Tue Jan, 31st

Today in class, we went over mapping. What was it? We went over the different kinds of mapping, such as types like cartography and data mappings. While making a list of what would define mapping, a fellow classmate suggested something that was unclear. Jimmy continued to question the student, trying to get a clear idea on what she was trying to explain. He then took a moment to explain the reasoning for his question. It was important to talking to the person to receive new ideas and information. It would help allow a brainstorm to generate, letting ideas flow. It also would help in letting out the bad idea. But in order to do so, one mustn't judge their own ideas and not be afraid of just saying whatever idea that was roaming within their heads.

He then did a map out of a process map and question why it was important to show clients only three ideas. He then mentioned a song called "three is the magic number." He listed spme guidelines when producing work for clients. Here's some of the guidelines he went over that I found helpful and useful to keep note of:
- If showing three, one must be able to be prepared to produce all three and all three has to be just as equally good.
- Don't recommend any unless they ask.
- Be prepared that they might not like it and if they don't, something could be wrong. (and one should refer back to their mapping and see what they've missed.)

Jimmy also mentioned that something about three, psychologically it was better. Having four might make he clients uncomfortable, and harder to decide. Having four or more also shows indecisiveness. Having only two makes the clients wish there were more. Having three just makes things concise.

After this lecture, we were to map out a process of, How to get an A in Art 220. While in the process of mapping this out, students used the syllabus as reference as to how one would map out this process. Some of the students needed a straight forward guideline to follow, that Jimmy did not give us. He later told us that it wasn't because he wanted to make things harder on us or anything like that. But he wanted us to think for ourselves and come up with our own creative ways of mapping out this process.

He went around the class stating specific things that he wanted to see and things that he didn't want to see but he still kept broad so that we would be able to try and come up with a map process the best way we could. He also pushed students to ask other students. I could see why, since in the real world, one is more likely to discuss designs or ideas amongst fellow designers or co-workers. I feel that this could also apply to animators.

So once more, I felt that today's class was another lesson of preparations towards the outside world of design.


Adjectives:
Jovial - happy or joyful
Erratic - unpredictable
Drab -  dull, boring or lacking interest

Tues, Jan 24th

On Tuesday, Jan 24th, we watched a video from the website Ted.com. The video, "Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity," was inspiring. Elizabeth Gilbert, a writer, spoke about the fear upon creativity. She mentioned that there was a belief that creativity and suffering are linked together. She then discussed how she spent some time in researching other cultures in how they would deal with this problem. Going back to ancient Greece and Rome, they believed that creativity came from disembodied spirits, whom they referred to as a Genius. For awhile they had believed this until eventually, creativity became one's own. She gave several examples on why the idea of disembodied spirits seemed to work. One particular example of a singer who was driving with no pen or paper around him, a tune began to play in his head. The

Adjectives:
Uncanny - peculiar; mysterious

Thurs, Jan 26th

On Tuesday, we were given an assignment where we had to come up with ten words or phrases that would completely change the image. We were to think of it as a way of creating headlines for the images for an advertisement. When returning on Thursday with our list of ten words, the whole class were then split into two groups so that we could help each other come up with better words than what we already had listed on our list. I had found this group experience interesting. I have done many group discussions in previous classes to discuss whatever it was that we needed to discuss. Most of the times that I had been in groups, the process of getting into the assignment would be fairly straight forward. This experience with the group I had been in was different for me this time. When we had gathered our chairs around a table to begin helping each other come up with new words, we laid out our images on the table. The first thing the group did was not suggest on how we should we go about in starting the ideas, but rather complimenting each others images. They had only gone over it briefly. Then we started first by each of us first saying our ten words for our images. When we finished with that, we returned to the first image and began giving suggestions of words or phrases. The process was significantly slow. None of us could come up with anything. We were all over thinking it. By the second image, Jimmy Moss entered the room to watch us and saw how much we were struggling to come up with words or phrases. So he used his starbucks' coffee cup as an example. He told us to come up with words to help sell these cups for school purposes. In the beginning, we continued to struggle to come up with words but he told us to not think. One of my favorite things that he said was that, if we didn't allow ourselves to say whatever was already in our head because we were over thinking, thinking that perhaps the words were too ridiculous or weren't good enough, then that word was going to continue to linger in our minds, not allowing other words to flow out. I felt that he was quite right about this. When he gestured for me to say some word for the cup, I said the first word in my head that had been stuck there for some time. After saying the word, more words seemed to flow out of the process. He had given us a very helpful tip for brainstorming.

After that, he left and we continued trying to help each other come up with words. But when we returned back to the images, once more, the ideas seemed to not flow out. One of the group members then mentioned the reason why she thought she was struggling in trying to come up with words. She had felt that when Jimmy had given us the brainstorm idea, that it had only been simple because Jimmy had given us a direction to follow. And then another group member agreed with her and tried giving suggestions on how we could make this process faster. Another group member then disagreed because if we followed her suggestion, we would be straying from the actual assignment.

