Foundations of Design : REPRESENTATION, SEM1, 2017 M2 JOURNAL - FLATNESS vs PROJECTION Zhexing Huang (Kim) 913199 Hana Nihill, Studio 22
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WEEK 3 READING: LEGER, LE CORBUSIER, AND PURISM
Question 1: What is Pictorial Space according to Le Corbusier? (Maximum 100 words) According to Le Corbusier’s view, pictorial space “cannot be entered or circulated through; it is irremediably space viewed from a distance, and is therefore eternally resigned to frontality”. This implies that an object depicted within pictorial space should appear entirely two-dimensional, it should be a flat view without any illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. Consequently, pictorial space does not depict the space separating one object and another in the real world.
Question 2: The Flatness of Le Corbusier’s paintings are attributable to two properties. What are they? And what are these pitted against? (Maximum 100 words) The flatness of Le Corbusier’s paintings are attributable to the properties of frontality and ideation; these are pitted against the properties of rotation and experience. Le Corbusier emphasises on the idea that all objects are rigidly frontal when experienced from a distance, and that “frontality and distance combine to allow knowledge of the real only by inference”. This is contrasted against the notion that one can gain knowledge of proximate space by means of rotation through it.
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MARIO’S WORLD
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1ST MARIO’S WORLD
This pencil drawing is the original draft of the Mario World, scaled 1:1, based on the two-dimensional Mario images given previously. To avoid clashes, the section further away from the picture plane was drawn before the section in the foreground. Though most of it was drawn with a T-square and a 45-degree set square to maximise precision, difficulties were encountered when the curved hills were drawn, as the hill-tops appeared uneven at times. This was an aspect to be improved on for the digital Illustrator copy.
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COMBINED MARIO’S WORLD
After the pencil drawing was completed, it was traced and developed into a more refined version using a fineliner. In this illustration, the linework is much more clearly defined, though the hill-tops are still somewhat uneven. After some minor adjustments in Photoshop, this image was ready to be further developed in Illustrator.
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WEEK 4 READING: AXONOMETRIC PROJECTION
Question 1: Explain the difference between Pictoral (in this case perspectival) space and Projection? (Maximum 100 words) According to Lissitzky, pictorial/perspective space is limited, finite and closed, because all lines in a persepctive drawing collide into vanishing points. While perspective illustrations aspire to be scientific and generaliszble, they are always linked to a fixed point of view, hence subjective. On the other hand, parallel lines in projection drawings never converge to a vanishing point, thus the object can extend infintely in depth. Moreover, all lines in projection drawings are measurable, providing more flexibility from a practical point of view. Perspective records what already exists, whereas axonometric projection constructs that which does not exist yet.
Question 2: Where did Axonometric projection first arise, and why? (Maximum 100 words) Axonometric projection first arised in response to questions of measurability, prediction, and verifiability. It was originally used in a military context to chart the three-dimensional trajectories of artiller projectiles; this was because of its objectivity and technical precision that is highly scientific and mathematical. Axonometric projection preserves the measurements of lines and represents distances more accurately than perspective drawings.
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ILLUSTRATED MARIO’S NEW WORLD
This final illustrated product of the Mario World demonstrates major development and refinement from the previous black and white versions, which can be seen through these aspects: - the shape and form of the hills and the green tubes are adjusted so that the curves are smoother and the vertical lines are perfectly perpendicular to the horizontal - multiple shades of green dotted patterns (see appendix) are created to emulate the textures, colours and tones of grass, which covers a large area in the World. - a variety of gradients were applied individually to the green tubes, the hills, the glass barriers, windows and doors in order to emulate different textures and enhance the sense of depth/ three-dimensionality. - details such as the red mushroom, the textured pattern on the wooden cubes, the small flowers and the minion character were added in or refined to further embellish the illustration.
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APPENDIX Initial Mario draft - pencil drawing process
Initial Mario draft - fineliner tracing process
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Mario World development -initial tracing & colouring
Mario World development -- the addition of a dotted pattern with gradient, used on the front sides of the hills.
The creation of grass patterns: For the grass lawn areas, three shades of green patterns were created with small overlapping dots -- the lightest shade was used for the top sides of the ground, the medium shade was used for sides facing south-east, and the darkest shade was used for sides facing south-west. The combination of these shades creates three-dimensionality to the illustration and indicates the direction of the imagined light source.
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The application of gradients: Different styles of gradients were utilised to represent different materials in the Mario World. For shiny/ smooth and reflective surfaces like the green metallic tube and glass textures, the gradients featured dramatic highlights and fast colour transitions; whereas rough textures like the small green hills featured gradients with smoother colour transitions within a narrower range.
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The minion character was inspired by an online image of the original minion; the original image was a perspective illustration, whereas the minion in Mario World was an axonometric projection. Gradients were used on the minion’s body and glasses in order to add three-dimensionality.
Finally, some additional details such as the line patterns on wooden blocks and the small flowers were added for extra embellishment.
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