Composition: Inspiration to Rendering

I'm learning alot in photoshop, I never knew you could assemble anything like this in photoshop so this was a learning experience for me. Practicing the use of setting guidelines, snapping images into place and the line and text tools I created this simple looking composition.

I can definitely see myself doing more presentations like this one rather than just pasting things together on a piece of matte board. I think it is cleaner this way.

What I learned:
+To pay attention to hierarchy when it comes to creating a composition with images.

Gothic Castles and Dragon Siege...

My composition for the castle So You Think You Can['t] Draw contest of the week. This subject matter is right up my alley because I really have interest in castles and fantasy. My inspiration for the design of my castle was from that of the Gothic Cathedrals because I think they are very elegant and detailed and I wanted to bring that to my castle.

There are alot of small details in this composition, everything from a knight thats frozen solid to silhouettes of dragons in the sunset. Check them out!

Tone it down abit...

Using the de-saturation option on Photoshop. I've been told my colors are usually very saturated and even over saturated so I removed the red that was so apparent in all the other postings. Does it make a difference?

Whats That? You Don't Like the Green?

Well no problem, lets change it to blue. I used the color balance option this time under image and adjustments. Based on a few colors like cyan, blue, green, etc. I could create a color mixture that could be infinite. I only changed a few things in this room so I could have a primary color scheme.

[Burn] Baby Burn...

Okay, so we learned some Photoshop magic the other day and here is what the Burn Tool can do. From the last post, I used my perspective I scanned in and I decided to make shadow more apparent in the image. I may have gone overboard in some spots but thats the point as I see just how dark I can go and still keep the composition interesting and not muddled.

Final Rendering

Here is another view of the previous space assigned in drawing class. I had to go back into Sketch-up and fool around with the eye level views and walk around tool to get a decent and interesting camera angle of the living area.

Still brightly saturated colors but I worked alittle more on light and shadow by using cool grays to darken some areas. Also I created my own scale figure rather than using "sketch-up man".

[Caution]: Experimental Rendering

Rendering has to be my absolute favorite part of this class, I love drafting and all but this is the most fun for me because I am an artist at heart. For this assignment we had to render based on the color scheme from one of Maud Gatewood's paintings, anyone see a trend?

Maud Gatewood

We had to experiment in rendering styles from rigid to loose techniques using markers. (In my case Prismas) My weakness seems to be letting loose, for some reason if its not pretty uniform I see it as sloppy so I shall continue to work on that. Also my colors are abit brighter than the norm but I decided thats what I wanted to go for to show contrast and shape in the space and practice color placement.

Structured Rendering

Medium Rendering

Loose Rendering II

Loose Rendering I

There are two "loose" renderings because I was experimenting with different techniques and with getting used to being alittle looser as I tried things that worked and did not work to show the time I had put into them rather than make it seem like they took ten minutes. Markers are still a relatively scary medium for me because they are so much more permanent in every mark you make but I am getting more and more comfortable with them as I experiment.

Things to work on:
+Color Saturations
+Shadowing that translates from afar.
+ Loose Style for future reference.
+ Techniques with various shades of gray markers.

Sketch-Up Drafting!

Using the floor plan of the previous drafting assignment my assignment was to go digital and recreate the design of my room perspectives and floor plan in sketch-up. Having little experience with this program it tested my computer skills and made for more than a couple hours of work overall. (With the sudden deleting of sections to the fact that my walls did not like to meet up)

Here are the four views:



In the end I feel rather accomplished with all this, I made all my own windows and furniture without uploading from Google Warehouse as a short cut. I can now say Sketch-up is something I look forward to continue working with. :)

The Final Production...

To give a visual idea, this is the spot I was alluding to that my sculpture would be occupying, this isn't an image in full traffic but area wise you can see what I mean with all the concrete walks converging. It has ample space for my design.


Here is the final design after deciding my concept was "pinwheel". The basic large triangle forms still exist with some extension to them to make a continuation of the round about idea while still being directional. Plus they add to the visual movement and shadow presence that the model exudes.

