Task 1 Pen and pencil line and tonal drawings

Beetle Preference Image

Continuous Line Drawing - Blind and Acetate Line Drawing

For this sketch I started out by piercing a piece of A4 paper in the middle with a pen and left it there so that it acts as a cover so that I won't be able to see what my drawing looks like until I feel like it's finished hence the 'blind' in the title. I had to draw this using a picture I chose of a beetle as a reference, doing the sketch blind resulted in it being very abstracted and unique as I had no direction while doing it. You can also see the end and the beginning of the continuous line. 

I also decided to use this sketch for task 6 in this task which is the acetate thread line drawing. For this I just simply laid a sheet of acetate over the sketch and taped it so that it would be stead and then I slowly added PVA glue and traced it with a thread, just because the thread is very flexible you would think it would be easy to trace over the sketch but it isn't, because the thread also has some limit to it's flexibility and it wasn't flexible enough to do sharp bends. 

Unorthodox Continuous Line Drawing

For this sketch I was instructed to use my left hand and although it wasn't covered this time, I would say that it was harder and much more frustrating than the first because I was using the hand that I do not usually use for writing let alone drawing and having three minute timer doesn't make it easier either. As you can see because of the fact that I didn't really have much control of my hand the lines came out lighter than the previous sketch.

Orthodox Continuous Line Drawing 

For this sketch I used my right hand which is my orthodox hand which then resulted to the sketch having darker and sharper lines as I had more control using my orthodox hand which also allowed for me to pay more attention to shapes. This sketch was also drawn with a 3 minute time limit however I was able to go over and perfect lines a couple of time as I was able to perfectly control where things were going. 

Unorthodox Controlled Line Drawing + Wire Line Drawing

For sketch 4 I was instructed to use my unorthodox hand which is my left hand and draw draw the beetle in three minutes but this time I was allowed to take my pencil off the paper because the past three sketches were continuous line drawings meaning that I wasn't allowed to remove my pencil off of the paper until I had finished the drawing however I was still drawing with my left hand so it took longer than the others because I was able to pay more attention to it even so, the lines were still lighter than when I used my orthodox hand which resulted to the finished drawing looking like it was quickly sketched and I really like it when drawings look rough as if they were quickly sketched and that's why this is one of my favorite out of the collection. 

I also decided to use this sketch as a reference to trace for my wire line drawing. For my wire line drawing I didn't it would work if I was to create the outline of the beetle fist because I thought that it would look unstable so instead I focused on one part at a time and then just wire them together once all of the parts have been made. I used fine gardening wire for this task because it was really easy to bend and wrap around itself making it easier to try and trace the lines more accurately.  

Orthodox Controlled Line Drawing

For this task I used my Orthodox hand to draw which was really satisfying coming from drawing many things with your unorthodox hand. Because I was able to use and control my orthodox hand, I was able to draw from the preference image with better precision which resulted to heavier lines and more accurate shapes. Drawing with my orthodox hand was more time efficient and so was able to pay more attention to it.  

Task 2 Alternative design ideas for your mini beast

Task 3 On going and final evaluative notes

So far I have experimented drawing tonal drawings blind and using both my orthodox and unorthodox hand, I have also experimented using thread as a way to trace lines by laying out a sheet of acetate on the drawing and then adding glue to hold the thread in place as you trace along the lines with it. I have also experimented with using wire to trace a drawing which was really fun as I had never done anything like it before but I was happy with the finished result.
 For my mini beast I will be using cardboard and wire as the base to put either the paper mache or the mod rock on, I think that for the legs of my mini beast I will be using wire rather than cardboard because its sturdier and much more easier to manipulate to the shape you want and if isn't stable enough then I will coil more wire around it make it more stable. I think that using mod rock would be much more effective as it dries hard like a cement which I think will make the model more sturdy and look more sleek and polished as mod rock is usually white. 

Task 4 3D material samples – including mod rock, papier mache and wire

Task 5 Written notes on the physical properties of the materials sampled

 For this task I will be explaining the advantages and limitations of cardboard, wire, paper mache and mod rock based on my experience with them from the previous task

Wire
When using the wire for creating my three 3D shapes which were the sphere cylinder and cube I found it easier to create one shape over the other because they all consisted of different lengths and shapes to create. I think I had the most fun creating the sphere because I thought that it was the easiest to do out of the three as I only had to create three circles and wire them together using a much finer wire however it was still quite fidgety, once I finished wiring the three circles together I coiled more fine wire around it to kind of decorate it and make it more stable and I'm really happy with the final results of the three shapes.The thicker wire is quite easy to bend, however it's not really possible to bend them create sharp edges however you can get close to it using my cube as an example which I started by creating a pair of squares and four evenly cut wires and attaching them together by coiling finer wires around them.Wire definitely has it's limitations when it comes to bending them into certain shapes and positions and there is also the facts that you can possibly lacerate yourself with the sharp ends if you're not careful enough with them, however if you know how to use them properly and carefully you'll be able to create pretty satisfactory shapes with them.

