YEAR 1 - Introduction to Processes and Materials - DISCOVERY / ENDURANCE - Written Essay-form summary of my 3D Project

Art of the family used in the working of my project

Below the cut is my essay summary of the 3D project given at the start of the year. It is the mixture of the 'Discovery' part of the project, down to the 'Endurance' part of the project. It doesn't go into the detail that my sketchbook does on parts such as drawn design etc, but rather documents the entire process of what I created.

Module: Introduction to Processes and Materials

Assignment Title: 'Discovery', 'Endurance'

Jessica Palmer

Documentation of the Design Process.

For this assignment, the outline of the project was to introduce us to the design process of a 3D brief; the project could consist of any multitude of ideas and concept as long as it was realised in 3 dimension. Having no prior experience of such a thing, my immediate thought was to 'brainstorm' of the current strengths and interests within creative arts and the design realm in order to gain inspiration for the project. From my thought process I had deduced that I wished to create something that would be reflective of what I enjoyed and also of my skill-set. My first idea was to create a 3D piece of artwork; I could express my experiences of illustration as well as fulfil the brief. Following on from that, I expanded upon this idea with the introduction of the 3D artwork portraying a fictional scene coming from my love of fiction. My initial reaction was that this idea was satisfactory, however the idea was purely a conceptual and decorative piece, and I wished to insert a purpose (even if, in the end regardless, it wasn't used towards that purpose) into my project. It is with that purpose that I came upon my second idea of creating meaning behind the concept of '3D artwork' into a functional and stylistic fictional environment in which to role-play. I drew upon the inspiration of puppets and toy theatres in order to base my idea into 3D realisation.

Within my sketchbook I designed various aspects of the model and it's various pieces; from the blueprints of model pieces to the environment and the story behind the environment. As well as focussing on the creation of my 3D project I wished to support my piece by conceptually exploring other aspects of the project that would enhance it. Exploring features for continuation and product promotion such as expansion sets and a dedicated website I decided were important for showing the level of thought behind my project as a viable piece for purpose and sustainability. The expansion sets would revive usage and interest of my project also it would hypothetically gain revenue for my venture. The website would attract a contemporary audience and build a community upon my project (also updates and 'community based features' could be easily accessible for minimum effort). My website would have fitted the brief of taking into consideration of environment sustainability by users electronically gaining information rather than it being on paper form. If I had more time to work upon the project, I would have done more market research into the target audience I wished to gain and of rival products available, what I decided though is that I wished my project to make people think of a stylistic flair and a 'customisable experience'.

My designs are simplistic because I intend for the models (specifically humanoid models) to be customisable to the user's taste; for example making a caricature of themselves through paint. Also developing the idea of customisability, the storyline and scenery for the models are like a blank canvas with a loose outline to act as guideline for children to express their creativity in an exciting and easy method. For accessibility, I explored the concept of a case in which to put all of the parts within, and also to show more 3 dimensional pieces for the brief. Overall, from the work in my sketchbook, I wished to create environmental pieces (trees, a mountain, a lake and river system, various sized buildings), humanoid models, a board to place these on and to act as a map, and a case in which to put all of this in. The board was to be separated into two halves; one half setting the scene as a picture of 'normal life', exploring creativity and information about the world we live in, and the other half it's doppelgänger to act as freedom and exploration from normality

I first began the building project with the models, deciding that doing the smaller, trickier parts first would be the most useful. I wanted the models to be easily decorative so I decided to make them out of plastic. The technique that I initially used for this was to create a model via clay. Due to my inexperience, I found that I could not mould the clay to my liking, finding it too large and unappealing in its look.

To compensate for this, I then tried to create a mould for the models by creating a wooden one and thinking about sustainability, I used recycled wooden pieces to make them, proceeding with cutting the models out via the workshop jigsaw. Initially, the models were about as large as an adult palm, my line of thought being that it would be easier to paint details onto them. It was after creating paper prototype models of all pieces I wished to form, I found that in relation to the environment the models would be like giants and would look. I scaled down my initial drawings of the models by 70% and 50% to judge between which downscaling worked the best. Placing the reworked models into the 'vacform', to melt the model shape into a sheet of plastic, created the mould. After this, I created a plaster mixture to poor into the moulds to create plaster models. My idea of using plaster came from the concept that it would be easily paint-able, and that the moulds could be reused without difficulty. Unfortunately, the plaster models were not very stable and easily breakable; thinner parts such as the neck, arms, legs broke of too easily, even when removing the plaster casts from their moulds. Alongside this, I found that the models themselves looked too unappetizingly flat.

To try and amend some of these faults, I needed to use another material, or to go back to my previous method regarding the models. I decided at the time to go back to my idea of using wood for my models; if done correctly would look stylistic, and wood (if maintained properly) is sustainable. The result of this second attempt with wood produced a simplified version of the wooden models (that were originally used for moulds) so that the pieces would be sturdier (due to having a larger girth) than their predecessors. With hindsight, these models would have achieved their goal if I had a higher skill of woodworking craft and knowledge of how to effectively utilize the different types of wood available; the wood (albeit recycled) that I had chosen was of poor quality, and so the finish of these models were not of a satisfactory standard. Going back to the drawing board, I did some more research into materials, as I discovered that I would need to view this project in a different light as to successfully realise into a satisfactory production.

