I don't like going to stores very much anymore.
I don't like looking at many commercial things anymore.
Every sign, picture, word, message, jingle, phrase, logo, tag-line and catch phrase is lying to me.
You said your food was fresh.
You said your restaurant was world famous.
You said this was a triple A grade egg.
You said I was saving money.
You said this was a great deal.
You said this was a guarantee.
You said I was helping the environment.
You said I wasn't cutting down trees.
But it's all lies, all the time.
Just tell the truth and I will buy your products. But don't try to tell me your telling the truth, because that would probably be a lie.
Good luck economy
Art, Animation, Drawing and 3D blog where I hope art, technology and other ideas might come together
Black Swan
Always remember that film isn't the real world.
It feels real. It has consequences. Continuity must be... except of course it doesn't have to be.
This film isn't reality. It is a type of fantasy. It is part science fiction. It is the filmic representation of a platonic form. It demonstrates with powerful film language what it takes to create the perfect performance. It doesn't surrender in an attempt to be real.
Don't try to understand what actually happened in a film, because it didn't happen.
Understand what the film meant.
It feels real. It has consequences. Continuity must be... except of course it doesn't have to be.
This film isn't reality. It is a type of fantasy. It is part science fiction. It is the filmic representation of a platonic form. It demonstrates with powerful film language what it takes to create the perfect performance. It doesn't surrender in an attempt to be real.
Don't try to understand what actually happened in a film, because it didn't happen.
Understand what the film meant.
Building a mountain
I guess I haven't written much about the project I am working on for school.
My film is about a mountain and two mountaineers.
The past few weeks I have been building this mountain. I had a rough outline of what the mountain needed to be from my storyboards. What should be roughly where. I had enormous books, with gigantic pictures of Mount Everest and Mount Blanc borrowed out of the library for weeks. I had thought a lot about this mountain.
I sculpted a tiny version of the mountain and adjacent mountains in plasticine. I painted watercolours of the mountain.
And the last week I have been finally creating the mountain in 3d. For along time it felt really small in the computer, just like the model that I had sitting on my desk. But today, I started in on the details. I started adding parts where the characters would actually be up close and personal.
Finally I added little stand-ins for the characters, just to get the idea of the scale of things.
I put my virtual camera right next to these tiny little figures, and suddenly the massive scale of the thing I had created took shape.
It's a primal feeling that I get when I work in 3d, where I am no longer looking at a virtual set, but I feel like I am there.
I put myself at the top of the mountain, and I felt unease, vertigo, high above the glacier I had just created.
Right there, that feeling, is why I like 3d, why I like computers, why I use his medium and not any others.
Kyler
My film is about a mountain and two mountaineers.
The past few weeks I have been building this mountain. I had a rough outline of what the mountain needed to be from my storyboards. What should be roughly where. I had enormous books, with gigantic pictures of Mount Everest and Mount Blanc borrowed out of the library for weeks. I had thought a lot about this mountain.
I sculpted a tiny version of the mountain and adjacent mountains in plasticine. I painted watercolours of the mountain.
And the last week I have been finally creating the mountain in 3d. For along time it felt really small in the computer, just like the model that I had sitting on my desk. But today, I started in on the details. I started adding parts where the characters would actually be up close and personal.
Finally I added little stand-ins for the characters, just to get the idea of the scale of things.
I put my virtual camera right next to these tiny little figures, and suddenly the massive scale of the thing I had created took shape.
It's a primal feeling that I get when I work in 3d, where I am no longer looking at a virtual set, but I feel like I am there.
I put myself at the top of the mountain, and I felt unease, vertigo, high above the glacier I had just created.
Right there, that feeling, is why I like 3d, why I like computers, why I use his medium and not any others.
Kyler
Many things probably
How am I doing?
I haven't been posting much here recently. Now why is that?
I think the simplest answer is that my life has been changing, and I haven't felt comfortable posting all of the information about how it has been changing. Thus I have fell into the trap of simple not posting, thus not needing to confront the issue of what to post online and what not too.
Many months have past since I made a post about Jackie on this blog. It wasn't really a big grand post, it didn't do a very good job of keeping the blog rolling. Relationships have never really been part of the scope of what I talk about on this blog. There are actually unpublished blog posts about relationships sitting in the background of the blog, waiting patiently, one day to made public... well perhaps.
But the summer's long story made shorter, Jackie and I fell in love during the summer. It is only finally starting to feel like real life again. Though the whole world was tipped on its side and everything is different but still fantastic.
We live in Montreal, snug in the same apartment I was living in last year. There is so much more life in the apartment now. The walls are covered with maps and drawings. There are arts and crafts everywhere. We go to music concerts and cook dinner together. I go to school, she goes to work. We struggle with ordinary life problems. It feels like we hold each other up.
Suddenly I feel like I've jumped a few years forward in life. I'm right on the edge of really having to be an "adult".
There was this feeling when I was little that my parents could just deal with anything. No matter what, they knew how to deal with it. There was this feeling that an adult could plan a trip, while a child could only really go along for the ride. I don't know any other way to describe it. And suddenly I can feel that same level of responsibility rising in myself.
I don't think of it has a burden of responsibility, there is a certain amount of strength in it. Finally getting to be in charge of all of the decisions.
How am I doing?
Really well. Though I can tell that time is just going to start sweeping by.
I need to make life more interesting to slow it down.
Kyler
I haven't been posting much here recently. Now why is that?
