German Expressionism

German Expressionism was a creative movement that began in Germany before the First World War. It spread over many media including not just art but music and theatre too.
When it comes to German expressions many ideologies and theories existed between the artists causing such a wide range of styles.

The “Die Brücke” or The Bridge. They believed their movement was a bridge towards a better future. Fritz Bleylm Ernst Kirchner, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rotluff founded this movement. They tended to use alot of colour in the works and would thin paints down to achieve smooth application.

Another group was one based on individual artists which were connected to the school of the Northern Expressionists. They believed their art should be simplistic and down-to-earth. Emil Nolde, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Christian Rohlfs were part of this movement.
The “Blaue Reiter” and they opposed every principle of the Die Brücke. This movement was started by Wassilly Kandinsky. Their work portrayed the world as it truly existed.

Another group was one formed by August Macke. They were called the Rhenish Expressionists and they believed their thoughts and ideas should be portrayed by form only.

When I looked around the exhibit in the Leicester museum the first thing I realised is how different all the artwork was on the walls. Some were plan black and white prints, some were brightly coloured and others where quick pencil sketches. I originally wasn’t a fan of expressionism but after seeing the range I found that some of the styles I started liking.

One of my favourite pieces was the Messiah by Ernst Neuschul. The detail of the bones on the man and the colours drew me in. Not just that but the rather shocking expression on the guys face is just...well weird but very compelling to look at.

Another picture that caught my eye was Death and Woman by Kathe Kollwitz which focused mainly on the form of a woman being pulled down by a skeleton and a child. It seems like such a simple pencil sketch but the dramatic pose really brings feeling to the picture. It’s completely different to the Messiah in media and style yet they both symbolise the views of expressionist artists.

Whoa! Disney?!

Oh Disney, while you may be failing at most things I think you’re finally getting something right. I may not be an epic Disney gamer but after seeing artwork most recent game I have to say I am interested.

Maybe it could be the fact it's something dark and crooked that Tim Burton hasn't made?
But I really am just loving the whole weird dark designs and the jagged toony look everythings getting. Such simple lines yet it makes everything look so complicated and irregular beyond belief. Plus the plot seems deep and actually thought through, which seems a rare when it comes to Disney.

Plus where else are you going to see a messed up cyborg Donald Duck?

Too bad they're only releasing it for the Wii though...

Alive and Kicking

Welcome back. After that Gruelling business last year I decided to build this assault course to hone my skills and learn some new ones...

Well finally I decided to update my blog, and so I thought I would start off with talking about the painter I decided to recreate, Édouard Manet.

To be honest Manet isn’t my most favorite artist in the whole entire world but I shall always remember a conversation with one of my art teachers many moons ago about the reflection in his picture A Bar at the Folies-Bergère being wrong. Sure it may be wrong perspective wise but how else would he have managed to get such a wonderful picture of the lady’s back and the gentleman if she was standing in the way of her reflection. After that conversation Manet has always sat in the back of my mind until recently when I decided to recreate his work.

Anyway on to why I chose to recreate this lovely picture:

The picture is of the painter Berthe Morisot, who was Manet’s sister-in-law. I decided to recreate this one in particular due to the brush strokes. They seem so quick and simple yet they blend so beautifully to create multiple tones. The background seems to be one colour yet look deeper and you see all so many other colours and tones blended into the yellow. The hair seems so wispy and simple yet it looks so detailed and though the dark clothes lack detail just bringing in the lighter tone brings out the shape and the warmth that seems to come from the rest of the picture.

While recreating this picture I decided to have a play with the dry brushes hidden in Photoshop and found the chalk brush, though it not a paint brush, it gives texture to the picture.

Now this is my recreation:

As you can seen not as amazing as the original masters work but I tried.

Feedback

Time for a feedback blog, YAY!

A first point on how Wednesday is set out. I know I’ve spoken to a few people about it and they agree. I feel it would be more beneficial if we had the lecture in the afternoon and the film in the morning. After we have the amazing, passionate, creative lectures I always want to go and do some work, or paint something amazing but then we get the film and while watching the film the creative drive goes down hill. So it would be nice to have the really awesome lecture then go home and want to do really creative work.

I’ve mostly enjoyed the traditional art this year at university. It’s been the first time that I’ve felt like I’ve actually been doing some form of art course since A level was particularly bad. I enjoy the lessons thoroughly and I feel it has given me a better understanding and appreciation for art and artists.

I feel that even though I’m slightly behind with the 3DS Max work, I am slowly getting to terms with the programs. Since I more enjoy the drawing side I’ve been neglecting the computer work so having more traditional artwork to do would probably put me off 3DS Max even more. Luckily I have had that magic ‘click’ moment and will do more of my own work in holidays with 3DS Max.

AWESOME!

And so after a spur of creative thought I decided to write some form of post, which is odd considering I am very bad at writing things down and such. Also the picture just had to go up there because to be quite frankly honest...it is AWESOME!

