Final Show Ideas...

I have to do a presentation tomorrow on my ideas for final show. As far as I know it's nothing major, this sort of thing seems to be Dave's way of making sure we're all on top of what we need to be doing, and as I've already discussed this with him I'm not too worried about it.

So as I've been sitting pondering it I thought I'd stick a few things on here.

This is my original idea for final show...

I had wanted to have a corner if I could, and have managed to put dibs on the old armchair that is knocking about the studio. For a long time now I've wanted to make a giant plushie squid which I have a pattern for, and so at the beginning of the year I decided to make it for final show. I wanted the rest of the show to be quite twee and chintzy, but none of this "shabby chic" stuff you see everywhere these days. I wanted to design a wallpaper for the walls, something that would look like a damask print, but then up close would have pictures in it, in particular dinosaurs. This would be two colours only, the images would be silhouettes, maybe a dark green on a lighter green background. 

I wanted to display my work by printing onto canvas and then framing this using embroidery hoops in various sizes and hanging them on one of the walls. This would mean that I could also add to some of the pieces by sewing onto them. On the other wall I wanted to hang plates which I would paint. I wanted to do some 3D stuff too, rather than just lots of images, so I decided to do my own version of flying ducks; either jelly fish or something to tie in with the squid, or I had another idea based on an old drawing I did of a cowboy and having a cowboy, an indian and a cactus. Finally, to play my animations I wanted to use one of the monitors and build a box for it, drawn in my flat 2D style and dress it up like a retro TV. I also wanted to try and get an old magazine rack to put my portfolio in so it would fit in with the layout.

Anyway, there are a bunch of problems with this...

Firstly the boards we have to use can't be painted or wallpapered because of health and safety, they would be a fire hazzard. So if I want to have wallpaper I'll have to mount it on panels the size of the boards and mount them onto the boards... why that is any less of a fire hazzard I don't know! 

Secondly, I might not necessarily get to have a corner.

Thirdly, I kind of need to have more of a theme. This idea is a little all over the place, it's all random bits and pieces thrown together.

SO, I need to have a think, come up with some alternatives, but for now I've rejigged this one a little and tried to give it more of a theme and keep all the pieces tied together. This is a quick doodle I did in PS of how the layout might look...

This one is all centered around my granny character, Mabel, and I've done it based on only having one board to work with, this actually means less space to fill so I can spend more time on individual pieces.

I'd still like to do a wallpaper, though maybe not dinosaurs as it wouldn't really suit Mabel! Maybe something to do with knitting? Anyway, I want to have framed work on the walls, like a little old womans house, and these will be digital paintings of Mabel and her late husband from various stages of their life together. I still plan to do the TV/monitor thing if possible, and might have a photo or two in frames on top of that. I would still want to use the magazine rack for my portfolio too. As I wouldn't be making the poor squid, I like the idea of making Mabels dead cat, which in my original character designs is constantly slumped over her arm like a handbag. I also like the idea of having her slippers by the side of the chair as if she's left them there. I'd like to try and get hold of an old lamp too, or if I have time make a cage, in the same way I want to do the box for the TV, and have a plushie budgie in it.

Anyway the idea is that it'd be like a little section of Mabels life, and you'd be able to watch some of it on the TV in the form of a 2.5D animation. I've had a brief outline for an animation I wanted to do for Mabel for a long time now, so this would be a good chance to do it. What I hope to achieve is having people look at the images and watch the animation and feel something; feel sad or feel sorry for Mabel, 'cause then I know I've done a good job of building the characters background and animating her well!