Place for a Leaf: Sketch #4

I know this looks funny... but I had an idea of taking strips of paper from the outside and weaving it through my leaf. The leaf I ended up using, was dead. so I had the primary idea of coloring the strips green as if I were weaving life through my dead leaf, trying to bring it back.

After making my first model, I took some advice and decided to switch from mass to the fragileness of the leaf. I made my base smaller and i played with different sizes of my weaving strips.

Place for a Leaf: Sketch #3

This leaf was my favorite. Though I'm not 100 % sure if it counted as one leaf, it had multiple leaves on it. What struck me most was the mass and the unique shape of it. 

The first idea that I had for it was to connect it in a shape that was simple and geometric, to contrast the complexity of my leaf, to the simpleness of its place.

My second idea was a bird's nest. It was extremely literal, but when we broke up into groups it was what my group chose. When I thought about the mass of my leaf, I tried to think of things I could do to either compare or contrast mass, so that's why I wanted to create a "nest" of other visually-weighted things and create a weighted balance. Before class, I quickly threw together a messy paper nest, with crumpled circular papers inside of it, and stuck my leaf in there.

This was the leaf that I ended up choosing for my project.

Place for a Leaf: Sketch #2

This second leaf had many things that I could play on. The leaf was perfectly flat, and did not curl at all the first week. It was very small, and it almost looked like it had never been touched. It was perfect in every way. It also had a bright yellow color to it. I also noticed that it was symmetric.

The first idea I had was to emphasize size. As you can see in the bottom left corner, I planned to place the leaf inside something extremely large, to contrast scale. I also wanted to use a pattern of the same leaves on the outside to play on the unique qualities of this leaf I had found.

The second idea I had was to contrast size and form, and somehow connect this perfectly flat leaf to a series of raised and differently sized forms. It was supposed to be a "mini-city" which is extremely literal, but I wanted to symbolize the little amount of credit nature is given compared to industry.

The third idea I had was to play on the symmetry and create a structure with folds in it that would hold my symmetrical leaf, but be completely asymmetrical.

Places for a Leaf: Sketch #1

After finding 5 leaves, I picked 3 that were my favorite. This was the first. This leaf was an unordinary brown, but the texture struck me as extraordinary. The front of the leaf was thick as leather, and felt like it too. But when you turned it over, the back of the leaf felt like velvet.

My first idea was to create a place that would reflect the texture. I wanted to contrast, so the place I created was raised with jagged folds, as I was hoping to make them look like pebbles. This sketch is the one in the bottom right corner.

My second idea was to compare textures. I wanted to create a surface that looked like a lilypad on water, because lilypads are also smooth in texture. This idea was quite literal, and the sketch is in the bottom left corner.

My third idea was to create a place from other fall colors, such as red, orange and yellow, to make the brown pop, and give it energy. I was going to make a boxy-looking thing and have the edges cascade and fray as if it was "falling". This was also extremely literal, and the sketch is in the top left corner.

5 things you could find in my purse

AUGUST 31, 2008

Sitting in Brittany's room over labor-day weekend, this was the only work I had left to do. However, I had not brought a purse, so I grabbed some stuff from my overnight bag, and Brittany gave me some of her stuff from her purse, and I played with the objects. I attempted to draw my phone, but it was too curvy around the edges and I couldn't get it to look right. I also had no patience, because the first thing I drew was the Orbit Gum. It took me about 45 minutes to draw that one thing. That was when I decided I'd need objects requiring less detail.

I tried to mix up the objects a bit instead of focusing on just makeup, or just food (yes I could have made one of just food). I also tried to play around with the angles of the objects to make them look more interesting, as they'd be boring if they were straight on the page. I think this assignment was my favorite so far.

Upside Down Drawing

 AUGUST 28, 2008

In my senior year of high school, we were told to draw this same exact picture. However, we were not timed, nor did we have to draw it upside down. I actually remember folding the paper into 16 pieces and then drawing a grid on my blank piece of paper and drawing it that way.

Looking back now, I will say that this drawing is far better than the one I drew back in '07. This exercise definitely broke me out of the "grid habit", especially since I had limited time. Drawing it upside down also had many advantages. Instead of drawing what I thought the man in the chair should look like, I drew just what I saw, line by line. At the end, when I flipped the picture around and compared it to my drawing, I was content. I doubted a result anywhere near what the man actually looked like.

Lettering

AUGUST 28, 2008

Who knew you'd have to relearn how to write the alphabet in your freshman year of college? ... I didn't. I knew there was a different way to write certain letters, but to relearn the whole alphabet? I actually thought it was kind of fun, because I've never paid so much attention to how I write a letter. I will admit, though, that the more I did it, the worse my letters got, and the shakier my hands got. So it was something I had to split over time.