Sunday 27 March 2011

Subtractive Modelling, darling. Update

Model
Well model done, photographed, photoshopped and annotated.
How was it done?


Subtractive


Ingredients


1 Sheet of 100mm selutex
Saw
Dremmel
ipod
Tea
Van
Drawing
Marker
Tea
Hoover
Plan on 600 x500 square of 100mm selutex (evil stuff)


Roughly drawn out ready for attack

then,


Additive


Card
Wire Wool
Tea
Silver foil
Impact Glue


Just after carving four loads of dust from the hoover and half in my lungs


Added the important features. Very neutral colours

Photoshop

Played around a bit to get a lighter feel, as a lot of my work recently has seemed a bit heavy and dull.

Decided to not have a frame on the pictures as the angles and backgrounds would not work, so went for the dreamscape view ( Q, the twilight zone music, it looked like any other display of photoshop fantasy, but he was now entering....... the 'Twilight Zone').

Spent a while on the annotation to 'Sell' the project.




One particular picture came out well, Daylight rather than electric always seems to work better. Photoshop sky.



So there we have it, another section done (but never completed).

Sunday is annotation day plus some sketches in black and white, then do the 1;50 area for monday, so normal frantic Sunday.

Update on cross sections i think will take a little more time as i have yet to come up with an alternative to the style that i have been using up till now.

Now where is that ink and Karens number......






Monday 21 March 2011

If Heineken was a student..it would be 8 sheets pinned up last week!

Nope, a valiant attempt, but no banana.


Spent a lot of time on the Planting and materials plans. Due to reading and thinking, alas my brain works in analogue ,so its rather slow!


This what i managed.


I will write up later.







Sunday 20 March 2011

Can't see the wood for the Tree's

Focussed on the point.


A bizarre saying, never really understood it for years, but at the moment its crystal clear and i am sure for most of us it has a chime of truth. 
Looking at your own work for hours/days/months, doubt creeps in until you have no idea whether its good, inspirational and ground breaking or tired, predictable and safe.
Then the trap of adding more 'stuff' and losing the less is more simplicity ,which we all know is so hard to achieve. It comes back to the would i like to spend a day in the Park? As an 8 year old or 70?


This so has to become a 'place' again. It must become a point of reference to what a park could and should be the local and wider community. Otherwise leave it as it is and spend the money else were, were it would be beneficial.


Enough rambling,


Drawings 


Sunday Morning, this is were i am at



1:200 plan. Updated and tightened the annotation. Added trees to correspond to planting plan. Lightened the South bank. Cross section markers. Reduced the size of the scale bar. I am sure i have missed stuff



Boy, did i spend some time on this little puppy. There can never be enough information for a contractor. So site visits would still have to happen though the idea of leaving a drawing that the informed contractor could refer to and not be phoning up every five minutes is the challenge.





Flattened the textures for the different materials to reduce any confusion. Though i am sure a specification book could go with each drawing, as i seem to have a lot of questions for the designer, oh shit thats me!
I can easily see how a year of designing as a team with hundreds of drawings and specification documents could easily happen , and then have a major F/Up
because somebody has missed the 'bleedin obvious'!


Sunday have loads to still do, given up on getting the model done, but you never know!!!



Wednesday 16 March 2011

Dark Satanic Mills

Ozzy the Victorian Man

While i was designing some Victorian/Gothic style fencing, had some music on for a change (tend to work in silence as the old grey matter tends to 'get in the groove' alas the wrong groove).
Itunes Genius playlist, What could better than a bit of Black Sabbath playing a delightful tune from their ever popular long player 'Master of Reality' called 'Into the Void' a real throat slitter, perfect for a Gothic Fence design.




A quick sketch of the front entrance

Gothic Arch theme. The slits and holes for a bit of decoration

A bit more 'Adams Family' with diamond shapes.

All out of Oak,it will cost a fortune but last 40+years without any treatment, the beauty of hard wood.
All made at Hever Saw Mills , hopefully.

Monday 14 March 2011

phew..Pen and Ink!

Pen and Ink


Well had a go, small brush and ink pen, plus natural sponge for tree effect.


Need to practice more. I see the possibilities of this format. Though old habits die hard.


Big week this week for completion of 1;200 section, plus normal work...


Oops lolly pop trees. Though love a Gas works 

  
Salix and Cypress Oak
Small tree natural sponge.




