A Cup Of Latte

Starry Night

2011-12-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

Lighting Diagram

2011-09-29T08:13:00.000-04:00

Fabric/Lighting Assignment

2011-09-29T07:49:00.000-04:00

1. Computer Lab

Digital Work
Ambient Lighting - Fluorescent tubes

Effect: Cool whitish light
-Visually cold but helps maintain colour accuracy from looking at lab monitors which are also cool

Velvet:
Lighting distorts colour
Doesn't help the red accents
Fabric Looks Brown

Rib Knit (yellow)
Bright
Appears more orange than yellow

Terry Cloth:
Blue/purple

Denim:
Very blue hue but vibrant
looks darker than naturally lit space; like studio

Recommendations
Warmer colour temp would be more inviting but might conflict with colour temp of computer monitors
variety in directional lighting, less overhead light

2. Tate Street Coffee
Task Lighting pendants
Also Flood lights

Effect:
Warm/inviting more so than fluorescent
Bright
Feels more intimate/cozy

Velvet:
Red hue has more vibrance
none of the accents are lost

Rib Knit (yellow):
More yellow/golden
Much warmer than lab

Terry Cloth:
Appears bluer
colour softer

Denim:
Not as rich blue
colour muted
natural looking

Recommendations:
Need more lighting over tables in middle
People preferred tables with better lighting

3. Parking Deck
High pressure sodium-Ambient Light

Effect:
Terrible colour rendering
washes out all colours

Velvet:
Appears borwn instead of red
Dark with all details washed out

Rib Knit (yellow):
Still yellow, lacks golden hue
still more consistent than others

Terry Cloth:
Washed out
Has a purplish tint

Denim: Also washed out

Recommendations:
Ceramic Metal Halide may preform better and render colour better.

Lighting Model

2011-09-15T00:07:00.000-04:00

My groups light model opted to create a large space electrically lit with a series of can lamps which mimics the appearance of a night sky. The idea being that constellations could be formed by the lights to divide the space. The light cast by the the 'stars' produces a striking effect not just on the ceiling plane but when put under more intense light intricate shadows can be seen on the wall before ultimately diffusing further down, thereby drawing the eye.

Group Marketing Packages

2011-04-07T02:16:00.000-04:00

More graphic work this time around the work from a mock firm competition the third year students are entering. The students of Professional Practice had to produce a series of graphics for the students. I personally contributed with creating a graphic standard and most of the graphics that were produced for the actual project.

I stipulated, fonts, colours and layouts of the brand for the mock firms. The third year students will use these materials in May in Chicago for the actual competition.

The Actual branding document,

Flux 35 Branding Business

Bios of the mock firm's staff,

flux_35_bios

Pro Practice Essay

2011-03-31T12:49:00.001-04:00

Below is a copy of the essay I wrote for my pro practice lecture. It examines starchitecture and famous buildings and whether they truly fulfil the purpose of architecture or reflect poorly on the profession.

lahti_propracticeessay_310311

Assignment 2.0 Personal Marketing Package

2011-02-18T13:02:00.000-05:00

Having now handed in my personal marketing package to Travis for Professional practice, I suppose that I should post it here.

lahtiportfolio2011-2

We also had to produce a few other, documents like CV and a leave behind for actual interviews, however, these things have a lot of personal details on them and this being the internet, I think I may withhold them from my personal blog, maybe when I get an actual website up and running.

Vance Chavis Library

2010-12-13T12:21:00.000-05:00

So its been awhile, below you will find some details on my Autumn term project. The projects premise was a class wide project to come up with an idea for the tentative renovation of the Vance Chavis Branch of the Greensboro Public Library.

Ultimately the design culminated in a complete building redesign. Our class was divided into groups which, each designed a space within. My group was the atrium group and below are some of the things we came up with.

Perspective looking South

Perspective Looking East

Perspective Looking South West

umm... England?

2009-10-04T09:41:00.005-04:00

Right so George Quan is demanding I update this blog.. so here you go... Basically my summer was spent largely on the phone, in court rooms and in other countries so I dont have much to speak of when it comes to drawing... I do however have a ton of photos from various excursions in the UK presently... But first drawing I apologize for the poor quality I do not have a scanner and couldn't make it to the uni to scan in the lab today.. but I'll try to get in there some time this week..

I had a 6 hour layover in Boston on my way to Manchester and the terminal I was in had a gorgeous view of the Harbor so I tried sketching it...

This was just a quick perspective thing I was showing the year one students at a pub during a trip to the Cheshire Plain

Last week we went out to Rivington Pike and these are just some quick sketches as we were climbing the hill and I was falling behind so their quality is... not really very good but it was really just to get an idea.

Now since I've been here we've explored the Cheshire plain and Rivington Pike, the Pike being the actual site of our current project

This image comes from the Cheshire plain, its abit foggy, as expected but way off in the distance is Manchester more specifically you can just barely make out Beetham Tower Manchester's tallest building.

The view on our Asecent up Rivington Pike. Still rainy and misty as you can see...

This is a tower at the top of the Pike, the pike is on the end of the Pennine Moors which divides the Eastern and Western parts of England. At one point the very hill was used as a stage of a beacon warning system to alert the English to an invasion by the Scots.. Just as a quick note, the view is allegedly second to none in England and on a clear day you can see Blackpool Tower and Liverpool Easily.. However the weather conspired against us and we could see only mist and more mist.. in fact at the top it was almost like being in the midst of a smoke screen as you could see absolutely nothing beyond the top of the hill.. Not really relevant but pretty funny... I've got a book to make for tuesday so I suppose I'll update again once thats finished..

The Storehouse: a hipster haven

2009-05-06T02:53:00.001-04:00

Our final project of Second year was to design a series of open loft homes using a univeristy owned warehouse. The homes had to fit in a footprint within 900 square feet and should feature sustainable ideas and materials. My design took to a very contemporary approach, with a loft I thought the best solution would be then to have very few walls sepearating spaces but I still wanted to give some kind of separation, so materials and textures were chosen to mark these changes. The floors were largely concrete with certain areas given bamboo flooring to mark out those spaces, this was noticable in the kitchen and in the loft if self. On the cieling drop cielings are used to show these changes in space with a large drop over the kitchen while 3 smaller arched cieling fixtures mark the transition into the living space. To mark leaving the public areas of the home the stairs use a series of 1x3" boards layered with each one alternating between a natural stain and a black paint.

These stairs created a nice statement in the space they inhabited and gave good transition from the concrete metal and brick public spaces to the wood private space.

Upstairs in the loft their are two main sections the sleeping space and an outcrop which in this case has been designed as a home office. The outcrop was designed to seperate the occupant physically but still give them a connection as they can view all around them down into the public space or up in the loft space. It is both isolated and yet integrated with what is around it. the floors up here are made with bamboo flooring in two stains spice and natural.

In order to keep the occupants from falling their is a railing going around the perimeter of the loft. The design of this sticks with the contemporary feel I was trying to establish and is very industrial, not to mention recyclable thanks to its aluminium construction.

Celestial: A place to bathe

2009-03-06T06:15:00.000-05:00

With spas and health clubs becoming increasing staples of contemporary society in addition to the growing universal design fundamentals it was only a matter of time until both ideas combined. This design is for a bathing space that can be used by both the able bodied and those who may be bound to wheelchairs. The space itself is divided, one being a more private pool with extra attention from attendants. This is designed for those who may need extra help, are embarrassed or simply seek a little privacy.

The larger pool located, opposite a partition wall is intended for 5 or 6 and also features accessibility to those in wheel chairs. However sitting in a pool in a wheel chair is hardly therapeutic and this space encourages one to leave the chair, to float or simply soak in the water.

Looking up towards the ceiling reveals a series of elevation changes marked with blue undersides, this form is an abstracted idea of water falling and encourages thought with its simplistic pattern.

Light is prevalent in this space with large windows allowing views to the outside but also allowing in much needed light which gives extra character to the space from the shadows cast.

The perspectives from the water may seem limited but they actually direct the view upwards either out the windows or towards the ceilings extrusions.

Attendants will be present at the bath to assist those in need of assistance but will also leave those seeking independence to do so at the guests discretion. With a single entry into the baths via the ramps it eliminates the implied segregation of those who are in wheel chairs and those who are not in addition the fact that the user leaves the wheelchair they may be bound to also removes that segregation.

Below are various drawings including the plan view, ceiling plan, wall section and elevation.

A Place to dine

2009-03-01T12:53:00.003-05:00

My most recent studio project was to create a place to dine in addition to the table present in the space. My table balances itself delicately on one leg. The room itself is very inspired by the bauhaus movements and the international style which I felt related to the tables design.

Design Manifesto

2009-01-28T11:00:00.000-05:00

Design to me as always been about creating something sculptural that attracts the people to it in some way and encourages thought. Much of my design also incorporates a playful use of light. My design attempts to evoke an emotion through its features, these emotions vary depending greatly on what aspect the design is observed. By using light I want to use it to create different effects, which can be reflected upon and are never quite the same. This way the design is constantly changing and constantly creating new emotions for people to experience. Through repetition I create a sense of uniformity but by adding minor differences to each they each gain individuality to better reflect the diversity of the world in which we inhabit. Whether or not my design succeeds is left to the individual but as of now this is what I pursue when I design.

-Kevin Lahti 28/01/2009

Inspiration:
Tadao Ando: Architect
Creates monumental buildings and sculpts the spaces within them and also uses light to emphasize areas. Few erroneous details, all things serve a purpose either aesthetically or structurally, no one element may be removed and have the same emotion left.

Jonathan Ive: designer of the ipod
Elegant sculpture that maintains function in all aspects, nothing erroneous. A uniform device that is individualized by the user. Not well known but product is used everywhere and is one of the most recognizable items in the world.

Shelter|Bus an Unabridged Legacy

2008-12-03T17:34:00.007-05:00

With the conclusion of my presentation of my Star|Network Shelter|Bus project I am over come with joy and even still disapointed. I really feel like I didnt accomplish what I wanted to in my presentation, so much useful information had to be cut in order to squeeze everything into the four minute window established to save time. So tonight I regale you with everything including the left out stuff. After weeks of planning and research into the needs of my various clients I found myself leaning towards a series of devices that would assist communication. With this idea I began looking at networks and one stood out to me. The star network, this network of computers uses a single central node in order to connect all the others to the internet or a large office network. This same principle I decided was what I wanted to include in my Shelter|Bus. I wanted the Bus to become a central point that all the victims of hurricanes could go to, in order to get in touch with family, doctors, etc. and locate missing persons.
I realized that as we advance as a society our dependence on technology increases. So much so that every 2 years the amount of data stored on computers doubles. A frightening statistic, it means that in the near future this dependence will cause the community to deteriorate due to our increased introvertedness.
I decided then that the bus would need to serve as a gathering point while at the same time incorporating advanced technology to aid in the recovery process.
The Lack of light pollution in Eastern NC, provides a unique ability to see stars. When grouped together these stars form constellations. Just as constellations find geographic points within the sky, the facial recognition software within my shelter bus is able to locate missing persons.
Movement is inspired by my precedent the TGV 001 High speed locomotive found in France. In order to ease navigation through the space way finding has been implemented with the use of an LED powered lighting system that transitions from Green to orange as they go from public to private. In order to mark the entry ways to the Communications Kiosks and the Missing Person Location system are marked with a blue LED lights as well as a woven wall.
Along with the aforementioned facial recognition software this public area communication devices allow the user to communicate with family members, doctors, or anyone necessary via webcam, email and phone.

The computer within the private area allows the user to adjust the environment to suit their needs. Whether by making the glass opaque so lynn can pray or transparent so that Chi Chi’s bird Col. Clucker can be seen. Similarly to the contemporary computer photos, videos and music can be uploaded to the computer. By simply touching a photo similarly stored images can be accessed.

