Sunday, April 28, 2013

Aye Aye Captain!

So I was doing an activity with my kids (the ones I tutor) that involved a boat, a crew, and some really silly instructions. Swab the deck! Ships Ahoy! Draw the Anchor! and many more as the kids quickly followed in the Simon Says-like activity. Twas pretty fun for both the kids and I. Aye, but that's not why we are here right!?

Not to say that the little sidebar there isn't relative to the sketch. Another sleepless night I spent thinking of things I might do other than ol computer and drain (<-getting sucked into a computer screen until I pass out...zzz) So I picked up my sketch pad and sketched away. Well...sort of.

A day prior I had gone through my art bin, the one with all my art papers, mags, and landscape notes. Did a little spring cleaning and it got me into the ol creativity mode again. Grabbed my huge sketch pad (I have 3-4 different sizes..this one is like 11"x 14" I think. Scanned through unfinished sketches or ones I could build on. Found my page of bird sketches and went at it. Vuola! I've been kind of lagging the upload time. I hesitate because I still don't feel it's quite finished. So check back for updates. I want to give this guy some color.

11"x14" sketch pencil/pen on sketch paper

Meet Plink! My little scissor-tailed flycatcher inspired friend. I saw an image of bird with a long, beautiful tail and thought it was the coolest thing! Looked up some more google images of "birds with long tails." The Quetzal is another bird with a similar anatomy. Just an F.Y.I. The flycatcher uses it's long, wispy tail in it's aerobatic stunts catching its food. These must be the most graceful hunters to watch. So I drew a sketch of a bird with a long beautiful tail. :)

I played around with beak styles. Going from long and curved (like that of a hummingbird) to very stumpy and sharp. I finally compromised with a little of both. I originally wanted to mirror the tail in the head feathers, but took on a Hermes helmet approach instead. The double winged headpiece kind of deal. It has a military feel to it as well. I was trying to make the bird more mechanical in its features to have more of a SteamPunk-ish feel. I also looked some images up of SteamPunk air-pirate costumes so as to incorporate something into my drawing. Maybe it shows...maybe it doesn't.

As for the wings...I couldn't decide how to design them. Like I said, I wanted a more mechanical feel for the bird. However, I was having difficulty deciding what I wanted. I ended up with bat-like wings. I suppose it works. The wings still need work as far as mechanical details (how the wing is supposed to extend out and other logistics). Looks like I need to study some Ornithology. So I best get started!

Aye Mate, until our next embarking!


Thursday, April 11, 2013

Research & ReConfigure


This is a model of the Landscape Architecture building for my LDA model making class. I failed to take any pictures of the front and sides before I took it apart. I had a lot of fun constructing the model and doing the research. Unfortunately, the fun ended when presentation time came and the teacher began to critique. She was one hard ball. I guess you have to be when you're in a male dominated career that is HIGHLY competitive in itself.

Some cool notes about this project:

-Researching the different bike racks was mind-blowing. The one I used here was the coolest and most efficient for the small space in between the building's two longer sides. The building in the middle is some kind of test lab..for what? I do not know. I think plants maybe. The Geology department and I think another department shares the building. Next store is the Plants Sciences building..I don't know. Bad department situating planning?

-I found some really interesting porch swings and waterfall-like porch covers. One inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright himself. Seriously...ARCHITECTURE IS WAAAAY COOL! Maybe I should have posted this in my other blog..merps. Ohswells! :)

-I spent a lot of time designing what I thought were pretty awesome planters. F.Y.I. professor didn't like my ideas or project all that much. gah! Talk about heart breaking. I guess my awesome research didn't quite show that well through my model. Though she kept telling us "abstract! abstract!" In my head that translates as "glarbitty gloobin, glarbitty gloobin"...in otherwords, I dun know whatcha talkin bout sista!
Momentary digression...
So like I said, spent lots of time coming up with cool ideas for the planter and being proud of what I had thought up. Good times, good times. :)

Yeah, so I don't have much to comment on this project. I promise I'll update with something more interesting on my next post. I'm slowly recovering my artistic tendencies. I've spent too long away from my pencil and pad :(