And so after going through one of my favourite sites which has a few inspirational if not geeky things on every so often (http://www.geekadelphia.com/ best site ever for gamer nerds) I found some things which really made me go...WOW!

(http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/steampunk/player.php?entry_id=100658)
The first thing to really get my creative juices flowing was an animation which joined together the concepts of steampunk with old myths and legends. It was an entry for a competition, which it deservedly won. Just the style of artwork in it is beautiful. I love how it looks so dull and dusty yet the animation and the way it's been painted and made into an animation brings it to life. It seems so scratchy yet it picks up the tone and idea so well, plus it seems like such an epic concept for some form of game.

(http://www.metanamorph.com/)
The second thing that made me feel all creative inside was work by a street artist called Edgar Mueller. He makes things on such a bigger scale to Julian Beever and uses paint rather then chalks to get a crisper look. I just love how his work manages to engulf whole streets, turning a simple road into a rage river or a lava flow. The fact he can not just work on pavement, but manage to work out perspective and fight the weather just makes it seem so much more brilliant. It just proves that you don't need a pencil and paper to get creative.

When I'm older I want to be...

'What am I going to get out of three years at University?'
Well there’s a lot of things I want to get out of university. I want to develop skills in the areas that the course focuses in. I want to be able to use the programs, talk the lingo and hopefully get a job that corresponds to the course. I don’t particularly want to be stuck in Tesco until I’m about 50 either…

One of my major more dream-like goals that I have is to work for either Capcom or Square Enix, but alas that dream is probably a little bit out of my reach, but still something to aim for. I would love to just work in the industry most, since gaming is a hobbie and art is a passion.

I enjoy the course thoroughly at the moment, it’s one of the best things I think I’ve done in along time. The art lessons make so much better sense then the ones did in my old school where we just got told to copy other artists work. I want to be able to show the skills I gain from the course to the world and hopefully to people who want me as part of their team.

Whenever I think of reflecting on where I want to be in the future or what I want to do I always remember back to the first art lesson I had in Sixth Form. The teacher asked all the students why they chose to do art and out of everyone I was the only one who could answer her, and I will remember my answer to this day as it was one of the most cheesiest things I’ve said in my life “Because it’s my passion.”

the bad blog. It will get some major edits to it when my mind wants to kick into gear.

Now for some crazy reason this blog is confusing me, might be all the information on creativity that’s been drilled into my head over the past few months.

When it comes to companies wanting different individual types I believe they can be both right. I believe that graduate artists may have a more professional aim where as liberal artists may bring something new a refreshing into the mix.

Education could meet these views by listening to the companies. Companies will have standards and will be looking for skills, education will build on the individuals skills. Plus adverts ask for experienced artists, education will create said experienced artists.

I know through my studies at university I have grown as an artist and my understanding of art has improved, so I feel now I would be more prepared to join a company with the skills I have now rathern then before starting the course.

And I'm wired for sound

Sound is one of the many important things in games which gives away genre and creates an ambiance. It is used to create tension, portray a feeling, to scare the player and to make something seem ten times more interesting. When multiple sensory organs are used the experience is enhanced (something to do with munching on crisps on some TV show with some famous scientific chef, it stuck in my head)

In games one of my favourite composers is Nobuo Uematsu. He is the composer used for most of the Final Fantasy games, Lost Odyssey, Chrono Trigger and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He also has his own band called The Black Mages which create a rock/metal versions of a lot of his older songs from Final Fantasy games. Jonathan Coulton is another very famous composer (This is a triumph, I’m making a note here: huge success…)

My key Sonic moment…saving Tails on the last level in Sonic the Hedgehog 2???
As a child I will always remember the scene where Aeris died in Final Fantasy VII, the music alone was beautiful. The scene started with just a low hum then as a piece of materia fell from her hair, the moment it hit the floor the music started up and it just became such a powerful piece.



Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards composition 'Good Times’ is certainly a well known composition. For me it’s probably not that influential but since it’s up beat and used quite a bit in adverts I’m sure it’s probably influential.

Mmmmmmmm Additives...

A game engine is a software system designed for video games to aid creation and development. They usually include a rendering engine, a physics engine or collision detection (and collision response), sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, and a scene graph. The game engines are important in gaming and are often reused for other games.

Additive and subtractive refers to how the world of games is created.

Additive environments begins with nothing, which is called a void. The designer then starts to place items into it. The Quake engines (Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena) and The Half-Life engine (Half-Life) use additive environments

Subtractive environments are opposite to additive environments. There is no void in a subtractive environment. The world starts with an infinite solid which designers must subtract from to create spaces for a user. The Unreal Engine (Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex) and The Dark Engine (Thief, System Shock 2) use subtractive environment.

