PPP2 - Creative Presence: Answers and Translations

To my surprise, The Micho answered all of my 10 questions with grace and verbose detail based on his personal practice in relation to the industry as well as the conventions of freelancing. Situated in a really vernacular manner, The Micho gave a thorough outlook on how it is like to be a commission driven individual and the necessary connections one must have to always secure consistency in their practice. As illustrated in my report, I found his reflection to be quite personal and cordial (aside from it being extremely substantial and relevant to my desired future endeavors), which set aside the formal and focused on the individual. Upon the exchange, The Micho invited me to visit him in Bitola whenever so that we may discuss any work-related opportunities as well as establish a thorough friendship that will as a byproduct hail networking possibilities. Furthermore, I spent two days translating his answers from Macedonian to English in an all-encompassing way so that his idioms and style of verbal expression may be translated without the loss of the train of thought and its sincere meaning. Furthermore, this project gave me a feel of professionality in translating work between bi-linguality, efficaciously improving my vocabulary and writing skills. Creative Report - https://issuu.com/vvoinovski/docs/creative_report_vlad

PPP2 - Fiverr and Behance Account

In hopes of slowly but surely establishing my name and skill as a brand alongside developing a comprehensive portfolio, I've started up a Fiverr and Behance account. Considering I already have a Vimeo account where I share and post all of my animations, which has proven to be a versatile and effective tool in getting my work across through friends as well as professionals, I thought that a Fiverr might help me gain even more experience commission wise, whereas Behance might serve as my non-animation portfolio. Nonetheless, the Behance account is not as new as the Fiverr one, for I have already posted my Orchard Pig Responsive project there through Alex Zorita Santana's collaborative project invite on the website, which I found out through him to begin with. Having this in mind, as I have heard plenty of times during networking presentations, I shall next make and maintain a Linked In account in order to have a broader scope of exposure, which will in turn provide me with more opportunities through a passive manner. As I went over The Micho's (the creative practitioner I interviewed) answers to my overly zealous questions, I even more so digested the necessity of persistence as well as establishing all types of networks and contacts, providing me with even more motivation to establish such accounts. For Fiverr, I do not expect to gain something substantial during the first moments of the account's expansion developments, although I can predict a possibility of such growth in the near future once I input more "gigs" into its repertoire as I will have no college modules during this summer, giving me more time to indulge in this motive. All in due time, I shall develop my presence as a creative practitioner in a substantial format to secure a future in work through hobby as a freelancer, seeing as I cannot fully fathom working in a routine studio environment, much like The Micho.

Fiverr - https://www.fiverr.com/vvoinovski
Behance - https://www.behance.net/vladimirvo079e

PPP2 - Club Photography

During my final week before submission, I gained an opportunity of practicing a paid photography assignment of a relatively new V.I.P. Lounge in Leeds. Recommended by a Photography student in LCA through the group LCA Collaboration on Facebook, I was assigned to capture the ambient of the night life within the Kudeta Lounge Bar, effectively proving to be a thorough chance to practice environmental photography, networking, as well as post-production. The dim lighting within the premise proved to be quite a challenge for me in terms of adjusting the white balance, aperture, and shutter speed so that I could make use of the fluorescent lighting present at the scene without the use of the sterilizing effect of flash. Luckily, I was able to mend the ISO to the standard fit for grasping the atmosphere and vibe of the bar. However, I understood the necessity of a controllable light-gun upon finishing the job for the sake of the sharpness of the image without the loss of the ambient light, which is something I would require to acquire if I am to do any such future jobs. Nonetheless, once I had picked out the most plausible images, with color balance through post-production, I managed to get them to a more-than-sufficient standard. The employers were elated with the final product, having me connect with them through social media. This endeavor is where my personal practice comes to terms with the outside world - upon discussion, the employer learned of my design practice and arranged a meeting where I am to discuss the design of a cocktail menu and perhaps a promotional video for their new bar. Moreover, as I have 3 years worth of experience in mixology, the employer offered me a paid opportunity to work behind the bar and design signature cocktails for their establishment. With me having a thorough experience in this field as a personal passing, alongside design and animation, I am aware of not underselling or overselling myself. Thus, this whole endeavor proved to be a more-than-effective network-establishing opportunity that seized me future jobs through my own practice.

