Why I make
Magdalena Kvasnickova

I am very glad, that the question is ÒWhy I makeÓ and not ÒWhat I makeÓ. I still don't feel enough ÒdoneÓ with finding my way and evolving and therefore making Statements.

I make because it feels right. I make because it makes me think and force me to make choices every day to create Òmy visual opinionÓ. I love to be closer and closer to myself, in some way it is a kind of therapy. I love to explore my intuition.

There are also two poles of Òwhy I makeÓ - I make for myself and I make for others. It would be lovely, if these two things could merge one day and I deeply hope that they will, but nowadays itÕs two different kinds of production. Why I make for people is clear: I make because I want people to be surrounded by quality and beauty (it sounds very conceited and vain, but what a maker would I be, if I wouldn't believe in my view of beauty?) I want their concept be treated in the best possible way. I am still exploring my weaknesses and skills, I make mistakes and IÕm exploring my role in working team and what I can and cannot offer.

Also as an applied art maker, I also like to explore a certain tension between given task and my personal seize of it. It is expected you will fulfill the assignement, but you are also required to be disobedient in some way, if you want to create something really valuable. That doesnÕt mean that your client doesnÕt know what he wants, but sometimes he just doesnÕt understand his demand well, he doesnÕ t really have a clue, what works and which shortcuts are the best for the right ÒimpressionÓ. 

Animation for me used to be a tough craft. If you are doing illustration, your image has to be beautiful. If you are doing animation, your image has to be beautiful and last for certain amount of time, what basically means, you have to draw approximately 400 beautiful images. Animation is from its nature laborious work. Back in the days, it ment for me that a lot of intuitive ideas and instant excitement is lost, I was struggling with lack of impulses and not enough of flexibility while creating. I mean: There is certain procedure, which you follow while creating Òa movieÓ. You have concept - then storyboard - then animation test - then animation - and you are done, maybe you can add more tension while editing, but itÕ s just cosmetics for your work. You are basically filling a plan. Although the time, when you are just simply doing what pleases you and researching your own abilities and surprising yourself with what you can do, with no strict plan and no demand of productivity but joy of exploring which makes you go further and further, is for me most valuable part of creating. And, at the end, that is something what for me personally is also the best way how to be really ÒproductiveÓ and how to create something, what after 3 months of animating I wont hate because I will be sick of it, but rather love. It is somehow a luxury to study an art school. We will probably never have so much time for doing something, what pleases us and what can be fully derived from our personality. I am therefore searching now how to merge these two poles, how can animation work for me as a tool for expressive and exciting artwork. 

I made my way trough many styles. I am not a storyteller in classic meaning, although I have deep respect for people who can do it. I finally came to an option express myself in abstract way. IÕve found for myself feelings for a landscape, patterns and textiles. IÕm studying nature elements, yet each of them has itÕs own story. I love textures. 
I am now discovering, defining and justifying for myself an abstract language, which suits me. 
I love to explore, how to use abstract art as a tool of story telling, IÕm grateful for existence of music and possibility of using it in video, because music can be endlessly supporting feature. I love following symbols and let them speak to me. World without symbols and poetism would be a sad exact place. 

Abstract storytelling, it is somehow explored topic already and today art production is also full of good examples. Animators can co-work with many artistic braches. When I am following people, who blow my mind by thir work, I somehow realized, they all do 3D animation. I am not technically skilled girl and I have never worked with 3D and all my work till now is somehow circumvention of how to not use 3D and still create something what looks bit like that. In my latest movie I used graphics with a lot of textures. I was searching for how to animate them and finally ended up with using clone stamp in Photoshop. It was not very smooth way of work, but it worked. In my final work for Digital craft I animated curved wooden plates. I used them as a ÒpuppetsÓ and I played with them in front of green screen. I think the result could be better if I would give more time to my work, but at the end I was pleased, how the structures move. 
Despite that, 3D is somehow next goal for my creative future.

IÕm interested also in how patterns and abstract features work with textile. Patterns and decors could be sometimes very autotelic. But I guess there is a way how to merge storyletting function and static picture used for example in fashion. The most interesting thing in using patterns and decors is to be able of ask the question - what is it what I see? Where does it come from? What is it made from? Is it an animal or a flower? What does it do on my T shirt? In this way I am also interested in using data design. More as ÒdecorativismÓ I see it Ð again- as a kind of symbolism, in which every one can find his own explanation.