Figurative Modelling Part III

On the 19th of November, I had my third session of figurative modeling, this weeks session was divided into four parts: Life drawing, study presentation, body parts sewing, and sculpting exercise.

Life drawing

For life drawing, we did 10 of 10-second drawings, 10 of 20 Second drawings, five of one-minute drawings, (for each pose we were to only draw or shade in negative space around the outside of the figure) two of five-minute drawings (With more detailed exploration of form and softness conveyed through the details of lines) and to put two of the 10-minute drawings (for these we had to carefully consider the positioning of the figure into the piece of paper, showing what is expressed if the figures positioned.

During the middle of the session, I and my class experience three of three-minute exercises where we stand or sit still where the model was in order to get a sense of relation in court and possibly a sense of our bodies balance and even slight alteration

Stitching

During the first half of the afternoon, I and my group continued our stitch work on fabric body parts, for this session, we made feet, I made two.

first I drew the outline of the lower part of my leg (1 centimeter thicker), I did this on a piece of fabric that was folded up, so once sewn together it would create the other half when cutting it out.

After that, I made a 3-dimensional one, for this, it had to be split into three parts, (The left half of the leg, the right half and the bottom foot) For the left and right halves, I did what I did for the first leg, except without sewing the bottom, then after that, I traced the bottom of my foot, (again, a centimeter thicker) next I had to cut small lines at the bottom of the main foot (this was so when I sew the main foot and the bottom together, I would be able to move certain parts around to help it stitch together), Once I sew it together, I went over a few areas to make it more secure, I was pretty happy with the end result.

Sculpting exercise

For the final exercise of the afternoon, I and my group were taught step by step on sculpting feet.

First, we took a lump of clay and started by sculpting the bases by making them into kidney shapes, then took another lump and placed it on top to create the ankle and smoothed it together, using the clay tools we drew two lines from the ankle, one leading to the big toe and the other leading to the pinky toe.

Once they were in position I started drawing out were the toes would be and then cut them in, after that, I then removed some excess clay around the toes and base to form the foot.

Once the shape of the foot was finished, I then added a few more details by trimming some areas, adding toenails and rougher texture to make it more life-like, In the end, I was happy with the result.

(Insert Finished pic here)

Figurative Modelling Part IV

On the 21st of November, I had my fourth session in Figurative Modelling, for today’s session we were split into two groups for a morning and afternoon session, These included slab building and plasterwork.

Slab Building

For our first exercise of the day, we were to make a slab collages, each slab including an aspect from one of our life drawings, for this we were split into groups of three and each of us drew certain parts of our life drawing sketches, we also made separate clay body parts to add to our collage (I made the arm)

Note: The idea for each slab drawing was to give it a 3D aspect to make each piece stand out

Plaster Stitch

For the final exercise of the day, we took our fabric limbs from the last two weeks down to the plaster room, before filling the body parts with plaster, I had to figure out the equal amounts of water and plaster I had to mix together.

Arm

For the arm, I mixed 1 pint and a half of water along with 1125 grams of plaster, once they were both mixed together I waited about a minute for it to settle before pouring the mix,

Once it was ready I poured the mix in the arm while it was drying I made sure the mix would spill by hold the top part in place

Also while the plaster was getting gooey I moved the fingers around to make a “finger gun” gesture.

Once it dried up, I was happy with the result.

Foot

For the foot measurements, I mixed 2 and a half pints of water along with 1875 grams of plaster, once mixed together and after a minute of it settling, I then poured the mix in the fabric, while it was drying I kept hold of the top to prevent spillage.

The end result wasn’t what I was expecting since it was too chubby and uneven and starting leaking at the bottom as soon as I poured the mix in, so I had to place something on top of the hole to stop the spill.

Figurative Modelling Part II

On the 14th of November, I had my second session of Figurative Modelling, for the whole day, I and my class were sculpting heads, first, we started with taking terracotta clay and building a circular wall to act as a base, then I started building up layers of clay, working my way up the head.

Once I built my way up to the chin I took a small piece of clay to act as support once the chin was in place, then I started building more upward to the face, for the nose I tore up small pieces of clay that helped form the shape.

(Note: During the process, we were encouraged not to make the surface of our heads too smooth as it would increase our chances of them collapsing)

While making my way to the top of the head (like what I did with the nose) I took small pieces of clay and started building my way up.

Once I sculpted the eyes, ears, lips and other facial features, I was finished and satisfied

(Note: the reason why I didn’t fill the head all the way to the top was both because there was a risk of it collapsing and also because I liked the way it looked).

