Design Lab — Semantics of 3D Form
Part 0 —Introduction
Project Overview & Objectives
Represent using different materials (both subtractive and additive) a natural form (seashell) and a human-made form (computer mouse) and then finally a hybrid combining the two. The objective is to be able to understand and translate/recreate forms, both naturally occurring and not by representing them with different materials, and to finally create a hybrid model combining and incorporating elements from both.
Additive:
- Clay (Plasticine)
Subtractive:
- High-density foam
- Soap bar
- Wax (candle)
Sheet:
- Bristol/Poster paper
Materials
*Note: I was moving a lot during this time, and I wasn’t able to take all of my art supplies with me!
Part I — NATURAL MODEL: Shell
Photo Observations
Following the lecture we had in class, I divided the shell into the three components of dominant, subdominant, and subordinate according to my first impressions. The goal of this was to break down the shape into something simpler before attempting to recreate it.
Sketch Observations
The shell I chose most closely resembles a strombus conch shell, with a spiral that fans outwards (aperture) from the ‘main spiral’ (body whorl). The lines of its growth tilt upwards when the shell is held upright, creating a vertical line down from its apex.
(I tried to analyze the anatomical aspects of the shell better through research, but it was pretty difficult to identify a lot of the parts of this shell, so
← was what I was able to figure out!)
Research Reference (Not used as a reference in models)
With these things in mind, I started to construct the shell using various materials.
Part 2 — Foam Model
I decided to start with foam, a subtractive method + material. I started by drawing the shell onto the foam sheet and cutting it out. However, I accidentally cut too deep and created a hole (pictured to the right). While I got the general shape and form of the conch down, I realized that I needed to scale everything down so it would look more round from the top-down view (not pictured because I forgot, will add it in later).
Foam Model — Iteration 1
Critique Feedback & Other Notes:
- Cut the foam at an angle other than 90 in order to get a cleaner cut. (Think about peeling apples, try to go for ‘shaving’ effect rather than slicing. This way it can get really thin/super precise.)
- the directionality of the whorl is really important, don’t leave it out
- be careful to consistently measure/keep track of the overall form as to not accidentally take out/shave off more than you’re supposed to.
- it’s ok to scale down/up depending on the size of the foam block.
Foam Model — 1.5th Iteration
Instead of starting a new iteration, I continued working with the previous iteration as one of the things I needed to do was size the shell down.
(Previously, I tried to glue two pieces of foam together to get a thicker foam to work with, but the glue was either too weak to hold the foam together or ended up being more difficult to cut than the rest of the foam. So, I decided to scale the foam down in its entirety instead.)
I also started to incorporate the ridges (things that segment the whorls). I started to shave it off, but I found that it looked too harsh (pictured left) so I smoothed it out on both ends on the other side (pictured right)
I also listed some other things I noticed while taking the photos, which I took note of below:
Part 3 — Clay Model
Clay Model — Iteration 1
For the clay model, I focused heavily on getting the outer part of the shell to look correct; but this also, unfortunately, meant I kept messing up the rest of the shell, especially since with how fragile and thin the outer layer is.
critique comments:
- envision a ‘box’ surrounding shell to better proportion the shell (for both visual analysis & actual foam)
- don’t need to cut so deep/make the opening as large as it is in real life.
- create a ‘visual illusion’ & make the edge of the shell thinner so it looks thin but doesn’t lose too much of structural integrity
- maintain ‘true’ shapes of the shell. (check back every few minutes or so, might be tedious but you don’t want to accidentally mess up!)
Check-in video:
Part 4 — Paper/Sheet Model
Upon reflection, I decided to make the shell out of paper instead of continuing to pursue clay; making a mouse out of clay instead seemed like the better choice :)
Iteration 1
For the first iteration, I started by sketching the shape of the shell out on paper. My initial idea was to create the 3D shape through putting together its axis, so I visualized cutting the shell in half and creating a ‘+’ axis around it.
After that, I tried to attach pieces of paper by cutting into them and sliding the pieces in. At first it was kind of tricky getting the paper to stay upright, but once I had enough pieces of paper in, it was a lot easier to hold its place. Rather than going by a grid-like system, I decided that overlapping to create a circle/sphere and then to cute away the rest was probably better for my specific shell.
