Friday, November 04, 2011

Don't be afraid to kill your baby / 扼殺創意之必要性

昨天聽了一場很精采的演講,講者是來自Mother廣告公司的Sam Payne,他說了很多廣告製作的發想過程,最後說到很多時候我們辛苦想出的點子,就讓它去吧,因為有成千上萬的想法,不要執著於行不通的點子,今天我對於這個說法有深刻的體驗。

Yesterday I attended a fabulous lecture by Sam Payne from Mother advertising agency. Sam shared with us the process of creating a commercial or an ad. In the end he gave an example on the necessity of killing our creative ideas. After all, it doesn't make sense to stick to an idea that doesn't work. Today I experienced in real life his words.

既然下週是一個月以來畫畫訓練的驗收,今天進畫室得給老師們看我們如何把前幾天在博物館的速描和我們的想像力結合,變成最終的一張圖。一早起床我感覺離開我一陣子的樂觀精神又回來了,我想出的稿子不多,但我想老師必定會給我各種建議,早上讀完書之後匆匆出門上學去。

Since next week is the final presentation to summarize the past month of drawing practice, today our mission is to show the tutors our sketches done in Pitts River Museum a few days ago and our drafts of the final illustration. This morning when I woke up, I had the feeling that my optimism, which had abandoned me for a while, returned. I didn't have many finalized drafts, but I was very certain that the tutors would give me all sorts of advice. After studying for 40 minutes this morning, I left home in a hurry to meet the challenge of the day.

今天來的學生只有平常的一半,其它人不知跑哪去了,但星期四的評論大會對我來說非常重要,因為我在週四得到的回饋是週末三天創作的靈感來源,而且要畫圖我在台灣就可以畫,當初想要來讀書就是想得到建議。露把下週的行程解釋之後,傑克在旁邊幫腔說:你們想要讓大家看到你的畫驚呼嗎?上週很多人讓我們驚豔,那就要好好畫!聽到他很戲劇性的說法,真的令我想要奮不顧身地畫圖。

Today only half of the students came in. But the crit on Thursday is extremely important for me because the feedback I get today will last me through the coming three days. I can draw anywhere, and the main reason why I came here is that I want to get feedback and know what others think of my works. After Lu explained the schedule for next Thursday, Jake went on to say, "Would you like to be the wooooo... next week? Last week some people made us wooooo..." Hearing his dramatic expression, I was tempted to give my life for that final illustration...

今天分到了傑克的組,因為我光明的眼又回來了,突然領悟跟著他可以學到很多,因為他話多歸話多,他會分享基本的繪畫技巧,而且光和大陸同學解釋骷顱頭這個字,他很開心地就畫起圖來,是個很有趣的high咖,但他覺得不好的畫也會直接說。

Today I was in Jake's group. Because light had come back to my life, it occurred to me that I could learn loads of things from him. He is probably the most talkative tutor, but he shares everything including basic drawing techniques. Besides, in trying to explain the word "skull" to a Chinese boy, he drew it rather than using words. He is definitely a very interesting hyper person. However, he's also very honest when seeing a bad drawing.




繪里喜歡最上方著色的頭骨。

Elie likes the colored skull on the top. 






潔克喜歡這張圖的爪子。

Jake likes the claws in the drawing above. 






我知道自己客觀的速寫好像不會讓人太興奮,但現在我不管了,當天在博物館我很努力地搜集眼睛可以看到的資訊,至於有風格的速寫以後再說吧!

I know that my objective life drawing doesn't seem to excite people, but that's not my main concern now. I was doing my best to collect as much information as my eyes could see in the museum. I'll leave quirky life sketches for later. 

開始發想之際,我特別想拿羽毛和尾巴部份發展,我找了很硬的機器人和羽毛的柔軟對比,但一如往常,我想說的訊息太過囉唆,又充滿有的沒有的象徵,結果觀眾得到的訊息和我要說的不同,其實我在上個星期已經告訴自己傳達的訊息要直接。

As I was brainstorming, I focused on the plumes and the tail. I contrasted the hard, steely-looking robot with the soft plumes. However, as usual, my messages were too indirect, full of symbols. The viewer ended up reading the illo different from my original message. As a matter of fact, I had told myself to be straightforward a week ago. 


