When starting my initial ideas and creative process, I kept the theme of process in mind. Honestly, I read and wrote it so much that it was beginning to lose meaning. When I considered the theme process, two things kept coming back to me: the process of ageing and the number of processes used in photography. But as I was trying to not do what I always do, I didn’t want to lock in the first idea I had.
MY CREATIVE PROCESS:
ACCIDENTAL BEGINNING:
When discussing the idea of documenting progress in peoples hands I remembered that during a drunk train ride home I took the picture of the stranger sitting opposite me.
I could tell so much from one picture of his hand and the situation it was in.
HAND TEST ONE:
RESEARCH:
Below are works from Sally Mann, Henri Cartier Bresson, Herbert List, Elliott Erwitt, matt black, Fan Ho, Dorothea Lange, Mary Ellen Mark, and Ansel Adams.
I’ve grouped the works of all of these photographers together to try and inspire myself to do something as half as good as any of them. Like an inspiration board of good photography.
Camera Recording its Own Condition (7 Apertures, 10 Speeds, 2 Mirrors) 1971
Camera Recording its Own Condition (7 Apertures, 10 Speeds, 2 Mirrors) 1971 John Hilliard born 1945 Presented by Colin St John Wilson 1980 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T03116
Susan Hiller, Monument, 1980-1 (Tate Britain installation shot) Tate; Copyright Susan Hiller; Image: Tate Photography/Sam Drake
HAND TEST TWO:
Familiarising myself again with my camera in the studio.
HAND TEST THREE:
DESIGN DOMAIN WRITING:
When considering the theme of the process, two interpretations kept coming back to me: that of ageing and that of photography. The process of getting older, changing and learning is something we all have in common, and our experiences in life are a big part of that. What we do and what happens to us is a big part of who we are, and through life and those experiences, we use our hands to communicate, create, move or connect with others; our lives are on our hands one way or another and after realising most of my projects have a focus on people and humanity I knew I wanted to focus on the humanity we present with our hands. And the multiple processes of photography, from the simple processes of lining up and taking a shot to the development of physical film to the editing processes after initial photography. So, using photography and the ageing process, I decided to focus on the process people go through with their hands and document that as best as I could.
Everyone’s hands tell a story of their life and what they have used those hands for.
My primary research and creative process were interlinked; I had to get my hands on the camera and start taking pictures again, which informed my process and interactions with the people I was photographing. There is no clear line between the research part of my proposal and the making part. As I was researching, I was making, and as I was making, I was researching and learning more as I did more in an almost symbiotic system between the two. I wouldn’t have gained as much if I had studied the camera without any subjects or gone out and discussed the projects with those I was photographing without the camera.
To learn about people, we need to know them, and photography gains something through conversation. So going out and actually having a conversation with people as you take pictures adds another level to the understanding of the photo, which is already quite a personal thing; someone’s hands are how to interact with the world and can tell us so much about that person when we focus and pay attention to them. If I don’t go out and research or take pictures with a telescopic lens, I may save myself an awkward conversation, but I rob myself of interacting with that person personally and learning about who they are.
Taking this further will be done in two ways; firstly, I want to photograph a wide range of people and show the diversity and differences in people’s hands and lives, developing an extensive collection of people and their stories. Secondly, I want to develop a very tactile and satisfying way for people to view the photographs in a way that they can use their hands to view them. Another possibility is to show them in an exhibition or gallery space as one extensive collection to show their relationship, as through this process, I’ve learned that on their own, they make less of an impact than they would as a collection. A wall full of people and their stories.
Going into this project, I’m already thinking about what I’ve done in the realms of data visualisation and how I can do something different from before.
I initially did data visualisation before I even really knew what it was in the year one Hello World project with the amount of music I listened to.
And then again during Colab 1 in year one in the visualisation of lithium battery usage within the studio and my family.
One of the critical things I have in mind for this project is to make the data personal and relatable. To have a data visualisation that means something to someone as well as informs and educates.
INSPIRATION : David McCandless
INSPIRATION : Photoviz by Nicholas Felton
INSPIRATION : David McCandless (again)
INSPIRATION : Mitsuo Katsui
The critical factor I want to take away from Katsui’s work is his openness to colour and how vibrant and almost dreamlike it is. The bursts of colour and blurring and mixing of those vibrant colours
THE LEGO IDEA:
The Lego idea is visualising the data I have in my room daily. I keep looking at how to make it more personal to the viewer and how to make the data relatable. But, I’ve forgotten a lesson I learned during my first year: I’m not yet the exact precise scalpel of a trained artist/designer, but I am still learning, the blunt sledgehammer.
Using the old saying, write what you know; if I want it to be relatable and personal, it should be something unique to me and I can relate to.
I build Lego to relax and almost meditate while doing something I enjoy and having an outcome at the end of it. So even with the added layer of my personal experiences with these sets, there’s already quantifiable physical data there as well as a quantifiable emotional aspect within the data such as the level of joy I’ve got from it, the relaxation I feel before and after it on top of the number of pieces, the colours used, the themes that inspire the sets.
WORKSHOP 02:
DATA VIS BELT : Test
The belt was a concept I had for Data Visualisation that initially was just an idea on how to show data physically, something personal by proximity. Data that can be worn. But through my life and the discussion of men’s mental health that has been happening more and more in society, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to use my data to bring more attention to it, but as I’ve been working through the concept, I feel that at this point I can’t do it justice as well as the fact as that I am not finding the data and designing around it but starting with a concept and trying to cram the data in to fix it and the outcome won’t be good enough for myself or the cause I’m trying to help.
