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Post by JayUtah on Jun 13, 2007 18:47:07 GMT -4
Odd the number of 3d people -- game level designers, modelers, animators, concept artists -- who have a community theater background. Mostly lighting design!
Good art is good art, whether it's rendered in gouache, pixels, or photons. Good artists recognize that the medium is not the message.
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Post by Ginnie on Jun 13, 2007 19:02:46 GMT -4
Yeah, I agree. As an artist (good or bad, it doesn't matter) I feel restricted sometimes, not too consciously necessarily - you have to learn to overcome your urge to paint skies blue, have correct shadows....I once threw mixed ground pepper in paint to give some texture to an obelisk in a painting. It was difficult for me to do that because it's not something that I learned to do. I'd love to do a painting just by throwing blobs of paint on the canvas....of course it couldn't be that simple: I have to pick a colour, I have to choose where I throw it, how much to throw, try to cover or redo a 'bad' part etc... Happily some good accidents do occur when I paint. Those unplanned moments are perhaps the best. I love kid's art and gorilla or elephant art because it so impromptu and unlearned.
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Post by gillianren on Jun 13, 2007 19:22:30 GMT -4
Yes, I too remember when "cut and paste" meant a razor blade on a rubberized mat and pots of evil-smelling goop and tubs of warm wax, rubber rollers and dastardly fingerprints emerging on putatively camera-ready material. Heck, my college newspaper was still put together that way. We had computer programs for the text, but the final paper was cut-and-paste, literally. My admiration of Wendy-the-layout-girl knew no bounds.
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Post by VALIS on Jun 13, 2007 19:58:01 GMT -4
I guess I'm in minority here, but I much prefer to work with CAD drawings than mylar ones. That's possibly because I started working with modeling software rather than a drafting board, but I find CAD drawings much easier to read and analyze
Last year I heard of an extreme example of the cut&paste technique described by Jay. A few decades ago, a designer at the company I work for was designing a big part. I think it was a wing spar or something like that. He somehow "forgot" a few feet right in the middle. He had to cut the drawing in 2 halves and then tape some more real estate between them. I wish I'd seen the result
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Post by JayUtah on Jun 13, 2007 20:09:06 GMT -4
We had computer programs for the text, but the final paper was cut-and-paste, literally.
I did a makeover of Adult and Continuing Education Today in about 1990. Most of the layout happened in Page Maker, but a lot of it was still mechanical paste-up. That wasn't because the publisher was backwards and uncomputerized, but because the print shop was. Phototypesetters are expensive enough that you don't upgrade them until you've eked out of them everything you can.
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Post by Data Cable on Jun 13, 2007 20:31:21 GMT -4
"What's this squiggle supposed to be?" "Is that a resistor, or did someone bump the table?"
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Post by gillianren on Jun 13, 2007 22:03:42 GMT -4
I did a makeover of Adult and Continuing Education Today in about 1990. Most of the layout happened in Page Maker, but a lot of it was still mechanical paste-up. That wasn't because the publisher was backwards and uncomputerized, but because the print shop was. Phototypesetters are expensive enough that you don't upgrade them until you've eked out of them everything you can. I'm pretty sure that's what it was for us, too. We had Page Maker; I got pretty decent in using it, given that my job didn't require knowing much of anything about it. I'm guessing the print shop did not.
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Post by JayUtah on Jun 14, 2007 0:18:42 GMT -4
I guess I'm in minority here, but I much prefer to work with CAD drawings than mylar ones.
I'm not anti-CAD in the least. I . The computer brings clear advantages to mechanical design, as it does elsewhere. The practical needs of modern commercial design mean we have to leave some ornament behind, even if the ornament was fun to produce.
The eye-mind-hand phenomenon is still real, as far as we can study such a thing objectively. You think differently when your hand and the emerging picture are both in the eyespan. So modern CAD input technology tries to put the hand, eye, and drawing together, and tries its best to synthesize the higher-order model elements from sketch gestures.
That's possibly because I started working with modeling software rather than a drafting board...
That's a definite advantage. The point of mechanical design drawing is often to express a three-dimensional object's geometry. A CAD model that treats all three dimensions equally is the basis behind all modern engineering.
Traditional design-drawing education teaches the orthogonal layout method. If you're an architect you start with floor plans and then generate elevations. If you're an engineer you do a standard draftsman's layout with three orthogonal views, pertinent sections, and perhaps an isometric rendering.
But the more we study how designers actually work, the more we realize that initial designs are more to be 3D sketch renderings. This is important, because customers often favor 3D renderings to plan-layout-elevation presentations. You communicate better if you express the design the way your brain naturally perceives objects in the world.
CAD systems that start you out in 2D and then promote awkwardly to 3D do a great disservice to the design process. If you want a good example of a next-generation sketching tool, download the free version of Google's Sketchup.
He had to cut the drawing in 2 halves and then tape some more real estate between them. I wish I'd seen the result
[slaps forehead]
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Post by JayUtah on Jun 14, 2007 0:35:48 GMT -4
As an artist (good or bad, it doesn't matter...)
I should have said a successful artist, but even that's subjective.
Art and those who produce it can't be judged along a single dimension. H.R. Giger is a master at airbrush technique, even though his paintings scare people. Conversely Ruby, the 6-year-old daughter of my neighbor, has terrible watercolor technique but at least wisely chooses to paint fluffy bunnies and kitty-cats that are more pleasant to look at. Greatness is not to be so easily measured.
...you have to learn to overcome your urge to paint skies blue, have correct shadows...
The joy of rendering by hand instead of leaving it up to the computer is in the ability to create focus using color, value, selective transparency, and even distortion. The eye is attuned to the precision of the rendering, but a skilled artist with a knowledge of how the mind works can redirect and engage the viewer without making the drawing seem alien.
I'd love to do a painting just by throwing blobs of paint on the canvas...
I think Jackson Pollack already did that.
Happily some good accidents do occur when I paint.
The "happy accident" was the hallmark of Bob Ross, one of the television champions of the weekend artists.
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Post by Joe Durnavich on Jun 14, 2007 1:07:55 GMT -4
But the more we study how designers actually work, the more we realize that initial designs are more to be 3D sketch renderings.
I was surprised to find that CGI animators would sculpt a clay model of the creature and scan that in instead of constructing it all on the computer.
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Post by JayUtah on Jun 14, 2007 1:26:47 GMT -4
Pixar's conceptual artwork is still done according to traditional colored-goop-on-paper methods.
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Post by gillianren on Jun 14, 2007 1:28:35 GMT -4
I love Bob Ross. He wasn't a great artist, but I find his paintings soothing--and his show is like televised Valium.
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Post by rchappo on Jun 14, 2007 8:09:01 GMT -4
I love Bob Ross. He wasn't a great artist, but I find his paintings soothing--and his show is like televised Valium. Is he the "happy trees" guy? If so my wife has got a Bob Ross t-shirt ! I guess he would be the American equivalent of Tony Hart in the UK. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hart
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Post by BertL on Jun 14, 2007 9:50:52 GMT -4
Bob Ross and Steve Irwin are two of my 'heroes', if that's the right word for them. Both of them are such good people who just love the world. I love love. Spread the love.
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Post by scooter on Jun 14, 2007 10:32:38 GMT -4
happy trees...yeah, for all the little critters to run and play in...
What a great thought to start my day...
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