Life is short and black and white, just like little penguins.

Oh god oh god oh god, progress review next week, I'm starting to think my ability to discuss and describe my project gets worse every week! But, I have finally made the first steps toward assembling my armour. Yes, everything is beginning to tumble into place. I made a paper template for my hoodie chest plate:



It wouldn't protect you from an amount of liquid anyway...



It came together surprisingly hassle free, I know the shoulder plates look a little silly but I had to attach them on to get the right measurements, sadly I am currently disassembling the whole thing to use as the base for the wire frame. Also, Kevin O'Shae very kindly donated an old motorbike helmet to me so my "music submersion helmet" idea may too come to pass. Plus he lent me his current helmet to make studies from, but I left my locker key at home so was forced to render it in biro, which is an unforgiving medium!

Whats more bad ass then a motorcycle helmet? TWO MOTORCYCLE HELMETS.

Dear Africa, sorry to hear you are poor...

Oh fail of failures, I neglected to put anything up last week, although I was pretty all over the place in terms of work anyway so it was just another symptom of the general condition of distraction I was in! BUT - Now I'm back (somewhat) LASER FOCUSED! The preparation is done, today I am going out to source hoodies to begin to build my MIGHTY ARMOUR!

I said in my last post I would put up pictures of the finished head phones and the week long delay aside here they are, as modeled by my constant companion Meghan (A fellow Clancy):



Sommmebody went crazy with the diffuse glow filter...

So they turned out very cool and 100% functional! So what have I learned?

• Anything wearable needs to be lightweight and comfortable - Failed wings mark 1. were way too heavy to work.
• If you want precision, use precision tools - I could only get the smooth finish I was looking for on the feather shapes when I used the scalpel.
• Fimo paper clay is a wonder material - Its brilliant white and drys to almost half its weight, plus the dried clay even has a small amount of give in it for further manipulation.

So in anticipation of beginning on construction I did one final study of a suit of armour (Which I then mutated with photoshop, I'm a ps fiend):

Pen and ink filter - cause its nazty.



The original with increased exposure and contrast



It was only during the undertaking of this drawing I realised I  have forgotten how to shade! It's coming back to me in bits and pieces!  

My animation idea is kinda sidelined for the moment, I'm just worried the assessment will roll around next week and I'll have nothing to show for it, some of the other guys in studio 4 are taking on some really big ambitious projects so I have to try and melt this chill of inadequacy with a blazing inferno of decent work!

I'm gonna throw a word at you - anti-contradiction.

From armour to headphones - Somebody might kill me for that kind of tangent leap (or they might love it, there is a problem with consistency here the likes of runny porridge), but I figure if I work like like a coked up dynamo I'll be too far ahead for them to stop me. Case in point, the guardian angel headphones:

Work in progress

The idea came from my brainstorm for urban armour, a guardian -> Guardian Angel, and as part of my research for one of the suits of armour I wanted to make, the technology suit, I came across all these modified headphones and mp3 players, really cool looking stuff that was just made by making casings for the original hardware. Sure enough I soon discovered my idea had already been realised: http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/strange-wing-headphones

Still, I wanted to try make a pair myself, which is what I did this week! This seemingly harmless statement led to an ordeal involving the lowest grade paper clay available!! I know this now, I  did not know this when I was arm deep in the gunk. However an upgrade in materials, Fimo brand paper clay resulted in a much more pleasing outcome. As I type they are still air drying in my locker but I hope to have a picture of the finished product to post on Monday.



This is sadly similar to my actual handwriting...



So I spent this week thinking a lot about music and its given me an idea. We had a 3d tutorial earlier this week and part of it involved working with wire, so I'm thinking maybe I can do something with headphone cables. Today I tried out writing song lyrics in wire, the chorus of No time for tears by The Enemy "There's so time for tears when you live in the real world", it's one of my favourite songs and I think it captures some of the incessant nature of living in the city. I'd like to try make an animation, but that is going to be next weeks work!

I bet those pidgeons are still fighting outside...

FIRST YEAR PROJECT - UNBRIDLED ENTHUSIASM - BOUNDLESS POTENTIAL

 -Fear... dizzying fear... Not really though, move just slightly overwhelmed and increasingly drunk on power! This whole urban environment shtick is right up my street, or alley, or pedestrian crossing-whathaveyou... I've lived in Limerick for the vast majority of my life so I should have a wide expanse of experience to draw on! ...Right? ANYHOW, At the moment my "relationship with the environment" is dealing with the concept of "urban armour" and things people, particularly nervous people like me, do to protect themselves as they ..uh... relate to their urban environment? And by relate I mean walk in!

Torment - this is what it looks like.

Today I'm building angel wing headphones, my hands are caked in paper clay as i type! This stuff is awful and lumpy and I have to bash it to shit to make it pliable enough to work! But, I feel that steely brand of compulsive determination that will see me here till 7 tonight until the dam thing works!

A-V-O-I-D like an awkward conversation