I need to find the data, collect it, let it guide the design of the visualisation, and find a way to show that in an exciting and informative way.
After the support session with Paul, I have a clearer thought process. Before, I felt I had all the puzzle pieces but no connective path; I had the data/ starting point, the medium and reasoning, and a general idea of the outcome. But with no clear way to get there, I couldn’t have said for sure.
My plan was Initially to look at each Lego piece as a singular unit. Still, again, when discussing with Paul, there might be too many Lego pieces or something that will not fit into my time frame, so with the eight Lego studs on each block, that will represent eight men.
While reflecting on this project I’ve realised I really do believe in it.
Each aspect separately is something I stand by and the concept of using a non-threatening medium to tackle harder issues in a non invasive sculptural piece is something I’d like to try again or develop further.
Taking this further, I would like to upscale it to a human level while still considering the importance of keeping the material informal, relatable and personal.
I was drawn to the EVERY OTHER THING print, and I’m not entirely sure why. I instantly saw and loved the bold Font, colour choice, and spacing of the lettering. I’m still determining if I want to bring anything of it into my project. Still, I thought it essential to document how much it affected me.
Research
Space Type Generator
Above are just messing about with the Space Type Generator, seeing what I could make with it, pushing it to the maximum and minimum settings.
Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton.
The book does a fantastic job of telling you what and what not to do how to use type well and effectively, and what not to do, but I thought about what happens if you do what Lupton is asking you not to.
Mark Making
An idea I initially had last year when talking with the then 2nd year students was to use some sort of liquid or gel to write the text like shower gel (shown here) or washing up liquid. Essentially using the same techniques as piping bags and icing but with its own distinct properties due to its nature.
Above is an ad for a Scotto Overcoat I picked from an antique shop years ago. I’d like to use this in my mark-making process to see what it will look like when printed.
Workshop 02
Support Session
Legibility and running with the Eye Test
After my talk with Paul, I had a direction to go on. I knew I wanted to do something with legibility and not be able to see what you are supposed to or needed to do. Still, then, pulling from personal experiences, the idea of eye tests and out-of-focus text was something I wanted to follow or the over compression of text and pixelisation of it.
Print Research
Workshop 03
Game Plan
With one week left, I needed a game plan; the first week, I was honestly half distracted with finishing the Realtime Events project, so I did get research done and had ideas but might have been more informed or had time for exploration, but we can’t go back in time only forward. With my game plan, I looked into eye tests and creating one.
Eye Test Chart
Research into traditional recognisable eye tests and how I can make mine as close to the original as possible. I don’t want it to be evident that mine does or says something different.
When thinking about the mock eye test, I kept thinking about the importance of being able to see. Words, signs, warnings. How important is it to see what we’re being warned about and what would happen if we couldn’t?
Testing the Blur
Snellen Chart vs LogMAR Chart
LogMAR Font : Optician Sans
LogMAR Blur Test 01
CAN YOU READ THIS ?
CAN YOU READ THIS? : PIXEL
The poster(s) you can never read.
Below is an initial concept for an installation with the poster collection. The concept show would be the blurring effect. When the viewer gets closer, the poster gets harder and harder to read.
Taking this concept further, each poster effect can be animated and triggered by proximity, devolving or warping in different ways.
Reflection
Reflecting on this project, I got so caught up in one aspect and didn’t keep my mind open to different avenues and methods. As well as neglecting the Processing/After Effects aspect and the projects and just focusing on the print. A point I had lost was the importance of the actual words and what I was reminded of in the review. Making the poster something people want to read, the words having importance to the viewer and making it more critical when they can’t read it.
Initially, looking at art styles will help with where I want to take my Unity project. Now, I think it to say that I don’t know if I can research, learn the basics of Unity and create a gripping hyper-realistic scene in 3 weeks, so the Unity scene might need to be heavily stylised as I want to do this project justice and not just focus on the aesthetics of the game but the user experience as well as the sound design of the scene.
The skills I’ve gained in year one on programs like maya helped a lot with the workflow and interface of Unity and I’m sure that when I start moving deeper into Unity the differences will become more obvious but it seemed to help with the basics.
Below is a screen grab of a test scene done in workshop 01. I might change but initially I do like the visuals of a city lost at sea and the mystery that can surround that.
When thinking about user experience, I aim to draw them in. A possible way of simplifying each aspect of the scene but not reflecting on quality. An inviting art style, intuitive controls, compelling audio and a clear vision for the story/theme/mystery.
Low Polygonal (Low – Poly)
Shown here is the hyper styled Low-Poly action shot of SuperHot. A unforgettable game with visuals to match, from its interesting yet intuitive mechanics, striking visuals and effective sound landscape. I don’t intent to imitate SuperHot but take inspiration from how it does so much with so little.
Realism
Realism, is shown here in The Last of Us 2, to the right level between artistic style and realism. Sometimes with a realistic style it can go too far in to the ucanny valley and distract from the intended purpose. Realism when done well can really immerse the player in the experience of the game.
Fantasy Realism
It is closely tied with the goals of the realism aesthetic; the fantasy aesthetic aims to make the fantasy world the game is set in as believable as possible to help immerse the player.
Cartoon
Cartoon can incompass a number of styles from 3D to 2D and as cartoon styles change these game aestheics can change as well. Shown above are two examples of both cartoon that are widley different firstly is the 1930’s rubber hose style of Cuphead and then the almost Pixar inspired style of Overwatch.
