Clay Project

I stated in one of the posts from early this week about a clay sculpture I am going to make. These 4 images are the 4 half finished sketches will be what it is going to be based of. I shall be placing up progress images of different stages I as I go along.

Images are just from a basic phone camera, as these are sketches that have been done on trains, and needed the quick reference.



- Joshua

Dedicated to my High School art teacher

This post goes out to my old high school art teacher. I am not going to say the persons as I have that respect for you.

I had this teacher for grade 9, and than grade 11 and 12. This post shall be about grade 11, and grade 12. Grade 11, the second last year of my high school years. So, each semester we had to complete 1 major artwork and 1 essay.  I would say about 15 people in the class, So there where the DH's, these guys would never shut up and would annoy everyone. Then you have the ones that also never shut up, they just talked about what they did over the weekend and their favorite actor and movie was. And than you had the ones that did work ever lesson and not much talking, which I was in.

So, the teacher did not give a stuff and the DH's not doing work, they just sat there being a pain to every one  in the class. And on of the guys in there would make lies up to get his own way. So the teacher just sat there for 3 lessons a week and would do nothing, or would go the the gossip people and talk with them.

So, would draw every lesson, or work on my assignment. So the first assignment I completed was a series of drawings/ or a painting. I can not remember which was the first one, but in my eyes the work I completed had meaning to me and a good look from anyone else, they would be able to work a meaning out of it. So I complete that and the essay. and the mark I get back is a "C". Now, so it's now the second semester and I completed the other work and I cut up an image, placed it in a baking tray back in its original shape and filled the tray with water, and freezed it for a good week. took it outside and dropped it, and handed a filmed copy of the drop in as well. I believe it was the painting this time. and another essay to complete for the end of year 11. I do both works and get another "C".

Now, what pisses me off, is I do the work, and get a crap mark. Other people handed the assignment in weeks to months later, or did NOT complete the essay and they get a "B" or an "A". no dedication on the mark for being late by months or anything. I am handing all of my assignments on time and just scraping the "C" for the first year. And in that whole year, guess how much we learnt...... NOTHING!!! Where is your teaching skills, or did you leave them at your house each morning.

That was the first year. The second year, I thought, the bigger the better. More marks of course.... Same rules where you needed to complete an essay, 3 sets of artworks. and 1 video thing of yourself. First semester  I come up with a good idea, Have a Knight walking through a mirror. Since the idea was insane at the time, and purchasing all the materials I needed was going to cost quite a bit, I want for the custom approach. So I used wall skirting as the frame, and I believe some industrial material for the mirror part. Since it was an art class, I got some 2 dollar foam/ vinyl  to make the helmet, hands and foot. So I made a wire mesh of the hand, foot and the helmet, covered it up with the material. Painted it and handed that in along with the essay when it was due. And the mark I got reflected my creativity. "C"

And there where the people handing assignments in late and not working in class. I'm pretty sure that one of the requirements for the class was to work on your assignment in class. I got pulled up for the mirror idea because I was working at home, and could only take it in once a week to show the teacher, but no. I needed to work on it at school. This was about 2 metres tall so, leaving it at school was a no go as junior students would steal all of your work, and the teacher didn't like to give back your work after it had been marked.

So, next assignment comes up and I decide to do a digital image of an eye on Photoshop with Photoshoped glass infront and behind the eye. It turned out pretty sweet. Went and got it printed on a board, it was not cheap and hand that in, it was in a plastic sleeve to protect it from scratches. Did the assignment and handed this in the day it was due, as the printing take some days. Handed it in and got yet another "C". I got the art work back and no plastic sleeve, just sitting on a shelf with other art works on top of it. Nice way to respect other peoples artwork. How would you like me placing some on some of your artwork that can destroy it. RESPECT THE ARTWORK!!!

So, it comes done to the last piece of artwork for year 12. So I thought, why not do another digital image of all of the works I have completed and some that where in my artwork and make a nice collage of work. This image was of shattered glass with the artworks on the different pieces of the glass. So this turned out quite good as well, It was only A4 this one and in a nice frame. Hand this in, I do the video and hand it all in. This assignment get me......Drum roll.......................... You guessed it. A "C"


So, that part that pissed me off even more was that in the tow years of completing art, all we had learnt was the teacher was always late for the morning class we had. Did not give a damn about the DH's in the class, and would gossip with the gossip group for most of the lessons. And give people good marks for not handing in assignments fully completed. Not completing it on time and handing it in months later, and they got "B's" and "A's".

