Imagination - Envisioning the impossible

I was very fortunate on my last visit to wellington

Wellington harbour at Night

to be part of Weta Workshops' first ever school holiday programme. The deal was that I had to have a small person to get in, so my son (Master 9) got a once in a lifetime opportunity to take part in a workshop along with 25 other budding creative minds.

The Weta Cave situated down the road from the workshop space

The course was titled Illustration and Design with a theme on ‘Hero’s & Villains’

I thought that I would share the experience that we had with the wider technology community, as there is a profound link between the growing industry in New Zealand and the Technology Curriculum.

Content & Links to Conceptual design, modelling and brief development. So actual Technological practice in industry.

The course was organized and run by 3 Weta staff with interesting stories of their journey’s into their positions that in themselves lend them as individuals to be inspirational role models for the youth of New Zealand.

Santi – Illustrator/Designer (Props and costume)

Completed a BA in fine Arts from Whanganui polytechnic, specializing in printmaking.

Kimmie – Weta Designer

Completed a BA in Animation

Iona – Illustrator/ Technician

Self taught illustrator from Norway who backpacked all the way here to get the chance to work at Weta.

The stories behind the people are one of the reasons the workshop is so interesting, that and the hands on practice of illustrating guided by the experience of these professionals.

The first part of the session was a based on showing the kids the intricacies behind what Weta workshop does. This was split into four areas by workstation and we moved around viewing and having interaction with the areas while discussing with the staff what/how things are made. Because of copyright I am unable to share pictures from within the workshop area or go into huge detail about how things are created.The pictures on this blog entry were taken in the foyer area during our visit.

The doorway into the workshop!

They key areas covered:

Props – 3d printing and mold making

Digital design

Prosthetics

Costume

Animatronics

Key messages that I picked up observing the interactions between the wannabe designers and their mentors for the day:

·      Setting the context is the most important facet of successful design. Often the designers only get the script of the movie that they are working on which sets the scene but does not give much detail as to the look of the object they are designing.

      Teachers consider how setting a brief could be restrictive to students!

·      Conceptual design in industry is the ability to work from your own reference point and adapt into something new. (This links to both creativity and innovation.)

Start with something you know and add to it (Picture by Santi)

·      Research is important, to gather as many reference points as possible to build on. NEVER under estimate the power of research. If you can’t find what you want them create your own reference point from scratch.

“For example if you were trying to create the flow of a cape on a superhero, then photograph someone standing in the wind with the cape flying behind.”

·      Draw, Draw and Draw the amount of sketches that a designer goes through is incredible. But from each one they grow and develop further. In terms of how they get to a final design, often they will submit a multitude of designs on the same product to which the producer has the final say

“This often involves them then totally redesigning what it will look like based on elements from all of the designs presented”.

Think about proportion, angle and pose (Picture by Santi)

This is the ultimate in stakeholder feedback and utilizing this with students could enable them to see the value of stakeholder feedback being more than just asking their friends what they think.

·      Practice, in order to develop your illustration skills.  Think about pose or angle, proportion. Start with light sketching and build up layer by layer. (Design Elements)

Start lightly and then build up layer by layer (Picture by Santi)

“Draw cartoons, draw from life but keep doing it. Improvement comes with years of practice. It is a real skill to be able to step away from drawing something that exists into creating a new thing, but the only way to do it is develop your skill with something you know. Each time you draw that cartoon character change something little about it.”

·      Teachers when supporting students to design, ask those probing questions. Remember that if it is their own chosen context then they are the experts of their imagination and what they see in their minds eye. The question is then how you draw this out of them in a way to collect evidence for assessment.

My Sons design based on an 'Anti-Hero' someone who is not a hero or a villian but somewhere in between. His refernce point was a Ninja/Assasin

The session was a success and I would have to say that it is now going on my list of favorite things to do in New Zealand from a New Zealander. My son was testament to the workshop hitting the target market needs, as he now wants to be a designer as well as a stunt car driver. But from a protective mothers perspective maybe I will steer him towards designing stunt cars!

Weta offer workshops to groups (Including school trips) and hopefully will be running school holiday programmes again in the future.