What I have just done is walked you through some of the major points of my design from the macro to the micro. This same principle is the over arching idea within my shelter bus where communication occurs on a micro and macro level.

Some Details of various bus features

2008-10-30T15:07:00.003-04:00

Below are the images from the Bus|Shelter project. Our design focused around a tai chi position called snake creeps down. The design took on a more direct approach to the sprituality of tai chi. This design has 3 different degrees of spirituality with the greatest set in the enclosed space on the very end. Although ultimately deemed to have a number of concerns with construction the form itself was widely liked. Lights within the glass panes lit up the space to allow for a bit more safety and one pane of glass was decided to be used to display valuable information related to the bus system of greensboro.

Bus|Shelter

2008-10-10T14:13:00.009-04:00

Having concluded the latest charette in our bus|shelter and shelter|bus community design project. I present to you my bus shelter from start to finish. Given my site out side the weatherspoon art gallery I knew I immediately wanted it to relate and therefore I thought it should be sculptural, this led to a series of forms which I played around with.

I was inspired by the architect Tadao Ando who uses concrete and light to create interesting effects using a very minute amount of material, I came to the conclusion that I would use concrete while using light as a focal point of some kind. Taking inspiration from the Ectasy of St. Teresa by Bernini I found a phenomena of light called Zodical Light in which a wash of light goes up into the sky to a very fine point. I decided that this would be the effect that would recreate with my design.

With my concept and ideas I began to build my model

As you can see I took a very modern approach with a bit of minimalism as I wanted the form really to be what attracted the people. On the interior of the triangular wall are a series of glass prisms that will reflect the light and recreate the effect of the Zodiacal light.

These details illustrate a few of the minor details but are important none the less. One shows how the shelter is secured so it will not collapse or fall over the other shows how to keep the glass protected from the concretes expanding and contracting in tempreture changes.

Finally I prepared a contextual illustration of the bus shelter as it should appear in its site.

A bus for relief workers

2008-10-03T16:09:00.000-04:00

after 44 hours of being awake continuously to finish I can say that I am satisfied with my design for the bus for relief workers that I have just finished. To aide those who dont know, I am uploading my boards so that you can share this experience. I cant really think of anything to add that isnt on the boards.. but I suppose its okay to just add the drawings were done with markers and colored pencil.

A post card to Jay Lennartson

2008-09-29T12:51:00.002-04:00

Dear Mr. Lennartson,
My thanks for your taking time to come and speak with the Interior Architecture studios. I found your lecture albeit cut short to be show the true beauty of the earth. The images taken from space really were amazing to look at and I think gave a lasting impact to how we will design in the future.

Friday Sketching

2008-09-29T10:38:00.003-04:00

Anohter chance to work with perspectives, this time back in the EUC just like last term. Took a seat in the food court and set to work sketching, the people I took very gestrally I think not really illustrating the details as frankly, they were very far away.. Overall I'm happy with it.. enough to add some color.

Prècis

2008-09-26T10:43:00.003-04:00

Having finished our charettes for the shelter|bus and bus|shelter projects I give you my prècis of all the information. Use this in conjunction with other students work to give you an indication of what our studio is all about.

Sketching Away

2008-09-25T15:50:00.003-04:00

Right So, been sketching over the past few days trying to get some practice with shading, thicker lines to show depth and just perspective in general that we've been covering in Jake's drawing lecture. So below you'll see 2 of my better results.

This first one I shamefully did while jake was going over perspective so while I guess its bad I was sketching, it was relevant. I think the hatching really helped with this as well I think it looks pretty good and alot better than some of my past work.

This image I did quickly and small because it was shortly before my psycology lecture and thusly I had to make sure that I didnt miss it when he began to speak.

Just a quick post for now, will have a few more things to post shortly though. Patience is a virtue, even if I lack it.

A room with a view

2008-09-22T01:40:00.002-04:00

I've decided that I'd attempt to start another drawing series, hopefully this will have better success than my last attempts... but even still one day while looking out the window of studio and listening to eddie izzards "room with a staircase with a view and a pond" I got the inspiration to draw the building that stands out side of my window..

Advertising Charette

2008-09-22T01:31:00.006-04:00

In our final charette we have the oportunity to come up with all sorts of guerilla advertisements to publicize our projects. My group seemingly made some rather silly ideas that actually might be really interesting.. One such idea was the idea of a protest in which the protesters are protesting against iArcs involvment in the community. As highlighted in the image below

Over at the blog of Lily Glover you will find another idea of a viral video

Also at Katie Reynolds blog you will find our idea of a series of seemingly random words strung togehter into an attention grabbing system on a bus.

Finally on Kurt Huizenga's blog you'll find a rather humorous example of our fake arrest idea.

Table Saw (Jupiter)

2008-09-20T20:19:00.000-04:00

The table saw’s origination is based on the invention of the circular saw, which is believed to have been invented in the 1700’s or the 1800’s as lumber mills began to appear. The Table saw has since become a staple of any wood shop due to its variable uses. The table saw uses a circular saw blade as well as a motor which spins an mandrel which results in the blade spinning at high speeds to cut through wood. The table saw is used to cut wood in straight lines or at an angle. Many table saws of the 20th century have similar features including a fence to keep wood straight as well as having many safety features. Specifically the Rockwell Model 34-400 was made of cast iron. It also featured guide holes so the operator could cut the wood at a 45, 30 etc. degree angle The table saw has over time become the main feature of a wood shop and is the most common saw type in small wood shops.

Comparisons:
Much like the library table both appear very heavy and share a relatively flat top. The library table appears heavy simply due to its box like shape with few voids similar to the table saw which has few voids beneath the tabletop. These characteristics also give the two a very similar shape and scale.

Contrasts:
The table saw is made of cast iron and is therefore very heavy however the fire screen by W.A.S. Benson is also made of metals (copper and brass) but is designed in such a way to appear very light and therefore appears to be almost made of something completely different and yet it does little more than its designed function similar to the table saw.

Adventures in Advertising

2008-09-19T13:59:00.002-04:00

It just speaks for it self, watch it and find out

Codes +

2008-09-19T02:45:00.001-04:00

An ergonomical analysis of the Bed systems in the shelter bus
An Erognomic and Proxemic view of the bench in our bus stop
An ergonomic layout of the operating theatre on our medical bus
A layout of the drivers seat of the buses illustrating the various measurements that would be optimal for our design
Quick analysis to see if anything was really within good reach of the desk for doctors on the medical bus.

Following our experiments with codes, ergonomics and proxemics a few issues of our designs have been revealed but I believe we have also learned something new about the way people are thanks to the research we preformed. For example we discovered that people are generally comfortable having a space of about four feet between them and people they do not know which interestingly enough has effected our original estimates as to how many people could use the benches provided in our bus stop. Proxemics also helped us to realize that in a counseling situation the distance between where the doctor and patient would normally sit may in fact create a little tension between them due to the discomfort felt. In codes themselves we saw a number of handicap accessible features are not built to code to better allow the mobility of handicapped people.
I would recommend to designers that one should never be opposed to any sort of change. In fact I would go so far as to say designers should embrace it, it may ruin some sort of element you sought but it could also create the possibility of an even better element to your design. Codes may seem like a burden but they exist to help make sure that no one is left out and if you have a great design would you really want to leave some one out really? I believe we will all be effected by codes at some point or another, at some points we will mash our teeth and react bitterly over it and other times I think codes will help us form a better connection with the people we are actually designing for, everyone is different and your architecture needs to be able to react to that, other wise it will be a failure and it will lose its intent.

Container Charette

2008-09-17T10:10:00.009-04:00

My Group decided to focus for our charette for a shelter bus on shelter and Medical Care. I was more interested in the Medical Care aspect so I was really involved in that design. We selected a bus made by Motor Coach Industries due to its size and various modifications they allow to be preformed while the bus is actually being produced. Below are some renders and photographs of some of the work of this charette.

Our idea focuses on literally a mobile hospital complete with triage, phramacy, couciling, an ambulance and even an operating room.

A break down of the space from a plan view, the operating room is in the back and is located near the medicines of the pharmacy, this operating theatre is designed for common surgical procedures.

A perspective view of the operating theatre.

Since we anticipate that people will likely need access to counciling we added a design for a councilng center and doctors private office so that, doctors may have a space for administrative duties but will also have a private place where a counselor may help those who need counseling get the help they need.

A side view of the bus shows the division of the surgical section from the office.

An idea we enjoyed was the idea that their should be some kind of vehicle that could be dispatched to retrieve those people who were unable to make it to the bus. We were able to actually find a bus that had enough space to store a small vehicle as well as the tents needed to set up the recovery and triage area

The bus/hospital after everything is set up, the tent on the right represents a recovery and triage area where a multitude of paitients can be kept until they can be released. The Bus takes on a headquarters roles in a disaster situation in which only the major operations need take place while giving the resources to the doctors and nurses who work to help those who need it.

A plan view of the entire complex once fully set up, this sketch was actually a jumping off point for the whole unit. Heather Link worked with me on the medical bus and she has some more information present on our design on her blog.

Our second bus was literally catering to sheltering victims of a hurricane and that information can be found at Katie Reynolds blog as well as Kara Petrisko's blog.

Kings Group Charette Interviews

2008-09-15T00:58:00.004-04:00

The interviews from the charette started on friday

As apart of our research for the bus/shelter client charrette we were sent out to get the opinion that matters the most. The city bus riders. Our group set out for the nearest GTA bus stop and when we got on we asked the lady sitting next to us if we could interview her. She said "yes." but she wished to remain anonymous. Thinking she was about to get off at the next stop, Kara quickly sketched her. She had short gray hair, glasses, and appeared to been in her sixies. We found out that she rides the bus everyday to and from her job as a Gulford County School teacher. She said it takes a about an hour of waiting and riding the bus every morning. At first she seemed a little shy, but as the ride she opened up a little bit and started talking about her children. When it was time for her to get off we thanked her for her time and went on our way to the depot.

So much work but worth it!

2008-09-14T01:07:00.003-04:00

I drew the ceiling the other day I suppose really because it looked intresting and I thought I might as well do a drawing, what more reason could you know.

I went ahead and drew out my final model of the bus shelter, we were discussing it and so I drew it out to I suppose stroke my own ego.

Another idea for a bus shelter I had, it mimics the 3 stained glass windows from the church across the street and is very sculptural to fit into the context of being nearby a museum.

I drew some peoples projects as well and I also having read through "Color Drawing" book I tried to draw the foliage as they recommened and I'm actually pretty impressed with how it turned out.

Quick sketch of what our site looks like from a birds eye perspective. Just so when I went back to work on my models later I could remember about the size things could be before they were running into buildings or streets.

Thats all I really have to show right now, Maybe I'll go out and do some more since everyone I know seems to be off doing something else this weekend.. but then again I can surely use this time to get fully caught up with some of the other million things I have to do in second year. Exhausting but worth it in the end, at least thats what I'm telling myself this for now!

A post card to Jenny Paige

2008-09-10T10:17:00.001-04:00

Dear Jenny Paige
I was excited to learn that the University dining services has switched to a compost-able type of plastic. While I was working at Duke University this summer they had also begun to switch over to compost-able plastic. I believe its made from some sort of corn product. One thing I was wondering about the council of students and faculty I didnt really get a clear understanding on what it was they do. Do they help come up with the initiatives or are they the ones strategizing how to bring all these sustainability ideas to other Universities? Thank you for taking time to come and speak to our department.

