#annotatedbibliography

I am obsessing over this paragraph so much. Even though I despise Rodolphe so much he is (literally) a textbook Fuckboy.

Annotated Bibliographies

Zipes, J. (2009) ‘Why Fantasy Matters Too Much’, The Journal of Aesthetic Education. [Online] 43(2), pp. 77–91. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40263786 [Accessed 29th November 2022] 

Zipes details the importance fantasy has to us, why we still use and consume works that would be categorised as fantasy and why fantasy may matter too much. Zipes covers a variety of topics such as the etymology of fantasy in various European languages, noting that in English, the meaning has changed throughout time hence why today the term is so broad. Although no research is done the journal was peer-reviewed and does raise an interesting point, being that the reason we look to fictitious portals of the imagination, according to Zipes, is to almost translate the emotion we have on reality. Suggesting that our need for fantasy is a sign of our need of spiritual regeneration. This is of great interest to me as I would like to see how I could input elements of this to my own illustrations for the audience to achieve spiritual regeneration.

Lee, C. (2010) ‘Observing the body’, Irish Arts Review, [Online] 27(3), pp. 102–105. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20789393 [Accessed 27th November 2022]

This peer-reviewed journal details the history of how anatomy was studied by artists and anatomists, noting how they would work together through dissections of the human cadaver to better understand its structure. Through these public dissections anatomists and artists were able to publish various textbooks throughout history filled with illustrations of the idealised human form. Lee notes that throughout history anatomists were able to learn and educate others of their subject through the numerous works of art. The author, Clive Lee, a Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Hibernian Academy notes that the traditional approach of teaching through dissection is invaluable to the understanding of the human body hence why it is still taught. As an illustrator this has taught me just how complex the human anatomy is to depict and that looking to others such as anatomists will help me grasp a better understanding of the body. 

Nikolic, Milan & Dragana, Vasilski. (2017). Minimalism in contemporary architecture as one of the most usable aesthetically-functional patterns. Facta universitatis - series: Architecture and Civil Engineering. [Online] 15 (3). 333-345. Available from:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323198218_Minimalism_in_contemporary_architecture_as_one_of_the_most_usable_aesthetically-functional_patterns [Accessed 27th November 2022]

This text focuses on research that was conducted in order to recognise the reasons why minimalism has been accepted as a global phenomenon. It brings up the crucial issues surrounding minimalism, such as how far can we rationalise the simplification of objects to their most basic form without them losing their identity and originality.  Whilst the article brings up some interesting points such as the use of the colour white in order to widen perceived space which I will use in my own creative practice by using negative space in my own work, at times I found the contents of this article extremely difficult to understand. 

McDaniel, J.T. (2017) ‘Strolling through Temporary Temples: Buddhism and Installation Art in Modern Thailand’, Contemporary Buddhism. [Online] 18(1), pp. 165–198. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1080/14639947.2017.1308687. [Accessed: 29th November 2022]

This journal focuses on the increasing amount of Buddhist themed artistic projects and exhibits that are taking place in not only Thailand, but around the world. The writer highlights that whilst many Thai artists do use and take inspiration from various key elements of Thai Buddhist culture, due to the temporary nature of these exhibits, these artistic projects no longer serve to educate or enlightenment people about Buddhism, but act as a tourist attraction that one may miss out of if you do not go before the exhibition shuts. From this I learned that whilst my intentions with my own art might be good, I must understand that how the public understand and view them is out of my control. In comparison to the others, the article was extremely interesting to read as it used very active language.

Tough, P (2011) ‘What if the Secret to Success if Failure?’, The New York Times Magazine, [Online]. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html [Accessed: 30th October 2022]

This online article published by the New York Times discusses the idea that people must fail (or at least experience failure) in order succeed in any area of life. It focuses on KIPP schools (Knowledge is Power Programme) within the United States and focuses on why only a few members of their first alumni completed their four-year courses at prestigious institutes. They found that those who completed their courses were those who persisted in college, no matter the grades they got, and they also prioritized characteristics such as social intelligence and optimism. This text was useful to me as it supported my point that no matter your current skill, if you persevere in your craft, fail and learn from your mistakes, not only will you improve your skills in drawing (as the students improved their grades), but you will also succeed. This article is also from a well acclaimed journalist. 

Drake, J. E., Hastedt, I. & James, C. (2016). Drawing to Distract: Examingin the Psychological Benefits of Drawing Over Time. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, [Online] 10(3), pp. 325-331. Available at: http://www.jenniferedrake.com/uploads/7/0/5/5/7055907/drake_et_al._2016_paca.pdf [Accessed from: December 2nd 2022]

This article discusses the benefits of creating and drawing art, highlighting the benefits it brings to people’s mental health and how it alleviates stress levels. In particular it focuses on the benefits of drawing as a distraction, stating that by drawing in order to distract oneself from their everyday life and stress, they could focus on the process of drawing rather than the desired outcome. This particular text was useful to me as I wanted to discuss and prove that whilst art and illustrating are my passion, when I draw with a specific image or vision in mind, I become more stressed as I am focusing on how to perfect the final product rather than relishing in the distraction drawing provides me from the stresses of my everyday life. 

