3D and Lens

Task and Aims

'Imagine yourself as a mutant with a specific superpower or mutation. This could reflect your own interests or dislikes. It could be an ability you've always dreamt of having.
Produce a 3-D illustration of this mutant'.

Well known practitioners that produce 3D illustrations/create abstract or mutant characters:

Hattie Newman

Marcus Oakley

Lord Whitney

3D is my worst nightmare when it comes to designing and making, however wanted to have my best shot at having a successful outcome with this project. I started by making a mind map of everything that came to mind to do with the starting point, including my interests and dislikes.

I couldn't choose anything specific that I thought would result in a good final piece. So I explored further into fictional characters with superpowers/mutations.

I still wasn't sure. My problem is that I always try and visualise the end piece before I've actually done much planning and exploration in depth.

I then thought about my childhood dream of becoming 'the fourth power puff girl'

Reflection

I thought it would be a great idea at first, but I then realised that it was maybe diverting a little too far from the brief itself by stylising myself into something that was already established.

I then took a step back and thought further into my likes and dislikes, as opposed to my desires to make the subject matter feel more personal. It is daft, but off the top of my head I came up with the idea of 'Ellie-Phant', a play on words with my name to do with my loathing of being vertically challenged, and being able to use a super powered trunk in able to reach things at height (without being  really embarrassed).

The set up would be simple, yet hopefully effective. I thought up of a scenario where I wouldn't be able to reach something that I desired, for example a bar of chocolate, that my Mum had hidden out of my reach. Then magically, from the end of my nose I would grow a magical 'Ellie-phant' trunk to reach up and grab the desired object.

To do this, I will make a mask-type trunk from paper and cardboard and wear accordingly on my face with normal day-to-day clothes, to show that it is just my nose that extends, and not a whole bodily transformation into an elephant. 

Taking the Picture

I had such a hard time getting the trunk to stay upright, and in the appropriate position for the set up, which resulted in taping it to a golf club and balancing/disguising it with items of clothing.

I had to ask my parents to help me take the photograph due to my position, which was a little frustrating at times because I literally had to spell out to them what I wanted from the picture. It was difficult to experiment with different angles too due to the narrative composition of the picture, which had to include all of the information in a portrait format.

The First few attempts:

I tried sitting at two different angles as well as having close up shots, but looking back at these I relayed that my trunk didn't line up properly with my nose, so I had to make a few adjustments! I also tried the shot using my polaroid camera to give a different filter and feeling to the image.

Much better!

Although it is difficult to see that it is the chocolate that I am reaching for amongst all of the other things on the shelf...

Here, the subject matter is a lot clearer for the viewer. I also attached the chocolate bar to the end of my trunk to make it easier to see that I am reaching to the top shelf in order to grab it.

Again, used my polaroid camera to take the same shot, however I feel that the filter gives it a much more muted effect and isn't as flamboyant to the viewer. 

The Final Image

Evaluation

I really struggled with this task, as it was so open to interpretation without any restrictions, and I found that I put to much pressure on myself to produce a good image rather than play around a little and experiment.

The final outcome is ok, I should have invested more time into producing and developing rough sketches. This would have left me less stressed about the direction of the task and resulted in a more refined final image.