Starting out...

Well the first week of three years is over, and I'm looking forward to the rest! Each part has been an appetising taster to whats to come.

Monday started out with something to kick start my brain after months of chilling out and shelf stacking. Thinking bout concepts and representations of objects/images reminded me of the little twists life has (and the sausages really can defeat an army). To end the day the controversial 'Coonskin' (1974) by Ralph Bakshi kept my brain buzzing. It was interesting how Bakshi magnified certain aspects of the groups in a population... and how fighting for power involves some really nasty tricks.

After a short nights sleep, full of 70s flares and disco music I arrived at the animation studio. This is where I became part of the group 'Scratchy' and began animating... simply and slow but it moved. I made a couple of strips for a 'Zoetrope', and realised that if I ever want to finish anything I'm going to have to speed up. Here's one of my strips of a bouncing ball;

We then went up a step. I grabbed the task of animating a morphing ball by the horns. A light bulb! Of course... a light bulb must b the end product. I really enjoyed watching as it started to fit together, but found it quite hard when you cant see through the pieces of paper. I used Stop Motion Pro to put it into the computer earlier today with only a few catches.

All in the same Tuesday I met Maya. Now, it may all be scary buttons and labels, but I understood the three or four we got taught to use on a simple shape. I hope I remember it all for next time... Oh yeah, and I enjoyed it, making a purple doughnut thing float was fun! Best way to end a day.

I dragged my bag of materials and my sketchbook to my lecture on the Thursday. Sitting in front of that skeleton reminded me how long ago it was since I had drawn anything... and how really rusty I was. I think Ill opt for three hours of life drawing, I really need the practice. Oh and charcoal... I really need some of that. Well I'd better go and draw my picture for the day. Bring on next week!