Lecture 3: Resolving your Research Project and Academic Conventions

This was our final lecture for COP3 held on the Tuesday the 25th of November. Here are my notes.

Academic Conventions are like an institutional framework for your work
They structure and standardise.
They aspire to academic honesty.

At this level I am expected to be able to:

Demonstrate a critical knowledge of practice.
Apply theory to practice.
Analyse relevant material.
Evaluate theory and evidence within the context of study.
Reflect. Critiquing and critically reflecting on your learning and using this to improve practice.

Original (1956)                                                             Updated (Anderson and Pohl- 1990 - 2000)








DO THIS:

Independent engagement with material.
Critical and thoughtful about idea and information.
Relates ideas to own previous experience and knowledge.
Sees the big picture.
Relates evidence to conclusions.
Examines logic of arguments.
Interested in wider reading and thinking.
Ongoing preparation and reflection.

TIPS

 Academic writing is formal and follows some standard conventions

Each academic discipline has its own specialist vocabulary which you will be expected to learn and use in your own writing

The substance of academic writing must be based on solid evidence and logical analysis, and presented as a concise, accurate argument.

Academic writing can allow you to present your argument and analysis accurately and concisely.

Aim for precision. Don't use unnecessary words or waffle. Get straight to the point. Make every word count.

If there is any uncertainty about a particular point, use cautious language (such as may, might, could,potentially).

Unless you are a confident writer, it is best to avoid over-long sentences and to aim for a mixture of long and short sentences for variation and rhythm.

Avoid repeating the same words.

Avoid abbreviations and contractions.

Avoid slang words and  phrases.

Avoid conversational terms.

Avoid vague terms.


In many academic disciplines, writing in the first person is not acceptable as it is believed to be too subjective and personal. Many tutors prefer impersonal language to be used in assignments.

First person sentences use the pronouns 'I' and 'we'.  For example:

We have considered...

I suggest that...

I have observed...

First person sentences use the pronouns 'I' and 'we'.  For example:

Consideration has been given to...

The suggestion here is that...

It has been observed...



STRUCTURE

Preliminaries-
Title / Acknowledgements / Contents /  List of Illustrations

Introduction-
The abstract / Statement of the problem / Methodological approach

Main body-
Review of the literature / logically developed argument /Chapters / results of investigation / Case Study

Conclusion-
Discussion and conclusion / Summary of conclusions

Extras ?       
Bibliography / Appendices



PROJECT SELF ASSESSMENT

Write down the major aims of the project.

Give a brief summary of the work so far.

Comment on your time management.

Do you know what the final project will look like?

What steps will you take to ensure it gets there?

What areas of the project are you worried about?

What ? risk management?

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

15th Jan- 7 weeks away.

Refer to your original plan.

Be more disciplined than ever.

Don?t prioritise the practical over the written element, or vice versa.

Set targets.

Scale down your ambitions if necessary.

Some other general advice?

Presentation / Academic Conventions. Refer to the guides on eStudio carefully.
https://drive.google.com/a/students.leeds-art.ac.uk/file/d/0B_9HI_FPjv2Zb2llbnB2eElDUGc/view

How to create motion comics

Unfortunately, when completing this induction, my computer would not let me save anything, this may have been a problem with my account or the computer, all I could identify was that emptying the recycle bin and deleting cache files didn't work (which had been my usual way of getting around this problem), so although I was able to take notes I could note produce the final piece.

 How to create motion comics

Open after effects go to the drop down menu from ‘After Effects’>preferences>Media & Disk Cache’ change the ‘Maximum Disk Cache Size to 50 and set destination to new folder in scratch disk.

Click the space (3^rd square on the layer with the cube exactly above, in the space above the layers), and after effects gives the layer a new axis, X,Y, and now Z.

You can click in the window and choose different two views, or four views, etc. This allows you to space out each layer like planes, or a puppet theatre. By placing these at certain distances away from each other can enlarge and shrink the images to give perspective even in flat orthographic image, but once a camera is placed, the perspective becomes clearer especially when panning or moving the camera.

To get this, go the Layer drop down menu: Layer>new>Camera.

Playing with the camera pan can then give you a good idea of how far the distances of layers should be should you whish to edit them.

Ensure the furthest back layers are actually far larger then the frame size itself, so when moving the camera you are less likely to see the image edges of the furthest layers. It would be advisable for his to be 3 to 4 times wider that the actual frame size.

Key framing the camera.

The Position of the camera will allow the camera to move so keying this from A to B could allow the camera to move through a valley.

The Point of Interest is where to camera is looking. So this means that while the camera is moving through a valley, it could do so while focusing on a particular mountain, look at it, pass it and finally look back at it.

You can then use the same technique of key framing to make the scene feel more alive., such as making the clouds slowly move through the sky or let smoke rise.

Altering the Focal Distance and the Aperture can allow the scene to look more 3D as well, as you can decide to, for example, blur the background but not foreground and simply allow depth of field on the camera., but adding this to the camera will increase render time.

Adding Motion Blur (the first square on each layer with the four circles exactly above, in the space above the layers) to each layer can again add a realistic effect to the scene, making the flow of the camera seem more believably existing in a living world.