Brockner, J. (1979). 'The Effects of Self-Esteem, Success-Failure, and Self-Consciousness on Task Performance.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. [Online] 37(10), pp. 1732-1741. Available at: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1981-01303-001

This article focuses on the various ways low self-esteem can occur and continue in individuals who are self-conscious. It argues that when there is a self-focusing stimuli (e.g. a mirror) present while the individual is doing a task or receiving negative feedback, the individual either becomes or grows to be more self-conscious and is therefore more likely to perform badly in the future. However, when those with low self-esteem are asked to focus on the task at hand, they become less aware of their own inadequacy and instead focus on the task. This concept is something that I can implement into my own artistic practice as within the creative arts, comparison truly is the thief of joy. By focusing less on myself and simply on the task, I would be able to –in theory- produce better quality art. 

Gamache, G. (2017). 'Spiritual Space or Theme Park? A Case of Postmodern Simulated Experience.' KEMANUSIAAN the Asian Journal of Humanities. [Online] 24(1), pp. 99-119. Available from: http://web.usm.my/kajh/vol24_1_2017/kajh24012017_05.pdf [Accessed: 7th November 2022]

This journal article delves into the idea that in today’s modern society, whilst culture is a key tourist attraction for many countries, in the case of Thailand the line between educating tourists on their culture versus tourists simply perceiving the culture as an aesthetic, is very thin. The artist Chalermchai does indeed include key elements and features of Buddhism into his work and design of temples, however many viewers do not visit these temples with enlightenment or educating themselves in mind, most go just for the sake of going, for the sake of saying that they have been there. This is applicable to me as I wish to take note of Chalermchai’s mistake and do my best to educate people through my work, instead of them only focusing on the aesthetic value that it has.  

Tromble, M. (2020). 'Ask not what AI can do for art...but what art can do for AI.' Artnodes, [Online] (26), pp. 1-9. Available from: https://doi.org/10.7238/a.v0i26.3368 [Accessed: 5th December 2022]

Due to society’s ever-increasing reliance on technology, the development of AI (artificial intelligence) has been a topic of focus in recent years. Due to impressive developments made in AI research, many artists fear that AI will be able to replace what a creative mind can do. However, this journal introduced a perspective that I had not considered as it discusses the limitations of AI and suggests that art can aid in its development. Whilst the article was difficult for me to fully understand, the text was useful as it introduced a new perspective and allowed me to think of AI as something that can potentially aid me in my craft, helping to quicken the process of creating. However, the article does not acknowledge the fear that many artists have in regards to AI, that it will become so advanced, it may replace the artist.

Embury, G. & Minichiello, M. (2018). Reportage Illustration: Visual Journalism. [Online] London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp. 6-19. Available from: https://www-bloomsburyappliedvisualarts-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781474208475&tocid=b-9781474208475-chapter1&pdfid=9781474208475.ch-001.pdf [Accessed: 25th November 2022]

1.  Andrews, B. (2021) The Production Process Behind Weapons and Vehicles in Cyberpunk 2077. [Online]. Available from: https://80.lv/articles/the-production-process-behind-weapons-and-vehicles-in-cyberpunk-2077/ [Accessed: 5 November 2021]  

Ben Andrews is a senior concept designer at CD Projekt Red and in this article, he will be sharing his development workflow on weapons and vehicle in the game Cyberpunk 2077. He states that logic and practicability is as important if not higher priority compared to the visuals when it comes to designing the Militech Basilisk (Vehicle) and in-arm weapons for the game. Believability is also a huge factor in designing futuristic objects in the game, drawing a lot of references and inspiration from real life technology to help piece together the model.   This article helps me understand some of the problems I am facing when dealing with futuristic objects by mashing real life existing technology together. After all, new technological advancement surfaces upon older technology drawing reference and inspiration from them.   

2. Anne Lewis. (2019) How Ubisoft Re-Created Notre Dame for ‘Assassin’s Creed Unity’. ACM SIGGRAPH Blog, 2 May. Available from: https://blog.siggraph.org/2019/05/how-ubisoft-re-created-notre-dame-for-assassins-creed-unity.html/ [Accessed:  29th October 2021]  

This interview talks about her thought process in creating Notre Dame in Assassin Creed Unity. It is important to me as an artist because it highlighted the design aspect of creating those assets. She stated that she hadn’t visited the site before and had to depend on various reference materials. What blew me away was that one of her reference gatherings was talking to people. Reference images can only show this much, but by talking to people on site gives her an idea of the experience and ‘feel’ towards the Place. Making the players feel the same way that those people experience when they see it in game.   

Another thing that shapes my artistic view after reading this interview was that it is alright to recreate an environment to fit the game play rather than being accurate. 

3. Beattie, A. (2020). How the Video Game Industry Is Changing. [online] Investopedia. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/053115/how-video-game-industry-changing.asp. [Accessed: 18 November 2021] 

It is no surprise that the video game sector is worth a lot of money and with a large amount of revenue being generated yearly, it is no surprise that that leading technology companies want a share of it. What pushes the video game industry forward is innovation. Looking at the current trend of the video game sector, non-traditional gaming companies like Facebook and Google are providing video game streaming services. Oculus VR which was acquired by Facebook was pushing video games by providing additional layer of immersive gaming experience to gamers.   

