Richard’s ARTC 4130 Blog

1.
Concept Statement-
Awakening to one’s true nature.
Mystery w/ reveals.

Premise-
A weak father pushing his child on a swingset.
His first attempts fail miserably and he gets caliously mocked by his child.
He then summons uncharacteristic strength and athleticism to propel the child eventually thrusting him off the swingset.

2.
Concept Statement-
Absurd idealization of mundane life.

Premise-
An antiquated farmer harvesting grain w/ a sickle (or doing some manually intensive labor).

3.
Concept Statement-
“No pain, no gain.”

Premise-
Construction worker lifting girders.
Perhaps an initial crane/machine fails to lift and he must summon absurd degree of strength to lift them himself damaging his body in the process.

4.
Concept Statement-
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

Premise-
A bee attempting to pollinate an anthropomorhpized flower in harsh weather conditions.
Erotically charged.

5.
Concept Statement-
“Vision w/out action is a daydream, action w/out vision is a nightmare.”

Premise-
Machine whose body is seperated from it’s processing unit.
Body acts destructively.

6.
Concept Statement-

Premise-
Frail old man attempting to eat a rough, firm steak.

Story Concept– We chose to perceive specific aspects of life and ignore others.

Exposition– Ann is merrily riding a bicycle along a fragmented landscape of blue skies and sunsets.

Inciting incident –  She picks a flower alongside the path and overlooks an oncoming rabbit wandering in front of her.  She collides with the rabbit, knocking her from the bike and mortally wounding the rabbit.

Rising Conflict– Ann attempts to tend the mangled rabbit, but each attempt only exacerbates the rabbits pain.  As she stares in horror and panic, the landscape begins to shift to something more ominous and sinister (thunderstorms and unpleasant weather).

Crisis–  The rabbits moans and cries create a constant tension.  There is nothing Ann can do as the wounds are to severe.  The landscape continually worsens as Ann emotions rise.   Components of the landscape slowly start to close in on them.

Climax–  A circumstantial hole in the ground arises from the landscapes continual rotation and deformation.  Ann places the likely deceased rabbit in the hole and out of her sight.

Resolution–  The cubist landscape is replaced by an average scenic path.  Ann rides off on her bike, looking significantly less stylized.

Age-

12 or something

Ethical Perspective-

Hedonism/ Veil of Ignorance

Emotion or Logic-

Emotion

Greatest Strength-

The ability to manipulate her surroundings

Flaw-

Her inability to confront and control negative circumstances.

How does character see itself?-

innocent and powerful.

How do others see the character?-

Pristine.

Biggest Secret-

Her ability to cause harm

What does the character want?-

To live a happy, simple existence.

How far will character go to achieve this want?-

To close off scenes of those in dire need of assistance.

What does the character need to learn?-

To accept the good and the bad in life.

Story Concept: One’s perception alters one’s reality and their ability to relate with others.

Other possible themes: Life as a process of creation.  Impossibility of certainty.  Responsibility and worldview.

Anna Lucia awakes finding herself lost in a chaotic labyrinth of fragmented cubist landscapes and sets, which she can arrange and alter at will (like an enormous rubiks cube) presenting her with infinite possibilities and worlds.  At first she is intoxicated with the creative freedom but quickly finds that unless she can reach some semblance of her former reality, she will be abandoned in a world of fantasy.

While completely abandoned from others, a voice (of a parent, friend, or lover?) continually calls out to her as a beacon towards reality.  Anna Lucia searches the labyrinth for fragments of a memory to recreate a plane for her to coexist with that individual on.

The landscape, while conveying a setting, also presents images of juxtaposed opposites (war and peace, life and death, etc.) attempting to represent life in its full gamut. Anna Lucia essentially develops a substantial worldview by her arrangement of these sets and images which allow her to connect with a shared reality.

Once the plane of coexistence is realized through the assemblage of the memory, the labyrinth doesn’t climactically dissolve or something along those lines. Instead Anna Lucia’s shared reality remains as alterable as before. Her need for human connection and creative outlets are simultaneously satisfied.

Designs exhibit anatomical plausibility and realism while simultaneously being abstracted into definitive shapes.  This play with simple forms comes in handy as Sam Kieth frequently shifts styles and simplifies the character given their psychological state.  The Maxx can be deduced to simple forms such as a circle and triangle even when his muscles and figure are clearly defined.  The wirey Mr. Gone, while not as consistently shapely as the Maxx, has a head that is shaped as cylinder.

Cartoonish, exaggerated forms applied with unflattering realism (wrinkles, skin-folds, blemishes, etc. )  The character’s features and clothing are typically scraggly and dishevelled.  Flakey Foont takes a classic toon design and contrasts it with stubble, skin-folds, etc.  creating a simultaneous sense naivete and witheredness.  Robert Crumb’s self portrait utilizes cartoonish wobbly limbs to communicate an intense sense of unease and tension.

Realistic body proportions with little idealization to speak of.  To make individuals characters iconic, features are either elongated or shrunk.  The shrunk facial features on Colonel Shikishima contrasts with his generally large size, adding to his sense of scale.  Kiyuro’s elongated  facial features communicates his age and this elongation is witnessed throughout his design to exaggerate his emaciated figure.