Figurative Modeling Part I

On the 12th of November, I had my first class on figurative modelling, To prepare for our induction each of us was tasked in printing out an image of a figurative model art piece that interested us, For me, I chose the work of Michael Flynn.

Introduction

In the opening presentation, we were introduced to multiple figurative model artists such as Harry Alley, Christina Cordova, etc, next, we were told to analyze the art pieces by artists we chose using the three identities such as A particular way of thinking about the ideas, a particular way of finding relationships between ceramics and a particular way of presenting outcomes such as curation, installation or photography.

Sculpting exercises

For our first exercise of the day, we were given pieces of raku clay and use it to create our own multiple sculptures of the body that helped find the thinking, finding and presenting of sculpture work. These included parts of the body, the surface of the human skin and textures.

Hand Stitch Part I

For the first half of the afternoon, we made a start on making our fabric plaster hands, For this week we had to trace our arms (only a centimeter wider) on the fabric, place a few pins to secure it in place, then I proceeded to sew around the tracings, once it was sewn, I then cut the arm out.

Life Drawing

For the final exercise of the day, we had a few life drawing exercises, This included 10 of 10-second drawings (these included the core lines, gravity, and notation of the body), 10 of 20-second drawings, (these included core lines, the undulation of soft flesh, and punctuation of what it feels like to be in the body) 5 of 1 minute drawings (these included core lines, softness and a different area of focus) and finally two five minute drawings (for each drawing, I had to focus on different areas of the body and to carefully consider the relationship between skeletal structure and skin qualities that surround it).

A few of my sketches:

Five Minutes 20 Seconds

1 Minute

Entrepreneurship

For this assignment, I’ve been tasked with looking into the entre Comp Framework PDF, and Merrydown my least strong requirement in entrepreneurship and how I can improve and build on it

Click to access lfna27939enn.pdf

In this PDF, it listed out certain skills required when involved in entrepreneurship

these include:

Spotting opportunities
Creativity
Vision
Valuing ideas
Ethical and sustainable thinking
Self-awareness and self-efficacy
Motivation and perseverance
Mobilizing resources
Financial and economic literacy
Mobilizing others
Taking the initiative
Planning and management
Coping with uncertainty, ambiguity, and risk
Working with others
Learning through experience

For me, my major weakness has to be vision or spotting opportunities since I don’t think I have much of an idea to offer for entrepreneurship, and as an artist, I don’t see myself creating multiple copies of one art piece and selling them to random people as I feel it would be a bit repetitive, but instead, I believe the better idea for me would be doing commissions for friends, family or people that they know and for each I make them something unique and/or even personal for them.

For example:

One of my favorite activities I enjoy doing in my free time is drawing, mainly characters from movies, tv shows, comic books, and video games, sometimes I even draw my own idea, a lot of my friends and family are aware of drawing of how good they are, and in the past, I have done personal drawings for my friends, mainly as gifts for birthdays, Christmas or any other special occasions, If I were to do drawings for certain people, all they’d do is contact me, let me know what they want to be done and give me details that they want for them, then I once I’ve finished it, I think of a price based the quality of the drawing and then come to an agreement.

A few of my drawings:

Another thing I enjoy doing is painting custom LEGO Minifigures, like my drawing I base them off characters from movies, tv shows, comic books, and video games and on occasion, I make Minifigures based on my friends or family by either request or as a surprise gift, and over the years I’ve been making these figures my skills have gotten better, I would sculpt 3D elements to them and even use other materials for the design, so like what I said about the drawings and how I’d do commissions, basically it would work the same way, the person (family/friend) would make a request, I’d gather the materials and paint the parts, sculpt some areas and put it together and come up with a reasonable price.

Here are a few of my Mini-figures and concept art:

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My Final B.A.M.S design idea

Posthumous Success

For my final BAMS design and idea I’ve picked certain aspects from Edward D Wood Jr’s movies, My final design choice was this:

The design is based on his movie “Plan 9 from out space”, particularly the scene when flying saucers are flying around Los Angeles.

There is also another design I sculpted and cast, this one was based on the poster for ‘Glen or Glenda’

The reason I chose these two particular designs is that both these movies Ed Wood made had a big connection to him.

Glen or Glenda

Glen or Glenda was basically about a man transitioning into woman, the reason he wrote, directed and starred in this movie was because in his free time he liked to dress in women’s clothing, this wasn’t because he himself was transgender, it was because he liked it, so he knew what it was like to keep such a big secret from everyone, so he wanted to capture that into his movie to give people a sense of someone having a duel identity.

