A Place in Question

Tiffany Duneau

Contextual references

Historical Context - Shin HangaThis movement was derived

from the more traditional Ukiyo-e woodblock printing, but was

targeted more towards the western export market, affecting the subject matter, but the style

preserved its Japanese feel.The prints used lighting very

effectively to convey mood and atmosphere, and in some cases

prints were created using slightly different colours, which altered the mood significantly

form one print to another.

‘Fuji from lake Sai’ - Study

‘Snow at Miyajima’- Koitsu Tsuchiya

Contextual referencesWhen analysing artists I looked at the way their compositions worked, in

order to incorporate this into my own work.

In this example, I particularly liked the use of negative

space in defining the image, with the details linked to

Japan making up the image itself, and incorporated this into my own illustration of

my location.

‘Japan’- Simon Prades

Study in the style of Simon Prades

Recording Experiences

I started recording the small details and textures of my

location using pen and tone, to capture the finer details.

I then expanded to the whole location, using a larger

variety of media, including charcoal, watercolour, a 3D Google Sketchup model and

a digital painting.I particularly liked the watercolour effect in

capturing the effects of weather in the location as it echoed the rain and puddles.

Digital painting

Perspe-ctive

Texture

Watercolour and chalk

Materials, processes and

TechnologyThrough my initial enquiries I learnt

different ways in which a location can be depicted, through its shape, and less evidently, through its textures

and ‘negative space’.Photography was a good way for me to gather inspiration, especially when I was looking into shadows, as I could capture them instantaneously before

they changed.I also explored a very constrained

technical drawing of my location, in line only, which showcased the

perspective of the location.Using Google Sketchup also allowed me to explore angles of my location I

would not have been able to normally, and inspired one of my

prototypes

Photographing shadows

Google Sketchup Silhouette

s

Google Sketchup

model

Devising BriefI chose to create an

animation, as I felt this would describe my chosen theme – ‘the passage of time’ best, due to it being a ‘moving’

medium.As my client, I wanted to branch away from Esher college, so chose ‘a local

youth animation competition’, which I felt provided the

creative freedom I wanted.

Time was a particular concern for me, as animating takes a long time, so I chose to limit

the length of my animation to between 30 to 90 seconds to avoid being overambitious

with my prototypes.I also researched into

animation a little, looking at the works of Makoto Shinkai and a music video for ‘Bad

apple”, which were contrasting examples of

animation style.

Initial IdeasTo develop ideas, I focused on the three areas that had

previously caught my interest in the initial investigations and combined my previous

ideas into frames that reflected the animation I had

imagined.I also used my artist research as a way to generate ideas,

by taking influence from their styles. Initial ideas

- Shadows

Initial ideas-

Weather/Human Passage

Responding to my brief

On the subject of time, I chose to explore the effect it had on weather in a location, the signs of its passing through shadows, and the traces left as humans pass through the location

over time.I developed three prototypes

reflecting each of these routes, choosing only one for my final

outcome after the interim review.To refine my ideas, I chose to

combine elements of each path that I liked to form a ‘master’ idea that represented that branch for the

interim review, which allowed me to develop each branch equally before

committing to one for my final outcome.

Prototype 2

Shadows

Weather

Human passage

Prototype 1

Prototype 3

Planning and Producing Outcome

For my final outcome I chose to take the ‘weather and time’

route, with a watercolour effect in the animation.

I experimented with recreating this in Photoshop to ensure

that I would be able to achieve the style I was going for, and

developed this further as I created the animation.

Before starting the process, I planned out the order in which I would complete each part of the animation, to make sure I

did not miss parts out.

Development of style

EvaluationOverall I think the project went well, although I had trouble keeping up at the

beginning, I caught up by the interim review and stayed on

track from that point. I think I managed my time

especially when when creating my final animation

under a short timescale.Perhaps in the next project I could look at other artists in more detail for inspiration

and to inform my contextual influences.

Final Animation Cover Images