Arete...

Aristotle thought that whenever we do something we do it to gain an end, and that the ultimate end of all ends is the chief good, the greatest good.

'It's as it a global catastrophe has thrown us back into the Dark Ages, But in stead of losing scientific knowledge, we have lost moral wisdom.' - - Virtue theory, an interpretation of Alasdair MacIntyre's views.

Once again I want to approach the topic of good and bad in a completely different way. I want to analyze what it means to be a good person.

This is something I consider to be very important, even for us just as game art students. I don't know if I'm the only one who looks around me and sees injustices and examples of 'bad' behavior all the time (not just in the class, everywhere :P).

One of my favorite examples of how a 'bad' person can become 'good'. I watch it every year! It has some fantastic morals in it. Watch it and learn from it. (It has to be Muppet's Christmas Carol, any other Christmas Carol won't do, you won't get the impact from the tremendous songs.)

There are good things too, I don't just only notice the bad. But even when I notice 'good' behavior I note in and ponder its goodness in my mind, just as I would dwell on the bad.

But I'm a constant dweller/ponderer. I don't think everyone is, this is apparent by the way people act. I have about 12 epiphany's a day, or i just for get them and have the same ones over again.....

Anyway, the point is 'badness' bothers me allot, but in this fight against badness there is light!

Back to Aristotle he believed that in order to achieve the end which is the greatest good, we must practice. Practicing is how we improve our skills, we improve our drawing, our modeling and our perceptions. By practicing being virtuous we can then become happy and live good lives.

Aristotle also believed that all virtues lay between two vices, and I agree with him. I've typed up this table I found in my good old philosophy folder to show you what I mean.

One thing I like about this is that its makes so much sense. For example, 'Just resentment' as a virtuous mean. Its ok to dislike someone for a justified reason. Not just mindlessly forgiving everyone because its the 'right' thing to do.

Every moment has a possibility for acquiring or developing a virtue. (Increasing our swashbuckler rating).

I think what that a good person is someone who strives to be virtuous. It does take practice, and everyone makes mistakes, but the trying is what will make you good.

Being someone who creates excuses for their behavior by saying 'that's just the way I am' is a 'bad' person. Everyone has the potential for goodness, and the ability to change for the good.

Arete (virtue, excellence): The quality that makes something a good example of its kind, e.g the sharpness of a knife. For humans, arete represents the excellence's that are needed for a human being to be a good human being.

Eudaemonia (well-being): The state of being content, or satisfied. This satisfaction comes about through the fulfillment of human potential, or self-realization.

Aristotle believed that being virtuous would ultimately lead to Eudaemonia, which is the ultimate human goal. Eudaemonia can be experienced as Pleasure - a spiritual sense as well-being, as Honour - Living and working for others and Reflection - the pursuit of knowledge.

I also believe that this is true, but I think that it would be allot easier to do so if everyone was striving for this goal. Then we call all live happily ever after...

Colossal Katamari...


I don't know who did this, but it is awesome...

Standing on the shoulders of Giants...

I thought this idea was awesome, look at it, isn't it good?
Letting go - Esao Andrews

I have been thinking about how much emphasis has been put onto 2D art. I'm realizing that being a good 2D artist isn't necessarily what we need.

What is more important is our understanding of the world and the way things work. I'm not just making up excuses because my 2D work isn't so great.

Drawing is a skill, which needs to be learnt and needs to be taught. Understanding the world and what you see is a different skill. Modeling is also a different skill.

I would compare a pencil and paper to 3DSMax and see similaritys. The are both mediums used to translate something from the existing world into another form.

If I studied Human anatomy and produced and anatomically correct 3D model of a human, I have succeeded in understanding the human body, and I have replicated it. I have used my skills in 3D modeling to do so. That does not mean I will be able to draw it, as I have not learnt the sufficient drawing skills.

A surgeon knows the Human anatomy, they can names all your parts, know where they are and know what they look like. Its their job. But, if you asked them to draw it, i bet they would be slightly stumped, because they never learnt to draw.

Everyone has the potential to learn to draw, we just need to sap up the information from those who have already done it. There is no use starting at square one, when its all been done before. There are masters out there that we can learn from.

3D modeling programs and traditional art materials are our tools. These are tools we must master as we master the art of seeing the world and understanding it.

It is unfortunate that now we are all 20 somethings, re-wiring our brain to look at things differently is a very hard thing to do.

A teacher telling us to look at something, and draw what we see isn't good enough. It was never good enough. That method clearly has never worked, and it never will.

Showing people is the key. A teacher who never shows his students how to do things is not a teacher, they are merely a critic.

