Graphics Exploratory Day 1-Collage and painting

Collage in Progress.
Using Emily Davidson a feminist who died trying to get women the freedom to vote was the basis of my collage. I think that it is defiantly important to appreciate the sacrifice Davidson and many suffragettes went through in order to give woman in Britain the same rights as the male equivalent. I feel that using Davidson will give me a strong foundation to create something powerful.

 

Finished collage
Above you can see a collage I created in class using little triangles of different sections of people's faces. I decided to use Emily Davidson as the foundation of my collage because of the strong female power which radiates from her being. I went on to add other famous women such as the queen and other Olympians. The triangle has been used a lot throughout my weeks and therefore is really fitting here. I like the way the other pieces join up but yet still creates an abstract look. I really like collaging at the effect it gives once it is complete I am going to create another image like this. The next stage after this creation is to make a painting using a viewfinder which in turn will create another design. If I could change this in anyway I would try to abstract it more so it looked not like a human, however I still think it is successful because it is really interesting to look at and it makes you want to focus on the different parts of the faces. Furthermore another thing which I would change if I could would be perhaps taking away the flowers from the hat as I feel they do not do that much for the collage and takes away from the actual face.

Image of the viewfinder section of my collage which I am going to paint

Above you can see the painting I used with the viewfinder as my guide. You can see with the collage next to the painting the scale of the painting in comparison to the small section I chose to paint. I like my finish painting- however if I could  change anything I would most likely like to choose a more abstract section of the face in order to make a more effective and abstract painting. However all in all I think my panting is really successful and allows me to transform the meaning of the collage completely infact it has transcended into a different image completely. The challenge which I faced when creating this piece was trying to blend and paint efficiently. This was because I had not painting in several months and forgot how to carry out painting once I got into it however my piece was able to form until the finish piece was complete.

 

Graphics Exoploratory Day 1 The drawing exercise

Drawing with our eyes shut 
To the left you can see one of my finished drawing, the task was to stare at someone for thirty seconds and then with our eyes closed draw them from memory. It wasn't just the memory fact that was challenging but having our eyes closed and not knowing where our markings were on the page. I tried to overcome this by creating a plotting guide in my head. I actually really like the finished drawing created with willow charcoal. The design does actually bears resemblance to the girl it was meant to do therefore I was really successful in this task. The only thing I was unhappy with was the pair of two eyes but in its own way it looks really interesting. The drawing is really centred something I find hard doing with my eyes open so this really surprised me. If I was going to develop this more I would play about with applying colour or overlaying another portrait in the same way that this one had been created. This could ad another element to the already unique drawing.


Drawing with my left hand
The next task we were asked to do was draw a portrait of someone with our left hand. This is something I have done before so therefore I had a limited amount of experience. The finished piece is to the right. I am really happy with it, at the beginning I was struggling to make harsh enough strokes but the more I did it the more I was able to create the tone I wanted. I used a graphite pencil to make the marks, maybe If I had chose a darker material such as a marker or something like that it would have been more prominent. However the graphite sticks created an elegant look for the portrait which is really fitting for the person therefore it worked out really well capturing her character. One thing I am not too happy about is the way it is small on the page I wish I could have made the picture a lot bigger to feel the page. Overall I really like this piece and using my left hand is something I am going to consider more of in my work.

Drawing with the pen in my mouth

This was a task I had never done or ever thought of doing so at the beginning it was really hard to gain control of the pen in my mouth however in the same way as my left hand drawing I got used to working in this way. The drawing was as you can see to the right is rather wobbly and even quite square at some points, however I did draw a resemblance to the girl I was meant to and therefore this means I was successful. If I could carry on with this piece I would spend more time making the marks. However as my first time ever doing this I am really pleased and really enjoyed the exercise. I feel I was successful because I drew likeness to the portrait, the medium that I used here was a black felt tipped pen which made the bold marks.

