Super creature-man

I want to conduct a workshop with about 8 kids(5-7 yrs). I will be giving them each a creature sewn by me along with other material and ask them to create a creature with a superpower. They will then explain it. During this they can use other creatures or dolls provided to explain better. With this activity, i'm allowing a different kind of interaction with the doll by giving the children a choice of the tools/material they can use to play with the doll unlike a Barbie doll that comes with clothes and shoes or GIjoes that come with guns and planes. This will help me understand their choices,interaction and give me an insight into their imagination.
First i made some creatures. I made 8 creatures with fabric i bought from RC Puram. I drew shapes on cardboard, traced and cutout the patterns from fabric, stitched them and filled them with sand:

















































































































I bought some materials for children to use during the workshop:

Hullo sewing machine

I bought a new sewing machine:)
I usually hand sew everything but im hoping this will save me a a lot of time!I spent a couple of days just getting used to the machine.Its a Singer 8280. Its great.

Candy for Andy

Lately, I have been getting mad for no reason. And this mood is carried onto the dining table. A few days later, something amazing happened. My mom said, "when you are at the table i want you to pretend like u have a spoonful of sugar in your mouth!and take enough for it to last you as long as you're at the table!"I was so surprised when she said that and then i reminded her about my comic book 'Candy for Andy':)

During a pictorial storytelling course, 2 years back, i created a comic book named 'Andy for Candy'. Its a three spread comic book. The story revolves around Andy the
protagonist, a mean 7 yr old girl who has a fetish for candy and turns sweet when she gets a taste of candy, but only until it lasts in her mouth.


































































My favourite frame from the comic:)

Books i have been reading

2 books i have been reading:
1. Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga
Its a study of the play element in culture.
'A writer with a sharp and powerful intelligence, helped by a gift of expression and exposition which is very rare, Huizinga assembles and interprets one of the most fundamental elements of human culture: the instinct for play. Reading this volume, one suddenly discovers how profoundly the achievements in law, science, poverty, war, philosophy, and in the arts, are nourished by the instinct of play.' - Roger Caillois, editor of Diogenes

2. Lord of the flies by William Golding
Below is a little about the book Lord of the flies.

Genre · Allegory; adventure story; castaway fiction; loss-of-innocence fiction

Narrator · The story is told by an anonymous third-person narrator who conveys the events of the novel without commenting on the action or intruding into the story.

Tone · Dark, violent, pessimistic, tragic, unsparing

Setting (place) · A deserted tropical island

Major conflict · Free from the rules that adult society formerly imposed on them, the boys marooned on the island struggle with the conflicting human instincts that exist within each of them—the instinct to work toward civilization and order and the instinct to descend into savagery, violence, and chaos.

Rising action · The boys assemble on the beach. In the election for leader, Ralph defeats Jack, who is furious when he loses. As the boys explore the island, tension grows between Jack, who is interested only in hunting, and Ralph, who believes most of the boys’ efforts should go toward building shelters and maintaining a signal fire. When rumors surface that there is some sort of beast living on the island, the boys grow fearful, and the group begins to divide into two camps supporting Ralph and Jack, respectively. Ultimately, Jack forms a new tribe altogether, fully immersing himself in the savagery of the hunt.

Climax · Simon encounters the Lord of the Flies in the forest glade and realizes that the beast is not a physical entity but rather something that exists within each boy on the island. When Simon tries to approach the other boys and convey this message to them, they fall on him and kill him savagely.

Falling action · Virtually all the boys on the island abandon Ralph and Piggy and descend further into savagery and chaos. When the other boys kill Piggy and destroy the conch shell, Ralph flees from Jack’s tribe and encounters the naval officer on the beach.

Themes · Civilization vs. savagery; the loss of innocence; innate human evil

Motifs · Biblical parallels; natural beauty; the bullying of the weak by the strong; the outward trappings of savagery (face paint, spears, totems, chants)

Look what i found

A few flyers i picked up at galleries,museums
& subway stations while i was in Japan.

























































































A lovely postcard i bought from the rubber stamp illustration exhibition i attended in Tokyo:

Brainstorming

The Synectic Trigger Mechanisms: Tools for Creative Thinking

Synectics

View more documents from nalishachouraria.

Puppy

A video vishnu took during our interactive toy design lab. Its a video of of children of construction workers 'playing' with a little pup.



screenshots from the video:

Dolls in the park

2 days back i did a little experiment. I wanted to see how the interaction with a toy changes when played in a different environment. I placed 3 dolls in the sand, half burried hoping children will find it while playing and then i could see how they interact with the dolls both alone and with company.









































































I saw:
1. Kids(boys and girls)would immediately bury it.
2. Kids(a group of 3 girls and 2 boys)made a mountain of sand and placed the doll on top. They were either worshiping it or sacrificing it. But then they started singing, 'happy birthday to dear doll,happy birthday to you':) But the doll looked more like a candle on the mud cake.
3. A little boy who must have been 3,stepped on a doll by mistake and immediately said sorry to it and walked away.
There were kids that threw it out of the sand pit and never looked at it again(this happened twice-it looked like a heartless act to me). The first time it was a boy and the second, a girl.
4. 1 girl buried the dolls and carefully brushed away sand off of its face and said 'look i found a fossil'.
5. One thought it was really ugly and didnt want to play with it so she used the doll's legs to draw in sand.
6. A girl found the dolls hand and said 'look the baby's hand, and threw it away'.
7. 2 girls buried the dolls secretly so they cud come back the next day and play with it. And threatened a little girl who saw them burying it there. They said 'If you touch it, i'll say to your mother'.
But the predominant interaction was to bury the dolls in sand.

Goodbye innocence

Here's an ad campaign for SHS teen clothing line which says 'goodbye innocence'. I absolutely love the props used and the art direction on the whole.