like no offense but how is this even possible. you have been making 3d animated films your entire career how do you not fucking know how to work in the planning of 3d animation. and yet you don't just give the job to someone else

Daz Artist Interview Series: MartinJFrost - Daz 3D Blog

If you’ve been looking to create realistic scenes with beautiful 3D plants, stones, or fabrics, you’ve probably come across Published Artist (PA) MartinJFrost in the . And if you haven’t, we’re proud to introduce you!

He’s been in the 3D scene for decades and started selling with Daz in its first years in the early 2000s, but it’s not his day job! Keep reading to learn more about MartinJFrost and his artistic journey.

The Interview

MartinJFrost, thank you for giving us a peek into your life as an artist and the products you create. Let’s start with the basics. How did you pick your artist name? 

It is literally just my name. In the real world, I’m a theatrical designer, and I usually go into programs as Martin J Frost. So it seems the sensible thing to use that for 3D as well.

Keeping it simple, I like it. How did you get into design, art, and 3D modeling? 

By accident, I discovered Vue d’Esprit and Poser and found I really enjoyed making art with them.

It sounds like a happy accident then! Where do you get your inspiration when designing a product? 

If it’s plants, my garden or travels. If it’s textures, it’s usually driven by the fact that I’ve needed a certain texture and found that there isn’t one out there that I can use.

And how would you describe your style? 

Old goth with green fingers lol.

Haha that’s awesome. Taking a deeper look into your art, what does your artistic process look like? 

It depends on the day. I tend to mess around with an idea, do a test render, and go from there. It’s pretty organic.

And what’s the most difficult thing about designing products? 

Promo renders can be difficult. It’s hard not to fall down a rabbit hole when doing them and get carried away by the art rather than remembering to showcase whatever it is the render is supposed to be promoting.

For sure! On the flip side, what’s the product you had the most fun creating and why? 

All of them in their own way. My is one I’m very fond of and proud of.

You’ve been doing this for quite some time, so how has your work changed over time? 

More detail and better textures.

What should we expect from you in the future? 

Life is getting quite hectic. In the real world, I have been doing a theatre project every month since Christmas and have spent a long time away from my computer. Over the summer, I’m at home more, so I should have more plants and textures. I’m working on a couple of collaborations with plants at the moment. It all depends on what the other career has to offer; I’m already booked up next November to January, so who knows!

Sounds busy! But we’re excited to see what you have in the works. What’s something people might not notice or don’t know about your products?

I tend to use a lot of textures and scans that I’ve gotten from my garden.

And how do you know when a product is finished? 

Usually, I have a plan of what I’d like the finished item to be like. Sometimes, it takes a few goes before I look at it and know that it will work. 

Daz caters to both beginner and advanced users alike, and many look up to our PAs. What challenges have you overcome as you developed as an artist? 

Not over-egging a project. It’s very easy to get bogged down in the minutia and forget what the end user wants, so I tend to try and keep things as simple as possible.

I think all of us have been there at one point or another. For those of us who want to follow you and your work, where else can we see your artwork, products, and other work? 

Here is my and my . 

Awesome! Now, let’s move away form work-related things. What do you like to do when you’re not making awesome products or renders? 

Read, garden, and the theatrical design day job.

What advice would you give your younger self? 

Be more confident in your abilities.

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

A theatre technician (and have been for over thirty years).

You’re living the dream! What’s your spirit animal? 

I’d say a cat. We share many of the same traits…

And last of all, you can choose one superpower — what is it and why? 

Time travel — Dr. Who is cool! 

Super cool! Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to share more about yourself and your products. We look forward to what you come up with next!

This content was originally published here.

january: an art retrospective

i did some stuff last month (but it’s a lot of stuff and there’s a photodump + some Serious Fucking Reflection, so it’s all below the cut)

so ok, let’s start with this. here are some heads. each head has a red arrow. that red arrow is what i call the red line of the devil. it’s the slope of the face from the side of the eye to the cheekbone and then down towards the chin. up until like 2 weeks ago, i couldn’t draw it. i couldn’t fucking draw it. i would edit over that part of the face over and over again until i was frustrated and tired and i had a raging homosexual headache and it still never looked right. notice that each head is different. notice that each head looks wrong.

at the start of 2021 i finally admitted to myself, as per the image above, that i was deeply, deeply unhappy with my art. what was the problem? i dunno. but i decided i was going to fix it and i was going to do so via another one scribble a day event wherein for every day of january i would find a photo of a human head, and i would draw it.

january 1st, 2021. i was embarrassed to tweet this even on my private account where like 5 friends and a rock would see it. in retrospect, you can also see all of my bad habits emerging like dicks from a hole in the ground. it’s disproportionate. the brows look flat. the eyes are slanting upwards. the entire drawing looks flat, like this isn’t a 3d person but a caricature of one.

january 2nd, 3rd, 4th:

on the 2nd i decided to start a separate thread for doodles and applied learning. here’s the first set of tests

the rest of the week is kind of uneventful so we’re going to skip those. fast forward to january 11th

this one is especially bad. i am acutely aware, suddenly, that i am not changing anything at all. i’m stressed and miserable about it because i’m still trying to see people as people and trying to draw people that look attractive and proportionate and hot. my friend, leny, reminds me that i need to think about faces in terms of planes. i have a moment. my other friend masha sends me some links to anatomy tutorials. i have another moment.

january 11th. applied sketch

january 13th is when i start the troubleshooting process. the link above drives me mad because i’m pretty happy with the face but then i realize that there’s something very fucking wrong with the shape of the head LOL and then i realize that i’ve never had any idea what the proportion of the face to the rest of the skull is so i grit my teeth and i open a new canvas and i

bald studies. it seemed like the right thing to do. can’t draw heads? ok draw some heads. look at some photographs. i traced each photo but tried to stick to straight lines so that i could replicate the shapes more easily. i broke each face down into shapes. i thought about airplanes

i got really excited. i started doing studies, then applied studies, then stylized studies.

sketches. i’m not sure what’s going on (as always) and it’s very rough, but they look different from the sketches i did on january 2nd. that’s a start

january 16th’s daily study. looks more like a person now. juuuuuust a bit

more applied studies

on the 18th i take a break and go stare at some lips because i don’t understand how the fuck they work. again, i focus on shapes, on volume, on the fact that these things exist in 3d. holy fuck lips exist in 3d. holy fuck we are real

january 19th. i’m working on it.

january 22nd. some sketches + a daily study. it has finally occurred to me that heads can tilt up and down and that things look different accordingly. yes i was not aware of this before. yes i have been drawing for over a decade.

january 23rd. by this point after doing my daily sketch i almost always go back and do an applied study which is basically to say i drew a lot of fucking links. this one looks kind of okay. i’m kind of proud

january 25th. links. trying to make sense of everything i’ve learned

26th, 27th, 28th. daily studies

january 1st. january 31st

The End Of The Photo Dump (dab)

ok NOW i get to talk about what i discovered while studying the shit out of human beings

FIRST OF ALL, there is something precious and magical about drawing shit without the explicit knowledge that you’re going to tweet that shit out to 45 people later. it takes the burden of perception off your shoulders and that does something to you, or at least that’s my theory. i told myself i wouldn’t post any of this stuff until the end of the month (if i wanted to post it at all) and kept everything off my public social media accounts and that meant i could draw ugly as hell without worrying about who would point and laugh, which i absolutely fucking did. a lot of these are fucking trainwrecks. most of these are fucking trainwrecks. why do they look like that?? why??? this doesn’t look like the work of someone who’s allegedly been drawing since they were in kindergarten, does it?????

here’s why: because that person took a huge motherfucking swing at everything they’d ever known about art and spent a month building something new in its place. the abstract explanation is that i grew up on shoujo and weird old anime and my understanding of anatomy was unironically kamichama karin and while i love kamichama karin, when kamichama karin is your rule even if you try to break it, you’re going to end up going nowhere. “you have to know the rules to break them”, yeah? well i didn’t know shit. the abstract explanation is i’ve been miserable about my art for a few years now because i saw other people doing things effortlessly which i couldn’t and instead of going back to the basics, i tried to do what they did (not plagiarism, mind you, i mean i literally tried to copy the red line of the devil i mentioned above because i couldn’t even make that happen) and then i fucking failed.

the simple explanation is this. i had to unlearn everything, and relearn it again (like some kind of new renaissance clown, what the fuck is this?)

take this for example. all my life i’ve drawn faces in the order: eyes, nose, mouth, face shape, head. this works for some people, im aware, but it was something central to how i had always drawn, so i decentralized it. i said fuck you to the old me and changed the order up. now i start with the nose, then the eyes, mouth, the chin line, and the sides of the face. now i force myself to think about the human head as a series of parts interacting with each other instead of a bunch of disparate features which i want to look pretty.

or let’s use this zelda from last year. something about this looked wrong last october, the way something about all of my drawings looked wrong, but i couldn’t pinpoint it for hell the way i couldn’t articulate Any of my feelings about the visual arts. now, looking back, here’s what i see. that nose is sticking out far too much given how she’s not really facing very far away from the camera. that ear at the back shouldn’t be there. her forehead is too big. she doesn’t have a forehead. what the fuck is up with the shape of her head?

