Brad Surratt
Digital Design
12/2/09
Revised Artist Statement
As a relatively young artist, my work is constantly changing and evolving. I’m interested in trying new mediums, and exploring new techniques with every piece of work that I create. At the current state, I really enjoy animating people to make them come to life. For my final project I chose to create an animated music video for the song “Jukebox Hero” sung by Foreigner. The reason I chose this particular song was because when I first heard it, I was amazed at the visual imagery that this song provided. Due to the linguistics of this song, I found it fairly easy to interpret the singer’s thoughts and make them into visual images. I decided to use Macromedia Flash for this project because I have used Flash for previous classes, and found it to be very user-friendly. I actually started this animation about two years ago as kind of a side project, and never really got around to finishing it due to my life’s busy schedule. It was somewhat hard for me to regain my focus and enthusiasm for this project as it had been left by the wayside for so long. Throughout this animation I tried to create all of the backgrounds, characters, and objects myself in an effort to create a cartoon like video. My original plan was to finish the whole animation, but as time neared the due date, I realized I was not going to finish on time. My new strategy was to go over what I had with more detail instead of hastily finishing the entire video. In my opinion the end result, although not entirely finished, was something I could be proud of.
When asked, “How does your process inform your work?” I have to say that I don’t have a strict “process” that I feel I have to follow every time. I think this is partly due to the fact that I am not a really organized person. Most of the time, in regards to my artwork, I feel that the best plan of attack is to just dive in head first and think on my feet so to speak. For me, I really like the thought of starting with a blank canvas and not having a clue as to what I should make. I think that having a “plan” limits my creative ability in that I tend to think that I’m stuck with this idea and that it can’t be changed. I really enjoy the aspect of mystery and uncertainty that this approach gives off. This also allows me to make adjustments at will to my image while I am creating it. However, due to the lack of preparation with this approach several of my works end in disaster.
As for the future of my artistic endeavors, I would like to experiment with video layering, interactive installations, and websites. I think that by engaging in several different forms of media, this will greatly increase my artistic abilities; as well as make me more marketable when I look for a career in interactive media when I am finished with college. On the other hand I would like to have an emphasis in animated websites so that I could find a niche for myself.