 

 

Continuous line self portrait
To the right you can see a self portrait that I did using a red felt tipped pen a really bold colour. I wanted to make the design stand out so I chose this colour. I have down continuous line a lot but I don't like this picture I did, if I could redo it I would make it a lot more loose and perhaps add more detail in some places. I didn't get to finish the hair however a lot of people gave me positive feedback and said it looked like me a lot. However because I do not like this piece I am going to redo the piece with a longer time frame as well to see how I can improve the technique. I really like the eyes however on the drawing as they are really striking.

Above you can see an ear which we did of the person next to me. The green one was me I created this using felt tipped pens and water, I love the mix of the medium and it worked really well. If you look at the green ear the one I did you can see it is one of the brightest however it gets lost in the other ears because it is really small. I did realise this when I did the drawing to begin with however it was too late for me to redo the ear. Other than this I am really happy with the ear, the exercise let me realise how I could focus on something you don't really think about.

A video showing me carrying out two of the drawing exercises.

Summary of the week 3D Exploration week

This week revealed quite a lot for me. After doing the week I have realised that the 3D Pathway isn't for me. Although I found all the task really fun and thought provoking I did not get the same connection I did with the other courses therefore I feel this week has been really helpful in helping me discover what I will be doing in the near future. All the tasks that I carried out was really interesting and very hands on throughout the tasks there were many obstacles and I had to think carefully what to do especially the tasks we didn't had to design. I did find certain tasks harder for instance creating the bottle holder because I had never before thought/seen a way to support a bottle before. Although I liked all that I made not all of the things I created  was functional and performed the tasks that they were meant to. If I could re work these outcomes I would be able to see where they went wrong and improve it.

During the task process I received a variety of comments from staff and student. Some were positive and others realistic allowing me to look more in depth at a task I was doing at the time. This was most obvious when I was trying to build a structure for two people with another  student. The tutors and students doubted the way it stood which in turn made me and my partner think about how we could physically look better. During the bridge making task the tutor really liked my idea of making a mechanical lever that would allow the bridge to  come up and down via a twist motion.  Because of his enthusiasm and interest it did pushed me further to see how I could best demonstrate this- In the end it was successful.

I think that the bridge that we created in class was successful because it was different from all the others in the class. We were the only ones to try a multifunctional bridge that went up and down. On top of that many of the class and even some of the tutors didn't think our bridge would work and when it did it made us feel proud of what we had accomplished. The spaghetti construction was more successful than my other creations because I feel I had more time to plan and sketch ideas. Certain aspects that I was not really happy with was the bottle holder at the beginning of the week  because I had no idea how to start the project and wasted time thinking instead of doing. This is something I need to consider when carrying out time management.

Because of  the challenges I have faced and outcomes I have produced I have gained a much greater understanding on how to think about a construction and human interaction with a product. This is something which is needed throughout  the pathway and therefore is a really important piece of knowledge.  The second thing I have learnt from my week at the 3D Pathway was the concept to design things using random inspirations such as a squiggle or dots. This was the first time I had ever carried out anything liked this and proved very helpful. It fuelled ideas and was a fun way to propel ideas when you can not think of anymore. Collaboration was another thing I learnt this week during the bride building  and chair support tasks. I was able to interact with other students and see how we were able to come together and think of different ideas. This is something I will defiantly be  using in the future and therefore was a good experience.

3D Exploratory Day 3 Spaghetti Protection and the basketball

 

 After creating the structures we were set the task to protect the constructions from pressure from above. This was the only piece of information given. As my structure has a sharp point it had a slight advantage but it obviously still lacked some protection. To correct this I took inspiration from the foam chips packed with fragile  products in boxes. After I made a 3D cone and slipped it into the structure I teared and folded loads  of pieces of paper and applied it into the structure. This took longer than I anticipated and I did not get enough time to consider the other parts of the spaghetti on show. This has allowed me to consider my time management and focus on creating something quicker in the time frame.

