Tutorial 8th November

Surprised myself when this photo was first opened. I had forgot that it's on my diary with its multicolour* 'Do sheet' (something I remember from Dixons days). 

This is a Lasercut panel for a coin acceptor. I have used the official product sheet to design the hole and the screw positions. Sadly it doesn't work as there is a very small screw that stops the coin acceptor mechanism being put in. Hence the little pencilled bit.

In the tutorial we discussed this coinbox at length. My impression was that, like an earlier tutorial, the person I'm talking to gets a bit excited about some of the machines - or their potential. I tried to insist that this is a prototype, it's just to get a feel for the mechanisms and to learn to program it. When I've done that, then I'll think about how to deploy it. Nevertheless, there were some intriguing suggestions and some real links with Natasha's tutorial yesterday. (See next post.)

As this was a new tutor, we also discussed things like 'Why are you here?" and my history. I guess that comes with being a bit older. It's a long story, but I try to keep it as short as possible. I don't always succeed...

He's interested in the Machine though. Thinks they offer some possibilities, makes some suggestions that I have heard before: "Simplify" "Show movement" "Less is more". These I should pay attention to, although the temptation is always to make things more complex and detailed. Perhaps I should take some older stuff in?

He also hesitantly asked if "arcade" was a good descriptor, I think imagining I would be upset/disturbed at that. Quite the opposite!

One final note: I did a quick survey today. Out of all the people I asked, none had any coins. That's going to make coin-op tricky!

*Each day is allocated a colour in turn. When I've completed something I colour it in. After a time I can see days that have been productive and days that are not. I can also see things that are being left out. Usually they need breaking down to smaller tasks - or just crossing out. Sounds efficient. Don't be fooled. If I had 'procrastination' and 'indecision' on the list, then I could colour in loads.

 

Triune brain, more anatomy!

 

Much pleased with how this has turned out. Almost a commission, really a suggestion by a teacher friend who has to explain these things to children. Of course it's me in the middle, possibly it's not quite cartoony enough, but it's a process I want to continue exploring. It relates to my Proposal and it engages drawing/illustration and graphic design. I await a formal critique with interest. When I have a collection of these I shall put them up for purchase for a small amount. (like you, I have to eat!)

Be interesting to see some feedback below.

Anatomy Lessons?

 

My digestive system. A first version. Anatomy, or rather artistic interpretations of it have fascinated me for years. As a kid I was heavily into biology and even had a brief idea I might be a surgeon - I liked dissection. The careers teacher rapidly put that one to rest! However, the attraction has stayed and discovering Fritz Kahn (more about him in a separate post) and other people who have drawn analogies of human workings have re-kindled that interest. Others have taken a more liberal approach such as Basil Woolverton, but I have yet to track down a link to the images I want to show.

This is my first effort. It's wrong on man counts. The background and body filling are wrong. Arm should have been behind body and probably it should be a front view. I'll have another go this week, but leave this here for the record. 

Monday's crits and the Serenedipitous cube

Our tutor is off for a bit, so we had a substitute: Mariele Neudecker. (http://www.marieleneudecker.co.uk/) What an inspiration she is! (Talked through my work at length, she appeared to be particularly taken with the small interactive I made in response to last week's challenge. 

As usual I talked too much and gave people a run down of everything. I can be a bit of a bore sometimes... 

The interactive you can see below. It's the word 'serendipitous' which I was given embedded in resin with 36 neons. There's an exciter below and when you put a finger on it they light up.

Serendipity is a word that I have associated with ever since as a teenager of 13, I attended repeatedly the Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition at the ICA. (https://monoskop.org/Cybernetic_Serendipity) This showed that you could mix art and science together ways that hadn't been seen much at that point. Of course that's almost old hat today, but it was revolutionary then. 

CAP Year 3 Negotiated Self Directed Work Proposal

So a bit late to this party, as most people had done this weeks ago. But I have thought through and written a proposal which I was hoping to discuss today. Sadly tutor is ill, but I have decided to put it out in any case as I hope that will hope me to focus on work - or more specifically, work that matters; something I find tricky sometimes. Haven't done the 'negotiated' bit yet. Having read it again, I find it a bit pompous. Probably I'll reword it.

Inktober Illustration, prompt was 'gears'. Inside my head..

 Back to learning.

Life changes and I find myself reviving this blog. Having toyed with other blogging platforms, there's no doubt that this ticks the "Make it easy" box.

So what has happened?

Due to various reasons, I had to take some time off in 2021, I was due to return Feb 2022 full time and repeat a year. Unfortunately the university made time-table changes which made that difficult and resulted in me going part time. My last semester in Fine art was also less than spectacular. I had discovered a grow chasm between what I wanted to achieve and what was (rightly) expected. At the end of the day I look towards how I can provide for myself from what I do; probably that is "to commercial" an expression I heard more than once.

So I have transferred to CAP - Contemporary Arts Practice, where I have found a first class tutor in Matthew Robertson. He's also been a graphic designer and we share backgrounds in common. 

Currently I'm still finding my feet here, but the future looks promising, and with Ruth studying our lives look good, if hard.

Additional things that will be here

For my CAP tutors, there will be several pages to help you navigate:

CAP_context_folder

CAP_sketchbook

CAP_research

CAP_reflection

Using these tags will take you to the right pages for assessment.

A test...