so apparently reject modernity embrace tradition has its roots in alt-right terminology and i’m not very horny for the alt-right (you understand), but the spirit survives here. you know sometimes you have to admit that you have no idea what the fuck you’re doing and draw people for 31 days. i’ve spent my whole life drawing stylized people and while again there are artists who have no issue with this, i veered off the track of the Good and the Holy and couldn’t get back on. i had no point of reference because i’d never thought about what an actual human being looks like, so i had no way to fix what i knew in my gut looked wrong but wouldn’t come out better.

this was hard. this was like oikawa tooru swallowing his worthless pride and admitting that ushijima wakatoshi had gotten the best of him for the last time in his high school career, but in haikyuu!! by furudate haruichi oikawa tooru fucks off to argentina and then joins the argentinean national team, and you know what, i think i’ve made it to argentina (not the team just the country). as per the golden rule of dont fucking move until you’re at least two thirds of the way through the month, i only started trying to draw Shit shit on like the 22nd or something, but i was happy with that i created. i am happy with what i’ve done. i’ve posted like 2 things this month that involve people with what i now call ~applied Knowledge~~ and they’re, like, not perfect obviously (perfection is an unattainable ideal), but i’m fucking proud of them. i didn’t spend 5 hours hunched over my laptop adjusting the red line of the devil because it’s not a devil’s line anymore. because i finally sorta get how people work. because i sat down and i said ‘we are not going to fuck with this misery shit anymore’ and then i did that. it’s just a line now.

here are 2 collages tracking my painstakingly carved out progress from january 2nd to february 2nd because i’m a slut for collages

and here’s what i’ve done to my art! the same person drew these but also Not Really! you know! for the first time in a year i don’t immediately hate what i’ve drawn. you know what guys? art is fucking fun. zelda’s forehead doesn’t scare me anymore because i know how foreheads fucking work now, and i don’t know everything, and i’m going to keep troubleshooting stuff as i go (i want to draw a skeleton. like a. i want to draw a goddamn skeleton guys) but i’m honestly and genuinely proud of what i’ve done in the span of a month, and i’m also in disbelief. i started this month-long challenge out as a last ditch effort to make peace with my art because i’ve been tired for a long time and i was ready to kick the bucket on drawing people altogether. i didn’t think anything would happen. nothing’s happened for years. i’ve been miserable for years.

this was the caption for january 1st, 2021. i was super, super fucking embarrassed and it looks like super fucking shit, but you know what, i think i did in fact triumph over the bullshit. surprisingly enough, when you put in consistent effort into something, You Will See Results. didn’t see that coming, did you? i know i didn’t.

this isn’t a success story. it’s a happiness story. i never gave a shit damn about the institute of art or whatever, i was just mad at myself because what i saw in my head didn’t match up with what was on the canvas. and now it’s getting better. now i’m calibrating the compass. now drawing not just backgrounds but also people is exciting to me, and i can stick my links in your face and tell you ‘they hot’. i’m going to keep doing that. i’m going to keep going until i drop off the side of the earth and then spiral towards mars like some kind of fairy, and then i’m going to create something beautiful.

thanks for reading. here’s a pr department link for sticking around until the end

alright here’s ma thoughts on that flick I mentioned

we hatewatched a*my of the dead because we were CONVINCED “zombies in las vegas” would be an impossible concept to screw up, but in so assuming we obviously invoked a holy wager with the universe and got reminded, once again, that hoping for improvement from someone who’s dependably put out bad art is never a wise choice 😐

but we were honestly kinda roped in by the marketing??? and expected a goofy fast-paced flick with the odd traditional undead metaphor thrown in, framing some sort of relationship drama maybe or hell even nothing at all! we’d have taken pure indulgent storytelling, idk italian job with zombies in las vegas, I don’t know fucking anything but??? whatever this was???? spoilers below for it is time for One Of My Rants

I mean the main reason I really want to write all this and complain. this film here probably has the most unappealing cinematography I have ever experienced in my life and that is saying something. who the fuck signed off on that CONSTANT shallow-ass depth of field that imprisons your eyeline and turns every shot into bokeh paste???? and I mean every shot almost!!!! I promise if you think I am overreacting just throw a dart at the seek bar and watch twenty seconds from wherever it lands. it is horrifying to look at. at least it gave my girlfriend a good visual shorthand for what it’s like when I lose my glasses

why was sean spicer in this movie. did they pay him to be here. was sean spicer paid hollywood money for his scene in this film because fuck everyone who was involved in that decision

the legitimately baffling hints at the extraterrestrial origins of the infection that went absolutely nowhere and had no dramatic or plot-level bearing. we love to see the franchise sprouts fellas

yet another big budget waste of everything hiroyuki sanada has to offer. and bautista too I guess? I like him but man was this an odd career move

what was the crux of his conflict/resolution with his daughter btw. I understand it was rooted in miscommunication over their forms of grief irt mom but uhh… it was all rather clunky and didn’t land for me. I tried I really tried to buy in but something was wrong fundamentally with the groundwork there, it did not click and their catharsis felt unearned. I know there’s massive amounts of tragic baggage being projected there from the author so I’m not slapping any judgment down really;

but again it would be an easy thing to wave off if they just had a vibrant cast of lovable simpletons with good chemistry and the kinetic sense of plotting the trailers promised (and this premise never discounts good drama, either). but instead it was just two and a half (!) hours of meandering into situations the filmmaking instincts had no idea how to flow in and out of

to wit. I know talking about “bad pacing” is associated with armchair bullshit but consider the example of the scene were dieter does an out of nowhere little dance after childishly screaming but then still-killing a zombie, with the film framing this as a micro character triumph, and not a second later the bg soundtrack instantly fades into an orchestral score dramatizing a nearby mcguffin reveal, completely 180 degreeing the tone without a semblance of deft insert shot stitching or even I dont know a fucking jump cut maybe. now imagine this whiplash for 2.5 hrs uninterrupted

I will keep complaining about the length yeah because this was not a story requiring this much real estate to be told. Uhh in my humble and personal opinion, of course

[man sees zombie tiger] “this is crossing the line!” you can in fact write dialogue that is not utter nonsense that falls apart once you drill down its single fickle layer of referential meta winking. what line are you talking about. you have rules in this insane situation you’re in? total nitpick moment I know but it got burned in my brain for some reason. like a microcosm of the mismanaged dramatic instincts paired with weird writing that dots this movie. I am sure the director calls this either satire or genre deconstruction. I am SO sure

tumblr domino meme that goes from “dude getting sucked off while driving” to “entire las vegas literally nuked”

tig notaro is always great to see but once you know she’s been filmed as a separate greenscreen plate months after photography wrapped - cause she had to apparently replace some abusive asshole but that’s a whole other pig not worth fucking - it becomes impossible to unsee her odd detachment from everyone else in the movie lmao. it doesn’t really “ruin” anything on its lonesome but it is hard to unsee

why. was. sean. spicer. in. this. movie

a very simple key ingredient missing from fully turning lip service sympathy for main uruk hai dude into actual empathy that would generate meaningful conflict with hero family would be to spend a bit more time articulating what he internally wanted the most. because he was obviously trying to do something here with pointed agenda. a family, to have kids, build a caste system, save his wife’s head, return to his planet??? all of these could represent the bigger context in his psychology that spurred his vengeance but none of them are dramatically emphasized long enough for you to cheer him on. I’m not asking too much I promise. Articulating interiority of a mute character is pretty doable with deft cinema language, just gotta linger and hold a shot here and there for a few seconds, frame as his POV, donezo. I know this is also one of those like. “who cares” moments but the movie does, very evidently so, in making this guy an actual character. you can kinda piece it together and create a framework of sympathy for him, sure, but then again he ultimately becomes a foil to be killed and not defeated, so. Ehh whatever

quarantine zone stuff was not a wildly childish covid allegory quarantine zone stuff was not a wildly childish covid allegory quarantine zone stuff was n

the rooftop helicopter fakout at the end was such an ass-backwards, manufactured moment of what could be a simple setup/payoff it just pissed me off??? you gain nothing by giving sad dad five seconds of pointless crisis that flips right back to previous status quo ANYWAY, except for a weaksauce waste of runtime, which could be used instead to get inside notaro’s head and actually SHOW the remorse form as she took off, literally maybe even a frown playing on her face as she’s headed for safety right before we cut back to drax and the kid. just a simple-ass, minimal, momentary setup for what is the most basic filmmaking trick of creating macro catharsis moments. Just???? g o d if you can’t even land that shit why are you even doing any of this

that lil run final pam did was very very charming and super choreographed in a way that was the tiiiniest bit overdone

the whole intro with the simul-backstories and posing with family photos was just… oddly motivated. what was the goal? “here’s what we’re fighting for” vignettes? why? it’s not a functional setup in that vein. what was all that

also I am sorry if this is insensitive but the reasons most characters end up articulating to justify going back into the hell that destroyed their lives makes them sound seriously insane

