Assignment 2 journal

Foundations of Design : REPRESENTATION, SEM1, 2017 M2 JOURNAL - FLATNESS vs PROJECTION Manasi Chopdekar

935401 Jun Han Foong Studio 11

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WEEK 3 READING: LE CORBUSIER, AND PURISM

Question 1: What is Pictorial Space according to Le Corbusier? (Maximum 100 words) According to Le Corbusier, pictorial space is that which can be seen but cannot be experienced. In the reading, it is described as ‘that which cannot be entered or circulated through; it is irremediably space viewed from a distance, and is therefore eternally resigned to frontality.’ It is an illusionary, twodimensional space that shows depth (when seen from perspective) backward from the picture plane, giving the illusion of distance and of being a three-dimensional object.

Question 2: The Flatness of Le Corbusier’s painting’s are attributable to two properties. What are they?

And what are these pitted against?(Maximum 100 words) The two properties, or ‘terms of Le Corbuseir’s pictorial frontality’ are: extension and ‘mariage de contour’. According to the reading, the object is first registered as pure extension: a flat solid two-dimensional space that shows no hint of depth. Then, the many such objects are wedged together ‘in that insistent continuity of edges’ which is called mariage de contour. These were pitted against the use of black in the paintings, which created a sense of depth and shadow, and thus a sense of three-dimensional space in the paintings.

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MARIO’S WORLD

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1ST MARIO’S WORLD

2ND MARIO’S WORLD

Mario world front for underground level 1. It took quite a while to understand the ealignment and how to create the 3D projection.

Mario world rear for underground level 1. Both axonometrics are outlined with 0.25 fineliner pen.

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COMBINED MARIO’S WORLD Mario World final sketch for underground level 1.

Notice there is no top, ground layer, despite the level being underground. This was done to ensure that no part of my main layer was hidden.

My first idea was to create a kind of oasis world, which involved a lot of water. However, after much thought, I decided to recreate a fountain or waterfall system.

This has been further explored in my underground level 2 and 3 of the Mario world.

The image has been cleaned using the levels and contrast tools in photoshop.

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COMBINED MARIO’S WORLD Mario World as first coloured on Illustrator CC for underground level 1.

It took me a ridiculously long time to figure out the best way to fill colour in the shapes. I used the eye dropper and live paint bucket tool to do this. I played around a little with the colour pallete, but essential kept close to the original colour scheme on the Mario sheets assigned to me. Once I figured out how to use the tools, it was easy to fill in colour, provided the tool could pick up the shapes to fill colour in - which was a problem at a certain point, but it was easily fixable.

For the shadows, I used the game, ‘Monument valley’ as a reference to understand a little about the shading (darker and lighter sides) and tried my best to replicate that concept here.

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WEEK 4 READING: AXONOMETRIC PROJECTIONS

Question 1: Explain the difference between Pictoral (in this case perspectival) space and Projection?

(Maximum 100 words) Pictorial space is essentially a two-dimensional space that when viewed from perspective, creates a sense of depth, allowing for the object to be viewed three-dimensionally. It has a fixed vanishing point at a finite distance, and therefore limits space. Projection is a precise, measurable and detailed view of an object. Its vanishing point extends to infinity and thus it renders space more open and extensive.

Question 2: Where did Axonometric projection first arise, and why? (Maximum 100 words) Axonometric projections first arose in terms of military context. Due to their measurability, accuracy and verifiability, they were used to chart three-dimensional trajectories of artillery projections. The advantage was that axonometric view could transmit abstract information into something that is measurable and precise. It can accurately describe the complex totality of the object from multiple views.

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ILLUSTRATED MARIO’S NEW WORLD

Operating the Illustrator software to re-trace and colour the Mario World took me a lot of time, and after the whole experience, I still think that it would have taken me less time had I just coloured it by hand.

That said, it was a good experience. I learned how to use the various tools of Illustrator CC to trace the drawings and to colour the shapes. I had a lot more trouble with colouring the Mario World because it took me time to figure out the best tools that I could use to get it done within the fastest amount of time, as well as to make it look as neat and precise as possible.

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APPENDIX 1. Mario initial to final axonometric sketch This was my very first axonometric sketch of the mario world underground level 1 front view. It involved a little re-drawing and erasing to get the angle right. This was before I was informed that there was no need of drawing coins and characters.

This was my very first axonometric sketch of the mario world underground level 1 back view. My only mistake here was that I started drawing at the top of the page, so I had little space to draw the structures above the ground level ones. I had to use another page and continue drawing on that, then stick them together with scotch tape so that I wouldn’t lose the two parts of the axo.

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Axonometric front view: I erased the coins and then retraced the axonometric drawing on a fresh page with 0.5 fineliner pen. Then, I scanned the page and cleaned it on Photoshop.

Axonometric rear view: I retraced the back axo on a fresh page with 0.5 fineliner and made sure that the entire drawing fit in that page.

APPENDIX 2. Final underground levels of Mario world

My final sketch for level 1 underground. I thought a lot about the kind of system or narrative that I wanted to show here and I knew I wanted it to be related to water, because the mario pictures I was assigned had a little water space in it and I wanted to explore more of that.

My final sketch for level 2 underground. I explored a bit more of the oasis idea I had in mind initially, but then I thought of the waterfall, having already incorporated one in the level 1 layer. That led me to imagining a system of waterfalls, which finally brought me to the idea of recreating a waterfall system.

My final sketch for level 3 underground.

While I was drawing the waterfalls, I noticed that the pipes weren’t being fully included in the mario world, as in, their purpose and involvement with the space was unclear.

Then I thought of using the pipes as a water transport medium. The little and large pipes, therefore, all have the same purpose transporting water from place A to place B. 11

APPENDIX 3. Working towards creating the final Mario World Once I understood how the colour tools worked, it was just rapid filling in of colours into the shapes. This was my first coloured picture of the complete Mario world I designed. I tried to incorporate as much as I knew about shadows and shadings and tried to bring out that effect in my picture, but it took me a while to actually get it right to an extent.

This was my first coloured level 1 picture of the Mario world. It took me around an hour to figure out how to colour in the first place.

I used the eye dropper and live paint bucket tool. It got confusing for a while as I learnt how to use those tools properly, but once I understood how they worked, coloring hardly took any time!

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After playing around with the shading a little, I thought about giving the structures their textures and hence added multiple brush strokes and blobs. However, after completing it (in approximately 2 hours) I realised that I’d made it look less technical and more cartoonish. I’d basically failed to focus on the main aspect of the assignment and that was the technical bit.

So I took another half an hour removing every stroke and blob so I could refocus on the essential part of the picture.

APPENDIX 3. Working towards creating the final Mario World Once I’d erased all the blobs and squiggly lines, I focused a little more on the shading, to highlight the depths and darker regions.

Now there’s a noticeable shift in the atmosphere from light to dark and darker as you go deeper underground.

But there’s one thing that’s noticeably missing in the picture and that’s the linework. I tried for hours to make the linework visible by dupicating the lines, putting the original lines in another seperate layer but it didn’t work. I googled the issue, asked my senior,and even contacted the tutor about it. I was on the verge of panicking, thinking that I’d have to delete my colouring and redo my linework, then duplicate it and then start with the live paint tool AGAIN.

I gave the color black to my linework and a thickness of 0.25 pt. The linework is subtle but it’s finally there! After dealing with that, I noticed that the shadings weren’t as prominent, and there was a little bit of detailing that was missing. I knew that would make my picture complete and thus worked then to add more details such as clouds and waterfall mist/fogs and improve my shadings.

I spent hours on that issue until I realised that the reason my linework wasn’t visible was simply because my lines had no color and thickness.

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APPENDIX 3. Working towards creating the final Mario World

I then worked on trying to add a backdrop to my Mario world. After seeing a few of last year’s works, I tried adding a backdrop for my own Mario world and see how that would work out. I also tried to add a little mre of shading, particularly in the rocks.

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The backdrop idea didn’t really work well with my Mario world and I decided to drop the idea of having a backdrop. Then I focused on adding texture to my grassy and rocky surfaces. One thing that was brought to my attention was that the water surface looked a little too flat. Also, the splash effects looked flat as well. I worked more on that and tried to improve on my Mario world while focusing on those particular issues.

APPENDIX 3. Final Mario World

I added little splash ends to each of my waterfalls changed the color shading a little and worked towards better showing of the depths.

I loved the idea of having a beautiful day scene backdrop for my Mario world but unfortunately the idea didn’t quite work out. But, I tried my best to make it look as technical, yet aesthetically pleasing as possible, and I’m quite happy with my resultant Mario World.

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