Perspective

Egon Schiele is one of my favourite artists, and it was really interesting to see some of his sketchbook work this week when we were studying perspective, because you never really notice it. I guess the whole point of perspective is that it is subconscious , but it makes a big difference to a drawing.

Perspective makes this sketch of a man looking over his shoulder much more convincing, as the face is in proportion and, as the eyes determine the horizon line, they're looking in the right direction and it makes the whole drawing more cohesive.

Similarly here, Schiele's use of perspective and proportion shows the angle of the faces and contributes to the expression, making the whole image more accurate.

Perspective

In the lecture the other day I was really drawn to Jon Keegan's sketchbooks. His drawings of people have their own unique style but yet they are still accurate and he utilises perspective to help him create convincing faces


Here his use of 1 point perspective and a low horizon line tells us (even without looking at the young boy in the foreground) that this is a small person looking up and out across the pitch. This reflects the age/height and attitude of the young boy, as he is literally looking up to the players.


I love the expression in his characters' faces, and you can quite clearly see the technical underdrawing which makes them look more realistic and in proportion.

Here Keegan uses a range of 1 and 2 point perspective to draw buildings from a trip to Europe.

Perspective

I spotted this under the roundabout in Carlisle!

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

I was researching Mackintosh for my architecture cube in this project, and was amazed at how modern and functional his architecture, in particular was. I checked a book out from the library called The Hill House, about a house Mackintosh designed, built and furnished for a wealthy Scottish publisher. Its evident from the interior especially how he was inspired by Japanese art and architecture - shown through his use of grids and contrast between dark structural wood and light translucent glass.

I also looked at The Glasgow School of Art, my favourite room being the Library. I think Mackintosh's greatest success was striking the balance between beauty and functionality. His rooms were atmospheric and intriguing to look at, but they're also practical and spacious. This was one of my favourite boxes to create.

Little Boxes...

One of the areas I chose to develop was the idea of cutting in to my cubes. I looked into packaging which had areas removed, or added to the exterior to add another dimension to a seemingly mundane box. I came across this wonderful packaging design by www.lovelypackage.com. I love the way the box slides out from its cover to show the beautiful white tray with trees and snow cut into it. This company treat packaging as art, and I think it makes the products they sell much more engaging.Cutting into my boxes was one of my favourite things to do, and I was really inspired by Rob Ryan. Although he doesn't work in 3D, I really enjoy how he creates a range of depths and tone just by cutting bits of paper away. I had the chance to meet Rob Ryan at a book signing at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on the 15th October, and seeing his original works up close was really inspirational.

In my opinion, die cutting or removing material from packaging is one of the most effective things you can do to engage the viewer - people love to be able to pick things up and interact with them, and even though it's a very simple idea, it's very effective when it's done properly, like at Lovely Package.

Travelling Typography

I made this image using Adobe Illustrator. I used letterforms to make the shapes, as well as creating some of my own letters.

Design In Context.

A mood board of the 1990's I did for my Design In Context Module