Moving forward, as people are spending more time on their mobile phones, streaming services and mobile gaming will be a predominant area in contributing to the total video game sector’s revenue growth. With numbers of gamers increasing, the demand for immersion and accessibility will always be in demand thus the course of video game industry will be ever-changing.   

4. Brown, M. and Anderson, S. L. (2021) ‘Designing for Disability: Evaluating the State of Accessibility Design in Video Games’, Games and Culture, 16(6), pp. 702–718. Available from: https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1177/1555412020971500  [Accessed 7 November 2021] 

It is without doubt moving forward into the future, video games are getting harder in difficulties and physically demanding. Precision, dexterity and such motor skills are some of the mechanics in games. This article assesses the state of accessibility design in video games and listed some of the key accessibility designs to consider during production. The objective is to highlight accessibility design like visual, motor, auditory and game difficulties shown in recent games and analyze their strengths and weaknesses in portraying such accessibility design.   

This article made me realize that by putting more thought into accessibility deign, I could reach out to a wider audience hence improving the gameplay experience for them. As of now, there is no “industry standard” for accessibility design because deferent developers approached accessibility design differently. More thought has to be put together to strive for standardization in accessibility design further improving the experiences.

5. C. Wang, S. Mondier and P. Duraisamy (2019) "Art is Key to the Success of a Modern Game," 2019 10th International Conference on Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT), pp. 1-4. Available from: https://ieeexplore-ieee-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/document/8944678 [Accessed: 21st October 2021]. doi: 10.1109/ICCCNT45670.2019.8944678.   

This article highlights why art holds a dominant position in the success of modern games. This is also supported by various data by award-winning games such as God of War 4, Assassins' Creed Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2 and many more. By incorporating artistic elements, games tend to have a stronger immersive experience and connection to the game.   

It was concluded that game design models within a genre tend to be stable, which brings us to the fact that the only way to elevate its (game) standard was heavily resting on the shoulders of the art direction. This article has no intention of discrediting other aspects of development as those are also important factors in a game. As an artist inspired by creating arts particularly for games, I feel more inclined to push my skillset further by making the best piece of art within my capabilities.     

6. DG AI Team. (2020). Using Deep Learning to improve FIFA 18 graphics. [online] deepgamingai. Available at: https://medium.com/deepgamingai/using-deep-learning-to-improve-fifa-18-graphics-8bf1887aeb37 [Accessed 5 November 2021].  

This research project covered the use of AI generated graphics to improve realism in games. Arguably games developed in these past few years have been remarkably realistic but that takes time and money to reach that level of realism. With the advancement of AI generated graphics (Deep Neural Networks) we can train the AI to generate realistic faces thus improving the realism of the model. It gives me an idea on how one can use google image to train the AI to generate realistic face all in the comfort of your own home.   

This research project not only states the pros but the cons of it. As far as AI generated graphic goes, it was only used after postproduction like a paint over CGI in movies. Using AI algorithms to generate graphics is something we could investigate, and it will help cut cost and production time.    

7. Erik Geslin, Laurent Jégou, Danny Beaudoin. (2016) "How Color Properties Can Be Used to Elicit Emotions in Video Games", International Journal of Computer Games Technology. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/5182768  [Accessed 7 November 2021] 

The use of color in various mediums is widely documented. It helps serve as a useful means to help evoke any kind of emotion as an artist and for game designers to highlight markers and functions for the players. This article writes about how the different use of values, hue and saturation help to evoke the desired emotion as an artist or designer to the targeted audience. Higher value in saturation results in a higher positive emotion linking to the perception of joy and vice versa. High value of different hue together will trigger a spike in brain activity that links with observation hence greater emotional activity.   

Using the result of this research article, artists can follow this proposed tool (color scripting) to help put forward any kind of emotion they want to convey. This will help streamline the design process quicker hence better time management.   

8. Higgins, D., Egan, D., Fribourg, R., Cowan, B. and McDonnell, R., 2021. Ascending from the valley: Can state-of-the-art photorealism avoid the uncanny? ACM Symposium on Applied Perception 2021, pp.1-5. Available from: https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/3474451.3476242 [Accessed: 29th October 2021] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3474451.3476242  

Advancement of technology allows us to push the level of detail in human likeness as shown in many recent games. With that being said, we still need to keep the uncanny valley metaphor in check in order to have a visually appealing character and this research journal will address this.   

The research states that using photogrammetry on human likeness does indeed have a positive appeal on the audience by using high level or texture density and polycount geometry. With that being highlighted, I as an artist will need to translate such polygon and texture density to a decent level of optimization in order for it to run smoothly in a real-time engine such as Unreal Engine 4. I find that this research only focuses on how the 3d models look in retrospect to the uncanny valley. Many factors still need to be considered like lighting and facial animation.   

9. Statham, N. (2018) ‘Use of Photogrammetry in Video Games: A Historical Overview’, Games and Culture. [Online] 15(3), pp. 289–307. Available from: https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1177/1555412018786415 [Accessed: 21st October 2021]. doi: 10.1177/1555412018786415.

