#studio projects

We’re now a week a way from hand in and I have to accept that I no longer have time to tackle big projects, but I have been trying to make some small additions throughout these weeks. 

Also, just a note before the rest, I did consider redoing the Poetic Objects one, that went so wrong, but I just don’t really know what to do. It just seems like a rotation very dependent of the circumstances of the time and difficult to dive into later on, maybe that’s just me and my fears...

Cabinets of Curiosity is something that I think has now just become a practice. I’ve grown up going to exhibitions all the time and it has actually made it more interesting to introduce drawing to it. In a way it allows me to be honest about what I want to linger around, but also what doesn’t really interest me and I can just move past quickly, even if it is indeed something famous.

In Material Explorations there was something bothering me since the beginning of the year, and turns out I’m still not that great at it, oh well. That turn-around really did not go well and so I redid some sketches of it now. I didn’t completely reproduce the conditions of the exercise, I guess that would have been more challenging, but at the same time it wasn’t really what I was looking to work on now...I guess that’s ok? It was funny, but doing the new sketches, it was then that I realized how much my line has changed. It has gained so much confidence and a bit more vividness? 

At the time I wasn’t able to go to the presentation day so I ended up not finishing the drawings I was making for my story - I called it ‘One very hot summer memory’ - great at naming things, can’t you tell?

Again, so mixed feelings; this time about the results I just created. So, the drawings have quite a children’s illustration feel to it which I don't mind, I’m happy with the colours and how the materials worked together - but there’s something about it that is just not quite there yet...maybe they’re too tight (?) or they need more space, more expression, white space? Maybe I’ll try to illustrate the story again, just a different take on the drawing I already have, it could be interesting.

One thing I’ve been trying to work on with this If I Had More Time tried is not to fall in the same tendency to have already everything figured out in the roughs and make the final piece just be one more repetition fo the same. I think that has been kind of working, but then I fear that I’m misunderstanding and just mixing it with lack of planning or more experimentation? Hopefully not...

Once the drawings were done I also wanted to try to come up with a way to display them in physical format. After some research, concertina seemed to be a great idea but it didn’t really work out here, and it is way too big - it’s actually not too bad once everything is opened up, it just takes way too much time. But if I’m thinking of redoing that after assessment then maybe I could keep that format, make the pages all the same size this time and just try to make it work better? I just really have no more time for it now, I ended up making over 40 drawings...

Some references for how to display it physically:

This was the one project I definitely wanted to redo - it brought me a bit of mixed feelings: at the time I was actually pleased with the result, it represented a lot of improvement on my part and it was something I definitely could not have done when I came into the course; but the crit didn’t really go as expected. Maybe it’s just my own insecurities or a problem taking criticism but I remember feeling quite disappointed at the time and since then have not like my one panel narrative. 

Since the drawing with scissors workshop I’ve been wanting to do a project with cut outs so, right away, i decided that would be the medium I’d use this time. After that, reading the brief again, I’ve just been trying to see where this takes me this time. It is very interesting to observe the difference between one and the other - technical, conceptual, imaginary (I think this makes more sense in Portuguese). It’s just encouraging to see the evolution. 

It has now kind of turned into a nude apocalyptic beach kind of situation, but I’m much happier with this one. Hopefully it is actually better than the first one, I can’t really assess it objectively. I know at least this time it has more planning and iterating, but I wonder if it is enough? I probably still struggle with that... Also, I don't think I enjoy this type of exercise that much -  just the fact that we have to make up interactions between them, they seem a bit forced, superficial; I wish they could be more subtle, but I don’t think that’s what they’re looking for here. I should try some smaller exercises of this, trying to explore interactions and relationships differently. And mood too: I think this one panel narrative actually achieved a good sense of mood, and it wasn’t even planned. Maybe it’s just me.

Some references:

Charlotte Ager

Laura Carlin

Kirsten Sims

I was quite pleasantly surprised by this workshop - I guess I feared the interactive aspect of it and, as always, the fact that it was something so different than what I know.. however Viv had a such an effective yet simple method to apply here that it revealed itself a very fun process!

There were some group issues that were not anticipated, still, it was great to get acquainted with new areas of this practice. I didn’t really know any games other than classic board ones, but it turns out it is a much bigger industry than I anticipated, we were introduced to so many different ones and started to understand that it is its own form of storytelling - definitely worth delving into it further in the future. I just wonder how I would do it? Or about what? And in what context?

Right on the first day of this project my group played quite a simple card game called Bandido - just wanted to leave a quick note of it here because it was very enjoyable and I might want to get it in the future.

And here are some references I gathered for the card design:

Looking back, I don't think we had enough time for the design phase, or at least it wasn’t very clear that it was only some kind of rough, it didn’t have to be all figured out. Even though it didn't work out for this, I had the idea of making the pawns out of origami, which immediately made the people much more invested in the game so I think that is a good idea to keep in mind.

The workshop was actually much more exciting than I was expecting and it really is great to have the opportunity to work with visiting tutors/artists in such an environment, without any pressure and where you can explore what interests you the most. 

I found it a bit difficult to get on with the writing, but it was good that it was drawing on personal memories - I’ll try working more on finding a style to tell stories in English, I finally have time to read again so I’ll try keeping that in mind. But I did make it better on the Wednesday and it was fun trying to put the images I remember onto paper. Two things I noticed: I really am putting all the effort I can into this course and what I can learn from it, independently of what other people’s approach to it is; and I also now really enjoy thumbnailing and it is becoming part of my process, so it seems my effort is making a difference, yay.

Some references I had looked up before and during the workshop:

Pablo Auladell, Anne Laval, María Medem, Liang-Hsin Huan

Hmmmm don’t really know how to start writing about this one, it was just so important for me. At the same time, now I’ve reached the phase when I don’t like the final result anymore, it was an exhausting process, but still, I can’t stress enough how crucial this project turned out to be.

The first part, over the reading week was quite intensive but came with a few realizations: this course is giving me what I’ve been looking for a few years apparently - the opportunity to learn a way of working and shape it to my needs, but giving me the tools I need to tackle new projects, instead of just not having a clue everytime because some teachers are lazy (not all, I know); more than ever I’m taking this opportunity to the fullest and giving it all I’ve got, don’t know if it’s enough but I just want to learn; aaand thumbnailing turned out to be very enjoyable and I was able to really multiple iterations notion, I think, at least more than any other project until now. 

The second part was a bit less enjoyable, I guess they focused more on creating an animatic and didn’t really give us freedom to explore our take of the story. When you look back it’s not such a problem because you understand that’s what the third part is for, but that wasn’t very clear then and it became frustrating. I couldn’t do a more abstract interpretation but it was good to understand how images better communicate to others and how transitions between takes should work. The crits were also very helpful then, small groups, moving around, testing things on the spot, changing frames - and I actually talked quite a bit, I’m improving on giving feedback in small groups, at least that.

The third part was a lot, I wish we had one more week, specially because the essay was due around the same time. And it seemed as if, in general, The Page ended up having more work to do than The Screen? But that might just be a mistaken impression. We got to explore and create our own perspective, and it seemed the first project we had such freedom to do so, that was great! Just a side note, not all the tutors had the same ideas about The Page brief and had the same openness to abstraction, which sometimes became confusing. In any case, we got a real (?) feel of how an book project would unfold and I tried to push everything further and I got some more ideas for further developments (some simple zines?), so I’m still excited about it. Also, the crit went very well, Rose and Paddy seemed quite happy with the result and I’ll try to improve a couple of things they pointed out.

Here are some of the references I kept in mind for Part 3: