Week 1-4
- Alisha Gupta
- Nov 28, 2023
- 11 min read
Week 1
The second last Unit to my course consisted of 15 weeks beginning on the 25th of September up until the deadline on the 1st of February. The Unit briefing given to us explained the work we would be putting in which was towards a Research Portfolio that contained 3 Research Projects, a cover letter and a link to this portfolio website with an Instagram showcasing course work.
The main part of this briefing were the Research Projects that are a development of, visual and reflective projects that demonstrate my studio practice in the form of a research portfolio based on any 3 topics of interest that I aim to explore further practically. This will then be edited to form an integrated portfolio submission.
During the first week I explored different ideas and studio practices that interested me that didn’t have an opportunity to explore further in the past. The first was the use of AutoCAD to demonstrate drafting skills in the form of technical drawings and possibly models. I had experience with Sketchup previously on past projects. However I haven’t been able to use AutoCAD in the same way and found this was the right opportunity to learn and practice this tool.
The second learning process I wanted to incorporate was an in-depth understanding and practice of Concept Art. This was the phase of creatively developing an idea from script to visual which I had only briefly touched upon before but this gave me the chance to develop those technical skills with Photoshop. The third and last project I ambitiously wanted to take into Vray. Vray is a 3D visualization plugin best known for its render engine and animations and that is the reason I would like to learn and create an outcome through it.
At this point I knew the tools I wished to learn further but I was still looking into the ideas they would be based on. I knew roughly I wanted them to be on a book as the concept of a book to screen adaptation is one that has always fascinated me, since I spend a lot of my time reading and that helps me with a strong visual memory to create imaginary worlds. The book that drew me in was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Which is set in Victorian London about a travelling circus that appears after dark and disappears by morning.
The Night Circus : Plot Summary
The novel opens in 1873, as five year-old Celia Bowen is left at the office of Prospero the Entertainer, her estranged magician father, after her mother’s suicide. Though Prospero does not wish to raise his child, he nevertheless becomes fascinated by Celia’s mastery of “new magic.” Prospero immediately contacts his former teacher, the Man in Grey, and requests a duel to the death between their magical protégés: a clash of old magic and new.
Inspired by Prospero’s challenge, The Man in Grey locates a pupil of his own, a young orphan named Marco Alasdair, to whom he teaches the ways of “old magic.” Upon turning 18, Marco is sent to work for Chandresh Christopher Lefevre, who is the creator of the Night Circus, a mysterious traveling circus featuring mesmerizing—and sometimes magical—shows and exhibits. Chandresh also hires Celia Bowen as an illusionist and, in turn, unknowingly establishes the Night Circus as a venue for the impending magical battle between Celia and Marco. While Celia and Marco are not aware that they are each other’s destined opponents, all of their actions are part of an elaborate game of magical chess that only one of them will survive.
The element of the novel that interested me the most, other than the two main characters of the magicians- was the setting. It was strange and alluring. The fact it is set in Victorian England doesn’t have any major influence to the descriptions of the scenes in the book. It is simply a base structure for the main ‘Les Cirque Des Rēves’ or ‘The Circus of Dreams.’ The black and white striped tents with splashes of red in the crowd, that mysteriously appear are accompanied with hints of enchantment. I found that since this novel which was quite well known hadn’t yet been adapted for screen was a task I wanted to take on.
I spent the next two weeks finishing the book itself and making notes in them whenever any descriptions to their environment were mentioned, to reference when needed. I was drawn to the idea of designing the main character- Celia’s tent. In the book its mostly briefly mentioned as a backstage dressing room she goes to, to get changed between her performances as an ‘Illusionist’. This gave me inspiration to level it up further since she is found spending time in there practicing and learning to strengthen her magic skills to beat her opponent in this dual to the death. From these chapters, I could understand she is occupied in a dim space cramped with her elaborate show costumes, travel cases, spell books and plenty of other elements like the doves and crows seen in her act.
The breakdown of my idea into the 3 Research Projects
• The first Research Project would be a Concept artwork of using Photoshop to design the look and feel of Celia’s dressing room tent focused on the mood.
• The second Research Project would then flow into drafting the interior set of the tent that included the structure of the exterior tent around it in AutoCAD for my technical drawings.
