Research

I started by determining the dimensions of my room and looking for inspiration. I knew this project is intended to be based on a fictional room, but I thought about what I love in a studio space. I realized the place I’ve always felt the most productive is the finished basement of my parents’ house. Before coming to Ohio State that is where I would do all my homework and work on the majority of my art projects when I did not need natural light. I think I like the basement space so much because it is quiet away from the activity of the house, and I appreciate being by myself when I need to get projects completed because it allows me to focus my thoughts. For the dimensions, I knew I wanted to keep it uniform and square, so I made it 14-by-13 feet. I then have the stairs come off the side going up to the main level. When drawing my room I decided to use a non-photo blue pencil, not because I wanted to Photoshop the lines out, I rather because I liked having an alternate color I could easily draw over with regular graphite and not get confused on what lines with which to work.

Iterations

I next started to think about what objects I wanted in my room. I love to draw on a slanted drafting table, so I put one of those in the room but combined it with a sliding keyboard slant. I couldn’t find these actual items anywhere, so I decided to develop my own concept for it. The problem with a slanted desk is that a computer would be hard to stand on it, so I decided to mount the monitor to the wall, I had extra space, so I decided to use two monitors, and then I could also use one as television if I felt the need. I then decided to put a sofa on the wall on the other side, so if I ever needed to take a break I could lay out there and rest. I next conceptualized my personal objects. I love to listen to music while I work, especially listening to vinyl records, so I felt it would be important to put a record player in the drawing. I also love fish but no longer have a fish tank, so that was a must-have in my fantasy studio. To keep everything organized, I put a shelf up so I could stack my work materials and have a shelf for the records. I am also a big fan of plants, so I put one up next to the bookshelf because I had extra space there, I soon realized I would need light for the plant so I added a window along the top to get some natural light in the room. For my rug, I put a mini ice rink rug, which is something that I’ve had in my room since I started playing hockey at the age of 7. The walls still felt a bit empty, so I added a family picture and a mini basketball hoop because sometimes when I’m lacking creativity I like to move around and it helps me think of ideas. Before deciding where I wanted to place the objects, I practiced drawing them in different styles and orientations to enhance my skills and get familiar with the objects.

Process

I took all of the items I wanted to include in the room and made a final version on tracing paper of exactly how I wanted them to look. I did not worry as much about the neatness of this drawing; I was more interested in having all the forms down and for them to be in the right perspective. After I had everything crafted, I went to the light board and traced onto my final grid. I next went in and filled in details like pictures and fine lines. Overall, I very much enjoyed this project. There is something about perspective drawings, especially one-point perspective, that I find satisfying and mentally engaging. I greatly appreciate how a designer can take a simple object and provide a great deal of depth rather easily. I think the one part I need to work on is detailing; I am not the best at it, so I tend to keep my drawings rather simple.

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