Foundations of Design : REPRESENTATION, SEM1, 2017 M2 JOURNAL - FLATNESS vs PROJECTION Mitchell Grant Gardiner
950518 Colby Vexler - Studio Group 1
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WEEK 3 READING: LEGER, LE CORBUSIER AND PURISM. RAUSS, ROSALIND 1972
Question 1: What is Pictorial Space according to Le Corbusier? PIctorial Space, in the view of Le Corbusier, is not able to be enterred or circulated though. Specifically, is the space of a flat, two-dimensional plane, represented as an image. To fully understand and experience a phisical or represented space, and it’s geometry, one must be able to move into and around it. Progressive viewpoints accumulated during this movement combine to construct a threedimensional appreciation. With pictorial space, this movement is restricted to two-dimenions, and regardless of the viewpoint in relation to the object, there is no new information conveyed and no previously unseen space revealed.
Question 2: The Flatness of Le Corbusier’s painting’s are attributable to two properties. What are they? And what are these pitted against? Defining properties of the flatness of Le Corbusiers paintings, are the depection of objects as pure extension, and the specific composition of colour and texture. Pure extension refers to the way the objects are essentially whole sillohettes with crisp edges, and never break rank with the images frontality to suggest multiple facets or depth. In his use of colour and texture, he promotes the primacy of these sillohettes over the objects that they represent and further ties the composition into a single plane. These qualities are pitted against the more general use of black and defined line work to protray edge and form, limiting the visual scope of the paintings and restricting any perception outside the intended frontality.
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MARIO’S WORLD - ORIGINAL ELEVATIONS
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COMBINED MARIO’S WORLD
Hand drawing of elements represented in the two original elevations, which have been projected and combined, interspersed across the 3D space created between.
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IMPROVED MARIO’S WORLD
Hand drawing of Combined Mario’s World, improved with added features.
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WEEK 4 READING: AXONOMETRIC PROJECTION. ALLEN, STAN 2000
Question 1: Explain the difference between Pictoral (in this case perspectival) space and Projection?
Pictorial space denotes a single, fixed viewpoint. Specifically, perspectival representation is created with an realistic, experiencial vantage point, which informs the scope of the the image and it’s contents. Basicially, it strives to convey what is seen with the eye, and the structure of the depicted scene can be said to converge centrally, at the position of this eye. Conversely, projection has no set view point or the subsequent foreshortening found in perspective. It is a diagramatic represetation, and ideal for technical applications, due to its inherent preservation of dimensional information and scale. Unlike perspectival representation, there is no set vanishing point, which is instead located at infinity. In turn, parallel surfaces remain parralell and various technical details are maintained.
Question 2: Where did Axonometric projection first arise, and why? Historically, axonometric projection has it’s origin in ancient visual practices, with it’s earliest systematic description found in a military context, where it was used to accurately chart the tragectories of artilary in three-dimensions. It grew out of a need for an precise method of visually portraying and calculating these projectile scenarios . Following this, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was taught in engineering schools. Subsequent development of axonometic as method of representation has been closely related to mechanisation and industrialisation, fields where technical information is of primary concern.
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ILLUSTRATED MARIO’S NEW WORLD
Improved Mario’s World has been digitially recreated using Adobe Illustrator, and populated with characters from the game. Specifically, Mario and his arch nemesis Wario. Colour and line form are used to distinguish between objects and materials. A simplifed representation of light and shade has been created with the use of tonal variations within this colour pallate, to portray depth and emphasise 3D form. Small line details show texture and improve the material identity of elements such as grass and the wooden bridges. Transperancy has been utilised to represent elements including the jewels and water features and adds further visual complexity. Split into two halves, highlighted by the contrasting backgrounds, the world has a gravity-shift or flip-plane at this intersection, acentuated by the variation of colour tone in these respective night and day spaces. Though not wholely evident in this final image, the world also features a play-able level structure, with a set path that Mario must follow to progress from the Start door at the mid-left, though the night and day sections and finally to the Finish door at the top-left.
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WORLD HIGHLIGHTS
Bowser fountainhead, drawn in correct axonometric projection. Transparent water showing the interior form of the fountain and features behind waterfalls.
Mario, drawn in correct axonometric, as viewed from above. Green tube connects the two sides of the world, with a flip plane/vortex at the intersection.
Grass and and wooden bridge line detail. An ‘easter egg’ in the form of a sutble homage to Shigeru Miyamoto, original creator of the game.
Wario, drawn in correct axonomeric, as viewed from below (when flipped). Ambigramatic ancient South American influenced carved pattern, Super Mario Wolrd - SMW.
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APPENDIX
Scale projection of first elevation into Axonometric using set sqare, T-square and ruler, in pencil on trace paper.
Positioning of elements in the combined Mario’s World informed by conceptual sketches of intent for final composition.
Combining elements of both elevations into one axonometric composition, projecting forward and backward.
Drawings of Mario and other characters in axonometric, using a box as a guide to ensure technical correctness. 9