Personal Statement

AG1064A: Professional Practice – Personal Statement

Proposer:	Simon Chedumbrum
Student Number:	0704944
Programme:	Computer Arts
Specialism(s):	2D Art, Character Concept’s and design

Personal Statement

I plan on Investigating Character concepts & designs through different techniques and how Relationships / bonds and developed between the character and audience through the use of Empathy, personality, Environment and music

Inspiration and Interests

The idea of characters from different forms of media be it art or a novels, building a relationship with the person reading / watching interests me a great deal, that emotions can be conveyed by images or words. There are so many different art styles out there already from many backgrounds this inspires me, art is practiced in every culture and varies all over the world. The kind of project I would like to undertake would be to create characters of my own that can form this bond with people be it good or bad, with the use of Environments, music and other tools to produce emotions in the audience. Work such as “Ookami” done for the PlayStation 2 was inspirational as the characters where very memorable and the art style was unique Similarly “Dot.Hack//” was also really well made in terms of character development over time with the player as you get to mail them and learn more about them as you play the game as you would a real person. Many Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks projects are also great inspirations for me as it showcases many different techniques and the art and concepts are at such a level that you can’t but help admire them. At the end of the Honours year I would like to show case my characters and have either a sort of comic strip or minimal animation to help convey them, and see how people bond with them.

Career and Creative Aims

The Career I would be after would be one in Character Concepts or art work relating to characters of any kind, also animation them would be another aspect I would be interested in, bring them character to life, infusing them with emotions and watching it play out.

Current Skills and Abilities

Traditional Art, My skills in Traditional art is one of my strongest elements, in the regions of 2D art work sketches and designs.                                  Painting Acrylics, water colour etc., I am confident in my painting skills acrylics more so but over all I would say I have a good understanding and skill with them. Sound forge, Piecing music together through this program can be difficult at times but enjoyable, as skill goes I have a good grasp of it and the varies techniques that go with it. Photoshop / Sai, Having used this program daily my grasp on it is solid and my understanding and skill level are high, Maya, Confident in my skills of 3D modelling, rigging and skinning I could create a character and animate them with the desired results in mind. Flash, For animating and general use my skills base is good, a few areas could be improved but overall I can achieve a sound animation if desired. Movie maker and related programs, In the use of Putting together animations my skill level is average, I can produce a good looking and sounding animation but I have techniques and other uses for it to learn. Mud box, I understand and can use this program but I have a lot to learn about it, can create a working model but my area of expertise is not that high with it.

Skill Gaps

Traditional Art, I am always striving to push myself here and develop on skills that I know and want to learn. There are many techniques that I still don’t know, that could be useful to me. Animating Skills, The use of this would benefit me a lot and combined with my skills in other regions could help me in my passion of character work. And give me a more extensive skill set. Photoshop / Sai, A lot to learn with this and the use of tablets. Many skills still unknown to me or easier ways to do things. Sound forge, Music is another passion of mine and to be able to create my own and apply it to my own creations would benefit me a lot more, and increase my skill base. Movie Maker and related Programs, This is another program I would like to get to terms with a lot more as it has a lot of potential for my line of work and I only know a little about it, with so much to learn.