• The third Research Project would be a rough model of this interior set (made using either AutoCAD or Sketchup) taken into Vray to light the scene and hopefully create a short flythrough animation as the last learning outcome. This was to say the least; ambitious. I wanted to do quite a lot and get the most out of this Unit with the idea of adapting this book and felt these three were best suited to visually interpret the story from paper to screen.
Week 2
Film Inspiration
Dumbo, 2019
The first film that I took visual inspiration from was Dumbo. I carefully studied the scenes in the film that spanned over the interiors and outdoor environments showcased and made notes on certain observations from my perspective about what I liked and disliked:
• Tim Burton’s Dumbo was quite visually dry.
• The scenes often lacked contrast because of which it felt flat and the shapes felt sharp.
• The scale of everything also felt contained by the perspective and made it appear small.
• What I did like was the dramatic feel to the design.
The Greatest Showman, 2017
A personal favourite of mine is the film, The Greatest Showman. It not only conveys a powerful message of self acceptance and empowerment but also visually showcases it with grandeur.
• Nathan Crowley- Production designer for the film whose work is best known from Dark Knight did a memorable job on this film
• The feel of this was definitely cinematic and radiant in the balance of warm and cold colour palettes.
• The scale of the sets felt larger than life and gave a sense of grandeur.
• The one factor lacking was most sets were interior builds on stage since it was a Musical the focus is mostly on the characters and less emphasis on the surrounding environment, that was faded in the background.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, 2022
Pinocchio was the only animated film in this list of three, where the main focus isn’t on a circus but we see a few glimpses of their portrayal of a circus tent and interiors of a caravan that were useful for my research designs. I do love the narrative of this film and the intricacy in the craftsmanship that stands out in with the art style and stop motion animation.
• This stop motion animated movie was a work of art, quite literally from the way it was handcrafted with special attention to detail.
• The miniature set designs are characters themselves that guide the story forward and create a moving tale.
• The circus theme to this is not a focus point and thus we see little of it however it is brought forward in a dark and wooden manner with a washed out feel to it that is intentional however I found it lacking in heart.
Victorian Era Dressing Room- furnishing norms
After looking into these films I wanted to research into my time period specifically to get a better understanding of the dressing room interior designs during the 18th-late 19th century England.
• Neutral tints for hangings are used.
• Light or bright coloured tints are covered with tulle or muslin to preserve that texture from the effect of vapour
• Sometimes walls are hung with large patterned cretonnes or coloured linens. Lilac or sky blue are generally good for hangings with ornamented insertions of lace.
• The flooring is generally covered with a pearl grey carpet with a design of roses or lilacs.
• The centre of the ceiling should hang a small lustre to hold candles.
• 1/2 large windows should light the dressing room. The ground glass panes should have designs on them and double curtains of silk and tulle also draped with lace.
Victorian Era Dressing Room- set dressing
I then looked into what was filled in this space or the items and decorative elements commonly found in these rooms.
• Table drapery should match that of the wallpaper/ paint colour.
• Above the table should run a shelf to house the water jug and wash basin, brush, soap trays, sponges.
• The second table bears the mirror which should be framed in a rùche of satin and lace. This is the table meant for hair dressing.
• This includes various boxes for hair pins, a large casket for brushes and combs, bottles of perfumes, scented oils, powder boxes etc are kept here and on each side are candelabras.
• The fireplace occupies the centre wall opposite the windows, a Dresden clock, a pretty bust in terracotta and flowers go on it.
• At one side of the fire place should be a chaise lounge in blue or mauve damask with white patterns on it along with arm chairs in the room.
• At each side of the dressing table there should be a wardrobe with mirrors in its doors.
The important factor of my design wasn’t to simply replicate a Victorian style dressing room with its typical design features just to make it historically accurate. It was to tell a story and specifically from the point of view of Celia- the main character whose a trained illusionist, trapped in this travelling circus. In short- I wanted my design to evoke her character traits and inspiration from descriptions in the book, in a way that felt visually striking and unique to the story.
I put together a mood board that reflected the atmosphere in the book and my own interpretation of this.
Celia’s Tent- inspired and roughly based on the book:
• No windows or drapery are visible as its set up in a tent.
• Her raven and doves kept in their respective cages used in her act.
• Desk is heavily filled with books and papers open with the spells she used.
• There are dressing gowns in her wardrobe and draped over the mannequin.
• Space is dim and only lit by candles and oil lamps.
