Research - 1943 Film

http://youtu.be/ximQyzWH_H8

In order to establish a quick way of finding out some of the stories Baron Von Munchhausen would tell I decided it would be a good idea to watch one of the films about him. I watched a german version which was filmed in 1943 to try to get feel for the character within a short space of time. The film itself was an excellent production especially considering that it was produced whilst World War Two engulfed most of Europe. This version enabled me to quickly see the stories Munchhausen would tell and which stories I believe would possibly be of interest within an interactive comic. This is however only one point of view and someone else's interpretations of his story, therefore this can only be a starting point for my research in Munchhausen. There are several parts which seemed humorous and could be easily adapted to suit comic, interesting characters such as his runner or being a slave to the sultan, flying on a cannonball or flying to the moon are all stories which could be adapted in my own way. Further research will highlight how others will have approached the same subject matter and may hopefully inspire me in my own interpretations. I will look into others formats of these stories such as books, theatre productions e.t.c. Other areas I must research will focus on the time period Munchhausen was alive and see if this has an affect on how my concept develops.

Project choice

I have chosen this brief as there are several interesting aspects within it, the main character sounds as though he was flamboyant and full of life being a great storyteller. The time period of his life gives an opportunity to research the people of that time, their clothes, methods of travel, the diversity of society in that period. This project is also very open towards style and how the final piece may be delivered. Creating illustrations that may be animated or require to be interacted with is something I have not done before but am greatly interested in. The addition of using music or sound affects to bring the story more to life is also an interesting aspect of the project, one which I look forward to as this should enhance the experience of the user of the interactive comic as a whole.

Concept 2: Baron Von Munchausen 

Interactive Comic

History has had its fair share of colourful characters, but few as colourful as history’s greatest ‘teller of tall tales’. Your client wishes to exploit the interactive graphic novel medium to develop a new I.P. based on the eponymous Baron Von Munchausen.

The client would like for you to develop a stylish graphic style and implement it into a short sample interactive novel in which the navigator can peruse through a scene from the life of Baron Munchausen.

The Purpose

• Build a reliable and deep resource of imagery and influences
• Gather any needed resources such as tutorials and books which will help you
• Develop concept work which describes exactly how the visual style will look
• Create style tests 
• Develop the piece using a suitable software package
• Manage and execute a project 

Deliverables:

For this brief, the following items should be produced for submission. Wrap these deliverables into one single .ZIP file for the blackboard submission.

• Interactive Media Piece

Package up your interactive piece into something deployable such as .SWF .EXE .HTML or a Video (proof of concept) .AVI or .MP4 or Vimeo.com link.

Show evidence of

• Effective visual research influencing your visual design
• Knowledge of the narrative you have chosen
• Use of animated elements and FX
• Good use of audio elements
• Effective and interesting interaction elements
• Effective navigation design with structure and flow

"live" drawing exercise

This live drawing exercise was about trying to capture the essence or impression of people drawing very quickly, with little or no detail. The aim was to enhance line drawing, to loosen up our techniques, and to try and capture a moment rather than drawing exactly as with life drawing. Being messy, not worrying about proportions or details was key to getting the most out of this task. This proved to be a very valuable lesson for me as I actually surprised myself as to just how many drawings I was able to produce in the allotted time. Many of these drawing look like a bunch of squiggles, however the best of them show definite character or at least give a sense of who that person was. Most of the people I tried to draw were actually on the move at the time therefore making it difficult to draw them. This was a useful practise as it made me draw really quick with no intention of even trying to grasp any details. The most successful drawing are the most simple ones, with a few lines to show outlines or shapes. This exercise can seem a bit strange to others when you are trying to draw them, especially when in close proximity. This is a barrier probably easier to cross when you are the one drawing rather than being drawn. Sitting in one position allowed for this series of drawing but also limited me in the respect of the types of people walking by, this is an exercise which could be done in a variety of locations to get a more diverse group who may be walking, sitting or standing in a variety of positions. This exercise also creates a great book for referencing in the future, without realising it may also help understand anatomy better as you try to draw people of all shapes, sizes, watching how they move or behave which could add to their character in my drawings. Having the ability to draw messily definitely helped me with this task, I do not need everything to look perfect and enjoy the freedom of just making marks on a page. This can only improve further with practice which should enhance all aspects of my drawing techniques. Drawing people on the move proved to be the most difficult part of this task, again keeping on trying to do this would help me find my own way of improving on this. In order to move forward with this subject matter I believe picking other spaces to sit and draw such as shopping centre's, coffee shops, bars, bus stations would all add to my live drawing skills. Trying to get a variety of people in as many different situations as possible is key to this becoming an invaluable part of my learning. Focusing on trying to capture the person's character rather than their look will also be my main objective in future which can only come through practise.