Flat
An example of flat pixel art I’ve used is Nidhogg. Now, it is imitating the flat pixel art of the 1980s but with a vibrant colour pallet that wouldn’t have been available in that era.
Pixel
An example of pixel art I’ve chosen to look at is Fez because it was published in 2012, and this specific style was selected without the limitations of the decade and era the style comes from. Fez then subverts these traditional 2D aesthetics by allowing the player to switch between the four planes of this 2D/3D pixel world while style maintaining its aesthetic.
Cell Shaded
I was first introduced to cell shaded animation with the 2003 classic the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, that has contuined to show that a cell shaded can still look good years later.
Monochromatic
An example of monochromatic style that first came to mind in video games is the Return of the Obra Dinn, that even though it is a 3D game it uses this monochromatic rendering to imitate an almost printed look.
Scene Idea
My initial idea for the scene was to follow the same idea I had in Workshop 01, the city lost at sea. The scene would take inspiration from games like Journey or Flower, a semi-peaceful world that beckons the player forward through curiosity and discovery.
Workshop 02
Workshop 02 focused on several things, one being building prefabs and streamlining populating a level or scene and animating those prefabs within the scene. Also covered was the animation within Unity, which had a lot of similarities to how animation was done in Maya, and again, I’m sure on a deeper dive, the differences will become more apparent. Still, the basics are the same, and the same animation foundations and techniques can be used.
The video game style of the 70’s was rudimental shapes and simple interactions that paved the way for the rest of gaming to follow. For my project, I think the simple interactions and style can inform the simplicity of my scene.
The classic that is Super Mario Bros brought level design that guided and taught the player almost instantly to the masses and again should be a primary consideration when a player is interacting with my scene. How do they learn how to interact with the world and what objects are in the world, along with functionality to teach them?
1990s
With the 1990s and the introduction of fully realised 3D environments, games developed again to allow players to interact and move characters around those environments. There was no universal or commonly understood button layout at this time as it was still being carved out. Ocarina of Time and its odd controller from the N64 did a lot to find ways of moving within that space. My main takeaway from this game is its sense of adventure and story.
2000s
With the 2000s (and 2010s), there came a sense of storytelling maturity in gaming, with some leaning more toward movies and QTEs and others taking this maturity into the realms of more complex and compelling stories to rival that of film and TV whilst still being fun and exciting games as shown in Bioshock above. Now, some, in hindsight, missed the mark, but the takeaway from this is that a real story can be told. It doesn’t have to be simplified or catered to a younger audience.
2010s
In the 2010s, maturity and storytelling started in the 2000s were refined. The stylistic choices of some games became more deliberate, and realistic games, such as Uncharted 3 (shown above), became more beautiful and polished with each game throughout the decade. In the way of visuals, though, the differences between the 00s and the 2010s became slight and then slight again when comparing the 2010s to our current decades’ visual quality.
Tieing back to my scene, there is no way of producing a AAA title, but the scene could be compelling by taking thematic inspiration from games of the 2010s.
2020s
Most recently, with Spider-Man 2 on PS5 and looking back at the past ten or even twenty years of gaming, there has been a steady rise in graphical style and high-quality graphics of video games. Still, in the ways of innovation and change, it has been stagnant; a similar button mapping is being adopted by most game devs and the spaces for radical ideas, or strange new game mechanics have been left to the indie devs and smaller studios for the most part. So Far…
With a small scene to create, there is an opportunity to try something odd and different.
Gao Hang
Gao Hang uses oil painting to imitate the low-poly style of early ps2 graphics and characters models. An intereresting thing to takew from Hangs art is that he was born in 1991 and that this style of vidoe games are from his formative years.
Sequelitis with Arin Hanson
Now, there are a lot of jokes and swearing in this, but the main thought about game design stands and how video games are a unique medium that can be communicated without a manual or hand-holding and by simply interacting with the game or scene, the player can discover what they want to know for themselves and that the feeling of accomplishment after figuring it out is a reward.
Scene Idea
Unlike the other idea, this one is more focused, and even though I don’t have a style or theme for it, it’s driven by simplifying aspects of the scene so that more effort and focus can be put into other aspects of the experience. Like making it smaller scale so I can put more time into the sound or user experience. I know what I want to do with this logically, but I am still trying to figure out what to do in aesthetic stories or triggers of the scene.
Support Session : The Fork in the road
After the support sessions, I felt like I had more of a focus on what to do. I did not have a direction, or my efforts were halved between two ideas and too focused, but after the support session, I have a concentrated direction.
For my scene, I will be doing a linear narrative walking sim with a monochromatic colour scheme; what I now need to figure out is the art style of the scene, the story of the scene and everything that comes along with that.
I’m keeping the basic ideas of the scene but changing the setting and feel of it. Before, there was a lack of warmth, and that sense of wonder kept becoming. one of fear or uncertainty. The scene will be in a forest in the morning, with the warm summer sun peaking through the trees, guiding the player forward.
This week has been quite tumultuous in my personal life, and I have had to spend too much of it inside. When I needed a break, I went outside whenever I could to get some fresh air and to calm myself, listening to the wind through the trees. I want to bring as much of that as I can into my scene.
This is my initial test on what trees I should use, how dense they need to be, and how the light reacts through the leaves. After this test, I’ve learned that the trees need to be much denser to achieve the effect I’m after and taller to give the impression of the far-reaching top of the forest.