Disclaimer: I did end up having to use adhesive to hold it together since the constant adjusting eventually loosened the edges of the paper a lot and even though it held together well enough in the beginning, my transition to thinner paper (since I ran out of cardstock) + the constant readjusting made the tears way too large in the end.
The first 2(ish?) attempts all failed, since the paper ended up getting too damaged or I’d made the wrong type of cuts and the paper wouldn’t connect. On the third try, I had more overlapping circles, which I think helped a lot.
Iteration 1.5
The paper wasn’t really my favorite to work with; it was a bit too flimsy to hold its shape and I had no real way to cut it properly. However, I do think that since radial symmetry and spirals are an important part of my shell, paper and origami can be a really interesting way to explore this.
I feel like origami would be a good way of building up more volume to the overall shape, rather than implying it (?) as I tried to do with this. Also, this is really hard to photograph! I tried haha.
Reflection
For me, I found the shell to be really difficult initially because of the large and empty part of the spiral. With clay, I couldn’t find a good way for it to stay in shape while I worked on the rest of the shell, and for foam, I found that I couldn’t get it to cut deep enough. I think that while my decision to switch from clay to paper did teach me a lot about using the material of paper to create something so spherical in shape, it was also really frustrating. Overall, I definitely understand the shape and construction of my shell better, but unlike the mouse, I thought it was a lot harder to make as well since it’s not nearly as structurally dense.
If given the opportunity, I think it’d be really cool to revisit this from a larger scale with foam, or with a different material like overlapping wire + mesh.
Part II — HUMAN MADE MODEL: Computer Mouse
Part 1 — Photo + Sketch Observations
I noticed right away that while the center division of the wheel and cable attachment gave the illusion of the mouse being symmetrical, it actually wasn’t. I ended up doing some research and it was actually really interesting to learn how the mouse was designed to be very ergonomic. As seen in one of the photos below, the left click of the mouse is actually higher than the right. This makes sense because we use left click as a default, especially so since it’s a gaming mouse and those are usually used in circumstances where the player has to click multiple times within an increasingly short time-span.
There were a lot of details I missed about the mouse initially, especially considering its deceptively complex design.
Part 2— Foam Model
First Iteration Process:
Something I really enjoyed about working with the mouse in comparison to the shell was that there’s one consistent flat edge that I could leave my work on; it felt like there was some kind of a bottom to the form. A problem I had when working with the natural form was that it always felt like I had difficulties pinpointing it orientation, as the shell did not necessarily have a position that it is meant to be kept in.
I started out by drawing the shape of the mouse lightly on the foam using a color pencil as guidelines.
First Iteration Final:
Feedback:
- Use a smaller knife for smaller areas (I don’t have a smaller knife haha oops)
- Always refer back to the actual mouse every 10 or so minutes, even if you think you know what the mouse looks like
- Went overboard with asymmetry, it doesn’t look lopsided from the top at all in the actual mouse but here it does
- Don’t just use color pencils once, keep redrawing lines in order to get them more precise
- practice with foam is important!
Overall, I felt decent about my foam mouse, especially since I felt like I was getting the hang of it more and more.
Second Iteration Process
For my second iteration, I actually did less planning ahead of time since I felt like I was comfortable enough to just improvise/adapt as I went. I think going slower overall and having a better understanding of foam helped me a lot. I was a lot more confident and had a better sense of what direction to cut as well, which I think helped me a lot overall.
One of the tricks I picked up after talking with some of my classmates was to gently scrape off really think layers using an x-acto blade, and then press the foam down with your fingers. This really helped me create a smooth texture without sanding or creating any foam dust.
I also decided to leave more elements out, especially since I realized that a lot of them are really shallow and didn’t contribute to a large part of the mouse. A lot of the buttons on the side push inwards a bit rather than protrude, so I decided to abstract them since they were distracting from the overall contour of the mouse.
Second Iteration Final
Something I was somewhat displeased with was the cord opening that leads to the wheel of the mouse; it was really difficult getting into the small area and also getting it smooth. I talked with a couple of classmates, and I heard about using heated metal tools to press down the foam, which helped slightly but I wasn’t able to heat the metal both safely and also have it be hot enough.