Adventures in Public Transport

2008-09-05T11:09:00.004-04:00

3.36 PM as I wait in the sun at one of Greensboro’s bus stops. Which I feel is not really a bus stop so much as it is... a street lamp with a sign no seating and no shelter from the 91 degree heat in the middle of August. With a bus scheduled to arrive at 3.45 PM I was honestly not expecting anything special. I’m no stranger to public transport because I actually find that public transport can be a very easy way to get to work or school in the summer especially when the price of petrol reaches a $4.15 peak as it did this past summer. I took this time to read through some of the reading placed online. Segregation is often taught in school and it seems if you dont know what’s going on you’ve probably been living under a rock.
Finally at 4.05 PM my bus arrives and I can join the masses enroute to the bus depot. Its crowded, I choose to stand as I am not one to really enjoy having my personal space. However inevitably I was told to sit down and found myself in the midst of society.

People of all walks of life. On one side I was having a pleasant conversation about why people who are quite wealthy have begun taking the bus to avoid paying the high prices of petrol. While on the other side of me I was being lectured on how crack cocaine was safer when it was a powder and not the new kind which comes in stones apparently and how every cop in greensboro was taking bribes. Such interesting people you can meet on public transport. However the ever looming sign was just how many non colored people you dont see on public transport. At the front of the bus sits a sign in memory of Rosa Parks, and this is on every bus. But in all on a bus with 27 riders 6 were white. Most were black, many seemed to be quite content and were having a merry time.
However having read the reading I couldn't help but see how segregation was really just still around today, an unspoken part of our society. For example the people on the bus seemed to segregate themselves, many of the white people crowded together while many of the african americans took up seats nearby each other and didnt really talk to anyone. The Bus is a prime example of misconception, the stereotype of public transport in the States is dirty, unclean and something only the poor do. But in fact public transport seems quite clean, its cool in temperature and all around is a comfortable ride and surprisingly quick.
The reading was I felt to be a bit of another statement of just how segregated we really keep ourselves however I also feel that by constantly pointing it out we continue to lay the ground work to continue such behavior, almost as though if you hear something long enough you begin to think that it actually is normal its almost phycological.

Time is a factor

2008-09-02T20:51:00.003-04:00

So following our first week of lectures I think that if I have learned anything from this project it is the importance of time and that if, a majority decision is reached that you should not wait until 10 minutes before it is due to ask to re vote/redo the project. I feel that if something is voted on and a majority rules then it should be stuck to and not constantly criticised as it only leads to problems. The other thing I've probably learned is that in 56 designers their are way to many chefs working in the kitchen and not enough cooks.

S.A.T.U.R. DAY! Night!

2008-08-31T21:46:00.005-04:00

Right so its saturday and I'm bored so I'm working on some stuff that I started like a month or so back.. Frankly I think its all rubbish but other parties are telling me I ought to post it anyway. So off I go then... Over the summer I was lucky enough to acquire a Wacom tablet, which is a glorious invention.. anyway a friend was asking if people would attempt to draw the characters from the book he was writing.. well being that I need practice drawing people I decided to give it a go.. I read in one of my drawing books that if you want to learn to draw people you should look at comics and manga so I did and I've gone on a spat of drawing with that style.. so behold

This first image was sort of a roughing out of the characters shape and such, so I didnt really bother to get to involved in it..

This second one is a more refined idea.. I still dont really care for it but figred I'd post it anyway..

Pathways part 2

2008-08-28T23:32:00.009-04:00

To follow up with my original pathways post are my 2 final drawings for my group project. One is a node namely the corner or Elm and Mcgee where natty greens is. the other is a landmark, the Nathaniel Greene Statue.. Which by a staggering coincidence both involve the same person in some way.. odd, anyway, behold my creations please give me criticism. I tried a few things that I read about in "Sketching and Rendering Interior Spaces" which by another coincidence I bought last term for my own reference only to learn that one of my professors requires it for his lecture..

IAR 201: Path Vignette

2008-08-27T11:39:00.006-04:00

Our first studio project this term. Our project was to find our way from our homes to a location, I recieved the greensboro historical museum. Being that the museum is only a few blocks from my flat, I decided that wouldnt it be grand if I made a path that took one by all the historic sites of the downtown area of greensboro. With the end result of you arriving at the Greensboro Historical Museum.

Summer Drawing

2008-08-24T17:00:00.005-04:00

Right, I've been away now for.. A long time, a thick layer of dust has settled on my blog, but I'm back and I'm blowing all the dust away.. Now that I'm moved in to my new flat, as well as having a new scanner to scan in drawings I can finally get around to posting all the things I've been working on this summer.

First Up a Sketch of the Building I spent most of my time in, GSRB II on Duke Universities West Campus

A sketch of my once again messy desk, I did this one on a day when it was rainy and so I couldnt really bother to go out to draw unless I you know, wanted to be killed by rain.. But since I do not fancy death by rain I decided not to

Same day, rainy and dreary so I decided to draw the living room, the chair is the only thing I dont like about this drawing but ultimately I think it was to just keep me from being completely rusty when the new term began.

A friend and I decided to enter this drawing thing on a website and the first was to draw your favorite videogame character well I chose Joanna dark from the Game Perfect dark, unfortunately it looks like I did this drawing in the dark so lets just move on..

This drawing I spent 2 days on, really just 2 hours, because thats how long I had for lunch, its the building across from mine, and looks rather like mine, but thats MSRB I or II I cant recall, but it also houses the Human Vaccine Institute so go figure..

This was a drawing I did on my first day of work because they told me they didnt have anything I could do with out a computer and to occupy myself so I sat about and drew for abit...

This is one of the last drawings I did this summer as it was nearly time to move but its a co-worker of mine, hard at work.. I myself was not that hard at work but whatever..

100th Post! and Elsewhere

2008-05-07T21:19:00.009-04:00

How appropriate that my post for our project as elsewhere should be the 100th post on my blog! Thats right, must mean I've posted over 100 things that I've been working on over this past, suppose I should look back and reflect but I'll save that for post 101... Anyway, over the last few weeks of my drawing lecture with Suzanne Buchanan we have been drawing the museum Elsewhere in an attempt to map out certain areas of the space. This post will contain all the drawings I have done for elsewhere.

Day one at elsewhere we took 5 sticky notes and selected 5 objects to draw, mind you with our time limit I was only able to get one drawn while I was there.. but here it is

As you can see its a big scary looking mask. It just stuck out amongst the books. So later on I took this same drawing and gave it some color just for the fun of it..

Alas our main objective at elsewhere, was not to just draw, we were supposed to map out spaces we determined with duct tape. Well I'm no cartographer, and if I were I think I would fear mapping out elsewhere, everything gets moved around, constantly. However I did not let that stop me. After 2 days of sketching I had two which I liked, I decided that since elsewhere really is just ALOT of stuff piled up, I really just wanted to show how much you can see from various perspectives. I tried to cram as much stuff on the page as I thought I could with out losing the feeling.

As you can see, the drawings I tried to create a sense for just how tightly packed everything is. If you read the text in the second one you can see just how exhausted I was when I was drawing this, as my thoughts were clearly incoherent.

Using these two drawings I wanted to try something digital for my final drawings. Using the eraser tool and drop shadows I created two very different effects and then threw in some text that I think reflects my final opinions of elsewhere.

This first one I wanted to have a blue with a black outline to really show off the hatching to show light moving around over the objects, I dont think I truly succeeded in this respect but the effect is still really cool to me.

Now my second one I think turned out really good, and I absolutely love the white outlines on some of the edges, again I thought of how light was interacting in the space, and I bent the laws of physics a little bit to get some of the stuff underneath outlined as well but who's judging.

I didnt just fall into those two as my final finals, I had a few other attempts which I will post below, I didnt select due to little things I didnt like about them, but I still feel its good to show my process..

Room Renderings

2008-05-05T15:37:00.003-04:00

A Rendering we did in IAR 112 earlier this term

Not bad in my opinion, turned out pretty good and strikes me as being some of my best work this term.

Quick Post

2008-05-05T12:48:00.002-04:00

Nothing really to say about these drawings just stuff that accumulated in my sketchbook over the weekend.

Crit Week: Conclusion

2008-05-02T12:00:00.006-04:00

First year Critiques are over! I just finished presenting my work, however I was not just sitting around this week. I drew, quite abit actually so lets begin. Wednesday crits started and I set about to drawing my peers, projects and people

As you can see, I tried to get more people into the view this time, and I think it worked out pretty well. A few proportions out of place but all in all not a bad attempt. I didnt use any measuring technique either, a sign I may be learning to read proportion with out using my pen.

Just a few peoples projects drawn as they appeared on wednesday I've realized that my Micron pen is already running out, it seems odd to me that I should dry out so quickly, does anyone else see this problem or know of a solution?

Fridays, critiques revealed more projects with various curvy shapes. I also drew my initials in what I call Jazz Squares as they strike me as being jazzy. In no offense to others but I dont see curvy shapes when I think about jazz, I see curves just not to an extreme. There is still some geometry to them.

Also like my blue pen? I was getting bored of black and white drawings all the time. So I bought a blue pen to spice things up a little.

Crit Week 2 the revenge of the crit

2008-04-28T12:57:00.007-04:00

ITS CRITIQUE WEEK! The week when all the studios gather to judge everyones projects and make judgments to our own beliefs on our designs. Its also a great time to draw, especially when you need practice drawing people.. Big Crowds lots of overlap, it can get hectic (the drawing not the critiques. I got a few good drawings done today, one involving trying to fit everyone in my view into my space on my sketchbook.. I think I was moderately successful..

I think next time I will try to make the people fill up the whole page, just to give those who are reading this the sheer scale. There were probably close to 100 of us in our little tiny critique room. The rain was overpowering our presenters today, it was actually kind of funny, we had to stop for 10 minutes while we waited for a lull in the rain.

Just look at all those people, I myself am impressed with my effort you can really tell that their are alot of people between me and the projects being displayed. Certain people keep getting messed up because they kept fidgeting or someone would lean forward and block my view but I'd already be about half way through the person and not wanting to change the image, so I'd wait and then my subject would have moved anyway. Oh well! Still looks good to me

This is Ben Adam's Project, he designed a very interesting space for Rothko. I originally only intended to draw the project, but then the veil covering the stool it was seated upon began to call me, before I knew it the stool was too, and then the wall... and then the shadows so it pretty much became a whole scene, only his board is missing. I've been working with my markers so much I almost forgot how you can show contrast using just your pen, I was so ready to whip out my cool grays. By the way Suzanne I think you'd agree that the shadows were likely a cool gray number 1 today.. maybe a 2 in the darker spots.

In conclusion, now that I've finished my final project I'm happy to say that I reunite myself with my sketch book and have some fun. This year has been odd. I used to be incredibly bored, I'd simply play video games or talk to my friends. Now I love to go out and draw and look at the world around me. But this post has gone on far to long, and that big world is in need of documenting.

not quite mine but...

2008-04-23T21:27:00.003-04:00

So I've been busy working hard towards my studio deadline... 5pm Friday, its going to be grand! At least we have Beaux arts Ball on Saturday and there had better be a wild rumpus... thats what my ticket says anyway and thusly anything less is unacceptable.. anyway I have a purpose here... As of late I've been feeling kind of like, I have no style, and I realized a drawing style is not going to just fall into my lap. So I've been trying to take some time to pick up on a few drawing styles of others you know hodge podge it into a style all my own. Well those who know me know that I love video games.. and thusly webcomics affiliated with video games.. Well it just so happens two of my personal favorites have begun streaming their drawing process live over our incredible edible internet and I have been tuning into watch and learn from how they've been doing it. and now I thought I'd share that with my avid readers...