不如大家來猜猜看我這張圖要說什麼!

I'll let you guess what I want to say in this image! 

我把很軟的尾巴球想成是每個人心中很柔軟的一部份,但很多人忽略那一塊,無所謂地去傷害別人。不過因為豆豆鳥已經絕種了,同學們都說是這個人物謀殺了豆豆鳥!

I thought of the soft tail as a soft spot in everyone, but many people ignore that part and hurt others ruthlessly. Since the dodo bird is extinct, my classmates said they read in the image the death of the bird by the dark robot. 




發想的過程很好玩,我接下來就忙著研究機器人的畫法,從平面到立體,我和傑克說我從前不是會想畫機器人的人,所以我的改變真的是很巨大啊!這些用鉛筆畫的草圖居然讓大家很喜歡,只是隨性地發展想法,原來別人的觀點是如此啊!

The brainstorming process was a lot of fun. Next I went on to research how to draw robots, from flat ones to 3-dimensional versions. I told Jake that robots are not my thing, so I can tell my HUGE change. These pencil drawings excited a lot of my group mates. In fact, I was developing my ideas rather freely. So this was what others saw! 


這張我沒有特別滿意的圖居然也讓傑克說不錯,本來我想要畫很兇狠的臉孔,大家卻說有睫毛的臉很溫柔。

I wasn't especially satisfied with this drawing, but Jake liked it. I meant to draw a menacing-looking face, but my classmates found the tender face with eyelashes nice. 

很有趣的是,我一邊說出我想要改進的地方,例如說我覺得機器人畫得不夠好,傑克說這是我的機器人,不一定要和誰一樣,他反倒希望我可以把質感表達得更好或訊息更直接,他說:插畫家不是純畫家,我們的重點不在畫多好或讓觀眾自由詮釋畫的內容,我們的工作在於溝通,所以畫面必須表達出我們想說的,而觀者可以一目瞭然得到那樣的訊息。

Interestingly, as I said how I'd like to improve, for example, I could do a better job with the robot, Jake commented that it is my robot and that it doesn't have to look like anyone's. Instead, I should work on some basic drawing skills to enhance the texture or convey my message directly. He said, "Illustrators are not fine artists. We don't have to draw super well, nor do we leave our drawings for the free interpretation of the viewer. Our job is to communicate, so the image has to say what we want to say, and the viewer can get it right away." 


下一張圖的黑筆滲到這一張來,傑克喜歡的不是下一張圖,而是這個美麗的意外。

This is the shadow of the robot from the next image, but Jake liked the beautiful accident here. 


最後傑克問:豆豆鳥呢?我離題了,所以傑克說我的圖像很美麗,但都不著邊際,所以明天我要去看一個絕種鳥類的展覽,再好好想想我要怎麼重新構思。

In the end Jake asked: Where is the dodo bird? I got sidetracked. Thus Jake said that my images are lovely, but I am not hitting the target. Tomorrow I am going to an exhibition on extinct birds recommended by Jake and then I'll rethink about my image. 

沒關係,機器人就留待之後好了,我不怕扼殺我的想法,反正我什麼都沒有,只有想像力多到要滿出來。

Well, I might leave the robot for other projects. I am not afraid to kill my baby. After all, I have nothing but overbrimming imagination! 

5 comments:

Grace Tan said...

那些畫的鳥很可愛! 屁股很圓
好想捏一捏~~~~

妳畫機器人我也是從來想不到!
讓我想到國小, 國中的時候座位隔壁的男生上課都在畫機器人!

小淳加油!

shaggy said...

我也好喜歡屁股!
而且還有點肚子餓...

有眼睫毛的機器人感覺很可靠!

shangyu said...

原來妳也可以展現陽剛的一面,有睫毛的機器人看起來像是擁有剛硬的外表又有溫柔的內在.

Weichuen You said...

豆豆:哈哈,豆豆鳥是很肥的!我現在什麼都畫啦!

阿吉:你知道我最愛睫毛了,每次看小喬我都想問他是不是有刷睫毛!

小瑜:現在什麼都想學著畫!

Anonymous said...

每ㄧ張機器人的畫 都讓我會心ㄧ笑了 :-)
Ning.