Program Parameters:
+ Largest Triangles are 12 feet in reality.
+Smaller Triangles are 6 feet.
+The form is made of concrete to cut back on heat it may have being all made of a metal, and the concrete is 6" thick.
+The inner sides of the structure are covered in an aluminum coating to create more contrast and to reflect things around them and light even on the most cloudy day. [Like a pinwheel!]

The final idea for how college students can interact with it is that it is a meeting place where people who are not in a rush can stand under of against and will be protected from on coming and outgoing people traffic from the dorms, Cafeteria, and EUC Student Center while still being visually aware of their surroundings.

Here are some more angles:



Having had critique on my design I have learned the following things to consider:
+ Aural qualities it may have. [i.e. what would it sound like on a windy day.]
+ When model making, simulate thickness in materials in more areas than just in the drawings.
+ Drawings need to simulate more shadows to give the viewer more of a sense of things.

A Title for Second Year...

I worked on a couple of design ideas for the title bar of our second year blog but all of them seemed to not turn out how I wanted. So instead I did this green and orange design attempting to compose the entire 3"x10" paper in an interesting way using green, orange, and black while also using linear and circular shapes.

A plan + 2 perspectives

Things due for Tuesday the 8th of September:

Perspective looking at the south wall of my space.

Floor plan of my space with labels on the skylight and other fixtures that are in need of information.

Perspective looking to the north wall of my space.

[Models] Literal to Abstract

In exploring the 3D aspect of my drawings I began with a very literal interpritation of the painting itself. I knew what I wanted to occur interaction wise with the structure and who would be interacting in it but the form it would take alluded me.


As seen a above, it is easy to believe that I was very much influenced by the focal point of the painting, the illuminated lattice screen form, my two were attempts at creating a form that was literal in order to gain more inspiration for the 3D affair. The concept of EDGE was thrown around but really whenever I tried to explain it I came up with contrast, which was one of the main elements I wanted to take into the painting.





Though I did not want to be literal in the least, this third image was one of my best designs and it was actually the one to help me come up with my concept. Not contrast, because its not a concept at all, but the idea of pinwheel and how the structure can use movement without really moving at all.

Urban Interactive Sculpture

Time to get the mind into gear, we have been studio deprived for a couple months during the summer break and our professors thought it would be beneficial to begin with a project thought provoking like that of our past projects to get us ready for the Nutrition Lab design project. Create an urban sculpture that can be placed in UNCG's campus and can be interactive for what every group of people you chose to cater to: [Also this must be inspired by one of the many paintings by the amazing Maud Gatewood herself from whom our building is named after.]

Here is my painting:

Maud Gatewood worked alot with both colors and shapes from everyday living to landscape, of the many more colorful and engaging pictures I chose this specific one because of the contrast between light and shadow. The painting is about 90% darkness and 10% light which is shown from behind a lattice like screen, giving the painting an almost ominous or anxious tone when really examined. I wanted to take this stark contrast of light and dark being manipulated and tweak it into my own design.

My Place: The concrete walk between the fountain area and the Quad dorms for upperclassmen.
My People: Freshmen-Senior classes, basically any student living on campus since the concrete walk is a essential pathway to and from the side of campus where classes are and dorms on the latter side.
My Thoughts for Interaction: creating a social pass through or gathering and perhaps creating an area for seating.

Main thoughts on my mind were being able to create a structure that would permit a place for people to meet and maybe even chat between classes or going to their dorms to study. I wanted the structure to

I was told to think in terms of lines in the painting for inspiration.
Think about voids in space in the painting.
To think beyond the colors in front of your face.

Sketches while thinking about these terms:



The what was our next design in the process to 3D design of models.

Its a [Joint] Effort to [Plan] Ahead...

After working the perspective from last week we were commissioned to make a plan view of that same room showing the north side of the room as well as a study area complete with chair, desk, and bookshelf. We also had to indicate lighting in the room.


Due today as well is the "Joint" subject assigned for the weekly competition: So You Think You Can Draw? I decided to observe an object that could be a joint or connection in studio and quickly picked my trusty old desk lamp with it's interesting joints and connections that hold it to the desk and swivel it around to preferred angles. The technique used is a combination of cross hatching and hatching to show hierarchy in the image and to show light and dark points.


Enjoy!