DESIGN VISUALIZATION 110

This semester I definitely learned a lot. I learned the expected things like how to successfully draw many types of architectural drawings, how to scale a line down, etc. I also learned the best type of pencils to use in different drafting situations, the best way to sharpen those pencils, the way to hold them...I learned that masking tape and drafting tape are definitely not to be mistaken for the same thing. I learned that staring at the same paper for hours can make your eyes do crazy things.

While my drawings weren't usually up to the high standards set, I know that I worked hard this semester (ask my roommates...they had to make sure I was still alive sometimes I was gone so much!). I've discovered that it's pretty near impossible to get a high A, at least for me, but with more practice it'd be an easier goal to reach.
 Speaking of practice, I've had much practice doing observational drawings this semester as well. We started out drawing leaves...then came twigs...and so on. I wish that I had spent more time on EVERY drawing...I think it's probably evident in my sketchbook which drawings I took time on and which ones I didn't. While I'm by NO means an expert sketcher, I think that my drawing abilities definitely improved. I'm better at shading for sure.

I think that this is one of my most successful drawings from my sketchbook. I took more time to get this one right and I think it turned out well. 

I'd be lying if I said this was my favorite class ever, but I can say I'm definitely taking a lot away from it!

MOST MINIMAL

In drafting, we've been working on figure drawing for the past couple of weeks. This drawing is from a day that we all took turns in modeling and sketching each other in groups. We had 10-15 minutes for each drawing and by the end of the exercise we each had 2 drawings on our papers. At the end, we all posted up the better of our two drawings and the class voted on different superlatives such as best line quality, craziest style, etc. My drawing here won "most minimal" and you can see why!

TIMED FIGURE DRAWINGS

We were split up into different groups and each had to go to the center of the circle and pose for us to draw them. For group one we had to draw them as abstract line drawings. We had 5 minutes to sketch.

For the very last drawing, half of the room stood up and we had 3 minutes to draw everyone as contour drawings. It was hard because they all kept moving but this is about half of the group.

So we were told to choose three of our most successful sketches and post them on our blogs. These are the three that I think are the best so far...

This sketch, like all of the others, was done in graphite. I drew it at home looking at a picture from the Internet. It probably took about 20 minutes.

This sketch I also drew from a picture on the Internet. It took about 15 minutes.

This sketch took no time at all but I think it turned out pretty well. I think I just free handed it.

We also were told to look through 2 of our classmates' sketchbooks and pick our favorite sketches...

This one, done by Anuj, really struck me. His shading techniques make the leaf look weathered and it has a thickness to it. It's really well done.

This one was done by my fellow Anna. I like the way she varied her line thickness and shading to show the great texture of the twig. 

PICTORIAL DRAWINGS

This is just a taste of what we've been doing in our design visualization class...

First, we practiced working with the different types of pictorial drawings...This is an isometric view.

This is a plan oblique.

This is an elevation oblique. Overall on the pictorial drawings the only real problem I ran into was my line weight accuracy. Other than that I think I did pretty well on them.

Then we had to pick an object from our apartment/dorm/house and bring it in and draw three orthographic views of it. I don't think it looks perfect but I think it looks pretty good.

Finally, we had the option to take our object or use the "SB Seating System" and draw it in the three pictorials. My curves were a little off and my line weight wasn't perfect but I think I did an alright job. 

So for our design visualization class we've been keeping an observational sketchbook. We're supposed to be sketching different things each day and at first we started sketching a leaf a day. This one is the best out of the ones I've drawn, I think. I actually found it online and drew it at home in my apartment. I don't really consider myself to be very good at drawing and I've been trying to get better by trying different techniques. Here I tried rubbing. I think it was fairly successful but I still have some work and practice to do...

WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION?

I'm inspired by so much...clothes, dishes, furniture, tv shows, people. The things I find most inspiring are photography and buildings. Photographs take us places, show us new things, show us old things in a new light... Buildings are tall and structured. They can be old and classic or new, shiny, and modern. Inspiration is everywhere.