Digital Drawing Lecture 5- 'Custom Shapes'

It's lecture 5 of 'Digital Photoshop', and this time we've been learning about using collage and custom shapes to help with our thumbnailing.

There was a discussion about the importance of the 'conceptual drive' of the artist, and we were encouraged to think more from that artist's/client's p.o.v, and what drove them to make their work, (as opposed to having it purely aesthetic... with no knowledge as to why they did it in the first place), which makes a lot of sense.
It's important to understand the other person, if you want to collaborate successfully, by reaching an agreement of sorts of what's the best product both of you can make. This means first running through what you wouldn't, with a lot of trial and error. Having varying work processes at your disposal can help a lot, and collage and reconstruction are two good ways of doing this.
[Incidentally, using custom shapes/or drawing from existing texts may also tie in nicely into Ernst's own work into frottage and collage.]

First: I'd looked again at the main themes evident in Max Ernst's work, and tried to apply things like 'war'>'destruction>absence. Reversion in human development and achievement as a consequence of conflict. (I.e. Two steps forward, one step back).
Things like discontinuity,
gaps,
breaks,
intervals,
absences. Etc.

Secondly: I thought about how to apply these themes through this new process.
Having collage be a means of reaching a new way of working, also allows us to create a new reality of sorts. Much like Ernst had in his post-apocolptic glimpses of war-torn Europe.
Whether it be a new reality in the midst of an horrible one, or vice versa as a wake up call of sorts, to deter self-destructive behaviour.
And we can also use that idea alongside 'Frottage', and the unconscious mind. A technique Ernst looked to, to understand the bigger picture (or the true reality). Which could link into the idea of exploring another reality, mirroring our own, but with alternative options, cultures and circumstances.

Below are a few experiments I'd made using textures from Ernst's own examples of grattage, and leaves and bark to re-imitate the technique of frottage across into the work, while still keeping a few of these ideas in mind.
(Though I could have more consideration for actual architectural elements of Europe, during/being developed in world war 1, before distorting them slightly).
It was more about the application, so I could get to grips with it.

(1)

(2)

Ernst has a lot of work that links back to his old home in Bruhl, Germany. Both of the birds, and of the nearby forest which he often is claimed to have felt both 'enchantment' and 'terror' of, due to it's 'all-enveloping' atmosphere (a possible consequence of it's scale, and vast, unpopulated space).

 If I was to continue with this, I would look more into German geography and actually look more into the woodland environment. I.e. the types of branches, earth etc. and textures they'd need.

(3)

I tried to go a little more atmospheric with this one, to maybe emphasis the fact a city influenced by Max Ernst, would most likely be a city of psychological exploration. A place where the unconscious can provide people with the means to break free from a reality of conflict, and human limitation.

With my first version of the 'Travelogue' I wrote about the idea of the visitor having to split themselves from their physical body and look from a new angle, to actually 'see' the city.
It's possible, from that, I could recreate existing buildings and distort them, or merge different versions of itself.

I also thought about the idea of people not believing they have access to this place, from a statement made about Max Ernst, attempting to break through the assumption, that there is such a thing as a 'genius' (a person whose solely responsible for their creative inspiration), who we could never live up to, and thus avoid.

There's a talk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius?language=en

that discusses an alternative way of seeing the 'creative genius', as an alternative entity unrelated to the artist/author. 

In the designs, it'll be less about using that belief as a 'social contruct to protect oneself', however, but rather the idea that this culture (and evidently the one Ernst would have been brought up in) may see the genius as being the person. And that in some ways isolates people from the creative practise. A belief which Ernst is said to have fought against. Using surrealism and Dadaism as a means of referring to the overall concepts of human consciousness (something that applies to everyone), through a contradictory angle... the very angle which he's in some ways arguing against. Creating physical world, by using that form of human limitation.

This was something I'd also talked about in the text. Thinking about visitors unconsciously creating, and leaving physical objects and evidence of presence behind them. This sparked ideas of buildings who are responsible for the collection, and taking care of abandoned things... or sending it away much like a giant post office. This idea clearly needs some more work however.

Only one of these ideas will be taken further into the final design, and I intend to experiment visually some more, before moving on to chose a general theme soon. Afterall, within the next couple of weeks, I'm going to need to start establishing a plan prior to building my scene.

From what we've been advised, going into Maya 'freehand' will only work against us.

So best to establish the general 'look' of the place now, so I can then finalise in detail and establish a plan about how I might approach it in a 3D context.