Above is my first attempt at experimenting with the terrain in Unity and how the player interacts with and traverses the terrain. In my scene, the terrain will be more subtle, but I will use the terrain so conceal the limitations of the scene.
In this attempt, I wanted to ramp up the density of the trees to the extreme just to see how many trees there has to be to imitate the look of a forest. What still needs to be changed is the trees’ height and thickness to bring the forest’s stability to life.
Finding the sounds of the forrest
The sounds I wanted to find for the forest focused on subtlety. Nothing too dramatic but just the wind moving through the trees and animals in the distance with more active sounds that can be used in triggers such as a bird chirping or a branch breaking.
Support Session
Building the Scene
Between the images above and below, I have imported a different tree prefab and adjusted the height as much as I could, used terrain and tree density to hide the limitations of the landscape, paid more attention to the ground of the forest that colour and texture or the grass and foliage.
I am happy with the terrain on this iteration, though; the soft hill doesn’t feel out of place and creates a natural horizon break to hide some limitations and creates a natural path or endpoint for the player to climb.
At this point, I dropped the monochromatic filter idea for two reasons. Firstly, time management because I wasn’t sure how to actually do it and do it well, and secondly, I didn’t want to take away the natural colours of the forest because, without it, it loses some of its comfort and warmth.
At this stage, I am fine-tuning the look of the forest with the correct tree prefabs, ground textures and grass billboards. At this point, I’m trying to balance the computational power, the almost realistic style and the player immersion simultaneously so that the feeling of a forest or at least the calm of one is apparent.
The fold-out pages in my notebook that seem like the scribbles of a madman were actually the XYZ of the sphere triggers and light locations on the terrane.
Music for the scene
Music I’ve been considering for the scene in Neil Young’s Harvest Moon. I was reminded of it by my younger cousin, who was playing it on guitar and had asked for me to sing along to it. The softness and warmth but still with the rugged strength of the song is something that I want to bring to the scene to bring this feeling of wilderness and ruggedness but still comfortable and safe.
The Soundscape
I was considering using Harvest Moon as the scene’s music, but it was pointed out that it has a definitive start and end and that if the scene is to last longer than the song or if the player wanders, then the music will need to loop. As well as the length of the song, the complexity of it might be an issue if I want to put music triggers or sounds over the top of it, then the soundscape can become messy or cluttered.
So, instead, I’ve opted for keeping the quiet sounds of the forest with a looping 1-minute guitar piece that is subtle so as not to distract or overpower but still brings warmth and comfort to the scene.
Final Scene : The Walk
Below are some stills from the final scene showing the final look I went within the time I had. It’s based on a realistic style but leans into the limitations of time, computational power and available textures to find a look similar to the late stages of the PS2 era and early stages of PS3.
Play Testing
After finishing the scene and building it, I sent it to some of my colleagues and family to get feedback and see if they could find any game-breaking situations or areas. Below is feedback from my course colleague, Stewart.
Reflection
At the start of this project, I was understandably distracted and didn’t have a clear path, but I think my personal experiences informed this project in the positive; I don’t know if I would have changed it to the forest and the calming nature of the trees if they didn’t also bring me calm in a difficult time.
If I had more time with this project or had things happened differently, I would have liked to have a definitive ending to the game along with a more polished feel. I was happy with the final look of the scene. Still, I had limitations from the machine I was using and the available space. In a stronger machine or one with more internal memory, I could have ranked up the overall quality of the project, upping its visual quality and scale.
Open share is a chance to revisit a project at the end of the year and display it during an exhibition for years 1-3.
Day 01
Initially, I wanted to revisit my sensory objects project and refine the book with smaller components and conductive paint instead of the tape and just an overall design refining. But due to time constraints, I didn’t have enough time to order the components. I should have ordered them beforehand, but I was too focused on the previous project, Creative Coding 02.
As this project is only three days long, I changed from my Sensory object redesign to my Projection Mapping project as it was something I enjoyed, and I felt that I already had some idea of where I wanted to take it.
Initially my thoughts on the projection mapping second iteration where to bring back the plinths, get higher quality images or moving images and then present it in the garage space.
My first snag in that was the lack of plinths as they where already in use for the 3rd years projects and now still in use for the open share projects. So in my frantic mind as I walked into the studio I seen Saoirse’s old chair.
N – “Can I borrow this?
S – “Yeah sure”
N – “Can I paint it?”
S – “No”
N – “Sh*t”
So with a chair and no way to paint it, I took Nikki’s suggestion and got some white tape; after a quick trip to the Savoy, I got a couple of roles of white tape and started to cover the parts of the chair I needed.
After a test and seeing that the projector’s colours were bright enough, I started taping the rest.
Day 02
After more tape and with the chair now white, the next step was to sort out placement and mapping, which took longer than I had anticipated. And at this moment, I’ve realised that there’s a dead space from the position of the projector behind one of the armrests and for there not to be the projector has to be much higher and probably use one of the plinths I do not have or mounting the projector is some crazy location which seems a bit dramatic and a bit late in the game on day two of three.
For the end of day 03 I have to
Polish the mapping for the chair.
Pick the images/footage that will be mapped onto the chair.
Finalise and print the description.
Note: Do I want the mapping to be perfect? Should I lean into the imperfection… the tape isn’t perfect, and the walls and chair aren’t perfect; why should the mapping be?
The images must be perfect, though; they must be crisp, clean and clear.
Day 03
I had a weird feeling about my progress at this point today because I felt that I had done a lot and there was still a lot more to do but when I looked at any task list I set for myself it didn’t seem like a lot.
