to spend too long developing and not enough time looking at other interesting ideas! I found an interesting picture of Haeckel's work on Google (pictured below) and I really liked the drawing in the middle as it reminded me of a tree. I decided to pull from that inspiration and use it to make some kind of Haeckel-tree in thumbnails 24 and 25! I think this worked out really well. However, I remember Phil warning in the brief not to rely too heavily on the artist's designs that already 'look' like a building or other element of a city - I hope I've added my own spin on it to make it more Haeckel inspired instead of a direct copy of Haeckel's drawing.

I've pulled from a few more images in these next thumbnails and I've decided that I'll make another influence map including these ones. When I upload it, it'll probably be really clear to see what images relate to what thumbnails, so I'll be making it soon!

I like thumbnail 31 from this page, as I think it reflects the utopia/dystopia idea very well. The tall building in the middle is what I was considering as the utopian side - where all the elite live. Then the curling structures nearer to the ground are part of the dystopian part of the city - where the rejected live a less comfortable life, always reaching to get to utopia: the top dome.

Sorry for the big walls of text! I find it a lot easier to communicate my ideas when I write out my thought processes when making them. It also helps to organise my thoughts when I type it all out clearly. More thumbnails to come soon!

The 'What If?' Metropolis - Digital Thumbnails 1-17

I've had another go at scanning my thumbnails in and this time it went a lot better! I set my scanner at 600dpi instead of 300 and that made a big difference. Once I scanned my image, I took it into Photoshop and adjusted it how Phil advised so it's a bit bolder. I actually quite prefer this method to taking pictures - I can see how it's a lot neater and clearer. I've completed another page of thumbnails so I've scanned those in too, plus my first page now that it's looking better!

The 'What If?' Metropolis - Digital Thumbnails 1-8

Following Phil's advice, I've scanned in my sketchbook and made my first set of thumbnails digital. However, I don't really like the outcome. It doesn't look right to me! I'm wondering whether its because the blue doesn't show up too well with my scanner. I'll have another go to try and improve the quality soon!

Contextual Studies - Essay Presentation

Contextual Studies - Realism

In our last contextual studies lesson we looked at realism, marxism, and propaganda. We talked about the different kinds of realism: visual realism; aural realism; realism of motion; narrative and character realism and social realism. We learnt about what each of these meant and also had a look at other thing that aren't realism - photo realism, magic realism, and hyper reality don't fit the definition of realism.

We also talked about the features realism include. What people consider to be realism isn't - soaps and kitchen sink dramas may be perceived as realism, but there's too much action for it to fit into that description. Realism would actually be quite boring, with a lack of drama to reflect how we would live our every day lives. We learnt a few more definitions in the lesson like:

Marxism - Meaningful to society, art should have a function

Semiotics - Language of symbols

Ideology - Expectations, a subtle form of propaganda.

For our next lesson we need to make a presentation about the essays we have chosen to write. More to come soon!

Life Drawing

I had such a great life drawing session today! I feel like I can really see the improvement in the first drawings I did compared to these ones today.

The 'What If?' Metropolis - Influence Maps