I dont like complaining about CGI (honestly) but so much of it in modern movies can achieve higher fidelity if the animation is simply subdued. Do not overengineer and over-apply 2D cell methodologies and kinematics to each tiny twitch and movement in a hyper 3D model and I promise you. it will look a thousand times more natural. look at thanos in those last two movies. your rendering and detail are absolutely perfect with the tiger you just have to let stuff sit instead of constantly simulating swaying hair strands and firing off all facial muscles at once. great moment at one point where makeup zombie horse and CG zombie tiger are both in one shot together and just by unnecessary amounts of movement alone you can tell who doesn’t belong. again; detail, rendering, compositing, lighting, all picture-perfect; but y’all just gotta let the animation breathe sometimes, and chill it out

plot holes don’t really matter to me but it was kinda funny how lilly decided not to mention the enormous wrinkle in intel pertaining to an actual territorial tribe of intelligent zombies that require human offerings to let you pass, just so that reveal could play out in real time through the joyous punishment of the cartoonishly misogynistic dude

total chad move for mister uruk hai and final pam to rule from a rusted swimming pool complex

the ending with vanderohe oh my god. with the. cash stacks at the airport register. and specifically them working in his favor. that is literally something you do to get arrested under suspicion of theft. it was almost played for laughs and I respect that. coulda been goofier. make these movies goofy ya dorks

anyway, weird, weird movie. bad marketing. message unclear (something something sins of the father???), baffling editing instincts, literal worst-looking cinematography I ever laid eyes upon. Confidently dying on that last hill

Shy girl - statement

Previous statement

 For this class and second half of summer quarter I want to engage in a performance and dialog with female archetypes on the internet. I have always found the platform of internet a rather hostile black hole, yelling into the void so to speak. It also has been a place where I have discovered a lot of things that have helped me feel less isolated and have brought much inspiration to my life, a great outlet for my maximalist aesthetics. So, I have seen as someone growing up with the internet being around for the birth of Facebook and beginning my internet career on Myspace, that the internet is a place of duality. I haven’t much in my work engaged in a particularly feminist dialogue in my work as to not be pushed into a realm of all my work being an expression of the female but I guess I have still done so but not as overtly. I have also never explicitly created a character for myself during a performance as frankly I found it a bit to campy. I have created a persona based of a mash of a type of alternative female archetype that has found its place on the internet specifically, the E-girl. A popular and at the same time very much mi lined persona mainly a great target of specifically a lot of sexist vitriol from other online born groups.it is also a female persona that is much outside of my expression so I am interested in placing myself in the uncomfortable position in such a blatant misrepresentation of myself as well as having that character engage with some of the worst aspects of online culture and addressing that place and stereotype of woman in it. I am also interested in differences in male and female performance and tropes of expression and discourse found online mainly YouTube and other video formats. My character’s name will be named, shy girl and to further disguise is from myself I will be altering my own voice for speaking parts mush of the performances will be bringing more Avant-Garde concepts of performance to the mainstream such as john cages water performance with audience participation.  Also, I want to produce short work more consistently which is a mode of work I have not done up to this point so I will be putting out longer video content once a week.  

 Add on:

To update my artist statement and to speak to my progress with subjects related to the creation of my alter though I’m not sure how much I want it to be viewed as persona but more of a way to remove myself. This alter , Shy girl,  has so far no set type of format or type of content other than videos at this point and photos and maybe live capture online as I progress with platforms but that will very much change the nature of the performances as they will move from being captured into film , to being performance again the temporality will change as well as the source of control. which will affect the performances greatly but that will be addressed when the time comes, I think live streaming is a huge new question and place for performance art.  Back from that side tracking so far in terms of subject my videos have in initial conceptions been touching on but not limited to, Para social relationships, hostile male communities such as Inscels, the gaze, make up beauty/ identity, Vtubers and anime subculture, the body, multiples and an exercise in thought on distance and new space relationships found in the online environment. There is much more intertwined with in all of the videos I have done up to this point but these are some of the starting points for my video concept drawings and shot lists which I will be posing. The biggest development of this alter has been my creation of not only a 3D model based on my outfit and make up created for my performance in my own body. But now also a 2D model, so at this point I have created this group of performers which has been an interesting way of layering levels of abstraction of the original persona created. My video “shy graces” was the first time we were all together as I have been working with green screen to place myself into my online gallery/performance space, though it has been a passing thought but definite one that being my irrelevance now that I have these digital avatars. Which leads to something I suspected might happen that being my own disenchantment with my body which in a way lead to the next video “skin study’s” based on the work of ana Mendieta “glass on face” and my own push to recess the nude and the body online. This video for the first time bought in anime references as well which I did so for the obvious reason that these alters made online where very influenced my anime culture and manga illustration. As a western fan and a reclusive member of the subculture I have always seen interesting territory for discussion about the role of women in the anime but also in the community, being as if suffers from much of many “nerd subcultures” suffer from, sexualization, fetish, nerd bro culture and so on. But in particular anime’s relationship to the female body and projection of female presenting people is rife with conceptual fodder that I couldn’t begin to pick at this is quite long but has been developing. But one of the biggest draws is anime has been the first to bring this type of idealized body and form they have created into a living space in the form of projected 3D models like that of the Vocaloid characters which were developed as mascots for products along with new figures like project melody on streaming cites as well her move into adult content as a Only fans personality, Adult subscription cite. There has even been the creation of objects of comfort mimicking a body in the form or body pillows, which I used in one of my “music cover” videos integrating my own limbs with this printed body. And the creation of silicon full dolls not always used for the purpose of being a sex toy but as recreation of characters from particular shows that people use for companionship not that there is not a sexual element at play. A lot of this rings true to what I think is happening online these things are rather inseparable as I have moved into looking into the Vtuber community for my models and “copies” which the collective element being that all the programs that I have seen or used all by default use this anime form and all Vtubers use this anime avatar weather that be the 3D models or the 2D models as I created mine from scratch based on my performance persona and examples of popular Vtuber forms. There is this whole new level to literally not only changing your persona online as most do but actually taking on a new form and based on anime which is about the creation of whole other reality’s and which has an element of as a lot of media, escapism. These works as of this past class have been as I have been speaking about very bodily and quite grotesque as is the history often is of female performance art which I had read of and reminded me of such in Vergine body as language which I will link. This writing hit many points in relation to my work and I think is a far better resistor of a lot of what is a part of my content currently. One of originators for these past few videos not only the most recent two skin studies and shy graces was when I published my 3D model on Vorid studios there was a pop up that askes you about the licensing the avatar and it asks who can use it but what most stuck out to me was it asked if the creator would allow sexual content or violent content which became a big influence on the tone of that video. As well the video “shy Graces” which addressed the fact to be able to inhabit my new bodies I needed to pay more money to be able to do something as simple as move the arms of my 3D model as you would need an add on called leap motion.my thoughts and conceptual development may seem rather scattered at the moments but much thought has go into them and as far as the writing about this work it will develop as the work has over time.  

As for more technical aspects and materials, I have been pushing myself as far as the structure of my production of these videos as I want to make them all in accessible places with tools that anyone can access and I am trying to produce content weekly as on YouTube the speed of videos outputted is key to that structure and algorithm. The sets, outfits I have been using are also something that its easily accessed or recreated by anyone I guess I am focused on using almost modern-day working-class materials. As I should have started with saying at the beginning of this re brief this project at this point has not end game as it were I have the content that I am expressing as I want to use this avatar to engage with an audience that is outside of say a space in an art institution as I was inspired much by the work of fellow art student and internet artist molly soda. These alters and accounts have become my new studio work place for me to work on a continuous performance practice which is something I have not yet undertaken and I feel that will push my practice outside of my own comfort zone and open me to a space of pushing myself and very making mistakes and gaining new understanding to developed my practice.

 Definition: Internet art (also known as net art) is a form of digital artwork distributed via the Internet. This form of art has circumvented the traditional dominance of the gallery and museum system, delivering aesthetic experiences via the Internet. In many cases, the viewer is drawn into some kind of interaction with the work of art. Artists working in this manner are sometimes referred to as net artists.

 Net artist may use specific social or cultural internet traditions to produce their art outside of the technical structure of the internet. Internet art is often—but not always—interactive, participatory, and multimedia-based. Internet art can be used to spread a message, either political or social, using human interactions.

 The term Internet art typically does not refer to art that has been simply digitized and uploaded to be viewable over the Internet, such as in an online gallery.[1] Rather, this genre relies intrinsically on the Internet to exist as a whole, taking advantage of such aspects as an interactive interface and connectivity to multiple social and economic cultures and micro-cultures, not only web-based works.

2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza Blog! #1

It’s time for our first 2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza! We’ve got a bunch of these we’ll be posting over the holiday break, so please look forward to them. Now, let’s roll right in!

We have answers from: 

Ken Berry, Executive Vice President / Team Leader John Wheeler, Assistant Localization Manager Nick Colucci, Localization Editor Liz Rita, QA Tester Brittany Avery, Localization Producer Thomas Lipschultz, Localization Producer

Question: Has selling your games on PC worked out for you so far? I know supporting the PC platform is a relatively recent choice for XSEED. - @Nate_Nyo

Ken: Being on PC has been great for us as it allows us to reach anyone anywhere in the world regardless of region or console. We were probably one of the earlier adopters in terms of bringing content from Japan to PC as we first published Ys: The Oath in Felghana on Steam almost 6 years ago in early 2012.

Brittany: I love working on PC. The work involved is greater than working on console, but I feel like it's a bigger learning experience, too. For console, the developers normally handle the graphics after we translate them, and they do all the programming and such. For PC, everything falls on us. I wasn't that experienced with Photoshop in the beginning, but I think I've gotten a lot better with it over the years. We can also receive updates instantly, and since I talk with our PC programmer through Skype, it's easier to suss out our exact needs and think of ideas to improve the game or bring it to modern standards.

