Fantasia Initial Development

For my next project, called fantasia, I have to creat a model for celebrity I decide. I chose Paul McCartney as my celebrity because I am a big fan of his music having listened to a huge number of his songs and albums. To begin I listed key infomation about mccartney including his favourite colour, music and place as well has his personal philosophy. The I created a mind map to brainstorm ideas I can develop in addition to themes I can explore based on his life and his work.

From here I started to sketch my initial ideas for the potential sculpture. At first i thought about making a bird flying, however I quickly changed to the idea of using arrows, like the ones on the back of his famous psychedelic piano. The arrows pointing into the sky to represent the escapism from reality you can get from listening to his music. However, I also wanted combine some of the most prominent themes of his songs, love and happiness. From this I thought the arrow could be pointing towards a love heart and that the bright colours of the arrow could show happiness.

Sequential Journey Sketching and Poster

After walking around Cheltenham, i had a large collection of images to choose from. I had to narrow these down to just 7 or 8. I chose the images of spaces that showed a specific quality or were a certain kind of space such as green space or an urban area. With the 7 images I chose I then printed them of to trace the main structure of the trace in pen, missing out the detail and focusing on the key strucural elements.

I also created a map showing the route I took. On the map I put numbered markers as to where the photos were taken as well as the direction they were pointing.

To finish Project B2 I made a poster of the sequential journey, compiling my sketches along with the photos and the map, to present my work.

2D to 3D model Ideas

As part of my Design Module 1 i have been tasked with developing a 3D model with inspiration from my 2D source. For me that is Nicholas Dubreuille's simple geometric artwork featured below.

I have explored the composition of this within my sketchbook which i have previously uploaded to this blog. Aswell i have looked at other very similar pieces by Dubreuille for further inspiration. My first idea is using rectangluar translucent vertical 2D planes spread across a horizontal plane randomly, combining to create one overall shape when you look at it from the side. This overall shape will change hugely depending on where you look at the model from. Aswell the colour will change due to differant shades combining.

The second design I have developed is much similar to the original 2D artwork, featuring a smilar cross shape and utilising vertical planes consisting of opaque rectangles skewed at around 30°. This should hopefully give the impression the model actually has a lot more depth than it actually does and should give the illusion of floating planes. Aswell, the shadows cast by the planes will give a good sense of depth to the model. I could achieve this using just cardboard and coloured card. I think using bright contrasting colours will be helpfull in seperating the layers.

Developing ideas for a 3D model

In a previous blog I wrote about deconstructing a piece of simple geometric art I found into just the components that it is made of. From this I have been developing ideas for how to make my own 3D model inspired by this. To help with this task I deconstructed another similar piece by the artist Nicholas Dubreuille.

I explored this peice by breaking it down into its basic 3D and 2D shape and noticed it was very similar to the last piece I deconstructed, its basic form being a plus shape conisitng of 2 overlapping rectangles. However, I also noticed that In this piece Dubreuille had focused overlaping translucent coloured planes more to give the illusion of it being 3D whilst in the first piece i explored the shadows on the artwork were a greater influence on the illusion that piece was 3D.

So from this some ideas for my 3D model I could potentially include is; using both translucent and opaque horzizontal planes in layers, trying to give the impression of a 3D cross shape, and also creating a model very similar to this but one that is actually 3D using cardboard to create layers and depth. In my next blog I will develop all these ideas further using ideas I have gained from both pieces to sketch potential models I can make.

Walking around Cheltenham

For the spatial analysis segment of my design project module I was tasked with creating a poster for a sequential jorney around cheltenham. For our first lecture on this we went on a led walk around cheltenham to understand better what we had to do. On this walk we explored the composition of spaces and how they could be broken down into just simple horizontal and vertical planes. Doing this allows you to see the spacial value of an are much better. After having the lecture I went out to start my own sequential journey. I chose to walk along route one, taking photos of any space i found interesting. I was looking particularly for spaces with a certain quality suxh as being long and linear, or enclosed, or spaces defined by their verticality. Below are some of the photos I took.

