Weekly IP Blog #3

What I did

Sun. 9/25/11: 3 hours, 25mins

I did more ideation on my natural disasters topic. How it can refer to social impacts, how people or the media explain why they occur, and how natural disasters are relevant today because they are occurring more often.  Some doubts then started to arise from my ideations, such as my project being too much like the weather channel or too scientific. I want to make my natural disasters look powerfully modern and, not boring. I started taking notes on key words that would describe each natural disaster. 

Mon. 9/26/11: 3 hours

keeping in mind that my project did not need to be so geographic, I looked at a lot of natural disaster illustrations and images. I took notes on the emotions and words that would pop into my head when going through the images. Based on that, I then created note cards full of key words and feelings I wanted my own natural disasters to convey and personify. I posted these note cards of key words and feelings for each disaster on my studio wall.

Tues. 9/27/11: 1 hour working on my rough draft for my proposal and the class exercise. 2 hours and half meeting with class partners and taking notes on each other’s projects. We discussed each of our new habits, how they worked, and aspects of our projects we were unsure of.  I also sketched for about 45min, getting new paper, markers, and pens in order to better draft my ideas.

Weds. 9/28/11: 2 hours sketching

I sketched out some storm compositions I had in mind. I worked with Copic markers, pencil, and pens. I plan to scan my best sketches next week to use as references for my digital paintings. 

Thurs. 9/29/11: 2 hours and a half of class discussion about our proposal drafts, edited my partner’s proposals, and gave each other a lot of feedback. Worked for about an hour on setting new goals for the week. Continued my sketch from Wednesday night for about another hour.

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered

By making note cards with key words and feelings for each natural disaster, I really got to step back and look at my information from a different point of view. The note cards were also my new habit of the week; I tend to make tiny notes in my sketchbook in a list format just for me. By posting the note cards on my studio wall, others were able to better understand and see what I wanted my project to be. It really presented my ideas more clearly, especially when I later shared them with my partners and peers from class. The note cards also helped me distinguish each natural disaster, their characteristics, and helped me decide what aspects they should convey. I also discovered what aspects I didn’t want my disasters to represent, such as the negative aftermaths, or details such as the hurricane not depicting cold whirlwinds the way the avalanche should.  I also encountered the overlapping characteristics and connections between some of the natural disasters, such as the similarities tsunamis and hurricanes have in being powerful through water.  The fallowing is an image of the note cards on my studio wall. 

Natural disasters note cards  

In meeting with my class partners Jimmy and Kyle in each of our studios on Tuesday, we got to give each other a lot of feed back on our new habits and projects. I got to share with them my note cards and they liked them a lot. They understood that my project was more about personifying natural disasters, referencing nature’s incredible power. By also working on my proposal this week, I understood more what I wanted my project to be about and why. I want to personify natural disasters to show people how nature is powerful and take them away from the media's negative light. That’s why I want to capture both the beauty and terror in natural disasters, nature is incredible and society tends to forget that. With this being clearer to me, I am able to sketch and draw out compositions for my project with more ease.  I realized drawing more would help me get more practice in painting out my ideas with my tablet. Below is the sketch of a composition I had in mind after making all the note cards and going over my proposal.

 The class edits on Thursday for our proposal was also great! I learned that the strongest part of my proposal was at the bottom of the second paragraph. That’s where I mention that the media tends to put natural disasters in a negative light, and that I want to show nature’s power within the beauty and terror that natural disasters have. I also learned that parts of my explanation about a new digital style was vague. I sat down with Juliet to discuss what parts to keep and what parts to take out from my proposal. I now feel a lot more comfortable about writing my IP proposal.

As for an inspiring artist this week, I’ve been struck by Oliver Vernon’s paintings. His abstract and very active paintings are in the style I’ve been imagining to capture in my natural disaster series.  His free, flowing strokes really hint to the power and beauty found in nature, yet it embodies a kind of chaos.  I really enjoy looking at the mix of different movements and strokes of color in his work. 

His website: http://www.oliververnon.com/  

Oliver Vernon, Last Stop, acrylic on panel

What I think I should do next

My goal for next week is to go meet a tutor at the College of Creative Studies to get some pointers on my digital painting. The new guy I have been in contact with was very busy last weekend, so we have planed to meet up this weekend instead. He is a student at CCS and has been recommend from some friends I have in Detroit. Another part of my goal is to finish 6 drawing sketches of the natural disasters I want to paint digitally. This way I can use my sketches as references for next week when I start digitally painting some compositions. I hope to further my passion and vision for the natural disasters I want to create.