Scott Kurtz, author and artist of PVP Online, has been streaming his drawing process fairly often from what I can tell at Ustream

The other being the dynamic duo over at Penny Arcade, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins run the show Penny Arcade TV another Ustream program, which shows the creation of their comic from start to finish and often times will have a little Q&A session following for various techiniques into drawing by hand or using the WACOM tablet that I am absolutly dying to get my hands on... perhaps one day...

Anyway, I thought I'd share these links as I find that watching them is actually helping me understand how I draw a little bit better and while their styles may be a little cartoony for a designer it still helps to see the techniques being applied.

Stoels Ideal House

2008-04-20T14:57:00.001-04:00

Sketch up attack!

I've been playing with my markers again...

2008-04-15T22:54:00.006-04:00

As my title suggests, I've been coloring, really using marker paper, retracing drawings from my sketch book and using markers there, because I'm so afraid I'll ruin drawings that I like before I add color, thus far I've been kind of impressed with myself and my coloring. Let me know what you think, faithful.... reader (I'm convinced there is only one person looking at this, mostly because she has too.. HI SUZANNE!)

As you can see, my bench sitting, woman who looked angry has made her second apperance, this time in glorious Kevi-color! A new coloring system that is taking the world by storm.

I also have a colored version of a drawing that we did today at the EUC. From the second floor you get a really good view of the corridor where all those college organizations ask you to sign their petition, or give them more money.

Now its by no means as good as the work that Suzanne did but I do like it, and the color seems to have turned out pretty well. I believe the shadow from the column hitting the wall to be the most successful part. Cant wait to go back and try again, this time I believe I use a more technical perspective technique. I will not be defeated by a simple building.. Next time EUC, next time.

Everyday Objects

2008-04-15T22:46:00.004-04:00

For drawing class on Thursday we were told to draw everyday objects since our space renderings lacked well, signs of life... So I set out to draw what I could.

You have your tea kettle, quite frankly one of the most important things for a house

Your toaster, another important element to any home, for if you cant have toast with your tea what is the point?

Old timey radio, mostly just because I like how the old ones look as compared to the new ones.

Remote control, because getting up to turn anything on is just stupid..

and a phone, because well, people dont really seem to have these any more and who knows maybe one day my children will look back at this and ask me.. whats that? and I can tell an awkward story about a time when people didnt use Mobiles for everything

El Careton and more!

2008-04-09T17:09:00.004-04:00

Tuesday's class took a little excursion over to El Careton a fantastic place to get a bite to eat and a really good view from which to draw. This was the result of that adventure, as well as a few other drawings that were done earlier or later that day.

So we have here a less than happy looking woman and the Brown Music Building. I must say I think that despite my poor perspective I think it turned out well.. and dots make it look so much better, those dots will make a resurgence in drawings I did later as well..

Now these drawings are not really related to my drawing lecture but they use techniques I've learned from it so up they go..
Firstly we have a drawing of the capital building, I did not go to DC but I still ended up drawing some of its major landmarks, I think it looks pretty good, some scaling errors towards the center with the columns but turned out better than I thought it would.

Also got the Lincoln Memorial Drawn just for good measure, as it is one of the first things people think of when monuments are mentioned.

DC stands for Desired Challenge

2008-04-07T14:34:00.003-04:00

So while most of my studio spent the weekend faffing about in Washington DC I was preoccupied with my boy friend Wesleys, birth day. In particular this...
Since I cant usually afford to do expensive gifts, and because he never asks for anything, I decided I'd try my hand at drawing something and adding water color to it later. I must say I am pleased with the results. I know I need to do some touch ups, like erasing the pencil outlines and adding some highlights with colored pencil. Not bad for my 2nd time with water colors. So Wesley if you're reading this, Happy Birthday hope you really do like this.

*note if you see any typos it is most likely due to the fact my left index finger has been disabled due to a mishap involving an x-acto knife and thusly prevents good typing.*

Furniture aka I may as well be a catalog for IKEA

2008-04-01T23:11:00.002-04:00

So with our first experiements with assignments in color I must say, I am excited. Despite my little episode about my perspective flat. I am happy to say that I was very happy with the furnishings I drew. especially this first one here, the lovely bed done with water colors. For my first experience with water colors I think it turned out pretty well although I forgot about leaving white space to show where their was a lot of white, sorry susanne.

Next I did 2 chairs, one of which I chose specifically because it was called Patrik and I was reminded of our own professor Patrick, odd that I draw that conclusion. I like this one, done with makers on marker paper. I used warm grays on the shadows and think that it shows really good contrast on the cushions not exposed to a lot of light. And the shadow gradients over time to the full light hitting the seat which I really think makes it all the better.

Below it sits another chair this time a wooden chair done with colored pencil on bond paper. This one I'm not to happy with just because I see how much I do not like colored pencils, while they do show texture well its very difficult to show contrast. Perhaps I should have gone over it with gray scale markers first but again, I'm a forgetful person but now I'll be remembering these errors and correcting them.
On this final page we have a sofa and you guessed it a chair. The sofa is marker on ink paper. I think this is my worst of all 5 drawings because the ink paper did not really absorb the marker as it has no tooth and thusly made it quite difficult to get a nice even coat on, then areas that I went back over to try and make it even appear to contrasted. I do like that the paper is heavy and thick but it lacks the tooth I think it needs for me to find it useful. Further experiments will be required.

My final Drawing is of course the lovely brown leather chair. This was actually the first sketch I did for this assignment hence its very boxy nature. I think it turned out quite good too good contrast, the light I think is very clear, the white colored pencil really worked some kind of magic on it. My only complaint is the shadow underneath which I think I did way to heavy, I accidentally used my warm gray number 3 when I did the follow up to show where it was getting darker, beginners mistake and nothing more.

On a final note, I think they turned out right good for a real first attempt at using color. Can't wait to work with colors more as we advance to the end of the term. Now that I've used them its like a whole new world has been opened up to me.

Told you there would be drawings

2008-03-27T16:16:00.003-04:00

I did mention I had some drawings I wanted to post.. these I did a few weeks ago during the spring holiday.. however I kept forgetting to put them on here.. I didnt do alot of drawing as I had hoped to.. I was catching up on my sleep... but here for you pleasure

not much to say about this one, I opened up deviant art and looked at some peoples photographs and then drew from those.. I chose some places in London, I believe the second one is Waterloo Station, but I cannot be certain.

Knowing that I needed to practice drawing people I set out to work on this. And actually, I think I might actually be getting something going.. no faces yet I'm afraid but they do look like people dont they!

Well thats all for now, be on the look out for the perspective assignments I'll be posting just as soon as I get them done, and they'll be in color too so thats something new.

-Cheers

Bizarre Beds

2008-03-26T00:21:00.002-04:00

One of those capsule hotel

Traditional Sleeping style on the floor

Some people can stand to sleep upside down, although that seems risky to me

Modern Airplanes have been putting beds into First Class Cabins

This is called a cocoon bed and frankly, I want one, it looks like a big hammock waiting to be slept in..

Coming Soon, drawings...

2008-03-25T13:52:00.002-04:00

So it was my intention to post up some new drawings of mine today, however my scanner has decided that it wanted to take a permanent vacation and has broken itself.. and as lazy as it sounds, studio is to far away for me to walk to right now, so until I can find a new scanner, or walk over to studio, you'll just have to deal with the suspense of something new being posted... So prepare yourselves it is coming!

Cairo: Baths of the Diocletian

2008-03-24T01:23:00.002-04:00

This project was a substitute for a paper turned into Patrick for our Design History Lecture. We looked at the Diocletian Baths in rome and did a precedent study of the building.

Bottle Caps! everywhere

2008-03-23T23:44:00.007-04:00

So we had a nice week long project now that we have finished our fruit pattern projects. This project was to design something that made use of the bottle caps that are very difficult to recycle.

So I teamed up with Robert who sits at the cubicle next to mine, together we both made some ideas including a plant pot, shotglass, and fishing bobbers. We brought them to our lectures Wednesday. Ultimately we decided to go with my idea of an envelope which actually stemmed from an idea I had for a coin roll. Our first model was really just a simple rolled up sheet of paper with bottle caps on the ends to seal it off.

This design posed a few problems as it really didnt protect the letter and also it seemed easy for the caps to just fall off. Therefore we took the design and tweaked it a little bit.
This caused it to change over to a protective shell made out of a sheet of thick paper that generally comes out of a shirt's packaging. This would insure a protective shell around the letter. We also added some yellow rings (also from soda bottles) so that an address label could be secured to the envelope and then it could actually be sent.

The Space Between Drawings

2008-03-06T12:45:00.004-05:00

These drawings were present on my board however they never really made it off and onto the blog, most of them are from the outside of my assigned building foust. Why outside, well because the interior was rather bland and boring and I enjoyed the exterior well enough to do those instead. Hope you can appreciate them.

The first one of these is very chaotic in a way I can appreciate that, all those lines running around giving it contrast while keeping the form intact.

The second one not so much, mostly because its an interior shot and was in fact about 3 times the size it is now, but was eventually cropped because their just wasn't a whole lot to see.. There is a guy there, guess hes reading something good.. in the corridor.

Truth be told the only one I really even like is the last one, the first one I liked up until I did the third you see before you. The lines just look more precise in all the chaos, like a careful blending of attempted precision while still keeping a loose form to it all. The only other problem I see are my scale figure sizes, they look like children... to small to be university students, they seem better suited to an primary school than a university.

The revenge of presentation boards

2008-03-06T00:08:00.000-05:00

Another presentation down, second one in a week, this time our lovely fruit pattern projects. I started with an apple and really just worked my way to very different architectural statement. My photographs may not be the finest quality but that was simply due to the fact that when I took them there was no space to hang them in the crit room as the next group of people were already set up with the next days presentations.

Drafting Assignments

2008-03-05T23:44:00.003-05:00

Here are my drafting assignments which were turned in with my portfolio Wednesday

Presentation boards

2008-03-04T01:00:00.002-05:00

Behold! the boards from all the drawings of Foust we've been working on for the past month or so. The project was very educational beyond just technique. Thanks to all the extra people who helped Jennifer get the boards laid out in time for the presentation I owe you so much gratitude. We couldn't have done it with out you.

The drawings will follow after I have access to a scanner that actually works, it would seem my canon one can only read about half a page before it goes and dies... but such things cannot be stopped sometimes.

Scale figures

2008-02-26T23:00:00.000-05:00

Here are my scale figures for the assignment. I think I finally found a style I enjoyed towards the end where instead of doing lots of round shapes like people have taking more geometric route with a bit of round shapes where needed.

Certainly needs some more work but now that I have some ideas about what I like I think I can have more positive results

Coffee House

2008-02-20T02:16:00.002-05:00

these drawings were very challenging to do, as I discovered that I really do not like the music that cafes like to blast over the speakers.. so it was very difficult to focus and actually do the drawings as I think you can see in some. It did feel nice to get back into drawing, I need to set more time aside to do it, hopefully I'll have some extra time to do this soon.

I suppose that this guy turned out alright, I suppose he was taking some time after a long day at what I can only assume was fexex (based on the shirt colors).

The people directly in my line of sight left a huge mess on their table, which I guess was not to bad, but before I could get it all drawn the host came by and cleaned it all up... curses foiled by the man..

Another attempt at a person, this one was not going well.. I swear its that music!

A couple were drinking coffee and using their laptops, and having a merry time, I drew the scene as best I could... however I was growing impatient and well it didnt turn out very well.

Entourage

2008-02-16T03:16:00.004-05:00

My first example of entourage comes from Anna Loseva - (corrected 17.January.2009)

http://www.artanddesignstudio.com

2nd Jean Alexander

http://www.artworksbyjean.com- here the people are not the focus but rather blend into the background but the other entourage elements still give us a good idea of the scale of the space, the people really only reinforce this.

