Reflection

As I am finishing my last term at DMUIC it is time to reflect on the work I created this term and overall on my time spent at the college.

This term I worked with the theme of ‘Ultimate Black’, but I decided to treat the theme completely differently than I did last term. Last term I held really tightly to the theme and made sure everything was strictly connected to the theme. This term I decided to use my imagination more and treat the theme as a jumping point. I decided to get inspired by the theme but give myself space for my own ideas and inspirations. I think that was a brave thing to do because I could have gone to far with my own interpretations or make a project that would be once again tied very tightly to the color which I did not want to do.

For my project this term I have made 4 posters, an animation and a 3D model in a software. I think this is a lot of elements to complete in just 10 weeks, so one thing I am really proud of is the fact that I have managed to complete the project within this timeframe. It is important to know that creating an animation frame-by-frame takes weeks to finish and the 3D model was something new for me. I have done 3D models before but never this complex and made of so many different shapes and volumes. Creating works in areas I do not feel completely confident in is risky in some ways because I can never know how the finish piece will look like and will I be 100% happy with it.

Firstly, the animation. I am generally quite happy with it. It is interesting, it conveys the message I wanted it to convey, and it does tell a story. I worked a little bit with creating sounds and also created over 2000 frames of images to complete it. I am very happy with my work ethics and how much time and effort I have put into it. I think I still need to work on the exaggeration of poses and moves. I would like my animations to be more dynamic, however it is outside of my comfort zone, therefore I will need to continue working on those skills. I think I will spend some time over the summer to just simply practice creating exaggerated poses or movement drawings. I think drawing even one pose a day will help me widen the range of my skills concerning this topic. I would be really glad to get more confident with making the movements look stronger. I think this term I have really improved on the walk cycle compared to my work first term and I am really happy it looks smoother. I generally think I have improved in the smoothness of the motions I make, and I am really proud of that because it is an achievement in my progression route.

The posters were inspired by an already existing campaign, and I have elaborated on that on my blog. I got some guidance from my tutor on how to approach the text and what to put there to make the text more targeting my audience. I am quite happy with how they turned out. They all run in the same theme, and they are a little bit secretive. I wanted them to look like one series and to be directly connected one to another. I think I did a great job and I am glad I used a monochromatic color palette for them to highlight the main project theme more.

The last element I have worked on is the 3D model. This was the most challenging part for me, not only because it was something new, but I also needed to spread it quite well in time so I would not put too much work on my computer at the same time because it could have shut down. I needed to not only explore the software well but also think about the anatomy of my character and the shapes in special geometry I wanted to use. I had to think a lot of elements through to make it all work the way I wanted it to. This process really needed me to think how to manipulate vertices, edges and faces to reach the effect I wanted. 3D modeling is quite difficult and learning and understanding the software were two big factors of my process. I think I did very well, knowing that I am just starting my journey with 3D modeling and I have not done a project this complex in the past. There are many things I could have improved on, for example I wish the edges for my character would come out a lot smoother and the anatomy of it would work better. These are still things to consider when developing my work in the future. I think the character’s hair was the biggest challenge for me and I think it did not come out exactly as I planned, but I do not think it came out bad. I think it is just very important to remember that I am still learning and not everything goes how planned. When learning how to do 3D modeling I not only have learned the software but also expanded my understanding of spatial geometry and widened my spatial imagination. These are positives I did not expect, I knew my spatial imagination was pretty good because I was always good at geometry in the math class in school and I also always did good at special geometry, but when 3D modeling I also needed to gain the sense of moving vertices in 3 dimensions and how that change the volume.

During my last few days of working on my project, I have encountered a problem I did not expect. I took a break from studying and went outside to play basketball with my friends and I had an accident where I hit my head during the game. I did not think much of it then, but I spent most of the next day in the hospital and it turned out I have a minor concussion. Luckily most of my project work was already done, but not all of it. The hospital visit and the head injury slowed down my working process because I was advised by the doctors to mostly rest and try not to spend much time working. I needed to prioritize my health over work and because of that I was not able to make those finishing touches as perfectly as I would want to. For instance, I wanted to create a video presenting my 3D model instead of a GIF, but a video would take a lot more time. Due to the circumstances, I was not able to do that, but I have overcome the problem and made a GIF, which was a quicker way of presenting the work I have done. It is a solution to the problem, and I am happy I was able to think of a solution quickly, I think this showed my problem-solving skills and I am happy I was able to finish the project even though I have had this very particular problem on the way. Luckily, I am feeling a lot better now.

Overall, I am happy with what I have created both this term and throughout the entire term. I have not only improved my drawing skills, but I became more independent as an artist. I learned how to develop my ideas and how to get inspiration from other artists. I looked at techniques that other animators and designer use and tried them in my own work. I have not done anything like this or similar in the past because I did not know how to do research that would be art related. That research element was a big thing during my year at DMUIC. I have gotten more aware of how to look deeper into the things that inspire me. As an artist I have also looked into my work ethics. As I mentioned in my first blog post, I am highly inspired by Walt Disney not because of what he achieved but because of his motivation and ambition to reach his goals. As my main goal for this year, I stated that I want to work on my work ethics and being systematic and really pushing myself to work more and do more. I think I definitely achieved the goal I have set for myself. I am very happy with how I have changed not only as an animator but also as a person and how I can talk and explain my art. Before going to DMUIC I have not had many chances to really explain my work process and my inspirations to anyone, so I also needed to learn how to speak up about my creations so people would understand my ideas and how I have approached the given project. I am very proud of everything I have achieved so far, and I cannot wait to see how I will improve at university.