I think the simplest answer is that my life has been changing, and I haven't felt comfortable posting all of the information about how it has been changing. Thus I have fell into the trap of simple not posting, thus not needing to confront the issue of what to post online and what not too.
Many months have past since I made a post about Jackie on this blog. It wasn't really a big grand post, it didn't do a very good job of keeping the blog rolling. Relationships have never really been part of the scope of what I talk about on this blog. There are actually unpublished blog posts about relationships sitting in the background of the blog, waiting patiently, one day to made public... well perhaps.
But the summer's long story made shorter, Jackie and I fell in love during the summer. It is only finally starting to feel like real life again. Though the whole world was tipped on its side and everything is different but still fantastic.
We live in Montreal, snug in the same apartment I was living in last year. There is so much more life in the apartment now. The walls are covered with maps and drawings. There are arts and crafts everywhere. We go to music concerts and cook dinner together. I go to school, she goes to work. We struggle with ordinary life problems. It feels like we hold each other up.
Suddenly I feel like I've jumped a few years forward in life. I'm right on the edge of really having to be an "adult".
There was this feeling when I was little that my parents could just deal with anything. No matter what, they knew how to deal with it. There was this feeling that an adult could plan a trip, while a child could only really go along for the ride. I don't know any other way to describe it. And suddenly I can feel that same level of responsibility rising in myself.
I don't think of it has a burden of responsibility, there is a certain amount of strength in it. Finally getting to be in charge of all of the decisions.
How am I doing?
Really well. Though I can tell that time is just going to start sweeping by.
I need to make life more interesting to slow it down.
Kyler
Drawing with Rhythm
I've been to two life drawing sessions after that first post of drawings. The second session of the year is always painful. Everything feels forced, and the drawings just don't seem to come out right.
But than in the third session. The teaching assistant who gently leads the classes brought in some hand outs which explained drawing with rhythm. Having straight lines sit opposite of curved lines, and having these sets of a straight and a curved line alternate around the body.
It makes the curvature seem to snake around the body, from one side to the other. This is often called rhythm.
I pretty much completely forgot about proportion, or anatomy once I started drawing this way, but it gave my drawings a big boost of vitality that they had been lacking.
<
Kyler
But than in the third session. The teaching assistant who gently leads the classes brought in some hand outs which explained drawing with rhythm. Having straight lines sit opposite of curved lines, and having these sets of a straight and a curved line alternate around the body.
It makes the curvature seem to snake around the body, from one side to the other. This is often called rhythm.
I pretty much completely forgot about proportion, or anatomy once I started drawing this way, but it gave my drawings a big boost of vitality that they had been lacking.
<
Kyler
Life Drawing Restart
Graphics
I had a discussion today with my roommate about graphics in video games.
I thought that it was the limited simple graphics of Minecraft, which made it such an appealing game. He thought that I was missing the point. The reason Minecraft was good was because the underlying world simulation was more interesting than most modern games, which was what lead it to being a more interesting game. He felt that any graphic improvements to Minecraft, as long as it retained the same underlying complexity would only serve to improve the game.
For some reason this didn't feel like a compelling hypothesis to me. I felt there was something inherently better about the simple graphics. I made an argument that like in painting, there are many times when simplifying the image results in a stronger image. I felt that you could make graphics higher quality in terms of craft, such as higher resolution, better frame rates, smoother edges, but that making the virtual worlds more "realistic" and detailed would not improve the experience.
He countered with another idea. Everybody who has been playing games for anytime has experienced the fact that in nearly all games that have realistic graphics, in which there is a lot of detail in the world, there is almost no interaction with the world. You can move things, you can't touch things, you can't affecting things. Most of the effort of programming went into making everything look good, instead of giving it life. Thus as a gamer, we have come to link good graphics with limited interaction.
It was than that I realized something, something that I learned in art history.
There are different periods of art history. There was Realism, a time when the most compelling art attempt to reproduce nature, but this lead Impressionism, when artists attempted to capture the Impression of nature. But than artist move to another period and completely forgot about nature and where more interested in the medium and the politics and there was Modernism. Times change based on the art of the time.
And right now, times are changing for video games. A few years ago graphics where one of the most compelling aspects of games, but right now there is a return to limited graphics which support more compelling underpinning structures.
If I had to guess, there will be a resurgence of games that do not rely on the cutting edge of graphics. When there are art historians writing about video game history, they will look back at this and probably be able to name it.
Kyler
I thought that it was the limited simple graphics of Minecraft, which made it such an appealing game. He thought that I was missing the point. The reason Minecraft was good was because the underlying world simulation was more interesting than most modern games, which was what lead it to being a more interesting game. He felt that any graphic improvements to Minecraft, as long as it retained the same underlying complexity would only serve to improve the game.
For some reason this didn't feel like a compelling hypothesis to me. I felt there was something inherently better about the simple graphics. I made an argument that like in painting, there are many times when simplifying the image results in a stronger image. I felt that you could make graphics higher quality in terms of craft, such as higher resolution, better frame rates, smoother edges, but that making the virtual worlds more "realistic" and detailed would not improve the experience.
He countered with another idea. Everybody who has been playing games for anytime has experienced the fact that in nearly all games that have realistic graphics, in which there is a lot of detail in the world, there is almost no interaction with the world. You can move things, you can't touch things, you can't affecting things. Most of the effort of programming went into making everything look good, instead of giving it life. Thus as a gamer, we have come to link good graphics with limited interaction.
It was than that I realized something, something that I learned in art history.
