Hippoblogomus

I have decided that the best way to present the work I have done on this brief is through the screen. Although I was unsure as to whether I use flikr or blogger I have decided to blog it. www.hippoblogomus.blogspot.com to see my blog

final blank models

here are my resolutions to brief one, i created the nets in illustrator and laser cut them to make the models, they material i have used is game-board it is made up of layers of card with a laminate. the edges are a burnt due to the laser cutter, i was going to clean this up but it looks kind of cool so we'll stick to it. i will be taking these to tigerprint next week to show them off.

animal models mock ups

these models are my original designs i intend to now create the nets for theses designs in order to develop them.

brief two-10 Hippos

This brief will be a drawing and character based investigation that I intend to continue throughout the course of the module. Each week I will take a theme, horror for example, and draw ten hippos a day based on a subject within this theme. This brief will help me by giving me a medium within which I can draw when I am free, allowing me to be productive on the bus, in the pub or in the studio at the end of the day. I intend to develop a product to reflect this work later on in the module.

brief one-Animal model design

My first brief this year is based on my experience at Tigerprint over summer. I intend to design some board based animal models, they will have limited articulation in the form of plastic joints. I have negotiated with Tigerprint to formulate this as a live brief. My interim deadline is the coming reading week (October 27th) when I hope to be returning to Tigerprint for the third time.

Rationale

1. RATIONALE: -

I want to design games and toys because of the
• Illustrative potential
• Narrative and character
• Interactivity with audience
• Creation of 3-d objects
• I like to design for a young audience
• Varity of potential products
• My experience on placement
• Nostalgia
I am also working with character design to strengthen my use of drawing and communication as well as retaining discipline and consistency throughout the module.


2. CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH / CASE STUDIES

A strong influence on the direction my work will come from my increasing experience at Tigerprint.
Designers that are influencing my work include
• Jamie Hewlett
• John Kricfalusi
• Ben Simpson
• Genndy Tartakovsky
• Kid robot
• James jean
• Garry baseman
• Studio 4°C
• Max Fleischer
• Luke Chuegh
Things such as animals, sci-fi, horror and world history also influence me.


3. PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT:-

Over the course of this project I will be developing my skill with various processes mainly
• Character and narrative illustration
• Visual language and appropriation
• 3-d card constructs, building and adding illustration
• Board game layouts
• Pop-up and papercraft
• Research skills
• Print processes including paper and card stock quality
• Cutters and nets potentially laser cutters and lots of scalpel work
• Packaging development
• I will be using software such as illustrator and photoshop to develop my resolutions and throughout the module


4. DOCUMENTATION / EVALUATION: - what methods will you use to document & evaluate your work, when will you use them and what do you expect to achieve from this?

I will be documenting my work by making use of my blog, each monday I will make progress posts on each project these posts will include
• The weeks 50 hippos
• Photography of 3d work
• Documentation of research
• Self-evaluation of progress

As well as my self-evaluation I will be making use of group and tutor feedback as well as contact with Tigerprint throughout parts of the module including any feedback I can gain during reading week.


BIBLIOGRAPHY / SECONDARY SOURCES:- List proposed sources of secondary research that will support the development of your work.

BOOKS: illustration now, I ♥ You Baby, I will be picking up on numerous books weekly regarding toys, board games and craft skills, including pop-up books and character design and illustration based books.

MAGAZINE ARTICLES: clutter magazine, computer arts projects


WEB SITES:
www.cluttermagazine.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/
http://www.boardgamecompany.co.uk
http://kidrobot.com/


PROJECT PLAN:- Provide a detailed timetable of how you will use your time over the next five weeks?

• Week 1, 29th sep - develop concepts
• Week 2, 6th oct- 50 hippos theme horror, develop first animal safari kit, research pop-up game.
• Week 3, 13th oct- 50 hippos theme music, develop 2nd+ 3rd animal safari kit, research pop-up game (5 books, 5 games)
• Week 4, 20th oct- 50 hippos theme sci-fi, develop 4th animal safari kit and complete brief, research pop-up game.
• Week 5, 27th oct- 50 hippos theme sports, take animal safari kit to Tigerprint animal safari kit interim deadline, research pop-up game
• Week 6, 3rd nov-50 hippos theme fantasy, begin development of pop-up game, find appropriate live brief for brief 4.
• Week 7, 10th nov- 50 hippos theme drugs, develop prototypes for board game. Brief 4 concepts.
• Week 8, 17th nov- 50 hippos theme emotions, develop board game visuals. Brief 4 development.
• Week 9 24th nov- 50 hippos theme artistic movements and develop concept for product, start board game resolution, resolve brief 4
• Week 10 1st dec- hippo product resolution, board game resolution,
• Week 11 8th dec- deadline prep
• Week 12 15th dec deadline week

