Major Project

My 10/5 reflecting on last week's presentation and feedback: My project is about responding to generic fantasy tropes through thoughtful world building and empathy. There is a widely accepted brand of fantasy that rules over the genre, and because of this, artists and writers, myself included, can lean towards just recreating these images without thinking about why they are designed that way and what the audience is getting out of it. People were overall interested in the concept and where I would go with it. Some feedback I got from my peers and tutors was: Don’t overload the project  - it’s a very wide topic that could go many places, so make sure to plan properly so it can be focused and get finished in the given time frame. Look into the idea of fantasy storytelling as an escape and an opportunity to be put in someone elses’ shoes - empathy is a key ideal both within my project and with how it is received. Look at other media and how other artists/writers have c...

     

This week's presentation is a practice for next week's actual second showing.   I need to present my ideas with more confidence. I also had a chance to talk with Kerry Ann about my project. She was worried about the lack of issue in my idea. I mentioned my previous idea that focused more on the idea of generic fantasy, and she was mroe acceptive of that as it's a more focused issue. I had dropped this as the focus as I was concerned about building a world around the concept of 'it's diverse', as it's a bit limiting, but after the talk I feel I can work with it better if I better describe what I plan to do.

I have previously defined my topic as ______. While I still like this general idea, I think my project needs a different summary. My desire for this project is mainly in expanding my own creative practice and skills. I'm an illustrator who wants to tell stories. I want this project to help me get better at doing that. Rather than the details of exactly what I've trying to present, I'm more interested in learning about the process. I want to research and learn how to build world out of the small details; what adornments they wear, their turns of phrase, watching them cook and eat meals. This is the kind of world building that interests and comforts me when watching media, moreso than an essay's worth of political history or made up biology. I'm interested in the characters and their emotions. I want the overall world to be vibrant, but the details to show the heart of it. I still want to keep diversity and the rejection of overused fantasy devices in my vision,...