By Rachel Ogbaretin

Ad-free weekend

After the end of the first part of term one, words of alumni and scamping every day, I decided I want to a little detox from creating and idea generating. So I had a 3 day weekend where I wouldn’t do anything creative or anything to do with ads which means no looking at ads or thinking about ads or muting youtube ads. I did this in hopes I could be inspired by what’s around me more basically, dot collecting without the subtle pressure to create some based off said dots. I collect a little list based on what inspired me during those 3 days, some nonsensical ( I watch my little brother play 12 hours of Fornite, I fear yet respect his dedication) others can be pretty insightful. I felt the weekend away really helped me be more focused for longer and gave me a much-needed boost to create and be creative.  

During the weekend I went to a small animation gathering in Shoreditch where I watched a bunch of animations from freelancers, graduates and students, in an the basement of a board game cafe (very nerdy I know) I had a good time, I especially liked to talking some of the creators about their work particularly on visual language and the balance of how much information to give to an audience such as whether to be super subtle or really obvious. I also enjoyed geeking out about styles of visual development and animation techniques, I guess a good example of this would be, talking about  the tech on an upcoming sony animation which somehow blended 2d painting styles into a 3d format something which has not been done before or the process for the upcoming Van Gogh oil painting animation. I have to say it’s exhausting just listening to amount of work put into each piece of animation, I love animation but I could never put myself through the process of it, making gifs for reflections is more than enough for me.

Another cool thing I did during that weekend was doing my first weave for my sister, Weave happens where you braid the person hair into one continuous circular cornrow before I use needle and thread to sew the hair cap into the braids, which create a secure hold and doesn’t ruin the hair underneath. I barely know how to braid hair ( a shame where I’m from) but the weave is probably the best I can to do with my limited skill, plus it also looks good once it’s sewed on. I also did manage to not stab my sister in the scalp which is also a win for me. Doing someone weave also made me really recognize the craft that goes into black hair, I’m used to seeing my aunts do crazy stuff with some people’s hair and I didn’t realize the amount of patience and skill goes into it until you’re actually trying to attempt basic hair techniques yourself.

By the time goes up I’m probably knee deep in projects with a more refreshed head and more inspirations and references under my belt. I wonder what ideas will come from all this.