Weekly Summary: 4

Narrative:

Making comics has always been my interest and I can't think of a better way to explain my narrative than to make one. In my story, humans have become so obsessed with time, (almost like they are all worshipping the clock) time is money, being late has consequences, etc. The gods who for centuries, not expected any form of worship from us, finally had enough. They thought that humans are narcissistic as we have become so obsessed with a concept that we created rather than being thankful and making the most out of what they gave us, the world around us.

With a strike of lightning, all timepieces in the world stopped working.

People then started discovering crystals in their bodies. The silence of the ticking clocks were replaced by the horrified screams of humans as they discovered that something is very, very wrong.

Scientists tried to study the crystals but couldn't find anything other than they are just crystals. Black market deals stated popping up, with promises of the removal of the crystals. However money is not the only price. Attempts of removing the crystal creates a pain similar to a numbing toothache. It is as if someone if grinding your bones, not intensely painful but for some reason it is unbearable. People also tried to sell the crystals that are removed, however since everyone has them , they lost their value.

It was the online forums that figured it all out. Correlations between actions and the growth of the crystals started forming. Others have tried to do nothing but sit at home, wait for the 'epidemic' to be over, but it was there to stay. it was then realised that the only way to stop the crystals growing is by doing good deeds and making the most out of life. Every child born after the lightning strike has pure diamonds on the top of their hands. It's beautiful and reflects their innocence. During their teens, the crystals are 'activated'.

Crystal Ideas:

Instead of the crystal growth starting on arms, I decided to have it grow wherever people's sins originated. I also thought of different types of crystals to match different sins/actions. The tar/oil like aesthetic of the hematite is perfect for hideous crimes like murder. Fulgurite however is made when lightning strikes sand and it creates a statue like crystal which I think reflects laziness.

Model Sheet:

After asking for some critiques fro my peers, I fixed a couple of things. One of them suggested that I clean my silhouette because the edges of the crystals don't make sense. It probably added half an hour of work but it was a great advice because it looks way better than when I sloppily drew the crystal. I learned to be more refined and clean with my work and to have patience because it does pay off.

I also realised halfway that the first and last arm are opposite hands so I flipped and redrew the last one as shown below.

Final model sheet:

I added more depth to the arm. I looked at the brief again after I finished and realised that we were asked to do an orthographic view which I forgot to do. Another lesson learned; keep referring to the brief.

Final Piece Thumbnails:

Everyone that I asked agreed that the bench design is the most interesting one. I then drew quick sketches of different ways someone could sit on a bench but my first design still appealed the most to me. I think It works well in terms of composition so I decided to go with it.

Below are the images of the progress of my final piece. The idea is that a man knew he doesn't have a chance in surviving and that it's too late for him. As he was sitting down and reflecting on his life, he was crystallised and became some sort of statue which is the version of death in my narrative.

If I was to redo this final piece, what would I change?

I probably would find an easier way of painting the crystals. I painted on top of filtered(oil paint in Photoshop) images which took a very long time. I also need to do more environment studies because I realised I'm not confident in painting environments.

Weekly Summary: 3

Research:

After doing my research, i have decided to give the narrative a lot of focus. My aim is to create a timepiece that has a great story behind it. I don't want to just create a watch or tower. I want to challenge myself and since I am interested in narratives, it only makes sense to explore it given the chance. I do know that I want my design to have both sci-fi and organic aesthetics to it. 

Silhouettes:

Still undecided on what type of timepiece I want, I created both wrist and chest piece silhouettes. Talking to Chris about my idea made me realise that I first have to finalise the concept of my narrative first, otherwise I'll be generating designs all day rather than iterating. We both agreed that the veiny silhouette on the arm was the most interesting looking one.

I thought the silhouettes needed more refinement so when I knew I wanted to do an arm piece, I created a set of more defined designs. I like the idea of crystals which subsequently finalised my narrative concept.

Research : What is a timepiece?

Task:

A time piece is a clock or watch for measuring time. 

The task is to design a timepiece that is both creative and visually impressive. This can take many forms, from wrist watches, pocket watches and ring watches to huge architectural clock towers and all points in-between.

A timepieces' workings are not necessarily based on a clockwork mechanism with cogs, springs and pendulums. You should consider other forms of energy that can be harnessed to measure time, such as water clocks, hourglasses, sundials and even potato clocks!

In order to design a timepiece, I first have to define what time is. I believe that time is a human concept. It is the measurement of the duration between two events. There are countless definitions coming from religious and philosophical points of view, but I think I want to focus on the fact that it's just a human made concept. I think Immanuel Kant's definition best represents my thoughts.

Kant thought of time as a fundamental part of an abstract conceptual framework, together with space and number, within which we sequence events, quantify their duration, and compare the motions of objects. In this view, time does not refer to any kind of entity that "flows," that objects "move through," or that is a "container" for events. Spatial measurements are used to quantify the extent of and distances between objects, and temporal measurements are used to quantify the durations of and between events. Time was designated by Kant as the purest possible schema of a pure concept or category.

I also want to play around with the idea that there is no sensory organ for telling time unlike taste or sound, etc. We have internal body clocks but they're never as precise as how we want them to be. Everyone has alarms and watches to avoid being late. What if the clock is designed to work with an individual's subjective time perception? How about when we sleep? We lose all sense of time when we're not conscious. 

Below is a rough mindmap of some concepts that I have so far.

Wikipedia, (2015). Time. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time [Accessed 9 Oct. 2015].