All posts by Joyce Chen

(Studio/ Seminar 3D) Project 4: Chickens in Context

What’s better than cannibalistic chickens?

A hot glue gun.

 

Hot glue guns are magical I don’t know why I didn’t  use them sooner they save so much time I literally spent an entire day gluing my sofa together with elmer’s glue and super glue and my arms hurt from holding the darned thing together until it dried and then my brain finally worked and decided I should buy a hot glue gun even though so many people have been telling me to buy one before and my brain was just like ‘no lol’ but now I have one I have seen the light and there will be no darkness ever again hot glue guns are my saviors even when I accidentally glued a popsicle stick to my hand and it dried super quickly cuz I had the window open and it was cold as hecking heck hot glue guns are man’s best friends and deserve only the best in their lives 

Materials

Some materials I used were: fabric I took from the recycling bins (now I can’t stop and have an entire bag full of scrap fabric someone help me), wood (I love sacrificing trees), popsicle sticks (s/o to Urja), free chopsticks, some leftover materials from previous projects, and the cardboard backing of like 5 drawing pads that I destroyed (sorry not sorry).

Process

I inhaled a lot of fumes.

 

-The End-

JK. Here’s a Legit Process/ Blubbering Mess

My original idea was to make a cult of lil ol’ grannies sacrificing chickens. How the tables have (kinda) turned. I originally wanted the entire house to be completely sealed off and have there only be a small viewing window (haha punz) through two smol windows that could be opened and closed. Everything turned out larger than I anticipated (big oof). I tried making the chickens smaller to fit the scale of the house I had originally made out of cardboard, but in the end, I had to make everything bigger anyways.

Because I still had a pack of paper clay that I didn’t use, I wanted to use that instead of buying more materials. But the paper clay annoyed me so I abandoned it. Building the house was both interesting and annoying. Annoying because I needed to cut the wood, but I didn’t want to use the bandsaw and make it so neat so I used scissors. Now I’ve added another callous to my collection on my right hand: ring finger- writing, middle finger- painting, index- using scissors. (RULE OF THREES AMIRITE)

Also accidentally jammed my hand into the sharp side of the handsaw thing oops. Surprisingly, no splinters. Not surprisingly, almost dropped an Olfa knife onto my foot multiple times. Living life on the edge. 

Painting Pedro, Pedra, and the portrait was not fun. Grandma looks like a stoned potato. I’m more satisfied with how Pedro turned out. Pedra felt a little too rushed and consequently must be destroyed via a sacrificial ritual. I don’t think I clearly established Pedro and Pedra’s relationship with each other because I was so focused on our MVP, Grandma.

I didn’t want to reveal my idea because I wanted to see how people reacted. It’s amusing and more fun for me. A majority of people noticed the chicken ribs and the leg in Pedra’s hands (*ooo cannibalistic chickens,*) but only noticed it was grandma later, some with/ without me prodding them (*cue confused, panicked laughter*).

 

Overall, no regrets for sleeping at 4 am everyday for the past month. Could’ve been smarter with some parts earlier in this process, but you learn from making dumb choices. I also now have mild PTSD from inhaling nail polish fumes.

 

(Studio/ Seminar 3D) Project 3: Puppetry

Surprise, surprise

it’s another chicken.

 

My inspiration sits on my window sill watching me sleep every night. (Shoutout to Steve and the thumbs.) Chickens have infested every aspect of my life. Everything else is meaningless. God isn’t real, but chickens are. They are the ones who brought me out of the darkness into the light. They are the motivation that keep me alive everyday.

For materials, I used a piece of plastic that has the societally implanted idea of monetary value to purchase some dead remains of trees that have been shaved down into long, thin cylinders. I used some thin metallic sheets to shape into a hella thicC bod. I wanted there to be some mobile aspect instead of a lifeless body so I decided to make the eyes move according to the position of the chicken. Instead of just doing the eyes, I went and also altered the head so that the comb (top fleshy part) and the wattle (fleshy chin part) also moved. After getting the overall shape of a dead chicken, I covered everything in epoxy. For the bod, I found some fabric in the recycling bins in the fashion open studio room. I tore up the fabric and it had a nice fluffy texture, which I used for the main part of the chicken. For the legs, I found this other thicC fabric which I cut and sewed into shorts, stabbing myself multiple times in the process. I love sewing.