The pros, cons and future trend of using photogrammetry workflow are clearly defined in this article. Photogrammetry will be the next step moving forward from traditional modeling as stated in this article. Paradoxically should art academy still be adopting traditional method, or should they go in parallel?  With bigger companies like EA, Ubisoft and Rockstar Studio spearheading the use of photogrammetry, smaller companies like Unreal and Allegorithmic are implementing photogrammetry into their development pipeline. Having the ease of such workflow in our hands and such technique widely used nowadays, the art style of stylizing is slowly on the upwards trend. It is generally known that animators have motion capture to aid them in development. Should 3d artists have photogrammetry skills under their belt too? This article made me realize that there are no “best” practices or workflow in the industry because such methodology will eventually be either replace or revived.  

10. Williams, B., Ritsos, P.D. & Headleand, C. (2020). Virtual Forestry Generation: Evaluating Models for Tree Placement in Games. Computers. [Online]. 9 (1). p.p. 20. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/computers9010020 [Accessed 7 November 2021] .  

This research article writes about the uses of three different algorithms method to procedurally generate trees placement in games. An In-depth study on how native, propagation and clustering algorithm method will correlate to forest density, believability, playability and first-person perspective. From the research, propagations method scores highest in terms of playability and believability. Forest generated with high forest density are lower in terms of playability but score high in realism. In order to balance realism and playability, native algorithm method with medium density was recommended by this research article in terms of realism and playability.  

Agarwala, A., Hertzmann, A., Salesin, D. H. Seitz, S. M. Key framed-based tracking for Rotoscoping and animation. Association for Computing Machinery: Transactions on graphics. August 2004. Vol. 23 (3). http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/rotoscoping/roto.pdf

Rotoscoping is an age old technique for animation and creating Special effects that involves tracing over live action footage frame by frame. Agarwala et. al. (2004) in their study developed a model to make rotoscping easier and faster. The model involved tracking contours in a imagine sequence with a multiple user defined curves acting as keyframes an AI tracking algorithm. The process described by Agarwala et. al. (2004) used computer vision and user interaction to track the sequence and was tested with multiple examples. Rotoscopy is an animation area of interest and I look to combine hand drawn and Cg computer animations in my films, so this paper was useful as it also showed how 2D animators can make films using a variation of the algorithm based on the ‘roto-curves’(Agarwala et. al. 2004).

 Amid, A. (2011). The art of Pixar: the complete Colorscript and select art from 25 years of animation. Chronic Books. San Francisco, California.

Amid explains how Pixar uses Colorscripit. According to him, Pixar were the first studio to develop a Colorscript for each of their movies. Predominatly with pictures and illustrations, he analyses the Colorscripts of over 20 Pixar animations including the 12 Pixar featuture films at that time starting from Toy story to cars 2, how they were used to tell the story for each film. I found it particularly interesting seeing the original colorscript for Toy Story straight to DVD release before it was converted to feature film. Pixar is one for the foremost animation studious worldwide, so understanding how they colored would aid animators like me in making better movies. I came across this books while researching color and emotion in animation and Its now serves as a point of reference for my color pallets.

 Bai, Y., Kaufman, D. M., Liu, C. K. & Popovic, J. (2016).  Artists-Directed Dynamics for 2D animation. Association for Computing Machinery. July 2016. Vol. 35 (4). https://www.cc.gatech.edu/~ybai30/artistic_dynamics/artistic_dynamics_sig16.pdf

Bai et al. (2016) in their article for ACM suggested a model that you could be used to incorporate both simulation animation and key framing. They explained how their model creates an efficient workflow allowing artist animators to use both key frame and simulation stating that a combination of both methods addressing the two drawback of each approach making the simulation becomes more user defined and the keyframing, more automated. Their investigation attempted to solve three challenges: cause of action when elastic simulation digresses from artist’s goal, how to simulate unattainable exaggerations and how to re-use these simulations on varying projects (Bai et al., 2016).  Understanding this model could show how to get more from puppet animation.

 Bellatoni, P. (2013). If its purple, someone’s gonna die: The power of color in visual story telling. Published by Taylor and Francis Ltd. Oxford

Bellatoni in her book, if it’s purple, someone’s gonna die (Bellatoni, 2013) writes about the relationship of color and emotion in filmmaking. With over 25 years work on researching color, she grouped over 50 movies in 6 color groups – Yellow, Blue, Red, Green, Orange and Purple triggering different emotions. She explains the how, why and where a color stimulates emotions in the actors in the movie or the viewers. Bellatoni cited the importance of her book to the fact that she noticed her students were making arbitrary color choices.

 Fugate, J, M, B. & Franco, C, L. (2019) What Color is your Anger? Assessing Color emotion pairings in English speakers. Frontiers in Phycology. Vol. 10. Page 206. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00206/full

Fugate and Franco (2019) attempted to determine in their study if emotions are precisely and consistently associated with a particular color. They conducted a study with adults as the participants. However they were not able to determine consistency and specifically in the results and concluded that studies in the past that gave this opinion were at best experiment specific. They also found that saturation, value and to a lesser degree hue “predicted color-emotion agreement rather than perceived color” (Fugate and Franco, 2019). I found this particularly interesting as it opened up by critiquing the use of color emotion In Pixaar/s inside out movie.