Plan 9 from outer space

Way before this movie was made, Ed Wood met and befriended famous Hollywood legend Bella Lugosi, (who is most famous for playing Dracula in the 1931 movie of the same name) for years Ed wood got him to appear in a few in his movies such as Glen or Glenda and Bride of the monster, he agreed to star in these was because he left Hollywood studios due to being blacklisted, meaning he had no choice but to accept every part and script he was given and because of this he didn’t want to sell out, so whenever Wood offered him a part in his movies, he’d say yes, but this time by choice.

A few years before Plan 9 was made Lugosi and Wood filmed footage of Lugosi picking flowers and mourning, this wasn’t really scripted or plan for anything, Ed Wood then wrote the script to accommodate all the footage shot in a cemetery. In 1956, Lugosi passed away at the age of 73, so when Plan 9 was made, Wood wanted to include this piece of footage of Lugosi to pay tribute to his friend.

Conclusion

Even though he wasn’t a brilliant filmmaker, his motivation and perseverance was impressive, his work was laughed at and unappreciated but he didn’t care, one of his movies Plan 9 From outer space is considered to be one of the worst movies of all time, but to him, it was his pride and joy, so this project isn’t about ripping into his work or expressing my own personal opinions about it, it’s about admiring someone did what he enjoyed doing for a living and honouring his memory, for him it didn’t matter that no one liked his work, the work was his and was something to be proud of, and what’s also impressive is that he wasn’t alone, he had a bunch of friends and even a few celebrities to help him out by either acting or working behind the scenes, they didn’t care if the movies were bad, they just wanted to help support his passion, just like I want to support and honour his legacy.

Final Design Sheet

My Interview Excercise

On the 11th of October, I had my third session of “A Play on Extraordinary Processes”, after the lecture we were tasked in conducting a practice an oral history interview with our classmates, For each of our interviews we had to ask our classmate what they were going to write about in our essay and so for each of us we had to ask the right kind of questions to our classmates.

Dalia

What do you think you’re going to do for your essay?

Dalia- “I think going to choose the same topic of my subject, synesthesia, its a neurological condition about people who see colors when they hear music, so I actually have discovered that Van Gogh had this condition and also there is an artist called Melisa in the U.S who has the same condition and when I read about the two artists I found out how Van Gogh was treated as someone who has a disease and how Melisa is someone consider very talented with the “disease” so it’s about how people who have this condition over the years like in classrooms, eg when Van Gogh did piano classes, he was kicked out because he used to color in the notes because he would see them in colors, but when Melisa was in college she was considered an artist just for having this condition, so yeah I’m talking about differences of how they felt.

What are you going to include? (e.g Your own views, quotes or your own argument)

“I think I’m going to include my options and also from the documentaries I’ve seen about people talking about themselves and how they experience synesthesia so then I would take their quotes and put them in my essay.

Do you think you know where to find sources?

“I’m still researching this because I’m choosing this topic for my subject so my tutor helps me some books and since I’m choosing this for constellation It would involve me getting resources, for example, I could contact Melisa and ask her questions but obviously, I cant contact Van Gogh and ask him how it felt.”

Do you think you’ll able to cover all three categories for your essay?

“I’m still researching this, so my tutor helps me get some books and since I’m choosing this for my constellation and it would involve me getting resources, for example, I could contact Mellisa and ask her if I could ask her some questions, but obviously I cant contact Van Gogh and ask him what it was like.”

Do you think you’ll be able to cover all three categories for your essay?

“Actually I don’t understand each category, so I don’t really understand them well.”

Medal Making process

On the 10th of October, I started process on my medals first I created oven bake plasticine models ( the key for these was to make certain parts of the model slightly three dimensional) Next I put them in the oven for 15 minutes at 130 degrees. Once all the models were hardened I then took them down to the wax room and made blue latex molds to make experimental wax medals, once the molds were prepared I poured in the hot wax and waited for about an hour for them to dry.

The Front

For the design of the front, I would model it from a certain element of one of Ed Wood’s movies (e.g poster design or scene), The two designs I made were based on two of his most famous movies: Glenn or Glenda (1953) and Plan 9 from outer space (1959). For Glenn or Glenda, I modeled the design based on the poster, where it shows a half man half woman person with a question marks all around it to emphasize the plot of the movie (which is a sex change flick).