I normally am not the type to push a group forward because of how quiet I normally am, but something inside me snapped. I spoke out saying that the purpose of what Jimmy did was so that we wouldn't hold back in saying words, not because he had given us a direction to follow. I then suggested that we all just say the first thing that came into our head, despite it being wrong or right. The group agreed, and the process went quicker. We had finished five minutes earlier than expected.

Now, what was the purpose of this whole assignment? The assignment was to try and come up with creative words that would give the audience an emotional response. To come up with these words or phrases, we had to bring out our most creative minds. A lot of us discovered that when forced, this was a difficult process, even if there was little time. So to try and bring our creativity out, finding ways to brainstorm was important. Learning that keeping words inside your head stopped the flow of brainstorming truly was a significant help. For me at least.

Adjectives:
Capricious - unpredictable; happens on a whim
Intricate - fine details
condescending - superior attitude towards other people

My fear experience towards my career

There was a question that was given to us for us to answer. The question was, "Have you experienced fear-based reactions to your creative career choices? How are you successfully overcoming these reactions?" To answer these two questions, a little bit more of myself should be known. I am in my sixth year in college, majoring in animation. I had changed majors around my third year in college. Previously, I had been majoring under Art Education. The reason for this was because I thought that I wanted to teach. But in truth, it was because two of my best friends in high school were both aiming to be teachers and I was just trying to follow their role. I discovered that Art Education wasn't for me after taking a core course.

The truth is, all I ever really wanted to do was to make comics. I had a friend who was majoring in animation. She was taking a storyboard class around the same time I had been taking my core class for Art Ed. While hanging out with her, she had with her some storyboards that she had done for the class. I thought, "Man, that's what I really want to do." So in the end, I changed majors. Because I changed majors, I made several new friends who were also in the same major. I was happy because they had the same interest as I did. And I could actually converse with them without feeling too awkward. Unfortunately for me, since they had been under the animation program longer, the majority of my friends had graduated a year or two before me. During this time, I noticed how much they were struggling to find jobs. And those who had jobs were working under non-related art subjects. One of my closest friends who had graduated recently (class of 2011) ended up working at Coffee Bean. And was happy about it. This terrified me. It made me forget what I was really looking for what I wanted. There was nothing I felt that I was really good at. It made me insecure about my abilities. How could I possibly complete with the world if my friends, whom are way better artists, can't even find jobs?

In animation, there were several things one could choose to do. Character designs, storyboarding, concept designs, backgrounds, animation, rigging, modeling, lighting. I could go on. (Please also note that I've listed both traditional and digital animation.) And because of this fear, I was regretting ever had gone to this school. This thought didn't stay with me long though. By the time the 2011 Fall Quarter started up again, I had forgotten about it temporarily. It wasn't until a friend of mine, who was under the same major that I was at about the same pace towards graduation as I was, found an opportunity to learn from the Art Institute program. She had received a call from this school and was given information about their gaming program. The information had overwhelmed us both. I was so overwhelmed that I was on the verge of tears. I began to regret everything I had done for the previous five years of my college life. I had wished the classes I had taken had been of a better help in my learning. I had wish I had more time to learn, to get better. I had wished my drawings were super amazing and that jobs would simply just come to me. I was even on the point of deciding on changing majors to stay longer. To learn more. But I had only two quarters left. That Fall quarter. And this Winter quarter. I had considered switching to computer science in hopes to learn programming. I was depressed for nearly two weeks long. But then a close friend of mine who had graduated two years ago talked to me. At this time, she too was struggling as an artist with a very unstable job. But she had a job that was actually art related. And she asked me the simplest questions--yet they were the hardest to answer. She asked me what I wanted to do. What was I trying to reach for career wise. I told her that I didn't know. At this point, I truly wasn't sure. But then she asked me if I enjoyed Art and if there were anything else in the world that I would more rather do or be that would make me just as happy as art did. There was nothing else I enjoyed more than drawing except maybe writing. But a writer's job is just as difficult as an artist's. I was then reminded by several people who aren't yet successful yet but are getting there. There was a fellow classmate who was currently interning for WarnerBrother's Animation. He had taken the same course than I had taken. The only thing that differed between us was that he had worked hard to get to where he was.

The path that I had wanted to take was the simple easy way. This other school had an 80% hiring rate so the chances of getting a job after graduating was significantly high there. But here, the path was the same. Though the hiring rate isn't statistically high here, there was still a path that lead to the same end point. If I truly didn't enjoy what I had been doing for the past five years, then truly I was on the wrong path. But no, I had enjoyed it. Remembering this simple thing helped me get back on my feet. There's truthfully nothing to regret. I had made great friends, met great professors, met great people, all because I had been going here.

