Post-Art and tech Show Status

Monday, March 10, 2008

Well I'm finally done with the video. At least that's how it should feel like. I had much more planned with this video but I ended up doing a more simplified version of it. Several of the things that didn't occur were to incorporate several of the stupa designs into the video and create a sort of explanation of their symbolism. A few other things that I feel are either missing or not as polished are the sound, the incorporation of the images into the stupa and the overall movement of the camera. Well that needs to get worked on as soon as possible I guess. Now, don't think that just because there are things that I felt are unfinished that the video isn't any good. For example I do feel that both the interior of the stupas and the images by themselves are quite good. Also the 3D model of the stupa itself is not that bad. I'll be posting the video very shortly to Blip.tv, hopefully to Youtube as well so that everyone can see what I mean by all this.

So whats left to do? Well my break between quarters start very soon so I'll be spending more time polishing up the video, and submitting it to different shows. Oh wait did I tell y'all that I finnaly ! Ha! I'm giddy just to try them out at my computer. Also I need to finish my installation for the video! aaaah! Artwork. So much stuff to do so little time.

Old sketches and current state of work

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Its Crunch time!

Indeed my friends and fellow readers, it's crunch time. The project is officially due next week and it needs to get done no matter what. Depression, anxiety, stress, life's problems can all go to wherever they're supposed to go because they can no longer stay here. This needs to get done. So what does that mean for you? Well, ironically, it means I have stuff to show you about my project.

Right now I've uploaded a series of sketches for the images that are going to be used in the video. Here's an example of one of the sketches (page 4)



As I found through my research, each level of a Tibetan stupa represents a series of practices that help you reach enlightenment (Bodhipakkhiya Dhamma or Shichika Sanjushichidohon). These are the sketches for these practices. On this page I have the images that represent the cattaro iddhipada, which are desire to act, effort, mind and investigation.

I also uploaded three of the finished images:



This is actually the third cattaro iddhipada: Thought.

Second model

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Here we have a few images from my second model.



This model is the one representing the Sanchi style of stupas.



And here's a detail shot of the top of the structure. A more substantial post (and maybe a rant) will come later on tonight.

Storyboards, Models, Videos: it's all interesting

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Well I'll say! That story board video is taking its time! The reason is that I have to fix each image so that it looks well on the video (yeah, yeah, I know people may say that I suck at drawing but that's really not the point here). So that's coming slowly.

But, I did start my work on the models of the three stupas I'm using on the video. I've already uploaded on Flickr two images of the first stupa I started working on.



This is the first render I made of the model of the Tibetan stupa. The reason it looks black and white is because it doesn't have any texture (or colored light for that matter). I find this image useful because it lets me see the lighting on it more easily. The lighting scheme is a three point lighting scene, with a main light on the front left (your left), a spot light on the back for highlights, and a filler light on the right.



This is the second render of the model. This one has a simple bump map texture with some color added. Even though you can see most of the shadows and highlights the previous one, it just doesn't feel right without some sort of texture on the model. I'm not planning on leaving the texture as it looks right now, though truth be told I don't know what approach I'll go with it. I think I can go either with a more cell shaded look or a more realistic texture for the model... ah options.

Actually there are several things I have to fix in the model itself to make it look more authentic. For example the spire needs a lot more work to get the curves and details in order (the curved pointy thing at the top is supposed to be a crescent moon... yeah I know... not there yet). But overall it looks pretty well for just two days of work. Actually I threw out the model I started yesterday and I started this one at 6:00 am today.

Right now I'm waiting for a flyby video of this model to render. For those of you who don't know, rendering is a lot like watching grass grow, only the grass is a video. So this post has been a welcome relief from the potential mental breakdown I might have from watching the render of my video.

So lets see what do I owe you? The storyboard video, the flyby and I think a post about computer modeling seems in order (specially after my "render" rant). If anyone out there has any doubts, questions, inquiries, or are just plain interested in anything about the project, the process of making a video or how I stay sane in a computer lab just leave a comment and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability.

Issues with research and blogging

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Before I start with the post itself, a question, if I may: Ever had the problem that you start a post and leave it for a day or two and when you come back to it you find that the energy you thought was present in the post... just... suddenly disappeared? And then, when you try to keep working on it, you start deleting all the phrases you though were good, and the post goes from good to bad to "Oh my God! where's my post, I lost it in all these words!!" Well it happened with this post so I had to restart it from scratch.

Now back to the topic at hand: Research.

