some recent drawings in mech pencil

From this weekend and some buildings here and there that I've been drawing. Just been drawing whenever I can. Also getting used to mech pencil a lot more for tighter, more confident lines.

So from our model; design cont'd

We took pics of our model and we had to make sort of a tapestry with them; one is symmetrical, the other is asymmetrical. We are only allowed to use one photo at a time for each of the pics of the model we took (mostly close ups). We're supposed to do these by hand, but I thought that it would be more efficient to figure it out in Photoshop first, and then go from there. So these are the ones I used from my pics of the model. I posted the original pics so they could be seen, too :) It reminded me a LOT of the Islamic architecture, which I LOVE. The sacred geometry and tiling.

Arch design

So I"m taking a design fundamentals class in which we had to take a man made material and a natural material and find a way to fit them together so they make a buildable structure that has rhythm, space in three directions, weight, using techniques like curling, weaving, piercing, etc to demonstrate tension, unity, and other things. It had to be a repeatable structure, so that we could test how much we could add on to the piece and in what ways before the structure would fall apart. Mine was repeatable, and I got it to stand (hooray!). I took two isosceles triangles and put three wedges/squares on each side. I then put one triangle perpendicular to another so that they were firmly together (like they were weaved together at right angles), and then put a toothpick in place so that the triangle was connected by three things at one point (so it was sturdy). I used (for my materials) bamboo toothpicks and some weird kind of packing material with nice texture I found lying around randomly. My supervisor was actually really nice; he got some for me and I came in one day and there were eight sheets for me :) When I was making a 'chain', the material chain began to bend, so I ended up wrapping one end (of the chain; basically where I started) to the other (you'll see part of the loop at the top). So it was actually on its side (more east to west) when I first built it, and then turned it in a perpendicular manner by adding more structure to the base. We also looked at a possible cantilever design. We then determined where were the weakest and strongest points of the model, and the limits of the materials used. This is a 50 piece (as in, two triangles and a toothpick counted as one unit) model and stands about two feet high. What was liked is that there is randomness and a structure to the image; it's not just a regular grid/box and it has density. Also, there is use of space in multiple directions, and the material permits light as it is sort of porous(and possibly sound) to travel through if it were a structure. It also is very fractal by its nature. Next week we are taking this to another level, but in the meanwhile, here are some shots of the model and closeups to emphasize texture and show the structure and the way things fit together, shot at the studio. I really liked this assignment :)

some beginnings of some CAD-ed out work

Measured this out with my prof's bad@$$ calipers. I'm not done yet but in the meantime, some renders. Also, did some drawings around P@sadena of their C!ty hall but I'm too lazy to upload those right now. I also was able to find a figure drawing spot that can accommodate this current term's schedule (on literally my one day off) so I may be posting figure drawings after all! We shall see.

half awake, half asleep

What's up blogworld? So this term I'm actually probably not going to be able to do as much figure drawing (although I'll certainly try), because I have core skills to work on. So the posts will certainly be less frequent (I may become vain and do several WIP-type stuff), because I'll be doing a lot more modelmaking, observational type sketches of buildings (a teeny bit of figures when I can squeeze it in). I"m learning more about design, as it means in the non-illustration based way, so it is more form and idea based and less shape based. It's about how pieces fit together, how things expand and contract, twist, curl and how structurally sound they are, bearing in mind things like scale, proportion, balance and symmetry. It seems wonderful for my interests, because it's a great blend of science and art. Things have to work in a real world scenario, or at least your structure has to be able to stand up and things like light and sound will be taken into consideration. I'll be continuing with my sculpture (which has already begun but it's one pose for the entire semester), but some other illustration-y type things that are 2D will probably not be happening unless they pertain to design and its translation to a structure. I'm told I"ll be building and designing a shed this term, so that should be interesting. Also, I'll be able to (as an option) put some of these 3D CAD skills to use. That should be great, too. I've been modelling in Rh!no this past week and it's been great. It's such an excellent programme. I'm excited but seriously very very tired. I've been drinking a lot of boba to keep me awake. And I need to do laundry...very soon. It's going to be an exciting ride, and one I've been told, is full of opportunity at the end, which is wonderful. I"ve heard such great things about this programme and was astounded by how smart and serious-minded my classmates are this term. All of them. It's a perfect fit and I know it has taken me this long but I know that it's all going to run its course. I can't wait. Until then, I"ll be drawing my way to the other side...

life drawings over vaca/ Happy New Year 2014!

So technically I was on vaca from Dec 21st to Jan 11th but wanted to keep drawing throughout that time. So here are some of the sketches I did. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone and it made me realize how beautiful the architecture is in my home country, even from a historical perspective since our culture has a mix of influences from Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, African, East Indian, Native culture ; seriously, you can't get the same effect drawing from a photo and it was really awesome to walk inside of and around the buildings and just sketch. It's great because no one cares, and if anything they'd just stop by out of curiosity and whatnot. It was nice to just hang around and draw from life. Also some days I was just home and drew things around the house, sitting in the airport, my hand LOL, and my new stuffed scottish stuffed dog and things like that. Happy to be back and into the intense drawing again, but it was great to be home for a bit.