 Griffin, M., Harding, N. & Learmonth, M. (2016). Whistle While You Work? Disney Animation, Organizational Readiness and Gendered Subjugation. Sage Journals, 26th September 2016. Vol 38(7) 869-894. https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1177/0170840616663245?utm_source=summon&utm_medium=discovery-provider

In Disney’s early animations, patriarchy was rife as female characters were portrayed to weak and should wait to be provided for rather than provide as aligned with the times (Griffin, et. al. 2016). In this paper, the researchers collected data from Disney movies spanning 70 years, explaining that even if recent Disney movies portray woman differently, the old Disney movies are still popular and can affect the constructions of the female self. The paper goes on criticize recent Disney movies stating even if they try to be feminism sensitive, “they are also trapped by the past, consciously and unconsciously citing back to previous ‘traditional’ performances of gender.” (Griffin, et. al. 2016. P.4). The study highlighted the roles Disney plays in influencing organizational readies for girls and it is important for us to all understand the role we have to play in challenging patriarchal l norms.

 Kalmakurki, M. (2018). Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty: The Components of Costume Design in Disney’s Early Hand-Drawn animated Feature Films. Sage journals. 12th March 2018, 13(1) 7- 19. https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1177/1746847718754758?utm_source=summon&utm_medium=discovery-provider

The writer analyzed the costume design 3 of Disney’s early hand drawn animated movies focusing on the costume design process and choices for the characters. He explained that in animated films, costume design is important in portraying the story of a particular character, scene or time. The process of animating these films involved rotoscoping and it extended to not just character movements but also the movements of the clothes on the character. Costume design has long been a crucial part of character design and is necessary in the story telling.

 Kaya, N. & Epps, H. H. (2004). Relationship between color and emotion: A study of college students. College Student Journal, September 2004, 38(3), 396–405. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/ehost/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=31cba36a-5df6-48fb-afab-5cd7b71516bb%40pdc-v-sessmgr02&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=14669489&db=ehh

Kaya and Epps in their article conducted research on color and emotion amongst their students. The goal of the study was to examine students’ emotions to different colors. They conducted a qualitative study method using questions adapted from Boyatzis and Varghese (1994) and (1996) using ‘how’ and ‘why’ in respect to the colors. The results revealed that the principle hues according to the Munsel color system comprising of Blue, Red, Green, Yellow and Purple yielded the “highest positive emotional responses” (Kaya and Epps, 2004). This is in comparism to the intermediate hues. The mean age of the participants of the study was 21, this is a demography I target while making films.

 Lasseter, J (2001). Tricks to animating characters with a computer. Association for Computing Machinery. May 2001. Vol. 35 (2). https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse457/03au/misc/p45-lasseter-tricks.pdf

In his article, John lasseter who worked as an animator at Pixar in his book wrote about how he used traditional animation principles to make CG animation. He gives tips on how to make the animation work better delving into concepts like how key framing is done differently and how weight, a thinking character, emotion and readability of actions (Lasster, 2001) define the animation. I try to combine hand drawn and puppet animation in my films, so studying these tips is necessary for my practice.

 Schloss, K. B., Witzel, C. & Lai, Y. L. (2020) Blue hues don't bring the blues: questioning notions of color–emotion associations. Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, Image Science, and Vision. 1st May 2020, 37(5):813-824. https://www.osapublishing.org/josaa/fulltext.cfm?uri=josaa-37-5-813&id=431080

Schloss et.al (2020) in their article, questioned previous research citing different hue eliciting different emotions.  Focusing mainly on yellow and Blue, they found in their research that emotions were more affected by the brightness and saturation rather than Hue. In their study they attempted to challenge the notion that blue represented to elicited sad emotion while yellow, happy emotions. Dr Schloss, Witzel and Lai are all researchers on psychology and it was important for me as an animator to get a physiological driven perspective on the effects on color on emotion.

  Thomas, F. & Johnston, O. (1981) Disney animation: The Illusion of Life.  . 1st edn. Abbeville Press, New York. Pp 47 -70.

In the Illusion of life, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston who were one of Disney’s famous ‘Nine Old Men’ wrote on how Disney worked on its then animations. In chapter 4, which formed the basis of the book, they introduced the 12 principles of animation. They expanded on how each principle giving examples and explain how it was formed, its importance and how Disney used it in making animations. In the pursuit of making quality animations, understanding not just the principles of animations but the ‘why’ they were introduced is very important.