Michael Anderson
http://www.michaelandersonstudio.com - The simplicity here is great but even in its simplicity there is a lot going on with the entourage which is why I think this is so good.

Olga Berkovskaya
http://www.millerhanson.com/illustration.htm - the people and objects here are well represented and made realistically, it looks good although I dont know if this would be the best for the current assignment.

Finally Kirk Fromm
http://www.kirkfromm.com - these people look very realistic which I appreciate because while I like simplicity sometimes details are brilliant to have as well

Techniques

2008-02-14T01:47:00.009-05:00

Suzanne asked us to look for 5 techniques that we liked so I stopped by the ASAI webpage and selected 5 illustrators who I really liked.

The first is Marla Morga http://www.mmorga.org

I really like her style as it is very crisp and clean. I'm not sure how this was drawn whether through a computer or not I still hope that one day I can reflect this style.

Second on my quick list is Henry Zeng http://www.zengsd.com

I really just love how even though it looks a little rough it still looks like something you could bring into a presentation. The hatching is really what does it for me, its very spontaneous but it works so well.

This next one is the work of Wenjie Chen http://www.wenjiestudio.com

I love the black and white qualities and the amount of detail present in them, it is largely contour but I can still see details in various parts as well shadows which really just make the piece blend very well. A little color in there as well adding a little bit really gave it some sort of pop.

This drawing by Jim Anderson is one of my favorites http://www.andersonillustration.com

I just love that all the details are made with hatching rather than lines, I will definitely try an recreate this in one of my drawings as I think that it draws your eye to it but also allows it to show that it is not meant to be what you want to see and I suppose give you a visual clue to look for the straight lines to see the primary subject.

My final selection is by Maksim Koloskov who does not have a webpage according to the ASAI web page but can be contacted at maksk@msn.com

This one I like again due to its quick sketchy feel. Its very loose yet rigid, the hatching is not perfectly straight or spaced equally but it really does look better this way. The sense of scale can be identified by the contoured figure, something that wasnt missing from the others but really well done here I believe.

*note* If anyone I have mentioned up here happens to stop by and objects to my using their work please send me a message and I will remove it promptly. I have done my best to document where I found these images as well attempting to credit the artists responsible. And hey if you'd like to poke about please take a look at some of my work or perhaps some other members of the department http://www.iarblogs.blogspot.com

Working With Wood

2008-02-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

So recently in studio we worked with a single 18" piece of 2x4 to create a system. I didnt really enjoy this in the end as I felt like I had gotten hung up on system because I kept thinking of like a system in physics where balance can be achieved through counter weights which is ultimately how my project was destined to end up. I wanted it to appear that the heavy top piece was actually being supported by a very thin and off center support which required very careful distribution of weight. Actually getting it balanced took a little while to figure out. Ultimately it was fun working with wood and I'm a little sad that we had to stop because I was really enjoying it.

This project was difficult and although I was not totally happy with the result I'm not completely against it either I think it succeeds in some ways but could be improved in others

Detail Drawings

2008-02-05T23:56:00.001-05:00

These detail drawings were fun I enjoyed doing them, I decided for most of mine that I would focus on the detail of the changes in value on things which is why there is so much hatching going on. I think the phone turned out especially well, my laptop display hinge looks pretty good too and I was really trying to show that detail of how that fit in so snuggly with the rest of the computer. I think it looks pretty good. The xbox controller I like simply because of the angle at which I drew it, the shadows cast by the thumb stick came out really well in my opinion and I think I showed that the buttons are not just flush with the controller but rather bubble off the surface.

My apologies on the scans, something is abit off with my scanner, I will be rescanning them when I get to studio tomorrow. I tried to edit them in photoshop unfortunately it was a no go so rescans tomorrow look for them then!

-Cheers!

EUC Connector

2008-02-02T21:29:00.000-05:00

Over in the Elliot University Center there is a nice corridor connecting the EUC with the Library this corridor was a subject for a drawing assignment recently in Suzanne's drawing studio, let me know what you think of it as while I did not hate it I didnt really like it either, but it certainly looks better when placed in comparison to my first two attempts.

I really want to go back there and try again really soon as I think I can do better.

-Cheers!

Colors

2008-01-31T20:14:00.000-05:00

So I took one of my mess drawings and decided to add a little color to it and despite the scanner trying to foil my attempt the actual drawing looks quite good, not sure why the scan did not come out all that well but I figured I would share this drawing. I think I've learned to control them better the markers that is, as the bleed here is not bad, a few areas need some touching up but most part they look good. Now I suppose I should start working on my technique as the way the markers are distributing ink is very inconsistent some times. I'm not sure if it is how I'm holding it or how much pressure etc but it is really flakey.

Just as a comparison for you

Also on a side note as on Thursday I was admitted to the University of Nottingham Architecture Program. I also received a request from Cardiff School of Design for a portfolio so look in the near future for that.

-cheers

Mess Drawings

2008-01-29T00:45:00.001-05:00

All these messes came from Wesley's room, while my room has a number of messes I liked these a little better as the are kind of organized messes. They got progressively smaller because as time went on I got more and more exhausted by the drawing, it really does take alot out of you.

- Cheers

*Edit* Images cropped and cleaned up a little bit

Art Exhibit Drawing

2008-01-25T01:17:00.001-05:00

A few days ago we took a trip down to Weatherspoon and went to an exhibit and proceeded to draw a feature and drew it. We then redrew it trying our best to show the changes in value and make the image more three dimensional. I liked this drawing and from my understanding other people did as well which is making me feel better about it since I was hesitant about it earlier.

A Messy place

2008-01-25T01:11:00.000-05:00

So we had to draw a mess as our first assignment for IAR 112. I like this drawing and I cant wait to do more, the layers were really fun and despite mine not being the messiest it was still a good challenge to draw.

I took my Chartpak markers later on and added some color. the bleed on these markers is really bad but all and all I still like the addition of color as it gives it more depth and character, maybe its just me. I have not been scared away from these markers yet!

-Cheers!

The Best Laid Plans

2008-01-12T15:19:00.000-05:00

So I had intended to draw a lot over the holiday, then reality decided to rear its ugly head as though I had been eating a delicous albeit bland grill cheese sandwhich and someone had come up thrown the grilled cheese on the ground and proceeded to replace it with a sandwich made of peas. At least thats how I remember it, anyway I was doing just fine and dandy when suddently disaster struck, on boxing day I went shopping had a good laugh little did I know that the next night, BAM like a firetruck hitting an ostrich I had this really bad pain. Tis nothing I thought (wrong), I must just be hungry (wrong again). So after about an hour of this pain which was increasing down we went to our friendly neighborhood hospital where in I learned my appendix was rebelling against my body. Well my body being the chivilrous leader it is was not having any of that and had dispatched the Royal Army down to solve the issue but the fighting had reached a stale mate. With combat stalled we turned to our only ally the surgeon people of doctors office. the cut me open removed my appendix where it was later executed and now once more all is well in the preverbial nation that is my body. I've lost track of where I was going, OH YES! the drawings... well drawing, yes thats right entire break, only got 1 thing done but you just read my over drawn and elaborate reasoning behind it, so yea, this is just all the things I witnessed while trolling about shopping malls and restraunts and book stores on christmas. I drank a lot of tea that day by the way, in fact $25 probably went to tea alone. As you can see I tried to draw people with varying degrees of success, some people look like garden gnomes while others still look just as big as life but thats not my fault. And then there is the cheesy gift card banner, Now I dont mind recieving gift cards, but I do mind giving them out as they make me feel like I'm sort of coping out what should be a heartfelt endeavor kind of like how two people agree to lunch and then the other person sends a secretary to have lunch with you. But that panera sign just made no sense to me as when I think of holidays I'm not thinking about a gift card or anything like that but thats just me.

I think this post has already become to long and would probably be funnier to you if you actually heard me reading it but yea, thats all for now I would like some cake so..

- Cheers!

International Design Journals

2007-12-10T18:47:00.000-05:00

It just wouldnt be design if there weren't some kind of Italian journal somewhere in here. Italy has always been seen as the in place when it comes to design and architecture. The journal Domus seems to take this idea to heart and domus tends to focus alot on up and coming trends most of which are arriving out of Italy. It covers everything from architecture, to jewelry design. Unlike some journals which may come across as being a bit full of their home country, (especially true in american publications) Domus keeps a good non bias and will cover just about anything. Even still I would classify it as "Italian Design & Architecture" I separate the two out simply because of the sheer number of aspects of design it discusses.

Archithese a German design publication made in Germany. Not to stereotype but this magazine really strikes me as following in its Prussian footsteps. Germany has always been seen as a very organized and to the point country and this design publication is really no different in terms of organization. The articles themselves are printed only in German so I had to do a fair bit of translating to understand (I speak German but it's been awhile). the context of what they discuss is largely city planning which makes sense as it is a huge problem in Central Europe as foreign immigration comes in larger and larger waves. I would classify this publication largely as urban planning and city design.

Abitare another popular italian publication seems to come closer to the iArc program interms of content. many articles on modern examples of sustainability and various trends beginning to become popular in architecture and interior design. They just like Domus many aspects of design are seen but mostly those relating to architecture or interior design. Which I can appreciate more than Domus in some respects. They too also focus alot on Italian design specifically and I can see just how different Italian design is from other contemporary design. the issue I saw focused on many different furnishings that had been designed recently although the commonality between them I could not figure out. I would describe this as being "Modern contemporary design"

Leaf Drawings

2007-12-10T12:11:00.001-05:00

couldnt get on the scanner to scan this in so I photographed it, my last drawing of the semester.. that is required to be turned in anyway, maybe I'll upload all the drawings I did during critiques but perhaps.

Design Technologies

2007-12-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

There are 2 design technologies which are only recently becoming popular but are great for the enviornment. One of them has been around for quite awhile while the other is only now up and coming in design.

The first of the new technolgies is of course Geothermal heating and cooling. This idea which has been around since ancient times in Rome, involves using the ground to store cooler air underground. A wonderful example of this would actually be a public school in Idaho, North Central Junior High is actually using this technology to heat and cool the entire school. It is actually only one of the many green design features the school uses but is certainly one of the most interesting.

The second Technology is solar power, which is finally coming down in price to be implemented but does so much for the environment. Solar power uses of course the energy from the sun to provide power to buildings. It has largely not been seen in the residential design sector due to the cost it would be to implement it. Many homes today are beginning to use solar power and are even getting to the point that they are actually able to return energy into the power grid.

Drawing Haitus

2007-12-09T01:12:00.000-05:00

So I havent posted a non academic drawing in a couple of days and so I present to you, my attempt at drawing David Tennant the star of fantastic British Program Doctor Who, note the sonic screw driver in his hand. I can tell from here that the head is a little to small, around the hair region and the pinstripes got really messed up because half way through making them I decided a smaller line weight was needed, but yea enjoy. I think it turned out half good

the image I based this off of is

Architects

2007-12-08T22:02:00.001-05:00

So in order to research 10 designers I chose to focus on architects as that is the field that chiefly interests me.

The first architect I'd like to discuss is my personal favorite Tadao Ando

I think what Tadao Ando does with Concrete and Glass is simply amazing in fact it seems to be his trademark. He is a multi prize winning architect most recently a gold medal from the American Institute of Architects. the reason I love this designer so much is because of a peice of work he did known as the Church of Light in Osaka Japan. I just love the way the light comes in via the cross shaped window and creates an awe inspiring effect.

I suppose since I'm discussing architects it would be an architectural sin to not mention Frank Lloyd Wright, the man who many consider to be the be all and end all of architects, which I just do not agree with. Wright was good, but he wasn't that good, people always point to falling water a building that while beautiful and interesting is currently falling into its site. Now that does not mean that Wright did not fall into the great architect catagory, in fact he is quite well known for many of his buildings including the Guggenheim museum.