There are different periods of art history. There was Realism, a time when the most compelling art attempt to reproduce nature, but this lead Impressionism, when artists attempted to capture the Impression of nature. But than artist move to another period and completely forgot about nature and where more interested in the medium and the politics and there was Modernism. Times change based on the art of the time.
And right now, times are changing for video games. A few years ago graphics where one of the most compelling aspects of games, but right now there is a return to limited graphics which support more compelling underpinning structures.
If I had to guess, there will be a resurgence of games that do not rely on the cutting edge of graphics. When there are art historians writing about video game history, they will look back at this and probably be able to name it.
Kyler
Minecraft
I've long had a deep interest in video games, however in the last few years, there have really been few games that felt compelling or interesting.
Until yesterday.
I downloaded a game called Minecraft, it isn't really free, but I haven't had to pay for it yet because it is still in development and I have been playing it offline. I'm fairly sure it is being made by one guy, and it is really the talk of the internet town right now.
Most games give the player a very thin shell of a world to run around in, and fight bad guys. Walls are impenetrable. Objects are unbreakable. Things look right, but they don't react correctly.
In this game, the graphics have been simplified to the point to which they only represent the data which makes up the game. The fundamental data of this game is a three dimensional array of cubes. This array is probably about a thousand cubes, by a thousand cubes, by 200 cubes deep. And each one of those cubes is made of a different material: Rock, ore, sand, water, lava, trees or other such materials.
The game begins by randomizing this array. Hills, mountains and oceans create the surface. Trees, grass and flowers grow on the surface. But the game does not stop at the surface. It randomly generates a world all the way down deep into the earth. Deposits of ore, crystal and lava are placed underground. Rudimentary fluid simulations eat out underground caves.
The player is than dropped into this world. It is a dangerous place, with enemies who will attack, thus the players most viable options is to dig themselves a mine from which to get materials and to hide in.
Creating the mines is an amazingly creative process. It can be done in any way which you chose. You can create a well organized mine slowly slopping down into the earth. Lighting it along the way with torches and placing steps to make it easy to navigate. Or you can dig straight down, hope to hit valuable resources, and than dig yourself out.
I played the game yesterday, and without any intention of having one, I had an adventure. I dug my mine deep into the earth, and suddenly and came upon an underground cave. It was extensive. It was true exploration as I had no idea what lay around the next bend in the darkness. I would hastily place torches as my fear of the dark had been renewed. I actually felt at times like I was hundreds of feet underground.
Soon I had built an underground base, where I could manufacture goods out of the mined ore. When I returned to the surface, I discovered there was also a farming aspect of the game. To rejuvenate health, one must eat, thus I planted some wheat. But wild animals were continually stepping on and eating my wheat. I decided to build a wall to keep them out.
Within a few minutes of beginning this wall for my farm, I realized that I was no longer building a wall, I was designing a castle. It had a torch lined parapet, and stairs leading up to the wall.
It wasn't long before I was beginning to make a lava filled moat.
The graphics in this game are simple, yet the data behind it is complex.
I started the game with empty hands and now have a castle.
Kyler
Until yesterday.
I downloaded a game called Minecraft, it isn't really free, but I haven't had to pay for it yet because it is still in development and I have been playing it offline. I'm fairly sure it is being made by one guy, and it is really the talk of the internet town right now.
Most games give the player a very thin shell of a world to run around in, and fight bad guys. Walls are impenetrable. Objects are unbreakable. Things look right, but they don't react correctly.
In this game, the graphics have been simplified to the point to which they only represent the data which makes up the game. The fundamental data of this game is a three dimensional array of cubes. This array is probably about a thousand cubes, by a thousand cubes, by 200 cubes deep. And each one of those cubes is made of a different material: Rock, ore, sand, water, lava, trees or other such materials.
The game begins by randomizing this array. Hills, mountains and oceans create the surface. Trees, grass and flowers grow on the surface. But the game does not stop at the surface. It randomly generates a world all the way down deep into the earth. Deposits of ore, crystal and lava are placed underground. Rudimentary fluid simulations eat out underground caves.
The player is than dropped into this world. It is a dangerous place, with enemies who will attack, thus the players most viable options is to dig themselves a mine from which to get materials and to hide in.
Creating the mines is an amazingly creative process. It can be done in any way which you chose. You can create a well organized mine slowly slopping down into the earth. Lighting it along the way with torches and placing steps to make it easy to navigate. Or you can dig straight down, hope to hit valuable resources, and than dig yourself out.
I played the game yesterday, and without any intention of having one, I had an adventure. I dug my mine deep into the earth, and suddenly and came upon an underground cave. It was extensive. It was true exploration as I had no idea what lay around the next bend in the darkness. I would hastily place torches as my fear of the dark had been renewed. I actually felt at times like I was hundreds of feet underground.
Soon I had built an underground base, where I could manufacture goods out of the mined ore. When I returned to the surface, I discovered there was also a farming aspect of the game. To rejuvenate health, one must eat, thus I planted some wheat. But wild animals were continually stepping on and eating my wheat. I decided to build a wall to keep them out.
Within a few minutes of beginning this wall for my farm, I realized that I was no longer building a wall, I was designing a castle. It had a torch lined parapet, and stairs leading up to the wall.
It wasn't long before I was beginning to make a lava filled moat.
The graphics in this game are simple, yet the data behind it is complex.
I started the game with empty hands and now have a castle.
Kyler
Shobac Cottages in Nova Scotia
Watercolour Drawings
A Twenty Thousand Kilometer Summer
It has been a vast summer. With my Parks Canada videography job, I have crisscrossed the country in which I live. I have met hundreds of people. Packed my bags countless times.