tigerprint summer placements

For my second placement this summer, I worked for Tigerprint, which is a part of Hallmark that produces cards and toys specifically for Marks & Spencer’s. I worked for the children’s toys division, which included board games, craft kits, jigsaws and packaging. Generally placements at Tigerprint are sorted out through winning one of their design competitions to gain access to the card design areas, although I didn’t enter I managed to get a placement through a friend, which was quite cheeky of me.
I found Tigerprint to be a lot more creatively challenging than my previous placement at New Vision. Tigerprint had me doing a lot of conceptual work for their autumn 2009 release as well as some mocking up and testing products for research or to help assess them after printing and a bit of photography and photocopying. I came up with some pretty mad ideas and helped to develop some ideas of theirs further, I found this all to be very fun and challenging.
The studio as an environment was fantastic it was very creatively diverse in the specialisation of each individual designer working there each of them was surrounded by objects and imagery from which they would draw inspiration. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, they were used to unfamiliar faces due to the constant presence of freelancers and placements throughout the year. At lunch I would play halo 2 with some of the lads (I got thrashed every time) or wander about the studio and chat with people about what they were doing and how it was to work at Tigerprint, I was never told to go away, so I got a good experience of what it was like to work in that studio on a daily basis.
I proved my worth when they started to work on the new dinosaur project since I was a big dinosaur geek when I was a kid, and I haven’t changed much since, I got given research and concept development for the dinosaur project to get on with for the final part of the week.
The worst part of the week was finding all the faults in the fully printed Christmas tree craft kit on my first day, when I told Sarah the manager she had get a few other people up to see and I had to show them all the miss-cut slots, this resulted in them running about hysterically checking the files sent to the printers and then phoning them to try sort it out. Apparently money was lost and it was the worst day so far this year!
The best part was getting to show off my dinosaur knowledge halfway through the week which made me feel valued and got me a large workload for my final few days, I also enjoyed the fuddle we had on Friday for someone’s birthday, everyone on the toy team bought in something to share like cakes and sausage rolls, one of the blokes who had been travelling around the wild for a while bought in a huge slab of beef jerky that everyone avoided, I had a bit it tasted quite nice.
All in all I really enjoyed my stay at Tigerprint as I got to be creative and useful to them they weren’t allowed to pay me but they have told me that they want me to come back after Leeds fest. I will be looking forward to returning.
I returned to Tigerprint for my last week of the summer I felt comfortable going into a familiar environment and I was welcomed back into the toys team. I spent the majority of this second placement doing mock-ups and developing 3-D products, which resulted in me getting a proper stiff scalpel finger on my right hand, although I did fair amount of other stuff in between times. I felt a lot more useful to the team this time as I was given work by everyone rather than being assigned work from the managers, one of the guys I was supposed to be working with had to leave on maternity when his wife gave birth I took on some of his workload at the end of the week, which was a 3-D card Buzz Lightyear kit which was well challenging and took a lot of time and revisions to finish, I felt very proud when I was finished and I took a few photos. I also worked more on the dinosaur projects and did some designs for a Peppa Pig jigsaw one of which was chosen to be the final product by Marks & Spencer’s.
Over the week I learnt a lot about packaging, 3-D kits and working on cutters on illustrator, since I caught onto this kind of stuff fast they just kept giving me more of it to do, so I was busier and more useful than I was in the previous placement. I just got on with it and apparently my can-do attitude impressed people so I have been invited back for the Christmas break and on any reading weeks I can spare. Since they were not able to pay me I was given an Amazon voucher and a load of toys at the end of the week, which was awesome.
The best part of this week was finishing the Buzz Lightyear kit I am definatly going to work on something similar in my 3rd year. Another of my best bits was when I had a meeting with the management when I was asked if I would consider coming back again, it was great to feel useful and respected by my peers.
The worst part of the week was Wednesday night when I was picking blisters off of my cramped cutting hand. But I was most gutted when I had to leave on Friday, despite leaving with a load of toys and an invite to return.
All in all it was fantastic to return to that creative environment I really enjoyed every minute of both weeks I spent at Tigerprint, I have gained a lot of experience as well as a few contacts to keep in touch with over the course of the year.