Question: What non-XSEED games do you praise the localization for? - @KlausRealta

Brittany: Final Fantasy XII. I love everything about Final Fantasy XII's writing. I'm also a big fan of the personality in the Ace Attorney localizations. I'm still playing Yakuza 0, but you can feel the passion of the localization team in the writing. There are some projects where you can tell the editing was phoned in, and then there are games where it's obvious it was a labor of love. All of these games have a color I aspire to.

Tom: Probably going to be a popular answer, and not an especially surprising one, but I've got to give props to Lost Odyssey. It's hard to deny the timeless quality and absolutely masterful English writing that went into basically every line of that game's massive script, with the many short stories being of particular note. That game really does represent an inspirational high bar that I think most everyone else in the industry will forever strive to reach in their own works.

For a more unexpected answer, I've also got to give mad props to Sega for their work on Monster World IV. As a Sega Genesis game released digitally in English for the very first time less than a decade ago, I guess I was kind of expecting a fairly basic "throwaway" translation -- but instead, the game boasts a full-on professional grade localization that's easily up to all modern standards, brimming with charm and personality. It's really nice to see a legitimate retro game being given that kind of care and attention in the modern era, and it makes it very easy for me to recommend (as does the fact that the game is actually quite fun, and is sure to be enjoyed by anyone who's played through all the Shantae titles and really wants to try something else along similar lines).

John: I played Okami on PS3 earlier this year (before the remake was announced), and I was awed by how skillfully the team handled text that is chock full of localization challenges like quirky nicknames, references to Japanese fairy tales, and regional dialects. I was especially amused to see a reference to "kibi dango," the dumplings Momotaro uses to bribe his companions in that famous story. We dealt with the same cultural reference with STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns.

Nick: My go-to response is always Vagrant Story, because it’s the game I credit with getting me really interested in a career in localization. Before that point, I had enjoyed games for their story and characters, but hadn’t realized just how much the specific word choices and tone contributed to a reader’s perception of a story as a whole. The gents behind VS’s localization would go on to be industry luminaries, with Rich Amtower now calling shots in Nintendo’s Treehouse department and Alex Smith being synonymous with the highly regarded prose of Yasumi Matsuno’s games – including the cool and underappreciated Crimson Shroud for 3DS, and Final Fantasy XII, which as anyone who’s played it can tell you is a stellar localization. Having spent a lot of time with FFXII’s “The Zodiac Age” remaster this year, the care and attention to detail put into the localization still blows me away. The unique speech style of the Bhujerbans (with...Sri Lankan inflections, if memory serves correctly) sticks with me, because I knew that I myself would never have been able to pull off something like that so deftly. I guess you could say Vagrant Story started a lineage of games that’s always given me something to aspire to as an editor.

Final Fantasy XIV, which I’ve been playing this year, also has a very good localization, especially considering the reams of text that go into an MMO of its size and scope. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox and his team have done a bang-up job giving life and personality to the land of Eorzea, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how the localization has changed in subtle ways as time has gone on. The initial “A Realm Reborn” localization sort of cranks the “regional flavor” up to 11 with heavy dialects and vernacular, but in subsequent expansions, they kind of eased up on that and have found a good mix between grounded localization and the kind of flourishes that work well in high-fantasy settings.

 And, while I haven’t played it in a number of years, I remember Dragon Quest VIII having a really great localization, too, with ol’ Yangus still living large in my memories. Tales of the Abyss was fantastic as well, and both DQVIII and Abyss delivered some really brilliant dub work that showed me how much richer one could make characterization when the writing and the acting really harmonized. I still consider Tales of the Abyss my general favorite game dub to date. The casting is perfect, with not a bad role among them. I also want to give mad props to Ni no Kuni’s Mr. Drippy, just as a perfect storm of great localization decisions. Tidy, mun!

Question: How hard is it to turn in game signs and words to English for Japanese? Is it as simple as going in and editing text? Or as hard as creating a whole new texture for the model? - @KesanovaSSB4

Tom: We refer to this as "graphic text" -- meaning, literally, text contained within graphic images. How it's handled differs from project to project, but the short answer is, yeah, it involves creating a whole new texture for the model. Sometimes, this is handled by the developer: they'll just send us a list of all the graphic text images that exist in-game and what each image says, we'll send that list back to them with translations, and they'll use those translations to create new graphic images on our behalf. For other games, however (particularly PC titles we're more or less spearheading), we'll have to do the graphic edits ourselves. When the original PSDs or what-not exist for the sign images, this is generally pretty easy -- but as you might expect, those aren't always available to us, meaning we'll sometimes have to go to a bit more trouble to get this done.

John: The best practice is to review graphic text very early in the localization process because it takes effort to fix and can throw a wrench in schedules if issues are discovered too late. On occasion, it is too difficult to change ubiquitous textures, especially those that might also appear in animation. This was the case with "NewTube" in SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach Splash, which the localization team wanted to change to "NyuuTube" to make the wordplay clearer to series fans.

Question: With the Steam marketplace becoming increasingly saturated and being seen as a greater risk to publish on in recent times, what does XSEED plan on doing in order to remain prominent and relevant in the PC gaming space? - @myumute

Ken: It is indeed getting harder and harder to stand out as hundreds of new titles are releasing on Steam each month. We are working our way towards simultaneous release across all platforms to help leverage some of the coverage from the console version to get more attention to the PC release, so hopefully that's something we can accomplish soon. For PC-exclusive releases it continues to be a challenge, but at least they have a long tail and even if it's not an immediate success at launch we know it can continue to produce sales for years to come.

Question: What was your favorite film that you saw in 2017, and why? - @Crippeh

John: I'm way behind on movies this year (haven't seen Disaster Artist, Phantom Thread, or Get Out, for example), but recently I've enjoyed both Star Wars and Lady Bird. I expect I'll watch my favorite film from 2017 sometime in 2018.

Ken: Wind River. Mainly because of Jeremy Renner's performance and how many quotable lines he had.

Liz: Get Out for horror mindblowing amazingness, Spider-Man Homecoming for genuinely fun comic book movie, and The Shape of Water for Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo del Toro should always be a category.

That’s it! Stay turned for blog #2 later this week. Here’s a preview of the kinds of questions we’ll be answering:

Question: Have you ever considered selling the music CDs for your licenses stateside? - @LimitTimeGamer Question: If possible, would you please consider researching and localizing classic Korean-made PC xRPGs? - @DragEnRegalia Question: Do you have any interest in pursuing the localization of any of the large, beautiful Chinese RPGs that have been hitting Steam? Or are you focused exclusively on Japanese titles? - @TheDanaAddams Question: What inspired you all to do this kind of work in the first place? Also, what’s the story behind the company name XSEED? How did you all come up with it? - @TBlock_02 Question: What was everyone's favorite game(s) to work on this year? - @ArtistofLegacy Question: What's everyone's favorite song from the Falcom games you've released so far? - @Crippeh

I've seen you discuss the pros of replicator food, but what do you think the cons are? Why do some people still insist the 'real thing' is better? Assuming that meat is all synthetic now anyway, how much difference is there between meat and animal byproduct that's synthesized vs replicated?

buckle ur gut it’s gonna be a long ride

well i’m not a nutritionist so you’re gonna have to take me worth a grain of salt on this one but basically a lot of it boils down to replicated food not really being a “complete” version of its non-replicated counterpart 

this was more of an issue with earlier replicator tech, because things were more “lower resolution” back then (ent/tos era), but even “now” (tng/ds9/voy era) replicated food still doesn’t really do the trick in terms of longterm stuff

you can live on replicated food tho. you can. it’s possible. and people often do. it’s just that those people are often either career military/diplomatic/trade/spacefaring individuals and take extra supplements to deal with the deficiencies that an all-replicated diet causes, and they make sure to further vary their intake with non-replicated stuff along their space journey.

like in terms of replicator food actually doing what food is supposed to do??? it’s not that great. it doesn’t necessarily deliver a complete meal with complete nutrients and tends to be burned through faster than non-replicated offerings - early replicated meals were basically flavored 3D printed nutrient filler matrix, and that was not good for everyone and tasted like differently textured, differently flavored shit depending what “meal” you ordered, so things have definitely improved A TON from that 

but they’re still not perfect in the sense that meats, vegetables, fungi et. al. have not literally been grown and lack a lot of the vital minerals and nutrients they’d pick up from life around soils/feeds/prey and that means replicated food in general falls nutritionally flat and disappoints in the flavorzone (like u legit cannot replicate live gagh. it’s impossible. no can do.)

btw i don’t ascribe to the “all meat is replicated now” bit of Federation/Starfleet propaganda. i really don’t. i come from a state that has a lot of farming industry around it and if i know anything about meat, it’s that animals who are well cared for and loved produce good meat vs. animals that are literally abused. farming is not abuse, and i’d like to think that the Federation is above the whole “meat is murder” peta slogan bullshit, and has made huge strides in animal husbandry technology in the next few centuries. besides - if livestock were entirely replaced with synthesized meat, there wouldn’t be any cheese for all the fancy Federation wine meetups. also i’m sure that a few herds of sheep and goats would maintain some solar fields somewhere like they do around here. just… there has to be livestock farming in the future. there has to. it doesn’t make sense to erase an entire profession like that.