2 years, you think you would have learnt something, even how to draw a circle or something basic. Nothing was shown. I would have learnt with a monkey teaching me how to peal a banana. Or watching paint dry. I handed in all of my assignments on time, and All I got was a "C". nothing more or nothing less. just a "C". and other people got a "B" or an "A" for not doing the work. If I did not do the work, I would have gotten a "D" or an "E".

What was this teacher doing. Getting money just to gossip to students about their daily lives and what they are going to do over the weekend. Your a teacher, not a student. Teach something, and do not suck up to the other teachers when they walked into the class room.

So, What pissed me off the most, I went to collect the work I had handed in,  the collage artwork for the last assignment. This was the remark I got:
                                         "I little more work and it would have been complete".
You do not say that to me when you did not teach me anything in 2 years, let alone the first year I had you in year 9. And You Say that to my face. I give you guts for saying that to me, but when Other students did not complete the their work. And in my eyes it was Finished.


So, I start Uni in February the next year for the Animation course I am completing and the first mark I get back from the art teacher I had was a distinction  for my drawings. Really, I was shocked from this mark, I am pretty sure I did not go under the Distinction mark for any of the uni assignments I had with this teacher.

Thank you art teacher from High school for saying I can NOT get anything greater than a "C" for my artwork for 2 years.




I do not even think I should sign this one with my name at the end.

Progress of a new

Hey, I haven't worked on anything that involves the story in any way. I do believe I am to start writing it up quite soon. In the first draft of the story for the creature, he came across a spider that started fighting with him. I have already made the creature Rykin in clay, I think 2 or 3 months ago. I have started to design the spider into more detail to be able to create a clay version of him holding a creature the same a Rykin. I shall place up some images as I go along and I shall add some new story ideas, concepts or anything that goes with the Rykin story.


- Joshua

Nintendo 64 racing games.

This post shall be about the old Nintendo 64 racing games, and some Playstation 1 games compared to now.

The first console I played was the Super Nintendo, and I was pretty young then. When we got a Nintendo 64, there where 2 main racing games I liked to play which were the Star Wars Pod racing game and a RC game called Re-volt. For the Star Wars game, you drove the racing pods that where in the phantom menace for anyone who does not know this game. You start with a few pods, and nearly every race you one, you got a new pod to be able to use. In each race, you needed to stay out in front with while keeping your pod in one piece. You hit a wall, you need to repair that section of the pod. This gave the game that extra difficultly if you kept hitting the walls. Repairing costed you speed and allowed the other races to catch up. You are able to destroy your pod if you hit something to hard, making the others to catch up as you respawn. The difficultly in this game was there, and each race you won, you felt something as you one the new pods. A lap of some of the  tracks could be anywhere from 45 seconds to 3 minutes, with each track is 3 laps long. Needing to respawn and repairing your vehicle makes it a good workout to stay in front. The difficultly was there in that game. Now to Re-Volt

A game about Remote control cars running wild in life size environments. 4 different championship that are range from different environments- museum, suburbs, toy shop, etc. You get about 6 RCs to start of with and need to complete the championships to unlock more tracks and vehicles. You can also unlock RCs by time trail, Collecting a star and arcade mode. The hardest part is the championship, where you needed to come in the top 3 each race for the 4 races in that series. You only get 3 restarts for the whole 4 races, If you come just behind 3rd on the final lap, you got to restart that race, you run out and its game over for that championship. Needing to complete all the races again for that championship. If that was not enough, there are power ups (like the ones in Mario racing if you don't know this game). Most of them can have some splash effect, e.g. There is a fireworks power up, that allows you to fire at a car that is visible in front of you. You can fire it and it hits the RC, if there is a RC close enough to the one that gets hit, they to will be thrown of their course.
The weapons can make you go from hero to zero and visa versa. the vehicles are so light if you run into another RC trying to make them spin out, you may be the one facing the other way. Winning a race on this can be tough as each race is complete different with the opponents.