Tone and Shade Evaluation

This exercise on tone and shade allowed me to try both mediums of pen and pencil. Firstly with pen using small squares to trial directional lines, dots and cross hatching to show a range of depths that can be created. Using pen for this task proved difficult as pen only allows for one tone, therefore mark making is the key skill to portrait a sense of shade or give any depth to a drawing. I found that within the above drawing I tend to overuse cross-hatching, this leads to a loss of tone as each shape within the drawing looks similar to the others. The darkest areas still show some depth but the cross hatching detracts from the lighter areas and gives the overall drawing a lack of contrast. I chose to detail the ball using dots rather than hatching to emphasise the difference between the materials, this seems to have worked as there is a definite distinction between both. This practice is very useful for observational skills as you really have to study an object, distinguishing where the areas of light and shade are and how they either blend together or show the contrasts within the same materials. In future I will use proper drawing paper not lined A4 which is for writing on, I will also try using lines that only lead in one direction rather than cross hatching everywhere. This would allow me to show each element of the shape in their own context and would greatly help with creating a sense of depth. This would mean more time spend studying the shapes, deciding line directions and allowing for a slower build up of tones and shades.
The second attempt was to see how much tone and shade I could create using only one HB pencil. The biggest issue with this drawing was time, or lack of it. I'm not sure if it was because I have drawn this straight after the pen drawing but I notice that I have tried to use similar techniques. There seems to be a strong use of line rather than shading although I did rush this slightly to get all shapes represented in the drawing. I feel this drawing lacks on several levels, this may be as I have always been more used to working with several pencils, working my way from light shades or hard H pencils through to heavy soft tones of B pencils. Both of these exercises have highlighted areas for improvement in both my technique and in my observational skills. Regular use of these types of exercise's should improve my drawings in many ways, especially in being able to create more depth.

Perspective Evaluation

The perspective task has shown several areas that need addressed to improve my drawing techniques.
My main aim for this task was to challenge myself, therefore having columns and desks within close proximity with other details at greater distances gave such a challenge.
This drawing was completed well within the specified time of 90 minutes, although I have realised that I did not spend enough time planning out the drawing. Essentially drawing from eye rather than measuring and laying out a rough grid to frame out key components has led to several mistakes.
The overall scale of glass to desk height seems way off as is the width, this affects every other part of the drawing and comes down to lack of planning out.
Areas marked in red highlight problems within the drawing, the angles on the underside of box sections  drop to much. It is clearly visible on the photo that they are more level and the same can be said of the desktops. I sometimes have a habit of drawing things like I am floating in a higher position than I am actually sitting or standing in. The proportions of each desk in comparison to each other also seem to be off, again down to initial layout. The ventilation which hangs from the ceiling also seems at the wrong angle which does not create the actual depth that is in the scene.
Creating a sense of depth was done by trying to highlight or thicken lines which were closest to where I was sitting, with faint lines used to give an impression of distance. This has worked fairly well using pen as all lines have the same darkness unlike using a variety of pencils. The lines shown could all be much neater by using a ruler instead of lines done purely by hand. Although this drawing is not precisely correct it would work as a sketch to demonstrate initial ideas or concepts as there is enough detail to allow others to imagine the space or layout.
Lack of good disciplines has been the major cause of any issues with this drawing, rather than diving straight into sketching out I should plan out what are the key components of a drawing. How they sit in comparison to each other, measuring as I would do in life drawing would have made a vast improvement to the image.
Using pen on A4 lined paper has limited me to some sense, this drawing could be done again using pencil in a much larger sketchbook and then compared to this initial drawing. Using a larger scale would feel less restrictive and allow for more alterations to layout, this would also be the case if I had used pencils which give more flexibility when mark making. Using pencils may also allow me to create a sense of depth easier as I could use different types of pencils from heavy to light emphasising which lines are closer to the viewer. I found that one of my main strengths was having the confidence to sketch very quickly and lay down marks, this is good in some sense but perhaps in future I should consider spending more time planning out first which would then give me more accurate drawings.