Taking Stock
14th May 2013

Today we went to Oxford on the coach, the first years and other classes joined us on the visit. The first place we went to was the Ashmolean museum, I found the museum very intresting and reminded me of the British museum in London. There was a very great deal to see so I began exploring straight away.

 

 

The first items I saw were from acient Egypt, they had quite a stock of Egyption items. There was a lot of statues and figures and other items, Mummys being the most intresting. After that we went on to see objects from acient Greece, I do like Greek history so I found this part of the musuem taking up alot of my time.

 

The description to this statue was 'Zeus or an elderly athlete', I'm going with Zeus. I did find this statue intresting and I did wonder what he would have been holding, obiviously it must have been a javerlin.

The next item that took my immediate intrest was this etching of Sir Roger Trumpington, the reason being I am creating a knight for my FMP so this etching is perfect research. Another object I saw was a huge painting on the wall of a massive Medieval battle, I didn't get the Artist's name but the painting was very similar to a painter I am aware of called Albrecht Altdorfer.

I couldn't fit the whole picture in but this is just a small part of it, but as I said very similar to Altdorfer's Battle Of Issues.

After the Ashmolean museum we went to Pitts River which was a great place. There was a lot of weired and wonderful stuff packed in there, the one room was just full of items like african masks and totem poles. 

The visit to Oxford was a good day out and I would like to go back and spend more time in the museums especially the Ashmolean as I didn't feel like I spent enough time in there.



Taking Stock
30th April 2013

Today we all presented our pieces of artwork. Neil showed one of his pieces as an example and explained why he did it and what he liked about it, he showed a brozne figure which I thought was quite good. 

I presented someting I had created in a program called Autodesk Mudbox, It is a Sculpting program where you can create digital 3D models. I had made a wolf's head, the reason why I created it was because I wanted to create a few stronge pieces of work for my portfolio and I think I achived that aim with the wolf. The rest of the class did like and could easily recognise it as a wolf.

All of the class had something intresting to show, everybody in the group who presented their work all seem to be talented in their chosen field, everybody had something strong to show.  

Neil also told us that we are going to Oxford which I look forward to. Next week there is no lesson and the week after we go to Oxford. The Pitts River and the Ashmolean Museum look th most intresting museums to go to, I will be taking pictures.

Taking Stock
23th April 2013

Today we went through what we needed to with our blogs, Neil showed us som techniques to help the group.

8 elements of R.W

1. Describe - Give an Account
2. Contextualsie - Stating social conditions
3. Analyse - Breaking it down
4. Critique - Judgement
5. Evaluate - Assessing its value, strengths and weaknesses
6. Theorise - Concept, speculation
7. Synthesise - Looking at the whole
8. Action - What to do next to improve or develop

I will try and use these points when writing up my blog and when I annotate the whole of my learning journal .  

Neil talked to us about a trip that he is planning to help with our learning journals and for our specialist pathway projects, he told us we could go to Liverpool or Oxford. He got us to vote on which place we would like to visit and nearly everybody including myself voted for Oxford, I have been told it is a really nice place and has some good museums. 

For next week we have to present one piece of our own artwork, I already have in mind what I want to show. We also have to look up what there is in Oxford so we have some idea of what to do when we are there.

Professional & Contextual studies 2
22nd April 2013  

In my project for Specialist Pathway I'm using software that isn't available in college, Autodesk Mudbox. I use this software to texture my 3D models that I do at college and at home instead of using Adobe Photoshop. You can import your 3D model into Mudbox and paint straight onto the model which is a lot easier than using Photoshop.   

I also find that my workflow is a lot faster, texturing the model only takes a few minutes whereas it could take up to an hour in Photoshop. The model I am creating is a knight based off the Knights from the medieval period, the first part I textured was the Knight's tunic. I created a brush in Mudbox using a fabric image off the internet, then painted it on to the model in blue, and I put a underlay of black to give the blue a darker colour.     

I still have a lot more to texture on the model, I need to texture the arms and legs in chain mail and the shield. The helmet is already complete. The base mesh for the helmet was done in Maya and the rest of it was completed in Mudbox. 

 

Professional & Contextual studies 2
20th April 2013 

I have entered a contest on Facebook which actually relates to the field I wish to work in. The contest is for a game, Dark Souls 2 (Yet to be realeased). To participate you have to create a orginal shield design, there are templates on the contest which you have to use.

Thousands of people have already entered their own designs, there are up to 8 winners, the first 6 winners get their designs included in the game, get their names in the credits and also get a sign copy of the game from the developers. The other 2 winners just get a signed copy of the game.

The contest is up on Facebook, and anybody can enter and also vote for their favourite designs, mine currently has 40 so if anybody is actually reading this go vote for mine here! -  https://apps.facebook.com/darksoulsii/?gallery&action=view&id=2484

'Great Grey Wolf Sif'       


. 2013. . [ONLINE] Available at: https://apps.facebook.com/darksoulsii/?gallery&action=view&id=2484. [Accessed 30 April 2013].  

This was like a little side project that only took a few hours to complete, the idea for the design actually came from the game itself, I wanted to relate the design to a previous game instead of coming up with a different idea that doesn't really fit with the game. The design was created in Adobe Photoshop. 

Professional & Contextual studies 2
19th March 2013
Today we took our work down, when I arrived some of the group had already begun taking their work down and I was the first to arrive from New Media. It took me seconds to take my work down so I took all the rest of New Media's work down which didn't take me long.

I filled in the holes left by the screws and painted over the marks left from our work, I helped around cleaning up the place it really didn't take that long. We left a lot of time aside to take down the exhibition but most of it was done by lunch time.

Overall I feel that this exhibition could not have gone any better, all we have had is positive remarks from everybody who viewed our work. I think frameing my work was the best decision I made during this module.

Professional & Contextual studies 2
14th March 2013
Today I got feedback on my work from my course tutor, he said my work needs to be presented better which I already knew to be honest, so before the opening evening started I went and bought two frames to mount my work in. I bought two white frames and took them to the venue, as I opened the one frame it fell apart so I had to run back and get another one. Since they had no white frames I had to get a black one, I got back and mounted my work onto the wall.

My work looked 10 times better in frames, and it went with the rest of the groups work thankfully. Once everybody had put up their work the exhibition really did look professional, we went round touching up the walls with paint and sweeping the floors. 

The turnout for the show was relieving, I expected the worst where no one would turn up but the exact opposite happended. The venue was packed full of people and the wine went fast, the group looked like they had a good time and our work attracted alot of interest. Today has been a success.