(also iirc Riker made the comment about the replicated meat and that enables my headcanon of him as an obnoxious space vegan lmao so sorry about not answering you on that i just really don’t believe the entire Federation would outlaw meat? like it doesn’t make sense with the whole IDIC thing either seeing as it’s tradition to eat certain meats in certain cultures [looks @ klingons and their targs] and the whole “all meat is replicated now”/”we don’t murder animals anymore” just smacks of badly written Federation purity stuff that is more damaging to the franchise than anything else)

anyways

you really want a ship to have a balanced store of replicated and non-replicated food, especially considering access to food preservation techniques these days, and literally just for the purpose of variety. a nicely stocked hydroponics bay, edible arboretum garden, and some sort of cryostatic “farmer’s market” should be standard on any large exploratory vessel or space station for sufficient culinary delight

starfleet rations are not replicated because they’re meant to be nutritionally dense, something that replicated food routinely fails at imo, also replicated food tends to have a short lifespan, and will break down a lot faster than regular non-replicated food. you can’t save your replicated sandwich for a midnight snack because it’ll go a lil jiggly and get a weird shiny film on it from the replicated food particles breaking down

so anyways tl;dr - replicators are gr9 for food if you have the immediate need for them and the power to operate them and can fully exploit their convenience, but they’re not really a be-all end-all to food problems and create a lot of nutrition conundrums based on the fact that they produce food differently to how it is grown in nature (gmos are fine tho there’s no comparison here)

but for the majority of the galaxy, replicators themselves tend to be more of a luxury than anything else, so consider that factor as well in this train of thought!!! like not everyone can afford to own one, or otherwise it’s not even legal for some individuals to own one, and the fuckening PRIME DIRECTIVE prohibits those who would probably benefit most from replicator technology from accessing it. 

so that’s the ultimate downside of replicated food. it’s inaccessible to most of the galaxy.

boom. 

Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar

Jewellery maker Nadège uses a variety of materials to create her designs, from traditional precious metals to plastic and other recycled components. View some of her work, read about where she gets her inspiration from and more in this Designer of the Month interview.

Let us know a bit about yourself, detailing your background, study and training in the jewellery making industry.

Based in Malta, I set up a small jeweller’s workshop back in 2005, where I kicked off my jewellery designer/maker venture under the name Nadège Renée, right after I received my Higher National Diploma in 3D Design. For four years I used to design and produce contemporary silver jewellery in the evening, first as a hobby, then it soon became my part-time job. In 2009 I decided to broaden my horizons and enrolled for a top-up year to do the B.A (Hons) in 3D Design and Interior Design (specialising in jewellery).

After my studies, I decided that I wanted jewellery making as my career. I took the plunge in 2010, and since then I have been designing and creating my own limited edition collections, whilst mainly designing and producing bespoke pieces for my clients in gold, silver, palladium upon request and various precious or non-precious materials.

Tell us about your work – are there any particular materials or techniques that you favour?

Uniqueness is the underlying concept of Nadège Renée jewellery, and I enjoy working with anything that comes in hand, literally!

Quite recently I created two collections that make use of the dried leaf of the prickly pear and micro bleach plastics. I like to consider all materials that I might encounter for possible jewellery creations. I also enjoy creating bespoke jewellery by recycling my clients’ precious metals and stones. Also, I like to apply the traditional Maltese filigree technique and combine it with unusual materials.

How would you best describe your design style?

My designs do not conform to a particular style. Although I make use of traditional techniques, I uplift their use into a contemporary style. My collections also vary in styles since during the design process I try to keep three things in mind: the type of person who will be wearing the particular piece, the occasion when it will be worn, and with which combination of apparel it will be worn. This line of thought makes up different models of wearers which can be defined by elegance, casual, playfulness, and so on, thus I define the particular design style of each and every collection to the model I create in my mind to be able to cater for wearers of different styles and tastes.

As a jewellery maker, where do you like to get your inspiration from for your pieces?

Inspiration is a strange thing! It can come literally from anything and I find that most of the times I cannot define the source of inspiration to most of my projects. Most of the time the design is already in my head, and I find myself fiddling with metal and sketching up dimensions.

Many times the inspiration also comes from the workability of the material itself. If I decide to include a particular material with metals, the workability of the material in question also plays a part of the design idea per se. Working in the creative field, one unknowingly may be inspired by daily things around us, be it from another functional object, patterns, architectural designs as well as inspiration from nature itself.

Do you have a piece that you have made which you favour or are particularly proud of?

One of my own favourite pieces is the Tentillum neck piece. This neckpiece is an analogy of the living tools of a designer/maker like myself – our hands. Being directly inspired from the fluidity and the beauty of octopus’ tentacles, the word Tentillum literally means ‘little tentacle’. Hand-fabricated from sterling silver, 18ct yellow gold and freshwater pearls, and the neck piece was made from 106 individual components made from domes and hemispheres on structures. The individual components of this piece are not static, they move, and when worn the ‘cups’ always find a different combination of fitting into each other.

When handled, Tentillum delivers the delicate clicking sounds of silver, whilst it firmly holds its gold findings and the lustrous freshwater pearls. Launched at the Malta Design Week in 2014, in that year the neck piece was also awarded 1st Prize at the Premju Gieħ l-Artigjanat Malti in the Craft Products category, by the Malta Crafts Council.

What is the one item in your jewellery making workshop that you could not live without?

All the tools and equipment in my workshop are indispensable, but that one item that I just couldn’t live (or work) without is my music speaker! Mainly I listen to rock music from the 60’s and the 70’s, but not just that. Music just puts me in the right mood. Being self-employed, having no colleagues and human interaction for many hours of the day, music keeps me company as I work along.

What upcoming trends do you see being popular soon?

In commercial jewellery, trends are always evolving, which could mainly be affected by fashion trends. In respect to jewellery designer/makers like myself, I think that in the past years there has been a popularity in the use of upcycled materials. Designers have been making use of materials that are not commonly associated with jewellery, and that would end up as trash. I feel that this is resulting in an upcoming and popular jewellery trend that I personally greatly welcome since it makes ethical use of materials.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt from your time in the jewellery making industry?

In this field I have learnt that one simply cannot know enough, there are always new things to learn, new techniques and materials to discover and to adapt to your own working ways. If one limits himself/herself to the comfort zone of the techniques already known and does not deviate and experiment with new things, it will simply limit oneself, creativity and consequently business growth. Also, by trying out new techniques, failing and re-trying, being able to find alternative solutions or succeeding in solving design problems is in itself the best morale boost a creative person can receive.

Do you have any particular advice that you would give to up and coming jewellery designers, or someone interested in getting into jewellery making?

To any aspiring jewellery designer/maker, I simply suggest going for it. Although no start is never easy, at the end of the day it’s awesome to be able to evolve the passion of something that you love doing into your career. Also, collaborate with other designers, even if not in the same field – help each other, share ideas and create projects. I feel that it’s one of the recipes for self-growth, knowledge and inspiration.

…and finally, time for a bit of fun in our quick-fire round! Tell us your favourite…

…colour – green

…drink – beer

…place – Koh Tonsay

…gemstone – rutilated quartz

…animal – dog

Want to discover the work of other jewellery makers? Take a look at our interviews with even more Designers of the Month to learn more about their designs, inspiration and more.

Source link

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source https://jewelryexchangedallas.com/blog/designer-of-the-month-nadege-renee-cassar-2/ from Jewelry Exchange Dallas.com https://jewelryexchangedallas.blogspot.com/2019/05/designer-of-month-nadege-renee-cassar_24.html

Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar

Jewellery maker Nadège uses a variety of materials to create her designs, from traditional precious metals to plastic and other recycled components. View some of her work, read about where she gets her inspiration from and more in this Designer of the Month interview.

Let us know a bit about yourself, detailing your background, study and training in the jewellery making industry.

Based in Malta, I set up a small jeweller’s workshop back in 2005, where I kicked off my jewellery designer/maker venture under the name Nadège Renée, right after I received my Higher National Diploma in 3D Design. For four years I used to design and produce contemporary silver jewellery in the evening, first as a hobby, then it soon became my part-time job. In 2009 I decided to broaden my horizons and enrolled for a top-up year to do the B.A (Hons) in 3D Design and Interior Design (specialising in jewellery).

After my studies, I decided that I wanted jewellery making as my career. I took the plunge in 2010, and since then I have been designing and creating my own limited edition collections, whilst mainly designing and producing bespoke pieces for my clients in gold, silver, palladium upon request and various precious or non-precious materials.

Tell us about your work – are there any particular materials or techniques that you favour?

Uniqueness is the underlying concept of Nadège Renée jewellery, and I enjoy working with anything that comes in hand, literally!

Quite recently I created two collections that make use of the dried leaf of the prickly pear and micro bleach plastics. I like to consider all materials that I might encounter for possible jewellery creations. I also enjoy creating bespoke jewellery by recycling my clients’ precious metals and stones. Also, I like to apply the traditional Maltese filigree technique and combine it with unusual materials.

How would you best describe your design style?

My designs do not conform to a particular style. Although I make use of traditional techniques, I uplift their use into a contemporary style. My collections also vary in styles since during the design process I try to keep three things in mind: the type of person who will be wearing the particular piece, the occasion when it will be worn, and with which combination of apparel it will be worn. This line of thought makes up different models of wearers which can be defined by elegance, casual, playfulness, and so on, thus I define the particular design style of each and every collection to the model I create in my mind to be able to cater for wearers of different styles and tastes.