 Richard, W. (2009) The Animator’s Survival kit: A manual of methods, principles and formulas for classical, computer games, stop motion and internet animations. November 2009, Published by Faber and Faber. London

Birkenkrahe, M., 2014. Using storytelling methods to improve emotion, motivation and attitude of students writing scientific papers and theses. Presented at the Proceedings of 2014 IEEE 13th International Conference on Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computing, ICCI*CC 2014. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCI-CC.2014.6921453 This article written by  Marcus Birkenkrahe is his debate on how storytelling tecnniques can also be used in other areas like in thesis for students who are in Bachelors degree or in Master. Storytelling can be adapted to new uses instead of just telling stories to people. Marcus explain that the concept and the logic behind Storytelling methods can cover more areas of academic studies. Student can use methods that were create for storytelling on their personal thesis essays. While doing so they learn to organize their ideas better in their work. Storytelling structure follows a logic path that allows people to understand what’s happening and foresee where it will lead them using hints, just like what is used to tell a story. These types of methods can be used for thesis. - Phan, H.Q., Fu, H., Chan, A.B., 2018. Color Orchestra: Ordering Color Palettes for Interpolation and Prediction. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 24, 1942–1955. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2017.2697948 This article explains the approach in the color extraction from an art collection to a form of aesthetic. How the theme of the colors or the color pallete can deeply influence the artwork, giving it different meanings and also change the message that the artist wants to share. Colors are one of the most appealing parts of paintings, it can tell one artist apart from the other just by the way they use color. I find this source useful, because learning how to use colors for my own artistic advance is important. Colors can tell stories and those stories can be used in animation. We realize that the use of colors can create a connection between the audience and the painting, something in the choice of colors can bring an emotion out of someone who is seeing it. Therefore knowing how to use colors is important to communicate with our art.  Smith, V., Hamlyn, N., 2018. Experimental and Expanded Animation: New Perspectives and Practices. Springer International Publishing AG, Cham, SWITZERLAND. -This ebook talks about a new way of creating art, the experimental way. It’s a less conventional form of animation and expressing our ideas. It goes against mainstream cinema and culture and explores new forms of creating art in the animation.  This can take a new form of animation into the world, the experimental.The book says that it’s interesting to experience different experinces of art from different cultures and people. I find this book useful because it’s important to extend our mind further than we think, open it and try to think of new alternatives to our creative work. This book talks about that.  Roseboro, B., n.d. The Vocaloid Phenomenon: A Glimpse into the Future of Songwriting, Community-Created Content, Art, and Humanity 86. This document explains the process of making a music video and more specifically in Vocaloid videos. A lot of thought is put into it, from the lyrics that could have metaphors for the audience and how the music has to align with the lyrics and follow the rhytme without breaking the message.  Lyrics come in a poetry composition, with verses and timings, the lyrics are considered the bones structure of the music video. Everything else like the creative art directing, or the melody would be the mind or the heart of the product. They continue to explain by detailed how the lyrics are thought out and the music behind it, how everything needs to be organized and also creative at the same time to capture the audience attention. I bellieve I can learn a lot with this thesis because it’s something I’m very interested in learning since it explain the process of music video, as well, the order of segments and what softwares are used to achieve the final product. It’s important to know all of this so that I can do it on my own. The main focus is on voicaloids but I can use what I learned from this to put on my own music videos made differently. - Cao, Y., Lau, R.W.H., Chan, A.B., 2014. Look over here: attention-directing composition of manga elements. ACM Trans. Graph. 33, 94:1–94:11. https://doi.org/10.1145/2601097.2601183 This thesis talk about how a japanese is made and what components it has. The visual elements of manga, the different mediuns and programs that people can use to make manga, the composition and the balloon placement. How manga artists have to control the viewers attention, and the direction they read the story, or where to pay longer attention to or lesser attention. They manipulate how the viewer will understand the story, the way they want the view to understand, leading them into plot twists or giving them foreshadowing of events. I believe reading this thesis will help me understand better what is necessary to apply in a manga comic, to have a well structure story, because eventhough the art might be good, without a good composition and a clear reading of the story, viewer won’t stick around to the end. So it’s important to know what key elements to do in the comic while working on it. I quite liked this thesis, it really has everyone someone needs to know about creating a comic, even the shape and size of the characters in the panels and how that influences the viewer reading experience. - Morisawa, T., 2015. Managing the unmanageable: Emotional labour and creative hierarchy in the Japanese animation industry. Ethnography 16, 262–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138114547624 This  articles, explain how life in Japan is. More particulary in the job industry of animators. It explain the ranks of the industry, and how to reach for the higher rank which is being the Director. To become that, they can either start the career by being a  a production operator  or an animator, but one is horrible work, and the other requires abilities and doesn’t pay well. Young animators in Japan  struggle with excessively long hours with little compensation. This articles explains a point of view that the  companies can be compared to a vampire, because they suck the life out of the workers. The articles also explain the thought process between management and creativity in the projects. 

Spark, A. 2016. Andi Spark – Pursuing the Animatrix: Musings on Defining a Term to Describe Woman-Centered Animation – Animation Studies. [Online]. [Accessed 25 October 2019]. Available from: https://journal.animationstudies.org/andi-spark-pursuing-the-animatrix-musings-on-defining-a-term-to-describe-woman-centered-animation/.

The writer grabs the topic of “female workers in animation” to describe the changes that have happened over the years. Up till the day this was written, woman were able to gather some significant roles (mainly going for storyboard artists, and some for animators), but most of the self found conceptions still apply, studios would still choose a man over a woman for a creative roll. For me, as a woman in the field, this kind of exclusion is not understandable. Woman can be as creative as man, and the only explanation provided is that woman tend to bring their own feelings for animation, while man do the most creative out of the box ideas.