Lastly ensure the composition settings are at HD size.

The Puppet Tool

There is a little pin button at the top menu bar below the main tabs at the top of the After Effects screen. Click this Pin button and it will make a triangular mesh around the layer you are selected on.

Using these pins allows the positions not to change; where as unpinned the layers position values will changes as normal. These pins added in numbers can bend the layer via the mesh and you can key frame them to make them look more alive. Unfortunately, to add any kind of bones or rig costs approximately £50 as an After Effects Add-On.

An alternate to this, s called starching. By clicking the starch tool with the pins selected you can add starching points near or on the pins to control the level of bending and overall control the pins have over the mesh.

The Amount and Extent qualities can be altered to define this.

By pressing the reset button (under the layer, effect, and next to ‘puppet’) you can reset all these factors to their original value.

A third element of the puppet tool us by clicking the Mesh, and adding pins and keyframes to this using the ‘overlap’ option of the pin tool, you can make parts of the Mesh go behind or in front of other parts. You can do this by clicking on an overlap point (for example, on a characters hand) and changing the value of the ‘In Front’ to be higher than another overlap points value (for example, on the characters body), so you can move a characters hand to be in front of his body.

MCM and Thought Bubble: Things to work and what I learnt.

ARTWORK

• Our characters are really good and memorable. We don't have to work on character design as everyone likes them and thinks they're really well perceived. 
• Think about lighting and shading more to make them look more 3D.
• Our colour work is really good, but the level of colour in shading could be more diverse to again add that 3D effect.
• Look at anatomy to refine our work. Not bad but not perfect. Strive for the best! - Look at super defined muscles. - Lee Bradley said look at Bodybuilders for men and Playboy models for girls. - Mention this in COP3.
• Clothing - look at how it actually falls. 
• REFERENCE EVERYTHING.
• Proportions are good but anatomy could be better.
• Perspective needs work.
• Pick up speed.
• Add more weight to the characters. Make the big guys feel heavy.
• Less crosshatching not describing texture.
• Look at the anatomy of clothing.

PAGES

• Action scenes work well, zooming in and out. They are clear. Do this more often with talking shots, - less talking heads, can't see whole character.
•  Easy to read, flows well.
• Make panels more dynamic! Add shading to always know where the light source is. 
• More splash double pages.
• Less taking heads: Dynamism!
• Add establishing shot to Kunjana's comic and introduce her slower.
• Less overbearing colour. 
• Too dark.
• Terrible font on final pages.  Go to BLAMBOT.com, (What they used for Fight club 2, totally free even for commercial use.) ComicCraft.
•   Pay attention to authenticity and rendering.
•  Reference photos.
•  Blue that is the background. Fading mist. Colour that tints in temperature to set the scene.  
•  Drop being able to see Jenny’s nipples – also there’s too much cleavage. One line is fine.  Don’t scare the audience with the cover. 
•  Colour tint to set characters in scene.

Thought Bubble: Research

Like MCM, while at Thought Bubble for PPP3, I also thought this would be a good time to get publishers and artists opinions of Sexism in comics. Here is some of my notes when asking they're opinions.


Richard Starkings on Sexism in comics.

"There’s not an answer.  My mum was a very strong teacher, my sister is a teacher for autistic children. So my female role models have always been very strong. I think the women in Elephantmen are strong characters. Strong women come in all forms.  As a man I like a certain appeal. Artists bring their own opinions to the table. I have been criticised before. All artists do differently according to role models they’ve had in the past. Look at Ripley in Alien, there's a strong female lead, not necessarily designed through the male gaze.

Artists have been drawing naked women since they were first taught to draw in life drawing. Hulk! Half naked muscular man, some people could consider that sexist.

“Always park your car in a different garage.” What’s important is passion about story. Industries have attractive and ugly characters. Tusk from Elephantmen is one of the most beloved but also very ugly. Nikki is sassy and sexy and very popular to a female audience for it. She’s relatable. I hope I'm good at portraying female characters." 

Eric Stephenson on sexism in comics.

"Comics have been historically been written for young boys. They're not sexist, to a young male audience attractive female heroes are appealing and therefore they help the comic sell and it becomes more successful. From a business standpoint it makes sense to include attractive female leads."

Cameron Stewart on if comics are sexist.

"Comics are defiantly sexist.  Absolutely.  Not maliciously, and it is invisible to some. Its getting more evenly split in audience and artists, but while that imbalance exists there will be sexism. It’s a male dominated art form. Batgirl New 52 has tried to combat this." 

Babs Tarr on the portrayal of women in comics, and if there is sexism in the industry.

"Improving.  There's a line between sexy and sexualized. Sexy is done without a male gaze.

As for in the industry, I have never felt isolated or looked down at. I have had a very nice team and editors. I have come across no sexism in the industry in that respect."

Thought Bubble

I attended Thought Bubble to show my recently completed pages and character bio's for constructive criticism amongst industry professionals. These are my notes from what each person said when looking as our (me and my brothers) work.

