This made me both hate and enjoy animation at the same time. I can finally rest now.
It’s short because adding sound, color, and other details into it takes a lot of time and energy.
If I had like a few months, it would probably be better.
Probably the last post on this blog… I dunno.
Haev Goode Day.
I have finally finished animating. It is currently 6:03 AM EST. I currently never want to do art ever again, but I know I will come back to it.
Looking back, I’ve noticed that I’ve changed. Maybe the anatomy I draw is a little better, and the emotions on faces are a bit more believable. The animation seems smoother and the lines are cleaner. Although I’ve seemed to have progressed a great bit, I’m still far from being satisfied. I always see what I make as inadequate, and I hate doing it. But I guess it helps me to get better.
There are seemingly still things that I’ve got to learn. I sometimes set the bar too damn high. I mean, a 2:00+ min animation?! IN LESS THAN A MONTH?! AM I CRAZY?! A good minute takes like around 1000 frames. So I’ve cut it down to less than a minute. I also expected the quality of the illustration to be much better, and the animation better as well. I’ve got to understand that such things take time. I’ve also got to set boundaries for myself, and certain limits. So what if it doesn’t look like what I expected. If I keep at it, the quality should eventually get there. I’ve got to learn that my expectations will usually not match the results, and that’s okay. And that I’ll only get better with time. The people I aspire to be like have been in the craft for many years, and even they are not yet satisfied.
I’ve got to learn that somewhere, someone is appreciating my art, even though I tend to think it isn’t good enough. Improvement takes time, as does bigger projects. Come back to it when you’re better, and maybe you’ll see what you wanted to see, or maybe you’ll want to see better.
If I sound weird, it’s because I’m talking to myself. Sleep deprivation will do that to you. But this shows how much I’ve invested into doing art. Hell, I’ve done so much, it would be a waste to stop now. So… I guess I should stop… Just kidding.
I am satisfied with what I’ve learned this semester. I’ve come out of it a little older and a little more experienced. With this experience, I can drive myself to learn more and to become more experienced. Now, enough with all this philosophical shit.
ART IS SOMETHING THAT TAKES A GREAT DEAL OF EFFORT AND TIME. Trust me, there will be times when you want to give up, but a determined artist will be able to move past it. Not everything can be completed within a day or week.
Also, doing art doesn’t take talent, it takes skill. Skills can be learned and repeated, talent is a one-time-deal.
It seems like I’m becoming delusional now, I should get some sleep… 6:21 AM.
Art takes effort.
Art takes time.
Art takes practice.
Sleep is for the weak.
It appears even art has principles. As open ended art seems to be, it seems to have rules. Here are the 5 Principles of New Media Art, as according to Lev Manovich:
1. Numerical Representation: Yep, you heard right, math manages to shoe-horn itself into everything. Being that NMA consists mostly of digital media, math does have to get involved. Everything that we use in class is a program and a computer calculating algorithms and 1’s and 0’s. It’s just how computers work. Even on stuff that isn’t a “computer”, the device must still compute. Tools such as digital cameras, and such, still must go by computations. It’s how pictures can come out beautiful, without too much effort by the artist.
2. Modularity: This means that all NMA consists of smaller parts or can be a part of some bigger thing.
3. Automation: This is where NMA separates itself from traditional forms of media. There must be a point at which the artist is not involved in the process, and such processes are handled by a program or computer. For example, in traditional painting, an artist had to do everything to ensure that their piece was what they wanted it to be. But with the advent of digital art programs, the computer is now able to aid the artist, assisting in what originally took some time to do, to only a few seconds.
4. Variability: NMA allows for a certain degree of “liquidity”. It can always be different in a way. Whatever the artist creates, it is not permanent. It can be edited by another person to fit what they desire. Unlike old, static media, the way something was made was the only way to do it. It was difficult to edit mistakes without damaging the original piece.
5. Transcoding: Describes what NMA physically is. It isn’t really all that physical. NMA exists as computer data, and it is moved around through computers and digital networks.
Now what does all of this mean? It is what separates New Media from “Old Media”. Even something created on a computer in a “traditional” way, is an example of New Media. These principles are set to describe and separate New Media into it’s very own category. Although I find it hard to put principles and rules on art, I can see what these principles are trying to achieve. All the principles are what differentiate NMA. If there was no distinction, then what would this glorious, new , type of content creation be? NMA