Research

I took a look at my shape grammar project and sought a piece that I believed would well translate into a 3D model. I examined the one I turned in and realized that I could play on its natural movement, and adding depth to it could enforce the point. 

Exercise

One exercise I practiced was building a cube out of bristol to understand how the scoring and folding works with the material. Another exercise was practicing different illustration styles by drawing out a house.

 

Iterations

I began by sketching out different ideas to see how my piece would translate to 3D. From the start, I knew that I wanted there to be a slant with the pieces, so they had a continual direction based on where the shape was facing. I was looking for a way to showcase the motion of the piece, while concurrently reflecting its rhythm. I finally decided to elevate my 2D piece but then angle the triangles down to have a feel of running downhill before stopping and coming back up.

 

Process

I first decided how high I wanted the triangular prisms to be. Next, I started the most challenging part of the process: figuring out how to make a slanted triangular prism. I began the process by finding the best way to make a triangular prism first and then figuring out how to modify the direction.

I realized that I would need to make the top triangle an isosceles triangle instead of an equilateral so it would slant. I then decided I wanted the tops of the triangle to slant at a 30-degree angle and then determined how long I need the two sides of the isosceles by finding how long at 30-degrees would be to the corner of one side to the other side. Here is the scrap paper I used to figure it out.

Next, I started to look into how I would need to modify it so I could achieve a slant. I realized that I would need to make the top triangle an isosceles triangle instead of an equilateral. I then decided I wanted the tops of the triangle to slant at a 30°.

For each triangle, I decided I would take its width and then determine how high I would want it to be and build this template out of it. To find the length I took a protractor and found 30 degrees, and then made a line where it intersects with the original box line.

After determining how to make the equilateral triangles slanted, I moved on to doing the same for the right triangles. The process has relatively similar steps, except I wanted these triangles to slant upwards, so I had to flip the angles on the template. Finding out the length on the slanted right triangle was tricky because I had to make sure it would still line up with the right angle.

After I figured out how to build the right triangular prisms the rest of the project fell into place. I designed an 8-by-8-inch platform and glued all the pieces on it to provide a stable base.

Overall, this was a challenging project. I do not excel at crafts and it is something I worked hard at to improve. I very much want to keep working on this process, because I have so much room for improvement. I enjoyed the template-making process and appreciated the need and ability to problem-solve and find a way for tubes’ design to work.

 

Link to Portfolio

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.

Link to Portfolio

Research

When starting the research for this project, I wanted to find a way to communicate elements and complex ideas of design principles using essential pieces such as shapes and lines. As I moved through the process, I started to see how aligning shapes and using white space can demonstrate a significant amount of meaning through basic concepts. I was inspired by the Canada Modernist movement and the simplicity of that style of design.

 

Exercises

My first exercise was to cut out the sizes of shapes provided by the assignment parameters. I then experimented using tracing paper to trace over the shapes and see how the images would turn out.

 

I did not focus, per se, on achieving a specific design principle through this engagement. Instead, I wanted to see how concepts could come to life and then, from there, see how elements from the designs could represent different design principles.

These are some of my tracing examples.

The next iteration was the digital process. I must acknowledge that I felt significantly more comfortable with these tools. My skills with crafts are not as developed as my skill with digital art, though I embrace the opportunity to do both. I originally started with Vectornator but my comfort and experience with Adobe Illustrator prompted me to move forward with that program. In this phase, I had an idea of what design principles I wanted to pursue, which were movement and rhythm. Most of my designs are intended to showcase a specific principle, and I would change them around if I felt like it didn’t.

These are a few of the digital ideas I tried.

 

Iterations

I decided to pick this conceptualization because I felt the concept best communicated the design principles. This design represents movement and rhythm. I ultimately settled on a design yet made a few changes to the concept. For example, I was originally concerned that there was too much white space from my first design. To remedy the dead space I decided to restart the pattern but in the opposite direction to give a more complex look to the design. An unintended benefit was that the additional triangles give this piece a lot more depth than the original.

 

Production

Digital

For my digital piece, I worked with the program Adobe Illustrator using a singular triangle that I resized and rotated to match up to each spot.

Analog

For analog, I used an exacto knife to cut out white bristol. I then glued them onto a black piece of poster board. My biggest struggle here was keeping the shapes aligned.

The two design principles are movement and rhythm. The sensation I am getting from this design is energy, I get the feeling that the forms in this project are darting back and forth off to the distance, then at the end, they come back towards the viewer.

The one edit I chose to make was to eliminate one of the small triangles. I realized it looked a bit crowded and interrupted the flow of movement.

Overall, I enjoyed this project and thought the end result was quite satisfying. I think the one piece I need to work on is my craftsmanship and attention to detail, and that is something I will continue to work toward improvement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to Portfolio

 

 

Research

The assignment called for me to discover meaningful objects or locations on campus that inspire the feelings of comfort and motivation. I knew the exact location I wanted for comfort. It was a space that has long brought me peace and familiarity: the Garden of Constants. Those numbers have long been one of my favorite locations on campus, and I love to sit there and do homework. I find the colors calming and the curved lines are pleasant to the eyes. 

 

The second location was more difficult to consider. I wanted a location that had a significant amount of energy and was vibrant to the eye and spirit. I couldn’t think of anything until one night when I slept with my windows open and realized how busy is the street on which I live, Dodridge Street, how much life it contained at all hours of the day and night, how many different paths are traversed on just this one stretch of road. I ended up getting up early in the morning when the street remained energetic, even when the world was at peace to take pictures of the world in motion.

 

Exercises

For this project, our main focus was working on our drawing skills. We started by drawing different pictures in order to develop an understanding of the relationships between objects and basic shapes.   

Iterations

My iterations start with sketching out a few different angles to see what I felt best showcased the desired feelings brought out in each scene. For the drawing of the numbers in the Garden of Constants, I chose the angle with the building and the Tuttle Parking Garage behind it. I chose this because I especially liked how the straight lines of the classroom building and the garage contrast with the soft edges of the zero and the round platform around it. When choosing my angle for the drawing of Dodridge Street, I decided to focus on the angle that showed the most energy would be the best. I used the “No Parking” sign as my viewpoint, and I appreciated how the lines all naturally led to it. I found that this provided a lot of movement for an energetic piece.

Production

My production was rather simple, I chose the angles I wanted to do and looked back through the photos to determine which ones resonated with my eye the most. I then went through and tried my best to recreate each scene. When it came to the drawing, I most enjoyed crafting the basic shapes and feel like I successfully captured the dimensions. My biggest challenge is shading, especially in black and white. Personally, I find it difficult to find the right tone to use, and I never quite captured the feel I was seeking. This is something I will continue to work and improve on. Overall I enjoyed this project and found this whole process helpful in the final product.

Link to Portfolio

Good Vs. Bad Design

I decided to focus on the design of sports logos because that is my real passion. I first started reading about what makes a good logo and what I found clear is that a logo should be simple enough to tell what it is at any size and unique enough that you should never mistake it for something else.

About Me Page:

1. I first started by writing out my biography in word to make sure everything sounded OK and all my grammar was correct.
2. Next, I did a few sketches on my iPad using an app called Procreate to visualize how I would like the website to look.
3.  I added my picture to it and then started looking around with a few different themes and finally settled on one I liked. I then played with the colors to see how I could make it my own while still looking professional.

4. After I picked my theme I looked back over everything to make sure there were no mistakes and published it.

5. After talking over in class I realized that I should showcase more of my work in the about me page so I added a gallery of some of my work.