PROJECT 3.1 MAPPING:
My earlier stages of painting had large, billowy cloud effects in which each piece took roughly 1-3 weeks to finish. These are some of my favorite painterly works to reference from.
PROJECT 3.2 FOUND ACTION:
For Project 3.2, I explored “the found action, motion, and illusion of putting myself inside a digital screen.” How can I visualize my self being immersed in digital media? My largest approach is a mini TV box with vibrant colors projected on its screen, questioning my life choices and intentions. Why do I want to “escape life so badly” and what is it about screens that leave my eyes immersed in virtual zones, worlds, for hours. Maybe it reflects emotions I want to portray but have a hard time doing, decisions I want to make but can hardly make for myself. I used to watch people make decisions on TV and otherwise, and this helped prompt me a little bit in deciding actions for myself.
The first final work consists of a 3D composition to build a mini “TV” with glitch animated effects. The TV itself is made of my phone, a white box, my broken drawing tablet, and a paper with small, alluring symbols marked on it. The goal was to replicate the work animators/cartoonists/major tv channels used to approach in early 2000s toon channels. A lot of them included not only 2D animation, but elements of 3D and creative use of cardboard, figures, costumes, lights, cameras and other amazing effects that allowed viewers to immerse themselves in their world. I used my broken Wacom Cintiq tablet as a background to further emphazise the immersion of an illustrator’s world (and block out the rest of my very messy desk behind it). A broken tablet was used to emphasize the detrimental constructs of being an animator/illustrator/creator and how we very quickly neglect our health for artwork. Mine was neglected the moment 6 year old me turned on the TV and did not learn to turn it off. I learned to draw somewhere in the middle of this. But I ultimately had fun.
The second final work is a light shaped to mimic a portal, or entry. It offers people a separate, paradise-esque world outside of reality. Entering the portal requires one cost, in that file “001_life” can deteriorate and so will their lives. (“Too much of one thing is bad for you” as a working title). I used Graphic to add the portal’s “warning” and Photomosh for additional effects.
My project partially mimics habits I have yet to undo when it comes to balancing my own life. Rewatching a few episodes of Kappa Mikey made me realize just how scary of a degree illustration, 2D work, cartoons, etc form a majority of my life and imagination. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because of my diagnostics and long history of speaking issues (I didn’t speak until I was 4 years old), or that my living circumstances simply didn’t allow the safety of openly going outside and socializing until very recently. My mother always hated when my dad would say “stop acting like a cartoon character” when I was little, as she knew I had a hard time expressing myself physically and then some. I can’t exactly pinpoint it, but seeing so many emotions and exaggerated expressions on screen helped me process mine somehow. Viewing animated 2D work, illustrations, games and whatnot felt relieving(?). Younger me felt happy and could recognize it while watching a screen. I wanted to at least replicate this happiness somehow through the vibrant colors of a TV color box, and this is partly why I chose a glitchy colorbox effect as my “TV screen” made up of an IPhone and parts I could find around the house. I really enjoy vibrant colors.
TL:DR “I joke about toons making up 40% of my life but it might not be a joke actually :,)”
3.2 ARTWORK 1 is the mini “TV” .mov file. I wanted it to capture atmospheric perspective (a lone, vibrant TV screen basked in warm light creates an inviting picture for someone who really likes digital media), a little Figure Ground (large solid black tablet creates a dominating figure that does let eyes easily see a white mini TV box), direction (vibrant color bars on a TV screen glitching haphazardly), and kinesthetic response (the IPhone/ “TV” screen looks like it’s going to fall down, but it doesn’t).
3.2 ARTWORK 2 is the very dark photo of a “CAUTION portal.” I wanted this to capture Overlapping/Figure Ground (very sharp box figure versus opaque black), Transparency (gradually fading shadows within a lighted box), and atmospheric perspective (very ominous setting of a portal). The actual work consists of a very carefully placed IPhone box on a desklamp, followed with precise photo editing to create a dark atmosphere. It was difficult to get my box to balance just right on my lamp and not fall off.
In-progress shots / Mockups
nemo 