APD Week 1 - Play and Self

By Nick Flanders-Farmer

Context

For my first project, exploring Play and Self, I wanted to create a planet that represented me. Inspired by Uyen’s work with representing audio in 3D I wanted to create a planet with landmasses modelled after prints of my body parts, and then use audio files of sounds important to me or produced by me to inform their height data.

Method

For this project I needed paint and a surface to apply the paint to. The whole concept revolved around me putting paint on my skin, so I had to research non-toxic and easily washable substances.

I landed on finger paints as they satisfied these requirements and were also relatively cheap. I also bought a white table cloth as a much less expensive alternative to canvas.

I cut the table cloth into pieces, applied the paint to my face, hand, foot, chest, and knee, and stamped the cloth. This produced Rorschach-esque images that I then photographed and imported into a 3D program.

I didn’t end up using audio data to inform these landscapes, as the photos provided more than adequate height maps.

I put these elements all together, added some textures and set dressing, and executed a turntable render.

Response

Rendered animation: https://youtu.be/5NGqaRPE17g

The final piece I created is a novel and unique interpretation of myself, focusing more on the form of my body in a very abstract way than my personality.

Reflection

I was very satisfied with my work this week, although the model is lacking some clarity. I think some different lighting and some other rendering adjustments could have served it well.

The play in this piece came through in the production process, just as a child would play with finger paints.

References

Uyen Nguyen - Listening and Sounding as Play (Freeplay '20) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgAq5Kxo_tI