I will recount my experiences of my trip to Torngat National Park, but I still don't know exactly what to say.
On a basic level, it felt a lot like one of those wonderful childhood camps that many people go too. Campfire songs. Exploration. Humor. Camaraderie. Living in tents.
I'm still not sure what it meant on a grander scale, or if it needs to mean more than that.
Kyler
I will recount my experiences of my trip to Torngat National Park, but I still don't know exactly what to say.
On a basic level, it felt a lot like one of those wonderful childhood camps that many people go too. Campfire songs. Exploration. Humor. Camaraderie. Living in tents.
I'm still not sure what it meant on a grander scale, or if it needs to mean more than that.
Kyler
Old Days Again
In the old days, to make a photograph, photographers had to be very skilled. They had to do everything manually. Figure out exposure and the development process just right to make a picture. But photographic technology developed. Slowly, everything that was once hard became easier, and easier until today, every single step is automatic, down to detecting whether or not the person is smiling.
I suspect that if i had been born about 80 years ago, I would have been engrossed in photography. But today I can't really be, almost everything has been figured out.
However, I have gotten myself into a field which has the same characteristics of that photographic era. Computer animation is a very similar, very technical skill that only a small percentage of the population has figured out. It's part art, part technology, and delves with image creation.
The question I wonder is if and when and how 3d animation will be made easier, and if it will ever get to the point where anyone who wants can use it as a powerful tool. I suspect that being on the forefront of bring this type of high technology to the masses would be a good place to be.
Kyler
I suspect that if i had been born about 80 years ago, I would have been engrossed in photography. But today I can't really be, almost everything has been figured out.
However, I have gotten myself into a field which has the same characteristics of that photographic era. Computer animation is a very similar, very technical skill that only a small percentage of the population has figured out. It's part art, part technology, and delves with image creation.
The question I wonder is if and when and how 3d animation will be made easier, and if it will ever get to the point where anyone who wants can use it as a powerful tool. I suspect that being on the forefront of bring this type of high technology to the masses would be a good place to be.
Kyler
Ten Thousand Hour Master
There is an idea that if you do anything for ten thousand hours you can become a master at it. Play ten thousand hours of piano, your a master. Things like that.
I don't think I have the patients for that. That is three hours a day for ten years.
That always made me feel a little bit disheartened because who doesn't want to be a master at something.
But today, I realized that while I may not do ten thousand hours of one thing. I am lucky enough to have chosen a life where I am very slowly building up an enormous amount of creative hours. I am always drawing, making things in 3d, writing scripts, playing music, recording sound effects, taking pictures, getting inspired by other art, writing blog posts, writing programs and doing any other number of things.
And I think they can all apply to the same big pot of animator ( animator to me is very broad right now ). So in no time at all I will have ten thousand hours working at animation. I won't say I am master than, maybe when the scope is so broad and wide, maybe I will need 30000 hours. But at least I am working my way towards that.
Kyler
I don't think I have the patients for that. That is three hours a day for ten years.
That always made me feel a little bit disheartened because who doesn't want to be a master at something.
But today, I realized that while I may not do ten thousand hours of one thing. I am lucky enough to have chosen a life where I am very slowly building up an enormous amount of creative hours. I am always drawing, making things in 3d, writing scripts, playing music, recording sound effects, taking pictures, getting inspired by other art, writing blog posts, writing programs and doing any other number of things.
And I think they can all apply to the same big pot of animator ( animator to me is very broad right now ). So in no time at all I will have ten thousand hours working at animation. I won't say I am master than, maybe when the scope is so broad and wide, maybe I will need 30000 hours. But at least I am working my way towards that.
Kyler
A Meager First Try
Starting From Less than Scratch
My time in the mountains is serving me well. Next year my main project is one large animation. By large I mean solo project large, so about 5 minutes or less. In the itinerary for this summer is the initiation of that project. I will have free reign, I can do whatever I want. All the animation paper is completely blank, all of the free space on my hard drive is still set to zeros.
So the questions is where to begin.
Any creative project will be formed by everything that comes before that project. I heard an interesting story about Mark Twain. Apparently, he got stuck while writing Tom Sawyer. He felt he was empty. Left the manuscript for a time, and when he returned later, he felt his tank was refilled, and it was easy to proceed.
This summer I feel like it started with a formatting (the computer variant). Everything was done, my ideas were cleaned out, I knew what was important to me, but beyond that I had very little to inspire me.
As the summer has progressed I can tell that my tanks, and reserves of creativity are being refilled. The scenery of the mountains is seeping into my eyes and filling me up.
In my basement apartment in Field, I found a textbook called Freedom of the Hills. It is a book which describes in great detail nearly all aspects of mountaineering. From what to where, how to find you way, how to climb and what to do in case of emergencies. I am slowly plodding my way through the entire thing. Learning about the mountains from this perspective of mountaineering makes them much more complex. A rock face is no longer just a cliff, it becomes something to climb, rappel or something to avoid.
While I do have a little interest in actually doing some mountaineering, I am more intrigued by the prospect of animating it. If your actually going to go out to a mountain, you might as well film the actual thing. But the risks are generally greater than I am willing to take at this point. Seeing if I can imagine the experience, from enough research and thought, feels like an interesting challenge.
I also find that mountaineering is a wonderful topic for animation. It isn't just walks and runs. It is walking up piles of boulders; carrying heavy packs; jumping over chasms; falling down slopes. It has avalanches, search and rescue. It has climbing. Ropes. Rockfalls. It has wind, rain, ice, snow, sun. It has teamwork, leadership. Decision making. Risk. Reward. Failure. Death. Success.
One aspect of Mountaineering that is a little out of line with how I think is the reason. I read the book Into Thin Air, about a failed guided expedition up Mount Everest. I don't find their motivation for wanting to climb Everest compelling. "Because it is there" is an interesting reason, but it doesn't quite convince me.
So I have a setting and a general idea of the topic area. I still need a story, that will come.
What I have also begun is searching for the right medium.
So I started from scratch. I found a rock outside and decided to start there. How could I represent that. I went on the computer and tried to model and texture it. And I realized that at the base level of computer graphics, the one that is popular, that is taught everywhere, just wasn't working for me. I still haven't been able to make a rock in 3d that I am satisfied with.
In another post I will describe my thoughts on the topic.
Kyler
So the questions is where to begin.
Any creative project will be formed by everything that comes before that project. I heard an interesting story about Mark Twain. Apparently, he got stuck while writing Tom Sawyer. He felt he was empty. Left the manuscript for a time, and when he returned later, he felt his tank was refilled, and it was easy to proceed.
This summer I feel like it started with a formatting (the computer variant). Everything was done, my ideas were cleaned out, I knew what was important to me, but beyond that I had very little to inspire me.
As the summer has progressed I can tell that my tanks, and reserves of creativity are being refilled. The scenery of the mountains is seeping into my eyes and filling me up.
In my basement apartment in Field, I found a textbook called Freedom of the Hills. It is a book which describes in great detail nearly all aspects of mountaineering. From what to where, how to find you way, how to climb and what to do in case of emergencies. I am slowly plodding my way through the entire thing. Learning about the mountains from this perspective of mountaineering makes them much more complex. A rock face is no longer just a cliff, it becomes something to climb, rappel or something to avoid.
While I do have a little interest in actually doing some mountaineering, I am more intrigued by the prospect of animating it. If your actually going to go out to a mountain, you might as well film the actual thing. But the risks are generally greater than I am willing to take at this point. Seeing if I can imagine the experience, from enough research and thought, feels like an interesting challenge.
I also find that mountaineering is a wonderful topic for animation. It isn't just walks and runs. It is walking up piles of boulders; carrying heavy packs; jumping over chasms; falling down slopes. It has avalanches, search and rescue. It has climbing. Ropes. Rockfalls. It has wind, rain, ice, snow, sun. It has teamwork, leadership. Decision making. Risk. Reward. Failure. Death. Success.
One aspect of Mountaineering that is a little out of line with how I think is the reason. I read the book Into Thin Air, about a failed guided expedition up Mount Everest. I don't find their motivation for wanting to climb Everest compelling. "Because it is there" is an interesting reason, but it doesn't quite convince me.
So I have a setting and a general idea of the topic area. I still need a story, that will come.
What I have also begun is searching for the right medium.
So I started from scratch. I found a rock outside and decided to start there. How could I represent that. I went on the computer and tried to model and texture it. And I realized that at the base level of computer graphics, the one that is popular, that is taught everywhere, just wasn't working for me. I still haven't been able to make a rock in 3d that I am satisfied with.
In another post I will describe my thoughts on the topic.
Kyler
A Title
I like the title of my blog.
It's right, and it always needs to stay.
The added words show the flexibility of language.
Each word is in the thesaurus entry of the next.
Kyler
It's right, and it always needs to stay.
The added words show the flexibility of language.
Each word is in the thesaurus entry of the next.
Kyler
Warm Welcome
My Brother's Convocation
This weekend I was able to attend my brother's convocation, he received his Masters of Architecture. And in keeping with the traditions which likely lead to the title of this blog, he won, not one, but the two medals which recognize his achievements.
Congratulations Kris.
Here are some of the prime photos. The rest of the album and can viewed
Kristofer`s Masters of Architecture
Good Luck Big Brother
Though usually you make your own.
Love Kyler
Congratulations Kris.
Here are some of the prime photos. The rest of the album and can viewed
Kristofer`s Masters of Architecture
Good Luck Big Brother
Though usually you make your own.
Love Kyler
Stuff
I stole this way of looking at things from a comedian:
Everybody has a big pile of stuff that they like to keep somewhere. It is in their house, in their basement, their office, their closet, their pockets. Lots of people have lots of stuff.
When you travel you take a portion of that stuff with you. You pack your bags and fly your stuff to your hotel room. Suppose you go on a little side trip from your hotel. You pack a night bag of stuff. Now suppose you were to take a little excursion from your side trip.
Now you have stuff
at home
at your hotel
in you night bag
and finally in your pockets.
Your stuff is spread out over such a vast distance, but you know, usually it will get itself back together. You will collect all your things, following the trail of stuff back to your house.
Right now I am feeling this vast trail of stuff like never before.
I have stuff at my home in Calgary. There is other stuff in my apartment in Montreal. I have another set of stuff with me here in Field BC, a tiny little town in the middle of the mountains. Sometimes I go out for the day and take a bag of my stuff with me, and than leave some of it in a vehicle, and just bring along another subset of my stuff.
My stuff is spread accross the country, and it is going to stay like that for a little over three more months. Doesn't it feel like a feat of magic that somehow all that stuff is going to figure it way back to where I want it to be?
An now to relate to you how I am doing.
I am doing very well. The type of well you only really feel when you don't just win one lottery, but two in a row.
It also makes me feel cautious, because things always seem to come with a catch. Somewhere I missed something in the contract and it is going to get me when I least suspect it.
Good. I finally wrote a blog post.
Kyler
Everybody has a big pile of stuff that they like to keep somewhere. It is in their house, in their basement, their office, their closet, their pockets. Lots of people have lots of stuff.
When you travel you take a portion of that stuff with you. You pack your bags and fly your stuff to your hotel room. Suppose you go on a little side trip from your hotel. You pack a night bag of stuff. Now suppose you were to take a little excursion from your side trip.
Now you have stuff
at home
at your hotel
in you night bag
and finally in your pockets.
Your stuff is spread out over such a vast distance, but you know, usually it will get itself back together. You will collect all your things, following the trail of stuff back to your house.
Right now I am feeling this vast trail of stuff like never before.
I have stuff at my home in Calgary. There is other stuff in my apartment in Montreal. I have another set of stuff with me here in Field BC, a tiny little town in the middle of the mountains. Sometimes I go out for the day and take a bag of my stuff with me, and than leave some of it in a vehicle, and just bring along another subset of my stuff.
My stuff is spread accross the country, and it is going to stay like that for a little over three more months. Doesn't it feel like a feat of magic that somehow all that stuff is going to figure it way back to where I want it to be?
An now to relate to you how I am doing.
I am doing very well. The type of well you only really feel when you don't just win one lottery, but two in a row.
It also makes me feel cautious, because things always seem to come with a catch. Somewhere I missed something in the contract and it is going to get me when I least suspect it.
Good. I finally wrote a blog post.
Kyler
The Car Matador - with Sound
Finally school was finished, and I had free time to finish up the loose ends of this years work. The final loose end, was putting sound to the Car Matador animation. I posted creations photos before, but have been holding off on the animation because it needed to have sound.
It's amazing how fast I can work when I have a deadline, and amazing how slowly I work when I don't.
But finally, the day before I head off to my new job, I present the Car Matador.
I suggest watching in HD 720p.
Enjoy
Kyler
It's amazing how fast I can work when I have a deadline, and amazing how slowly I work when I don't.
But finally, the day before I head off to my new job, I present the Car Matador.
I suggest watching in HD 720p.
Enjoy
Kyler
My Favorite Music Making Artists
Currently my favorite things on the internet:
PomplamooseMusic
Jack Conte
So we have Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn, they make VideoSongs which are the following:
1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).
For one thing I really like the music, but the videos take the whole art form to a completely different level for me. There is a whole new layer of truth that gets added into the mix. We see the place they made the music. If you watch enough of these videos you get to know the rooms, the camera positions. Further than that you get to know the instruments. They have a wide assortment of instruments which all add their own bit of character to the mix.
And finally we get the people. These people obviously love making music. But it is more than just how they act. You see Jack in his pajamas likely staying up way too far into the night recording his music. You can see progress they make and all the different creative things they do to make this music.
And lastly they are generally a two person show. They play, record, edit, mix, compose, film, composite, publish, distribute all of their own work. We live in the super modern era where you can do everything, so why not.
It may seem crazy at first, but I think they are on to something that can be more generally be applied to all arts. You can try to hide yourself in a glossy coating of nice perfection, but after a while people will start to see it for what it is. But you can be genuinely forward with the truth and the underpinnings of you work and it can raise itself to a whole different level.
I think in animation this is most notable in Stop Motion puppet animation. There are more chances in that type of animation for the process to show through. But in showing through it can be taken advantage of.
So watch these videos and enjoy.
I think they also taught me a lot about how to make a music.
Kyler
PomplamooseMusic
Jack Conte
So we have Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn, they make VideoSongs which are the following:
1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).
For one thing I really like the music, but the videos take the whole art form to a completely different level for me. There is a whole new layer of truth that gets added into the mix. We see the place they made the music. If you watch enough of these videos you get to know the rooms, the camera positions. Further than that you get to know the instruments. They have a wide assortment of instruments which all add their own bit of character to the mix.
And finally we get the people. These people obviously love making music. But it is more than just how they act. You see Jack in his pajamas likely staying up way too far into the night recording his music. You can see progress they make and all the different creative things they do to make this music.
And lastly they are generally a two person show. They play, record, edit, mix, compose, film, composite, publish, distribute all of their own work. We live in the super modern era where you can do everything, so why not.
It may seem crazy at first, but I think they are on to something that can be more generally be applied to all arts. You can try to hide yourself in a glossy coating of nice perfection, but after a while people will start to see it for what it is. But you can be genuinely forward with the truth and the underpinnings of you work and it can raise itself to a whole different level.
I think in animation this is most notable in Stop Motion puppet animation. There are more chances in that type of animation for the process to show through. But in showing through it can be taken advantage of.
So watch these videos and enjoy.
I think they also taught me a lot about how to make a music.
Kyler
Land
This project has been long since completed, but it needed a few fixes before it stopped annoying me.
I need to work on my 3d animation workflow a lot. This was created very quickly and demonstrated a lot of my weaknesses. At least it got me reacquainted with 3d animation.
Kyler
My Summer Job
A few weeks ago I was directed by a friend to look into a job posting by Parks Canada. They were calling for about 30 university students to become videographers for the summer. I applied right away and was accepted into the second part of the application process in which I had to make a 1 minute video explaining why I was the right person for this Canada Parks Job.
Here is a link the the video that I produced:
Kyler's Parks Canada Application Video
It was sort of interesting that what inspired me most in making that application video was watching other people's application videos. Most peoples video's were extremely focused on the Parks Canada Job at hand. There was no way that I could do any better in that field, so I instead went ahead with selling myself as exactly what I am, which is an animation student, a photographer and an artists.
