Block Blog

Toby Pritchard MA blog.

[neilsanders]

I’ve recorded a video of the process of animating a simple morph between two drawings. It’s the first exercise I run when introducing animation to my illustration diploma students.

[tobysblockblog]

Haiku - 

Before i moved on. I wanted to try out another quick project where i focused on text and then created images based on them. For this exercise i decided to go back to poetry, in the form of a haiku, it gave me a structured framework that was simple and creative. I found this to be quite insightful and playful. Mostly when thinking about how my work can used in a creative learning setting. The characters work perfectly when paired with a narrative driven form of poetry. My thinking here is a child could look at the drawings and use it as a template to create their own stories.

[tobysblockblog]

Added more - 

An attempt to create more a real scene for my landscpaes and blocks. The purpose here was to give a little extra stimulation than just a block sitting in the grass. a snippet of narrative that is open eneded.

[tobysblockblog]

a Test - 

Using what Iv’e learnt so far an applying it to create more of a focused mood under the sea. This time the darker blue colours were much more successful in creating the correct landscape i wanted. From now on i should not just think about how colours can be calming, but also using these colours to demonstrate different environments.

[tobysblockblog]

Combing the blowing grass with blocks to create something fun.

[tobysblockblog]

Warmth - 

Here i wanted to test how warmer colours would effected a landscape. I found people really responded to these softer, summery colours than to the darker blues and purples.  Combining that with with the minimalist scene and having the only moving environment be the grass blowing in the wind, really sets the scene and allows the audience to experience a moment in time without having to worry about what happens next.

[tobysblockblog]

First animation test - 

I think my goals to create a moment in time are best utilized in a moving image format. It give the audience more stimulation that a still image, and allows then to experience the landscape WITH the toy block. Creating these small GIFs also provides me a platform to quickly test out animated ideas whilst being able to use them as stand alone pieces.

[tobysblockblog]

Putting them all together

[tobysblockblog]

small scenes - 

I found the combination of minimalist gradient backgrounds combined with a small scene of character and some nature, almost in the form of a terrarium; to be very successful. I found that this image and more like it were proven effective in grabbing the attention of someone and being stimulating enough that having a narrative was not needed at all.

[tobysblockblog]

Testing calmness - 

After some research into colour therapy and how meditation and living in the present can help create a more pleasant environment, it was time to start testing concepts and scenes. MY focus here was creating environments in both still and moving image, that focused less on narrative and more about encapsulating a moment in time that is nice and calm to look at. 

[tobysblockblog]

The Benefits of Meditation

Less stress, more focus and better sleep are just a few benefits of meditation and mindfulness.

Headspace - an example of meditation working with illustration and animation.

Headspace is a good example how how my illustration and animation can achieve a calming and meditative environment. 

Where as this is an app based around meditation, it can still be a good resource for my more illustrative and narrative based practice in finding what works to help visually calm people.

[tobysblockblog]

12 Science-Based Benefits of Meditation

Meditation is the process of training your mind to focus and redirect thoughts, and it can improve your quality of life. Here are 12 benefits of meditation.

benefits of meditation -

I am not for one second suggesting my work could help produce any of these benefits, however i do believe that these benefits can influence my output and create a calming, more mindful environment in the worlds i create.

[tobysblockblog]

We live in the age of distraction. Yet one of life's sharpest paradoxes is that your brightest future hinges on your ability to pay attention to the present.

Flow -

This is an article about ways to live in the moment ans why its important  tp try to do to help creating a more positive future for yourself.

What i took away the most from this article was the aspect of “flow”, when trying to live in the moment. Being in a state of mind where you are engrossed in focusing on the task right in front of you and keeping your attention on one thing, helping you to think less about the past or the future, in that moment, thus helping you to be a little calmer. I think my animations in particular strive to have this kind of effect, where the passage of time doesn't really matter.

[tobysblockblog]

Aspects of Buddhism that has effected my work

I was extremely hesitant to include my feelings and philosophy relating to Buddhism into my blog and research, i didn't want to make things too personal and preachy. However i think in order to fully understand why i want to make my work calming and present, i need to do specific research into the aspects of Buddhist teaching that have influenced my work. Therefore without doing a whole project on Buddhism itself and promoting it, i will focus my research here on meditation, and being present in the moment; two aspects that have helped me in creating my work.

[tobysblockblog]

Some colours - 

A grid of some useful calming colours that i plan to use in gradient form for my future scenes.

[tobysblockblog]

Color theory encompasses a multitude of definitions, concepts and design applications. Basic concepts. The Color Wheel, Color Harmony,Color Context

This website gave me some more info into the mechanics and concepts of basic colour theory. What i found particularly interesting was the section on colour therapy; where it is all about finding combinations of colour that are pleasing to the eye; the very thing i want to accomplish for my scenery.

one thing i should look out for when creating visuals is always strive for stimulating colours that are not just a chaotic mish mash of colours.  “extreme unity leads to under-stimulation, extreme complexity leads to over-stimulation. Harmony is a dynamic equilibrium. “My take from this is to not strive for perfection, because that would lead to less interesting work, instead i should just experiment with colours and find what is balanced between being visually stimulating and also calming and relaxing. 

[tobysblockblog]

Colour Affects: your mood, your behaviour, potential clients' perceptions of your company, sales of your product, purchasing decisions, the atmosphere in your home, the atmosphere in your workplace and therefore stress levels and absenteeism.

The following is a basic link to the different colours and how they each have their own positive and negative connotations. This website proved very useful initially in finding and combining colours that I thought would create a pleasant environment for my illustrations.

For example, I found pinks and purples to be more tranquil compared to blues. People usually find warmth to be comforting, so pairing the reds, oranges and yellows could prove useful to creating a relaxing environment, Although this site doesn't really have an academic standing as far as i can see; it has been extremely useful in initially finding good colours to think about for my work.