My reflections on digital animations and how to use it as a teaching tool

I have been using computers and exploring computer graphics since 1986. I have witnessed the digital revolution as a participant and an observer.
I have the unique advantage of having studied fine arts and architecture. In these trades, the final product is usually a drawing that is a representation of reality. Humans are unique in our ability to suspend our beliefs and accept a symbol as a representation of reality. Even though computer graphics were abstract and rudimentary as a student, I saw the potential of this medium. (see the image below). A hand-drawn perspective was superior in color shading and realism but was limited by being static. A computer model can be viewed from infinite angles and can be revised and edited in real time.

Early computer generated project on left hand-drawn on the right.

  


As a media observer, I pay close attention to the representation of reality on television and in the movies. I have noticed a trend that television commercials are made using animation software. It is obvious that is cheaper for a commercial company to hire a video animator than the effort it takes to hire actors, makeup artists, camera crews, film editors, and a director.  The image makers in our digital world rely on the publics' ability to see symbols and accept them as reality.

I have also observed various safety instruction video animations on airlines.   These instructional videos can be used as a powerful education tool. These videos have to convey its message to a wide audience in many languages. They have to be culturally sensitive and engaging. be entertaining and still explain complex tasks that most passengers have never experienced.  In the video for Eva Airline below the skills of the animation artist are clear. They created a realistic airplane interior and filled it with animated multicultural passengers.  The passengers were of mixed ages and all had expressive human qualities.   In my opinion, the animators intentionally created images of women with idealized human proportions and images of men with normally proportioned bodies. This relatively new medium of animation has positive and negative outcomes.

The above video illustrates how computer animation videos can be used as a successful and educational learning tool. I will use this example of animation technology to create a new instructional video that examines the following:  the history of illustration, the invention of perspective, show early computer graphics, and illustrate how a highly textured video image is created. 

I can use Maya software for its ability to generate highly detailed images. I hope to learn how to create characters with bodies that can move and faces that can create expressions.  This may require advanced skills I hope that by the end of the term I can create an environment that can either be recorded on video or be experienced in Virtual reality. This video can be viewed by students who are entering the field and may not know the history or the evolution of technology.

I may include videos with early almost vintage art like this to show how early computer graphics were created and how they evelolved.

Adam Colecovision 3D Wireframe tests - 1986 - 1989

I have several ethical concerns. Would it be professionally ethical to use other artists work as an illustration of ideas? Even if I am using the artwork for education use I still think of artists original work and how using it as a part of my project is borrowing or stealing.  Should I get their permission? What about copyright?
In animated video art, we are starting to cross the boundaries of make-believe and real. As an artist what representation of the human body do I use?  Is using this unrealistic male and female models distorting our perception of beauty?







References:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129082962
https://youtu.be/8dg2x5kcrrA
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/dokuwiki/mec222:brief_history_of_computer_graphics

The image below is a computer generated renderings I created a few years ago. I took several days just to accomplish this one still frame. The software helped me create the reflective water and cloudy sky.