Final Presentation Images

Almost Complete

Alright, so the glass eye is sculpted and cold worked to a polish again. The digital side of things is similar to the last post. I added color changes to the planet circling the star. It now changes to brown as if all of the water burns off when the sun goes into it's red giant phase. There are a few more thing that I would like to change before actually setting the piece up in a gallery. For example I need to change the stand. While it's better than what I originally had (cardboard), it still doesn't fit with the visual style and aesthetics of the eye itself. It is very rectangular and boxy, while the eye is nothing but smooth and organic lines. I would also like to cold work the eye a bit more. There are a few select areas, such as the nub on the end, that could use some grinding down.

Redesign

After receiving the feedback from my second update I was under the impression that I was supposed to completely rehash the visual side of my piece in 4 weeks. I talked to a few people and they gave me suggestions to modify my original style, which I have done. I've nixed the multiple stars and decided instead to focus on Our star. I have also added earth orbiting. There isn't any interaction between the two yet, however I want the earth to eventually be affected by the sun's life cycle. For example I want the earth to change color when the sun nearly swallows earth when going into it's red giant stage. I'm also toying around with the idea of using a flocking simulation of some sort, or maybe just some hard coding to add a moon and some satellites orbiting earth. I also want those to be blown away after the sun poofs off it's outer shell. 

As for the glass portion, I haven't talked to Joel yet as I have been nailing down the concept a lot lately, however I have a few new ideas for what I want to project through. Glass blowing has helped me see the world in a bit of a different light. It has shown me that hard work will allow me to accomplish anything. Glassblowing hasn't just improved my hand eye coordination, it has become something that follows me around and has really turned into a sort of lens that I view the world through. I am thinking that I want a single, clear piece of glass, of a yet undecided shape (circular in someway for sure) that sits right in front of the sun. The earth won't be included in the lens. 

Even though this particular point isn't really related to the overall concept of decay, I believe that it ties in well because, if you think about it, every single picture of the universe that you have ever seen has been through a lens. Even originally I liked the idea of glass as a lens for this piece. I want it to soften the edges and lines of my animation. Which is kind of ironic as lenses are traditionally used to bring things into focus. 

New Direction

Well I've been thinking a lot about the feedback that I received and I have been doing some research into the topic as well. My visual style that I presented was not well received. It didn't communicate what I was trying to represent. I have come to the conclusion that I will probably need to nix 90% or more of what I have done on the digital side of things and 100% of what I have done on the glass side of things. I'm not even sure how I will incorporate glass into this either. Anyway, I believe that if I start to insert images into canvas I will be more able to visually represent the tiny amount of this universe that we will likely affect. It will be a bit more literal and less abstract. I will likely Photoshop my own images, however I will probably throw something together with pre-existing images to make sure that everything works and is doing what I want to do and saying what I want it to say.

Decay

I've been attempting to research a bit into art that incorporates decay into it. Unfortunately I haven't found a lot that seems deal with anything but the literal sense of the word decay. Actual decaying artwork, artwork that looks like it is decaying, artwork subject matter that is decaying. None of which seems to be touching on what I am looking into which is the eventual nothingness that the universe will supposedly become. They are all using a very literal sense of that word. More along the lines of decomposition as opposed to what I am thinking of. I have incorporated an entropy function into my code that is starting to get at the decay idea I think. I haven't changed the aesthetic yet as I enjoy it and I think it communicates stars and energy.

Some screenshots of it in "action"

Everything, from the main stars, to the background stars are fading at a rate that is difficult to notice but eventually  becomes very noticeable.  Full animation is at: My Website

Projections

I've done some experimenting with my glass and projections. It was a bit different than I expected but I think that I can deal with it by making my glass even thinner than it already is. This shouldn't be too much of an issue, just a simple readjustment.

This is a photo I took of some of the projections. Quality is sub-par as I didn't have anyone around to help me photograph it.

The first three images show the projection through thinner pieces.

This is through some thicker glass and it isn't nearly as bright as I wanted. Thinner is obviously the key.

Progress 10/16/13

Life has been rough for the last few weeks so progress isn't exactly coming easy. There has been some however. From the coding aspect I have progressed since the last update, although it has been quite slow I think that it is a good start and a good base to build off of.

This is the current state of my canvas, a live version can be found at:
www.eacrow.com/BFA.html

I still need to flesh out the actual concept but I will be posting some photos of the projection soon here, I have tried it out really quickly and it seems like I will have to blow as thin as possible, also the ribs seem to scatter the light a bit too much but you will see that when I post the next update.

Glasswork Update

Ok so the one thing that I actually have been doing with this project is working on perfecting my glass spheres that I am hand blowing for this piece. Initially I thought that I had a good technique for making my globes quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately my glass teacher Joel had some other ideas for me. He explained that if I seal off the top opening completely like I have in the first photo, then for whatever reason when it gets cold, the inside of the globe may fog up. As I want to be able to control my piece I definitely don't want this to happen.

As you can see I also messed the shape up a bit, but otherwise it wasn't a bad first attempt.