(Edit: This must have been my Spidey senses or something kicking in because it got too close to the wire. )
When remapping the chair today, I decided not to worry too much about the perfect lines of the mapper because it felt too different from the overall theme and style of the work. I feel that the rough and ready style communicates the main aim of what I’m trying to say.
I did get a decent animation of a Union Jack for the projection but I had trouble getting decent images or footage of any negative images for the other side of the chair. (Thats probably an interesting subject to look into on a further date if its not just my poor Googling skills. Why is so difficult to find footage or images of certain topics.)
When thinking about the description of my work, I realised how much I was torn between describing it in a very logical, technical way or a very emotional, conceptual way. I found myself pulling away from talking about it more artistically, probably brought on by some doubt or some version of imposter syndrome, but thankfully, inspired by the theme of what I was writing about, I went for the uncomfortable option that was better suited.
Uncomfortable
Only by seeing the whole picture can we deal with the problem.
The world’s governing bodies have several hardships to answer for, yet people may defend these flags and these governments with undying loyalty or wish to detach these horrible crimes from those that are the cause. The problems we face in modern times are not mysteries, and they are not myths; they are tangible, traceable, and part of our lives and homes. These problems are hard to see, but they won’t disappear if we ignore them.
We can only begin to tackle the uncomfortable truth by seeing the whole picture.
Projector, Touch Designer, chair, White Tape
Day 04 – Exhibition Day
Exhibition day was very up and down on terms of stress levels and a lot of me wishing I had just simplified my submission and got out of my own head.
In first thing and setting everything up, when I look back it now a lot of the morning off was taken up by Touch Designer not playing along. And thankfully Gillian was there to help and put up with my growing stressing the closer and closer it got to the deadline.
Long repetitive story short, Touch Designer was working with the laptop open and in certain settings but didn’t want to work when the laptop was closed. But I had something to present and after remapping it a couple of times I got quite fast with it.
The key points of today were the little things that would come to me in jolts of panic and inspiration. Once the projection was set up and everything was how I wanted it to be, Stewart, in year 3, provided an idea by interacting with the pictures of the wall of King Charles and Rishi Sunak, and that gave me the idea for people to take it upon themselves and draw on the objects. Take a marker and draw on the chairs and the canvases however they wanted and say whatever they want.
Another last minute thing that people also commented on was the imitation of frames round the canvases using tape which again was a last minute thing that I added because I felt that it was missing something.
I would love to say that this entire exhibition was planned and well thought out but in all honesty it was me running down a path and making snap decisions when it came to a fork in the road and thankfully it paying off.
The change from projectors to chair was because everyone already had been using the plinths. The tape on the chair was because I could not paint on the chair. The interactive element was because Stewart felt moved to do something and I had a marker in my pocket. The frames round the canvases because I felt it was missing something and thankfully someone had left thin black tape in the Garage.
I was proud of my work and I didn’t think I would be. This experience was rushed, stressful, and manic and I loved it. I don’t know why but it felt more like what it should be. Working together with your colleges and lecturers; making decisions on your work and how the work changes and develops. And then displaying it for people to see and interact with it. The feedback and interaction from others was great.
I’d love to do more exhibitions, display my work proudly, and get that feedback, whether it’s positive or not.
A personal note for next time and for my work in general is not to forget my love photography and use that in my documentation. A decent camera, interesting shots and properly lit.
At the end
Below is the documentation of what people decided to write on the chair.
Back to Coding. My return to creative coding and brushing up on basic things again. From the workshop yesterday I still feel there is a lot to work on but with using code in Creative Coding 01, Mobile Web and Sensory Objects I feel a little more confident on using it.
Continuing my on going practice of being open to abstract art and practices instead of being too logical and rigid I want to look more into abstract artists and use their work as inspiration for my outcomes in Creative Coding 02.
One line that did stick in my head was (and I’m paraphrasing) “Organic is random with order”
Vera Molnar
Georg Ness
Kazmir Maelvich
Piet Mondrian
Liubov Popova
Bridget Riley
Work Shop 01
For workshop 01, it was a little refresher, and initially, it took me a second to get back into it, but as I said before, I didn’t realise how much I’ve come on from Creative Coding 01 after doing the other projects that used coding. So, for example, in workshop 01, we covered Translate, and as soon as I pictured it as framing on graph paper, it became easy to wrap my mind around it. And concerning the compounding orders of transforms and rotations and containing them within Push and Pop matrixes makes more sense to me if I imagine them as pieces of paper on top of one another or layers in a program like Photoshop or Illustrator.
Something to note that was touched upon is the use of P2D, other imported renderers and importing libraries. It seemed simple enough when Cat went over it in Sensory Objects but I will need to look into it further to really have a clue of what I’m doing.
Work Shop 02
Workshop 02 was bringing in images and modifying them with scaling, transforming, rotating and tinting. Images in Processing follows the same rules as Rect but with the added constraint of resolution. At this point I’d love to take some photographs into Processing and manipulate them into something else, something different.
Photography
After using images in processing, and even though the images were random, it still gave them a new quality so I thought that if I looked into some great photography then I could use them in my processing sketches.
Imogen Cunningham
Robert Frank
Frans Lanting
Martin Parr
Eliot Porter
Tim walker
Outcome Photography
Work Shop 03
Workshop 03 is using pre-made SVGs from adobe illustrator or Photoshop and putting them into processing. Besides some amazing visuals, it also opens up the workflow for bringing other things into processing and manipulating them that way.
