Research Project Proposal

My Research Project will be focusing on world-building, through the creation of immersive and realised worlds. This will be done through concept art to explore a futuristic science-fiction setting. The project will be linked to the narrative I am planning to tell in my Final Major Project, in an attempt to create context for that story's universe. I will be illustrating my response to, and interpretations of, different themes surrounding science fiction. This will be done in the style of digital and traditional concept art.

For this project, I intend to educate my personal artistic skills and expand the range of mediums at my disposal. I will also put a larger focus on digital work, in order to become more proficient, and inform my own practice through my personal interests of concept art and sci-fi.

I plan to conduct several experiments during my research project. The first of which is “Immersion through environments,” and will relate to the variety of detailed environments and locations in sci-fi, and how they are visually described. The second will be “Immersion through character designs,” where I will research and respond to examples of characters and their designs in different mediums of science-fiction. For my third experiment, I will look into “Immersion through objects,” where I will research the evolution in use and design of everyday objects compared to the modern day, across different mediums of sci-fi. The fourth experiment will look into "Immersion through vehicles and ships," which will relate to the array of futuristic ship and vehicle designs that are seen in popular sci-fi media, and how they gained iconic looks. The next experiment will research "Immersion through creature designs," specifically focusing on the presentation of creatures and animals (fauna) in science-fiction settings, and how they live in their environment. The My final research experiment will cover "Immersion through plant/foliage designs," by looking at the different flora that has been introduced and incorporated into sci-fi worlds, and how the designs have helped these plants to thrive in their environments..

(1)    Sci-Fi Art: The 12th Colony 2321 – 2D Digital, Sci-fiCoolvibe – Digital Art (above)

Shows an example of digital concept art used to visually realise an idea, within the sci-fi genre.

The first experiment will be concepts for different representations of environments in a sci-fi aesthetic, with reference to landscape and backgrounds in other creative mediums of sci-fi. The second will be a concept for a variety of characters that could live in a realised sci-fi world, based on examples from other artists. The third will be concepts of objects found in sci-fi, ranging from futuristic furniture to buildings/structures. The fourth experiment will be imaginative sci-fi concepts of vehicles and ships used by societies in my narrative, with reference to designs from films/games/books set in this genre. The fifth will be concepts for creature designs that could exist in the concept environments I will have previously researched for the previous experiments, with reference to various kinds of fauna that appear in science-fiction media. The final experiment will be concepts for plant and foliage designs that would be present in my concept environments, and could co-exist with my concept creatures, with reference to various existing depictions of flora within this genre.

Research methods of experimentation in my research project are from art books, sci-fi movies, novels and television shows, and internet resources on world-building and concept art. These mediums help me to analyse the style of sci-fi and concept art in different forms, as well as providing different examples of building immersive worlds as context for stories. The idea development strategies for the research project are similar to my FMP, and include imagining the aesthetic of different characters, locations and vehicles in the story and creating varied styles of concepts for them. From there I will chose a particular style and form for the object I like and continue visually creating down that path. This is particularly helpful when presenting obscure themes or unique objects/environments.

(2) The Moon God – Kory Hubbell (above)
Shows an example of environment and vehicle world building.

I believe I am prepared for the research project, as I understand and have responded to the topics I am aiming to explore in the project, but am not proficient enough in my ability to produce concept art in different mediums. This can be resolved by practicing my digital art skills and expanding the range of things I choose to illustrate. The Major Research and Project Planning module has helped me better understand how to analyse and interpret different artist’s work in relation to their intentions, in the sense that I have learned how to critically approach illustrative work. Because of this, I now have a greater understanding of my own practice and intentions, and am able to judge more clearly what works and what doesn’t when communicating through illustrations.

Bibliography

(1)   Science and Nature. (2016). Sci-Fi Art: The 12th Colony 2321 - 2D Digital, Sci-fiCoolvibe - Digital Art... - Science and Nature. [online] Available at: http://scienceandnature.xyz/?p=376  [Accessed 26 Mar. 2016].

(2)   Hubbell, K. (2015). The Moon God. [Digital] [online] Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/WKnZN [Accessed 31 Mar. 2016].

An Unfinished World

In an attempt to define the title of our research projects, we were tasked with choosing a book from the library related to - but not reflecting - our original title. The title for my research project was originally "how do artists create immersive worlds?" but this needed to be expanded upon because it didn't accurately present how the language or communication of a narrative is portrayed through world-building. I felt as if it was important for the title to convey the differences in the motivation or purpose of the creation of specific worlds by artists. Through looking at and understanding my chosen book, I was able to better define the title for my project - "The language and communication of narrative through the creation of immersive worlds." 

My chosen book was 'An Unfinished World' by Graham Sutherland. It is a publication that accompanied the artist's exhibition of the same name, which compiled almost one hundred pieces of art featuring the devastating landscapes of Britain during and after World War II. I chose this book because I felt that the destroyed and broken landscapes not only offered a sense of realism and immersion, but also provided a narrative to the dark effects the Second World War had on buildings and environments, and the aftermath of war.

One possible interpretation of the works showed in this book is that the destroyed landscapes could communicate the evil of life, or the decaying of nature in a response to the world being at war. For the first of my experiments, I hope to create and respond to environments that communicate a narrative, or create context for a story, in a similar way to how the various artists managed to in 'An Unfinished World.'

This task was helpful in defining the title and direction of my research project. By looking at a book from an area of my original title that I would not usually focus on, I was able to see my project from a different perspective. It also helped me to start thinking about my experiments and what I could potentially do for them.