Studio Blog | Stéphan Angoulvant

Viscom 3

Following our first two Viscom courses, in which we learned sketching and shading, Viscom 3 was aimed at rendering different materials using various media. This is an edited version of our work throughout the term.

We started with a simple sketching exercise going from quick doodles to a more refined form.

Our first assignment with materials was in rendering wood and concrete. This was a mix of markers, pencil and chalk.

Next we rendered glass using markers, pen and gouache.

Chrome and matte steel were done in chalk and pencil.

Our midterm piece was a large drawing incorporating the materials we had previously studied.

In the second half of the course we started using digital media, in this case Photoshop paths.

There were also numerous exercises for us to practice our skills drawing and shading with the Wacom tablet.

We were gradually given more freedom to explore different digital techniques.

Near the end of the term we returned to analog media with watercolor as a quick and emotive technique.

Our final work for Viscom 3 was related to our product design course which you can see here.

Development of Form

Each semester at Art Center presents its own challenges, I’m beginning to accept and expect this. My third term came to a close a week and a half ago. Reflecting upon it I feel a great weight off my shoulders, knowing all the while that harder obstacles will face me soon.

One of the courses I took this summer was titled Development of Form, taught by the legendary Gaylord Eckles. The main assignment for the term was to select a product we would draw for the duration of the course. I chose a 1962 Kodak Brownie Holiday Flash. Each week were assigned many pages of sketches, with a particular theme in mind. These are some of the highlights of the term.

We started with basic views of the product including perspective sketches and orthographic views.

We then progressed to sketching hands and arrows.

Our first assignment in shading was to render the inverted shades of our product.

Here is the reverse of my drawing

The following week we sketched the product with a great number different lighting scenarios, here are two examples.

Each week in class we reworked a few of our homework pages to correct the mistakes. It was a very instructional process which greatly improved my technique.

Starting Third Term

I’ve had a relaxing break back home in Paris and now we’re back for 14 weeks at Art Center! This should be an exciting term (my third semester) and I’m looking forward to all the classes. The mid-term and final wrap-ups seem to be working well for me, so I’ll keep going in that fashion. In the meantime, check out this great piece from Katherine Bennett titled “A Peek Behind the Curtain” at her blog Design Investigations.

As she mentions, several students have created accounts of their experience in other schools. They’re well worth a look and can be found in the forum thread I started at Core77. I’m hoping to see even more students share their process and not just in the field of product design!

Design Process 2 for Product Design

In the first two terms, the Industrial Design Foundations (or IDF) program at Art Center pools people who will eventually become product designers, transportation designers and entertainment designers. The courses I’ve described so far were shared between these three majors and allowed us to gain an essential grasp on fundamental techniques such as sketching and model-building.

Though all of us have gotten quite close, we were excited to split off for the first time, each following a particular Design Process 2 class aimed at teaching us a process specific to our discipline. This was also exciting because it was our first chance to truly test the skills we had been learning.

The project for us product designers was defined early in the term: to design seating made from a single sheet of 4’ by 8’ material, which should be assembled without the use of glue, screws or other fasteners.

We started the project with a few weeks of research to help us understand different methods of joinery, materials as well as general research on chairs. From there we decided to each investigate three themes. One of my themes was insects. The full process (with bigger nicer images) can be viewed in the PDF version of my process book (20.6MB). In the interest of keeping this reasonably short, though, I will describe how my final concept evolved.

The process started with a huge collection of insects which I found all over the web for inspiration. I found that Wikipedia has a great number of interesting pictures.

From these images I tried to come up with a variety of furniture.

After some ideation on paper, some fifth-scale mock-ups were made. These included some ideas from my other themes which you can discover in the process book linked above.

Some of the more interesting concepts were developed and pursued.

I returned to mocking-up the best ideas, this time at half-scale. These were made from corrugated cardboard which I laminated.

From these mock-ups we found that the ant-inspired bench was an interesting concept to pursue. Initially, the idea was to make an outdoor furniture piece which could be used either as a bench or a picnic table. Going back to my collection of insects I picked out the ants and gave them a closer look.

The structure of the bench evolved to gain more volume and better structure.

In this second half-scale mock-up I found that cross-shaped legs were far more stable and also added a more natural element.

I went back to my sketchbook to see how the concept could be refined. We also began to think about how an additional item could help better use the leftover material.

My first full-scale mock-up was made using the same laminated cardboard technique. Though it isn’t apparent in the pictures, this was a HUGE model. It had to be reduced in size, which also helped to cut down on material usage. Antennae and mandibles were added, functioning as bookends and a cup holder. Finally, the rear legs were made longer so as to better balance the weight of the bench.

The first full-scale mock-up had a problematic rear section (the abdomen). As a cantilevered platform it just wasn’t sturdy enough. I added two more legs, thereby quenching the complaint that ants have six legs.

The following week I sent my design to be cut out on a CNC router. This first plywood mock-up helped understand the tolerances required by the material and also gave us a chance to test the strength of the chair. The two new legs were also lengthened as they didn’t seem quite fitting in their first iteration.

Some scenario images of how this bench could be used were created. The “ant bench” became more of a family product which can be used both indoor and outdoor.

The design was finalized, adding a small aphid-like stool to better use the material.

This layout shows how the material is used. The CNC router requires some amount of spacing between the parts. Grooves were also milled out of the seats to strengthen the interlocking of the parts.

The final model was made from maple Europly which was then finished and dyed a dark brown.

Branding was added to the underside of the seats using the laser cutter.

The finalized graphic elements as well as the product shots were put together on a large poster which you can download in PDF format (2.2MB).

Viscom 2 - Part 2

Following my end-of-the-term recap, here’s the second half of Viscom 2. As I described in my first post, the aim of Viscom 2 was to teach us basic shading techniques starting with simple geometric shapes and evolving into more complex panels and forms.

Having completed the basic geometric forms we moved on to simple panels, and attempted different lighting scenarios.

Paying attention to reflected light was one of the challenges of the course.

The following week we worked with compound panels, which bend in two directions. We also tried adding form changes.

A variety of media was used including marker, Prismacolor pencil and chalk.

The next two weeks were dedicated to working with side views and trying to sculpt these semi-recognizable objects with light.

The second round of side views was done entirely in chalk and black Verithin pencil. Most of them were done on Canson 335 paper as a practice for our final rendering.

The final rendering was done on a large sheet of 18 by 24 inch Canson 335. You can see a larger view here.