Trigonometry. By using the functions of SIN, COS and TAN the animation and formations of processing sketches can follow the formation or comparative movement of these graphs in different ways. The outcomes of these processing sketches finally showing there was something to learning them in school.
The noise function is something I found myself drawn to as it imitates autonomy. After trying to replicate that to an extent in the Dimensions project, it’s madness that it can be replicated with a couple of lines of code.
float n = noise(frameCount*0.01)*height;
Workshop 04
Opening processing to the world of 3D! It seems simple enough to add the Z axis to the X and Y axis as I use primitives, but I will need to work on it more to get to grips with more complex shapes and animation in a 3D space.
I did find myself drawn to playing with text in processing. Using words and languages to draw images felt odd, but the shapes and lines that came from it were something I enjoyed and helped me discover new shapes.
Support Session
Support session with Paul, again just mess around with it and plug some numbers into it
Noise is a known curve, and when the number is smaller it’s as if we’re zooming into the curve and taking information from a smaller collection of numbers.
My take away from this project is that even though I have made some progress there is still a lot for me to work on a learn. I do feel like I have made progress with understanding the logic of it coding and can understand it better than before and with practice and continuing to mess around with processing I’ll continue to get more and more confident with it and ideally better at it.
What initially caught my intertest was the animation of Norman McLaren and how he inbued personality, humour and motion with the simplest animations where others wouldnt have thought to put it, like his work in Rythmetic.
I have been a fan of Pixars work for as long as I can remember and their ability to bring warmth and love to computer graphics and even the simplest of objects and characters. I’d love to even hint at that sense of personality and joy the bring.
Going forward in this project, I want to better my skills at Autodesk Maya and begin learning some animation basics that I can call upon, maybe not purely in animation but in future projects I might use it on.
Workshop 01
Introduction to 3D Modelling and Autodesk Maya.
I have used Autodesk Inventor in the past so hopefully my skills are transferable even if a little bit rusty.
They are not transferable and it does not come naturally but with some practice like everything I can learn them and get to a decent level for just picking them up. I’ll just need to practice.
Initial ideas for my diorama are maybe a little too adventurous. After the workshop I was thinking of castle interiors and long sweeping shots of structures that can be created using the basic shapes.
And another was to use inspiration from my creative coding 01 projects. The monochromatic transparent disks are in the air but now in motion because it’s simple enough shapes with simple animation. The rendering of the materials might take quite a long though, if reflective surfaces take longer than usual.
Workshop 02
After the workshop I was trying to get some extra practice in for 3D modeling like I have done in the past to get better at it. Im not sure what to do as my final idea but I think after the workshops I’ll have a better idea. Considering how I’m feeling in the workshops i’ll definitely need to reign in the ideas and keep it simple.
Workshop 03
Camera and Lighting. What really captured my attention was how after the camera and the lighting the scene seemed to come to life and looked more tangable.
I would like to use the camera in exciting ways in my project. With the use of camera and lighting, you could really play with perspective and put the audience in situations that you wouldn’t be able to any other way.
Below is a message with a quick note on my initial ideas and where to take my scene.
Workshop 04
Rendering time will need to be a big consideration now, referring to the time I have left and the fact that I don’t have my final scene yet. I think the idea of the personality shapes will be simple enough but still convey what I want.
The final idea started as bringing a number of different personalities and emotions to basic primitives, but as I worked on it more and more, it became more and more apparent that with my current stills and the time remaining that bringing a Pixar-level of character and animation might be a little too adventurous.
So after simplification and removing the character animation I still tried to keep a sense of motion and colour in each of the objects, and even if not as obvious as I would have liked, I still feel that some of the initial ideas for personality has sneaked through.
The weight of the yellow, the energy and speed of the red and the light, airy feeling of the blue.
After a number of iterations and a number of simplifications, my final rendering is a short animation of primitive shapes with motion, some realistic and some erratic.
I feel that the theme of emotion and autonomy I was aiming for has been diluted, but that was because my aim was a bit too high and my concept was too literal. Maybe the final outcome would have been more obtainable if I had gone with a more abstract concept.
Evaluation
If I had more time, I’d like to spend more time on each aspect of my scene and use them to relate to my theme. Looking at how the lighting angles, shadows and light temperature can convey emotions. How camera angles and perspective can make the audience feel a certain way… without making the audience feel sick.
And again, if I had more time, I’d love to spend more time giving each primitive a real personality, working on the animation and fine tweaking it.
I need to keep trying to be less logical and more conceptual. I’ll bring this through to future projects and future studies.
Project launch. Using the Arduino Uno to change the sensory output of any household object.
My first idea was a mug that breaks and then reassembles like magic. And my second thought was, “ok, calm down, it’s only two weeks”, but I want to continue this initial idea of a magical feeling, something fun and exciting.
This was just a quick initial creative writing exercise to try and come up with ideas of household items with something else, somthing fun or something magical.
The term ‘enchanted objects’ keeps swimming around, making me think of magic and fantasy: The Monster Book of Monsters and the Shrieking Book in Harry Potter or, as Cat mentioned during the project launch, Sting from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
A book would be perfect; it could easily house the Arduino and an external battery with modifications so that if the book is opened, it’s triggered.
Above are just some examples of using the Arduino, considering the book idea two strips of a conductive material could be used on the pages of the book so that when the book is open and the circuit is broken the output switches on.
