Final Project Digital Foundations 1

For the final project for Digital Foundations 1, we had to make a montage, using still images, to tell a narrative.  In order to complete the project, we have to incorporate at least two of the five types of montage introduced by Sergei Einstein.  

Art Clokey Research Paper

Art Clokey was a stop motion clay artist who is known for using basic clay forms to complex film techniques in his works.  Art (Oct 12, 1921 – Jan 8, 2010), as said before used clay in his stop motion projects, he studied at the University of Southern California, his career started in the year 1955, when his work, Gumbasia, was released.  Art is best known for his character, Gumby and his horse Pokey, who he created alongside his wife, Ruth.  The character became so popular that they even created a TV show with him as the main figure, it was called, The Adventures of Gumby.

The Adventures of Gumby was what made Art Clokey best known to the public.  Gumby, who is a little green, and flattened character that was made of clay, has a misshaped head, representing a cow lick, that makes one side go higher than the other.  The inspiration for that lopsided look was in memory of his father, who died, when Art was 9, in a car accident, he had a cowlick hairdo.

In Art Clokey’s early Gumby Action shows a lot of Arts techniques and style he uses in his works.  Art typically uses clay for this animation, just like his others since he is a clay artist, but he uses pre-made objects as well.  Art likes to use geometric shapes to provide a lot of the material.  Some of the shapes include: squares, cylinders, triangles, and circles.  The shapes he use also have a tendency to be flattened, rolled, and crumpled.  As for the characters in the clip, they are small figures with a limited body size, for example, Gumby is flat with not a lot of depth to him, similar to a gingerbread man, but thick enough to be able to stand on his own.  For some of the other landscapes, creatures, and figures, Art uses toys that are pre-made from rubber or plastic that can move giving it a living feel.  A few of the objects used were toys, a dinosaur, and fake model and toy tractors, trainsets, and cars.

In Arts Mandala piece, it was very complex at points but created an outstanding work.  Art used layers, and a lot of them, to create most of the film.  The layers transitioned from one scene to another, for example it had us looking through a hole and we can see the next layer and it continues on for a good portion of the film.  The film had a moving image as well, new material was added all the time, creating a feeling of moving out from a point to another.  Along with the layers and moving images, Art also used the camera to move across the scene.  Everything stayed where it was while he moved along revealing more of the set.  For the landscapes in the film, there was a lot of walls, which had flat sides with holes put into them to allow us to see through it.  All of the landscapes weren’t made out of clay, he also used real life landscapes and people to give it a more realistic and a whole different style.  Some of the clay animation he used were used on making heads that would morph and change into something else or dissolve completely.  Along with the heads, there were objects like flowers that would open and close to give a sense of movement.  Another style used was of just pictures he took that would jump to completely different ones quickly like a fast-forwarded movie.

Arts Gumbasia Film was another piece he made that featured a lot of shapes.  The shapes were similar to the early Gumby action film.  In this piece he liked to take his shapes and collide them together to make a different form.  He also liked to have his objects and slice them apart making smaller forms or just pieces that he would once again mush together to make something else.  Also with the clay he had, he would make the clay grow larger by adding to it in between frames to make it appear as it is growing in size, or do the complete opposite and make them shrink down. If he didn’t have them shrink in size, he would completely flatten the clay to a puddle like form.  The most creature like objects of clay in the film were worm like, long and rounded clay that would squiggle around the scene.  Along with the worms, he made stripes of clay that would just be pulled across and around the set.

Art Clokey was an outstanding and creative clay stop motion artist who influenced many artists in his lifetime and even after his death.  He created simple and complex art using clay motion techniques.  His work was for all ages, which is why he was even given his own show for his loved character Gumby.  His art ranged from simple flat characters to complex moving and layered objects that showed his creative art style very well.  His wife was a big helper in his work, especially in his Gumby work when she helped create his animal horse sidekick Pokey.  Using different styles and techniques, like camera movement, layers, moving clay, and growing and shrinking clay, he was able to make countless films and clips that were able to stand out over other artists of his time.  He was also not afraid to use a mixture of clay stop motion and stop motion using toys and pre made objects to complete his works creating a harmonic combination.  Art has also mastered using clay to make it appear as the camera is moving through a tunnel, but in reality, he just adds and takes away clay as it moves closer to the camera.  The effect is very complicated to create but Arts many years in the art field has given him the ability to do so.  Art was a very well-known artist for his art and work that allowed him to be able to become successful enough to keep his work going and to actually have his own show that many people have been able to watch, and become inspired by his work.

 

 

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-01-10/news/1001080488_1_gumby-20th-century-fox-producer-art-clokey

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu2OhOS0EAA

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYds20rShNY

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CnvMpW8U3g

Forrest final project

This is my storyboard for my final project in Survey of Animation.  The main theme is based on the forrest and how I perceive it.  For my storyboard, I started out with an image of the forrest.

5-7-5 Glitch Gif animation

For major project #3 in Digital Foundations, we had to make a Gif that goes by 5-7-5, so 5 frames, 7 frames, then 5 frames, or three different animations two are 5 seconds and the other is 7 seconds.  For my project I decided to do the 5-7-5 frames for a total of 17 frames.  The topic I wanted to focus on was drunk driving.  

Stop Motion Project

For my stop motion assignment, I had to research an artist to base my work off of.  The artist I chose was Jan Svankmajer.  Jan was known for his clay art and stop motion, creating ridiculous forms and faces.  

Political Poster #2

This is my political poster #2, based off of Suprematism.  The idea of the poster is to represent big tobacco ads on gas station windows and on the walls for everyone to see.  I have seen these posters and their ridiculous slogans all my life.  

Storyboard

 

Jan Svankmajer Write up

Jan Svankmajer was a Czech filmmaker who used his experience to create animations of his own using stop motion.  Jan used both clay and also dolls and other objects laying around him to complete his animations. 

Political Poster #1

For my first political poster, I had to base it off of Photomontage and Dada type art.  For my work, I wanted to have it focused on voting, because of the upcoming election and it will be my first time I will actually be able to vote on a presidential candidate.  

Project #2 abstraction. Transition

This abstraction was supposed to go along the lines of my concept of abstraction that I have posted a while back, which was, the transition of someone’s life to nothingness after death.  Along with that, I said I was to use multiple colors starting at white and transition from color to color with shapes till I eventually reached black (nothingness).  However, my final product that I made did not go along the lines of death and nothingness. 

Helvetica Write Up

I never realized how common the typeface Helvetica is in our every day lives.  It is the most common font used by people whether it is for a business name, for personal use, or even for advertisements.  It is everywhere, due to the simple fact that it is a neutral font and goes well with just about everything.

Objectified Documentary Write-Up

In the documentary, Objectified, by Gary Hustwit, it goes on to talk/ discuss the design process and how designers come up for their products.  Personally, I have never really thought about how every single item we have is designed.  I just see them for their functions.