PPP2 - Atmospheric Sound Design and VJ Aspirations

As of recently, I have created a Soundcloud account where I will post ambient music I've created as background tracks for animations. The only song I have for the time being is "Obsidian Sea" whose soul purpose was to serve as the background song for mine and Luca's Applied Animation animated documentary. As this is escalating to be my personal pursuit seeing as I have been working with music for 6+ years now, nothing has come close to this; I've always done rock or jazz in live performances, but never have I recorded anything of that sort. Thus, I believe as I will gain more free time during this summer I will thoroughly engage in making analog ambient music through the means of instruments (as this song's raw format is that) instead of using synthetic generation. Perhaps, this would tie into my VJ potential interest that I plan on pursuing alongside this during the summer. This raises a possibility of defining my extended practice next year as I am thoroughly interested in how the synthesis of sound and visuals in a "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts" can have a sublime potential in narration. Many songs have an inherent story-like structure, with the lyrics refining this notion. In terms of performance, the amplitude-sensitive visual animations that can be manipulated through an MPC AKAI or any such simple analogous sampler triangulate between all the sensory conventions of narration in an epic-like manner. Thus, I started conducting research on how to execute this desire. Initially, knowing a peer that practices this (Oscar Barany), I talked to him so that he may give me the general details of this art form. By using Resolume (similar to After Effects in interface), one can set the thresholds of the intensity of any animation one can create so that the visuals fluctuate based on the dynamic of the sound. I did not know that it was this flexible of a practice. Moving along, I found a book that thoroughly expands upon the culture and art behind VJing (VJ: Audio-Visual Art and VJ Culture, by D-Fuse), using Kraftwerk's performances as one of the best known examples of this phantasmagoric aspect of performance. Need I say, I then proceeded onto watching recordings of Kraftwerk performances as well as dissecting the power behind their appeal through individual interpretation. I believe that I need to delve deeper into their art, which is why I have ordered the book Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop by Sean Albiez and David Pattie with the hopes of corroborating what it means to have an omnipotent control of a performance's visual appeal that makes full use of the world of multimedia.

Obsidian Sea - https://soundcloud.com/user-930204941/obsidian-sea

PPP2 - Life's A Pitch Preparation and Presentation

We have formed our collective of 6, consisting of me, Tess, Luke, Alex, Bash, and Brenda, all wittily acronymed Blob TV. I designed the logo for the collective which would serve as the starting point upon which we are going to build up, possibly changing the logo in the future to better reflect our style once it has been properly synthesized. We gathered all the work into this presentation since we believe that the art-book idea would be our foundation for a potential commercial future. It will be structured similarly like "Animation Sketchbooks" by Laura Heit, which was our main inspiration for this collective idea. We want to take it slowly, identify the potential, and expand based on the possible gradual success we shall experience or not experience. Furthermore, in terms of pricings we are going down the path of modesty, costing us a total of 20 pounds to print off the book where our individual and collective contacts will be alongside our most plausible works. Furthermore, we will create social media in the future, perhaps a Facebook page or something similar to showcase our work and attract people who like our styles. Our multi-faceted nature would cater to all audiences whereas I believe I would be able to work for logo and album art design, atop animation which is the main point of mutual interest and fusion.

POST-PRESENTATION:
Based on the feedback we received, we are to consider having both a digital and traditional platform, where our name Blob TV needs to live up to the expectation it is construing. Suggested by our tutors, we are going to make a collective Vimeo page with a conjoined showreel that should be another point of establishing networks and recognition by other artists in hopes of doing interdisciplinary work with other creatives as well as getting commissioned. After this presentation I feel we need to more coherently articulate our set goals - are we keen on solely enthusiastic work for recognition or commissioning? For the time being we will focus on expanding our point of content and contact such as the social media and the art book for the exhibition, from where we expect to begin our expansion.