 

Richard Starkings. (on Character bio’s)

• Too much lines. Too much detail.  Its clearly taking too much time to produce these and comic work has to be done fast. You’re using lines to disguise colour.

•  Pick up speed. Line work must be done quickly.

• Light source? Think more about it when drawing and inking.

• Weight (like Bob Cook does on Elephantmen.) Weight on the feet in proportions and stance. Men go for women with hips (with room to produce a healthy fetus) and big breasts for a good source of nutrients for an infant. Its natural. This effects stance and anatomy.

• The whole images look flat. Add more shading and colour shading. Panda character is better, he has on foot in front of the other.

Richard Starkings (on our pages.)

• All pages look the same. Same angle.

• Drawings good but need to save more time.

• Think about close ups and long shots.

• Always look for the eyes. Dynamic shots? Zoom in and out. Can never see the whole character.

Eric Stephenson (Editor of Image Comics).

• Things that need to change: Lettering. Print. Less overbearing colour.  Slash panels unnecessary.

• Character design is fresh. 

• Dark colours make drawings had to see. 

• Rough but not bad.

• Less cross hatching.  Too much not relating or describing texture.

Paul Bolger – The Hound

• Angles could be more dynamic. Not overly so like marvel but subtly, (his style is very different.) Tilt camera down and up to make people feel powerful/weak. 

Cameron Stewart

Before opening the portfolio he said: “Before I open this, how honest do you want to be? I don’t want to be brutally honest and upset you.”

I replied: “As honest as possible. We want you to tell us what’s wrong and how to improve it. Whatever you think needs changing or work please tell us.”

• Like Platypus a lot. 

• I like it all its very cool. 

• Great designs, lots of research gone into them.

• Clothing – Sawyers sleeves and trousers. Look at the anatomy of clothing, how it actually falls.

• Look at Blacksad French comic that isn’t too different to this, an anthromorphic world set in the 1920’s about a detective. That anthromorphoic look is done really well.

• Pay attention to authenticity and rendering.

• BAD FONT – Go to BLAMBOT.com, (What they used for Fight club 2, totally free even for commercial use.) ComicCraft.

• Buildings don’t feel real. Feel flat parallel lines. Looks like a stage and backdrop rather than real. A picture of the whole house would get a feel for the environment. One awesome establishing shot would solve this.

• Reference photos. – Trees, your trees aren’t bad but if there were twigs and branches it would look better than these cylinders.

• Look at Once Upon A Time In The West opening scene will teach you a lot. (When the three gunslingers are waiting for the train.) Sergio Leone’s  mythic quality in comparison to the conventional western. Extreme close ups. Immerse yourselves in movies, and use that knowledge.

• Story telling is fine but could be stronger. Steven Soderbergh took Raiders of The Lost Arc and muted it and but it in black and white to show its strong storytelling.

• REFERENCE EVERYTHING!

Babs Tarr.

• Drawings would benefit from being less dark.

• Blue that is the background. Fading mist. Colour that tints in temperature to set the scene. 

• Drawings are weird but I like it.  Jenny’s (rabbit) profiles are a bit weird.

• Drop being able to see Jenny’s nipples – also there’s too much cleavage. One line is fine.  Don’t scare the audience with the cover.

• Sawyer’s shirt maybe too blue. Colour tint!

Talk with Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr at Leeds College of Art on the Thursday the 13th November 2014

Cameron Stewart

Cameron Stewart first got into comics by chance as Grant Morrison happened to be in the video store he worked in, saw a drawing he was doing and liked it. He offered him to work on the upcoming comic 'Seaguy' and that is the brief introduction he had into comics.

Mr. Stewart mentioned to always reference real world when drawing comics, as it really helps get a realistic look in perspective, shadows and lighting. He also mentioned how he likes to thoroughly think out a fight scene and draw the panels so the reader can see the choreography of the fight. He also produced hit indie comic 'Sin Titulo,'B.P.R.D Hell on Earth: Exorcism and is currently working on Fight Club 2 as a Graphic Novel, written by the author of the original book, Chuck Palahniuk.

Babs Tarr

He then introduced Babs Tarr, as he had a change to work on the New 52 run of Batgirl, but due to limited time needed help. He found Babs Tarr on Tumblr, and had remembered her as he had seen her work before on the site and liked it. Mrs. Tarr had a great interest in fashion in her years studding art and, in her words, "Got a reputation for drawing sexy ladies, can do alot more but that's just what I like to draw." Her art is colourful and exaggerated but
stunning and beautiful, and her and Cameron's collaboration on the New Batgirl can be seen in the last image below.

I asked the two for a portfolio review at the end of a talk, to which they happily agreed, but soon had to be rushed off to finish a deadline they had. They did however very kindly asked Martha Julian who was running the event and Thought Bubble, to find us and let us know that they were very sorry and that if we were attending Thought Bubble to find them there to which they would be able to view our work. Mr. Stewart even sent a Tweet out on Twitter to try and contact us, which has made me decide I defiantly need a Twitter account as I missed this because I currently do not. The talk was very engaging and educational, and both Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr both came across very nice, humorous, genuinely nice people.