The technique that my teacher showed me is unfortunately significantly harder than what I had come up with on my own and I am still working on mastering it. The next few images are in chronological order from when I blew them. Another thing that I am working on is the ribbing of the glass. My teacher also brushed me up on that technique as well allowing me to get very fine and well defined ribs. You can see this in some of the later pieces.

 The left one is closed off still, and the right one is the first one that he showed me the new technique on.

 The ribs are slightly better on this one and you can see the trouble i'm having with getting the hooks on there in a aesthetically pleasing way.

This one didn't come off the pipe cleanly and cracked at the top. The ribs on this one are very nice though so I included it as progress. Most if not all of these will not be used in the final piece and are simply practice copies. While i haven't progressed much digitally, I have at least progressed a lot in this area. In the future I will be buying some glass color called frit. This will allow me to make some very cool looking globes and will really help vary my piece a lot.

Rut

I haven't posted in a while, and unfortunately the reason for this is my being stuck in a rut. I've been thinking really hard these last few days on what I want the viewer to feel upon viewing my piece of work. I think that I've finally settled on a sort of theme or something along those lines. That feeling you get when you think about the universe. The enormity of everything and the seeming randomness of it all. I know that this will be a difficult feeling to evoke but I think that I also want to draw inspiration from the night sky and stars and all of the other space matter that is out there. Cool colors, although not exclusively.

Contract

Contract

I am going to be creating an installation which will combine my two favorite media; Glass blowing and web design. I really wanted to include glass blowing into my final undergraduate piece because I recently have developed quite a passion for the craft and wish that I had started it sooner. This is my way of including it into my last piece, especially since access to a glass studio will be quite limited after this semester.

For the concept or idea behind the piece, I want to incorporate aspects of epicness and unearthliness. I want the user to become lost in the experience. I know that achieving this will be quite difficult but I will give it my all and I think I have a reasonable time from to accomplish it.

The piece will experiment with projected light through hand blown glass bubbles/spheres of varying texture, size, color, and shape. I will be programming a sort of animation using the HTML5 canvas. It will likely be very abstract and attempt to evoke a sense of wonder. I also wanted to include a synced soundtrack that may possibly be composed by a local artist. If I can’t get him to do it, I will pick an appropriate piece and ask the creator for rights to use it.

As for how it will be presented, there will hopefully be somewhere that I can hang the bulbs, either a low-ish ceiling or an overhang of sorts. From there I will hang the bulbs and project the animation through the glass and onto a screen of some sort, or possibly a white wall if available.

Necessary Materials:

Glassblowing materials including: Bar color, frit, possibly a set of jacks

Projector

Computer

Projection screen

Calendar Dates:

Mon Sep 16 - Have necessary research/plans finished

Wed Sep 18 - Begin work on Canvas section and interface.

Mon Sep 23 - Have everything laid out, interface complete

Wed Sep 25 - Blow glass

Mon Sep 30 - Canvas Work

Wed Oct 2 - Blow Glass

Mon Oct 7 - Formal defense

Wed Oct 9 - Formal defense

Mon Oct 14 - Canvas Work

Wed Oct 16 - Blow Glass

Mon Oct 21 - Canvas Work

Wed Oct 23 - Blow Glass

Mon Oct 28 - Canvas Work

Wed Oct 30 - Blow Glass

Mon Nov 4 - Canvas Work

Wed Nov 6 - Blow Glass

Mon Nov 11 - Vets Day/Canvas Work

Wed Nov 13 - Blow Glass

Mon Nov 18 - Mostly completed Canvas portion, Able to “beta test”

Wed Nov 20 - Blow glass

Mon Nov 25 - Have Glass-work Completed

Wed Nov 27 - Finalized Coding, everything else is complete and tested.

Mon Dec 3 - Final Presentation of completed work to DA faculty

Tues Dec 17 - Final Exam/Body of work due in Exhibition Format

Self-Assessment

Currently I'm not sure that I have a "style" artistically. For the most part when I doodle I attempt realism but I also enjoy putting a lot of surreal aspects into my works. When I say doodles I mean that I am not necessarily using my chosen medium for an artistic reason and I don't usually make that much "art". Mostly I just make websites. The main reason that I am using web design is to eventually get a job doing just that. Unfortunately I assume that I won't always have a whole lot of artistic freedom in that sense... I do have another medium that I really enjoy. I believe that using my skills as a glass blower I could combine my knowledge of HTML 5, javascript, Photoshop, After Effects, possibly even Maya with projection through glass that I've hand blown would be quite an undertaking but I think that I could pull it off. It will have a direction and definitely a theme of some sort. I still need to think more about this... I almost feel like I could do something mind blowing with this piece if I do it right. I've also found an interesting installation called PRISMA 1666.

http://www.feelguide.com/2011/11/09/huge-prisms-ipad-colored-light-projections-shanghais-stunning-art-installation-piece-prisma-1666/

This incorporates aspects of what I want to achieve in my own piece. I really like the idea of touch screen interactivity...

First day of class post!