To Paint Nightmares

Andrew ‘Android’ Jones is an artist who has embraced the digital age wholeheartedly. His work has a gestural quality, and is thick with layers and subtle details. The scenes and figures are highly emotive, conveying a sense of energy and tension.

I like the “techno” elements especially. These are usually symbols which have been treated as background information, but they accent lines of motion or centers of light. His use of color is also striking against a wash of monochromatic forms.

Something about the work seems unfinished, but this lends itself to the imagination. The vague borders and shadowy backgrounds have a certain mystery to them—it makes me wonder what’s just out of my sight.

But there’s also something I don’t like about his work. So much of it seems nightmarish and ominous—seemingly celebrating ugliness, death, and darkness. These are places I don’t want to go within myself. Yet I see more and more of this sort of imagery in pop culture and video games and concept art. What ever happened to beauty?

It makes me think of Lord of the Rings when Gandalf talks about Saruman’s study into the ‘arts of the enemy.’ Gandalf concludes that a study of that sort—when done too deeply—can eventually lead to becoming the enemy.

I wonder if the principle is the same for everything. What if envisioning the twisted and ugly figures of our ids causes them to frequent our minds more often? What if dwelling on nightmares makes them more prominent? What if ruminating on darkness makes us dark?

I think it matters. And I think that our imaginations and dreams are things too beautiful to waste on nightmares.

Exploration

This project has been an interesting learning experience, and I’ve really enjoyed exploring my own “style” of visualization. It was helpful that there weren’t too many constraints or restrictions, because I felt free to experiment with methods I probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

I learned how to do some cool effects using a Cintiq tablet, particularly with line-work and part-line details. The overall character of the final result is something I think looks pretty cool.

I especially liked the “mixed-media” approach—using Alias and Image Studio to get the basic forms made sure that the perspective, reflections, and shadows/highlights were all accurate, and then finishing up in Photoshop gave the images a sketchy and spontaneous feel. I loved the fact that I could choose what to render, and choose what to draw. The freedom to move back and forth between the two mediums really got me thinking about how to most effectively (and efficiently!) get the task done.

This is definitely a strategy I want to continue exploring as my design education progresses. I think it’s a great opportunity to visually communicate, and to express a little of my personality along the way.

Design Roots

Ever since I learned about Viktor Schreckengost in Sources of Modern Design, I’ve really respected his design philosophy and work. Interestingly, in some ways he’s the opposite of Syd Mead. Mead is all about the future—dreaming up things that are presently impossible—and Schreckengost is all about the present—creating products that are practical and implementable right now.

Mead starts in the imagination and touches on reality. Schreckengost begins in reality and touches on imagination. None-the-less, both of these designers had connections to heavy industries, and considered details in technical execution, be they real or imagined.

It was Schreckengost who inspired my own “design philosophy,” which I mentioned in my first entry—that our task as “designers” is to fulfill the needs of our users, and to make design accessible to the mass market, regardless of how glamorous or mundane the products may be.

I think Schreckengost excelled at implementing this philosophy, especially in the areas of household products and children’s toys. His lines of dinnerware enabled average citizens to have well-designed and beautiful products at an affordable price. His work on toys (such as the Murray Torpedo Pedal Car) created some of the most beloved and recognizable toys of their era.

It’s not surprising that Schreckengost has been referred to as “the father of Industrial Design.” His commitment to design work and education shaped the industry, and helped to make it what it is today. He put down the roots that grew into a profession.

Visualize This

Okay, so I was trying to come up with some really unique and obscure designer to talk about, but honestly, that wouldn’t be the most honest answer to the question of who’s visualization style I admire most.

Yeah, it’s Syd Mead. Cliché, but I have my reasons.

When I was co-oping in Atlanta this summer, I met this guy who was really excited about industrial design (though he wasn’t a designer himself.) He had two first-edition Syd Mead books from back-in-the-day, and he lent one of them to me.