Well, I don't know about you but this material I'm using to create my video installation isn't coming from nowhere. Actually I didn't know anything about stupas before I took my Asian history of art class, so I was pretty much had no knowledge on the subject. So I asked a professor in the history of art
department if he knew any good material to learn more about Buddhist
stupas and he recommended this book from Lama Anagarika Govinda called:
Psycho-cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stūpa. And here is when the issues start. If you don't feel the even slightly overwhelmed by the title or the author's name there's something wrong with you. Of course this isn't a problem, it's just more of a sign of issues to come. One of the problem that I had was that I had to catch up on a lot of material that the book takes for granted the reader knows. Which in my case is pretty much the core concepts of Buddhism and its history. But I think that the main problem was translating the ideas he put forth and finding what sort of material I could use to represent visually in the installation. But either way it was a book of great help for me and if anyone out there wants to learn more about these structures this is a great book to read. Actually quite a bit of the stuff you see posted on the internet about Stupas comes from this book.

I think I'll leave this post here as I can feel it draining my powers from me and leaving me with less time time to work on this project. Right now, I think I'll start with the models of the three stupas I'll be using in the video.

Finally! The skteches are here

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Warning! Warning!! - - - Perspective and proportion sadly died when I met them. So the sketches are just that: sketches.

Well I finally uploaded the sketches for the three stupa models that I plan to make. The first sketch is that of the Great Stupa at Sanchi, India. This is one of the oldest Stupas built and when compared to the other structures one can see that the main parts of the building are still present in one form or another. In fact if you go to my Flickr site, I put notes on three images to show which are the main parts of each structure.



This is a sketch of a dagoba or stupa from Sri Lanka. Some of the elements, such as the fence, from the Indian stupa may be missing in the Sri lankan structure but the overall look is still quite similar. For example the Dome is still a very prominent part of the stupa.



This one is a sketch of a typical chorten or Tibetan stupa. With these structures two of the most noticeable changes visually is that the dome is much smaller and the spire is much more prominent .

Trip down memory lane: How did this start?

Thursday, January 24, 2008

In Spring of '07 I took my first History of art class, specifically I took a survey in Asian history of art. Personally I can say that I can truly recommend the class, mainly because of the way it was taught. Instead of showing a seemingly random list of artworks the professor decided to present how the different religions affected the style of the art across different regions and periods. And one of the religions that influenced the art of Asia the most was Buddhism. What I found most interesting was how elements of the religion were preserved from as different cultures were adopting it. For example: When you see images of the Buddha you will generally see an urna (its the dot you see on the forehead which is actually its a curl of hair) and the ushnisha (the protuberance on the head) and many other signs that denote him as an actual Buddha.


Photo of a Buddha statue at Borobudur taken by Scott (SA-photo)

So on this class they also showed us how architectural elements were affected. Of the structure Buddhists built stupas were the ones that they kept building as the the religion spread. Actually Japaneses pagodas function as stupas as well, and even though they don't look almost anything like their more ancient counterparts (those built in Asia) elements such as the ritual of circumambulation, the preservation of relics inside the structure , the the layered structure, etc are still present.


Photo of a Japaneses pagoda taken by dbking

I found all of this very intriguing because I am not used to the idea that a piece of architecture can have so many meanings and that it keeps being preserved generation after generation. I also thought that if these structure were capable of preserving their meanings after hundred of years, even though their outwards appearance changed, then could it be possible to use contemporary art mediums to recreate their message? Well this seemed like a good concept to study so I decided to continue researching them, so that I may be able to construct the artwork that represents a stupa and its message.

So what is a Stupa anyway?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Every time I try to explain my project to people (from family, to professors, to classmates) the first question they ask is: -Wait, a what?-, followed by: -What's a Stupa?-. So lets start by explaining what they are:

In Buddhism one of the most important structures they make is the Stupa. In them they keep the relics of influential Buddhists, like the historical Buddha. The purpose of these structures though is not to simply be a place to preserve these remains, but instead they are places for the Buddhist devotee to visit and be spiritually influenced by it. The basic ritual surrounding stupas consists of the person circumambulating (yeah! big word... it means to walk around) several times, each time closer to the center of the stupa. The idea behind this is that as they get closer to the relics in the stupa, it reflects how they are getting closer to achieving their goal of reaching Nirvana. Another way the stupa helps the devotee is that the stupas are covered with images whose meaning they would interpret and so be able to learn more about the religion and better their karma.

Image of the Stupa at Sanchi taken by Marc Shandro
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=34958707&size=m

Stupas... In... Video?

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Welcome!
As you can see right now this is my first post (most definitively no my last). The purpose of this site is to function as a documentation of my future artwork involving the study of buddhist stupas. I want this blog to function as a way of documenting how this project comes about, the research behind it, the reasons and inspirations that helped create it.
Again welcome, more posts explaining the back story of this project will follow shortly have a nice day ... .... ... ... ... ... ummm still here ... ... well then I recommend coming back in a little while... ... and subscribe to my RSS feed so you stay updated on my work