Saturday, March 21, 2020
Milestone Project 2: Hat Papercraft Process
Welp, there goes the rest of the semester. Although it's no one's fault and no one could have foreseen these circumstances, I truly will miss this class and the projects we were headed towards. With this unexpected closure in mind, I was not able to fully complete the papercraft assignment, but here's what I do have:
I retooled the shape of my hat to reflect a ore whimsical vibe, with different proportions and an asymmetrical slant. While I was unfolding and preparing the model to be cut, I originally wanted to go with the flower method, but I soon realized that this would limit the size of the individual strips and make glueing tabs challenging, as most of the glueable area would be enclosed inside the hat. With that in mind, I opted to have most of the edges scored with tabs going down, so that I could construct the hat from top to bottom. After printing, however, I learned the hard way that the slight loss of surface area that comes with scoring made the angles of the original model impossible. If we had more time on this project, I would attach the top ring layer of the hat to the very top, and then have the rest formed using the flower method.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
Assignment 7: Papercraft Prototype
In order to prepare myself for crafting a solid, clean and consistent papercraft object, I focused much more on getting the essentials of scoring and folding down instead of worrying about an overall concept. That being said, I knew I wanted it to relate to some experience my brothers and I used to share, as they informed the person I became a lot, for better or worse. I landed on a tophat from a game all of us used to play together called Battleblock Theatre. The game itself wasn't the significant memory (although it was a lot of fun), but it got us all together and having a good time, plus the shape of the hat lent itself well to a practice object, as it was small and symmetrical. Overall I found this experiment valuable, but I plan to go in a bigger, bolder direction for my final, now that I'm slightly more comfortable with the medium.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Assignment 6: Papercraft Digital Samples
In preparation for tinkering with genuine papercraft forms, I've designed a handful of simplified models for the main purpose of getting myself familiar with the thought process and steps necessary to carry out such a task. Overlap of faces once unfolded was my main issue, so I was forced to be very precise in the way each pattern was layed out. Ultimately, I feel more confident in tackling the real deal.
Monday, February 10, 2020
Assignment 5: The Fantastic Cut Paper Works of Deepti Nair and Harikrishnan Panicker
It took me a while to wrap my mind around what I was really looking at, as well as the effort and care that went into making it look so smooth. Many layers of paper give such vivid tonal contrast and implication of depth, and the cartoony, simplified style lends itself fantastically to such an aesthetic.
The monochromatic nature of the paper illuminated by LEDs both unifies the image by creating a strong, bright background, but also emphasizes the figures better than a vivid detailed background would allow for. The simplified, organic figures are a personal favourite for me, as I've always been drawn to cartoons and graphics like this, and I personally think it lends itself extremely well to figures constructed from a flat medium. The subtle texture and thickness of the paper adds so much intrigue without doing too much, and contrasts beautifully with the strong silhouettes.
Creating the shapes seen in these images with paper would take a lot of patience and precision, especially the squiggly holes on the cloudlike shapes to the sides and the thin, delicate humanoid characters. Removing the light source from the background gives us a better look at just how intricate and calculated Hari and Deepti are forced to be in order to produce the desired effect. One wrong cut or tear could drastically change the desired effect of the image and could call for a redo, which is scary with a material as delicate as paper.
Many preparatory sketches and crafts would be required before the duo are ready to dive in, as well as considering the placements of the tiny dividers that give the works their depth. Overall, this intricacy and planning are necessary for creating such a striking product.
Many preparatory sketches and crafts would be required before the duo are ready to dive in, as well as considering the placements of the tiny dividers that give the works their depth. Overall, this intricacy and planning are necessary for creating such a striking product.
Papercraft Process Article by Elsa Mora:
https://elsita.typepad.com/allaboutpapercutting/materials-that-i-use-for-.html
YouTube Video on Papercraft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHduGm4uFvE
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Assignment 4: Mesh Mashup HD Renders
For the final stage is this Mesh Mashup Marathon, I really polished the tone and feeling of my object through colour and lighting choices. The shiny metal blade clashes greatly with the smooth rim lighting on the sheets, and the blaring red button sticks out like a sore thumb. I really wanted to get a surreal, dreamlike quality across with these renders. (Yes, the fact that it's floating slightly off the ground plane was on purpose.)
Hope you enjoy the renders!
Monday, January 27, 2020
Assignment 3: Bed Buzzsaw Refinement
Through our peer conversations in class, the two finalists that were voted on for further refinement were the Pistol Plane and the Bed Buzz saw. I was personally very fond of both of them, but the bed ultimately won out due to it having a more solid theme and more potential for a satisfying final image. Here's some snapshots of it in TinkerCAD:
During multiple discussions, the main suggestion for improvement boiled down to making the saw blade appear more integrated, as if the bed was designed to include it. Some suggested showing messy cut lines in the mattress, and even feathers flying out of the pillow, to show the power of the activated saw. I toyed with this idea for a while, but ultimately decided to exclude it from the final execution, as I felt that messier, more aggressive cutting would make the saw seem separate from the bed itself.
I decided to add a ridge in the middle to make the buzz saw fit in more neatly rather than clipping into the bed model, but I also took this one step further by dividing almost the whole bed in half. This gives it the appearance that it can reach further than just the head area, and that it has been used multiple times. I believe this feeling of surgical precision adds to the unsettling factor we discussed during the exercise. I flipped the bed model in the middle and pulled up the sheets a bit to make it feel even more neat and precise. I also included an extrusion from the pillow to hold the saw in place, which helps to unify it more while also making it creepy. Finally, I put on a power button for activating the saw to make it feel even more integrated as well as adding on to the theming of the object.
