Untitled Research Proposal
My three outcomes...
Outcome #1: The Video Game
My first outcome is to create a video game like Different Strokes or Art Sqool (hence why this proposal is being hosted on Itch.io).
I have been teaching myself GDScirpt, the coding language used in developing games in Godot, an open source game engine.
I haven't settled on a concept or narrative for the game so far, but one idea is that of a factory where you must put things together to create collaged images, however, a malfunction requires you to use unorthodox images to complete your collage, forcing creative engagement and unusual and unique results.
I think collage is a nice medium for what I'm trying to achieve, it's scrappy and playful and provides the player with visual stimulus to respond to. I would also like to revisit using a mix of collage and drawing for the game's aesthetic like I did for a project in second year.
Outcome #2: The Activity Book
Taking the concept of instilling creativity from the virtual world into the physical, I want to make a book full of art challenges and prompts. Similar to Keri Smith's Wreck This Journal or Drawfee's Draw Something Dumb .
Like the video game, I want my book to have a narrative element.
The reader plays the role of an apprentice to an artist who unfortunately has been struck with a severe case of artist's block and is unable to finish his work. It is now up to the reader to rifle through all of the artists' half-made artwork and draw on the finishing touches.
Where many of these art prompters like Art Sqool and the aforementioned books provide text prompts and blank canvases, I plan to use an approach similar to the gameplay of Different Strokes. In chatting with Scott Steffes, he talked about the virtues of his game in being a cure for art block, and how drawing over somebody else's artwork as starting point can sometimes be less intimidating than the blank canvas.
Drawing from this idea, all of my prompts within the book will start with a visual component that will act simultaneously as an obstruction and an inspiration (eg. the artist's unfinished artworks).
I presented my friends and classmates with a worksheet with some exercises as proof of concept. Most seemed to have fun with it, but others still found it a little daunting (maybe the pressure of being an "illustrator" is greater to overcome than I imagined).
Outcome #3: The Picture Book
The artists' work is complete thanks to his trusty apprentice! Now it's time for the grand exhibition to display all their hard work.
For my final outcome, I want to create an art book featuring readers' responses to the various prompts and challenges in the workbook. While reading a book like this before completing the workbook yourself would likely ruin the magic of going through the workbook and coming up with your own ideas, I think it would be a nice proof of concept for the workbook and an interesting look into the many perspectives people take when responding to a brief.
I think a book such as this also has the potential to be a very aesthetically satisfying read. Because every prompt is anchored by an image, every response will therefore share that aspect, creating a body of work where each piece is unique, but united.
