p r a g u e . b l a g u e

400 SHOW

Some photos from the advanced studio show in Brooks:

After seeing some familiar faces (Mike Beavers, Sharon, Kalesia, Critter and Dana), Tanaka and I bumped into Santiago in the breezeway and had a very nice chat about our experiences in Prague as well as the work we presented in the show. He was genuinely positive and enthusiastic about the work we have been doing, apologetic about the black and white output (it had to be done for speed!), and excited to see us. Our posters looked great, and if anyone would like to see them, I believe they will be up until tomorrow (May 4th). They will be shown again over the summer and during Open House, so we all have a chance to update them with our lastest revisions, if you're into that sort of thing.

memory factory

The Big Kahuna

Details

jay jay's magical colors

This is the poster I am presenting at the Advanced Studio Show in Brooks. I feel like I have made so many changes in the mere week that has passed since we made these posters that I would really like to continue to revise the poster as I also wrap up revisions on my remaining projects. And by remaining projects, I mean... all of them. There are a few drawings (early souvenir sketches) that I would also like to include on the poster. With more time, I think it will show a more complete view of my work from this semester.

creatures

These suckers should be digitized by Monday, but the hand drawings have been an attempt to unify the diverse range of drawing styles found in my collections of illustrations. They complete the set when paired with the collective image of drawings posted earlier this month and reveal, to me, a distinction between drawings aimed at satisfying some need to nostalgic imagery within a city and creating something new with these more "creature-like" illustrations. There also seems to be a strong difference between what forms are known and immediate in recognition versus the ambiguous nature of ther others. It should be interesting to see them placed together, interwoven, and interacting with each other in some environment, the point of which is to show some sense of my experience here in the chaotic, random way that is so close to the actual activity of my brain...

The first image is the second half of the set of older-style drawings. The second two images are the complete set of new-style creatures.

Prague Boxes

Here are some images of my final ‘Prague Boxes.’ Instead of designing one box that did several impossible things I designed several boxes with simple realistic actions. All of the boxes are mechanically driven, no electricity required. The mechanical action creates both the music and motion of the boxes. The boxes are composted of hand-painted tin cutouts. The mechanical parts are all assembled by local Czech watchmakers. The boxes are quite small measuring at most 3.5 centimeters. The boxes are available in plastic spheres which are dispensed from gumball-type machines for a fee of 5 crowns a piece.

 

You can watch  the animation here:
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jwshroye/

 

The first box contains the syncopator factory powered by Prague’s local music man on Charles Bridge. Music from his CD “super dance music” accompanies all of the boxes in action. The music man tips his hat to passer bys and his little monkey friend flips for joy. Birds fly out from behind the bridge, and his little drum beats to the song.

The second box depicts a typical Czech meal of beef goulash, potato dumplings, and beer. The action of this box is manually driven, a small lever switches the meal between the before and after stages.

 

The third box displays a phenomenon one can experience on the way down to the metro. While on the escalator if one tilts their head to the side the other travelers appear to be leaning backward, as if in a strong wind. This illusion is aided by the advertisements orientation aligning with the escalator handrails. The advertisements have been replaced with posters from our first project. The action in this box is manually driven as well. A small lever tilts the escalator back and forth. Too much tilting will cause the passengers to fall. It is a game of sorts.

 

The final box is a depiction of the crowds in front of the Prague’s famous astronomical clock. Large crowds usually gather here to be simultaneously disappointed by the clocks limited hourly action. So the crowd gyrates in anticipation of the event and once it happens they stand still and sigh a sigh of disappointment. And that’s the end.

 

PROJECT 4: S O U V E N I R

PROJECT 4: V E C T O R C R A V I N G

I stayed with the vinyl decals for walls, floors, ceilings, etc. because taking home the patterns of Prague seemed like something that many people, designers, non-designers, would be interested in.