The reason the nation is full of poor artists is because hardly anyone ever gets shown the way. The abilities disappear before they get the chance to blossom.

'I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is' - Frederick Frank

Pierce the Heavens with your Drill

When you have spent a whole day working on something, learning new things and facing new problems. Sometimes it works out, other times it doesn't. At least you are trying, and striving to get better.

Remembering someone saying 'We don't reward people for effort', might make you think 'then why am I trying'.

Its then we must remember who we are actually working for. You are the one who will be sad if you don't make it and happy if you do. We should also remember that the people around us are being faced with the same challenges, and we should support them through it, and receive support in return.

In the fight against absolute despair, we should remember that happiness is our ultimate goal.

Third year project...

Gah... theres so much stuff i want to write about! but so little time.

Quick post about third year projects as I've had a couple of ideas.

I love wildlife and all kinds of animals so i would like to include something of the sort in my project.I've been thinking somewhere along the lines of an organic-ish natural environment.

One idea was for a British park. So i could make a lake with certain types of British birds, depending on the region, with certain plants and wildlife. Trying to make the environment as authentic as possible.

Another one was maybe something inside a cave, with all kinds of unusual cave dwelling animals and things.

Another one was a kind of Macro world. Where I could model insects and plants in high detail. So you could see everything though a different perspective. Insects are really awesome, they would be fun to make in great detail, and would have interesting colours to texture too!

I love the idea of picking a natural environment and trying to recreate it as realistically as possible. I don't really want to make anything up, i want to know the real subject inside out.

Now i need sleep, so much to do and so little time...

Liking and Disliking...

Liking something, is sort of a subjective way of saying that something is good. But what makes people like and dislike things?

I never like the idea that things are set in stone, like this absolutist rule that things are either good or bad and there is no in between. If that were true, why is there such a big debate about it?

I also really hate it when people try to explain your opinions in stupid ways. For example, you think that way because you are a girl.

That is one of my personal hates, but I'm sure there are others, like maybe being a certain way because of the colour of your skin, or maybe the way you dress (because your and 'emo' or a chav') etc...

More things happen to people in there lives than one stupid obvious factor any fool can point out.

Many opinions exist only because of the series of events in someones life. They are not opinions you can be born with.

Thinking about children, do girls really like barbies and boys like dinosaurs? Or is it simply the way in which we display products making people think they are supposed to behave a certain way.

I have an extreme dislike of anything that cuts people apart from each other, and makes people compete with each other. Some people love this, and i find it completely insane. Why would you want to do well at something at the expense of someone else? How can winning be fun when someone has to lose? its madness. Everyone knows that it isn't nice to lose, so why would you want to inflict that upon another person.

When i mentioned this to someone last year, they tried to explain it to me, its obvious why I think that way! because 'I'm a girl'! wow thanks, i guess all girls are that way! every girl in the world feels exactly the same! what crap...

Maybe I'm just unlucky, but you would be surprised at how many of my opinions have been shunned aside because of that same reason.

A more likely explanation would be my experiences as a child. The situations I was put into where I had to compete against others. I don't know exactly what, but this makes more sense to me.

Another explanation could be the behavior of others around me. I've mentioned before about people bragging, acting big headed, and rubbing things in peoples faces. This has been something I've always strived to avoid, and the best way of doing that is to do better than them. But even then people seem to think of a stupid explanation for why you have done better.

This term it hasn't been going so well though, and there isn't that much time left. A part of me is thankful that its nearly over, and another part is thinking that i need more time to fix it, because I'm not doing this to my full potential.

Anyway, the point of this Blog was why people like and dislike things. So, what do I like and not like about what we are doing now...

I like modeling and drawing. I like them beacuse you get to be a creator. You also get to train yourself, and see improvement in yourself over time. It is a nice feeling to be good at something, It is also nice to have a skill, something that makes you special, needed or important.

I like being with the class. I like this because you get to spur each other on,generate more ideas, help and inspire each other.

I like having time to learn. Being at uni gives you personal time to improve yourself. I don't know how much time we will have when we finally move into industry. But its nice to have this period to study and research whatever we like.

I don't like the insecure feeling. By this I mean not having faith in the project we are doing. Not believing it its helping. Feeling it is pulling me back rather than pushing me forward.

I don't like not knowing if my work will be acknowledged. Its true that you should work for yourself, and for your own improvement. But, we will be graded on this at the end of the day, and I have no idea how its going to be done. With so much effort that isn't 'physical' or quantifiable, will our efforts be noticed?

I guess after reading over this, its obvious why those things are 'good' or 'bad' for me. But what ever happens, its not the end of the world, I'm sure I've said this before, but all we can do is try our best!

Stop Wingeing...