PPP2 - Poster Designs

Inspirational poster from Faith No More gig

Lucky enough, I got contacted by a friend and event organizer alike for the recurring underground Macedonian band concert that occurs annually for the third year in a row. I had been commissioned to design the poster as well as some of the band logos last year and due to the satisfaction of my client I was spontaneously called for the same job yet again several days ago. Anything music or performance related instantly catches my eye since it is a broader collaborative aspect that always hails quality. With the only mandatory prerequisite being using the preexisting signature logo in the poster, I wanted this year's poster to reflect the event's whimsical and multifaceted nature. The concert promotes different types of bands that have not yet quite seen the light of the stage properly, and because of this I wanted the poster to give off that free-spirited rock and roll vibe. Initially, I had a design on the top of my head inspired by a myriad of festival posters I've seen throughout the years along with the DIY minimalist punk-rock posters of the 70s and 80s. This design was something I did as an intended suggestion since the client asked for an engaging poster with no concrete preferences and it hinged on the duo-chromatic style of thresholds in images being drawn over to adapt a cartoon style. Instantly, right after I sent him the style suggestion he IMMEDIATELY liked it and told me to go that direction and provide him with a draft of what I think might be a good final version of the poster. Honestly, I was amazed at this level of candor and trust he had with my artistic style, something which I found flattering. Nevertheless, I kept working on it and have constructed several designs for it after he told me that I am to use an actual picture of the venue for this year in order to shift the style. I don't know why but the aesthetic of posters always grabbed my eye along since it gave me a general feel of how the atmosphere at the event is going to be. Based on this most recent draft of the design, I believe that every color duo-chromatic has a different effect and it either repels the eye or captures it.

Initial template design whose style the client liked

Second design, needs a bit of polishing up

PPP2: Reg Isaac's Insight into the Industry

Although I don't much envision myself to be a fully-functioning part of the industry, the future foretells no definite destiny so one is to learn about every aspects regarding their practice from different perspectives, just in case. Reg Isaac solidified this claim with his story as to how he became an animator as well as how he tackled the parameters of the animation industry. I was flabbergasted to find out that he initially wanted to do photography but because of a small quirkish problem (there not being any more space in the photography department where he studied) he became an animator. It just goes to show that life is as flexible and unexpected as is the nature of the nomad. What I found personally applicable was Reg Issac's life drawing holiday on which he managed to improve his drawing skills - which is what his first goal since becoming an animator was. Furthermore, I empathized with his necessity to improve his drawing and gain confidence in his lines, which is why I found his tactic of using only pen without an opportunity to undo any movement very invigorating. I believe that I am to use the same tactic for drastically improving my line seeing as I am interested solely in 2D animation and the flow and form of character designs. Alongside this, the insight into how the roles in the animation industry are split really belabored the importance of details as he had been hired as an inbetweener several times where he only worked on completing the movement of the characters. Another one of his jobs consisted of him fixing the line details of every character's frame to perfection, which informed me of the specialization that is instilled in the workflow of the studio. I believe that understanding how the synchronized workflow of a studio work will both destroy any expectations I have as well as giving me experience for a future such endeavor.

PPP2: Animation Studio Research - Post-Presentation

Finishing up with the ordeal of analyzing a studio and delivering the presentation to my peers and tutors, the main thing I realized was the omission of several points one can make under pressure and a thorough time limit. In particular, I believe that I delivered the presentation in a manner that met all requirements, however, managed to miss several points out due to a bit of stage fright (generated by the significance and importance placed on the task itself) and a not-so-coherent line of notes which were hard to follow during presentations. Moreover, I mentioned the key people within the studio however I did not mention the contacts I acquired of Lynx's peripheral team of animators and creative practitioners from an international scope. Furhtermore, I could have aligned them with the notable works they participated in such as Daniele Rudoni being the creative art director of Nincow. Nevertheless, I managed to successfully outline and divide the presentation in coherent points which I then went into detail consecutively. I am satisfied overall although I believe I need to reevaluate my presentation skills if I am to assert myself as a professional speaker, which will go hand in hand with the future possibility of delivering pitches to studios.

