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.

Second Term Begins

My second semester at Art Center is starting today with Viscom 2. Last term we learned the basics of perspective and this term seems to be more about shading and environment.

Over the break we were given a few pages of homework to keep the concepts from last term fresh in our minds. I turned to my biology background for inspiration and grabbed one of my favorite reference books – Hawaii’s Fishes: A Guide for Snorkelers and Divers. Here are a few of my vehicles inspired by tropical fish.

Viscom 1

Continuing in my recap of term 1 at Art Center, here are some of the results of Visual Communication 1. This class teaches you to draw imaginary objects in proper perspective. This was a tough class for me but I learned a lot. Sadly, I don’t have much of my work in digital format. We ended up turning in a stack of around 150 pages with all our assignments from the term. (Not including the hundreds of pages of practice!)

The class started with innumerable pages of straight lines and cubes in perspective. It wasn’t until week 6 that we started making these convincing blobs:

After a couple weeks of blobs, we went back to our sketchbooks and drew pages and pages of ellipses. Eventually this led up to the infamous treaded vehicle project which took up the last 4-5 weeks of class.

This started with a few concepts, followed by many iterations of the chosen design.

Here’s how the front view of my vehicle evolved. Pay attention to the symmetry in the tracks, the level of detail and overall perspective:

The final version was drawn on 11 by 17 paper, here’s a larger image. For each of these steps we made a rear view as well. Here’s the final construction and drawing: