Master Assignment

So. Although not everyone has finished their assignment, this week all works of art have to be finished. Since it's Thursday we're already looking at some of the work people have been working on the last couple of weeks. In their free time. Isn't that something? We thought it would be nice to have a little Q&A with Jeremy Hoffman, one of our Graphical Artists.






First question: The first step you have to take in order to create a Master Assignment is to write a short story. What was your story?
"Pirate Kid and his best friend Mun-Kee find a treasure. A treasure filled with gold and jewelry. You know, a real pirate scene."

OK! That sounds like a lot of fun! So how did you go from there?
"At first I didn't know where I wanted this to go. Did I wanted it be more action-oriented, with fighting pirates and swords and stuff or should I go for a more static image? In the end I felt the more static one would be a better option, because I wanted to focus on the emotion of that single moment and felt that too much action would take this into a entirely different direction. I wanted a bigger focus on their friendship."

Treasure? I don't see any treasure?
"There is no bigger treasure than friendship HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA APPLAUSE!!!!!!!!!
No, seriously. I started out with the treasure idea, but found that the emotion of finding a treasure would stop right there. They found it. Period. Their friendship however lasts much longer and is more interesting. Something the audience could relate to in a stronger way."

So you can change your assignment?
"Yes, we can. The assignment has to work for me. And what is also very helpful is that this image has become a clear and simple image which gives me a better overview of what to focus on. Now I don't need to worry about 21 different things, but I can concentrate on a few."

After each Master Assignment you have to define 6 areas where you have to focus on during the coming 6 months before starting your next Master Assignment. Although this isn't your final work, are there already any improvements to be made?
"Well, of course. Although I got some great response from people here at the studio, there is one thing I can already mention. In the process I added color, for color study. Although I'm pretty convinced these colors might work, I noticed something else. To let the audience fully enjoy the boy and monkey's little moment, it is very important that you can 'read' the image well. To show you what I mean; I blocked in the silhouette to check his shape.I found that there were some improvements to be made. You can see that the clearity of his shape gets weaker in the colored version with the green/blue background. This shape should be as simple and clear to read as in the black silhouette version. Furthermore, the silhouette should be clear as well. Ideally you would want the viewer to understand what they're seeing, even in a black silhouette version. I think that focussing on shape is going to be one of my focus points."

Thank you Jeremy for your time.
"You're welcome!"

If you want to follow this art process or see his other great artwork you can go to Jeremy's blog.
See you with another Master Assignment update next thursday!