Cardboard

When it came to creating the mini beast and the beetle the cardboard was great base to use and it was basically the only base that I used when I was sampling the paper mache and the mod rock which is already and advantage in itself and what makes them great bases is the fact that they're both sturdy enough to support paper mache and mod rock but also the fact that they're flexible enough to be bent and creased to create shapes and all kinds of models. I think the only limitation with cardboard is based on my experience the fact that they're not the easiest things to cut even when using a craft knife and especially with a scissor, trying to cut a cardboard with a scissor will leave you with really bad edges on your cardboard cut out and I think that this is because unlike paper cardboard is layered meaning that the scissor can't all the layers at once which leads to unevenness which also kind of makes the process of cutting it quite slow. Using a craft knife is only a little bit better than using a scissor because its still not that easy to cut through cardboard with it however you do get more refined and even edges on your cardboard cutout.

   

Paper Mache

Paper mache consists of using ripped up news that is drenched with PVA glue mixed with a little bit of water, the advantages of using paper mache is that it is able to cover a lot of space while using little effort as all you have to do is brush the PVA glue mixed with water on the object you want to paper mache then you stick the ripped up news paper onto the spot and then brush the glue one more time on top of the ripped news paper. The limitations of using paper mache is that if you're using cardboard as a base for your paper mache and if you're not careful with the amount of adhesive you use you could end up having a soggy base which could then potentially end up ripping off due to it being unstable from the sogginess the adhesive has caused. Another limitation is that it takes a little while for the adhesive to dry which is also another reason why you should keep an eye on how much of the adhesive you use cause if you use a lot you'd have to wait much longer than necessary before you can add paper mache to the bottom part of the model but you don't always have to cover every bit of it, it just makes it look neater. The drying issue can be solved by using a hairdryer which will make the drying process a lot faster, but if you don't have that then all you can do is wait even you let it dry under the sun. However once the it is finished drying the end results are very satisfying as it the ripped news paper give off a very abstract effect to your model.

Mod Rock

I think that mod rock is more versatile than paper mache because of holes on it makes it easier for it to latch onto itself and stay in place. Mod rock is very easy to use as you only need a model to cover with mod rock and a bowl of water next to you. You start by cutting strips from the roll of mod rock which can be as wide and thin as you want then you dip the whole into the bowl of water, you have to make sure to lightly rub off excess water so that your model won't get soggy which in my case is a cardboard beetle. Next you just lay the strip of mod rock onto the model and rub the surface of the strip until you can only see a few of the holes on it, and from you can start covering the necessary areas and layering on more mod rock. Unlike paper mache can cover a lot more space in the allotted time as it much more versatile cause you don't have to make individual strip for some certain areas as mod rock is much easier to rap around the model than paper mache. I think that that only limitation with mod rock is that I once its dry you can't really rip it off of the model as it has pretty much bonded and merge with the other strips of mod rock, apart from that I think that mod rock is a very useful and time efficient technique when you need to cover space on a model and not only that the when it dries down it give your model/object a minimalist look and it also looks like an empty canvas.  

Task 6 A collection of samples – scanned and photographed

So for my mini-beast I went with a mantis inspired 3D model and to start it off I went and started cutting shapes out of cardboard that I thought were similar to that of a mantis's body structure I then created the neck by simply cutting a rectangle out of cardboard and then rolled it so create a long hollow cylinder, after this I cut out a triangular shape to cover up the chest part of the mantis then I started assembling pieces together. 

For the head I thought that it was too hard to cut it out of cardboard so I decided to make it out of wire instead because wire is quite flexible and I was able to shape it the way I wanted to, so I started it off by creating a base shape which basically looked like a boomerang and from there I just started layering on a combination of the thin wire and fine gardening wire which then resulted to the shape it is on the images below. 

For the legs I used the same wire that I used for the head of my 3D model and then I bent it in half and twisted it together to create a much stronger, stable and thicker wire I then bent it to create a 'Z' shape, one side to pierce through the cardboard and the other as the leg/stand and then I just repeated this process for the other limbs including his front pincers. 

I also added masking tape to support the the two front legs because it was little bit unstable from where I had pierced it, this proved to be quite effective and my model was able to stand properly. 

After every thing else was set in place I decided to go over it with mod rock instead of paper mache because I thought that it would adhere better to my model and I like how mod rock gives the model a sleek and minimalist look making it look more refined and because the product are for 5 year olds I thought that it was good idea because of the Fact that its like an empty canvas which the kids can freely draw or paint on.

Task 7 Blog – containing images of 2D drawings, 3D samples and annotation describing and evaluating the process