Character Stand

So after a lengthy process I now have the physical 3D form of an object that I had created in Rhinoceros and Adobe Illustrator. Though it is only a simple paper craft, I find that it is still cool to have.

 To be completely honest, I just wanted to make a pedestal for potential 3D figures of characters that I make.

Here is a mock-up with a small pop up card I made.

Overall, I'd say that the creation of the pedestal wasn't that complicated of a process, but it was still fun. I will say that my choice of glue, that being a simple glue stick, was a terrible idea. So I eventually resorted to using tape to try and strengthen the glue.  At its current state I believe that the pedestal is held together by faith... Yep, it's on the verge of unfolding into a clobbered mess. I am not completely satisfied with the final result so I think I'll be redesigning the pedestal to make it more complicated. Also If I make another one it's definitely going to have a different type of glue be used, because glue sticks are not good for more rigid papers.

Until next time, have a good one!

3D to 2D and Back

This week I was tasked with the challenge of creating three dimensional  objects that can be unfolded into flat nets of the original shapes using the program Rhinoceros. The 10 objects I created can be seen below.

First I started off small with a simple square.

The assignment wasn't necessarily tough. I think it was a little on the tedious side, and because of that, I'd say my main struggle was remembering all the specific tools that I could have used. Overall I'd say I learned a lot, and this became very prominent towards the end of the project where my workflow had increased dramatically as I got more used to working in Rhinoceros. 

One of the Artistic Uses of Paper

I find that paper can be used to make all kinds of art. Whether it's art being drawn on paper, or art being made of paper. Though there are various mediums and uses for paper, The artists Deepti Nair and Harikrishnan Panicker have made a unique and wonderful use of the paper medium.

The use of various layers of paper is clear, but there are various other aspects that make their art pieces truly shine. These art works use light to enhance the thematic setting. Each layer of paper is thoroughly spaced to take full advantage of the back light to successfully build the scene. The layers of paper are used extensively, as they not only make use of shapes, but also make use of holes. An example of this can be found in the picture above. The scene seems like an ocean, but small holes are placed around the whales, giving the space above a very space-like appearance.

The paper art can vary wildly in size, as some can be absolutely gigantic, where others can easily be held in ones hands. These works can only be described as beautiful and awe inspiring. The amount of care that must have been placed into these works must be more than I can currently think of, though I guess I'd rather just stare at these amazing art pieces than trying to ponder exactly how the creators felt when monotonously and tediously cutting out thousands of individual scraps of paper.

I found these artists completely and utterly inspiring. Their work really caused my thought process to wander through fantasy-like settings. I wanted to write about their works because I found the art so mesmerizing that I had to find a reason to stare at them some more. Each work invokes some sort of stylistic fairy tale, and because of this, it feels like I can jump into each piece and interact with the objects inside.

URL: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/03/illuminated-cut-paper-light-boxes-by-hari-deepti/

The Design Task

This week I've been tasked to create 25 designs in Adobe Illustrator. This was to practice pattern generation and procedural drawing of some sort. I guess this is evident because while I was working I gradually got faster at creating patterns. Anyways, this is the result.

I just realized, that due to the PNG nature of the Designs, the Picture preview becomes hard to see when enlarged. I've made another version with an entirely white background for viewing purposes.

Remixed Object Outcome

And I present to thee... Monsieur Toilet.

Thingiverse Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1805177

I worked with a group of people to finalize the concept. The original idea was to make something that can be considered disgusting or unsanitary, and immediately make it dapper by adding a mustache and monocle. The group took a large liking to a pirate with a mustache that I had mashed together, but it was simple and not refined. Which lead to more ongoing dialogue.

The ideas that were suggested varied widely, from a trashcan to a bug, but I decided to settle with one of the first ideas, that being a toilet. Rather than a pirate, I decided to use a toilet, as that is often closely related to a part of human life that many don't want seen. I've made it "fancy" by giving it both a mustache, monocle, bow tie, top hat, and cane. Through this transformation we now have a very well dressed toilet, though it still remains a toilet. This begs the question, "is it fancy?"

The objects used for this mashup can be found below.

Beefy arms: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:240953

Toilet: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:744778

Cane: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1211301

Bow tie: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1285344

Mustache + Monocle: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:361343

Top hat: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1719972

Overall I think that the creation of this little mashup was a wonderful experience, and a great exploration of remix culture. In essence I believe that Monsieur Toilet relates very strongly to the term "mashup" due to the new idea created from mashing the unclean and plain with the dapper and fancy. This object could fit fairly under the therm "juxtaposition" due to it the nature of combining the idea that mustaches are fancy with the idea that toilets cannot be fancy.

Just form looking at the object, a connection to remix culture can be derived with ease. This is simply because I believe the concept itself to be bizarre enough that the meaning derived from it is quite narrow. Though the object may not fully match the definition of "remix" seeing as ot seems to have little to no use, it is still a part of remix culture.