Hand and CAD Sketches

One of the reasons I started taking ID classes was to improve my skill with hand drawing. Early on, though, I found it easier to focus on SpaceClaim models to flesh out the basic “feel” of Imposing. The advantage of the CAD model is its speed; I could very quickly move through a large number of forms, tweaking details effortlessly. I didn’t have to worry about my hand sketching technique, and I could just work right through a bunch of ideas. Here are a few example sketches.

Physical Models

Here you see one of the SpaceClaim models, created in paper. Blake wrote an add-in that unfolds the model into a flat pattern, that I printed out and put together to see what it looks like in real-life. It wasn’t the easiest to assemble, as I printed it to fit entirely on one sheet of 8.5″ x 11″, but it came out rather nice.

I had an assortment of blue foam mock-ups, many of which I did not take pictures of. Some were based off of the CAD models, so were completely independent explorations. I probably spent more time on the CAD models, but there is something very valuable about crafting the physical prototype and being able to turn it over in your hands.

I feel that you understand the shape to a much greater depth if you have constructed it. Working with foam is also largely a subtractive process, taking material away from the blank block you start with. Working in CAD can both add and subtract, which adds a lot of flexibility, but you still begin with an empty workspace and build up. It is surprisingly different to build via addition rather than by subtraction, and I think each can lead you to quite different results, even with the same goal.

At this point, we were finally given our noun. I’ll cover that next time.

To begin with, I started by picking three adjectives to look at: sophisticated, dynamic and imposing. For each I created an image board, compiling images that characterized the adjective.

Sophisticated

For “sophisticated” I focused on two things, the elegance of nature in birds and flowers, and high-class items like violins and chandeliers.

Dynamic

“Dynamic” was all about motion. I included images of objects with high energy, like amusement park rides and fireworks, along with fluid motions. Waves are the definition of dynamic.

Imposing

To me, “imposing” relies heavily upon a concept of scale. Large things impose upon smaller things. Other than size, I found a sense of “vertical”-ness; tall and top-heavy objects seem to be imposing.

After creating the three image boards and defending my choice of imagery in class, I decided to run with Imposing. The next step was to proceed with hand sketches and sketch models of generic “imposing” forms, still without focus on an actual object.

The first thing to do was select the materials. I began by looking at many different materials, finding images online, as well as taking my own photos, including water, metal, rubber, plastic, paper, felt, and even butter.

Once I began looking at butter, my mind started cruising through all sorts of foods, which may not be the first thing you think of when asked to pick a “material”. It is interesting, however, how many foods have such characteristic textures and behaviors. It wasn’t long before I settled upon taffy:

I especially liked how dynamic and energetic taffy seemed on the pull. It seemed like the perfect material to illustrate a wide range of interactions. From here, it was time to explore with some sketches, both 2D and 3D.