Lord Foster, an english born architect and one of the men responsible for the design of the famous London building, 30 St. Mary Axe or the Gherkin due to its pickle like shape. Foster born in england has been designing unique buildings all of which differ greatly from each other. His work has caught attention out side England, especially in Germany where his design was selected for the renovation on the German Parliament Building the Reichstag.

le Corbusier a man so popular he had to add a "the" to his name is another famous architect. Born in France Le Corbusier was at one point considered one of the greatest architectural mind. His ideas which at the time were considered revolutionary. In fact he may have been one of the first who thought of the green roof, though not for the reasons we believe they should be for today. His ideas are still thought of today where ever possible such as the idea of maximum illumination through windows.

Michael Graves a man who was a part of the "New York Five". I have chosen to include him also because due to an unknown situation he became paralyzed from the waist down. Even still he practices architecture, and is involved in many projects. Many of his designs are contemporary despite being quite aged. Currently he is working on a project in Singapore

Charles Eames is a famous american architect and designer who created a number of iconic ideas of the 20th century. Charles Eames may be considered a perfectionist as some of his designs took years of trial and error before being complete. But his legacy more than speaks for it self that despite his long time span for a designs completion many current projects still draw inspiration from his work.

I. M. Pei another well known architect, with many projects under his belt. I M Pei has always seemed to approach architecture with a passion. I M Pei is most famous for the Louvre Museum's Glass pyramid. Most recently Pei is working on the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte NC a feat considering he is currently at the age of 90.

Kevin Roche is an architect from Dublin who has been involved in a great many things including the United Nations. Known most however for the Ford Foundation which represented a new idea in modern design. Roche generally loved having large glass spaces. Roche is only recently becoming a popular architect despite many great jobs in the architecture field, but may one day be as famous as Frank Lloyd Wright or I M Pei.

Alvar Aalto is an architect who lived during the days of Modernism. But rather than embracing the cultural trend of the time this architect instead chose to focus on the psychological needs of people when designing a structure. An idea that is just now seeming to regain popularity today Aalto was already considering. He often had works that resembled machines although towards the end of his career his work took on a more personal role and romantic approach.

Fumihiko Maki a japanesse post war architect is most known for his work in the Metabolist movement. A japanese movement that focused on organic and humanist qualities in buildings. Maki made a great many strides to this area of design. Maki is most famous for a number of athletic spaces he designed including the Fujisawa Municipal Gymnasium and the Makuhari Convention Center. He continues his practice of architecture to this day.

graphic design

2007-12-08T18:25:00.000-05:00

So when told I needed to research graphic design my mind immediately thought of adverts, but after a quick stop to the interweb I learned that graphic design is everywhere, our album covers, news papers and even the hand outs our professors give us. So with my 10 I planned to draw from as many different things as possible.

First up I thought I'd start with an advertisement and what better example of memorable graphic design than, one of apples adverts. Apple for a few years has been advertising ipods using a black silhouettes holding a white ipod. The contrast of the all black figure and the white ipod draws the eye to the ipod since it is the lightest thing on the screen, combined with the catchy modern music playing the background it makes the advert memorable. The background is a solid and static drawing more attention to the figure in motion and thus back to the ipod. This particular advert is showing off Apple's Ipod shuffle and thus a shuffle logo moves through the view and gives you a logo to go with the product for your ability to recognize it. A very well done advert and example of graphic design in progress.

Apple: http://www.apple.com

next up under the guidance of a friend in the graphic design field he recommended I use the "abc" logo. Designed but a man he considered to be the greatest thing in graphic design Paul Rand the logo is an example of the Bauhaus movement. Its round shape at the time was considered different from the geometrics of the art deco that came before it, and thus stood out at the time and still does. The logo is easily recognizable which is what makes it I believe to be a good example of graphic design.

ABC Logo: Created by Paul Rand

How about this time an album cover, so what album will I use, something unique or something just plain out there. I'll go with something unique for this example I will use one of my personal favorite albums, "Signs of Life" by Poets of the Fall I feel is a good example of graphic design as it would most likely catch ones eye due to a number of things. The front of it looks aged and thus old which generally would make it stand out from the crisp clean edges of ost albums. Again the contrast here as the blueish background contrasts the bands red moth logo and name printed in white.

Poets of the Fall: http://www.poetsofthefall.com

Another piece of graphic design now would be our magazine covers. Such as Rolling Stone, I chose a magazine cover because they had to design text around an image and Rolling Stone is an excellent example of hierarchy in graphic design. This paticular image features the band Green Day, its important to note that the hierarchy here places Greenday in the middle of the hierarchy, the logo for the Rolling Stone is covered by the band but the text highlighting the features of the issue are ahead of it. The background provides some contrast to draw more attention to the band and text.

Rolling Stone: February 2005

another album cover now this one by the Logistics called "Release the Pressure" again the contrast makes this one stand out as the black makes the colors stand out more. the triangular shapes constrast the square shape of the actual case. The text also has contrast, since the album's name is bolded out while the bands name is just a normal size.

This next piece is a movie poster. "The Golden Compass" recently released into the cinemas the posters functioning as adverts for it I think are not necessarily well designed but are not done poorly either. Really the Poster is quite well planned by what really bothers me is the hierarchy of scale on the text is off. The text is at the very front of the poster which is fine, but their is only one difference between the two sets of text and that is the size, the title is larger but the slogan thing may have been better off with a different font, one that did not have the serifs, the point is you can still tell the title from the rest but it would have drawn more eyes to the title first.

I decided I'd search about the web for some graphic designers and critique some of their work. this one comes from a designers website, the company known as Net Intelect. They designed some sort of information sheet for a Belkin USB bluetooth adapters. The design is pretty good, with the objects contrasting enough with the background to stand out. However the Belkin logo does not stand out nearly as much as I think it should. Perhaps a change in background color to a lighter hue would have been better.

Next up is an ad campaign used by the NHS to warn about the dangers of STI's the advert it self is the advert it self stands out thanks to its odd shapes surrounding the text. It appears very modern. But most striking is the contrast from a monochromatic colour scheme to the sunglasses on the figure which feature a bluish tint and colour. this makes the informative text stand out more and also relaxes the person due to the calm colour.

From: the usual studio

Now I'm an avid gamer, so I guess it would only be appropriate I use some video games box art is often a good example of graphic design as box art may be the thing that sells a game to a consumer. The game art I have selected is from a recently released title called Assassin's Creed. I think the design is well done as the contrast of hte figure to the background makes him appear to be coming right out of the box. This provides an area where further detail can be seen in the figure keeping the eye on it.

Finally tonight I bring you one final piece of graphic design another bit by apple. Another ipod advert this time just a still print. Again the black shillohuette figure makes an appearnce, holding the distinctive ipod which stands out as it is the only thing in the advert with out a colour. Another thing which some what noticable on this advert though is the distinctive apple log and product name situated up in the top left just as though you were reading a book or magazine you would read the title first most likely and then see the product, thus creating an impression in your mind. Brilliant graphic design in my opinion because it imprints the products name in your mind.

Apple: http://www.apple.com

Right with all that being said, I'm not quite sure if this fits the bill for the design research on graphic/media design but I believe it does. All the examples here are creative properties of the creators and have been credited where needed

Architecture Firms

2007-12-08T12:56:00.000-05:00

The first firm I would like to talk about is Bennetts Associates Architects, this firm has done many projects since its founding in 1987. What I especially like about the site is the layout which is relatively clean and there isn't a lot of noise or distractions. Although the transitions between pages is nice as the photographs fade into view at different I also appreciate that their portfolio is available to look at there work. Bennetts Associates Architects is a firm with locations London and Edinburgh.

Benson and Forsyth another UK based firm with offices in London and Edinburgh. There website while not as full of motion as Bennetts is still clean cut and easy enough to navigate that it works quite well. I really do love there designs and some of the buildings they have been contracted for include the British Embassy Poland. My only complaint is that, there is nothing to read about the projects which is something this site could really use.

Foster and Partners, this firm has touched nearly every great building in London, I couldnt ignore them. There website is diffidently the flashiest that I have been to yet, but I expected no less from the firm that made London Town Hall, and the Gherkin. This site also has some of the most extensive multimedia in the portfolio, quick time movies, as well as images and text explaining the goal of the design.

Haworth Tompkins, another London based architecture firm has a brilliant website. In terms of ease of use I appreciate that they divide there projects by those in progress and those completed. The best part is "The Dumpster" where one can dig through things the firm has seen and heard. Not really sure if the dumpster was an appropriate title but none the less it was an interesting feature.

Next up Wilkinson Eyre, is a multi award winning London Based architecture firm. There website is very easy to use despite its flashy features. Want to find projects? They've made that text colored so it is easy to spot and you dont go running about the page trying to find a certain sector. They have also divided the projects up by type making it easier to narrow down what it is your looking for. The rest of the website is pretty much a gray scale scene except for images which seem to feature a lot of colour because of it.

RMJM started as a firm in Scotland in 1956 it has since spread it self all over the globe. This website is very different from the others which chose more to focus on images of work, this page has alot more to read, in a way I feel abit bombarded by text which I feel maybe due in part to its large size. You can look at there designs but I did not much care for them so I quickly clicked through and moved on, one feature I will highlight which I did not really prefer is that you must drag images to view them larger, why not just have a button?

Future Systems, a strange name for an architecture firm, but this firm really is designing what may very well be the future. Their buildings are all very organic and look like well, the future as it was seen in the 50s and 60s, round shapes everywhere. Their website is rather nice, with white with pink and blue text. It is very easy to navigate as projects are right on the main page with no need to look around. The layout is nice with small thumbnails that give you a hint of what they are with out actually spoiling a surprise.

Cartwright Pickard Architects, based out of greater London has a very basic website, the flash portion of the site really only has a portfolio and their recruitment information. Despite this though it almost plays to their favour as you will have already seen their contact information before getting to the portfolio which in a way almost makes you remember it the most as you look through out its portfolio.

Eric Parry Architects, London based and I must say this is possibly my favorite site, the text is very simple, no elaborate fonts and no over done graphical things, just really easy to flow around in, I also love the firms work. but in regards to the site, I had no problem finding anything, I looked at the history of the firm, its goals and its portfolio and was not once confused about how to return to the main page like on some of the other sites. Brilliant work.

Hackett + Hall's website is possibly the most basic, no real home page, just a logo and links to the portfolio, contact, awards and history. This works to their benefit though as the user can easily navigate around the page to each and every part from what ever page they're on with out having to go back to some kind of menu screen.

Sustainable Design

2007-12-07T21:13:00.001-05:00

More sustainability this time I am choosing to focus on spaces where sustainability is being practiced implemented.

First stop Houston Texas where a couple whom has been building buildings for years has decided to take a more eco friendly route. Built out of earth friendly materials where ever possible, reclaimed timber etc. The home is not only affordable but also incredibly good on the environment especially considering the city it is situated in.

As you can see the concrete and reclaimed timber provide an interesting view while still maintaining an ecologically friendly construction.

Dwell Magazine: November 2007

Meanwhile over in Santa Monica California 2 architects who also happen to be married attemptted to find some way to incorporate solar energy as much as possible into home design. By taking the modernist route with a geometric walls allows the solar panels to stand right out on the side of the building while making it appear like a part of the design.

