Class - Heads Only

I've decided to give up on trying to create a full body animation and just stick to the head. Christmas is just around the corner and I don't have the access to the correct software to continue to build a character if I'm going to have a functioning body too. However I practically have a finished head which I can begin filming with.

Here are 2 artists that helped me come to terms with this arrangement:

Alan Bennett - Talking Heads

Bennett takes ordinary characters and lets them tell their ordinary day to day stories, simply following their heads and shoulders round their homes. I love how revealing this is of working class in particular as it just shows personality - something we can all relate to. It reveals how we're all the same, we all have boring complaints or issues that we love to drone on about. 

Max Headroom

Max Headroom is another artist that I love the style of. He has practically created what I aim to do, just in an older software. he has made a 3D head and shoulders and has it speak nonsense in front of a glitchy computerised background. I love the clashing colours and the electronic feel of his work - it also reminds me of my poor image project I did last year. 

Class - and Kistch

I'm finally starting to get somewhere with my character design so I need to start visualising some films.
In my lecture the other day there was mention of Clement Greenburg and his views on Kitsch. As we all know, kitsch is my thing. I love kitsch. I want to be kitsch and I'll be damned if this projects doesn't have some kind of kitsch in there too.
Well anyway, Clement Greenburg said this (or near enough) "Repin paints effect. He predigests the art for the spectator and spares him the effort." Basically art which exists to produce effect is kitsch.
Everything that is blaringly obvious is kitsch. I want to do this with my work and I have an idea.
I think that I want to create characters that are so over the top stereotypically working class that people will take one look and think "this girl's a snob just showing the appearance of a chav". However, as I want my characters to be moving breathing characters I'm going to get them to talk and tell their stories. These stories will be taken from quotes I've collected or stories I've read in zines.

Class - Interactive?

From my previous project I decided I would quite like to go into creating interactive pieces. For this project I was thinking of having a character that the viewer could control what class they are. The Snob Nob was the original idea.
The only problem with this being that I already feel creatively smothered because I'm trying to learn Cinema 4D and that isn't working out very well already. I spoke to my tutors about it and he said that the only way I would be able to make it interactive is to export the character to Flash. I have no idea how to use Flash and I really don't think I have the time in this project. Especially with Christmas in the middle of it where I have no access to the uni computers or the tutors to teach me.
However, this is definitely something to think about for next time. As I'm becoming more interested in animation, the next step would be something interactive almost like a game.
Maybe there is another way to make my work interactive without having to do it on software. If the way I exhibited it was quite interactive that would be interesting. Like different rooms or something.
Hmmm.. something to think about.

Class - Software is the bane of my life.

Cinema 4D is driving me insane. About 3 weeks have passed now and I have practically nothing to show for it in the way of 3D drawing. Every time I've attempted to create a character something's gone wrong. I finally settled down and watched about 6 hours of tutorials on Lynda.com and now have something that slightly resembles an upright ape but it's still not animatable. And I can't find any good tutorials on how to animate the character once it's created.
I've created a sketchbook where I'm putting in screenshots of all my failed attempts so at least everyone knows I've not just been doing nothing for the past three weeks. I've spent nearly all day every day in the Printing room at university. Also the only version of the software that I have available on my Mac doesn't have Pose Morph or Scultping which I need to sculpt (obviously) and animate.
At least I know not to overestimate what I can produce and learn now.

Class - Research

To try and find out more about working class and what really goes on, I've started watching some documentaries that explore home lives and follow people around on their day to day business. 

My favourite show is Skint. 

From this programme I've been quite shocked at stories some of the people tell. Stories of prostitution and drug addiction from very young ages - just to support themselves or to shut out reality. There have also been some extremely funny yet insightful quotes. A lot of cursing yet the things said are very intelligent. 

A few of my favourites being "Don't disrespect the fuckin' queen" and "When it comes to christmas you get a loan, buy your kids what everyone else has, spend the rest of the year paying it off then do it again next year!"

I want to incorporate these quotes into my films to reveal the truth behind the stereotypes and bring a personal level to the films. 

I also have been watching Gogglebox, partly because I enjoy it but also because I get to see the reactions from mainly working class audiences to current TV. One episode in particular was interesting as they all watched a programme called Inside Tattler and were astounded that some of the women hadn't ever heard of Poundland. They were laughing hysterically at her disbelief at the bargains. 

Class - Cinema 4D Character Design & Jesse Kanda

As a follow on from my last project I know that I want to continue furthering my skills in this software. Last time all I worked with was squares really, but character design is something completely different and more the kind of direction I want to go in. 

I found an artist called Jesse Kanda who does music videos, something I am also doing outside my course and he uses C4D to create 3D bizarre characters. I love the atmosphere his films create, like a sinister disturbing feel. I also think his use of colour is amazing, the flashing and clashing is something I'm particularly fond of using too. 