PPP2: Fraser Maclean: Insight Into the World of Animation

I firmly believe that this talk was the most invigorating one so far hence Fraser Maclean turned out to be quite a facetiously witty animator that not only knew his practice but the parameters that orbit around it from a commercial point of view. I was flabbergasted at the rhetorical analysis he gave of the art of painting and how it synthesizes with the storytelling aspect of animation. Furthermore, he uncovered the commercial reality behind animation by giving examples of practitioners that survive off doing advertisements and such, not necessarily sustaining themselves through the whole-hearted preference of work. Nonetheless, the main points he drew were three such points revolving around animation - what we shall be working between: art and creativity, technology, and money, with the latter being divided into "dirty and clean money". I perceived this as the broken model of the visual industry where the actual practitioners work solely according to a temporary contract. Fraser Maclean belabored the point of openness to collaboration since the whole industry is such a practice no matter how much one tries to avoid this. With examples of the processes of how traditional animation was made where people were divided into very specific departments (with Maclean doing just the cartoon character shadows of Space Jam, for example) he was able to portray the intricate, well-oiled machine that is the animation industry. Furthermore, character animators are only a small puzzle piece in the assemblage as the same importance lies behind concept artists, background artists, layouters, although the mass perception places emphasis on only character animators. With a bit of personal insight, Maclean showed us how animation and the demand for different media of animation has evolved throughout the years. Finally, out of the plentiful points of advice he brought up, I reveled at the notion of "what does not benefit the flow of the story is redundant" no matter how much it makes the scene look better - unnecessary bits need not be considered. Through his life story and progression of profession the concept that Responsive brought upon us - an animator does not have to do just animation - was fortified. For example, Fraser Maclean worked for Sands Films as a sound organizer through the initial wish of being a filmmaker, whereas he then spread to animation for Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Space Jam. I found his entire life endeavor very exuberant as it showed the flexible path of not an animator, but a creative practitioner that is amenable to work with a team and cooperate fully to make a vision a reality all through the concluding piece of wisdom he shared - be nice!

Book Maclean suggested for young aspiring animators

PPP2: Animation Studio Research - Methods of Research

Contacting the studio formally through The Micho (the practitioner I contacted for A Creative Presence), I was able to get an exclusive tour around the studio to quickly report on their workflow, methods, infrastructure, along with seeing pre-production assets from several of their projects. Thus, my presentation is based on both primary and secondary research. Firstly I sat down with the general creative director of the studio and had a chat with him about how the departments are divided along with the multitude of projects they have had or have underway. What I was mostly interested in was their peripheral team which consists of a myriad of international animators from all over the globe. The Italian illustrator Danielle Rudoni was the art director for Nincow - one of the studio's first ever projects along with a range of other practitioners. Writing down all the information I was given during the tour, I then went on to do secondary research through their highly immersive Facebook page where I looked at picture-framed time stamps of when and how their projects were conducted. I'm quite happy that I managed to make connections with the studio as well as some of the practitioners personally as it establishes a small network that I will utilize once I'm done with college to excel in animation and establish a possible opportunity for work.

PPP2: Creative Presence Interaction

Like stated, for the Creative Presence brief I contacted the versatile Macedonian illustrator The Micho (Тхе Мичо) in hopes of interviewing him. I did so through Facebook since I have been told by several of my friends that he is very responsive to any queries. To my surprise, he was extremely colloquial and cordial in conversation, and the moment I informed him of my college background he immediately gave me a personal contact number of the main creative director of Lynx Animation Studio. With his help I contacted Lynx Animation Studio and got an exclusive inter tour of their studio and all the specialized departments. Nevertheless, The Micho candidly told me to expose myself as an artist in the UK in order to form networks and connections, and even so gladly accepted to do an interview. I was first planning on having it in person, however, given the multitude of unexpected family and social problems I have been experiencing, I wasn't able to get to Bitola (his home city). Thus, he gladly accepted the interview through Skype or Email, which is how I plan on conducting it. As of this stage, I feel that he has already been of a colossal assistance for the contact he gave me with the studio I plan on working in after graduation for a bit. I've already started compiling the questions I plan on asking him, picking out which ones are necessary and which ones are redundant with a little help of internet sources.

The Micho (Тхе Мичо) - https://www.facebook.com/%D0%A2%D1%85%D0%B5-%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BE-198918470118215/?fref=ts

