gtpukeiti

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 6

Animation

This lesson consisted of learning basic animation skills on Adobe Animate. Before we started animating, we watched a behind the scenes process of creating original Disney films. I knew the process back in those days would be long but I didn’t realise how many people it took to create an animation back then. For one part of the process (I don’t remember what it was called) it took around 100+ people. The amount of hours, blood, sweat and tears that went into creating these films really puts things into perspective and makes you appreciate how much technology has advanced since then. The process and hard work was very impressive.

One of the tasks was to create blinking eyes.

Below is the eyes I made:

At first I thought animating would be very difficult as I’m not good with doing digital stuff but playing around with the tools and going step by step through the task made it a lot easier to understand the process. Overall, it was a fun experience and I’m looking forward to learn more about the animating process and turning our pattern books into animations.

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 5

Reflection

Since I was unable to attend class, I worked on part one of my assignment and finalised a concept for my pattern book.

Concept: My concept is the union of two people resulting in a birth (the two people being my mum and dad and the birth being myself).

Below is a quick sketch of my concept with notes:

Elements included:

• Koru

• Stars

• Tiare Māori

• Spearheads (?)

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 4

Concept brainstorm

Since we are starting part one of our assignment, I have brainstormed a few concepts that I might use for my pattern book.

Concepts:

• Cook Island cosmology story (Rarotonga or Mangaia)

• Life and death - how we enter and leave earth -> journey of life

• Ancestral journey - how my ancestors came to New Zealand from the Cook Islands -> possibly draw both sides of the family?

•. Life story - how I came into the world? -> add cultural background

I think each idea would be interesting to explore through patterns but I am still not completely set on a concept. However, I am leaning more towards concept 3 & 4.

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 4: Tatau

For today’s lesson, we watched a video about a young man getting the traditional tatau of his culture. The process took place over several days and many hours at a time. While watching this video, I saw how much of an impact it made when the young man getting his tatau had support from his family and friends. I would imagine that doing it alone would be very lonely and hard mentally but having support the whole way through would give you the courage and perseverance to make it through to the end.

Notes:

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 3

Class Tapa

It was interesting to see the different techniques some people were using to make their tapa. Some people crumpled paper to imitate the texture of traditional tapa cloth and flattened the paper with rulers afterwards. Some people used a wash to get the background colour while others used pastel.

Below is our unfinished class tapa

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 3: Tapa

This week we looked at Tapa and the different ways to make tapa cloth.

Two types we looked at were Siapo and Ngatu.

Below is notes I made on the documentaries watched for Siapo and Ngatu making.

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 2: Cosmology

Self directed tasks

Task 3: Artist cold review

Review one drawing made by the one artist.     It must be a drawing. This is a cold review. Other than the name, date and material DO NOT READ anything about the drawing. Start by describing the drawing, is figurative or abstract, the compositional elements, the colour scheme, the marks made, any identifiable motifs or texts. From this description, what do you think the drawing is about. There is no right or wrong answer here.  

Chosen artist: Jesse Bransford

The Fourth Pyramid 

Below are my initial thoughts on the artwork: 

Snakes & ladders - could symbolise the obstacles in life?

Maze in the background - metaphor > life is like a maze

Red - usually represents evil or bad things

Two suns - one is big and red, one is small with yellow/orange streaks > could represent good and evil. The yellow sun is not as recognisable which could be a way of saying that there is a large presence of evil in the world 

7 pointed star - looks similar to the star of David > could have a religious meaning

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 2: Cosmology

Self-directed tasks

Task 1: Reflection of class exercises 

This lesson consisted of reflecting on patterns and their meanings. The purpose of the first activity was to review our pattern maps made from the previous lesson and breakdown the different elements used. From here we were to make new drawings using these patterns and elements. After this, we were to get into groups and share and reflect on our patterns and the patterns of the ppl in our groups. From here we were to collectively create a new pattern combining different components of our previous drawings. The new pattern had to represent each member of the group. 

I found this lesson to be very informative about different patterns and how we can use these patterns for story-telling (e.g sand video). The purpose of me taking this class is to feel better connected to my culture and this lesson made me feel more connected as story-telling through patterns is an important part of polynesian culture. I also found it interesting to see what patterns the other groups had come up with and the meaning behind them.

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 2: Cosmology

Task: Create a group pattern using components of each members individual patterns from previous tasks. The new pattern must represent every member in the group in some way.

Meanings behind each component:

• Flower - national flower of the Phillipines, presents purity

• Turtle - journey/travelling/voyage

• Spearheads - courage to overcome obstacles in life

I found this activity to be a great learning experience as it was interesting to see the designs each group had created and the meanings behind each element of the design. It was also interesting to see the specific patterns people chose to represent a part of them and their background.

[gtpukeiti]

WEEK 1

Documentary - Made in Taiwan

Notes:

I found this documentary to be very thought-provoking. The documentary Made in Taiwan follows two guys (name and name) who want to find out more about their heritage.

[gtpukeiti]

Week 1

Mapping

The task was to create several maps of whatever we observed around us while doing everyday things such as eating dinner, going to uni, travelling to work, spending time with family etc. This was to be done using marks.

Below are three examples of the maps that I made:

This map is a map of the layout of the studio rooms that I am in for two of my classes. The crosshatching represents tables and the lines next to them are wall dividers. The smaller straight lines in the top right corner are stairs.

This map is a map of my family sitting down together in the lounge. The squiggles represent people (each family member - 5). The crosshatching represents a rug. The double lines along the sides of the paper are walls and the two things made up of three rectangles represent couches.

This map is a map of my commute to uni. This particular part of my commute is waiting at the Botany Town Centre bus bay. The several squares represent people waiting for a bus/pedestrians. The large rectangles represent buses and the shaded areas inside them are seats taken by passengers (long = 2 passengers in a seat, short = singular passenger).