For the layout of Plan 9 from Outerspace I sculpted a view of Hollywood hill and placed three flying saucers hovering over the city (for each saucer I’d draw a line on top of them, indicating that there really on stings and not really there, this is a reference to how bad the special effects are.

The Back

For the back, I chose a specific quote that relates to post humorous success, Ed Wood’s work and how it was seen. The quote I picked was from John Stoan

Quote: “What difference does it make whether your work is appreciated or not? The work will still be yours anyway, most of us are only appreciated after we are dead”

The Silicone Molds

To create the silicone molds I had to create a support out of plasticine and placed the model in the center of the support, then I cut up some pieces of thin sheet metal to act as barriers and to prevent the silicone from leaking. Once I mixed up the right amount of silicone and pigment, I then poured it onto the mold and using a back massager to get rid of the bubbles. After 24 hours, the silicone was dried and I was able to pull the model out of the mold, so then I started pouring in the hot wax, the results were slightly better in detail and quality.

St Fagans

On the 4th of October, for my second week of constellation, I and my group were assigned to meet up at st Fagan’s, there we would explore around the area and exercise our ability to identify sensory perceptions in places, objects or atmosphere.

The Red House

As I enter the house I instantly Smell the fireplace that warm nostalgic smell, it reminds me of when I was a child, whenever I and my family were exploring historic houses

I enter upstairs the floorboards are unbalanced the wood on the banister is smooth it has been varnished

The steps in the stairs are hollow inside
The ceiling is excellently woven
The architecture is different compared to modern work, the support beams are uneven and are chipped
Unlike modern architecture that’s all measured out and checked for quality and smoothed out
I look at the bedroom I wonder what it was like to sleep in those beds as they don’t look very comfy, so kind of makes me think, what was comfort for them?

The fire has many aspects we see the wood burn and as it burns it slowly collapses the wood turns white and fragile

The hissing and the crackling wood
The spitting sparks
Sometimes a new flame appears in a corner

The houses from multiple time periods:

The first house: unlike the other houses which were decorated with ornaments, pictures and may decorations

This house was pretty empty and dull, only containing items for person/people’s survival

I look at the old architecture, the chairs don’t seem to have good lumbar support or any comfort
The floor is bare ground
No carpet or wooden floorboards
This type of house was most likely intended for

1950s: This house is the first one to have electricity, this one has a tv, a ceiling light, and a radio

1980s:

This house is well put together and decorated the floor has patterned carpet
The kitchen is also well put together with an oven, an overly sized microwave
The living room has a TV, a radiator, a coffee table with two plates of fish and chips
Although this house isn’t as modern as today’s houses, it is the kind of set up we’re accustomed to compared to the other houses throughout the decades, with comfortable furniture

The Stores

My Medal Project Idea

For this term, I’ve decided to partake in the British Medak Art Society, for this project had to give my medal a theme of my choice as long as it connected to the real world.

For my theme, I’ve decided to base my medals on the obscure work of Edward D Wood Jr.

Brief History

Edward D Wood Jr (October 10th, 1924 – December 10th, 1978) was an American filmmaker and former World war II corporal, now he was different compared to other filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Wise etc, while those filmmakers made some of the most successful, influential and recognizable movies of all time, his movies, on the other hand, were unsuccessful, poorly made and left little to no impact to anyone, his movies were low budget with cheap special effects, stock footage, corny acting, and ridiculous stories.

Even though he never got much attention and his movies were never a critical or commercial success, his movies and life story started getting the publics attention years after his death in 1978, his movies then became cult classics and people these days consider his movies to be so bad there enjoyable, and the story about his film making career even inspired Tim Burton to direct a film biography about him.

What’s my idea?

I think of Ed Wood as the Van Gogh of moviemakers, the story of there carriers is similar but with opposite results, Van Gogh was poor and didn’t get much attention for his artwork and after his death, his paintings grabbed the publics attention and he posthumously became one of the most famous artists of all time, Ed Wood’s story is similar he barely had enough money, his went by unnoticed and unappreciated and he died a penniless alcoholic and years after his death his work caught the attention of the public, however his work was still considered to be bad and even to this day he is historically known as one of the worst film directors of all time, but his life, his film making career and perseverance became something of interest to the media.

So my idea is to create a medal based on his work, on one side I will capture a scene from one of his movies, (e.g Plan 9 from Outerspace, Bride of the monster, Glen or Glenda etc) and on the other side I will include a quote that relates to posthumous success and this quote(s) will have relevance to Ed Wood’s work.