Post With The Most 12/12/2011

'Tis soon the season to be jolly', or for many of our CGAA students, ‘tis soon the season to be very busy indeed’, but take five minutes to get comfy with a glass of eggnog and a mince pie and enjoy this week’s bumper PWTM.


2 weeks ago, CGAA Yr 1 completed Unit 2 Space, which challenged them to create digitally painted concept art imagining literary worlds as dreamed up by the likes of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, H.R. Haggard, Poe and Lovecraft.  The course team were in agreement; the work produced for this unit by CGAA Class of 2011 was the strongest yet.  I was personally delighted with the quality and distinctiveness of much of the work produced, a not-inconsiderable selection of which is showcased below.

Fred - The Fall Of The House of Usher

Ollie - The Lost World

Magda - The Time Machine

Tom - She

Ernesta - She

Nat - The Masque Of The Red Death

Otis - A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth

Mei - The Neverending Story

Gabriel - The Lost World

Jojo - A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth

Emma - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Kadeem - The Neverending Story

George - At The Earth's Core

Lydia - At The Earth's Core

Alice - The Time Machine

Urvashi - The Lost World

Andrew - The Neverending Story

Steve - The Shunned House

David - The Neverending Story

One of the principle aims of any good arts degree course is to give its students the skill, experience and breadth of knowledge to discuss with confidence the creative culture of which they’re part and to which one day they’ll contribute.  True - it’s a rare cg student who jumps unprompted at the opportunity to write another film review or written assignment, or who elects with unbridled shoot-for-the-moon enthusiasm to watch art-house cinema that is a) old, b) slow, and c) strange – and yet, I’m impressed constantly by the quality of critical writing on CG Arts & Animation.  Consider David Vandepeer’s insightful take on Robin Hardy's 1975 cult classic The Wicker Man. For more insightful reviews check out Jono's review for The Maltese Falcon (1941), Molly's take on Blade Runner (1982), and Dan Rolph's review for The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951).  This is but a very small selection of the great writing out there on the CGAA blogs. Go find it.  It's impressive stuff.

After 10 long weeks of back-to-basics tuition, refinements, soul-searching, teeth-gnashing and a whole heap of pencil shavings, CGAA year 2 completed their respective character bibles in response to a brief challenging them to create heroes, villains and sidekicks for a new Saturday morning cartoon show...

Kayleigh Dean - Mutants vs. Cyborgs

Andriana Laskari - Ada Sar Tsang - The Sand Priest

Jonathan Pearmain - The Return of Avalon

Sam Tremain - Alhazred's Map

Molly Bolder - Fantasy Ninjas

Dayle Sanders - Zinnia: Beasts of White Fire



and some further highlights...


Justin Easton's camel sidekick, Saad.




Alex Zepherin's 'Psycho Gecko' sidekick.




Sasha Hart's Dr Vile.



Katy Negus's alien quail, Francis Woodruff.

Lyn-Dae Stewart's heroic Rafarta and Nikulas.



Dom Lukosius' hero pirate, villainous Capricorn and sidekick pheonix.

Sean Banford's Ninja and Samurai development sheets.

Character Design might be done and dusted for our CGAA second years, but far from resting on their laurels, their respective responsibilities for seeing their Retrofest trailers completed on schedule are ramping up daily.  A selection of 'in-production' images follows and if you're not doing so already, be sure to follow the studio blogs - they are sure to be a-buzz with updates over coming weeks and they are de rigueur destinations for any year 1 student eager for a glimpse into what 2012 on CGAA might have in store...

Black Lagoon Studios -  The Killers From The Swamp

Night Crawler Studios - Attack Of The Robot Spiders

Underlord Studios - Invasion From The Centre Of The Earth

First Light Studio - Destination Mars!

Silver Talon Studios - NIght Of The Monsters

Ink Slinger Studios - The Room At The Hotel Del Coronado

Centrifugal Studio - The Woman On Los Feliz

Glass Key Studios - The Skeleton Key On Broadway

Free Mind Studios - High School Revenge

For our third years, time is of the essence.  I somehow suspect their Christmas 2011 won't be synonymous with long, lazy centrally-heated afternoons a-kip in front of The Sound of Music!  With a 8,000 + word dissertation to complete alongside ambitious minor projects, time-management needs to be precision-engineered if quality it to out-trump expediency. What follows is a snap-shot of what it means to be a third year  on CGAA right now, which will no doubt be already out-of-date and behind-the-times even as of writing as things are moving so quickly now.

Jola & Leo - The Wolves Within

Sam & Rich @ Green Octopus

















Charlotte - The Mappa Mundi




Simon - Robbie







Matt Hyland 

Ruben, Jordan & Ethan S @ Atom Pancakes

Alex

Elly - The Lost Fleet

As this will be the last PWTM of 2011 all that remains is for me to say well done to all of you on CGAA. It's been a tough 13 weeks, with our new recruits hitting the floor running, 2nd years hitting their stride (but not before leaping the hurdles of group work, character design and  postmodernism!), and third years pulling out all the stops (and some of their hair) in their continuing efforts to push the envelope.  I know you're all tired and feeling the pinch, and maybe not everything has gone your way, but the quality of work attests to your talents, hard work and 100% commitment to producing innovative, stylish and professional content.  There's not much good news in the world right now - but you lot cheer me up.  I mean that.  You're the future you see...

The final word...

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Aristotle

"Diamonds are only chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs."

Minnie Richard Smith.

"Be Amazing!"

Tutorphil