Working practices 2

I'm having reasonable luck with the cylinder method. The only thing I'm fearful of is that once the objects are complete they may just look like they've been modelled badly, I guess that's the danger of abstract art.

Here's the next stage of construction:-



I have use the extrude vertex method to get the tail to look vaguely cow like, I have also smooth the object during the process just to ensure that the face and vertices line up correctly and don't cause any problems.

The smoothed cow looks like this:-



It doesn't look as abstract once smoothed but I'm going to concentrate on the head and udders now and I think this will help a great deal.

Working Practices

The first hurdle has arrived. It hasn't taken long to start having problems with this project. Until now I hadn't really thought about the implications of modelling abstract and non symetrical objects. In the past all I have done is model aesthetically pleasing symetrical people and square objects and never really thought about modelling organic shapes. Therefore I need a decent plan of action. I've looked on the web to see whether I could find any tutorials to cover this problem, needless to say to no avail. However, I have found something of use that I have never considered before. There was a tutorial about using cylinders to create a human being, I suppose it make a lot of sense as humans are rounded objects. Up to now I've always been starting with a divided cube. Taking this cylinder idea into my project may well help. That's where I will being it will hopefully make the legs and body easier to achieve.

Below is an early shot of the legs that I am creating using the cylinder construction I talked about




Another issue that I have also come across that I didn't give much thought to. I thought that by modelling some of the objects in plasticine before making them in maya would save time in the long run. I think it's an invaluable method, however, there are drawbacks. I thought that once I constructed the items and took appropriate photos that I could use them to help with the Maya construction process. The problem with using photos is that there is no easy way of ensuring the each angle has the same dimensions. For example the front shot doesn't line up with the back, they are different sizes. Really I should draw out the object and because it's not symetrical I should draw addition directions, front, back, top, head end, tail end and maybe underneath. I have proceeded without doing this but I have taken the photos directly into photoshop and tried my hardest to clean them up and size them to the same dimensions.











As you can see it's quite confusing to try and model from, I think if I had more time and I wasn't already horrendously behind schedule I'd change this. I'm sure it will still work out fine as the shapes are abstract anyway.

Plasticine Models

I have modeled a few of the elements of my ideas for the beastly abstraction 3D project. Here are 3 videos of the items I have made:-




Abstract Cow Model


Abstract Farmer Model


Abstract God Like Model

Abstract Drawings

These are some of the initial abstract drawings with relation to the BSE political project idea. The colours are just so the drawings are clearer and more visually understandable and are not relevant to how the final project will look.


Full scene idea


God like man



Upside down cow


Farmer being held down


Abstract tractor design


Abstract tractor design


Tractor with dead cow

Political Thoughts

I've been thinking about the ideas that Picasso used to based his piece 'Guernica' on. Whilst originally I was hoping to do a single abstract animal piece my ideas need to have a more focused direction behind them. With this in mind I was thinking of finding a modern political agenda that I can look at and relate my art piece to. I still want to use animals in the piece but I have had a brainstorming session and written a series of words that I feel will give me more direction:-

Political
Topical
Devastating
Animals
Consumerism
Indulgence
Slaughter
Waste of life

Once I completed this brainstorming session I thought that looking at the BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) and Avian or Bird Flu epidemic that seems to be affecting our lives and that of the animals in farmyards seemed appropriate. The clamp down on the transportation of infected animals, the slaughter of thousand of infected cows, turkeys and chickens, the financial devastation to the farmers.

I feel sad when watching the news and seeing hundreds of cows piled up in heaps, dumped and burned. Whilst I understand the reason for it, it is purely because of our consumerism and the feeding of the masses, sacrificing animals to feed our overindulgent selves. Whilst I'm not a vegetarian it's difficult to comprehend that BSE was caused by the strain of the disease transmutating through the species from sheep, caused by the farmers saving money by feeding the leftover brainstems and offal to cows. Understandably in this climate where the supermarket is taking over the country and crushing the local farmers with demands for cheap meat to satisfy their profits. It is a very devastating move and it goes on almost unnoticed because the british public don't care, we are more concerned about the disease transmutating to us in the form of CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease).

I found a quote on the BBC news website indicating the outcome of our eating habits

'The report warns that, based on current trends, 33% of men and 28% of women will be obese by 2010.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5282446.stm

Maybe if we didn't demand so much from our supermarkets they wouldn't demand so much from the farmers who in turn may not cut financial corners and feed their animals incorrectly which has added to the cause of this problem. My sympathies are with the farmers and I don't want to sound like I blame them for this. Maybe BSE would have come about anyway.

I think this could be the basis of my project.