I decided to name him Midterm because I had midterms, midterms are spooky, and it was spooky season. You can present him as a lifeless chicken on a surface or you can hang him by the feet wherever you want. A lot of people think that Midterm is gross. I hung him at the window and everyone I live with told me to take it down. So I hung him on the door. Let the chicken live, dammit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After hanging out with Midterm under my bed, he has decided to reside there semi- permanently.

 

Midterm having an existential crisis.

 

Midterm having an identity crisis.

 Midterm, post- crisis.

 

Midterm has nicer nails than you. And he’s dead.

 

Midterm soaking up the artificial sunlight full of artificial vitamins.

 

Good-night, Midterm

(Studio/ Seminar 3D) Project 1: Paper Spirit Animal

I decided to base my spirit animal off of a past piece I did.

(The story is that these unhappy people cry into these vases of dead plants, which are then carefully packaged into boxes labelled “fragile.” The cycle never ends.)

My main focus was facial expressions and body language. No one will ever know what a plant is feeling and thinking, or whether or not it is capable of these things at all. Sometimes I feel like a dying plant, but then the sunlight brings me back.

Although it is a paper based project, I decided to use wire to keep the flowers propped up. I used colored paper (tan and blue) for the main parts, and used purple and yellow Post-it notes for the filler flowers at the back. At the bottom, I stuck on a square of chipboard to keep it steady.

 

(Exhibition Review) Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams, MoMA

At the Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams exhibition at MoMA, the pieces are arranged in a way so that they visually draw in the viewers: some pieces stand alone, while others fit snugly together like puzzle pieces. The artist uses everyday materials and found items, such as colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps, and gives them a new life as colorful structures. When put together, I don’t feel as if any work stands out by itself because they are all so detail oriented and become a bit overwhelming, but rather, there are specific architectural parts of each piece that I found intriguing. The unique shapes really solidified his statement of creating a futuristic civilization by going beyond conventional shapes into an alternate reality.

When I saw the work, I first imagined myself among these colorful structures and wondered how life would be to exist in this dream world. The fact that there was no visible human life also struck me as odd, as “These rarely shown works are a call for us all to imagine, in the artist’s words, a ‘better, more peaceful world.’” Is a better more peaceful world one in which there are no humans? After I scanned the exhibition, I was reminded a lot of Las Vegas, a place where everyone goes to have constant fun with flashy buildings, eye-catching performances, and enticing casinos. Imagining myself having to live in this “city” would make me feel as if I were in a dystopia where everyone is forced live happily in a specific life style determined by an omnipotent force, comparable to George Orwell’s 1984.

Final Animation: “what if”

Reflection:

I should have stuck with this original idea from the beginning and spent more time on it. Though I like the sketchiness of the final, I would have liked to refine it a bit more and there are some sequences where the movement could’ve been more smooth (putting rubber bands on/ pot hitting person’s head and person falling.) I might’ve also changed the ending of the pot falling because the others all build up into that one moment while that scene felt too typical and expected. What goes up doesn’t have to come down. Overall, I am actually satisfied with the final outcome, something I don’t usually feel with my other works. During this extremely painful process of creating this animation, I realized that animating is very fun to play with though very painful to do, but I will definitely do more in the future.

 

Midterm Animation: LOVE IS DEAD

 

From my original storyboard, I changed a few aspects of it. Because he goes through the fruit, bread, and fruit and bread section very quickly, I didn’t want there to be too much of a action heavy animation because I thought it would be too overwhelming to watch. For the fruitful sales deal, since there were two voices responding to the question, I changed it so that there were the two devil/angel situation on his shoulders because I thought it was fitting. As for the end, he gets a spoonful of his favorite brand of bleach and pours it on his head. He then realizes how much he loves bleach, shoves everything else aside, grabs the bleach, and proceeds to shake it all onto himself in pure joy.