As for a Playstation one game called Hot Wheels Turbo Racing. ( I do like my racing games). Even though it did come out on the N64, we only got it on the Playstation. The championship in this was more brutal in my eyes, you could come any place from 1st to 6th (last). to continue on to the next championship you needed to come first in the points, which meant to stay in the lead. As there short cuts on each track, taking these helped you to win, but getting in them sometimes meant perfect precision. Taking a jump on an angle only to think you are in the gap for the shortcut as you fall to the ground, respawning to retry again or take the normal route. Back to the championship, If you won, you unlocked the next championship series, the tracks and a good amount of new cars to use. If you lost even by 1 point, An image came up (going by memory now) of the trophy destroyed with some text. As a child, this was devastating when this came up. Spending a a good half an hour on a championship only to see this image come up of the trophy you could have won destroyed.

These games where brutal in a way when you lost, but it taught me I needed to become better at them, brake later into corners, you boast at the most important time, and hold onto weapons so you have it when you need it. Take a different lines into the corner and also I actually memorized tracks. All this gave me a fighting chance at these games.

Games these days, not all of them, but a good amount of them have something called "FlashBack". I have to say I have used some in dirt when I wasn't bothered redoing a section of brick breaker (I think that's what its called). Other than this I do not like to use it. But this feature Takes the fun away from the game just a touch, , as if they want you to use it. I know you can turn the function off, or make it that you have less to use.
As for the rewards in the games, I  don't see many rewards in this style of game, you get money to buy a new car, or to upgrade the vehicle. Some you do not need to purchase the vehicle, Its already there to use. I find the reward of winning some of these championships are not there as much. If you lose, there is no scene saying you lost, making you feel you need to do a lot better if you want to win this championship.

Some games do have the feel of the victory if you win after that massive struggle to stay in the lead. Also, just a quick think on games that give you money to buy new equipment/ cars. I have never been able to fail on of these games. And I personally find this disappointing. To have the fact to be able to fail would make the game more interesting for me, to show me where I go wrong and how to fix it for next time.

So, to sum all of what I have stated up quickly. I find the old games a greater learning curve and more based on your skill as a racer, as you can be working your way up the grid a lot of times in 1 race, and feeling relief when you one the race. Don't get me wrong, new games have it in there. It could just be because I was young and losing a race in the game was a big deal with what happened when you lost. Now it just seems like you can just skimp your way though if you want. Modern games are fun as they offer new ways to race and complete environments that you only dream about racing on. Also, I find there is a phase in games where the difficultly just vanished, and only now they are bringing back the hardness in the games, Which I like.

These are just my feelings on old racing games, and I love to play them now, the challenge and fun is still there, And the new games are just as fun.



- Joshua - Out - Digital word Racing!

Textual Analysis - The Croods

This shall be a quick brief on this movie:

Character Design: The characters are simple characters that you would thing of from stone age era, simple lines and some animal poses. The clothing is animal fur, nothing else, but does look clean at the start of the film. The father does seem a little bit to young. Just looking at some of the face poses that are on google images, they do remind me of Sherk quite a lot in they way it is posed.

Voice casting: The voices are all quite good, just as the father seemed he needed to be a little bit older, more rough and tough. 

Performance: The performance for all the characters where good, suiting the characters well to their body type. most of the characters are cautious with the except of  Eep (teenage girl) and 1 or 2 more characters are more physical driven. I do like gran and the conflict that Grug (father) as with here.

Lighting: The lighting goes good with the environment as a good amount is the sky. The night time scenes are well light and done, being able to see the characters, with the comedy or drama they place in there.

Sound/ Music: The music mixed well with the animation, it does not distract from the film its self.

Dialogue: The characters are speaking as they usually would, except in the start where it steps up the story which is telling you what is about to happen, I personally did not like this, but as the film started I forgot about what was just said. The dialogue between Gran and Grug is good, it brings that comedy relief in sections just for a laugh. It works as their actions go with this dialogue.

