logs...

i drew these dogwood logs in one of our morning exercises and i really liked how they turned out. i also tried something new by putting some marks in the background just to make it more interesting.

ambidextrous drawing

for this assignment we had to draw our right hand with the left hand and vice versa. needless to say drawing with my left had was a challenge since im not left-handed. but it turned out a lot better than in expected.

a box for 12 twigs: continued

here is an iteration of my project that is close to the final product. instead of showcasing 12 individual twigs, i chose one that stood out to me (the one on the left). i thought of this as a twig within a twig, so i chose to mimic this with the other twigs. the twigs on the right are 6 twigs wrapped in bark (which i consider to be a twig...). the purpose was to create a display box for them.

a box for 12 twigs: the beginning

this was one of my first ideas for the twig project. i had 12 twigs that were all different from each other and i wanted to showcase their differences. the result was a cylinder with the twigs sticking through slits in the paper. this iteration was not very stable and it was difficult to get the twigs through the paper while still keeping a nice, clean shape. 

negative space exercises

the purpose of these exercises were not to draw the objects, but to focus on the space around them. at first this was a hard thing for me to do but i think i got the hang of it with more practice.

blind contours!

here are two of my blind contours. the one at the top was my first one... it's more expressive than realistic, but after looking at it for a while, i liked how it seems to be in layers. by the time i did the bottom drawing, i had gotten much better at being aware of where my pencil was on the page. 

a few things...

today we had interim critiques our 'box for 12 twigs' project. first of all, i thought it was a lot more helpful to critique in small groups rather than one big group. we got to look at each project and talk about it, rather than just looking at a few in the large group. a lot of the same issues arose with many of the designs. the most common one was justification of every choice made and how those choices specifically relate to the twigs. often we put elements in our designs because we 'liked the effect' or 'thought it was cute.' today's critique further stressed the point that everything in our design should be done purposefully and in response to the twigs. i think that once this effort is taken, then the project will be able to speak for itself. if the audience looks thoughtfully at the design, they should be able to understand what you were going for.

on another note...

in studio theory hour the topic was architecture 2030. the first statement that really caught my attention was 'we are a storm on the planet.' i never thought of describing our impact on the earth in that way. but it actually makes perfect sense. the damage done to this planet is growing out of control. to combat the destruction, ed mazria started the idea of AIA 2030 and the 2030 challenge. the challenge is to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings by 50% immediately, and continue reducing carbon until it is reduced by 100% in 2030. it is possible and there are many builders, designers, and others who participate in the effort. i also liked the idea of 'long life, loose fit.' this means designing buildings that function now, but will also be functional in the future despite changing times. it is great that so many people are coming together to reduce the damage. i am interested to see how the challenge plays out.

a box for 12 twigs: precedent study...

this building is called the melnikov house. i ran across it accidentally but it turned out to be perfect for my project. the house is cylindrical and has windows to show the inside... just like my design has "windows" to show off the qualities of my twigs. i also can relate to the way the windows are not in perfect vertical lines, but sort of alternating. my design has the same type of effect.

i LOVE this blog!

today in class our teacher suzanne showed us her sketchbook and mentioned that she had a blog. so i looked it up and fell in love! even thought i had a lot of work to do i couldn't stop looking at it. of course the drawings and sketches are great. she is extremely talented and creative... which i would hope since she is our teacher! :) but the thing that draws me to it is the energy behind it. it's like a peak into her life that i would never have known otherwise. it is obvious that she loves to draw and can find inspiration anywhere. it really made me want to do the same. so i would definitely recommend taking a look at it... i'm sure you will like it to! 

here's the link: www.suzannebuchanan.blogspot.com

a place for a leaf

our project was to design a place for a leaf that responded specifically to the leaf. the reason i chose my leaf was because it had two distinct sides... one was green and glossy, the other was brown and felt like suede. therefore i decided to make a design with two sides as well to showcase both sides of my leaf. my original idea was a hammock-like cradle that used weaving of two different papers. this project is better at reflecting the reason i selected my leaf in the first place.

Five Messes

this is my basket of hair products. i drew this one in pen just to try something new. i also wanted to work on what they say in class about drawing strong lines instead of hesitant ones. this made me more hesitant when i was drawing because i wanted to get the lines just right. but once i put the pen on the paper i was forced to commit to the line, which was my whole purpose.

my second mess is my closet. i chose it because it had a lot of different things to draw. i also tried to draw single bold lines instead of the sketchy lines i usually do. it almost looks like a cartoon to me, which i like.

this is the first mess that i chose. it is my tote bag that i take to class everyday. out of all of my messes, this is my favorite one. i have my laptop, some pencils, triangles, crackers, and lotion in the bag.

random things

these are the five most interesting things i had in my purse... sunglasses, lip gloss, a pair of bracelets, scissors, and an ID pouch. my favorite things are the lip gloss and the sunglasses. the sunglasses and the pouch took the longest... the sunglasses because it was hard for me to get the shape exactly right... the pouch because of the detail with the pattern.

lettering exercise...

upside down man

i know this man is not upside down now, but the assignment was to draw him upside down. this was a challenge for me because it is natural to rely on previous knowledge of what body parts and other objects look like when drawing. it is hard to do that when drawing upside down! instead i just had to focus on drawing the lines that were right in front of me.

this is our first assignment in studio class. i was nervous about it at first, but i'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.