There are also a few other things, like the overall curvature that doesn’t resemble the mouse completely but I didn’t end up changing because it was not going anywhere good (lol)
Part 3 — Clay Model
First Iteration Process
I smoothed out the body of the clay first, before adding on individual components like the wheel or buttons. For the lines on the side of the mouse, I cut those away using the clay tool in order to make an indent. The process mostly just consisted of smoothing surfaces down and being patient. Overall, I found that my clay model this time was a lot smoother than the previous attempt, though it did take more time overall.
First Iteration Final
Feedback
- be careful about proportions, the wheel is too large in relation to the rest of the mouse
- the slope of the mouse is too dramatic
- looking at shadows can help determine and distinguish form; for example, the front of the mouse isn’t curved enough, there isn’t the same sense of volume since you can see the shadow in the actual mouse
- keep referencing your object!
Second (ish) Iteration:
I went back and edited some of the proportions of the objects I later attached.
Reflection
For me, the process for creating the mouse went a lot more smoothly, partially due to the actual form of the object itself and also because I was getting more familiar with the material and mediums I chose to use. That being said, getting the specifics of the mouse correct was still more difficult than I anticipated. Also, the clay gets pretty gross pretty fast.
Check-In Video
Part II I— HUMAN/NATURAL HYBRID
Notes & Drawings
Iteration 1
For my first iteration, I focused on the spiral and the shape of the mouse (U-shape?), as well as the hollowness.
A visual breakdown of elements & what inspired them:
Iteration 1 Feedback:
- I realized that I shouldn’t be so literal with combining the two, rather extracting elements and focus on those; so I had to revisit the keywords more and work from there.
- doesn’t have to be 50/50; it can be mostly shell and partially mouse or vice versa. I think this is important because then I won’t get caught up so much in trying to make it look perfectly like the form itself.
Iteration 2:
I started by creating a newer list of keywords, which were:
Common:
- Sloped
- Rounded
- Extruded
- Skewed
Uncommon:
- Spiraling (shell)
- Hollow (shell)
- Dense (Mouse)
Out of the six, I primarily focused on Sloped, Rounded, and Spiraling, since I felt like those were distinct and easy to identify.
Rather than focusing on a drawing, I sort of just went with it this time and decided to improvise and change along the way. Here’s a brief (?) summary of the different elements & why I chose to keep them/incorporate them into the design of my hybrid.
Even though I do think my model became more abstract in the sense that it’s definitely less attached to the two objects, I think I was still trying to incorporate a lot of the elements of the shell and mouse both purposefully and not. While I’m not sure I’m entirely satisfied, I do think I was on the right track from the first iteration to this one.
Part IV— Final Photos & Reflection
Hybrid Reflection
Creating the hybrid was probably the aspect of the project that I enjoyed the most since there was more freedom and I didn’t have to necessarily overcome or create something I didn’t understand. I think a large part of that is also because I had become familiar with the natural and man-made form already, so I had impressions in my mind that would influence my work indirectly as well.
In the end, I did feel like that my hybrid more so resembles a shell rather than a hybrid, but upon revisiting the keywords, and how I identified the objects, I didn’t feel as if the computer mouse actually had many defining characteristics of its own, apart from that can also be applied to the shell to a certain extent — at least, part of the shell. I definitely feel like because some of the characteristics that ‘stand out’ more are characteristic of the shell, and not the mouse. The traits of the mouse I chose to incorporate, in hindsight, are definitely more subtle than that of the shell. Overall though, I feel like the way I approached the hybrid was appropriate and consistent with how I explored the two objects and interpreted them, though I do think that a higher level of abstraction would’ve yielded a better, more balanced looking result.
The final keywords I have for the hybrid are:
Sloped (Common)
Rounded (Common)
Spiraling (Uncommon)
Project Reflection
I really enjoyed this project! I was hesitant to start it at first since I’d never really worked in 3D or with sculpting/foam extensively, and I was especially nervous because I didn’t have a lot of tools or help at my disposal. I think there was definitely a learning curve for me, especially with my natural object, the shell. However, it was an interesting project all around, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to work with these materials, and I look forward to applying what I learned to other projects as well.