Story: The story is straight forward, no parallel stories or anything. Stuff that happened at the start of the film did come back in near the end, which you can forget but I don't see the need to remember it. It just works it way into a nice little laugh for the audience.

Production Design: The sets and props that were used at the start worked well with the theme of the story, but as the story went on, the sets seemed to get the fantasy feel to them, than went back to the stone age again. Not staying the fantasy part is a bad thing, it worked well with what was being shown in the story. The characters clothing was the same all the way though, which worked as well. 

The characters worked well in the shots, the main characters stood out from the rest in the scenes, with some coming into the spot light in other just to break it up. As the locations play a good part of the mood of the character, with the character usually centered in the frame, or just left or right a bit.

overall, this was an interesting film and in my eyes, not a usual DreamWorks film in my eyes.

These are some of Grug's faces that remind me of Shrek.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzG7LDP_di3WjLkYyNK83164i3XCiFxnEiRzr1w0qSNIwOwxX-Kb61ty4N4Ufy9hnDFJnQ3YxrBgytLSqSg2nWbVINk2MDu1tyLYi6ErDK82dBPfHho-SSMtz8XezBi0OmplvK-Ejc_E/s1600/The-Croods-2013-Movie-Image-3.jpg

http://www.itsartmag.com/features/itsart/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/the-croods-vostfr.jpg

- Joshua

Textual Analysis - Identity Thief

This is a analysis of the movie Identity Thief. If you have not seen it, you might, might not want to see it before reading this, not going to give to much away of the story line, just going to keep it brief.

The film is about a woman taking an unintelligent guys identity, and he wants to fix it. The actors for the film where alright for the roles they played. The characters where not spectacular in any way, just normal humans. Only a hand full of the characters were step up with information about them, mainly just the 2 main characters and 2 or 3 others. Most of the other people that were a good part of the film where just plonked in there with no character step up leaving me to wounder who they are, and what are their main reasons for being there.

The Story line just seemed they draw it out of a hat, and quickly wrote something up without much care on making the characters more interesting or pushing them to the edge, They just gave up to quick to even get a good response from me. As for the arcs in the story, the main one was right in the first 5 minutes but was not good enough to hold me there immersed in the story. As the film is about 2 hours, I believe. the next hour after the first 10 minutes just seemed to drag on and on. I thought I was going to miss my uni class at one stage it took that long. Nothing happened in this time, and was tempted to find something else to do for the next 2 hours before class. The arcs where way to far apart at the start.

The acting was alright but as the story was dragging on, I didn't worry too much about the acting. Some stages of the film, the actors where trying to make you feel something for them, but they acting was just not there in those parts, too far dialed down.

The sets where all realistic, nothing out of place. The concept of this film is alright but as the characters just gave up, and the story leaving out characters story lines, I got side tracked trying to figure out who the characters are and why they are there.

These are my thoughts on the film, others might see it different to me, I got no idea.


-Joshua - Out.

Next Time

So, This is my rant about TV shows that have "Next time" and they show a good 30 seconds of the next episode. The part I hate the most is when they show the main character, alive walking and running around when he was near dead in the previous episode. The TV show makes a nice cliff hanger for next week to make you watch next week, but then they show you that he is alright and there is no point in watching next weeks episode, all the suspense is gone and there is no real point for you to try and figure out how he will get out, or what will happen to the character. I am pointing this at the Show "Merlin". I watched most of the episode from start to the end. By the second series, I started to get annoyed at this "NEXT TIME". I want to watch the show and want to wait until the week after to find out what happens. Not find out what happens 30 seconds after the episode ends. For me, it made the episodes more boring with knowing what was going to happen. I'm not even going to start about the random episodes that they added in there and retold the story of an episode 2 or 3 different ways. So, in the end. When every there is a "next time" for a tv show, i get out of the room quick and far away from the tv as possible so I am more interested in next weeks show.

- Joshua

The next 2 posts shall be about The Croods by Dreamworks and Identity Thief. This shall be fun...

Stepped outlines

This post shall include the 1 line outline, 3 line outline. and a 10 step outline.

1 line outline

A highly evolve lizard needing to find shelter from a storm terrorising the island while the creatures on the island are protective of their homes.

