ARMS Masters: Vis Dev

I have recently been working on some tie-down animation and concept work for the ARMS Masters Project. Currently I am working on designs for a bounty hunter type character. The design is in it's roughest stages and has some direction but not much. I've attempted to grab inspiration from current designs I find appealing. The look that most popped out to me was that of African gypsies known as the "Hyena Men". They wear an assortment of cloth and metal with large Hyena's harnessed to chains that they parade around as pets and use them for entertaining trick shows. Combining that with the look of a black panther, and bikers, I've tried to design someone who has the potential to be extremely threatening but also coldly calm when the situation calls for it.

Ford Museum, and Podcast

One of my summer classes is "The History of Modern Design", and I must admit I had a huge misconception about what the class would entail. What I have found out is that designing a piece of furniture, or tool, or vehicle or even house is very similar to designing a character. It comes down to a balance between functionality and aesthetic appeal. A character that looks pretty but doesn't reveal anything about his personality can feel shallow, and a car that is aesthetically appealing but doesn't function well won't get bought.

We went on a field trip the the Henry Ford Museum, though I would call it a museum in the loosest way. The building houses a huge assortment of collected items, all from different periods, designers, and cultures. There is little to no information given about the objects, and often they are just grouped together in sections like "stoves", and "Airplanes". Even the sections aren't really organized in any particular order. Stoves were placed right next to model doll houses, and furniture lead into a section of giant electrical generators. As my teacher said, "The whole experience is kind of schizophrenic." The upside of the experience was that it put more burden on me, the viewer, to dive into my knowledge of design and figure out what each piece really was. All in all it was a great experience and I'd love to go there again. Below you will find some pictures of the experience.






Next we have the podcast. As I said earlier I was interviewed for the Stratton Foundation's inspirational podcast. You can find the podcast at thestrattonfoundation.org. I talk about how I got into animation, who were my inspirations, how the Disney internship affected me, and I try to give out some useful information to any prospective students out there who may be listening. The Stratton Foundation not only provides funding in the form of scholarships for students like me, but also hosts inspirational podcasts and has useful information for any student trying to further their art. I highly recommend checking them out.