It was really cool to look through all of the concepts (and I love the smell of old books), and I found it fascinating to examine the past’s vision of the future. Even his present work has a visionary feel.

What really amazes me is the level of detail involved in Syd’s renderings—every highlight, line, and shadow seems to have been considered and included. On top of that, he really understands how to prioritize. In his images, the background information has a gestural quality, and the more important information has increasingly more detail. He masterfully leads the eye across the image, and has a clear understanding of dynamic composition.

If you check out Syd Mead’s website now, you can see a whole plethora of his work, information, and images. It’s really cool to consider how significant his influence on the industry has been, and how he’s still having an influence today.

Tech Talk

So everyone’s been talking about energy lately, but we tend to use lots of catch phrases without understanding what they mean. Yeah, it’s bad to put CO2 into the atmosphere. But why?

There’s a great documentary called “Crude” which explains the science behind oil. It’s available for purchase through the History Channel, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. (I won’t repeat everything is says, for the sake of time.)

The question is, if oil won’t last forever, what’s the alternative?

Well, unless there is a large-scale initiative to educate society about nuclear energy, it’s more likely that hydrogen power will “change the world.” It won’t change things only in terms of cleaning up our energy consumption, but it will also change things in terms of infrastructure. There’s still some work to be done to develop the technology, but as people become more anxious about energy, companies will probably become more anxious about making hydrogen technology feasible, and the wheel will be set in motion (literally.)

In a completely different arena, advances in brain research are probably going to change our understanding of how and why we humans function the way we do. Scientific American has a specific publication called Scientific American Mind, which features articles about the latest brain research and discoveries. From what I've heard, an interesting article appeared in the most recent issue about how the internet is literally restructuring the human brain.

Oh really? I guess that makes blogging more interesting…

Finally, I think the One Laptop technology is already changing the world. The brilliant thing about this technology is that it’s actually lower tech than the energy-gobbling laptops we’re used to seeing. It can be solar or foot-powered (how cool is that?) and the whole machine has been reconsidered and redesigned to account for the “rough lifestyle” each laptop will endure.

What’s really transforming about this technology is that it’s paired with a social initiative. It’s not just for the sake of increasing a company’s profit margins… it’s about giving people opportunities who otherwise never would have had access to them. It’s an attempt to bring education to parts of the world where it’s not nearly as “taken-for-granted” is it is here in America.

I wish all design could have a purpose as meaningful as that. In fact—ideally—it should.

Something To Get Excited About

The Harry Potter trailers are always rather well-done in my opinion. I actually analyzed the trailer for Harry Potter 5 back when I was developing an internal commercial for RC2, and it was really inspirational. I particularly like the rapid cut sequences that show brief flashes of action—just enough to whet the appetite, but not enough to give away all the surprises.

Overall, I think the trailer also shows off the visual eye-candy of the movie, which is something that Harry Potter fans love and expect. The tone comes across as fast-paced and exciting, which is important to a generation accustomed to adrenaline and catchy cinematography in the theaters.

Real Beauty

Although I believe that “real beauty” is much more than the Dove marketing campaign encapsulates, I none-the-less think that it’s a brilliant insight on their part. It clearly communicates a consumer-centered message, and acknowledges the growing frustration many women have felt by being compared to tall, lanky super-models. The Real Beauty campaign touches on deep-felt emotions held by people worldwide, as indicated by the fact that only 2% of women in their global survey described themselves as being beautiful.

Actually, though I don’t use Dove products, this campaign resonates with me as well. I watched their “Under Pressure” video and felt something lurch inside of me.

You see, I do feel this way. I feel bombarded by a perpetual archetype I can never achieve, and I’m tired of it. I’m tired of a societal expectation that labels me as second-rate—an expectation that tells me I’m somehow insufficient if I don’t purchase the latest merchandise, beauty products, etc.

So, yeah. I suppose that my own reaction validates the effectiveness of their brand message…

…though I do find it ironic that this campaign comes from a company hoping to sell beauty supplies…