Workshop 2
Workshop two was working on the components and the coding for the motor and the piezo buzzer and how even though these components are simple they can be used in a number of different ways.
I thought the piezo buzzer was just a one note drone that was either on or off but by changing the code it can play music.
Personally this has done a great job of opening my eyes to the possibilities of Arduino and building technology in general. I think I was hesitant to touch anything before hand and feel like it would be too complicated for me before this.
A new direction. Initially, my idea of enchanted objects was very literal and limited. I wanted to avoid my usual way of working and designing a product like a product designer. Still, thankfully, Cat showed me that I was limiting myself in a different direction. But it can come together differently by using the logic of designing with UX in mind and having the creativity and fun of my initial idea.
The idea of my object is a book with a score or a soundtrack. As the book is read, the music changes as it would in a movie or tv show and with each page or chapter, a different track in the score is triggered with a new chapter.
Progress Report
With the basic sizes of the Arduino and parts I need I went out on the hunt for a hardback with the correct sizes to hollow out.
What followed was a trip to the charity shop, getting a copy of Steven Gerrard’s autobiography, getting some Mod Podge and taking an age to glue half of the book together. My initial concept was to have the book’s two halves hollowed out, but Cat said the breadboard wasn’t necessary and saved so much space.
Support 02
Working out the nitty gritty. The second support was working out how to get the code and Arduino working. Again I’ve noticed my thinking could be more flexible regarding certain things. For example, I was only trying to work with the components I had instead of getting wire and using that. But everything worked as it should with the wires and Cat soldering the piezo buzzer.
In my time, I need to focus more on my coding because it still doesn’t come as naturally to me as I’d like.
As seen above the hollowed out section of the book is housing the Arduino with a channel cut out to allow the wires to go to the pages that have conductive copper tape as to read when the boom is open or closed.
If I have more time then I want to set up different pages to trigger different songs relating it closer to the concept as well as hide the conductive stripping.
The Video
At this point, I know how much time I have to make this video, so keeping it simple is the best idea. Someone goes into the library, picks up the book and enjoys it with the music playing. The ideal music will be added in post.
The Video
For the video, I roped Ally in to be my actress and went to the GSA library to film a number of shots and sell the idea that this book could be seen in a living working library.
With consideration after the fact this product might be more of a personal enjoyment or in a specific part of the library as not the disrupt other people with in the library.
Or the book could have a way to connect headphones like a headphone jack or bluetooth component so that the book is not disruptive in quiet places.
‘The volume’ is the concept of an interactive book that will play the score of the book as the reader makes their way through it. Through each chapter triggering the track in the score, the music progresses at the same rate as the reader.
Reflection
On reflection, there is a number of issues to work out of the final piece:
The housing within the book
The options of audio output
The triggering of each chapters score
But as this product is just a test of concept, I believe that the concept has legs either for personal use or for young adults as an incentive to return to reading.
If there was infinite time and infinite resources I would have subtler wiring within the book, smaller hardware housed within the book and a subtler user experience to give a deeper sense of immersion within the story and more of a magical experience when using the book.
Returning to the Anthropocene. With the start of Co-Lab 2, I am returning to my studying and understanding of the Anthropocene. Again already trying to think of how we, as students, designers, artists, and technologists, can improve the world we live in and begin to reverse the effects humans as a species have had on the earth.
The film LIVING PROOF by Emily Munro was a collection of archival footage from the Moving Image Archive Catalogue curated together to paint the picture of Scotland’s history but also Scotland’s involvement and participation in our climate crisis. After watching LIVING PROOF, I felt more connected and more responsible for the problem of the Anthropocene than I think I ever have.
Living Proof: A Climate Story (d. Emily Munro, 2021) is a feature-length archive documentary that looks for the roots of the climate crisis in post-war history. Are we heading into new territory, or are we caught in a cycle of familiar promises?
Footage from the National Library of Scotland portrays a country shaped by demands for energy and economic growth, while an eclectic soundtrack amplifies the voices of the past in powerful, and sometimes unsettling, ways.
My takeaway from the film, on top of many other things, was how it’s too easy when studying a global issue to only think of it on a global scale rather than the small pieces throughout modern and very recent history that have led us to this point. At that point lies our solution. It is challenging for one person to tackle a global problem. Still, it is much more manageable for that person to change a situation in their community, city or even country.
“How do you eat an elephant?…”
Suppose we aim to change anything or improve anything. In that case, it has to be a collective effort from everyone, not just the students, designers, artists, and technologists but (in the context of Scotland) the Scottish people too.
And at the risk of getting too high on my soap box, that is not done by exclusive galleries and loud protests. Instead, a better future can be achieved by using the same tactics that the successful companies of the world have used, by painting a picture of a better life for the people living in it. By making a greener, better future more enticing, attractive, more accessible.
By using our skills not to lambast anyone but to educate and help the people, we share streets with every day, we can make the mammoth task of the climate crisis more manageable. We must learn their game and play it better than them.
Week 1
During the Q&A, Emily Munro jokingly mentioned Solar Punk, so I wanted to look into that a little bit, I’ve heard it thrown around over the past decade but wanted to consider this branch of utopian design.
Even though it lives in the realm of Sci-Fi I think the utopian design of Solar Punk can serve as an inspiration of how humans can live in harmony with the earth.
Picking an Output: Exhibition (Back to Earth GSA)
After going through each of the options, I went with Exhibition 1a (Back to Earth GSA) to push myself out of my comfort zone, I have never done an exhibition, but the idea of learning how to and then with my group putting on an exhibition is equally exciting as it is terrifying.
