Sunday, October 6, 2013

Redesigning an Air lock

This week in class, we focused on redesigning a students homework assignment, while trying to improve upon its design.  Here are the notes.











5 comments:

  1. Great work as always Eliott!

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  2. Thanks for this post. It was a great insight into understanding how to create dynamic environments.

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  3. rules like this make for art that all looks the same.

    spaceships do not have wide hallways and high ceilings and giant bay windows because THEY'RE FUCKING SPACESHIPS, NOT PALACES. the original didn't have curved walls, it had flat segments designed to fit along the inside of a curved pressure vessel. have you ever tried to install something on a curved wall?
    the doorway was boring and the pentagon didn't fit, but at least you could tell it was a door.

    "just add some messy wires to it" does not count as design. why are there assault rifles on a spaceship? going to be doing some long-range shooting through the windows? well at least there are pressure suits right there.

    http://cghub.com/images/view/293748/ is what your redsign should have looked like; plenty of high spatial frequency elements. but oh no he added some curved corners on the cargo boxes! penalty! but seriously, I question the wisdom of doing redesigns of student work in the first place, since it robs them of the experience of putting your advice into practice in the context the advice was given. and it makes you look like an ass when you misunderstand something the student did.

    the original image was boring because it didn't tell a story.

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    1. Fenn, my comments are in line:

      "rules like this make for art that all looks the same".

      Not true.

      "spaceships do not have wide hallways and high ceilings and giant bay windows because THEY'RE FUCKING SPACESHIPS, NOT PALACES"

      This is a space station. not a space ship.

      "the original didn't have curved walls, it had flat segments designed to fit along the inside of a curved pressure vessel".

      You are giving the student too much credit. He did not put that much thought into this image. In fact, he actually copied the wall design from an image that he saw online (That another artist made).

      "have you ever tried to install something on a curved wall?"
      No, but i am sure its possible.

      "just add some messy wires to it" does not count as design."
      Agreed. that's why i changed the whole scene.

      "why are there assault rifles on a spaceship"
      This area in particular is supposed to be a security airlock. (says the student) Thus the emergency guns/ space suits, med packs, etc.

      "I question the wisdom of doing redesigns of student work in the first place"
      You must first lead the students to the solution, by showing them one way to tackle the challenge. THEN they can try it themselves on the next task.

      "...since it robs them of the experience of putting your advice into practice in the context the advice was given"
      Students are given ample opportunities to try their own hand at finding creative solutions to the challenge. both in class and at home.

      "and it makes you look like an ass when you misunderstand something the student did."
      Heh.


      Fenn, I think you are missing the point. The goal was not to create a modern day, realistic design of a space station. ACTUALLY, the goal was to address perspective, create dynamic proportions and create a consistent design language (whether you agree with it or not). All of those goals were met in my redesign. (And I explained why).

      If we were to break down all of the things that a functioning space station would need to have, then I would be teaching a different class entirely. My goal is to get the students to learn the fundamentals of drawing and design. Once they have mastered that, THEN we can focus on credibility.

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  4. the future has so many 45 degree angles.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kibo_PM_interior.jpg
    look at how primitive we are; there is only one chamfer in that entire laboratory.
    come on people, DESIGN!

    I only made this comment so I could subscribe to follow ups.
    for future reference (ha!) this is what spaceships look like: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns.php

    "In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four."

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