Herhuth, E. (2019). Eric Herhuth – The Animated Will: Intelligent Movement and Embodied Intentionality in Character Animation. – Animation Studies. [Online]. [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019]. Available from: https://journal.animationstudies.org/eric-herhuth-the-animated-will-intelligent-movement-and-embodied-intentionality-in-character-animation/

During his journal entry, the author explains the importance and evolution of the technic for the character’s will. The was used to show that a character could do any actions without thinking, that it was free to choose whatever it was meant to do, nonetheless, it was only an illusory freedom (or as he would call it “insincere promise of freedom”), as the choices that they go though have been meed previously made. Personally reading this text was really important for me since I tend to concentrate on character performance, posing, movement and acting takes a great part in this relationship with the creation of freedom.

Martin, B., Yecies, B. (2004). First Monday: Peer-reviewed Journal on the Internet, [online] 9(6). Available at: https://documents.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/pubs/04firstmonday.html [Accessed 28 Oct. 2019].

This journal entry shows a variety of titles a corporation may have to battle while climbing the ladder to success, and analyses the variety of changes the company itself had to grow from, especially with the rise of the internet and NET communication technology. The author goes through an analysis to understand each site’s reason to take an anti-Disney approach and question each of them creating a table of sites, reasons, goals, methods and their strategies. I feel lithe this article is a good approach for everyone to understand what a rising company such as Disney can go through the years, while they gain more fame, their actions will be more criticized and noticed, so more and more of this sites will appear. It’s good to understand that any animator might be on their shoes one of these days.

Berney, S. (2016). Does animation enhance learning? A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, [online] 101, pp.150-167. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131516301336?via%3Dihub [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019].

The author took this journal to analyse whenever would be easier to learn from graphics or animated videos. They tested both methods in various forms consecutively with different studies, such as pure animation, animation with sound and animation with no explanatory text, they grew in results substantially, understanding that the most efficient method would be the animation with sound a no explanatory text. This induct to a transition of the media, that implies great research in the animation field, with more development, this kind of animation could bust the way people study. This topic was particularly interesting from my point of view since I can give more time of my attention to video lessons other than reading, this method could prove really useful in various fields of study.

Telotte, J. (2019). Letting Go: Representation, Presentation, and Disney’s Art of Animation. Animation, [online] 14(2), pp.132-148. Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1177/1746847719858159 [Accessed 18 Nov. 2019].

This article shows how Walt Disney was able to present both sides of animation while developing his drawing to tv, he made a series of behind the scenes so he would be able to let people understand when and how their favourite films were being made. This was a way to show various differences in the animation studied by the studio, as for example, from the realistic style Pinocchio (1940) to a more fantasy/cartoony one as in Lady and the Tramp (1955). This source was relevant from the point of evolution, as a person and a company leader, how to develop a whole variety of shows that appeal to your work and are able to demonstrate your development.

Neuman, R. (2019). Disney’s Final Package Film: The Making and Marketing of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). Animation, [online] 14(2), pp.149-163. Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1177/1746847719858678 [Accessed 21 Nov. 2019].

During this journal, it is analysed the conception of the film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949), how it was developed even in times of war, how it took eight years to assemble and how the conjunction of two different origin stories gave birth to this final script. A great point made by the author is that film shows the division they had in subtle ways, like for example having one character more cartoony and other more realistic. Unfortunately, this movie wasn't a big hit for Disney but was good for many experimentations and answers. I particularly like this journal entry as a form of making movies as a research method, a way of understanding the public needs and likes, and as a proof that no matter how much a movie can fail, it does not mean the next one will follow the same path.

Death and Coping Mechanisms in Animated Disney Movies: A Content Analysis of Disney Films (1937–2003) and Disney/Pixar Films (2003–2016). (2019). The Psychosocial Implications of Disney Movies, [online] pp.17-30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-03897-849-7 [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019].

During this chapter, the author decided to examine how Disney has portraited death over the years, what were the differences from the old traditional movies to the newer versions, and how children are dealing with the concept of death transmitted by it. It’s referred that some stories are supposed to help the children deal and learn the state of grief. During the studies, it was noticeable that protagonists were the ones who die the most, and that normally it had negative emotion embed with the feeling (and was unjustified), while when an antagonist died it was a positive emotion (and was justified). In a personal analysis, the recent movies made the grief make more sense, and developing the stages of character and having it pass the same stages of grief is something that, in my opinion, will help children understand such a complicated topic.

Pluralsight (2014). Animation for Games vs Animation for Movies. [online] Pluralsight.com.  Available at: https://www.pluralsight.com/blog/film-games/how-animation-for-games-is-different-from-animation-for-movies [Accessed 1 Dec. 2019].

In this article, it was pointed out the main differences between working as an animator for movies or for the games industries. The author argues that while movies only have to worry about the shot they're working at, and have a wider amount of time to develop it, relying mostly in acting, in games, the industry demands good and fast animation, it needs to be ready for every camera angle (since it’s interactively based) and relies mostly in character performance and body mechanics. This was a great article for me as since the beginning of this course I was trying to explain what I pretended to do, this helped me decide that developing character performance and acting is my main focus.

