W8 - 3D Product Design Week: Perspective

First we began by thinking about the theory behind Product Design, which involved researching different designers so that we could have some context to the area and to practice commenting on their works. Afterwards we had a chance to see how design has developed in products like phones to meet changing needs as well as to utilise the technology available. We also saw examples of classic design in a coffee maker and how updating a design doesn't always mean improving it as well.

To practice how we see an object and then interpret it in a clear way we then moved onto a drawing exercise. We had to select on object and then draw it only using simple lines with graphite, there couldn't be any shading or sketching. As we'd done continuous line drawings in previous weeks I tried to use what I'd learnt there here with this exercise, only committing definite lines to the page. While I initially chose my object because it was complicated and interesting, I grew to regret this choice when I had to draw it. I think it turned out ok, but it looks a bit too stout to me, so I welcomed another chance to re-draw the object.

This time though we could only commit 20 marks to the page. To begin with I thought that this wouldn't be enough, but by using a continuous line it meant that I could save on making excessive marks and be more conservative, while having enough to draw all of the object. I quite liked this way of drawing as it forced you to look at what was necessary to include in the design to be able to convey the object. As Kathy said though as we'd already drawn the object before, it became harder this second time to keep looking at the object instead of relying on what your brain said it should look like. I do think that this second attempt looks more like the object though, perhaps due to practice and from being more considerate with lines.

For the final part of the day we focused on one and two point perspective drawings, which show how an object looks, using boxes to illustrate this. First we looked at two point perspective. This meant first establishing the horizon with two horizontal points, drawing a straight vertical line between and below/above them and then drawing lines from the points to the line to create the box, showing how it extends into the horizon.

Here's my first attempt.

Two point perspective

As it seemed slightly technical I was a bit hesitant at first as I wanted to get it right, especially as we were working in biro, but the process was easy once I'd got the hang of it. 

Next was one point perspective which seemed a bit harder to me because the technical side seemed easier to get confused with because you had less points of reference. To draw this though you just had to set a point, draw a horizontal line, join the line to the point with other lines and then draw in the sides of the front of the box before adding the extra sides in.

Here are my attempts.

One point perspective

Finally we learnt about shading in Product Design. To begin with we had to draw 4 boxes on a page, a mix of one and two point perspective ones, to shade. This was done by establishing two light sources for the box, one was always the front (where the viewer looks on) and we could choose the second. Then we just had to shade using pencil crayon from dark to light, etc in varying degrees following our light sources. However we also had to add in streaks of light (white unshaded areas here) to show that the boxes are made of plastic, which was done by simply leaving gaps in the shading and adding dark lines after each gap. To make the boxes look professional we then used the 'thick and thin' line technique, which meant that anything touching the air would have a dark line and everything else would have a thin line. This added definition to the boxes, but to add depth we also included a quick background of just a sketched out rectangle behind the box to create an added reference point.

Shaded boxes

I really like this final image as the boxes look quite bold, but the process was actually quite easy. I found today really useful as before I'd had no actual training on one and two point perspective. Now though I can use it and apply it to other areas to improve the technical side of them.