I will then take these images and use them to creat simple sketches breaking down the spacesa into their simplest form of just vertical and horizontal spaces.

Creating my own geometric art

In lesson I was tasked with creating my own 2D geometric composition utilising two sheets of grids I was given, with one or two rectangles on each for a starting point.. Being a landscape architecture student rather than focusing just on the simple task I was given, I immediately began overthinking what shapes I should draw, imaging the space as a house and a garden. However, along with half the class, I was reminded this was not the correct way to approach the task as at this point we are just trying to develop are skills at composing geometric shapes and thinking of our designs as landscapes would come later in the project.

Empty grid sheet

With this information I went back to my flat to try again, this time understanding the brief better. As well, I had inspiration from the artist I have deconstructed (see the previous blog), giving me a better understanding of the kind of piece I was aiming to create. From this I aimed to create a simple composition of overlapping rectangles. From this I would then remove lines from some squares where they overlapped and kept them on others. Also I used shading to add layers to my composition.

Exercise 2

I completed exercise 1 first, trying my best to forget about where the shapes and just see what i could make from random shapes leading to a very simplistic composition. This is in contrast to exercise 2 where I thought more about where the shapes would go leading to a more intricate and layered design with some symmetry and greater balance. After finishing exercise 2 I feel more confident in creating this type of abstract geometric artwork as I think this is an improvement since the first exercise.

Deconstructing Geometric Art

I was set the task in my first Design Projects module to find an example of geometric abstract art I liked and then to deconstruct it. By deconstructing I mean recognising the simple shapes, such as rectangles or circles, that make up the composition and redrawing it with only these basic shapes. At first I was unsure there would be an example of this abstract art that I was appealed to however I was particularly drawn to an unnamed piece by Nicholas Dubreuille. 

The reason I like this artwork is because whilst the artist only uses one basic shape, he has been able to successfully create a sense of depth in the photo making you see the rectangles as if they are floating above one another. I think this is down to the layering of different colours in addition to the very light shading behind the shapes. All this creates an impressive composition that really appears as if it is jumping out from the paper it is drawn upon.

From this artwork I was able to redraw it myself removing the colour and focusing on only the basic overlapping shapes it is made up. This enabled me to better see how the interlocking rectangles come together to make this piece and giving me an appreciation of what can be achieved by using only basic interlocking geometric shapes.

Drawing a tree, how hard can it be?

 Actually, it's easier than I thought! 

Whilst you would think a landscape architecture student would already be well-practised in landscape drawing for me that was untrue. Before deciding to study landscape architecture most of my artwork had been focused on the architecture of buildings. I had stayed well away from anything with even a blade of grass near, being under the impression I would be drawing every individual leaf for hours on end. Sparking the fear I would have another cathedral-sized task.

Florence Cathedral - pen drawing 

 However, with the help of many YouTube videos over the summer, I have developed multiple ways to sketch any tree quickly with either a fine liner pen or a pencil whilst still being accurate to its true form. Below is my quickest method:

1. Draw the outline of the lowest leaves of the tree, using random disconnected lines

2. Continue using disconnected lines to draw the outline of the rest of the tree's leaves making sure your lines are very random looking, whilst keeping an accurate shape.

3. Next, draw the trunk of the tree connecting up to the outline of the leaves.

4. Here you will have to decide where the light is coming from, I have decided the sun is at the top left, from this you can add vertical shading where the trunk is likely to be darkest (for my tree, the right-hand side). As well you can add lines to represent the detail of the bark.

5. Finally add more random lines this time horizontally inside the outline of the tree head to represent the leaves, making sure to add a lot more lines on the side of the tree that will be darker due to the suns position.

Remember, the key to this is drawing randomly with little thought to where your marks are. This gives a more natural look to the tree as in real life the leaves on trees appear very random. 

More examples of this method