Lecture 1: Storytelling and the Anthropocene with Elizabeth Hodson
After watching Elizabeth Hodson’s lecture, my main takeaway was that even though we are human, and that is the perspective we have, we can use our minds as creative practitioners to view the world, the problems of the Anthropocene and our solutions to those problems with the natural world in mind. Not only to consider the human element but that of the natural world, nature and the animals within it.
As I touched on slightly in my Co-Lab 1 work journal I think the human race should have more of a symbiotic relationship with nature and the earth. We have to be less selfish both in our usage of the earths resources but also in our perception of ourselves within the natural world, that being that we are part of the system not above it.
Exhibition Making
When initially considering the art of curation and exhibition, I went to the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) to see the exhibition that was on, Elizabeth Price’s SLOW DAN.
“SLOW DANS is a cycle of three 10-screen videos – KOHL, FELT TIP, and THE TEACHERS. These three works present a fictional past, parallel present, and imagined future, interweaving compact narratives that explore social and sexual histories and our changing relationship with the material and the digital.” – GlasgowLife https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/elizabeth-price-slow-dans
I didn’t take any photographic documentation of this exhibition because I was in almost complete darkness. I feel that mobile photography would not do the artist’s and curator’s vision justice but would also break other viewers’ immersion.
From my observation as both a participant and as someone looking at the exhibition choices made, it was a fascinating, immersive and exciting experience.
Initially, you are guided in and given time for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, walking into a vast open space with giant hanging screens and loud announcing coming from an almost unknown location and the hypnotic visuals using imagery as well as typography to tell Price’s crafted story.
After taking more of an analytical approach to how the exhibition made me feel, I felt the complete change in the environment from the life and noise of Glasgow outside the GoMA to the alien location within the hall was almost sci-fi. It was too dark to grasp the depth of the hall, and the height of the screens was almost monolithic and reminded me of Michael Radford’s movie adaptation of 1984. The lowered seating added to this adult/ child sensation or teacher/ classroom dynamic, forcing your neck to crane even more. The suspended speakers surrounding the seating area created the sensation of voices coming from anywhere. At its core, the concept seems simple, but the execution, choices, and commitment to those choices transported the viewer to an entirely new unknown space.
GoMA
Glasgow Photography Gallery
Reid Studio
Week 2
Introductions
We’re now in our smaller project group, (group ARR: Milana, Alanya, Molly and Yaney). We seem to work well together and all give input for our mind map/ initial concepts.
After our discussion, it became apparent through the mind map and having a chat that we wanted to take the exhibition out of the traditional space as much as possible. So the idea of a ‘travelling’ exhibition was decided on, with the concept in our mind of using gorilla marketing tactics, putting anti-consumerism art in shops like Primark so that we would reach the correct audience. If we get into trouble then plausible deniability.
Padlet made for the project
Week 3
This week I have been horrible at the documentation. Personally, I feel like I have lost a bit of steam and momentum; I feel like I’m the only driving force doing research and coming up with ideas for the direction of this project.
Group ARR Presentation and feedback
Above are the slides used in the progress report/feedback.
There was some helpful feedback from Michael and John on the project and on other things to look into, but with the essay still to write and the last week already allocated to finalising the exhibition this feedback will most likely inform my reflection, ideas and further research if this project was to go further after the Co-Lab 2 deadline.
Week 4
Exhibition iteration one
This was just the first iteration of the exhibition I had set up in the Haldane studio before some helpful feedback from Alanya to really make it more appealing, as seen below in the final.
I initially intended to have a projection at the space’s back wall with a live feed of the Instagram page so that people attending can see the numbers and interaction with the page go up as they like, share and follow it. But as there was not much foot traffic in the space I decided against having the projector.
The concept for the final exhibition was that the global movement had already happened and that we, as a group, had found items from this moment out in the world. Bags have been branded with the spend wiser logo and carried by people to draw attention to the moment and be seen. Posters and pieces of work that have been seen around in shops and on walls as part of gorilla marketing to find the right audience and ask them questions on how they spend their money.
The aesthetics for this exhibition was rough and ready, a mix between Banksy’s street aesthetic and the grit that comes with it and the professional clean branding of a trusted company.
If I had more time then I’d like to take the exhibition out into the real world for its intended audience and get feedback from those who were intended to see it. As I aimed for this to be an ongoing exhibition/movement then that feedback or interaction would then inform the project going forward. And with each iteration the exhibition would change accordingly and develop to best meet the requirements of the audience.
If I had more resources, then I’d believe that the scale and effectiveness of the project would be shifted into the next gear. If the project could reach more people and imitate the larger corporations more then it might be more effective and shift from this small plucky punk movement into this collection of artists against the issues of the consumerism by showing art and posing the questions to the masses that often go unasked.
Next steps for this project. At its current iteration, this is a very one-dimensional challenge to consumerism and a very head-on way of tackling the problem of the Anthropocene, but if I was to take this further, I would want to make it multi-dimensional platform tackling the Anthropocene through giving artists a platform for tackling their specific corner of the Anthropocene. For example an event like a musical event that may charge for tickets but those profits would then go back into the exhibitions and events to allow aspiring artists to fund their vision. Spend Wiser would become a self funding movement that would use exhibitions, concerts, fundraisers… etc to then fund and support other exhibitions, concerts and fundraisers with the specific goal of making everyday people ask the questions of how they can live a “greener” life without berating them.
Nicholas McLaughlin Blog 