PPP2: Personal SWOT Analysis

Since college, I've noticed that I've become much more self-critical as well as open to other people's criticism towards my work, my style, or my techniques, hence I judge it all to be constructive with varying intensity. This SWOT Analysis session is the first one of the kind for me as I overheard a plethora of my peers having done at least one before. Although it was quite alien for me, I found this form quite insightful as I got to gather and structure my overarching and scattered thoughts on my SWOTs, as well as getting the same from one of my close peers - Jay. I figured since we had been working on Character & Narrative together he would have the most precise approximation of my SWOTs than anyone else, thus, would give a thorough account of what he believes my SWOTs are - all being constructive. As I did the first form, and Jay the second, I noticed that there were some discrepancies which emphasized my mild self-righteousness of ego along with some different viewpoints on considerations. As an example for the latter, Jay listed my musical capabilities as technical opportunities, whereas I pointed out small animation courses in Macedonia that I have considered undergoing once I finish college, showing that I had a fix idea on animation while doing the form instead of a broad overall consideration of every creative factor. Another example would be Jay interpreting my weak currency as a personal opportunity (which is, although economically so) whereas I pointed out the animation course that would land me a degree. This small ordeal made me comprehend the vastness of the SWOT Analysis which encompasses a plethora of factors, central or peripheral, that might influence my personal development in even the most miniscule to colossal ways. Casting this aside, the main accent of this form was Jay's comment that I am difficult to compromise with, whereas I noted the EXACT opposite. I believe that this shows not my overconfident demeanor but my mild narcissistic behavior that does not obfuscate my ability to collaborate but hinders it. Another comment was about my aversion towards 3D, which does pertain a limit in itself that I must eradicate with these upcoming years since I believe firmly that it is the best time to do so due to the constructive mindset instigated by constant college tasks. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to an SWOT in years time again so that I may compare my progression as I now am adapting to different tactics not only in animation, but in all of my strengths, with the gradient of diminishing my weaknesses.

PPP2 Presentation - Ideas, Generation, and How To Protect Them

With another presentation inbound, I furthered my reflective manner of professionalization, where this one tethered to the protection of intellectual property - ideas. The lecture enveloped the many factors surrounding idea generation along with a bit of history to strengthen the argument. With people using different types of stimulants throughout the ages to aid them with idea generation, discussion, and collaboration, it has been established that ideas function like a network in a rudimentary sense. Having this in mind, it is quite safe to say that through exchange of concepts, the best ideas in history have been concocted. With the concept of fordism hindering on the notion of specialization, a great example was given at the presentation: the complexity of a computer mouse. It consists of a plethora of different parts made from different materials originating from different regions, and for its generation amongst thousands of people have collaborated serving as a synthesis of different ideas. It was at this point that the lecture became quite relevant since it covered the basis of Copyright, refreshing the knowledge we already have about it from last year's PPP sessions. Paper is what can protect one's ideas since it dissolves their intangibility, validation is what can maintain them from becoming stolen, scrutinized, or plagiarized, as the creative industries do have murky departments in terms of sharing work. I believe that no work with a commercial purpose should be adhered to the concept of trust - evidence must be had. This lecture reminded me of the hardships one may go through without asserting copyright for many people search through the loopholes of this not-so-fortified system, and one must do what's best to protect their work. What I believe that they failed to mention - something quite quintessential to alternatives - is Creative Commons which has more flexible parameters that govern the distribution or recreation of one's work, giving people more choices for consideration.

PPP2: Creative Presence - Considerations

As a new brief came to being out of the blue, I was amazed at the level of interactivity with the industry this module has assumed. Much like The Thinker, I immediately began ruminating upon a range of creative practitioners that I would be more than elated to interview and get insight for the development and professionalization of my practice. By making a small mindmap where I jotted down every single animator or otherwise I am interested in, I was able to piece together my thoughts and deny any ideas flying away. I wrote down Jan Svankmajer, but was later told that he is a very laconic man that gives blunt answers to questions, plus he does NOT speak English - something I did not know. It is quite graceful that we have tutors that assist us in this journey henceforth without them, I would have contacted Svankmajer on my own and to some extent made a fool of myself. Moving on, since this was assigned before Manchester Animation Festival, there were a couple of practitioners at the panels that I could interview, but none too profoundly relevant to my future visualization of my practice. I figured, since I have to leave the UK once I graduate from my course, I should establish initial connections here but solidify them in Macedonia. Thus, I found a 2D animation studio based in Skopje (my capital city) called Lynx Animation Studio, and discovered that one of my favorite childhood illustrators The Micho (Тхе Мичо) is networked with them. So, logically, I settled down on contacting him since I believe he'll give me the most substantial advice and insight about the Macedonian animation industry, plus I do not doubt that he will decline an interview from a Macedonian animation student. I will begin developing my approach soon, when the time comes for me to approach The Micho in a formal, yet colloquial manner, to siphon the fullest of his friendliness and openness to information dissemination.