I will admit the video is a little bit dramatic, but apparently it worked. I got the job with Parks Canada and will spend the summer shooting video in and around the Banff National Park.
There are still many little details to work out but, at least I am certain now this summer will be entirely too interesting.
Kyler
Here is a link the the video that I produced:
Kyler's Parks Canada Application Video
It was sort of interesting that what inspired me most in making that application video was watching other people's application videos. Most peoples video's were extremely focused on the Parks Canada Job at hand. There was no way that I could do any better in that field, so I instead went ahead with selling myself as exactly what I am, which is an animation student, a photographer and an artists.
I will admit the video is a little bit dramatic, but apparently it worked. I got the job with Parks Canada and will spend the summer shooting video in and around the Banff National Park.
There are still many little details to work out but, at least I am certain now this summer will be entirely too interesting.
Kyler
Self Portrait
Making this self portrait started out as a grand complicated process. I asked almost everybody I know about me. I got all sorts of responses. There was a lot of stuff going on. I was thinking about trying to explain things about myself to others. Trying to express things they didn't know about.
But, as the process of creating this animation went on, it got cut down and simplified, and this is what is left.
I feel it is accurate and right.
Thanks to everyone who helped shape this portrait, even if your influence isn't obvious, it was essential.
I'm particularly proud of this project because I created all of content in in, including all music and sound effects. Generally I usually end up using some free bit of content from the net, however this time I was able to do it all myself.
Kyler Kelly
StoryBoard Final : the MicroSculptor
Here is my final project for my storyboarding class.
This class has been immensely useful to me. I think I have been quite limited by my ability to make stories to animate. I had a lot of difficulty coming up with stories by storyboarding them. This is likely because I have a very spacial mind. When I think of a scene, it is 3d dimensional. I think about the volumes and spaces I want to work with. However, since I'm not very imaginative, this lead to bland scenes because I can't flesh them out quickly in my mind.
However in this class I learned how to write a standard film script. They have very particular rules and conventions that keep everything extremely straight forward. Because of this, I can be more creative in thinking out the story without giving any thought to the actual scene and how it will look and fit together.
Between the script and storyboard, I than have room to design characters, the scenery and props.
By breaking up the whole process into more manageable pieces, the output is at a completely different level.
Kyler
The Cumbersome Diamond
This was another storyboard that I had to make for my class. We were given the script and had to design everything else. I recorded my own voice for the dialogue, so please be nice, it is embarrassing enough.
Hopefully it actually makes sense when you haven't seen anything else. I have seen this so many times, and I have seen so many other versions of it that I think I might be a little immune to reading it's legibility.
Kyler
Exactly Precisely Where I am
It is likely very common among people to think about where and how they fit in amongst everything else. If you are to do it critically, leaning heavily on the concrete evidence at hand, and not upon things you have been told it is quite easy to come to the conclusion that most things are pretty insignificant.
Your one person on a planet with seven billion other people. You have one life of most likely less than a hundred years, in comparison to a universe's 13 billion years. Logic dictates that most things are insignificant.
Your born into the world knowing nothing and as you grow up you get formed into a person who does know things and is self aware. Being self aware means that you recognize yourself in a mirror and that you know that you aren't other people and that other people aren't you. Now this self awareness is quite a big accomplishment for things that developed out of evolution.
But there is an awareness that is even more important than self awareness. Once humanity discovered the idea of evolution, a new depth of understanding was breached. A species had recognized the processes that had brought it about.
And, if you follow my keen interest in the topic of memetics, this theory also raises awareness a step further. Ideas of discovered their origins as well.
There is, behind each of us, a history which weaves back all the way back to the very beginning of the universe. It is indisputable that in fact, if it were possible, you could track yourself back right to the beginning of universe, and find the energy that came out of the big bang and was converted into matter.
Recognize the fact that your history goes on behind you, and recognize that it will go on in front of you. Your currently just a little section of the thread, made of energy, matter and ideas. It you understand evolution, physics, memetic and as much about everything as you can you will see this thread strung out through time with more clarity.
And if you don't want to feel insignificant, recognize the fact that you are at the growing end of the thread shooting out into the void, deciding on the direction. And for the moment your in control of that thread, but once your gone others will be taking charge of it genetically and memetically. It is in fact your opportunity to help those in your future see the thread as well. To make them learn, understand and recognize the things that explain everything.
You only make yourself more significant by allowing yourself a more accurate, critical and well founded understanding of humanity, the universe and everything else.
Kyler
Your one person on a planet with seven billion other people. You have one life of most likely less than a hundred years, in comparison to a universe's 13 billion years. Logic dictates that most things are insignificant.
Your born into the world knowing nothing and as you grow up you get formed into a person who does know things and is self aware. Being self aware means that you recognize yourself in a mirror and that you know that you aren't other people and that other people aren't you. Now this self awareness is quite a big accomplishment for things that developed out of evolution.
But there is an awareness that is even more important than self awareness. Once humanity discovered the idea of evolution, a new depth of understanding was breached. A species had recognized the processes that had brought it about.
And, if you follow my keen interest in the topic of memetics, this theory also raises awareness a step further. Ideas of discovered their origins as well.
There is, behind each of us, a history which weaves back all the way back to the very beginning of the universe. It is indisputable that in fact, if it were possible, you could track yourself back right to the beginning of universe, and find the energy that came out of the big bang and was converted into matter.