Dwell: December/January 2006

Next up a building that while it has not been built yet, does symbolize what I believe might very well be the most sustainable design idea I have ever seen be implemented. In London the 2012 Olympic Games are fast approaching and in response Great Britain has commishsioned a new sports complex for the athletes. the complex is designed in such a way that the entire facility can be disassembled and moved some where else so that the Olympic park may be used for other things. It strikes me as being very careful about planning and about what materials you are using. This way many materials that could be harmful are essentially being recycled into this sports complex when and if it must be moved.

from the Architectural Record

Homes more and more today are becoming the target of more Green design. No better example can be found in none other than Oakland California where architect Robert Swatt has designed a Loft Apartment Complex that is made from sustainable materials and is considered by California to be a sustainable structure. Although his motive may not have been to build something sustainable Swatt has certainly shown that just because you dont intend a "green" project doesn't mean that you cannot in the end do so.

Dwell: December/January 2007

Ahh greenhouses, not just for plants any more I'm afraid, it would seem in Japan this kind of thing might be picking up steam. The buildings themselves seem more like an experimental Utopia but none the less the buildings themselves are quite amazing due to their being sustainable. Nearly everything about the building is made from recycled materials, even the solar panels which are made from plastic bottles. Temperatures are kept in check by the trees within the greenhouse an ingenious way to keep energy use down.

Dwell: Dwell Web page

Back into California in an attempt to break away from using so much energy one architect, Tryggvi Thorsteinsson renovated an old home with recycled materials and designed the plan in such a way that cooling and heating is very efficient thus reducing its necessity. what really stands out in this project is of course its outdoor dining room. My favorite feature is not only sustainable but designed with his children's safety involved. In th kitchen the corners are covered in recycled rubber to allow for the children to play safely. The walls remain unpainted to help save the enviornment from hazardous chemicals. Despite the fact they have nearly tripled the size of the home the energy cost is 1/3 of the original.

Dwell: February 2007

In Maryland the Clipper Miller Assembly building designed by Cho Benn Holback + Associates has recently been rebuilt after being destroyed in a fire in 1995. Now it has been rebuilt as a residential complex. But the point of sustainability I wanted to make a point of was the light shafts that have been placed in the building. this idea of sustainability is one that is gaining some popularity and I believe it was very appropriate in this space since the natural light it would provide through out the structure allows for the energy costs to be massively reduced and thus, helps to protect the enviornment further.

Architectural Record: May 2007

Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, on the coast of Tasmania a couple have commissioned a vacation home by 1 + 2 Architecture. this home is suprisingly efficent something many people would not concern themselves with in the middle of no where let alone on some sort of vacation property. The building is powered by solar panels on an angled roof. water is collected from rainfall and used through out the house. It is a largely self sufficent home this was due partly because of its location but also was considered in the design.

Dwell: April/May 2005

Abit outside of San Francisco a couple has taken to showing that style and sustainability go hand and hand and are possible. There homes design is so efficient that it can actually put energy back into the power grid. 95% of its timber is recycled, any materials that are recyclable could be found they were implemented. The building is a huge example of green design at work and successfully executed.

Dwell: June 2006

Even low income housing is beginning to embrace the green scene (you like that, you know you did). In Chicago, Murphy/Jahn has created a new low income housing unit which focuses not only on providing a home but also helping protect our enviornment. The airflow is efficent enough that it does not use nearly as much energy and the building is actually capable of generating between 200-300 KWh per module (of which there are 8) per month.

Greensource Magazine: October 2007

Eco-friendly

2007-12-07T19:08:00.000-05:00

Today I thought I'd focus on sustainability in design, the following items are either eco friendly or are sustainable products. I will also find spaces that thought of sustainability when being designed.

I thought I'd get started with something that I found to be a unique item. This end table called the "Crescendo" it is made out of sustainable walnut cherry or rift cut oak. It also features a stain made out of tree sap instead of the harsh chemicals usually present. What I most appreciate though is the shape of the legs, circular in opposite directions make it very pleasing to the eye and the contrast of the bamboo inlay is quite nice as well.

El furniture: http://www.El-furniture.com

Next up is the North Beach Table. This table I love not only because it is made out of eco friendly woods but simply its shape. It strikes me as being much like an old Trebuchet turned over and is both sustainable and pleasing to the eye.

Seth Rolland: http://www.sethrolland.com

Now this is what I want to see, down to the grit sustainable this chair, known as the Louis XVI Mod is made out of reclaimed wood, acrylic and other recyclable materials to ensure that it is nearly fully recyclable. While it does not really fit into my taste I can appreciate their motives in the design.

DWM Interiors: http://www.dwminteriors.com

I'm all about round shapes sometimes, now this table here is made of glass and reclaimed wood in an ellipse shape based on lady bug eggs. The clutch table by Refinery Design is stunning. I just love that the glass seems to float on the elliptical shapes and just provides a really nice effect.

Refinery Design: http://www.refinerydesign.com

Another piece of furniture I quite enjoy not only for its sustainability and for its shape. This day bed is made of a material that is actually considered a nuisance so rather than destroy the plant, they have taken it and created this stunning day bed called the "Tonecoon Day Bed"

Project Import Export: http://www.projectimportexport.com

Another El Furniture design this dining table is very dark yet creates a nice accent to any room I think. With the same characteristics of the other tables they design, it is made from sustainable woods and stains made from tree sap, reducing the toxicity of the stains and making it better for the enviornment.

El Furniture: http://www.e-lfurniture.com

Next piece, this one I like to think is more of a coconut but in fact its made from palm fibers and banana plant fibers this chair really does look comfy and is good for the environment. What I really like is that perhaps unintentionally it looks just to much like a coconut to not notice, even with out reading the descriptor I was able to tell that it looked like the tropical plant.

CNI: http://www.furniture-cni.com

Perhaps a chair that will one day find a place in my home, if I can ever afford it is the "nung" chair, this chair just looks awesome and is made from bamboo and environmentally friendly adhesives to ensure that minimal harm if any comes to the environments we have so recently decided to begin protecting.

Xeno Obects: http://www.xenoobjects.com

More Xeno Objects, this cocktail table and chairs would fit right in with the aforementioned chair, however these I do not particularly care for also made out of bamboo and natural resins I just dont like the way they sit, seem kind of bulky and larger than I would see any use for.

Xeno Objects: http://www.xenoobjects.com

Another Seth Rolland piece this table is made from salvaged Mahogany. But the best part, theres a big old stone in there, the salvaged mahogany is good for the enviornment and the stone provides you with a connection with the enviornment.

Seth Rolland: http://www.sethrolland.com

All of the pieces I have just discussed were located through the help of Interior Design Magazine's Product web page. http://www.interior-design.net

Massive Masterpieces

2007-12-07T14:35:00.000-05:00

Part of our final examination for our drawing class was provided on a sheet of paper only 1.75 inches squared. For the longest time I thought it was a billiard ball, that was of course what I believed it to be after I turned it on it's side. Turns out not only was it not a billiard ball it wasn't even in the States.

Look just tilt your head 90 degrees to your left and see if you cant see the billiard ball, its got a stripe and a shadow and everything. Either way in the end it turns out we created one huge picture of the Hagia Sophia located in Istanbul. I remember this from my former art history, and I thought it quite beautiful, thus when I saw that we had recreated it I was so impressed I had to snap a couple photographs of what we all did together.

See everyone's names down there, its a lot of people, so many people who all worked like dogs this semester and came together to make this. This is my second to last academic post of the semester doesn't mean I wont be drawing though, so back of peoples heads beware, I've still got my sketch book, Everywhere!

- cheers!

Buildings

2007-12-06T19:12:00.000-05:00

I have recently found a number of buildings which have both sparked love and hate in their design.

First up on this list will be the Mannheimer Versicherung Insurance Company Corporate Headquarters located in Mannheim Germany

I like the design as it did not require the destruction of the existing structure and is actually an addition. Designed by Murphy/Jahn what I especially like about the building is how the new and old contrast each other so much that they seem to actually work together. the original is very solid and almost typical of architecture while the new addition is almost entirely made of glass and therefore seems to take the older structure and give it new character. This new addition continues the glassy bubble even on the interior as many of the walk ways are glass as well and light moves freely throughout the space.

Architectural Record: January 2007

Next up on my hit list is something in the United States no less and actually a school.

North Central Junior High is attempting to educate students and do more for the environment. Located in North Liberty Iowa and designed by Urbahn Architects the building it self has been designed to light as much of the school as possible using natural lighting. An East facing wall of the school curves to ensure the maximum amount of light can enter the large windows in the class rooms.Architectural Record: July 2007

Now a piece I loathe. Rag Flats in Philadelphia is an eye sore its geometric patterns and colors really only make me wonder who would want to live there. I can understand that maybe its popular to do it this way, but I really just do not care for it. It makes me think someone took apart a bunch of buildings and then took those pieces and began to reassemble the final building. It was designed by the company Onion Flats.

Architectural Record: February 2006

Another Housing Project only this time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

This massive structure towers above the local city and is a "mixed use residential structure". What I find to be the most fascinating about the structure is instead of keeping the same cookie cutter pattern for both the interior and exterior at the top the building takes a radical change from the structure beneath it to its stunning crown made up of gold colored plating add a nice effect to the top which helps it blend in yet stand out in the Melbourne city scape.

Architectural Record: August 2007

This next residential structure really impresses me not only for its interesting design but also for the simple fact of where it is. The Christ Church Tower in London, has managed to fit a 2500 square foot home into the building built in 1666. I think I'm just really impressed that the structure has been brought into the modern world when it was built nearly half a century ago.

Architectural Record: April 2007

Moving out of the residential field we come to Fresno california where the city has just built a new Courthouse. I like the building since it really fits into its environment, a goal the architects had in mind when they built the structure. I also love the windows, I love good use of glass in a structure and this one really has what I like, large windows that let in alot of natural light and light up the building at night.

Architectural Record: November 2006

Next Stop china for a sports arena, I do not believe it is one of the olympic stadiums as this paticular sports complexes is in Nanjing china. It was however designed for the Chinese National Games in 2005. I really just love the shape of this one, I keep thinking if Ferrari had gone into architecture it would look something like this, maybe its just the color choice, either way the design is a fantastic one something I'd like to see more.

Architectural Record: June 2006

Moving on to 122 Leadenhall Street, in London. This building which has not yet been completed (early 2008) is quite frankly a building I have been drooling over since I read it in Architectural Review last May just before finals. I just love the shape of it, especially due to its proximity to the other unique sky scrapers that make up London's skyline.

Architectural Review: April 2007

this next home in Baton Rogue I do not particularly care for, in fact I really only feel like it redeems itself because of the benefit it provides for the neighborhood it is in. Because of its shape the building actually reduces the noise pollution caused by the road. I really don't like how the building looks with the plants growing up its sides and such.

Dwell: March 2007

If it hasn't been made clear I love the blending of old with new. And as such when I saw this in
Dwell Magazine I had to talk about it, in an area that was once a seedy neighbor hood in Wellington New Zealand. I really just like that these homes were built on the top of a warehouse from 1908 and that due in some small part to them the neighborhood has improved and the area is beginning to thrive.

Dwell: Dec/Jan 2007

Time Capsule Orthographic

2007-12-02T16:31:00.000-05:00

Now that the time capsule construction has been completed and after making sure I got my sleeping project done (I was analyzing the construction and function of my pillow) I made an orthographic drawing of my time Capsule for use with my presentation this coming Wednesday.

The Front of course received some extra detailing with the shadow to show how the light hits and reacts to it.

Of course a shot of the side, not really much to see but shows my point.

And the top, not much to see here either, just darker lines fro the stuff that is closer, beyond that, its rather boring to see, but your not supposed to look at the top your supposed to look at the front so carry on.

Hopefully all will go well for my final critique on Wednesday and that I will survive to see another semester.

- Cheers!

Time Capsule Site Drawing

2007-11-29T13:16:00.000-05:00

Given an assignment to draw our time capsules in the site we propose them to be at, I was excited, then I actually got to doing it and began to see that it was much harder (as it often is) han I had originally anticipated. Ultimately I decided to do it over and this was the result.

