Ideation & Prototyping Week 3: 50 Renderings & In-class Project
AHHHHH…… another week of drawing! For this week, my assignment is to pick an object and make 50 different versions of it. If you have read my previous blog posts, you’d know how terrified I am when it comes to sketching. Don’t get me wrong, I love drawing and doodling for my private enjoyment; but I always get self-conscious and overly critical when I am sketching something that could be viewed by others. So, what’s a better way to confront my fear of drawing than sketching an object 50 times?
I wanted to draw something that I interact with almost every day, so I decided to go with my headphones because I have never left the door without it (can you tell that I am a Millennial-GenZ? lol). Anyway, without further ado, here are my renderings:
From 1 to 10, I started with some simple sketches of my Airpods that capture the general shape and characters of the object: it’s round and it makes a crisp “click” sound when the case is shut off. I also tried to draw it from different perspectives to familiarize myself with its contour and shape. I then started experimenting with different techniques and texture. For instance, #11-#14 were all drawn indirectly by applying pressure. For #11, I placed a smaller piece of paper on top and then drew the object by pressing a pen onto the paper. Then, I shaded the area with a pencil so that the lines are visible. I did the opposite with #12 and #13 by applying force from the back with one left unshaded, as I wanted to feel the lines with my fingers instead of seeing them.
I found some pens in other colors and other different papers, so I played around with various colors and types of paper from #17–#25. In this section, I found myself using the original object as a blank canvas. Because the headphones are in white, drawing them with different colors adds some personality to the object. I then began to think about other ways I can represent AirPods. So rather than drawing the object as is, I used other things that would still reveal its essences, such as the product packaging in #31 and the charging port in #32. To highlight the implications of its monetary value, I used the product website and the amount of cash needed to purchase the item in #34 and #35. I kept going further and further with this approach and came up with so many representations of it that I still had more to draw when I hit the 50th.
Although my sketches are nowhere near clean and beautiful, I felt more creative than ever towards the end of my drawings; I became comfortable working with my hands and grew more confident working with physical materials. In our current day and age where most creative processes are being digitized, there are still many media, material, and approaches out there for me to explore and work with.
In-class Project: Mask
For last week’s in-class project, I designed a mask with a drawing board in the front. My inspiration came from Magic Sketch, a kids’ sketching board that can be erased by pulling a handle or a button. Many friends and other people around me have expressed their frustration with not being able to show emotions and easily customize their masks. So I thought that using an inkless drawing board texture on the front of the mask would be an efficient and convenient way to allow users to draw a face or write something that fits the social occasions that they are participating in. I actually constructed this prototype by imitating sewing; I first draw a pattern on the construction paper, just like what you would do with a piece of fabric, attached the two pieces of pattern right sides together, and finally flipped it inside out. The construction paper was a bit stiff to work with so I had to put extra tapes on the outside to secure it, but it was nonetheless fun to experiment with sewing techniques on a piece of paper.