Neistadt, W. (2018). From School to Studio: Sir Wade Neistadt’s Journey to DreamWorks Animation. [online] Animation Mentor Blog. Available at: https://blog.animationmentor.com/from-school-to-studio-sir-wade-neistadts-journey-to-dreamworks-animation/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2019].

During this blog post, the author explains his own experience developing himself to enter the world of an animator’s career. From starting in a subject he didn't enjoy, to learning what animation could bring to his life until he learned of an online animator’s school, this opened his eyes for software and prepared him for future opportunities. He started in a studio, but not directly as an animator, he does believe that being inside the studio and getting to know people is already a major first step. This blog was a major help for me, as I was lost in whatever way a student could even be able to approach or even enter a studio by himself.

Barnes, B. and Sperling, N. (2019). Why the ‘Joker’ Movie Was a Risk Warner Bros. Wanted to Take. New York Times, [online] p.1. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/movies/joker-movie.html [Accessed 10 Dec. 2019].

1.Gege, G. (2017). Gendered design bias: Gender differences of in-game character choice and playing style in League of legends. In: M. Brereton, ed., The 29th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, 1st ed. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, pp.307-317. 

By studying some of the factors in the hero's league of competitive games, the author has made relevant tests through the analysis of the data and the interviews with the players. Finally, they concluded that gender stereotypes would affect the design of the role of the game, the perception of the player's ability and the social habits of the laughter, which makes the choice of the game character and the gender difference in the game style more obvious. They discuss the meaning of the design to make the LoL more inclusive for female players. This provides a direction for thinking about my character design in the future. I don't think I should work with traditional stereotypes. I should adopt more flexible ideas in character design. This made me realize that creating a good game environment starts with character design.

2.Sloan, R. (2015). Virtual Character Design for Games and Interactive Media, CRC Press LLC, Florida. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [16 December 2019].pp.185-200.

3. Miller, MK＆Summers, A.Sex Roles, (2007). Gender Differences in Video Game Characters’ Roles, Appearances, and Attire as Portrayed in Video Game Magazines.

I chose this article because the author's discussion and research on the stereotypes of characters in the game caught my attention, which helped me to a certain extent in my future work. Among them, researchers conducted group experiments on how different genders affect the design of game characters. The final conclusion is that there are extremely obvious gender differences in the design of the characters in the game. In the discussion part of the article, they thought that when the player plays the game, the character's image will have a subtle effect on the player's mentality. In particular, teens mimic the role of the game, which may further lead to comparisons between players. Therefore, in future character design, I will consider how to more reasonably determine the character image to be designed.

4.Gender inclusive game design: expanding the market / Sheri Graner Ray

5.Ma, Chongyang et al. Game Level Layout From Design Specification. Computer Graphics Forum 33.2 (2014): 95-104.In this article, the author is proposing an algorithm as a method of creating video game level layouts procedurally in an attempt to lessen the amount of man hours required to create large game levels and increase replay value. While I believe procedural level generation is a positive step forward for certain genres of games (such as Diablo 3 which uses this exact method), I believe that if not handled correctly the game can lose its sense of direction, and the player can devolve into just running in random directions with no clear idea of where to go, not making for the best experience. The author talks about how the use of procedural generation in conjunction with the manual placement of objects in the scene could streamline the workflow of artists and save valuable time. This is very relevant today because working artists are very constrained by time allowed for each asset they create, so if an algorithm could be used to procedurally place trees for example, throughout my scene, but governed by a set of rules, it would save the artist time to be able to fine tune it to achieve the desired look.

6. Shigeru Miyamoto: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda 

7.Gaming after dark visual patterns and their significance for atmosphere and emotional experience in video games 

In this book, the author discusses various factors that may have an impact on the design of the gaming environment by introducing artwork from the late 19th century and emerging visual features commonly used to create a horror atmosphere in visual art. Further research is made on how these environments can affect players.

8.Devine, T. C., W. A. Presnell, and S. Miller. Games As Art And Kant’s Moral Dilemma: What Can Ethical Theory Reveal About The Role Of The Game Designer As Artist?. Games and Culture 9.4 (2014): 277-310.

By studying the game mode of Fallout 3, researchers have considered the moral concepts in its doomsday creative background. By simulating what Kant would do in the apocalyptic world, and still thinking about the different options this exercise brings. They found a connection between giving players responsibility and depth of gameplay. These discussions will not only clarify the relationship between morality and challenges in games for players and game designers, but also the relationship between morality and real challenges. In the end, they concluded that game designers should incorporate critical thinking and problem-solving skills when designing games. This will affect players' deeper thinking and discussion about the game, which will cause a moral resonance in real life. For me, this article provides a starting point for how to make players more impressed. For my future design of the environment in the game, I can better combine the copywriting to enhance the atmosphere of the game.

9. Role-Playing Video Games and Emotion: How Transportation Into the Narrative Mediates the Relationship Between Immoral Actions and Feelings of Guilt

10.Schell, J. (2008) The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Burlington: Morgan Kauffman.

Meintema, Ruben. Playing In Perspective: An Art Historical Analysis Of Spatial Representations In Video Games. Crossings: Electronic Journal of Art & Technology 6.1 (2012): 3-3.