“What is love?

Love is dead.”

 

I originally wanted a more grotesque style, but I went along with the simplistic, meme-y style due to the humorous attitude of the narrator. As my story goes, the narrator tries very hard to define the word love by comparing it to fruit and bread. Interrupted by his phone, he frantically texts “I <3 YOU.” to his supposed crush, who ends up ignoring his expression of love. The narrator, despite the same light tone in his voice, turns to the dark side because they have his favorite brand of bleach. I decided to go with the lack of colors because I felt that, with so much happening, that it would have been distracting. In addition, I didn’t want to have to animate the entire thing frame by frame, so for certain parts (texting, shaking of bleach) I decided to go with only 2 frames going back and forth.

 

Pre-production for Midterm

Sound: 

“What is Love”

Storyboard:

Styleframe:

 

My project will focus on animating one of the provided sound samples, “What is Love.” In this short audio clip, the narrator suggests certain objects and events that could be possible examples of what love could be. With this project, I want to tell a story within this seemingly simple sound. I don’t want a literal translation, so I decided to give the narrator a story of heartbreak. Halfway through the clip, he compares love to a conversation to which I will animate as him texting the love of his life, who doesn’t respond to his frantic messages. This act of rejection turns the narrator into a frantic rampage as he enters a state of depression and pours Chlorox bleach into his cereal as his “favorite brand” during his hearty breakfast. At the end, when the narrator says “Helllllll yeeaaahhhhh” everything turns red with fire and burns down into the dark abyss.

The style I want to go with this animation is more of a cartoonish, simplistic one. Although I make the characters simple shapes, I want them to be very dynamic with almost liquid like properties. In addition to being very squishy, their facial expressions will also vary from very expressive and complex to a very plain face.

Integrative Studio 2: Visual Culture

Window

 

For my window, I used my own drawing of a little doll-like person and placed her as a lone silhouette staring blankly outside. In the past, I have created a similar character but more human and leaning towards a Tim Burton style. They both have the same short brown hair, staring eyes, frowning mouth, plaid red scarf, and beige/ tan textured sweater.

I used Photoshop to draw out the girl and to place her behind the bars of the window. Her facial expression and stoic pose is mainly because she is unwilling to get involved with the outside world because of disinterest and that there is no point in doing so.

For my doll, I was mainly inspired by Tim Burton as well as Margaret Keane. Both of their art styles are very unique and both have wide, staring eyes in common. However, Keane’s eyes were more ‘glassy’ so I decided to use that aspect in my character. Overall, the meaning behind my window piece is open to interpretation.

 

Space and Materiality Final Posting

montage1 montageud1

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After coming to New York, I found myself surrounded by buildings. Cement and concrete were everywhere. Outside, I found very little spaces of comfort. Everything seemed cold and unwelcoming. Even in the park, the grass was sealed off, only providing cold hard benches to rest on. I wanted to create a tangible feeling of comfort within this city. By using rabbit fur and a very versatile sponge, I would create a set of swings for people to lay in and to swing around in. My favorite playground equipment is the swing and I find it extremely relaxing to lay there and feel the rocking and the gentle breeze. I found that New York City is also a very fast paced city. People seemingly don’t have time to walk slowly or to fully take in their surroundings. By creating the installation, I would hope that people could find a comfort zone to relax and destress in.

Drawing and Imaging Final: Sketchbook

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The deadline was my inspiration for this project. (HA HA) I don’t think it’s really successful since I don’t think it really serves a purpose since it’s just random blobs of paint with ink drawn over it. If I had more time, I would probably either change my entire sketchbook or even stick with the same idea but blown up to a larger scale and add more detailed drawings of what I see in the blobs. Not happy with this but it is what it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