It still had taken me awhile to calm myself though. I'm still afraid about the future, but who isn't? But I know that this bumpy difficult path that I have to travel across isn't going to be the death of me. This thought is one of the many encouragements around me to keep me on my feet.

I can certainly say though that I'm glad that this class I'm taking now (Concept Development). So far, the class has been intimidating, giving the students a small peek into how the real world is like and it is scary. But I find that this class is giving me strength to keep trying.

Thursday, 1/19

Thursday's class was definitely an interesting new experience. Our homework for our previous class was to do a four panel comic on how we made it to college. Jimmy Moss had us put our assignment on the desks that were in the center of the room so we could all read and take a look at everyone's work. And then, unexpectedly, he told us to arrange everyone's assignment from best to worse. At first, it was a little hectic. A couple of people were trying to suggest on how we should go about in arranging it. The first try was to have everyone select their favorites. There was no limit at first, and a lot of the students just seemed hesitant in going about in choosing their favorite piece. It was also taking awhile. So then more suggestions on how we should arrange it came about, eventually bringing out the assertiveness in a few people. Some of us could tell that we were losing patience. Eventually it was decided that we should just check mark only one of the piece that we liked the most to herd out the good ones and the bad ones. After the good ones were chosen, we did another check vote on the next set. And then did another for the last set. We were losing time in deciding so we had rushed at the last minute on figuring out the arrangement of the comics from best to worse so by the time everything was done, we had forgotten to look over the check marks to see which truly was the winner. It was startling for me to hear him say that we failed the whole task. We failed because the comics ranked with the highest check marks were out of order so that the best comic truly wasn't the best (based on check mark ranks).  But I was more surprised that other students tried to fight back in defense as to why we failed. So in the end, the two top ranked comics received prizes after all.

After that, we were separated into groups to discuss what we did. We had to come up with a group opinion on what qualities we were looking for when we chose which comic we thought were the best. We also were to discuss the group process in the arrangement of the comics. Here's a list on some of the things we thought was necessary for the criteria of a good comic:

Clarity; If the story was clear and it made sense
Logical order; If the panels weren't all over the place. For example, if the comic reflected upon a timeline, it wouldn't jump from being a kid to an adult to a teenager.
Quality/Artist's ability; Some of us could tell that the work was done at the last minute. This influenced our judgement greatly. There were others where one could tell that they had spent a lot of time working on the comic. We also discussed the artist's ability to draw and on how as design/art students, we should be able to have some knowledge on basic drawing skills and their ability also had some influence on whether it would be considered good or not.
Story; If the story made sense.


Upon deciding on whether the decision we made was fair and if the way we had organized it been fair, as a group we decided that it was, for time's sake. Though, we also agreed that it was flawed and should be tweaked a bit but overall, the way we decided on choosing to arrange the comic seemed fair.

The reason I found this experience interesting has to do with a couple of things. One of our group members mentioned that once we get out there in life, everything would be like a checklist. We also saw how we would react as a group when something changed. During the whole decision process, Jimmy had announced that we only had a couple minutes left in deciding the ranks. Near the end of the class, Jimmy mentioned that these were things that happened in the real life. Things like deadlines getting picked up or getting dropped. I don't doubt his words at all, but it certainly has opened my eyes more towards the real world.

Provocative- something that provokes...
Erroneous - error
Alone - by itself

Tuesday, 1/17/12

On Tuesday, Jan 17th, we went over an interesting discussion on the words "Game" and "Test." I found this discussion interesting because I had never realized that both words practically meant the same thing. Both "Test" and "Game" involves rewards, competitions, and the gain or loss of points. Yet, depending on which word that was used, there would be a different emotional response. When hearing the word "test," the class reacted by groaning. When hearing the word "game," the class reacted with more enthusiasm. The teach proceeded on reflecting over the power of words. And just like words, images had the power to do the same just by using color or shapes. The color red was used an example. Red is a color that isn't quiet and attention grabbing. It provokes, it's urgent, it's symbolizes many things. Our stop signs are red to have us "STOP" as it says we should.

Adjectives:
Fascinating: to show fascination; in awe of newly found knowledge or realization towards something
Crestfallen: to feel disappointment or dispirited
Genuine: real

First Blog Entry

In class, Jimmy Moss talked about "Problem Solving" in design. As an example, he used the sign that above the sink's wall. I should have taken a photo of that sign. But the sign said something like "Keep the sink clean and the drains unclogged. Don't pour paint in sink." I think. Something like. I think I should go back and check. But anyways, the problem was clogged sink and to help solve the problem was by creating a sign as a solution to prevent this. He then chose a flier as another example for problem solving in design. He had a student [me] go up, examine the flier, and state what was important from the flier, being: Name, address of place, time and date.

Afterwards, he went over the syllabus, and our assignments.




Adjectives:
lethargic
bereft
ambrosial