In this project brim full of the assignment keyword discovery, the main bulk of my work was with the models as I wished to handle each part of the project separately until I achieved an optimum result with the designated miniature assignments I had given myself. While I was experimenting with the produce of models which was my main focus, I also tried to create the board and case from my musings within my sketchbook. I first tried MDF wood (as due to supplies, this was the only material available and that my first attempt would be seen as a prototype). I drew out panels onto the wood and cut them out via a handsaw. My plan was to assemble these panels so that they would create a rectangular box in which the board would rest within the one of the (larger) side panels. Before assembling the boards, I came to the stark realisation that the wood was far too heavy and dense to be mobile as I had difficulty planning to assemble them. If I could not hold it together myself, how could I expect anybody else to handle my case? As a result, I ditched the MDF and case for that moment, and decided to briefly experiment with the board. I used a board of clear acrylic (which I could only found could be recycled in specialized cliques). I bent this board in half using a scalpel to weaken the board where I had marked the halfway point. While this in itself was successful, when combining the use of an acrylic board with wooden models, the visual result was an eyesore. This is was the main reason in which I needed to go back and try an entirely different material which could hopefully be less garish.

For the second stage of the project, I had to scale down a lot of my expectations; due to my skill and due to the time frame, I could not successfully complete all that I wanted to do. In hindsight, if I had a clearer idea of what I wished to achieve and of the materials and processes involved in the completion of these ideas, I would have assembled a collection of products which were complete in their concept and which, with fine-tuning, would have been up to an indie-industry standard. In the 'endurance' stage of the project, I decided to research into some changes that would bring a cohesion to my project, and that would be more practical in terms in the project would be handled, as well as made.

In my research, I came across 'felt boards' – boards that consisted of a felt board scene in which felt 2D characters could be applied to them. In my research, I found that the imagery and concepts were quite retro, and I felt that I could apply a humble modern update to this through the style of my imagery and taking this into a 3D realm. My idea was that instead of 2D pieces to be stuck on a board, the board would be like a map, and that I would make small stuffed dolls with stands to place on the map. As well as this map, there would be scenes in which to make up for the lack of detail on the map and to visually aid the user in their use of my toy. All of these would be made out of fabric, with some minor pieces (such as foliage) being made out of felt with a '2D' feel. The size relationship between the 3D dolls and the rest of the environment was another thing in which I changed. My previous plan was to try and keep a realistic scale between my creations – e.g. a tree or house would be taller than a human etc. - however, I felt that this constricted me more than helped me. As a result, there is no realistic scale, with the dolls being larger and more detailed than the environment and other pieces. For me, the doll is the centre of the attention, and I felt that it was being dwarfed by the rest of my ideas. The thought behind my concept was that instead of the doll being in an as-large-as-possible world, it transitioned into the idea that the doll was the focus and that the user would create little experiences – in one play through of the toy it may be just the doll in their own 'house' cooking (in which the 'scene' panel would help to visually aid), in another play through it may be the doll exploring the woods (in which the 2D foliage and map would visually aid). The strongest concept – that in which the user helped to or entirely created their own image – would still be intact.

The fabric in which I chose was a neutral cream colour. I chose this material due to the fact I couldn't afford anything higher, and that I could easily decorate the material if I, or the user, so chose to. In order to create my dolls, I needed to create patterns in which I would cut out of the fabric and sew together. Creating the patterns required testing as I needed to judge the size of the dolls, as well as the seam allowance so that the doll size wasn't lost in the stitching. My first pattern, in which I put into my sketchbook, failed because I had forgotten to take into account how the size would radically change once I began to 'turn over' the doll to hide the roughest parts of the stitching. I first tried to hand-stitch these dolls, however this took a lengthy amount of time (one doll to stitch took up to 45 minutes). In the end I thought to invest in a mini sewing machine, which proved tricky as I had never handled a sewing machine before, let alone try to thread one and knowing what it's capabilities were. Learning how to handle the sewing machine took a good chunk of my time too. This stage of the project proved tricky as my handling of the sewing machine left to my stitching being less than desirable – although it shortened the time to create each piece significantly, I would need to practice more in order to achieve a look in which the flaws of the making process would be near invisible.

The first doll that I completed, I decided to give felt clothing to. I then tried to experiment with iron transfers – since my main strength is in drawing via digital applications, I thought of creating the imagery of clothing etc. instead of using felt to achieve this. This idea of drawing the design and then applying it onto the material first surfaced in my experiments of using balser-wood to create a 2D model with my design printed on the front. My main flaw with this idea wasn't that it was unachievable, but rather I had underestimated the technicalities that followed this. It was bad enough that I had an 'art block' while trying to attempt these designs, however I had forgot to take into account the scaling in which my designs would transfer onto the material. The main design, the two 'maps' for the board, I had the most difficulty in scaling and drawing. I found that I tried to draw in too much detail, and I had no idea in how to proportion the map onto A4 transfer paper in order for it to be ironed-on. I had already begun to stitch together my patterns, however it would have been easier on my end to complete these designs and then iron them out onto the fabric before stitching them together. In the future, if I had to return to this project, I would not have delegated this task so close to the course deadline on the pretence of false assurance.

In the end, what I have achieved is more conceptual and theory based than practical result. I feel satisfied to some extent; in a perfect world, I would have completed the product to a result in which if I had to mass-produce it, I would feel confident in my 'blueprints' and imagery. However, this isn't to say that it wasn't a mighty effort in coming to this stage. Although this may seem like an 'excuse', I honestly feel I have achieved something respectable for my current skill set; having never applied myself to using my creativity usefully beyond producing art of other people's creations, I have had a journey of highs and lows, a highlighted low frequently was being faced with the bitter disappointment of my creations failing to be realised in material form, while having a grim determination in not giving up my ideas entirely and de-constructing them into realistic expectations. While most of my thinking efforts went into the concept of the product, if I had spread those 'thought resources' into the sourcing of materials and techniques, I would have created something that I could be more proud of. This project has been all in all a learning process; as the first project of the course, and the first academic project that I have done in creative arts, it's a testament to how raw thought and work can be transformed into a progressive outcome.