The Post With The Most 03/10/11

The Post With The Most returns for its first 'Readers Digest' of  2011/12.  It's week three of semester one already - or of semester three if you're year two, or of five if you're in three... Anyway, it's early days, but you're not hanging around, which is great, so what follows is just the tip of an eye-candy iceberg...

As is now typical at the beginning of term, there have been multiple breaches of health and safety regulations in the cg arts matter-transmission laboratories.  Another Noah's boatload has run riot through our telepod showroom, and so resulting in our entire  first year being mingled 'inter-species' at the genetic level. Josh Etienne was unfortunate enough to find a lobster bobbing in his atom stream and this dynamic and impactful range of developmental silhouettes are his pen-and-tablet predictions of the ultimate form of his ensuing transformation.

Meanwhile,  in another corner of the UK's least well-maintained laboratory, Magda's own close encounter with her 'subject B' encourages me to blow the dust off a famously poor joke.

Q: What do you call a female moth?

A: A myth. 

Yes, Magda has been gene-spliced with a moth (easily done - far easier than Meg's great white shark gaffe or Fred's "There's a giraffe in my telepod" faux-pas) and what I like especially about this range of thumbails is the diverse tonality of approaches - from the delightful whimsy of 'Madga as chubby-wubby caterpillar' to the much creepier, surrealistic incarnation depicted in thumbnail number nine.

None of us are rightly sure how David "Call me, Stitch" Vandepeer overlooked the not-inconsiderable presence of a walrus in his matter transporting cubicle (it was probably hidden behind the shark and the giraffe), but Stitch is now getting to grips with the anatomical consequences of his sea-mammal-sized oversight.  Much has been said recently about the perennial importance of presentation, of taking a few extra minutes to lend punch and sophistication to your creative work.  This attention to detail and emphasis on personal branding is something Stitch understands and puts into practice.  This is as true of his 'Online Greenlight Review' document, which I'm featuring here because it sets the bar nice and high.  Professionalism starts early on CGAA - follow the example.

Early on, there's always confusion in regard to the 'right way' to use an 'influence map' - my answer is always use it 'sincerely' - in other words, do not treat them as decorative exercises, use them to decode the design DNA of your creative direction.  Here, Steve Payne's influence map identifies quickly and succinctly the combination of design elements presupposed by his fusion with a nautilus.  This influence map is part mission-statement, part mood-board.

CGAA Year 2 are adapting to life with three concurrent briefs - the Retrofest Studio project, Character Design and the academic doozy that is Postmodernism.   Dom has made a start designing for his 'mythic pirate' mash-up with these two dynamic character studies of his villain and hero respectively...

Third year student, Ethan Clements is in the early stages of devising the visual language for cg environments for an expressionism-inspired adaptation of Robert Browning's poem, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Ethan is playing fast and loose with the drawing package, Alchemy, using its sounds-into-brushmarks facility to quite literally turn the poem-as-spoken-word into abstract components of landscape. 

Another dynamic use of audio now, as year 3 student, Elly Mcgregor unpacks his design rationale in the form of an oral presentation.  Elly has chosen to design a series of assets from Jack Campbell's military science-fiction book series, The Lost Fleet.  I find Elly's approach to the exposition of his project very satisfying - so much more immediate than an equivalent text-based post.  I'd suggest this approach might benefit other CGAA students too, as it encourages a certain clarity of purpose and economy of content.

As some of you may already be aware, a quartet of CGAA graduates are collaborating with the Biosciences Dept. of the University of Kent - no, not in the origination of human/animal hybrids - but in the design and execution of original cg animations in response to particular bioscientific scenarios.  Scenarios include 'fighting an infection', and Sebastian Schauman has reached the pre-vis stage...

Elsewhere, our very own Tom Beg, GTA and scholarship beneficiary, is working on his scenario for the 'Spectacular Science' UCA/UoK collaboration - the sex life of mushrooms!  Anyone familiar with Tom's work will know he favours an eclecticism of influence and a strong visual style; combining early animation, a vintage jazz  soundtrack and belly dancing, Tom's take on the ways and means of fungi reproduction promises to be unique.

Over at Green Octopus - creative stomping ground of year three students, Sam Hayes and Rich V-C - pre-production has begun in earnest for their in-the-offing China/Wild West mash-up...

... while the boys at Atomic Pancakes have a green-lit script - thanks to Ethan's patience and dogged persistence, Ruben's design for the frustrated, ultimately luckless crime writer, Arthur Winters, is awaiting his evolutionary leap into polygons, and Jordan is prepping the set.

The Wolves Within - a final year collaboration between Leo and Jolanta  - arrives at the animatic stage.  With more refinements to come and a wealth of production art to follow, The Wolves Within is very much a work in progress, but getting to the animatic stage nice and early means Leo and JJ can quickly identify the next stage of development, while confirming, in essence, that the mood, pace and narrative are already making sparks.

Many thanks to the year 2, 3 and postgraduate students who have agreed to mentor our newest recruits.  Your mission is to enthuse, motivate, and advise. For any first years not yet acquainted with their respective mentor, go here for the list.

Meanwhile, the brand new, all-singing, all-dancing CGAA Showcase 2011/12 is green-for-go.  No doubt there will be a few tweaks here and there still to complete and additions of new student work as and when.  Genuine thanks to CGAA year 2 student, Ryan Leitao, who endured considerable chopping and changing on my part as we worked up the final design for the postcard.  With his knowledge of QR codes and android phones and characteristic flair for graphic design, Ryan's patience and professionalism impressed throughout.  Many thanks, Ryan - couldn't have done it without you.

And the final word goes to...