Some companies specialise in “Middleware”. This is software that includes elements a game developer may need for a game. Gamebryo and RenderWare are some of the more known Middleware programs

Since there is such a high demand for amazing quality in next generation consoles it’s hard to keep up with the hype. Also game engine has to do much more then what it originally had to do to keep up with demand.

Culture

When it comes to the gaming culture I enjoy many parts of it. I enjoy not just the playing games but listening to the music, reading the guides and even dressing up as characters (http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/yamadeusa/035_35.jpg try to spot me) . Though I have not gone to a game specific convention I go to anime conventions which usually have a rather large gamer gathering along with people dressing up. Also I happen to work very closely with a gaming shop in my town. I occasionally do artwork for the front window and clutter up the shop by spending most of my Saturdays in there.

The gaming culture takes up most of my life. The Playstation 3 is near enough always on. On days where I have no work to do I can sit playing a game all day. I often spend a lot of my holidays getting games completed the moment I buy them. I buy atleast one game a month on average and last month I bought at least 3 games.

When it comes to online friends I do have quite a few contacts who are game orientated who I met via gaming sites. When I was a lot younger I used to spend most of my days on sites like Runescape and Neopets and through forums and meeting people I ended up gaining quite a few contacts with the same likes as me. I still talk to a few but I mostly chat with old friends and university friends.

Recessssssssion.

Firsly an interesting link about the gaming industry and recession http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10107412-52.html

As the world suffers economic downfall many different industries are feeling the pinch, even the gaming industry. Many employees are beginning to worry over job losses and companies are being closed or being bought out. At the moment the gaming industry is at a low due to recession.

This causes major challenges. Companies have to battle the lack of money and funds to make games and pay employees. This can cause problems in game development, putting titles back or even dropping games all together. Though it will be less felt within big game companies a few smaller ones will suffer complications.
Eidos Interactive is one of the company’s who have felt the recession. They have recently gone into debt and as of now, Square Enix is planning to buy them.

At the moment, compared to many parts of the world the gaming industry seems quite sound. especially in the major companies which have quite a lot of money. The recession will be felt a lot later along the line, around the time I finish university, meaning it will be hard to find a job but as long as people continue to buy games the gaming industry will keep on going.

Creativity

What is creativity????
“Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. An alternative conception of creativness is that it is simply the act of making something new.”
Creativity is something everyone has (well atleast I think they do). It ranges from mere thought to putting something on paper. It is the ability to create with originality. It is the thing that allowed Leonardo Da Vinci to invent and finally it is the thing that’s keeping this blog going.

It manifests in many forms, one form (being my favourite) is when ideas build up and the final thought it put to paper creating a marvellous image which could be a character, landscape or even an invention (as you can see below by the great Leonardo Da Vinci making crazy flying things)

When drawing, if I draw without constraint I can go for hours brainstorming ideas and not getting anything put on paper but with constraint I find that I can be creative in just a small area, meaning I can find out more details of that specific area making something that may be more realistic and have more detail. So I believe it depends on the person whether constraint enhances or hinders creativity.

When it comes to jobs just about every job is creative. Creativity is just shown in different ways. “Creativity isn't just about art and craft. We can be creative in the language we use, the sounds we make, the clothes we wear, the way we dance. But we can also be creative in the way we think. In fact, anyone can be creative even if they can't paint, dance or sing.”
Art Directors, artists, programmers and writers will all be creative. All in their way of thinking but when it comes to putting things down each way will be different. An art director will have to think fast to sort out the art team. The Arists will draw ideas, Programmers will have to think creatively to slot together bits of coding and finally writers have to be creative with the text they create.

Creativity looks like a 10in purple dinosaur with green and yellow spots called Bob…really it has many looks. It can look like text, a line on a piece of paper, a thought, an idea, a sound wave, anything. The sky’s the limit when it comes to creativity.

As creativity is much like the force from Star Wars (Everywhere, slightly crazy, something to do with Midochlorians?) it’s in everything when it comes to gaming. When it manifests in games it appears again in just about everything; the plot, the character design, the texture on the character, the landscape, the buttons used for certain actions, the programming that makes everything work, the motions of the character and items. There is also creativity in how the person interacts with the game. In games which have multiple routes which lead to an ending the player as to be creativity in thinking and work out a way to go.

When it comes to creativity some of my favourite creative people happen to be my favourite artists. Leonardo Da Vinci is very creative. I also find the artist Frida Kahlo to be very creative. She didn’t just draw portrait there would be thought bubbles and other odd things. Other creative people would be people like Tetsuya Nomura, Poppy Z. Brite, Giacometti and how about the people who were responsible for wrapping up Mikes desk and all the items in tin foil.
And finally I will show my thoughts and feelings through my drawings, creations and blogs. I’ll show creativity through my university work. My models that I’ve created will surely show creation? I would expect people to view my work, take the time to look at it and read it, that alone would make me happy.