PPP2: Manchester Animation Festival Highlights of Study

As Manchester Animation Festival marked its 2nd year of existence, I managed to enhance bits and pieces of my knowledge through the versatile and vivacious panels that featured animations, talks, masterclasses, and films. Every animation that I watched had relevance in context of technique, but also of idea, as I pensively analyzed every animation I liked in order to self-didactically discover the technique and generate an idea. Luckily, I came back from the festival full of inspiration but also confidence hence I differentiated between the student and commissioned animations and compared them to my current skill. Nevertheless, since I am much more immersed in the world of animation, every panel provided a segment of knowledge relevant to my practice - something that I had not known before.

Masterclass: Phantom Boy (Folimage)
During this masterclass the narrative importance of sound was highlighted. In other words, it emphasized the workload of narrative sound can minimize if done effectively, hence it can tell what needs not to be animated in order to drive the diegesis. Furthermore, I got an insight in the dynamic of the sound and how it can insinuate the location of actions within the animation, how close they are happening to the POV, and how big of a driving force they are.

Masterclass: Studio AKA
Although I wasn't interested at first, this masterclass gave a thorough perspective on commercial animation conducted by professional studios that specialize in crafting short animations that fit advertisement briefs. I believe that being able to tactically work within given parameters is an effective skill for an animator since it improves the chances of working flexibly within studios. I was amazed at the polished and smooth embrace of both 2D and 3D animation by this studio, as well as the colloquial straightforwardness of the speaker

Fellowship Award: Aardman
Most important idea I pulled out of this was: "have a crack at something, see where it goes". Other than that, I was profusely inspired by the old stop-motion animations that Aardman have done, specifically the ones that intertwined pixilation - I love that aesthetic because it is more reminiscent of the art of film than any other technique, along with the olden "noise" of quality and the effect it brings.

PPP2: Interpreting and Responding to Commercial Briefs

"Simon the Cat" - example of successful crowdfunding

With professionalism being the main key revolving point of PPP, this lecture set us on the right path in terms of identifying our opportunities and advising us to make the most of them. Furthermore, it gave insight on how to avoid drastic and fatal mistakes within the "toxic system" of the creative practice through organized points and examples. I believe that this lecture had been one of the few where the emphasis was placed on us as individuals and the value of our work (indirectly, focusing on how WE need to value our own skills). Moreover, it stressed out the three situations where a practitioner might work for free - a practice that in itself demeans the value of the individual set of skills an animator, illustrator, or graphic designer has that differentiate him/her from the rest. With charity being a noble cause, one must research the circumstances - is the organization or someone from the organization getting paid? Exposure is promising, however, it is a passive notion that comes on its own, especially to us now as we are in college and have opportunities to get our names out. Finally, the biggest slippery slope of them all: the promise of future work if the work now is done for free. Considering there is no legal binding contract, who's to say that the "work promiser" is not to find someone else and use the same ploy on him/her? With the perfect example that John gave where he jumped into deciding his price for a job without estimating the job cost or doing background research to find out the set standard (or to base it on a personal guideline for a monthly division of income), he got underpaid. This example kind of frightened me and gave me chills because one thing I am afraid of is undercompensation - I have the right to receive the optimum for my work, lest I overwork myself for nothing. The main point being: estimate vs. quotation of price - always go for an estimate and never jump to any conclusions without conducting research priorhand. Everything comes back to research in the end, for being knowledgeable means being in control!