 

Below you can see a video that I created to show whether or not it was successful and as you can see it did not protect my piece. However the tutor said it wasn't bad which made me consider how I could have made it better. A lot of people worked over there structure If I could have had more time I would have built over the structure to enhance its protection. I have learnt from the ability to think of ways your product or item could be damaged. Although this doesn't really have that much in to do with the project it Is something I hadn't really realised I could do. This task allowed me to see how other students interpreted the brief differently and thus meant I could gain different ideas.

 

Above you can see a video that I made to document the test of my protection of the spaghetti construction. As well as my protection you can see everyone else's in my class which allowed me to see what protections worked the best and how I could have possibly done better. In the video I slowed down my 'attack' as it were to see the impact in a slow motion.

3D Exploratory Day 3 Spaghetti Construction Finished piece photographs

You can see in this show the symmetrical  look 
of the structure. This excites the eyes as well as the
perspective of the ball you are closest too.




Above are some of the shots from my finished  creations, I overall found this task really fun probably because I was more confident with everything I had learnt from my other constructions this week. I think that this is a really nice outcome, as a piece of architecture the piece is really nice and symmetrical, I could imagine the balls as different room pods. Taking a picture with the little man model demonstrates the scale of the piece of architecture. I really liked the shadow the spaghetti structure made on the wall and try to enhance this with light.

 A lot of people praise my creation which made me feel proud of the work I had created. This task has allowed me to see how much I could develop in a week and how much I can focus on construction and making the spaghetti sturdy. If I could redo this piece of work again I would probably make the piece more neat and more equal,  this would make  the finished creation look even more like a building. Furthermore making the structure look  neater would allow viewers to appreciate the design and not on the  messiness of the  construction. I think that the way I presented the balls on the structure was really interesting and successful. The balls  are symmetrical and emphasise the centre form tying the piece in nicely. The things which I found difficult was gluing the sticks together because a lot of the time they wouldn't stay and the glue would burn me. However I persisted and because of this was rewarded with a successful outcome.

Above you can see how I have used the construction to hold my personal items. Changing the balls to items makes the structure look like an actual product which could be used to hold items.

3D Exploratory Day 3 Spaghetti Construction Design and Progress

 

 



In order to create the Spaghetti construction there was a lot to consider and plan. First of all I had to analyse the material I would be using in order to make a stable enough creation which would hold the three balls. The spaghetti sticks were much harder to use that I predicted, they were delicate and broke easy when trying to bend it even the slightest. Furthermore I rested my hands on some sticks and they broke straight away. Because of this I knew I would somehow make the sticks more strong so during the process I joined a coupe of sticks so they were stronger. You can see this above. I used this structure because during my bottle holder stage a lot of the most stable structures were strong with a point or square looking form. Because of this I used this concept and decided on a piece that would make the balls look as if they were balancing. During the hot gluing stage I burnt myself several times and this made me consider precision in the future. I think the process other than this was successful as well as my time management as I was able to finish within the deadline and analyse if there was anything I could do to make the structure even stronger.

 

3D Exploration day 2 A short Video of the bridge

Above is a video which I created showing today's activity in 3D. This video I made means you can see how successful our bridge is because the car went over the bridge three times. I missed the first time it came over the bridge with my camera but this was the most efficient. The second time you can see shows the car on the way back over not as smooth as the way over. The last time you can see on the video shows the car  going over the bridge without the piece of cardboard as support- the class wanted to see how this would actually change the bridge structure and as you can see it did however the car still got over. As you can see we were successful in our creation and in this task. The first bit shows the mechanical lever that I made and thought of with help from another person in the group you can see how it allows the 'boat' through.

Photos overview

The day was insightful and allowed me to have my first large group collaboration. We were given instruction to create a bridge that would allow a toy car to go over it. This would mean the structure would be strong enough to do this but also high enough that a table('boat') could go under it. To do this we brainstormed in class in our group of six. Louise one of the people in our group came up with a concept on a piece of paper. After developing the idea in my sketchbook for everyone to see we
were able to start the progress of making.

