Overly ambitious

Upon reflection I think I have been way to ambitious with this project, I'm really starting to feel that time isn't on my side. I didn't take into consideration how long it would take to achieve what I want to achieve or the money I have had to put in. This project has grown into something a lot bigger than first expected.

But I still have 12 days if I work really hard and try not to get distracted by my other creative endeavors hopefully I can pull it off. Blame my brain for always coming up with personal projects I really want to do while doing my main project.

Anti bullying thinking back

I stumbled across this video on youtube, I watch this channel regularly but this video really reminded me of the last project.

I feel like when I was doing the project I did approach it from two sides. one side discouraging bullying and one side trying to make people understand why they or someone else bullies and trying to urge them to find a more none harmful avenue to dealing with those issues.

But they did bring up a rather valid point. Can bullying be an act of rebellion? The act of rebellion might not have anything to do with the actual victim rather the bullies maybe testing the adults who keep telling them not to bully. We see it in many other areas such as drugs because they are illegal to do they are can be seen as more attractive to do.

Just a thought   

Ball Jointed Dolls and How They Inspire My Work

So first off what is a Ball jointed doll or BJD?

A ball jointed doll is an articulated doll which was first made in Rome and Greece out of clay and wood, but the start of modern bjds started in France and Germany in the late 19th century. Today the market is dominated by Asian ball jointed dolls which are normally made out of polyurethane resin.

I own an Asian ball jointed doll. She is from a company called Angel Fantasy and her sculpt name is Alice. The name I gave her is Pandora I have had her for about 4 years now.

Why do I like bjds?

I got into bjds after stumbling across them on the internet while looking for manga and anime related artwork, I was taken a back by how stunningly detailed they were.

Bjds are fully customisable you can buy eyes, wigs, clothes, shoes EVEN eyelashes and you can paint their faces however you see fit (or have a face up artist do it for you). It is a great (but expensive )way of bringing a character to life. Since picking up the hobby I have noticed most people who partake in the hobby are artists and writers wanting a visual representation of their characters.

How are bjds influencing my representation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

I thought dolls fit in rather well with the story and is the closest thing I have physically to an automation. And automations are the aesthetic I am going for with the characters, like the red queen, mad hatter and tweedle dumb and tweedle dee.

New year, new project

For our next unit we are entering competitions I have chosen to enter Pan Macmillan's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The goal is to create a book cover and at least 2 illustrated pages.

I have started to gather some inspiration on pinterest www.pinterest.com/raeldanger/alice-in-wonderland

Is Moving Image/Illustration the Way Foreword?

I feel moving image/illustration is something as illustrators we will need to adapt to. BUT I feel there will alway be a place for traditional illustration like there will always be people who would like to buy a hardcover special edition of a book.

Moving illustration is best for online use like apps, articles, websites, promos act. But even if traditional illustration does dwindle it will be brought back into fashion because of nostalgia. Thinking more about this reminds me of my essay on Peter Lyle and how he says that traditional illustration is becoming a luxury, and that it is being sort after by people with money to spend.

Police Cadets and Ethical Issues

While doing the anti bullying animation I had to reconsider a lot of the content I wanted to cover. I wanted to focus on the aftermath of bullying which would be that kids who are bullied are at more at risk to mental health problems such as

Depression
Panic disorder
Anxiety especially Social Anxiety
Body Dysmorphia
Paranoia

and more
Serious cases of bullying have even lead to the victim taking their own life.

But due to the 10-11 age range it would not be suitable for them, I got around this by hinting at it by using metaphors in my animation.

Instead I made a zine that would be for the parents that would talk about some of these issues.

Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away

Spirited Away is a motion picture by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki.

 Spirited Away wast most successful film in Japanese history, grossing about $330 million in the box office. The film was based on a friend of Hayao Miyazaki's daughter. Miyazaki himself has said that it has darker undertones. If you have watched it before and don't know about the dark undertones you would just think it was a wacky coming of age/romance film. But if you listen to the Japanese dub 10 year old Chihiro Ogino (also known as Sen) if referred to as a Yuna and Yuna in the Japanese edo period was used in reference to prostitutes and bath houses in eco period offered brothel like services.

Chihiro was given the name Sen by Yubaba who is the madam of the bath house, Sen is Japanese for Thousand and was also a common name for prostitutes in the edo period. 

Haku is the love interest who ends up rebelling against Yubaba, if we look at him in context he would be a pimp who draws the line at child prostitution. This would explain why he is so stern and cold while he is working and he is friendly and supportive when him and Chihiro are alone. It also explains why the female staff seem to dislike him and seem to think it is odd for Chihiro to be so fond of him.

When the spell that is keeping Haku obedient breaks, the first thing he does is to try and release Chihiro from her contract with Yubaba. Another character called No Face takes a liking to Chihiro for letting him into the bath house, No Face is actually a lonely man with a lot of wealth who takes a liking to Chihiro and want to keep her all to himself. No Face makes money out of dirty which is probably a metaphor for the money being corrupt.

It is very interesting to look at Spirited Away from this perspective.