• The interior should feel bejewelled, black and white with hints of red, antique and mystical but the sense it belongs to a young woman.
Week 3
Victorian Wall Panelling- key features
The final element I wanted to study was the wall panelling which was the distinctive feature in all Victorian architecture. It consisted of a number of components that included a Corner piece moulding, Dado Rail, Celling Cornie, Skirting board and finally the Wall Panels themselves.
• Victorian walls had rich patterns, complex decorations with notably geometric designs and stripes were a key feature alongside the wall panelling.
• Wall mouldings and decorative ceilings included.
• Stuart and Georgian wall panelling were common styles.
• Dado rails were installed to protect the walls from chair backs.
• The Cornice and Skirting boards were bigger than the rectangle formal shapes on the wall.
• The material used was Wooden Wall Panelling
The placement of the panels is midway on the wall and about 1m high from the top of the skirting board. (Depends on ceiling height)
After I had enough research to feel satisfied I could move forward, I made two rough drawings by hand to map out the ideas in my head of how I pictured the space to initially look and feel like. These were the first set of my drawings that were quite simple and straightforward. It felt like a basic understanding of the layout of a Victorian style dressing room with the angled walls to form an octagon. I added a few set dressing elements like the furniture and a fireplace.
Procreate process
Following this I took my sketches of the wall panels as references into Procreate to draw over them a bit more neatly. In these initial drawings I was interested in the Dado rail design of the wall panels to be carvings of a horse carousal pattern. I made two drawings of the horses with the line work filled in and without to experiment what worked and what didn’t.
In the drawings I then placed a figure representing her character in the space to get a feel of the scale of this room. I added rough measurements to the space based on real life measurements of similar elements in my own living space with a tape measure. And found the overall outcome a possible step in the right direction.
Week 4
AutoCAD
However the order in which I began my learning process was not the most suitable since I just dived into it with the first thing I wanted to learn, which was technical drawings in AutoCAD. This wasn’t the most effective since I ideally should have begun with the concept artwork first as any changes made to the concept artwork would have to be seen in the technical drawings, but at the time, I didn’t consider this complication.
I took my procreate drawing straight into AutoCAD as I felt confident with the design of the horse carousal dado rail. The process of making this on AutoCAD was time consuming to say the least, because it was a completely new interface I had to get familiar with. I watched a number of tutorials and read articles with user guidelines for problem solving.
That was the main point of learning it for me which was grasping on how to quickly problem solve when I got stuck using certain tools. Nonetheless I managed to pick up how to measure, add dimensions, cut or break points, group and work with blocks and mostly draw using the polyline and spline tools. These were really helpful in the process of tracing over the curves and shapes of my patterns.
Feedback from Adam
The feedback I recieved from my Unit leader, Adam on my progress this far was a big turning point in the project. The designs I was satisfied with and I made up until this point were apparently not the direction I was supposed to be going in. He made good points on the fact the drawing and layout of my interior felt flat, like I simply made a pretty box out of four walls. At first I felt differently but as I gradually opened myself up to the thought that they were indeed a bit boring I realized change needed to be made.
The main issue with the design was that although it did clearly convey ’Victorian’ with the wall panels and dado rails, it didn’t at all visually depict the main theme which was: magic. Nowhere in the sketches do I really reflect this enchanting otherworldly historical fictional world I wanted to create and that was a component I couldn’t afford to miss out on. It was essential my design changed to reflect the story in a unique way that strayed away from the norm.
Procreate Process- New Design
It was at this point that Adam had directed me to look into the structure of the design and to consider the fact that I could change and strengthen it further. This is when I looked into Victorian birdcages since we see that the doves and crows used in her act are placed around her tent and in a way that symbolizes the feeling of entrapment and isolation which is seen in the character arc of Celia herself. What Adam had pointed out, was to look into the structures of these bird cages, which each held, a unique silhouette that I could use in my design of the her tent.
Based on the previous references, I had gathered on the look and feel of the tent and various film inspirations I put together a quick, rough sketches of this new design based on the birdcage. I wanted to space to feel cramped, intimate yet whimsical. I still kept a few elements from my previous design of the carousel dado rail and on top of this added the bars of the birdcage to be an extension of the railing in the horse pattern. These twisted railings went upwards to form the pointed roofing of the tent and met with a design of canopy windows I added. I even added a bit of colour to the sketches to experiment with an early concept of the mood created through lighting the dim space.
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