We all allocated each other different task to carry out throughout the whole construction which made the task run smoothly and in time. However there was many problems that have occurred. The first one being trying to make the long sheet in the middle stay stable. We arise this problem by using the bamboo sticks to thread under and tape. Another one was making the draw bridge like bridge fold up and fold down again without the bridge snapping out of that tape it was doing every time we pulled it. I came up with the idea of creating a mechanical lever which would bring the bridge up and down whenever we wanted. I think this was a really nice touch and made as unique to all the other groups. I think we were successful in our creation because the car when over both times. However if we could improve our creation we could have made it slightly more stable because other bridges which I saw were stronger than ours.

Taping the many sheets together to create the main body for the bridge.

Cutting the bridge in half to allow the bridge to go up and down (let the boat through).

We began with the bridge taped higher than we finished. We realised the car would not be able to ride on the bridge so if you look below we taped the bridge to the table instead.

Adding bamboo to create a better stable bridge.

Louise and Stephanie creating the sign for the bridge.

Finished bridge without décor.

Showing the bridge going up and down. The leg on the bridge acts as the support when the car goes over the bridge.

A close up view of the lever mechanics. Twisting the horizontal stick meant the bridge would come up and then down when rotated the other way.

Above you can see the final creation.

Above you can see the flag/Poster that Stephanie and Louise created using glitter and illustration. The flag allowed them to stamp there style on the piece.

 

Below are some shots of the other group's finished bridges.

3D Exploratory Stage Day 2 Paper Bridges

Above you can see a starter exercise in order to get our minds thinking of different ways you can present a bridge. I tried to think of bridges that I had not seen which proved harder than what I thought. But using the first task we did on the first day which was making designs without knowing what I am actually designing, I thought of how to get over the water in an interesting way and forgot about the actual bridge concept.

3D Exploratory Day 1 The test

Above you can see a short video which I set up and filmed of me and my fellow student trying out our construction. I did not think it was going to work however I did have some hope because we had previously practiced and it had worked. I do know however that guessing it is ok is not enough to ensure a sturdy construction. But I feel that me and my partner used the time provided to try out many different ideas and concept which is why I feel I made use of the time we had. If we could improve this I would probably use more tape and add more poles because it previously didn't work. You can see when watching the video especially the point where it is joined by the tape. I think that the design itself is really unique and was completely different to all the other designs made and the box shape a lot of people tried to make. If we was to carry on this project we could have gone back to the drawing board and use what we have learnt to make a more stable piece.

3D Exploratory day 1

Construction 1

You can see the created structures place together which will ensure the piece is stable and will hold hopefully both me and my partner.

Above you can see how we try to keep considering compacting the structure in order to make it fit to the tried we are set. Simply folding the cardboard in half meant we could make the piece compact enough to fit under the bar we needed to.

Adding to layers of cardboard on top will make the structure more comfortable and efficient for users another element me and my partner was considering throughout the process. However when we tried to sit on this it proved hard because it was leaning over the edges and we weren't able to see where we should sit. We ended up ruining the top pieces of card and we had to consider a different way to use the cardboard to create a structure.

The problem that we had was that the tape would  not always stick to the cardboard which meant it would flap open consequently breaking the structures we made. In order to ensure that the tape would stick we tried to keep applying a goof amount.

Compact structure. Below you can see my partner trying to sit on the construction without the top but again this didn't prove successful and we needed to discover a new way to make the piece.

Construction 2 ideas as well as final structure

Our problem was that the structures were not as stable as we like when we sat on it. To overcome this we decided to roll up the cardboard up and position them so we could sit on it. Below you can see the different types of possible structures which would support both our weights remembering that we don't have to just sit we can also stand.

Above is the finished piece which we created in order to fit the brief. The next post shows what happened when we tried it and a more in depth analysis.