3 line outline

Whilst out hunting the creature known as Rykin, a highly evolved lizard is trapped out in the torrential downfall of a colossus storm. After finding shelter in a beasts home, the beast gets revenge by attacking Rykin with both ending up in a pit. Submerged underwater, both try to kill the other for their freedom, Rykin able to get free from the beasts wrath and returning to his semi-destroyed home to shelter.

10 Step outline

1. Rykin out hunting in the forest, obtaining food for the upcoming days.

2. A colossus storm consumes the island of torrential downfall.

3. Rykin starts his journey though the wet environment to find shelter from the storm.

4. Inundated areas as obstacles, Rykin scrambles towards a small cave just a few hundred metres away to take shelter.

5. Recovering inside the cave from the growing storm, unaware a beast is furious he has company in his home.

6. Herded from the cave to escape the angrily beasts relentless attacks.

7. Seeing new shelter, the beast tackles Rykin from behind the bushes, Both tumbling into the gully below.

8. Swept into a pit, the water quickly submerges the two creatures as they try to escape the others attacks.

9. Destructive debris bombards the pit, giving Rykin the chance to swim away from the beast.

 10. Escaping the hole and continues for new shelter, decides to take cover in his home a few hundred metres away. 

The Synopsis

Since I have added a the images up, and a 1st draft of the Synopsis, I have edited it and came to this point.

Hunting on a small cliff looking out into the forest of the remote island, the creature Rykin, a highly evolved lizard hunts on an unsuspected deer grazing in the forest below. Arm raised and drawn back with his spear ready to throw at the deer just as the ground beneath him shifts. A colossus storm heads for the center of the island with thunderous noises close behind. Rykin plummets to the ground as he loses his balance on the ledge.

Plummets head first into the ground, his spear lands right underneath him as he body hits the ground. Recovers and gathers his spear as he starts his journey to find shelter from the dangerous storm terrorising the island. Journeys several different routes as many paths are inundated with water, he scrambles towards a cave he spots to escape the torrential downfall. A newly made gully blocks his path to the cave as there is no time to go around and find new shelter.

 Inside the cave, he recovers as his heart slows back to normal pace whilst it echoes inside the silent cave. The ground shakes as thunderous noises deep within the cave become louder. A murky shadow slowly draws near to the unaware Rykin. The shadowy beast strikes Rykins tail as he heads for the entrance of the cave. The beast dives for one last attack inside his home, unable to stop Rykin as he ventures out into the forest for safety.

Rykin opts for a small tree limb to look on for new shelter before the eye of the storm passes. The cover of a fallen tree he notices off into the distance would provide good shelter from the storm. The claws of the beast fly towards Rykins chest as he turns to get of the limb. Both creatures tumble into the gully below and are swept along the water. Relentless attacks come from the beast as they are catapulted out of the gully.

 Launched into a deep pit, deadly debris bombards the pit every second from the destructive storm. Both fight courageously underwater as Rykin tries to escape the beasts wrath. Flung into the wall with the beasts claws around his neck, Rykin swims away as debris crashes into them. The beast goes for one last strike as a tree limb grabs his claws just as he strikes. Able to arrive at the surface from his exhaustion he scrambles out of the pit before a large log falls in. The shelter he noticed before is off in the distance, as he heads towards it he sees his semi-destroyed home in the distance and takes shelter there when he arrives home.

The Conflict

The story of the creature called Rykin, I have completed two more images for the 3 main conflicts in his story. I shall add all three up.



 Storm hunter.

Rykin hunting on the cliff, Arm raised and drawn back with his spear all ready to throw. The storm slowly rolling towards the island with its destructive powers close behind. 

 Unwary cave.

Rykin Recovering inside the entrance of the cave whilst studying the remains of his spear, unaware that it is home to a vicious beast. 

Claws of the beast.

Submerged underwater in the pit filling with the debris from the gully above, the beast strikes Rykins neck with his immovable claws. 

synopsis, 1st draft for updated story

Howdy, since I have reedited the story again, I have made a quick 1st draft synopsis which will be redefined.