As a jewellery maker, where do you like to get your inspiration from for your pieces?

Inspiration is a strange thing! It can come literally from anything and I find that most of the times I cannot define the source of inspiration to most of my projects. Most of the time the design is already in my head, and I find myself fiddling with metal and sketching up dimensions.

Many times the inspiration also comes from the workability of the material itself. If I decide to include a particular material with metals, the workability of the material in question also plays a part of the design idea per se. Working in the creative field, one unknowingly may be inspired by daily things around us, be it from another functional object, patterns, architectural designs as well as inspiration from nature itself.

Do you have a piece that you have made which you favour or are particularly proud of?

One of my own favourite pieces is the Tentillum neck piece. This neckpiece is an analogy of the living tools of a designer/maker like myself – our hands. Being directly inspired from the fluidity and the beauty of octopus’ tentacles, the word Tentillum literally means ‘little tentacle’. Hand-fabricated from sterling silver, 18ct yellow gold and freshwater pearls, and the neck piece was made from 106 individual components made from domes and hemispheres on structures. The individual components of this piece are not static, they move, and when worn the ‘cups’ always find a different combination of fitting into each other.

When handled, Tentillum delivers the delicate clicking sounds of silver, whilst it firmly holds its gold findings and the lustrous freshwater pearls. Launched at the Malta Design Week in 2014, in that year the neck piece was also awarded 1st Prize at the Premju Gieħ l-Artigjanat Malti in the Craft Products category, by the Malta Crafts Council.

What is the one item in your jewellery making workshop that you could not live without?

All the tools and equipment in my workshop are indispensable, but that one item that I just couldn’t live (or work) without is my music speaker! Mainly I listen to rock music from the 60’s and the 70’s, but not just that. Music just puts me in the right mood. Being self-employed, having no colleagues and human interaction for many hours of the day, music keeps me company as I work along.

What upcoming trends do you see being popular soon?

In commercial jewellery, trends are always evolving, which could mainly be affected by fashion trends. In respect to jewellery designer/makers like myself, I think that in the past years there has been a popularity in the use of upcycled materials. Designers have been making use of materials that are not commonly associated with jewellery, and that would end up as trash. I feel that this is resulting in an upcoming and popular jewellery trend that I personally greatly welcome since it makes ethical use of materials.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt from your time in the jewellery making industry?

In this field I have learnt that one simply cannot know enough, there are always new things to learn, new techniques and materials to discover and to adapt to your own working ways. If one limits himself/herself to the comfort zone of the techniques already known and does not deviate and experiment with new things, it will simply limit oneself, creativity and consequently business growth. Also, by trying out new techniques, failing and re-trying, being able to find alternative solutions or succeeding in solving design problems is in itself the best morale boost a creative person can receive.

Do you have any particular advice that you would give to up and coming jewellery designers, or someone interested in getting into jewellery making?

To any aspiring jewellery designer/maker, I simply suggest going for it. Although no start is never easy, at the end of the day it’s awesome to be able to evolve the passion of something that you love doing into your career. Also, collaborate with other designers, even if not in the same field – help each other, share ideas and create projects. I feel that it’s one of the recipes for self-growth, knowledge and inspiration.

…and finally, time for a bit of fun in our quick-fire round! Tell us your favourite…

…colour – green

…drink – beer

…place – Koh Tonsay

…gemstone – rutilated quartz

…animal – dog

Want to discover the work of other jewellery makers? Take a look at our interviews with even more Designers of the Month to learn more about their designs, inspiration and more.

Source link

The post Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar appeared first on Jewelry Exchange Dallas.

source https://jewelryexchangedallas.com/blog/designer-of-the-month-nadege-renee-cassar-3/

Another Amazing Kickstarter (TREJUR – a Stop Motion Animated Short Film by Thomas Kim —Kickstarter) has been published on http://crowdmonsters.com/new-kickstarters/trejur-a-stop-motion-animated-short-film-by-thomas-kim-kickstarter/

A NEW KICKSTARTER IS LAUNCHED:

                                                        1 SENTENCE OVERVIEW:

  This crowdfunding campaign will let me finish my film until it can be seen by you. Thank you.

THE FILM: Trejur (pronounced “treasure”) is a hand-made, fantasy, stop motion animated short film by the filmmaker, Thomas Kim. The story questions how desperation can transform us into something we never thought ourselves to be. We see this though a real life woman mourning the death of her grandmother. Transitioning through the medium of stop motion, she shows us the time when her grandmother gave her a toy in hopes of making her happier after their loved grandfather had passed. Her grandmother, with no means of support for her grandchild, had begun to leave the house every day and return with more and more toys to make her happy. Of course, this “over-accretion” made her resent what her grandmother brought, but it was too late; her grandmother had fallen into obsession. She now collected lost toys because it made herself happy, and soon their house was quite literally buried under a mountain of toys… 

SO… Backing me on Kickstarter will provide for costly things like a 3D printer to quickly mass produce miniature toys, an amazing film composer to accompany the emotional performance of the puppets, festival fees to launch my career, and MANY MANY MORE. (The full budget outline can be found later in the page.)

HISTORY: The medium of Stop Motion is incredibly labor intensive. Every prop, every color, every decision needs to be made by my hand. Everything in the visuals need to reinforce and drive the story because nothing is “free” as it is in live action. The puppets are moved frame by frame, 15-30 frames a second. For around ten minutes of footage, you’re looking at a few thousand hours. And all of this I have done myself so far. 2 hours a school day, 8 hours a weekend, for over 400 days now. 

WHY: This life-consuming project was initiated well over a year ago when I decided to take out $2000 from my pockets to tell this story. I do what I do because to me, storytelling is an instrument I use to explore the human condition. Film is my canvas, and a story is my paintbrush. Yes it might sound somewhat cliche, but this idea is something we all have wrestled with no matter the kind of career. It is universal. And so, your pledges will provide me with the opportunity to continue that exploration of psychology of emotions and the different perspectives of truth. (that, and it’ll help kickstart my career) 🙂

Below are SOME of the behind-the-scene documentations over the past year.

The blanket has wires inside so that it can hold its position and be animatable.

I had to get creative! Those colored pencils are actually cut toothpicks, and the wooden plank floor are popsicle sticks with their ends sawed off. Due to the lack of money, I am held back by what I can’t do. I even made my slider out of Ikea door handles and a few dishwasher cart wheels! 

1/6th scale miniature toys

The story calls for thousands of these toys. I’ve made about a hundred so far, but due to time constrains I’ve decided to 3D print the rest. HOWEVER, they’ll be hand-painted to match closer to the raw aesthetic of the film. Part of the budget is for a 3D printer + supplies to mass produce these miniature props.

Above is the progression from concept designs to wood-carved stop motion puppets.

THE EYES: THE EYES ARE JUST TRACKING POINTS. You may have seen in the video above freaky, Coraline-esque eyes and mouths. They’re just tracking points to be REPLACED INTO REAL HUMAN eyes and mouths. Eyes are the windows to the soul! Not only will this add a more “emotional” quality to the puppets, it’ll allow for a coherent transition from live action real actors to stop motion puppets since they are supposed to be the same individual. The other short film, “Madame Tutli-Putli” is a fantastic example of what it’ll look like (Go on, I’ll give you permission you to leave this page and look up “Madame Tutli-Putli images” if you promise to come back). The eyes will be pinpoint seamless. All the while, they’ll have that slightly unsettling eerie feeling from being so cussing realistic!

THE RIGS: All the little metal arms holding the puppets in the video will be cleaned up and removed. They are used to support the puppets when they cannot support their weight such as when they jump.

All the walls and floors can be broken down by quadrants so I can pop up inside and animate.

STORY STYLE: The film is combination of some live action but mostly stop motion animation in a ~12 minute runtime. Imagine a combination of Miyazaki’s elements of mysterious fantasy blended with the more dark, heavy, and human themes of modern live action films. Interesting!

Most of the film takes place inside this old house. The walls are built from insulation foam, the staircase from foam board, and the door hinges from hot wheel toy car axles. Everything will be shot in camera to achieve the most realistic and “texturized” environment.

These few set pieces are ready to be primed, painted, and weathered!

   TIME VS MONEY (AN EXPLANATION): In the film industry, there is a direct correlation between time and money. Time IS money. The more money, the less time it’ll take to complete a film and vice versa. That’s why huge blockbuster movies are able to finish within a year; their budget is insurmountable. However on the other hand, the more time you have, the less money you need. I’ve been spending the past year working to make this film look expensive, but with almost no budget. At this rate, without funding, I expect to finish by the time I graduate school in 3 years. But if this campaign is successful, if the level of money increases, then the level of time needed will decrease exponentially.

WHERE THE MONEY WILL GO:

 You might’ve noticed in the video that my lights are on top of stacked boxes… I have only one borrowed light stand so I have to carefully balance things like lights, reflectors, or bounce cards on boxes, chairs, and books. All the “sliding” shots in the video were made by ikea door handles and dishwasher cart wheels. Having the budget to acquire “luxuries” like light stands or sliders would save massive amounts of time.

