28/9/2020 - 15/11/2020 (Week 6 - Week 12)
Naim Zuki,
(0346615) | Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Digital Photography & Imaging
Project 2B
LECTURES
Lecture 6 | Introduction to Cyborg Project
If there was anything that you'd change about your physical self, what would it be? Unbreakable legs? Athletic superiority? Or perhaps something else entirely? These were the questions Mr Martin asked us during the lecture as an introducing to our second Digital Photography & Imaging project titled Cyborg Project.
For this project, we were tasked to start by taking a self-portrait. Thus with that self-portrait, we are to turn ourselves into a cyborg using photomanipulation.
INSTRUCTIONS
Module Infornation Booklet
<iframe height="480"
src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/107_21Lf4ir6kvUey33eS6EsPN2kocuFe/preview"width="640"></iframe></div>
PROJECT 2B | Cyborg Project
If the question of adding technological enhancement to my biological body depends heavily on the state of technological advancement we have as of now, then I'd say the state of today's technology cannot be matched with the human body. Just kidding, I only wanted to make this blog dramatic. Immortality through bionic modification? Count me in!
IDEA EXPLORATION
If there's any part of my body that I'd exchange for a piece of tech, that'd be my arms and legs. Considering the fact that the type of martial arts I'm practising depend heavily on the durability of my limbs, why wouldn't I want to enhance my body to cater to that hobby? The only thing that came to mind when I think of bionic limbs used for combat is Edward Elric's Automail from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. So I started to do some research on references from that anime that I can work off of. But to construct a bionic hand purely from the basis of an anime is too much of a challenge for me, so I broadened my references towards works of concept artists and Youtubers. Thus I've made a collection of artworks that I'd like to use as reference for this project.
Fig. 1.0 - Fig. 1.01, Inspo from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, (Image Courtesy of バラバババ; Omerarer)
Fig. 1.02 - Fig. 1.03, Cyborg Inspo, (Images courtesy of Abrar Khan)
Fig. 1.04 - Fig. 1.05, Bionic Arm Study, (Images Courtesy of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Creative Team and Piyratheon)SKETCHES
I started with a rough sketch of where I wanted my bionic limbs' placement to be. I based it off of Edward Elric's Automail model and planned to turn a hand and a leg of mine into bionic limbs.
Fig. 1.06, Cyborg Project Rough Sketch, 25/09/2020
After I spent some time researching models of bionic limbs, I could only find good references for arms, but not much for legs. So I decided to put my focus on making two bionic arms instead. I drew over a picture of my hand in an attempt to experiment with how I want my bionic hand to look like.
Fig. 1.07, Conceptualising my robotic hand, 27/10/2020DEVELOPMENT
Now that the concepts are more or less developed and I had a direction to head into, I began by taking some self-portraits in my backyard.
Fig. 1.08, testing the placement of camera; Fig. 1.09 - Fig. 1.13, Self-Portraits Taken For The Project, 13/10/2020
I admit I look pretty awkward in these and I definitely need to work on my modelling. Nonetheless, these will do. After choosing the best picture for the project, I began experimenting with designing my bionic arms by searching for pictures of engines, cables, and all sorts of industrial materials to be applied on my arms.
Fig. 1.14 - Fig. 1.15, Materials To Be Used As Body Parts, (Image sourced from Google)
Fig. 1.16 - Fig. 1.20, Textures To Be Used As Skin Replacement, (Images Sourced from Google)I began by warping these images into place and doing various cuts and crops to make them blend well with the rest of the image. I used the pen tool to draw out the creases on my hands with the drop shadow and inner glow effect to make it look more realistic.
Fig. 1.21, Cyborg Project First Draft, 15/10/2020
I wasn't happy with how it turned out, so I sought out opinions from Mr. Martin along with several other friends to get some feedback. While discussing with my friends on what could be done better, I noticed that this edit lacked shadows and realistic light reflection from the environment. So I added more details all around the hands, all the while adding more layers of effects and experimenting with ways to make the edit more believable. Below are my progress and experiments.
Fig. 1.22, Experimentation
Fig.. 1.23, designing my eye with additions of making the skin plasticy
Fig. 1.24, Experimentation
Fig. 1.25, Experimentation
Fig. 1.26, Experimentation
While I was making these additions to the cyborg elements, I exported the Photoshop edits into Lightroom to experiment with the colours and cropping to balance out the composition a little better.
Fig. 1.27 - Fig. 1.28, Experimenting on the framing of the compositionFig. 1.27, Colour Experimentation
Thus, after going back and forth seeking opinions from my peers, colour experimentation, forming and reforming textures, going back and forth between references, and re-conceptualising, I've finally come to an edit that I can be satisfied with.
Fig, 1.28, Cyborg Project Final Submission, 14/11/2020
Fig. 1.29, Details
Fig. 1.30, Details_
FEEDBACKWeek 7
After seeing my sketch, Mr. Martin was curious to know how I'll be taking my self portrait for this project, then he suggested that I send him the pictures so it can be reviewed and approved for continuation.
Week 9
Upon review of my first draft of the cyborg project, Mr. Martin said that the self-portrait was fine, the lighting and such has no problem. However, he commented that the cyborg elements are a little hard to notice. He recommended that I add some cyborg elements to my face to make it look more interesting. He said the arms themselves are fine.
Week 10
For the next draft I sent, Mr. Martin noted that the cyborg elements are still a little hard to notice and suggested I add more cyborg elements.
Week 11
For the next consecutive edits, he gave a positive reaction to the cyborg edit. He suggested that I add emboss as well as flattening all the skin to make them look more plasticy.
_
REFLECTION
Experience
This project was more skill-heavy than any other project or exercise in this entire semester. While I was trying to find proper references for this project, I was somehow trying to come up with a design that had a deep meaning. Looking back, that was kind of a waste of time because I realised halfway into the project that the main objective of this project was to test out our abilities rather than having a solid meaning behind the mecha design. I can still hear Mr. Martin reiterating that this project is suppose to be fun and challenging but not super demanding as I'm typing this reflection. After hearing those words from Mr. Martin, I started treating this project as a skill test instead of a philosophical exercise and my process went way smoother because the wisdom barrier was gone and what's left is to just create something visually appealing.
Observation
In the process of designing the bionic arms, I realised that I prefer having the cyberpunk/steampunk look that I grew up adoring from playing various games rather than the modern and elegant look of androids that are famous today. Therefore, I went against the style that was shown in the class demonstration and followed what I found visually appealing.
Finding
I find that my workflow is best when I'm following concepts and ideas that I like. This realisation came when I was watching Alita: Battle Angel and realised I wanted to follow the style from the movie/manga rather than the style done in class and by our seniors.
Comments
Post a Comment