I was contributing to a forum thread about “creative process” and writing about how I usually come up with image ideas. It occurred to me to post that here.
Some visual workers seem to get their ideas in a series, where one image leads directly to the next.
My images, even those that fit in a series don’t ”evolve” like that. So, these workers have a creative process which is emerging from inside their image series to then drive new work to become part of that series. My images are more like an “assignment” or “challenge” I give myself from outside my previous work. Maybe I like to organize my ideas as “projects’ in response to an “assignment” because of my experiences at school and in engineering disciplines.
One way I generate or organize my ideas about science fiction image with figures in them is by a loose science fiction scenario I invented about 2 sisters who are raised on Earth, but end up on a long voyage together to start a homestead on a distant colony world.
Here’s an example
With me, an art piece starts with both intellectual and visual ideas/urges. I had this idea/urge for an image based on the idea of “Taking your kids to your workplace”. At the same time, I was thinking of that visual/cultural icon or archetype of a visitor and a prisoner at a jail visitor’s room – holding their hands up together on each side of a glass partition in greeting. And I was also entertaining this visual idea/urge about that fresco on the Cistine Chapel ceiling of the hand of God (but with the 2 bodies in a more idealized, flowing “S” shape in my mind). {See, Art History does pay off!}
So I had these 3 ideas/urges swimming around in my head and started applying my “Colony Sisters” organizing principle to them, to see what would pop up in my mind. What I came up with was the idea that one of the sisters would be part of a space station crew and the other sister would be visiting her from Earth. To get the “S” shaped composition of 2 bodies, I imagined that they would be in null gravity and I could therefore arrange their bodies pretty much however I wanted. To get the hands through glass gesture, I imagined that the visit was a surprise and therefore the crew member sister happened to be on EVA (“space walking”) and they would communicate through a porthole.
Those thoughts, and applying the “Colony Sister” framework to them, crystallized the project to a visually composable level, so I made a couple of pencil sketches and started the 3D modeling. Below is the result:
A real wall, not from Google SketchUp
Google “Sketchup” is available in a free or Pro version. It’s very easy to learn and ideal for making simple buildings and other rectilinear 3D models. It doesn’t work the same as other 3D sculpting programs, but nevertheless offers an easy entry point to the more serious 3D programs – without the steep learning curve.
And, the chances are that whatever 3D program you choose if you get serious about 3D models and 3D scenes can import your previously made Sketchup models (but that might require a few tricks). In such advanced programs you can add much more realistic materials and lighting to your Sketchup models and really spiff them up.
_jim coe
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