Grow: Degree Show Preview Night

On Friday we had the preview night of our degree show at Stockport College, showing the work of all the design pathways; Illustration, Graphic Design, Moving Image, Surface Design, Photography etc., and it was a great success! It was incredibly busy and really exciting to have everyone together and showcase the culmination of 3 years work. 


For the show I put up 6 A2 size prints of some of my images from my FMP on space and underwater exploration. Here are the images:

In a surprising turn of events, I'm very proud to have won 'Best in Show' for my illustration work! With so much incredible work on show (seriously...the show looked amazing..) I'm really proud and happy to have my name chiselled onto the shield this year to represent our illustration group.


I've posted some pics below of the goings on, and will blog again soon as the show will be going into Manchester next Friday for a one-day exhibition spectacular in the northern quarter.

For now, the show is still on at college, Mon-Thurs  10am - 7.30pm, so come check it out!
See the degree show website for more details/directions - Grow Degree Show

Rocket Lobster

Lobsters have a sectional body and a hard outer shell which they shed in stages, in the same way a Saturn V rocket releases stages as it burns fuel on its way into orbit...

Final Project Animation

As part of our final major projects, we were all given a brief to create a small animation on the theme of 'transformation'. We were given free reign to interpret transformation in whichever way we wanted in relation to our own projects, and the animation could be anything from a few seconds of an image changing from one thing to another, to a full blown animation that lasted a few minutes.

I think I probably aimed for somewhere in between the two parameters, as the main images I had at the beginning of the project were my astronaut and diver, so I thought they'd lend themselves to a change from one to the other as they were made with the same blueprint. But I also didn't just want to do a fade from one to the other, as I'd already done that with the 8x8 animation I did last year.

I talked with tutors about the possibility of making an interactive app for the ipad, but it became clear pretty quickly that doing that would take a lot of time and would be too complex for me to try and do for real. So instead we decided that it would be possible to make an animation in After Effects and play it through the ipad whilst filming someone faking the movements as if it were a real app. So the final piece is more of a proposal for a possible app that could be made with my work.


Below is the animation on its own, and then the final video showing it in use...

 

One of the things I probably should have thought about at the beginning of this was the fact that I don't actually own an ipad or iphone, so it made it a little bit more difficult to work out how it might work. So I did some research into the different interactive movements you can do on an ipad, and watched some tutorials, to try and get it to look somewhat genuine. I also wasn't able to make versions as I went along to try it out, so if I were to do this again in the future I think it would be best to borrow an ipad/iphone off someone to get it to look as real as possible.


Another problem was working out how I could fake the movements on the ipad, without actually touching the screen (as it would brings up menus etc.) and then having to memorise the actions, needless to say it was a longer process than I was anticipating!
These problems were solved by some high-tech gluing of card onto the finger tips, and a good few takes of the filming. 

Overall however I'm really pleased with the outcome and I think it was definitely worth giving it a go and seeing what happened. I'd definitely like to try and make a real app of some sort in the future as I think my work can be quite flat which probably lends itself to these sort of things quite well, and with the advent of digital magazines and ebooks (not to mention actual apps and touch screen games etc.), we'll probably be seeing a lot more of these type of things in the future.

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Space: Animal Testing

Before man went into space, animals were used as living test subjects, sent into space in rockets. Monkeys and apes in particular were used because of their physical similarity to humans, forcibly strapped into rockets with their vital signs monitored. 

Many animals were killed on these dangerous missions. 

Looking into the use of animals for exploration has been really interesting, and something I was eager to do an image about. The number and and extensive range of animals used in space exploration research in one form or another has been a real eye opener. All sorts of animals have been used in dangerous rocket testing, as well as sent up to the labs in space stations for research. I didn't really want to get too political about it, but the cruelty factor of some of the stuff they put the animals through is pretty high. Treated as dispensable and strapped to rockets, often hooked up lots of wires in confined spaces, is no better than whats done to them on earth in medical testing.

On the other hand, the fact that we may never have ventured into space, or made hundreds of other discoveries and technological advancements without animal testing presents an interesting dilemma....hmmm.

The image above was to try and represent the idea that they are still caged and imprisoned in order to make it safe for human astronauts to do something that could be considered completely freeing and a privilege...

 I've got another image in the works for the underwater exploration counterpart to this image (and by in the works, i mean in my head...) so I'll post that up when it's done obviously.

Over and out.


 

Creative Review: The Abyss

We haven't done a creative review session at uni for a while, but I'd thought I'd put up a film recommendation due to it's link with my FMP. Whilst looking into underwater creatures, diving, habitats etc, for my space/underwater project, the film 'The Abyss' is always popping into my mind, particularly when looking into bioluminescent creatures.

The film was released in 1989 and directed by James Cameron, and follows a team of underwater oil drillers as they help search a sunken Navy submarine for survivors. It turns out that they are not the only ones living down their, needless to say excitement and insanity ensues....

Cameron obviously has a huge interest in exploring the oceans, and it's obvious from watching this film. Not only does the story itself explore many areas of interest such as underwater habitats, diving equipment such as underwater rovers, underwater diving technology such as diving suits and liquid breathing, the effects of saturation diving, and underwater creatures etc, but the production of the film itself is incredibly interesting. 

The film was the biggest underwater production of its kind ever, with around 40% of the film being shot underwater. A huge underwater set was created in and old nuclear power station, and the actors had to go through weeks of dive training. Extensive research and development had to be done to create new technology to make shooting possible. For example, the diving suits with full face masks were designed specifically for the film, along with a special radio/sound recording system to capture sound whilst diving.  The film aimed to capture as much real for real footage as possible, with minimal digital effects, model use or stunt cast used. Even the aliens were built and performed by puppeteers!