I’m asking for $4000 to finish the film with a bang, and every dollar will have its purpose. The money will be specifically dedicated to this film only; none of it will fund my morning coffee. The completion of this project is my sole objective, and whatever you can give will be appreciatively used to breathe life into that ambition.

  Final storyboards and set layouts and designs

STORYBOARDS: Last Summer, I spent 8 hours a day everyday for a month at a storyboarding class. (Storyboarding is pre-visualizing a film by drawing out every shot) It’s impossible to “master” the craft of storyboarding in that little time, but those classes did help me “free up” my hand. They taught me how to swiftly transfer my thoughts to paper without the barrier of a “slow” hand. From there, I locked myself up in my room for another month. I storyboarded and sto-RE-boarded over 30 times until I landed on my final boards as you see in the first picture above. Because there is no dialogue in the short film, I opted to build the story without a script and only a set of storyboards on flashcards. Each flashcard on my wall has a description on the back explaining the emotional performance needed in the puppet characters so that I can bring that into my animation.

Second takes are rare in stop motion because each second of footage takes days if you account pre-production. Therefore, all the shots need to be timed and locked down through storyboards before production begins.

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE SCHEDULE:

Above is the proposed schedule. There’s one common mistake in filmmaking; we always seem to underestimate the time it’ll take to produce something. With so many possibilities for accidents, reaching a perfect deadline is madness. Despite the risks, I’m willing to put in the extra hours and the extra money from my own pocket if it means finishing this project by the projected schedule. Have no fear!

The film will be complete nearing the end of this year IF this campaign is successful from YOUR help. I can’t wait to share this film with you: check out the rewards, ask any questions, and back the project on Kickstarter!

  INFORMATION PROVIDED BY Kickstarter.com and Kicktraq.com VISIT PAGE SOURCE

Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar

Jewellery maker Nadège uses a variety of materials to create her designs, from traditional precious metals to plastic and other recycled components. View some of her work, read about where she gets her inspiration from and more in this Designer of the Month interview.

Let us know a bit about yourself, detailing your background, study and training in the jewellery making industry.

Based in Malta, I set up a small jeweller’s workshop back in 2005, where I kicked off my jewellery designer/maker venture under the name Nadège Renée, right after I received my Higher National Diploma in 3D Design. For four years I used to design and produce contemporary silver jewellery in the evening, first as a hobby, then it soon became my part-time job. In 2009 I decided to broaden my horizons and enrolled for a top-up year to do the B.A (Hons) in 3D Design and Interior Design (specialising in jewellery).

After my studies, I decided that I wanted jewellery making as my career. I took the plunge in 2010, and since then I have been designing and creating my own limited edition collections, whilst mainly designing and producing bespoke pieces for my clients in gold, silver, palladium upon request and various precious or non-precious materials.

Tell us about your work – are there any particular materials or techniques that you favour?

Uniqueness is the underlying concept of Nadège Renée jewellery, and I enjoy working with anything that comes in hand, literally!

Quite recently I created two collections that make use of the dried leaf of the prickly pear and micro bleach plastics. I like to consider all materials that I might encounter for possible jewellery creations. I also enjoy creating bespoke jewellery by recycling my clients’ precious metals and stones. Also, I like to apply the traditional Maltese filigree technique and combine it with unusual materials.

How would you best describe your design style?

My designs do not conform to a particular style. Although I make use of traditional techniques, I uplift their use into a contemporary style. My collections also vary in styles since during the design process I try to keep three things in mind: the type of person who will be wearing the particular piece, the occasion when it will be worn, and with which combination of apparel it will be worn. This line of thought makes up different models of wearers which can be defined by elegance, casual, playfulness, and so on, thus I define the particular design style of each and every collection to the model I create in my mind to be able to cater for wearers of different styles and tastes.

As a jewellery maker, where do you like to get your inspiration from for your pieces?

Inspiration is a strange thing! It can come literally from anything and I find that most of the times I cannot define the source of inspiration to most of my projects. Most of the time the design is already in my head, and I find myself fiddling with metal and sketching up dimensions.

Many times the inspiration also comes from the workability of the material itself. If I decide to include a particular material with metals, the workability of the material in question also plays a part of the design idea per se. Working in the creative field, one unknowingly may be inspired by daily things around us, be it from another functional object, patterns, architectural designs as well as inspiration from nature itself.

Do you have a piece that you have made which you favour or are particularly proud of?

One of my own favourite pieces is the Tentillum neck piece. This neckpiece is an analogy of the living tools of a designer/maker like myself – our hands. Being directly inspired from the fluidity and the beauty of octopus’ tentacles, the word Tentillum literally means ‘little tentacle’. Hand-fabricated from sterling silver, 18ct yellow gold and freshwater pearls, and the neck piece was made from 106 individual components made from domes and hemispheres on structures. The individual components of this piece are not static, they move, and when worn the ‘cups’ always find a different combination of fitting into each other.

When handled, Tentillum delivers the delicate clicking sounds of silver, whilst it firmly holds its gold findings and the lustrous freshwater pearls. Launched at the Malta Design Week in 2014, in that year the neck piece was also awarded 1st Prize at the Premju Gieħ l-Artigjanat Malti in the Craft Products category, by the Malta Crafts Council.

What is the one item in your jewellery making workshop that you could not live without?

All the tools and equipment in my workshop are indispensable, but that one item that I just couldn’t live (or work) without is my music speaker! Mainly I listen to rock music from the 60’s and the 70’s, but not just that. Music just puts me in the right mood. Being self-employed, having no colleagues and human interaction for many hours of the day, music keeps me company as I work along.

What upcoming trends do you see being popular soon?

In commercial jewellery, trends are always evolving, which could mainly be affected by fashion trends. In respect to jewellery designer/makers like myself, I think that in the past years there has been a popularity in the use of upcycled materials. Designers have been making use of materials that are not commonly associated with jewellery, and that would end up as trash. I feel that this is resulting in an upcoming and popular jewellery trend that I personally greatly welcome since it makes ethical use of materials.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt from your time in the jewellery making industry?

In this field I have learnt that one simply cannot know enough, there are always new things to learn, new techniques and materials to discover and to adapt to your own working ways. If one limits himself/herself to the comfort zone of the techniques already known and does not deviate and experiment with new things, it will simply limit oneself, creativity and consequently business growth. Also, by trying out new techniques, failing and re-trying, being able to find alternative solutions or succeeding in solving design problems is in itself the best morale boost a creative person can receive.

Do you have any particular advice that you would give to up and coming jewellery designers, or someone interested in getting into jewellery making?

To any aspiring jewellery designer/maker, I simply suggest going for it. Although no start is never easy, at the end of the day it’s awesome to be able to evolve the passion of something that you love doing into your career. Also, collaborate with other designers, even if not in the same field – help each other, share ideas and create projects. I feel that it’s one of the recipes for self-growth, knowledge and inspiration.

…and finally, time for a bit of fun in our quick-fire round! Tell us your favourite…

…colour – green

…drink – beer

…place – Koh Tonsay

…gemstone – rutilated quartz

…animal – dog

Want to discover the work of other jewellery makers? Take a look at our interviews with even more Designers of the Month to learn more about their designs, inspiration and more.

Source link

The post Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar appeared first on Jewelry Exchange Dallas.

source https://jewelryexchangedallas.com/blog/designer-of-the-month-nadege-renee-cassar/ from Jewelry Exchange Dallas.com https://jewelryexchangedallas.blogspot.com/2019/05/designer-of-month-nadege-renee-cassar.html

Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar

Jewellery maker Nadège uses a variety of materials to create her designs, from traditional precious metals to plastic and other recycled components. View some of her work, read about where she gets her inspiration from and more in this Designer of the Month interview.

Let us know a bit about yourself, detailing your background, study and training in the jewellery making industry.

Based in Malta, I set up a small jeweller’s workshop back in 2005, where I kicked off my jewellery designer/maker venture under the name Nadège Renée, right after I received my Higher National Diploma in 3D Design. For four years I used to design and produce contemporary silver jewellery in the evening, first as a hobby, then it soon became my part-time job. In 2009 I decided to broaden my horizons and enrolled for a top-up year to do the B.A (Hons) in 3D Design and Interior Design (specialising in jewellery).

After my studies, I decided that I wanted jewellery making as my career. I took the plunge in 2010, and since then I have been designing and creating my own limited edition collections, whilst mainly designing and producing bespoke pieces for my clients in gold, silver, palladium upon request and various precious or non-precious materials.

Tell us about your work – are there any particular materials or techniques that you favour?

Uniqueness is the underlying concept of Nadège Renée jewellery, and I enjoy working with anything that comes in hand, literally!

Quite recently I created two collections that make use of the dried leaf of the prickly pear and micro bleach plastics. I like to consider all materials that I might encounter for possible jewellery creations. I also enjoy creating bespoke jewellery by recycling my clients’ precious metals and stones. Also, I like to apply the traditional Maltese filigree technique and combine it with unusual materials.

How would you best describe your design style?

My designs do not conform to a particular style. Although I make use of traditional techniques, I uplift their use into a contemporary style. My collections also vary in styles since during the design process I try to keep three things in mind: the type of person who will be wearing the particular piece, the occasion when it will be worn, and with which combination of apparel it will be worn. This line of thought makes up different models of wearers which can be defined by elegance, casual, playfulness, and so on, thus I define the particular design style of each and every collection to the model I create in my mind to be able to cater for wearers of different styles and tastes.