Upon an island lost in ocean where animals are lost from the ever changing sea. A highly evolved Lizard creature known as Rykin. Hunting with his spear on a small cliff looking out into the forest of the island. Arm raised and drawn back with his spear ready to hit the unsuspected animal grazing in the forest. Thunderous noises come out from the sea with a colossus storm heading for the island. The rocks underneath Rykin start shaking from the vibrations of the thunder, losing his balance and falling off the ledge plummeting towards the ground.

Face first into the ground with his body landing on the side of his spear, snapping it in two. Collecting the sharp end of the spear, he starts his way to find shelter from the dangerously growing storm. Redirecting his route from the path as parts of the island are inundated with water.  Locating a cave a few hundred metres away, scrambles towards the cave to escape the torrential downfall.  Crossing a newly made gully, entering the cave whilst get his breathe back.

Recovering inside the cave with his heart racing from all of the obstacles he overcome, hearing his heart echo inside the silence of the cave. The thunderous noises and shaking slowly starts to come inside the cave, small rocks start falling from the cave roof. Still listening to his heart beat, a faint thumbing noise starts becoming louder in time with the thunderous shakes. 2 hearts beating inside the cave, a murky dark shadow slowly drawing near to Rykin. Silence covered the cave as the thunder stops as the eye of the storm approaches the location of the cave. The beast strikes Rykin, scarring his tail, Stumbling in the entrance of the cave. Rykin dives past the beast to escape the devastating claws. Running into the forest unaware the beast has his scent wanting revenge for entering his home.

Seeking new shelter before the eye of the storm passes, standing on a small tree branch looking for new shelter. About to turn around and make his way to new shelter he has spotted, the beast pounces behind the trees, striking him in the chest. Losing his balance and falling into flowing gully, with the beast scrambling in afterwards. Dropping his as the beast continues to attack him. The creatures are chucked off the end of the gulley into a pit filling up with the downfall water. Struggling for gasps of air as the two fight underneath the  water as branches, rocks flow into the pit. The beast slamming Rykin against a rock with his claws around his neck, quickly losing air.

Dangerous objects bombarding the pit from the gully above as the beast strikes Rykin's arm. A branch hitting the beasts body, giving Rykin the chance to escape the grip of the claws only to have a rock fall on his tail. Letting out the air from his mouth instead of a grown, the beast goes for one last strike. Gashing at Rykin except a branch falls, hitting Rykin and the beast claws grabbing the branch and getting stuck.

Able to get out of the way of the falling branch just in time, Rykin arrives at the surface, scrambling out of the pit before a large log falls in. Rykin sees a new place to take shelter but notices his semi-destroyed home just upon the shelter, scrambling past the shelter and arriving at his home to take shelter from the rest of the storm.

-Joshua

grizzly tales for gruesome kids - Talking about

Hey guys,

I shall be talking about an animation series called grizzly tales for gruesome kids  It was done quite a few age now in 2000. The series is based on stories from a line of books "grizzly tales for gruesome kids". The series is just basic animation movement, I am pretty sure just 1 person speaking the how time for each voice and the narrator. With the little amount of movement in the animation works quite well for it, the only parts that are needed to be animated are animated.  Out of all of the series, the first two seem the best, the stories are more interesting and the animation seems more clean.

Each episode is based on a different story from the novel. some episodes are spoon feed with the information but they still seem to link it into the story nicely. As for the name of the series, it sums it up quite nicely, some do seem more violent than others and quite harsh to another character in the story, but in the end it comes out with a meaning, even with the "fantasy" parts in there. Each introduce the main character really good, and showing you their main flaw.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT8UD_XUf5w
-This one introduces the character good, but seems to be quite harsh on another character

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viumLwxBirQ
- Sets the character up, but fantasy ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmYF_YzrvGo&list=UUXa75Lpc2EaArUBFakANmJQ&index=13
- A story that about bad manners which get taught a lesson in the end.

There is one which the ending is impossible but makes the episode stand out quite well with the fantasy part.  It is called the butcher boy. It is worth watching but a quick outline of this story is: there is one kid at a school that likes to be popular, and needs to have the best stuff. If a kid in the school gets something, he needs to get something better. The butchers boy gets an awesome bike, and the popular kid can't find anything, so he ends up stealing the bike. In the end he learns his lesson.
 

Joshua - out