After "vectoring" my heart out, I decided to name the product VECTOR CRAVING. Each package of decals is taken from a particular place in Prague and is labeled in Czech and English. Example: kovani = ironwork taken from the Strahov Monastery.

By removing these patterns from their original source but still referring to it, might encourage the buyer to explore these places, find their own patterns, etc.

Within each package, there would be 3 different sizes of decals: small (repeatable),
medium, and then one large scale taken from the original source. The decals would come in sets of Pantone colors which are labeled on the back of the package. Eventually, if the project grew, there would be an online component where you could pick out your own colors and make your own combinations of patterns.

I am fairly happy with the way this turned out although I would like to have some more examples of the ways they could be applied to actual environments. Perhaps I will get that up before the semester is over in addition to a complete view of the package itself, the parts of which are included in the pictures.

A Scant Two Weeks! :~(

Here's the schedule:

09.04 Monday
Post final results for Project Four on the blog.
Print out and review complete alphabets (one-on-one).

10.04 Tuesday
Visit the Film Poster exhibition with the designer (more info to come). Depart from studio at 12:30.

11.04 Wednesday
Compile process and final work for the GD400 exhibit going up in Brooks Gallery.
(I'm going to the Mucha Museum after class if anyone would like to join me.)

12.04 Thursday
Studio: Review Project Three refinements (one-on-one).
Type: Group crit on Display Folio progress.

16.04 Monday
Review Visual Archive progress.

18.04 Wednesday
Work in class.

19.04 Thursday
Studio: Work in class. Set up review space.
Type: Display Folio due.

20.04 Friday
Final show and critique with Guest design reviewers. 1:30-5:30
Vino, chleb a syr.

pee-voh pro-seem

I believe the exact words were, "Way to pull it out of the water. I mean dung heap. Way to pull it out of the dung heap." I'll take that as a compliment. I was definitely feeling overwhelmed by the dung. It was pretty much up to my neck. Yay.

tourism and prague

This drawing is my first step toward defining a style for the souvenir project. The Easter Market is a seasonally specific example of how special events and tourism can change the character of a city and a particular setting within the city. The idea is to exaggerate the features of the city that are affected by the event and to contrast those exaggerations with different representations of the other features, in this example, the buildings. Color is one way to show these differences, but the challenge here will be defining those contrasting drawing styles and representations and to distinguish these renderings from already existing examples.

The idea of a calendar is still appealing to me. I've been thinking about how the calendar itself might be incorporated into the drawing. In this example, what might happen if some of the Easter eggs in the tree became dates in the month of March? What other formats might the calendar take?

These images show how Old Town Square changes during the World Cup in the summer and the Christmas markets in the winter. Next steps are to photograph the Square from the four corners (4 corners, 4 seasons, how CORNVENIENT) and to prepare examples of exaggerated features so I can move on to some crazy drawings. So scared. Help.

creatures and characters

My thematic archive is a collection of illustrations of varying styles. One style has a dated look, a feeling of nostalgia? These images depict mainly people and animals, and examples of this style have been found on matchbooks, sheet music, signage and domestic artifacts. The other style finds its place in street art: posters, stickers, graffiti and stencils. These illustrations are mostly "creatures," ambiguous beings lacking recognizable parts and lending themselves to the notion of "characters." The drawings represented below are my first step in bringing both styles into a format where I can establish a greater sense of consistency in rendering. These drawings come from the first style of illustration discussed above. The next step is to draw the creatures and experiment with how they might compare and contrast to the older style of illustration, how they might live together and interact in an environment that I create.

I would like the final format to be a poster and to include not only this collection of illustrations, but also some of the phrases and experiences that have shaped my memory of this trip. The idea is to create an artifact that the whole studio can appreciate, to show how my experience has been a shared experience, and to illustrate that experience in some way through these characters. Not every memory will relate to a creature or drawing, but some will fit together naturally, and I feel as though that will be enough to deliver the message. I hope.