Shape and Form

Okay, unfortunately Blogger saw fit to load up my Volumetrics post when I tried to edit this one, and I made the edits I wanted to and clicked save. However, it saved the Volumetrics contents over this Shape and Form post. I have no idea why it thought that would be a good idea, but I'll try to make the best of it. It won't be as in-depth as the original post, because it has been a while since this project was done.


In our second project, we were exploring the possibilities of shape and form. We had to start out by building three small models and then take elements from each to build one large sculpture as the final product. I began by doing some sketches that relied on various elements such as balance, organic, tribal, and architectural.  I ended up building all three of the designs on the left of this page. The top relies on balance, the middle uses both organic and perhaps tribal, and the bottom is almost purely architectural. The bottom one has a hidden compartment on the inside that is colored red to give the design a pop without it being too apparent.






The small models were all created out of folded cardstock and I managed to keep to the designs pretty exactly, with the only real changes being on the first one where the sphere became a ring, and the hanging cube was moved closer to the dipyramidal balance beam. It was definitely the most well made of the three, as it used super glue to hold the pieces together, whereas the other two were fastened with mostly scotch tape.

Once I had the small models to work from, I began designing the main project. I knew that I really liked the balance from the first one, and the overall shape of the organic one, and I definitely had to keep the hidden part of the third one, since that was the only thing that made it unique in the first place.

I returned to the sketch book and came up with this design. The ring comes from the first one and is balanced on the bottom spikes of the organic part. The ring also serves as an eyepiece which you look down into to see the hidden compartment on the inside of the base. I began cutting out all the parts and managed to make two perfectly identical "spiky bird beaks" as I'd come to call them, but some problems with the angles of the base forced me to make some changes to the overall design as it wouldn't allow the beaks to sit at the angle that I wanted. I ended up flipping the base over so that the shorter part was where the beaks would sit. I also changed the hidden compartment to a hidden shape, a red cube that would be lit from below and also have reflective tape to shine the light back down on it. With the addition of lighting, I had to build a small base to cover the lighting fixture as well. As for the lighting fixture, I had to build a custom one, even grinding out a groove for the wire to sit in a pre-made socket.

I finally managed to get everything together almost exactly as I wanted it. The only problem was tape lines and the base was just a fraction of an inch too small. It still covered it up good enough though. I was especially proud of the angle at which I managed to mount the hidden red cube. Altogether, I was and still am incredibly proud of this project. I really wish Blogger hadn't deleted my previous post though, because this just seems pathetic.

3D "Me" Glasses

Our first project was to create a pair of glasses that could be worn that utilizes elements that describe our personality. I immediately thought of my love for technology and music and knew I wanted to incorporate both in some way. I thought for some time before remembering an old, useless computer that my dad had brought in that was now just sitting in our laundry room taking up space.

I decided to use the motherboard of the computer as the main material for my glasses... which proved to be quite an undertaking. I neglected to take a picture of my motherboard, but it looked very much like this; complete with connectors, transistors, resistors, and all sorts of other components. I used pliers to pry and rip most of the things off of the surface, but some I even had to chisel off with a screwdriver and hammer. This was likely the most time consuming part of the entire process. Luckily, it also gave me time to just relax and watch some Netflix.

Once I got it down to the bare circuit board, I was able to start my designing process.  I, of course, didn't want to overdo it and make my design too complicated, so I simply recalled an old pair of 3D glasses (the blue/red kind) that I had that were made of paper and essentially copied the design of them. They were just two identical ear pieces with a simple, flat front with eye holes cut out, and due to working with a very resilient material, that seemed to be the best course of action. Also, the circuit board covered my fondness of technology in general, but I also needed something to convey that music is an important part of my life as well. I consulted one of my friends who then suggested adding headphones in somewhere. It just so happened that I had recently bought a pair of ear bud headphones that didn't live up to the expectations, so I decided to wrap the cords around the ear pieces and glue the ear buds themselves so that they could still be inserted in the ears. (As you can see, I didn't try very hard on the ear bud drawing.)

One part of the process I was worried about was cutting the shapes out, but it actually went very smoothly. For future reference, tin snips work great on circuit board for straight lines. To cut out the eye holes, nose area, and the angled part of the ear pieces I used a Dremel with a cutting wheel and it just sailed right through no problem! I was very pleased with the efficiency.  In order to attach the ear pieces to the front I used small brass hinges so that they could freely open and close.
Once I had the pieces assembled I cut off the sharp
tips of the screws and added the finishing touch of the
spiraling headphone wires, and... voila!
The finished product:

My Artistic Biography

My Artistic Biography

When I was younger, I drew scenery all the time. Usually of mountain ranges with a small lake and trees in the foreground. However, as I got older and found other, more electronic ways to solve my boredom, the repetitive drawings were put on the back burner. No, actually they weren't even cooking. I just stopped drawing altogether.

When I got a good desktop computer with MS Paint and other image editing programs, I began learning how to use them, and in high school I took a few computer courses that taught me even more skills with digital image creation. I was pretty good at changing colors of pictures to suit the color scheme of calendars that we were assigned to create every month, and eventually I was known as the go-to guy if anyone needed help creating the effect they wanted on their projects.

My Junior and Senior year of high school I was on the school's Annual Staff, and again, I was generally the one people asked for help. I even personally designed the cover of the annual for my Junior year. I really enjoyed designing the pages of the annual which made me want to use computers in my future career.

When I began college, I was majoring in Computer Information Systems. Decidedly nothing like Annual Staff in the least. However, my first CIS course was the Honors version and the instructor figured we all knew how to use Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and all that, so instead of going through a thick book "learning" things we already knew, he simply made us do a single PowerPoint, redesign a yearbook for a local charity, and design posters for the upcoming W.C. Handy Festival.

Unfortunately, my group's (Lauren Daley, Kyle Black, and I) design was not chosen, but I know I'm still very proud of it. Although, our design for the yearbook was!

I had a blast creating these and learning how to alter colors and exploring possibilities such as the headphone wire spelling out "W.C. Handy." I even learned how to render that "wood grain" in the background completely from scratch. Due to having so much fun in the first CIS course I continued on into the next course... only to find that it literally bored me to sleep. I had never fallen asleep in a class in my entire life and then the thing I plan to do for a living puts me out like a verbal Valium? No thanks!! I immediately dropped the course and another course for my major and, remembering my enjoyable experiences creating with a computer, switched to my current major, Digital Media.

As for me personally, I'm not exactly what one would call an artsy person. I don't have an urge to constantly create things, but do enjoy it when I do. I can easily see the beauty, creativity, and symbolism in the works of others, but I don't create things like that unless I'm assigned to. I'll admit, I surprised myself with one of my 2D design projects and created two images with personal meanings for me, but generally I simply want things to look realistic. That's why my career plan is to be a level designer for a video game company. Technology has improved to the point of being able to render beautiful worlds saved on discs that can be explored with only one's hands, and I want to create those worlds with waving trees, shimmering lakes, majestic mountains, and even vast, cloud-dotted skies.

The above picture is a screen shot from a recent game called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  
This is what I want to create.