My own creation: both the Gouach paint background and the guitars-- done using only Illustrator. (The only pre-made items were the font and heart)

Of course my title is "Love Rock," which has at least three meanings. 

 

DMA 179 - 3D Character Assignment complete: "The Innovator"


 

Here is something of completely my own creation using only Illustrator. The only thing I did was go to Wikipedia to get a general idea of what trophies looked like. The font was stock from Illustrator, and I used Map Art to bend it. 

Photo taken by Leslie Linh Nguyen on Nov. 30, 2006 of Chris Yee (left) and myself, Boyd Reimer (right). (photo cropped by me) 

Sculpture Assignment: The core of "The Innovator"


 

Sculpture Assignment: Matching the core wire components to the sketch plan.


 

Sculpture Assignment: The Raw materials: I found some kinds of wire/metal which , due to their shape can probably hold super sculpey better than hangar wire.
 

Sculpture Assignment: I have decided to keep the "surreal" element in my sculpture, but also keep the "human with the expressive face" element.

The surreal element will not be achieved through combining different bodies of different animals. Instead it will be acheived through the modification of the human form itself. My modifications are not random as in some science fiction movies, but all have a purpose as I try to explain here:

The name of this character is "The Innovator." In this sketch I have incorporated several symbols: I chose a musical instrument because I believe in harmony; not conflict. I chose the saxaphone as the symbol of jazz and some of the most innovative music of the last century. The reaching stance speaks of "struggling for newness." The large head says that much of this this struggle for creativity occurs in our minds; not in software, etc. The clown-like feet are saying that we artists "take seriously not taking ourselves too seriously." The billowed cheeks and furrowed forehead speaks of the exertion required to be innovative. The wide eyes mean that the innovator tries to see farther ahead than most people with eyes of the mind and heart.

Sculpture assignment: This mixing of ideas which I mentioned in my last post --it got me thinking about the ancient Greek centaur: "any of a race of creatures fabled to be half man and half horse and to live in the mountains of Thessaly" (Webster) Centaurs gave us centuries of fodder for mystique. The Greeks were not the first at this: look at the Egyptian Sphinx.

But so far these "mixed creatures" have most often been creatures of terror and power. My own idea is this: what would happen if I put a cute happy puppy face on top of a traditionally fearful creature such as a dinosaur? This thematic contrast and this "juxtapostion" (page 310 in Design Basics Index by Jim Krause) might also hit the viewer with a sense of curiousity, wonder and mystique. 

Next assignment for DMA 179: Sculpture character to show texture and to use for 3D and animation ideas.

I have at least three directions I can go in:

1. a bizarre science fiction creature

2. a more familiar creature (either human or cartoon-like character/animal) with a lot of capacity for emotional expression in its eyes, face, and "hands."

3. A mixture of the above two. (An example of this was E. T.)

Shown here is my own invention: an example leaning toward the #1 option. But I am still not sure of whether I will go this route: 

Texture Assignment: My charcoal re-creation of my previous photo depicting the texture of elegance. (specifically photographed for this assignment.) 

Texture Assignment: My own photo done for this assignment which depicts the texture of elegance.

Texture Assignment: To photograph a texture which depicts peace. (My own photo done for this assignment.) 

Texture Assignment: To photograph the texture of "Forgotten." In this case, the paint job on the back of this poor donkey lawn ornament is "fogotten," resulting in the texture of eroded paint.
 

Texture Assignment, Part 2: The assignment was to photograph the texture of "decay." All of the following photographs in this texture assignment are my own-- done specifically for this assignment.)

Texture Assignment: Woven 

Texture Assignment: Hard