Month: October 2018

Disgruntled Classroom

This one is a lot shorter then the others are. It’s mostly a comment on how we’re over a month in and the college has still not allocated every tutor. More so, the tutors allocated haven’t started yet.
This is creating a very tense atmosphere in the classroom in the last week. People have been writing letters to the college voicing the concerns. So far I have not joined them, however it feels like we have been ignored or told, that there’s nothing that can be done.
I have to say while there are many points that I disagree with being brought up, there is a core point of agreement. The title of the course is VFX and 3D Technology, we have at the moment two software classes and one coding module. No classes in visual effects anywhere in the course this year.As someone looking at primarily modelling, this isn’t a disaster, it does however limit my ability to go down the more generalist routes.
It’s difficult to get work done in the classes with this tone and atmosphere going on. I hope that the college will take the appropriate action and resolve the missing elements of the course.

Let’s get Rolling

So this week we focused on refining the script, as a group. In my role I focused on developing the rooms and created scene illustrations to help convey the mood, atmosphere and personality that would be displayed through the characters. In the meeting with the class today, we finialised the majority of the other roles. Alongside art direction, I’m also 3d modelling and the lead texture artist.

For the lead texture work, I need to learn how to use substance painter effectively. This should be great fun it’s very enjoyable software and I like painting. In regards to the modelling, the lead, is very technically competent and informative. His communication skills are good and I look forward to working with him on the models.

Hopefully by the end of the week I can have the beat boards started and hand them off to the storyboarding dept. From there I will finish the floor plans for the rooms. Hopefully we can start early hard surface and set modelling.

Outside of the modelling and film class, the course is, for me mostly enjoyable but I have hit some bumps with photography. It’s very frustrating to go over many of the same things as I have done before. Especially having to outline and highlight composition. This is something that has come up 7 years in a row for me, since leaving cert art history  101. I never seem to do right and having it come up again is very frustrating.

I’ve been trying to keep up bouldering once or twice a week. Most weeks this still works well and I am able to go, but since it has been confirmed as an olympic sport, there have been more people at the places I like to go to climb. This busier atmosphere is really upsetting and annoying when I need to go to clear my head. I’ve tried going to places outside of my usual spots but they are equally busy. As a result I think I might switch to swimming until the places calm down a little.

Art Director

We finally decided on the film we are making. Working title “Synergy”. It’s a romance between an Artist and a Scientist. It’s based on the theme of “science in the context of art and design”

As part of this, we had to give and find the roles that we will be undertaking. My primary role will be Art Director. I’m really looking forward to developing the visual style and look of the film. I will also likely make a separate section for the work I’m going to be doing for the film this year.

The film (group project) will be the dominant subject over the course of the year, at least I suspect it shall be. The other subjects are starting to build up some momento.  I’m enjoying the way that the professional development class is growing. It’s also lead me to resolve a loop from my years doing animation. I can get a certificate of achievement. This will help me have more cofidence in my CV and when it comes to interviews, I will be less worried.

Alongside this I’m studying the work of Toulouse Leclearc for photography, in particular his compositions. This is fun, I’ve never studied him in an academic circumstance and I’m looking forward to formalizing my knowledge of him.

My favourite class at the moment is 3d and Rendering. It’s all about getting to know how to use ZBrush. I’m so excited and really enjoy working with it. It’s challenging and I have never used it before so at times I feel a bit lost. Theres a lot to get to grips with, but as it stands it’s been an enjoyable experience. I’ve made a shark which is a little bit ugly- but for having only had 1 week exposure to ZBrush I am quite happy.