I do like it, its even got some little people hanging out in it, I guess it really doesnt look that bad, it also has some thumbnails but those got cut off so I had to make them seperate images.

- Cheers!

Studio Safaris

2007-11-29T00:50:00.000-05:00

So when I get bored, I get bored hard core and I really needed something to take my mind off all the work I'm doing so yea, I grabbed a camera and started shooting so welcome to the first ever FIRST YEAR SAFARI! So put on your best Steve Erwin Voice your safari hat and follow me! Now just as a reminder please do not feed the Iarc majors, and do not antagonize them, they are all known to attack with drawing instruments if they feel intimidated. VERY DANGEROUSSS!

Here we seemed to have stumbled upon the den of an iARC major but where could be? Perhaps this site has been abandoned.

Oh wait, heres where he must be... on the floor, yes of course, its a known fact that when iARC majors cant use their desks due to clutter they often move down to the floors of buildings or other low lying areas. Watch your step they could be anywhere. Very Dangerousss!

As you can see, iARC majors are masters of camouflage. You cant even the iARC student in the picture but if you look hard enough you might just catch a glimpse of his possible location.

AH HA! at last an interior architect in their natural habitat, and even better we seem to have caught it off guard and it hasnt noticed our presence. Sara is working hard, also on the floor, its a popular kind of place to be, honest!

Ahh now here we have a massive network of multiple iARC dens, the iARC major is a pack creature often forming smaller packs within the main pack. Very Dangeroussss!

iARC majors are kings of the urban jungle as you can see and often like to survey their territory, as you can see their kingdom is expansive and vast.

So I do hope you've enjoyed the Studio Safari, I know I did, I'd like to wager we all learned a little some thing as well. Fantastic

-Cheers for now

Tuesday Drawing

2007-11-27T13:36:00.001-05:00

So last tuesday before the break we did one final layout and then drew another student sitting in a chair up in the crit room, well heres how mine turned out

Zine Layout

2007-11-20T12:28:00.001-05:00

My zine layout varied from page to page but this was the basic template, a couple of images with text describing them as well as a personally created logo to go with it. fantastic!

-Cheers!

People Drawings (again)

2007-11-20T12:07:00.001-05:00

Not to shabby this time, although I still have what I hate about every single one.
This drawing of my good mate, Zach is okay I guess except I ran out of time to get his face shaded in, which is what I think makes me think the drawing is rubbish since everything else seems to have a certain degree of light and then his face looks like the light source, I thought about just scribbling in some shade but I just couldn't be buggered by it and I also thought that I would only ruin the drawing more.

Now this drawing I guess inst so bad except.... TUMBLING TEXTBOOKS BATMAN! she has no feet, what devious character would steal a persons feet... Oh wait no, I just forgot to draw them, how on earth did I forget to draw her feet, how do you get so absorbed you forget some feet?? I do not know the answer to that question but other than that and her arms lack of shading (again time limits) I would say she turned out pretty good, her face does reflect the light she was receiving and all.

Thats all I have for now, so..

-Cheers!

The road to tennessee

2007-11-20T12:01:00.000-05:00

No one told me that the road into Tennessee was going to be so bumpy I would never have attempted a drawing if someone had told me so, alas they did not so a drawing I did do.

As you can see my lines are very rough and jagged, the road was bumpy and it was also quite dark in the car we were traveling in (by the way Escalades are not as roomy as you might think still big enough to stretch out though But I was expecting a set of rolling hills in the back of the car). My original idea was to make a whole series of drawings chronicling my trip to Knoxville, however due to a mishap involving car keys and a 90 minute trip to the stadium in the pandemonium I forgot my sketchbook and thus the whole idea was scrapped. Cant say I'll do it next time because their is unfortunately not a next time. I still enjoyed the trip. Even though I got home late and had to stay up late, it was totally worth it!

-Cheers!

le corbusier

2007-11-20T11:51:00.000-05:00

Could he have a more difficult name, I mean I havnt been this challenged by a name in a long time. Any way I have today some fantastic shading drawings from his work so I hope you all enjoy!

Cheers!

I'm a bit knackered...

2007-11-18T16:40:00.000-05:00

But I survived my trip to Tennessee, good times were had by all, although I got little to no work done and I'm so knackered I cant lay down or I will not get up until tomorow and what with a scale model due thats not really an option, either way, I tried to sketch while I was there, due to my own forgetfulness I'm afraid I only did one because I forgot to grab it on the way out the door on Saturday, but I've got plenty of stories to tell...

for now, its off to the store for more supplies!

Apples more than just food

2007-11-12T17:35:00.000-05:00

So I totally forgot I drew this on friday while sitting in a meeting, and a little while working. I might own to many apple products but that is okay because you know what, Mac is better.. the superior computer, not nearly as many problems as with windows..

I think the shading is actually alright on this, mostly because stuff made by apple is generally only 1 of two colors, white or..... black so the shadows are quite easy to spot and I have almost no trouble finding them.

- Cheers!

Look at all the students

2007-11-11T19:19:00.000-05:00

So Saturday it was a touring day for the future students of UNCG, so I assumed that meant no sketching for me, so I rather stupidly left my sketchbook in my room upon my arrival it was a full hour and a half before our first student groups arrived and so after that I grabbed a fistful of the handouts for students to know that parents and such would be walking about and began to try and quickly draw the people as they came and went, none to shabby I should say, but then again, there not to great either.

I dont really get a chance to draw anymore it would seem gotta work on that and hopefully will soon.

-Cheers!

I'm drowning in cubes!

2007-11-08T12:47:00.000-05:00

No seriously, I am drowning cubes, I've got 4 sitting on my desk with not much to do, I think I'm going to make some sort of installation for my room out of them, not sure what yet, but you'll find out on here eventually. Anyway back on the subject matter at hand, cubes, they're really, square, which means they cast alot of right angles for shadows, kinda cool like that, after tuesdays fiasco in shading I was feeling pretty clue less.
As you can see I think the only redeeming part of this one is the shaft of light that comes through the small crack.

Down to what I drew last night

My first Scratch that, third attempt, April told me my first two didnt look like what I was drawing and she gave me some tips, which you can see I implemented here

Still not udnerstanding how to do any of this, I called an art major friend of mine to come and explain to me shading, he gave me some input which I then implemented into this drawing

My final drawing looks like this, none of the cubes are touching which makes them kind of nice in terms of the shadows, it also makes them very difficult to draw.

Moral of this story is that, I still do not have a lick of what I'm doing when it comes to shading, I tried reading through the book but alas no luck there.

-Cheers!

More Shading Practice

2007-11-06T13:01:00.001-05:00

So today I come prepared with more drawings showing off my shading practice for my drawing class. So brace yourselves! I dont know what really to say about these drawings, I dont love them but I dont hate them either, the only thing I really think about them now is simply the fact that now I dont know which style I prefer drawing in, ink or pencils. I do know that I love drawing on the black paper with the colored pencil, I cant get over how cool they look when they're done.

Illustration Friday: Hats

2007-11-05T22:33:00.000-05:00

This is my first time doing Illustration friday let alone vector, so please be nice!

So I had thought I would post my shaded pencil sketch of my boyfriends Prom King Crown but then I decided I wanted to do something different so I instead chose to try out a Vector style that I have seen alot on other websites and really just wanted to try out for myself. I think it turned out rather well, I used a Police Womans hat from West Yorkshire. I liked how it turned out, in fact the only part I really dont like is the checkerboard pattern because it was very tedious to do as each of those shapes had to be drawn individually and they still dont look very correct. I still like it and hope to continue to work with this technique in the future.

I probably should have been scanning in my shading assignment but I needed something fun to do today.. sorry! check back soon

Happy (late) Halloween

2007-11-01T14:07:00.000-04:00

So yesterday was Halloween and only a few people dressed up in studio, so I decided to attempt a quick sketch of those elaborate costumes, Suzanne's almost came out the good, the rest look kind of poor but I can tell that I am improving my drawings of people. Might try adding abit of color to it later, I just cant get over the coloring tools in photoshop, I think I might have a problem..

Cheers!

Shading Excersize

2007-11-01T13:15:00.000-04:00

This post contains the shading excersizes we worked on, on Tuesday, Hope I'm doing this stuff right because I don't really feel like the book is being all that clear about when to use each style or even how to do it properly.

The Colors!!!

2007-10-27T22:35:00.002-04:00

So inspired by what I saw Suzanne working on in the computer lab one day, which can be found here , took me awhile to complete, since coloring with a mouse is hard, I've also never done this before so it probably is quite lacking but I still wanted to try it out.

Sketching in the Rain

2007-10-26T11:34:00.000-04:00

No singing for me, its to wet for me to be doing that... probably to wet to actually be drawing out there but with how loud the rain was in the critique room I'm suprised I wasnt actually standing outside. So thank goodness its been raining the past couple of days, maybe now the weather will return to somewhat standard levels. Anyways, just wanted to throw a quick sketch I did up on ye olde blog.. hope my what I believe may be up to 4 readers appreciate it. Yes part of this sketch is a sticky note, I thought I'd add a dash of something, and plus, sticky notes are fun, they stick to Everything!

Dive right into... Shading?

2007-10-24T19:01:00.000-04:00

Okay, so today I'm going to try to make light of this post because next to our attempts at drawing faces I'd say this assignment made me laugh the most afterwards. (Drawing faces still holds onto its title as drawings that I could not do with out laughing endlessly) But also because, thats the type of person I am and I want to see if that can translate to a blog..

So on Tuesday we were instructed to actually practice various techniques for shading with some still lifes (is that even the proper usage should it be lives??). Now granted at the time I was very frustrated and saw absolutely nothing good in any of the following drawings. Now that I've had some time to not look at them and even forget that they existed I dont HATE them, granted I dont exactly think their fantastic but I do see what the intention was. I now understand why they just as the post suggested, threw us into the pool with out our floaties so to speak. Now 2 of these 3 are actually an attempt at the same scene, that being a still life made up of a tripod, a box and a hodgepodge of other items including a shagrug, although that one disappeared quickly.

This paticular drawing was done with a combination of smudging and a diagonal method, not really sure how to describe it. My favorite part of it is the fact that I got the shadow the tripod left on the box to actually look abit like I saw it. And while something went horribly wrong with the foam thing and the clock seems to just be radiating light from an unknown source I am still glad I tried it.

Tried smudge again and it was going well until those really dark areas inside, but I'm not lying those darker areas were there! If you could read my mind right now it'd be asking you to move on to the next drawing...

Oh yes! now this one is a... its a umm, a teenagers cane? (someone actually said it looked like some sort of modern cane). Suzanne said a collapsible toothpick and while both are excellent ideas for future products and good guesses, I'm afraid that it is just a lonely leg of a tripod and then that same leg blown up to Enormous size. This was done with the diagonal hatching method Jake showed us and my only complaint with it is just the fact that not all the lines are the same size but I guess thats more my fault than his...

So did I drown or triumphantly doggy paddle my way to the side, I dont know, but I'd say either way I'm off to some sort of start, I know I'll be playing with this when the sudden urge to draw strikes again later..

Cheers!

A Zine

2007-10-18T10:11:00.000-04:00

So My Zine is called Spaces and really is just a compilation of interior spaces that I really thought were intresting or just really well designed. All of my spaces came from Either the September and October 2007 Issues of Architectural Digest or out of Interior Design's August 2007 Issue.

Sources: Architectural Digest October 2007
Pages: 77, 104, 248, 257, 288

Architectural Digest September 2007
Pages: 184, 204

Interior Design August 2007
Pages 184, 226, 232