Introduction
Well it is that time once again for another
blog entry. This blog will be covering AG ideas and some of the questions we
have been given. For those who don’t know AG ideas is a design conference that
is held annually in Melbourne and showcases a range of designers and creative
talent from Australia and the world all with different and amazing backgrounds.
Design trends
At the AG ideas conference the nearly all
of the speakers encouraged collaboration with other creative people and fields.
This helps your work develop and lead you to an outcome that you wouldn’t
normally get to if you were going at it alone.
The best example of a designer that
regularly collaborates with other to produce high quality work was Ree
Treewick. This Illustrator from South Africa produces amazing illustrations
with a high level of detail that I have never really seen. Her illustrations
usually have a fantasy theme to them and usually contain some interesting and
creative characters. Ree Treewick works with two design groups and has produced
some highly imaginative adverts for TV.
When asked to draw a series of
illustrations for a book a friend was doing she jumped at the opportunity. This
lead to a very different and creative book that is immaculate (I can not wait
to get my copy). It is what happened next with this book is the amazing thing
of collaboration. A friend saw the book and loved it so much that they offered
to turn it into a movie and post it up on You tube. The link can be found
below. I highly recommend it.
It was from this video that more work in
the same genre was established which lead to some very big commercial success
both in South Africa and internationally.
Concept Evaluation
The Lost thing by Shaun Tan
The lost thing is a book that has been
written and illustrated by Shaun Tan and is commonly known as a much loved
children’s book. The story tells of a young boy who Shaun tan says is a
depiction of himself when he was in his teens. The boy whilst out adding to his
bottle top collection discovers the lost thing on the beach and discovers that
it is alone and lost. He then goes on a search to help find the lost things
place in the world.
Shaun Tan tells that the moral of the story
is taking notice of the little things and the things that seem out of place in
the world. This is something that he constantly depicts in all of his books and
focuses on heavily. It also show how when we are older that we loose sight of
the little things in life and don’t notice anything else other than what we
want to see. This is shown in the lost thing as the story is told from the
point of view of the young boy who is now grown up. Shaun Tan tells that when
he wrote the lost thing that it wasn’t intended to be a children’s book. He
writes books for him and what he would like to see. This is a good thing
because it does succeed as a children’s book but it is something that older
viewers can enjoy and get the same message.
The message and style of this story is also
repeated seamlessly in the short film adaptation of the book. The makers of the
film worked closely with Shaun Tan a recreated his book with Shaun watching and
regularly having an input into the final outcome. The movie depicts a lot of Australian style
artwork especially the paintings of Collins St 5pm painted by John Brack in
1955. Seeing as though the book is written by an Australian and produced by and
Australian production company and is narrated by Australian Comedian Tim Minchin.
It makes sense in including some Australian style artwork.
At the Ag Ideas conference Shaun Tan said,
“kids don't want to be treated like kids they want to be treated like
adults. Adults act like kids” This is something that is
very true with the book and the film the lost thing. It gives the children the
an insight that the adult world isn’t what it looks like and it also makes all
the adult reading r watching the lost thing want to be a child again and be a
bit more open to the little things once again.
A trailer of the film has been linked below. Unfortunately the full film isnt on Youtube unless you wan to pay for it. I do suggest you see it as it is a very good film.
Personal Note
This is the last blog for my TAFE course
that is being assessed allowing me to do what ever I like to do with this blog
page. So I would like to tell any readers of this blog that I intend on keeping
up this blog and talking about more design related stuff. What the subject
matter is I don’t know at this stage but like any great idea once I come up
with it I will be sure to get it down on paper or in blog in this case so until
next time
Andrew Weegberg