As a jewellery maker, where do you like to get your inspiration from for your pieces?

Inspiration is a strange thing! It can come literally from anything and I find that most of the times I cannot define the source of inspiration to most of my projects. Most of the time the design is already in my head, and I find myself fiddling with metal and sketching up dimensions.

Many times the inspiration also comes from the workability of the material itself. If I decide to include a particular material with metals, the workability of the material in question also plays a part of the design idea per se. Working in the creative field, one unknowingly may be inspired by daily things around us, be it from another functional object, patterns, architectural designs as well as inspiration from nature itself.

Do you have a piece that you have made which you favour or are particularly proud of?

One of my own favourite pieces is the Tentillum neck piece. This neckpiece is an analogy of the living tools of a designer/maker like myself – our hands. Being directly inspired from the fluidity and the beauty of octopus’ tentacles, the word Tentillum literally means ‘little tentacle’. Hand-fabricated from sterling silver, 18ct yellow gold and freshwater pearls, and the neck piece was made from 106 individual components made from domes and hemispheres on structures. The individual components of this piece are not static, they move, and when worn the ‘cups’ always find a different combination of fitting into each other.

When handled, Tentillum delivers the delicate clicking sounds of silver, whilst it firmly holds its gold findings and the lustrous freshwater pearls. Launched at the Malta Design Week in 2014, in that year the neck piece was also awarded 1st Prize at the Premju Gieħ l-Artigjanat Malti in the Craft Products category, by the Malta Crafts Council.

What is the one item in your jewellery making workshop that you could not live without?

All the tools and equipment in my workshop are indispensable, but that one item that I just couldn’t live (or work) without is my music speaker! Mainly I listen to rock music from the 60’s and the 70’s, but not just that. Music just puts me in the right mood. Being self-employed, having no colleagues and human interaction for many hours of the day, music keeps me company as I work along.

What upcoming trends do you see being popular soon?

In commercial jewellery, trends are always evolving, which could mainly be affected by fashion trends. In respect to jewellery designer/makers like myself, I think that in the past years there has been a popularity in the use of upcycled materials. Designers have been making use of materials that are not commonly associated with jewellery, and that would end up as trash. I feel that this is resulting in an upcoming and popular jewellery trend that I personally greatly welcome since it makes ethical use of materials.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt from your time in the jewellery making industry?

In this field I have learnt that one simply cannot know enough, there are always new things to learn, new techniques and materials to discover and to adapt to your own working ways. If one limits himself/herself to the comfort zone of the techniques already known and does not deviate and experiment with new things, it will simply limit oneself, creativity and consequently business growth. Also, by trying out new techniques, failing and re-trying, being able to find alternative solutions or succeeding in solving design problems is in itself the best morale boost a creative person can receive.

Do you have any particular advice that you would give to up and coming jewellery designers, or someone interested in getting into jewellery making?

To any aspiring jewellery designer/maker, I simply suggest going for it. Although no start is never easy, at the end of the day it’s awesome to be able to evolve the passion of something that you love doing into your career. Also, collaborate with other designers, even if not in the same field – help each other, share ideas and create projects. I feel that it’s one of the recipes for self-growth, knowledge and inspiration.

…and finally, time for a bit of fun in our quick-fire round! Tell us your favourite…

…colour – green

…drink – beer

…place – Koh Tonsay

…gemstone – rutilated quartz

…animal – dog

Want to discover the work of other jewellery makers? Take a look at our interviews with even more Designers of the Month to learn more about their designs, inspiration and more.

Source link

The post Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar appeared first on Jewelry Exchange Dallas.

source https://jewelryexchangedallas.com/blog/designer-of-the-month-nadege-renee-cassar/

Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar

Jewellery maker Nadège uses a variety of materials to create her designs, from traditional precious metals to plastic and other recycled components. View some of her work, read about where she gets her inspiration from and more in this Designer of the Month interview.

Let us know a bit about yourself, detailing your background, study and training in the jewellery making industry.

Based in Malta, I set up a small jeweller’s workshop back in 2005, where I kicked off my jewellery designer/maker venture under the name Nadège Renée, right after I received my Higher National Diploma in 3D Design. For four years I used to design and produce contemporary silver jewellery in the evening, first as a hobby, then it soon became my part-time job. In 2009 I decided to broaden my horizons and enrolled for a top-up year to do the B.A (Hons) in 3D Design and Interior Design (specialising in jewellery).

After my studies, I decided that I wanted jewellery making as my career. I took the plunge in 2010, and since then I have been designing and creating my own limited edition collections, whilst mainly designing and producing bespoke pieces for my clients in gold, silver, palladium upon request and various precious or non-precious materials.

Tell us about your work – are there any particular materials or techniques that you favour?

Uniqueness is the underlying concept of Nadège Renée jewellery, and I enjoy working with anything that comes in hand, literally!

Quite recently I created two collections that make use of the dried leaf of the prickly pear and micro bleach plastics. I like to consider all materials that I might encounter for possible jewellery creations. I also enjoy creating bespoke jewellery by recycling my clients’ precious metals and stones. Also, I like to apply the traditional Maltese filigree technique and combine it with unusual materials.

How would you best describe your design style?

My designs do not conform to a particular style. Although I make use of traditional techniques, I uplift their use into a contemporary style. My collections also vary in styles since during the design process I try to keep three things in mind: the type of person who will be wearing the particular piece, the occasion when it will be worn, and with which combination of apparel it will be worn. This line of thought makes up different models of wearers which can be defined by elegance, casual, playfulness, and so on, thus I define the particular design style of each and every collection to the model I create in my mind to be able to cater for wearers of different styles and tastes.

As a jewellery maker, where do you like to get your inspiration from for your pieces?

Inspiration is a strange thing! It can come literally from anything and I find that most of the times I cannot define the source of inspiration to most of my projects. Most of the time the design is already in my head, and I find myself fiddling with metal and sketching up dimensions.

Many times the inspiration also comes from the workability of the material itself. If I decide to include a particular material with metals, the workability of the material in question also plays a part of the design idea per se. Working in the creative field, one unknowingly may be inspired by daily things around us, be it from another functional object, patterns, architectural designs as well as inspiration from nature itself.

Do you have a piece that you have made which you favour or are particularly proud of?

One of my own favourite pieces is the Tentillum neck piece. This neckpiece is an analogy of the living tools of a designer/maker like myself – our hands. Being directly inspired from the fluidity and the beauty of octopus’ tentacles, the word Tentillum literally means ‘little tentacle’. Hand-fabricated from sterling silver, 18ct yellow gold and freshwater pearls, and the neck piece was made from 106 individual components made from domes and hemispheres on structures. The individual components of this piece are not static, they move, and when worn the ‘cups’ always find a different combination of fitting into each other.

When handled, Tentillum delivers the delicate clicking sounds of silver, whilst it firmly holds its gold findings and the lustrous freshwater pearls. Launched at the Malta Design Week in 2014, in that year the neck piece was also awarded 1st Prize at the Premju Gieħ l-Artigjanat Malti in the Craft Products category, by the Malta Crafts Council.

What is the one item in your jewellery making workshop that you could not live without?

All the tools and equipment in my workshop are indispensable, but that one item that I just couldn’t live (or work) without is my music speaker! Mainly I listen to rock music from the 60’s and the 70’s, but not just that. Music just puts me in the right mood. Being self-employed, having no colleagues and human interaction for many hours of the day, music keeps me company as I work along.

What upcoming trends do you see being popular soon?

In commercial jewellery, trends are always evolving, which could mainly be affected by fashion trends. In respect to jewellery designer/makers like myself, I think that in the past years there has been a popularity in the use of upcycled materials. Designers have been making use of materials that are not commonly associated with jewellery, and that would end up as trash. I feel that this is resulting in an upcoming and popular jewellery trend that I personally greatly welcome since it makes ethical use of materials.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt from your time in the jewellery making industry?

In this field I have learnt that one simply cannot know enough, there are always new things to learn, new techniques and materials to discover and to adapt to your own working ways. If one limits himself/herself to the comfort zone of the techniques already known and does not deviate and experiment with new things, it will simply limit oneself, creativity and consequently business growth. Also, by trying out new techniques, failing and re-trying, being able to find alternative solutions or succeeding in solving design problems is in itself the best morale boost a creative person can receive.

Do you have any particular advice that you would give to up and coming jewellery designers, or someone interested in getting into jewellery making?

To any aspiring jewellery designer/maker, I simply suggest going for it. Although no start is never easy, at the end of the day it’s awesome to be able to evolve the passion of something that you love doing into your career. Also, collaborate with other designers, even if not in the same field – help each other, share ideas and create projects. I feel that it’s one of the recipes for self-growth, knowledge and inspiration.

…and finally, time for a bit of fun in our quick-fire round! Tell us your favourite…

…colour – green

…drink – beer

…place – Koh Tonsay

…gemstone – rutilated quartz

…animal – dog

Want to discover the work of other jewellery makers? Take a look at our interviews with even more Designers of the Month to learn more about their designs, inspiration and more.

Source link

The post Designer of the Month: Nadège Renée Cassar appeared first on Jewelry Exchange Dallas.

source https://jewelryexchangedallas.com/blog/designer-of-the-month-nadege-renee-cassar-2/