This particular combination plays with a few forms of contrast. The most obvious would be the juxtaposition of comfort and discomfort; having something as dangerous as a sawblade in a space with the sole purpose of comforting us is deeply off-putting. Another dichotomy posed by it is an very industrial object fused with a very personal piece of furniture. The mashup of these two items implies a sort of destruction or manufacturing of societal norms that I find very intriguing.
During multiple discussions, the main suggestion for improvement boiled down to making the saw blade appear more integrated, as if the bed was designed to include it. Some suggested showing messy cut lines in the mattress, and even feathers flying out of the pillow, to show the power of the activated saw. I toyed with this idea for a while, but ultimately decided to exclude it from the final execution, as I felt that messier, more aggressive cutting would make the saw seem separate from the bed itself.
Here's some snapshots of the refined version for comparison:
This particular combination plays with a few forms of contrast. The most obvious would be the juxtaposition of comfort and discomfort; having something as dangerous as a sawblade in a space with the sole purpose of comforting us is deeply off-putting. Another dichotomy posed by it is an very industrial object fused with a very personal piece of furniture. The mashup of these two items implies a sort of destruction or manufacturing of societal norms that I find very intriguing. 
Monday, January 20, 2020
Assignment 2: Mesh Mashup
Remix Culture has always intrigued me as a concept, but I was intimidated by the concept of creating my own remixes that seemed creative while borrowing so heavily from the works and objects of others. Throughout this exercise, however, I opened my mind a bit, dropped my biases and fully embraced recycling assets. Nothing is truly original, so using existing templates to express your own style won't come across as "stealing". Enjoy my quirky creations lol
Mashup 1: Gunship
The original idea for this one merely came from the similar shape of a plane body and a gun, but I also considered the portrayal of some peoples' innate fear of plane travel. I also thought a bright happy background would create an interesting disconnect in tone.
Mashup 2: Crane Crane
Okay, let's get this one out of the way: I used my one "creature" submission to make a lame pun. Sorry not sorry.
In actuality though, I was surprised by how good of a fit the crane was in place of a birds' neck and head. I also wanted to explore the contrast of natural and man-made objects.
Mashup 3: Banana Boom Boom
This one mainly spawned out of the interest of a peel concealing something unexpected. I like the idea of opening one up only to discover a missile.
Mashup 4: Bed Buzzsaw
Combining something intended to be comfortable with something so dangerous seemed obvious to me; I wanted to exaggerate the idea of a really uncomfortable sleep.
Mashup 5: Grenade Gardens
This one appeared to me mostly as I was coming up with parallels that every person makes, in this case "peace and war". I was kind of going for a 60's aesthetic with the idea and the colours.
Mashup 6: Digital Dinner
The increasing overlap between real life and online life fascinates me, so I wanted to capture that connection in a way that would be very impractical in the real world.
Mashup 7: Gamer Goggles
Honestly I just like the expression "gamer goggles" referring to thick nerd glasses, and wanted to portray that in a more literal and comedic sense.
Mashup 8: Hockey Hammer
I knew for one of my submissions I had to combine two tools with handles and merge them to create something totally superfluous and useless. This is that thing.
Mashup 9: Timber-land
As the title suggests, this was mainly inspired by the boot brand Timberland and their logo of a leafless tree. I added the apples for a little pop of colour.
Mashup 10: Vacation Vibes
For this last submission, I was trying to capture a feeling of soaking in a tropical landscape with some good tunes. I was also inspired by the vaporwave aesthetic, which is commonly associated with palm trees and wacky colour schemes like this one.
The original idea for this one merely came from the similar shape of a plane body and a gun, but I also considered the portrayal of some peoples' innate fear of plane travel. I also thought a bright happy background would create an interesting disconnect in tone.
Gun
Plane
Mashup 2: Crane Crane
Okay, let's get this one out of the way: I used my one "creature" submission to make a lame pun. Sorry not sorry.
In actuality though, I was surprised by how good of a fit the crane was in place of a birds' neck and head. I also wanted to explore the contrast of natural and man-made objects.
Crane (bird)
Crane
Mashup 3: Banana Boom Boom
This one mainly spawned out of the interest of a peel concealing something unexpected. I like the idea of opening one up only to discover a missile.
Banana
Missile
Mashup 4: Bed Buzzsaw
Combining something intended to be comfortable with something so dangerous seemed obvious to me; I wanted to exaggerate the idea of a really uncomfortable sleep.
Buzzsaw
Bed
This one appeared to me mostly as I was coming up with parallels that every person makes, in this case "peace and war". I was kind of going for a 60's aesthetic with the idea and the colours.
Grenade
Flower
The increasing overlap between real life and online life fascinates me, so I wanted to capture that connection in a way that would be very impractical in the real world.
Computer Mouse
Fork + Knife
Laptop
Steak
Honestly I just like the expression "gamer goggles" referring to thick nerd glasses, and wanted to portray that in a more literal and comedic sense.
Glasses
Minecraft sword
Mashup 8: Hockey Hammer
I knew for one of my submissions I had to combine two tools with handles and merge them to create something totally superfluous and useless. This is that thing.
Hockey Stick
Hammer
As the title suggests, this was mainly inspired by the boot brand Timberland and their logo of a leafless tree. I added the apples for a little pop of colour.
Boot
Tree
Apple
For this last submission, I was trying to capture a feeling of soaking in a tropical landscape with some good tunes. I was also inspired by the vaporwave aesthetic, which is commonly associated with palm trees and wacky colour schemes like this one.
Radio
Palm Tree
Monday, January 13, 2020
House (TInkerCAD Test)
This quaint little house was just a test as I was figuring out and getting used to a new software. I even tried to make a living room but got bored halfway through lol oops oh well
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