PPP2: The Creative Industries

All these PPP presentations evoke a notion of pensiveness in me every single time, making me more and more inquisitive about my whole practice as well as the industry that surrounds it. This latest talk began with a direct connection to the previous one where the evolutionary phenomenon of creativity was elaborated upon: creativity has been prevalent from the chronicles of man up until this day, only changing in the accessible technologies that have shaped historic and modern cultures. For example, in archaic eras cave paintings and Da Vinci's schematics for war machines signified the creativity of man through paragons, whereas now the same practice can be evidenced in graffiti and blueprint designs of products and war machines, as well. Nevertheless, the most important questions asked in this presentations were, as follows: what is meant by industries? where do I fit in? how do I develop networks? All these questions were asked during last week's presentation as well, however, regurgitating them evoked in me a more concrete, thorough answer - I fit in wherever I can and want, I develop networks for collaborative and interdisciplinary work that fuels my professionality as well as my interest. I believe that the second part of this presentation was much more effective since it introduced a bit of history around the formation of the school of arts, around which an ongoing debate circles about the principles the schools of art adapt in relation to the industry. The presentaton was informative in so that it provided the evolution of the school of art and how it became aligned with the capitalist methodologies of the 21st century from the Atelier System in the 19th century that emphasized the adaptable technique that students assumed. However, I too believe that there should be a symbiosis between the studies and post-bachelor professional practices in such a way that both style and technique are embraced in order to drive students towards focusing on using their specialities for attaining a job. As a closer, we were told to assume cunning and witty strategies in order to pitch and/or make connections, hence the entirety of being a practitioner does not reside behind one's practical skill, but also behind one's social skill to form networks.

PPP2: The Wisdom of Mike Mignola

As I youngster I was infatuated by the immersive realms that comics brought forth to my creative mind as I had a tendency to avoid reality and enshrine myself in fantasy. This phenomenon that I experienced as a kid vested in me the now eternal interest in animation and narratives as I maintained that childlike sense of awe and wonder. Having said this, yesterday Mike Mignola, the eclectic creator of Hellboy along with a myriad of other inked spectacles held a talk at Leeds College of Art - a talk that I found quite invigorating and helpful to my personal practice and development of thereof. He gave insight into his personal growth and experience as an illustrator, pointing out that he had been bad at comics when he had initially started, providing him with the motivation necessary to engage in practice. Furthermore, with his openness to the arts, he went on to try to taste all different ranges of art, not only comics - something that has been time and time again emphasized during our PPP lectures. In other words, just because I study animation does not mean I have to specialize and pursue solely animation - I am a creative practitioner that has the capability of experimenting with interdisciplinary endeavors as art is a whole. Carrying on, one of the most important insights he gave was about the loss of confidence he experienced for 6 years where he got off comics. I say most important because it explored the problem of individual indecisiveness - something that impacts a consecutive and rhytmic practical habit that every practitioner should have - draw every day! Moreover, he showed that personal interest is the absolute best driving force towards developing a solid career: he had made a comic solely for money once, and that turned out not to sell properly. The most important part of this talk was the Q&A session which encompassed around 70% of the whole event - something I was really happy about since he got to answer fellow students' questions as well as one of my own. One thing I really adored about Mike Mignola was his colloquial and straightforward approach to every question where he answered from the heart and did not assume a pretentious proffessionality, but instead came across as a rigorous and honest artist (where he even stated that his design for Mr. Freeze was practically a rendition of an older drawing someone had made for the DC Universe). My question to him in a simplified demeanor was: how do you generate ideas? He stated that he did not pull out ideas from his dreams (as I do) but instead did so from observation of everything around him - bits and pieces. Nevertheless, the most important factor for him was his interest in folklore, demonology, and cultural theology as he is in possession of a library full of books on ancient cultures, from which he not only derives ideas but acquires names for character as he disdains fabricating names (Hellboy being one of the only two he has ever conjured up). Finally, he concluded with his scripting tactic which revolves around him creating the beginning and the end, and then working everything in between. All in all, this was one of the most lovely talks I've been to and it helped me understand the conventions of an individual's practice that reflects my own profusely.