A tree for all seasons

Plants


Well first attempt at the tree planting schedule. I have not put sizes as i need some guidance from others on the pot/girth dimensions.


Really tried to visualise the effect the tree's would have in the surroundings, ie some restricted space other area's much more open. Also the effect on noise from dampening to echo down the ravine. Thought about enclosure for the visitors as well as seasonal colour and scent . Put some specimens in to cause special visitations when in bloom (in particular the Handkerchief and Foxglove trees)








Materials

Really just a quick template ,a lot more research as i have yet to get excited about anything. I know what i want but can't seem to find the materials to match the vision....Compromise?







Don't Fence me in

Normal Work

Busy week at work, lesson learnt to try and keep on top of everything. Easier said than done.

Had to put idea's for a victorian fence out of Oak. Looked around and everything was to ornate. As the house was built in the Italian Victorian style its decor is more subtle than the normal Victorian work of the period (1860).

So some simple slightly gothic idea's for the sawmill to give an estimate on. 10 mins then rushed out for an appointment, which for once i wasn't late for.


Sketch of the window with its carved detail in sandstone
Rounded to match?



A bit more Gothic, a bit more 'Adams Family'.


Somewhere in the middle.

On Going Job

A quick picture as a sketch for awkward space in a shared drive.A lot of thinking on this little one to hide everything, keep access for the electric station, very low maintenance, something to look at ie curiosity etc. The friend seemed to like the idea, but then in a pub and a couple of pints anything looks good!

Sunday 6 March 2011

Made Me Smile



The Red Swing Project

'To Nail or not to Nail, that is the question'

Slingshots and Arrows 


If the Bard had been on our course i am sure he would of reached this conclusion. Having tried to complete stuff for pin ups i often compromised on annotation, levels, planting, materials, etc,etc. So ended up having to explain myself on the back foot, which is fine (you pay's your money.....and all that), but non the less annoying. 
So this week i have concentrated on nailing the 1:200 'freeze' plan. In particular levels, planting and materials. Really tried to get the 'zing' back. So slingshots and arrows, yes, but at least i feel that i have been thorough (to my 'student' standards at least).


Plan


Drawn on the 'board', scanned and merged. Photoshop rendering. A lot quicker this time as learnt techniques used and hopefully improved. Tried to make it a bit lighter in feel, but still atmospheric.
A lot of updates, but in particular the cafe to the right of the waterfall, set back into the hill, more space to accommodate seating. Thought a lot about the hills of grass to sit on, there aspect to the views in particular.



The annotation will be improved once i have completed the planting and material plans. Again a case of nailing them then updating this plan. I think the scale bar needs improvement, i know Andy had a good template. I feel some plagiarism or is that inspiration, m'Lord.

Sketch Book


Spent quite sometime drawing idea's that were suggested as well as developing new ones. Scribbling seems to help me think, even if it turns out to be rubbish, also to check if whats in my head would look ok spatially and other problems that may be thrown up.

Had a go at rendering with water colour pencils, a hint is better than total fill i think.
My usual scratchy ink (fountain pen). I have come to the conclusion that this is the way that works for me, quick and effective (to my eye at least)

If i want to draw steady lines then i can trace over, but i think i have drawn this way for sooooooo long that the old dog ain't gonna learn this time.

The zigzag of the planted path with axil steps cutting across, seems ok, Put a hoody in with some swag who is distracted by the lovely planting, later nabbed by the 'Fuzz' ,society to blame and all that

Brass railings an inspiration from the new bridge at Kew (with a nudge from Paula ,cheers ). Playing with a gold/brown glass or plates of textured brass, copper /zinc alloy (Admirality Brass higher Zinc ratio for reduced corrosion or maybe bronze copper/tin alloy)

Youth on bridge

Timber high walk way through the south bank. Resin in lay in the timber (aka Bluewater though black rather than yellow...yuk)



More balustrades, Central meeting point on the North bank under a large pergola. My version of the 'Green Business Man'.

Cafe by the waterfall, out of scale and to near the front, rectified on the little sketch below.

A thought about enclosing the axil stair's in a metal pergola with a climber. Plus a tunnel effect and shade, minus reduces the view across the park, mmmmm a conundrum as Sue would say. 


A cross section of granite by the water. Plus some anti skate board idea's (grumpy gene coming into operation i am afraid)

Axil steps lined with trees?