Recognize the fact that your history goes on behind you, and recognize that it will go on in front of you. Your currently just a little section of the thread, made of energy, matter and ideas. It you understand evolution, physics, memetic and as much about everything as you can you will see this thread strung out through time with more clarity.
And if you don't want to feel insignificant, recognize the fact that you are at the growing end of the thread shooting out into the void, deciding on the direction. And for the moment your in control of that thread, but once your gone others will be taking charge of it genetically and memetically. It is in fact your opportunity to help those in your future see the thread as well. To make them learn, understand and recognize the things that explain everything.
You only make yourself more significant by allowing yourself a more accurate, critical and well founded understanding of humanity, the universe and everything else.
Kyler
Balloon StoryBoard
This was a little exercise we had to do for our Story Boarding class. We were given the basic premise of a man in a balloon over the jungle, looking through binoculars an than being surprised. I was really inspired once I decided on the design of the balloon. It is 3 old balloons sewn together and than 2 baskets suspended from them.
Kyler
No Posts For a While
I think there is a cycle to this blog, and in that cycle will be some dry spells. I think it has to do with the fact that life generally comes in waves. Every few month your general reality changes, new classes, new people, new projects, and at the end of all of those waves, once things are about to get new again, I guess there isn't too much analysis, or thinking going on. I think the last month was sort of like that, I just didn't have much to say, just stuff to do.
I got one big thing finished up today, and next week is reading week, so I get the feeling that I will have a moment to recoup, my brain will get settled again, and the posts will restart.
Or at least I suspect that.
Kyler
I got one big thing finished up today, and next week is reading week, so I get the feeling that I will have a moment to recoup, my brain will get settled again, and the posts will restart.
Or at least I suspect that.
Kyler
The Asking of Questions Commenced
I asked two questions as the result of my New Years Resolution. Both resulted in meaningful and useful answers. I won't actually shared the questions and answers with you, as it actually doesn't feel like good material to post. It's raw life experience, and that generally isn't what you guys get on the blog. You get the analysis of my life, not my actual life.
I do however have an analysis of the questions to offer. One of them provided me with information I didn't know I needed to do an important comparison. I asked the question, and received a response, and it was only after getting the response that a realized the fundamental reason I had asked the question. It was almost astonishing.
The real magic of these questions is the process by which I come to them. They are questions that won't go away. With some questions, the answer is predictable, and you really only wanted to ask it to say something. How these questions stick around with me seems to be the best way to understand that they are important to me and need to be asked. They gnaw at me and don't stop gnawing.
I think am sure of another one now.
Kyler
I do however have an analysis of the questions to offer. One of them provided me with information I didn't know I needed to do an important comparison. I asked the question, and received a response, and it was only after getting the response that a realized the fundamental reason I had asked the question. It was almost astonishing.
The real magic of these questions is the process by which I come to them. They are questions that won't go away. With some questions, the answer is predictable, and you really only wanted to ask it to say something. How these questions stick around with me seems to be the best way to understand that they are important to me and need to be asked. They gnaw at me and don't stop gnawing.
I think am sure of another one now.
Kyler
New Year. Some resolutions.
I feel like I need to make a distinction between the two resolutions that I am going to make. One of them is utilitarian busy-work that should just be done. The other one has been brewing in my head for the last few months. I've discussed around it before. It is coincidence that I happened to really nail it down during the New Year time. Quite simply, it is more important that a simple New Years Resolution.
The first New Years Resolution is to update my password system. Previously my password system was embarrassingly non-existent. In other words, there really was no system. Now there is an obtuse methodology to it. It is easy to remember, but would be difficult to deduce on inspection.
The important resolution is quite different.
I will ask people more questions that I want to ask them.
Questions that I hope the person has asked themselves already, but might have not shared the answer with anyone else. If they haven't asked themselves these questions, there the type of questions that I think need to be thought about. There the type of questions that are said when the line "Speak now, or forever hold your piece" is said at a wedding.
I have little justification to ask these types of questions other than the fact that the alternative is to simply do nothing. I do nothing in response to a lot of things. The outcomes of these questions is so unpredictable that I can't really make a good judgment of right and wrong. I want to change my default decision about the questions to "ask them" instead of "ignore the question".
So maybe, if your reading this, I might ask you a question. I am nervous about this, and I am only confident in the fact that I know this is something that I want to do, not that it is definitively something I should do.
Why do I feel like I'm skirting on thin ice?
Kyler
The first New Years Resolution is to update my password system. Previously my password system was embarrassingly non-existent. In other words, there really was no system. Now there is an obtuse methodology to it. It is easy to remember, but would be difficult to deduce on inspection.
The important resolution is quite different.
I will ask people more questions that I want to ask them.
Questions that I hope the person has asked themselves already, but might have not shared the answer with anyone else. If they haven't asked themselves these questions, there the type of questions that I think need to be thought about. There the type of questions that are said when the line "Speak now, or forever hold your piece" is said at a wedding.
I have little justification to ask these types of questions other than the fact that the alternative is to simply do nothing. I do nothing in response to a lot of things. The outcomes of these questions is so unpredictable that I can't really make a good judgment of right and wrong. I want to change my default decision about the questions to "ask them" instead of "ignore the question".
So maybe, if your reading this, I might ask you a question. I am nervous about this, and I am only confident in the fact that I know this is something that I want to do, not that it is definitively something I should do.
Why do I feel like I'm skirting on thin ice?
Kyler
Home Made Christmas Gift
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