Finally, after one year of hard work and research on Doctors of the World I can be a part of this great humanitarian organization. On the 12th of July I am going to fly with them to Kyrgyzstan for a week, on a surgery mission of around 100 kids.

I will upload some photos when I get back.

I was doing some research on the net trying to find how, when why etc the mind influence the Artist and I came across this outstanding film about a young autistic artist is taken up in a helicopter over Rome, and then, over the next 3 days, draws it ALL by memory. Just remember to pump up the volume since the recording is very quiet.

This week was completely devoted to write my essay / artist statement. Even though I was working until late at work, because of the Champions League Final, plus the Olympics 2008 I found my self spending several hours on the essay.

It is strange some times how an actual piece of work can make you so concentrate that you loose track of time. I have almost finish the first part (artist statement) and I need to start working on the explanatory comment and critical evaluation of my own work in the context of current creative practice and reflection.

Storyboard Artist – From Wikipedia

Storyboard artist (sometimes referred as story artist) is a profession specialized in creating storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions.

A storyboard artist is able to visualize any stories using quick sketches on paper at any moment. Quick pencil drawings and marker renderings are two of the most common traditional techniques, although nowadays Flash, Photoshop, and other storyboard applications are gradually taking over. The digital camera is one of the latest techniques in creating storyboards.

A storyboard artist is also known as an illustrator or visualizer. They are mostly freelance artists, typically hired by art directors and film directors. Deadlines are always tight, and overnight working is very common.

The most frequently used storyboard applications are Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop. Some storyboard artists nowadays begin and finish their work on computers using drawing software and digital pencils like Wacom (Graphics tablet), thus saving time, which is a major priority for a storyboard artist.

For motion pictures, some filmmakers prefer that artists use computer programs designed to create frame-accurate storyboards such as FrameForge 3D Studio. Programs such as Poser and DAZ Studio can also be used to create very accurate storyboards.

Storyboard artists have different goals and methods:

1. In advertising, the storyboard artist must not only create an accurate representation of what the TV commercial will look like but also create fine art that will appeal to the client who must buy the concept.
2. Normally, when a storyboard artists is hired by a motion picture company, the storyboard artist must break the scene down into shots which can be filmed. Therefore, the storyboard artist must know all of the technology of filmmaking as well as being a good artist.
3. Sometimes, a motion picture production company will hire a storyboard artist to create beautiful and exciting works of art that can be used by the executive producer to raise millions of dollars. In this case, the storyboard artist must be a fine artist or commercial illustrator. Filmmaking background is not important.
4. And some storyboard artists must be able to create fully frame-accurate storyboards for very precise planning of the filming a motion picture. In this case, 2D images are not good enough. The storyboard artist must be able to work with 3D animation software or specially designed 3D previsualization programs which simulate a motion picture camera on a 3D model of the movie set. In this case, the storyboard artist might not draw anything but rather use the 3D program to do all of the drawing.

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Chart

At the moment I am trying to build the chart of things that influence my son’s way of thinking and at what extend.

This week

This week I have gathered the things that play a big role in my son’s life and his way of thinking.

In no particular order here is the list:

Father, Mother, Grandmother (N), Grandfather (A), Grandmother (R), Grandfather (G), Karate, Xbox (sci-fi game), Wii(sport game), uncle (T), auntie (G), pet, gardening, school (classmates, teacher), relatives (An, Iak, Raf, Ioan, Th), Cartoons (wo, Sc), DvD (Sw)

Until next week I will break down the list with more info until I reach to a point where I can put the list in an order of the amount they influence him.

The development

This week I have tried to figure out at what extend my son gets influenced by cartoons. I have asked him to tell me a fiction story right after he saw Scooby Doo and then at night I have asked him to tell me a new story. The result was not exactly what I was expected to be. He didn’t use any ‘characters’ from the cartoons, but instead he; in both of his stories, used the two characters from the story that I told him the night before, before he sleeps.

