DEAR DESIGN VISUALIZATION,

Coming into this class, I knew absolutely nothing about drafting. I was completely caught off guard when I found out that I would be learning this new skill, even though it should have been obvious that I would. Then, the semester started...

Drafting was very frustrating for me basically through out the entire semester. It took a lot of patience, and that is normally a virtue that I lack.  I quickly learned that I was going to just suck it up, do my work, and get on with it. I actually began to enjoy drafting, as time consuming as it was, because it allowed me to get away from everything and really focus on something.  However, drafting and I did have a very strong love-hate relationship; it was the cause of many mental breakdowns.

Now, for the sketches... I loathe drawing.  That 9X9 green square and I did not get along at all.  I do not draw well, and I actually have to try very hard to pop a good drawing onto a piece of paper, and it becomes very frustrating.  I had a bad habit of comparing my skill (or lack thereof) with those of others who had obviously been drawing for a while.  I also wish I could have had more of an opportunity to draw more of the things I wanted to; I may have enjoyed drawing more.

All in all, I really learned a lot this semester.  I know that drafting will come in handy when I had to create floor plans and draw things to scale.  I actually look forward to learning more drafting skills next semester.

JUST COME ON, VOGUE!

These are two pages out of my sketchbook where we practiced drawing scale figures.  I am not an artist, but I felt that these were some of the most successful ones.

The scale was cut off of both images for the figure on the left. Those scales are 1/2":1' (top) and 3/4":1' (bottom).

TALENTED CLASSMATES

The following sketches were created by two other design students:

http://heatherdesignarchitecture.blogspot.com/

This is a close up of a leaf that was sketched out by Heather Williams. As I was looking through her sketchbook, it was obvious that she has been sketching for a while because she is very talented. I really admire this drawing because so much care and detail went into making it. I mentioned how "I wish I could do this" and her response was "You can, it just takes time." This was really inspiring for me. I learned that I just need to have patience and take my time when I sketch.

http://hollyburda.blogspot.com/

This array of leaves was sketched out by Holly Burda. I really liked how she paid close attention to the way she utilized shadow in every one of her sketches. Going through her sketchbook made me realize that I need to shadow my sketches to add more depth and life to my sketches. 

SOME OF THE BEST

 These are three sketches that I feel are the most successful. I am not a fan of sketching because I don't feel that I am good at it, and I don't have the patience to pay attention to detail. However, these three sketches represent what happens when I actually do take my time to draw.

This was the very first leaf that I sketched out. I was laying by the pool doing homework when it floated down and sat next to me. It was the meaning of beauty and simplicity. I sketched it while I was laying out by the pool so that I could have the natural sunlight act as my top light. 

This is the third attempt at a self-portrait. It is an older picture that I took of myself; I liked the closeness and differing view from the typical self-portrait. Unfortunately, I wasn't sketching this with any other light than that penetrating off of my laptop screen. I know that I will need to work on minor details such as the way the hair actually lays and falls. 

This, obviously, is another leaf sketch. At this point, I was bored with sketching the leaves. This is also when I found out that I actually sketch better out of frustration (weird, I know). I payed special attention to the edges of the leaf, when normally I would just draw the contour of the outer edge and pay more attention to inner details such as the veins and stem. I was drawing using the overhead light in my dorm room which made it difficult to capture all the details that I wanted to. 

TO SIT OR TO FILE? THAT IS THE QUESTION.

This magazine rack was by far the most challenging of the three objects. The curve was very hard to accomplish in a neat and clean way. My strengths for this object would be that my lines are clean, and although difficult, I drafted a pretty positive magazine rack. My weakness for this would definitely be my line wight. I also didn't catch the detail of the depth of the handle.

The stool was the easiest of the three objects to draw because it had sleek angles and lines. My strengths in this object would be my line weight. It got a little uneven in the top view, but elsewhere, it's basically even. My weakness for this object would be the composition. I could have found a better way to space out my views to make the overall composition more appealing. 

The chair wasn't easy or hard, it was just annoying. Unfortunately, the only strengths that I can see that I have here are the composition, and the side and isometric view. There is a lot I could work on to improve this composition: the curves of the front and top view could definitely be cleaner. The top view is a tad messy and I could have made the lines cleaner. 

KEEP YOUR HANDS CLEAN!

I found out that drawing an oddly shaped rectangular figure proved to be more difficult than I had assumed, but I feel that I succeeded in these drawings. My strengths would be the composition, and the elevation and plan views of the object. I feel that the plan view is the most difficult view to successfully draw, but I feel it is the strongest view of the three. My weakness was definitely the isometric view. I could not get the angles right, and I didn't know how to go about doing so. (However, I have redrawn the isometric view so that I could get the angles right.)

Isometric view of the hand sanitizer bottle.

OHH, OBJECT A AND B...

As a general note, I feel that these three plan drawings have been my most successful drawings to date. 

The strength for this would be getting each notch in Object B to be 'just right'. The weakness would be that my lines in Object B don't look to be perfectly straight, but it's only by the slightest bit.

The strength for these would be the line weight; it is consistent throughout both drawings. The weakness is the circle in Object B; with a little more patience, it would be cleaner.

The strength for these would line weight (again), and having clean lines. The weakness for these is that the circle could have been cleaner, and the angles look to be a little off in Object B.