Jesse Kanda Website

Although I doubt I'll be able to create something as accurate and fluid by the end of this project, this is certainly the standard I want to be at one day! 

Class - Observational Drawings

As I sit and draw I find myself drawn much more towards those I categorise as working class. As I draw them I know that I prefer their lined faces, eyes that actually look around and interact with their surroundings and their open actions. They look happy, sad, drawn, stressed, angry - there is no pretending or putting up appearances with them. They're out with their friends or alone shopping or simply walking around taking in everything around them. I start to pay attention to how I define them, making lists and collecting quotes and in the end creating little scenes myself applying the lists to them. 

I know now that I want to focus on the stereotypes of Working Class. I want to explore these stereotypes and reveal the nature behind them, to get a little more understanding of their situations and shed some light on the real deal. 

Class - Brief and initial thoughts

Aims
This project will enable you to investigate, document, translate and create narratives of Culture, Class and Taste after visiting the Grayson Perry tapestries ‘ The Vanity of Small Differences’ at Temple Newsam House, Leeds.

Your research should reflect some of the ‘narratives’ undertaken by Grayson Perry in his series of films in examining how ‘Identities’ can be translated and understood
The project provides an opportunity to develop specific relationships as artists and illustrators, through the making of objects and images, to ‘Culture’ and notions of Taste acquired through Socio-Cultural and Class contexts.

Areas of research:
political or ideological affiliation
family and community background.
inherited skills and interests
peer group cultures
collective identities and culture
manners, etiquette, social rules
communities and collective interests
fashions
dominant, alternative or sub-cultures
education and social mobility
communication of Narratives through media; films, music, television, Internet, and social media
entertainment
technologies
gender
notions of similarity and difference; culture, race, sexuality, religion
shared community, regional, global values
customs, histories and traditions
hierarchies ; ‘top down’ or ‘bottom up’ influences
personal expression, consensus and individualism
wealth
kitsch
high, popular and low culture
cultural accessibility
re-defining and free-floating markers of taste

Introduction:
Group tasks and discussion: Christian Lloyd, Bob Partridge (T1/06) Tuesday 18 November 11.15am (all Strands)

How does an understanding of Culture and Taste guide the way we acknowledge, interpret, value and understand cultural objects/cultural capital?
How are cultural artefacts and behaviour codified and how do we decode and employ the codes ourselves as artists?
What makes ‘Art’ contemporary and what essential differences exist in recognising cultural or cross-cultural influences on the ‘modern’ or ‘postmodern’ when responding to cultural artefacts and images?

Stage 1:
Define the following terms:
Culture
Taste
Class
Art
(These can become the introductory source of enquiry in sketchbooks and journals as well as ‘umbrella’ terms in the Blog)

Stage 2
With this Research in mind
Choose objects, images, sections of film, graphic novels and comics, wallpaper pattern books, gallery catalogues, interior design magazines, antiques or works of art catalogues, car manuals, DIY guides, ‘household/lifestyle catalogues eg Ikea? Liberty, B&Q, holiday brochures, menu cards, online clothing catalogues, Deviant Art, Tate gallery guide, etc. that determine and refine aspects of your approach to the Culture/Taste.

Make a series of small drawings, colour studies, prints, montages and collages that experiment with the notion of ‘coding’, ‘signifiers’ and the semiotic of groupings. Work from these small works on other scales and in changes of media.
Analyse and deconstruct the ‘iconic’ stereotypical and eccentric in pursuing your own developing interests and reflections on Taste and Culture. Extend this to include video and 3D structures. Use visual art elements –composition, colour, structure, dynamic, line, shape, pattern etc to develop particular ways the viewer might ‘read’ these images, films or objects.

Stage 3
Develop a series of works that demonstrate your understanding, as a contemporary artist or illustrator of the narrative subject matter as a:
Focus
Challenge
Critique
Celebration
Develop an appropriate language that conforms to, extends or proposes alternatives to current paradigms
Consider the context for the output: gallery, book, zine, site specific, lens-based, magazine, internet, collaboration, community, performance
Use sketchbooks, journals, notebooks and Blogs in tracing your development of idea and imagery and the cultural/artistic contexts for this production

The first thing that comes to mind when I read this brief is the stereotypes that surround the different classes. How do we define who is in what class? I know I'm not alone in walking around and categorising people into how rich they are. What I want to know is where these categories come from and if there is actually any truth in them - if there is, what is the reason for them? 

Each class faces a negative stereotype somewhere or other. Working class = chavs/aggressive/benefit dependent. Upper/middle class = snobs/uncaring/tax frauds. 

I'm going to begin how I begin every project, with observation. I'll go out and sit and draw and take notes on anything I think is relevant.