A print that reflects Mignola's style - profuse contouring with ink

PPP2: Interdisciplinary Simulation

One of the more visceral slides from the speech

Although yesterday's session seemed quite unnecessary and bothersome at first, it proved to be quite an experience that enveloped the manner in which interdisciplinary creative practitioners work together towards a synthesized goal. In other words, the session gave me a taste of how the industry functions as well as introducing the solidarity within the atmosphere of professional, interdisciplinary studios. Structured in a well progressing way, first we wrote down (in quite a self-evaluative manner, I might add) our creative skills and experiences, as well as our interests in hopes of encompassing and solidifying what we felt comfortable in knowing. Then, we paired up and brainstormed ideas with our assigned partner on a pitch for a product and then proceeded to compete with the rest on which product and pitch would be the most efficient one to candidate against 3 others (comprised of the best idea on the table and all the creative practitioners on it). By forming a presentation about our product, we competed for the best idea that was going to go against 2 other groups of illustrators, graphic designers, and fellow animators alike in a commercial pitch. This was where the simulation of the industry's busy working day within a studio began, where we pragmatically divided ourselves into sections of craft, me doing the After Effects layout and vignette, another group doing the voices of the commercial, yet another animating annotations, and yet another creating logos and images. However, it was all brought down by a leader from the group that won the main pitch, which was something I found extremely effective and NOT patronizing or demeaning in any way. Quite on the contrary, this gave me effective insight on the necessity of a leader (not a boss, mind you) within a project, one that pertains the idea and disseminates it to the rest of the creatives in a intertwining spectacle of mixing individual skills and strong points for one unanimous resolution. With the division of the huge group, we were able to coherently produce a 30 second commercial for Dog Latex (the outcome being hilarious and lampooning, but the practice effervescent and articulate), which won at the end of the day when all 3 groups presented their products through different manners of pitching. I was amazed to see a full studio with busy heads, all working on separate minor tasks that formed the main effigy of our practice - some getting footage of dogs, others animating dogs, where I composited it all together as the final piece. Just as one of the tutors pointed this out during the concluding talk, at time of rush "you find out skills you didn't know you had", as did I with After Effects through trial and error - I even started sweating. Just as this exercise finished, Simon Harrison addressed the issues surrounding the disparity between design education and the "real world" where he confronted issues DNAD have been facilitating. Furthermore, although the award briefs are predominantly vague to enforce creative liberalism where students can best apply their skills to the brief that best suits their style and technique, judges still look primarily for eye-catching solutions that are based on separate biases. Although Simon presented a controversial perspective on this, I took his word and I agree with what he had to say, thus, am going to utilize the maximum feedback I can get from such organizations like DNAD.

PPP2: Character & Narrative Presentations - Synthesis Between Modules

During these past 2 weeks, we had presentations that informed us about the intertwining elements of film connected with animation. Two presentations in total, one about character and short story design, and the other about acting and reference - both containing and annotating important conventions that add finesse, professionalism, and effect in relation to the audience. In other words, the presentations tackled the multitude of notions that an animator is to consider when creating a full-fledged, visceral animation that has the power to relay any message across. During the first presentations the concept of narration was elaborated upon and it structured it all in a list of animation fragments - what can animation be: computer games, film, television. In order to coherently demonstrate the versatility of animation in relation to narrative, we looked at both machinima - machine cinema (Skyrim role-playing within role-playing) and 2D animation (Cordel Barker's "Runaway"). During the second presentation an emphasis was placed on acting and the use of reference, which is essential to development of practice and the capturing of the human essence within animation. Animation is the most free-form art in film where one must take advantage of it's visually descriptive power in relation to the reality that surrounds us - animation forges a vivacious world that broadens our perspective about the actual world before us. Having said that, I need not hesitate to mention the live-action references Disney have used throughout their existence where acting has solidified their character design and behaviour to the limit, which made me think about my own references. After both presentations were done, I started exploring different animations and films for references. Initially, I started using referential images for grasping perspective of scenes for my Character & Narrative animations, such as an overhead shot of the sea and a boat passing through it. However, I believed that watching actors perform would be a lot better for constructing references. Turning over to Jim Carrey, I watched his movies "Liar Liar" and "Ace Ventura" (again, I've seen them before) and started analyzing his acting and behaviour since it's really reminiscent of exaggerated animated character's movements. For example, the faces he makes are excellent reference for facial expressions in characters with taking the main elements from his face and hyperbolizing them (sort of like a caricature). I also tried drawing faces and expressions based on the Jim Carrey faces picture attached above. When it comes to narrative, I believe there can be two points within the spectrum of straightforward narratives and ambiguous narratives, the former being clearly evident actions that produce a story (for example, Charlie Chaplin's films, or ...) and the latter being symbolically phantasmagoric narratives that are quite amenable to interpretations or difficult to understand due to the subtle themes included (one such would be Jan Svankmajer's "Dimensions of Dialogue"). However, the different styles and techniques differentiate massively from creator to creator in order to assert a tone, atmosphere, and aesthetic to the main dispersion of the story, with a soul purpose for it to be both attention grasping and meaningful to the audience.

Attempt at using Jim Carrey's faces as reference.