Seems like an incredible (and expensive) undertaking, and I always find it really interesting to see how much work and effort goes into what you see on screen.

Anyway, check out the making of below if you're interested...

Also, some of the set still exists in the power station, check out some pics below...

Crab Ship

Crabs have a strong exoskeleton that protects them from predators and water pressure, as well as providing support for their internal muscles and organs.

Rockets and shuttles sent into space also have a strong out shell, designed to with stand the negative pressure of space, remain airtight and to protect the inhabitants; both people and technology. Some rockets have been built using a monocoque technique, using the strong 'exoskeleton' as its structure to bear the internal load.

The importance of exoskeleton integrity.

I built on this crab image (above), which I originally made as just an element for a larger image, to create a space shuttle/crab hybrid based on the similarities in their structure, and the importance of their protective shell. As always I may add to this to perhaps make it more clear that its to do with the external structure. I'm also not too sure about the background and if there's more I could do with that, although it's nice to use some brighter colours for once; can't seem to escape the dark blackness of space/underwater with some of the images I've been doing recently! Over and out.

Angler Pod

The deep sea angler fish uses bioluminescence as a lure for food, creating light in a place natural sunlight can't reach and a point of attraction for various creatures.

Astronauts use stars and the sun in particular as a method of guidance and plotting their distance from Earth.

Light is a guide.

Above is my initial sketch of the fish based on two circles; a large one for the body and a smaller one for the light. I found it quite hard to get this image to look the way I wanted, and was having some trouble with the fish in particular, so I might change some parts of it yet, and probably need to add some more clues to the idea of the star guidance system, and maybe some more information to suggest the huge size difference between the fish and a space shuttle/pod.

I'm in the process of thinking about some text to accompany my FMP images, either some technical info about the idea I'm trying to illustrate within the picture, or something more abstract such as some fictional quotes relating to space/underwater or it's been suggested that some biblical verse could work quite well with the light/dark, heaven/hell aspects of the project.

Leave a comment below if you feel the urge, and I'm open to suggestions for text....

Bioluminescence - Edith Widder

I've been looking into bioluminescence of underwater creatures as part of my final major project, and came across this fantastic talk by Edith Widder. There are some incredible creatures down there....

Charles and Ray Eames: Powers of Ten

Today I had a tutorial for my final major project about space and underwater, and Ian recommended I take a look at this film made by Charles and Ray Eames from 1977, that illustrates the respective size of everything, from the outer reaches of the universe, right down to the proton, zooming in and out by a power of ten every ten seconds. That might sound a bit confusing but give it a watch and you'll understand. Also check out the website The Scale of the Universe 2, which is an updated version of this idea, navigable by scrolling in and out on your mouse.

It's really interesting to watch and see just how big the universe is and how insignificant the proton seems in comparison. In terms of my project it's interesting to see how visually some of the huge space situated imagery; galaxies, planets etc., look quite similar to some of the microscopic cells and atoms, for example, so there are some nice links there between space and underwater creatures/organisms that I can look into more.

UFO

For my FMP I'm looking at underwater and space exploration and the similarities between both, so I've started to look at mixing visual elements from both environments into more complex hybrids than just collaging images together. Attempt number one....weird UFO jellyfish....

Hybrids: Astro/Aquanaut

Trying out some different ways of merging my astronaut and diver images; fade and exquisite corpse style....

 

Spidernaut

Spiders have been used on space stations to study the effect of microgravity...

Crab

snappy snappy

Mapping the ocean's hidden worlds: Robert Ballard

Posted below is a talk by Robert Ballard on ocean exploration that is really enlightening. For my FMP I'm looking at exploration of both the oceans and space, and I think that I probably considered space exploration to be of more interest or to be less explored than the oceans, but this talk convinced me otherwise. Love his enthusiasm, take a look...

Diver

New design for the diver half of a aqua/astronaut image. May tweak this a bit to improve it at some point, and the background will be done when I've sorted the astronaut half....

FMP

So, it's Final Major Project time at uni, which means we have about 16 weeks to work on a self initiated project. The project I have decided to work on is about the extreme environments of in space and under the sea, as they are one one hand the complete opposites, one being close to earth and the other far away; heights and depths, but on the other hand are incredibly similar. They are both vast and hostile environments where humans physically shouldn't be able to travel, and rarely have, as they are still fairly unexplored areas. Because of this, the technology humans have developed to travel and explore both areas is relatively similar; space/diving suits, rockets/submarines, radar/sonar, etc, and because they are relatively investigated, there is also a plethora of myths, legends and theories about what may exist in both. 
So there is loads of interesting options for the project, and I'm not too sure where the project is going at the moment, but it should work out hopefully. We have also been asked to create a small animation as part of our FMP, so I'm really looking forward to getting started on that too, whatever it might be.....
At the moment I'm working on creating some image elements for the project, and below I've posted an attempt at an image that didn't really work out and isn't up to scratch with what I wanted look wise, so I'm working on some new stuff. Learning from my mistakes and all that.....over and out.

Countdown - Celine Desrumaux

This animation by Celine Desrumaux was recommended to me last summer when I was in the process of researching a space project, and I absolutely love it. It's a short animation about the countdown of a rocket launch, and is a fantastic mix of narrative and slightly abstract images that link back to the technological/mechanical/space flight theme of the film. She has used a huge range of different shots and perspectives, and the mix of narrative imagery and abstract detail images of clocks, computers, logo's, mechanical movements, etc.; work and flow really well. Check it below guys.......