Chart

What I am trying to do at the moment is to build a chart of what influence my son more. Building this chart will help me understand more how my son things and more important will help me understand WHY? he things the way he things.

The Story

“… and then a power spell was cast from the mage…” these words are part of my latest sons’ story. His new story involves magic, casting spells and fighting from distance.

Conclusion

There is a certain pattern that I can see in the development of my sons’ stories. From a very close combat stories/fights, he moved to a more “distance” fights. As he crows up he realized the danger of close combat and he seems to understand what the outcome may be out of such a fight. I am certain that the main factor to lead him to this change is his karate lessons. The more he gets into karate the more he realizes the dangers of such a fight. It is not that he afraid, but is more the knowledge he gains from the lessons. He knows that no fight is good, unless you are in a great danger. He learned that even though you may be stronger you better avoid the fight.

Photos for references

My visit to Greece was a very proactive visit for my project. I had the chance to visit the museum of Acropolis and take some photos of some creature statutes. I will use these photos as animal references, and references to design my “3D animal”.

I took also some photos from a weapon seller at Monastiraki. The photos of the melee weapons will give me a better idea of how to design my own 3D models. The details are great and the designs are very good.

The Story

It seems that every day my sons’ stories developed into more “magical” ones. He likes to use more of power spells rather than body to body fights. This is something that may lead me to change the final story until the end of this year.

Hmmm, and again hmmm… last chat we had Andy mention something about a gathering in second life… something like a virtual meeting of all Camberwell art students, Camberwell’s art week.

So I went and created an account… my nick is Pavaho Dagger by the way, and first think I did was to log in. After a 5min of wondering and doing some kind of tutorials I just logged out. Even though I am a big fun of mmorpg games, like world of warcraft, I found this a bit distracting, as it comes the controls and the interface; after all it is an online game. I think I have to spend more than five minutes to check it out and decide if this is worth any time of my first life. Me and Jess thought about opening a store within the ‘game’, more details upon request , but we may have some technical problems with the design of the products.

So this short week will be a Second Life week, and finishing the essay before Friday, since I’ll be abroad for 4days (going to Greece), and send it to Andy.

Ok, this week I was totally on the net looking for some similar artists, work or even stories, to mine and I came across some very interesting conclusions.

The most interesting part is when I came across some artists; artist at the age of 4 to 12, and I compare them to my sons work or even one to each either. This is one of the sites http://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/@rt_gallery.html where you can check some drawings with the same subject. Castlemedia is a great website as well, http://www.castlemedia.com/content/viewPage.jsp?pageIndex=1&documentIndex=0&documentType=106&lang=en  

A 3years old drawing of a monster and 5 years old drawing of the king and the queen.

Well my conclusion out of this research is that kids see the world with different eye, thought they have many similar ideas and perspectives as it comes the subject of their drawings. I guess at the end is what we “feed” the kids as it’s not totally up to them to decide what to do when it comes to activities or what to watch on TV etc. It is up to each parent to recognize what his/her kid like and help him/her to develop his/her skills.

This is week was full of reading… I did finish 2 books; something very unlike me J.

The first one was Peter K. Smith, Helen Cowie and Mark Blades Understanding Children’s Development 4th edition. Blackwell Publishing, 2003; and the other one Dr. Miriam Stoppard. Questions Children ask and how to answer them. DK publications, 2005.

If the book is not about art or a training book then it’s not even possible to go and read more than 2 pages, but for research reasons I had to go through this. Dr. Miriam Stoppard points out some great questions and answers about kids in general; you get a more general idea of how kids think and respond to several situations. Now the book “Understanding Children’s Development” is more the scientific approach of the kids’ development; like how the kids get influence by TV or other activities.

Even thought I don’t like to read these kinds of books I found them very helpful as it comes to understand and re-think my story. Some books left on the way and of to actual development and production of my project.