Mario Journal

Foundations of Design : REPRESENTATION, SEM1, 2017 M2 JOURNAL - FLATNESS vs PROJECTION

Stephanie Markerink

914884 Vaughan Cockburn + Studio Number

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WEEK 3 READING: ‘LEGER CORBUSIER, AND PURISM’

Question 1: What is Pictorial Space according to Le Corbusier?

Pictorial Space, according to Le Corbusier is space that cannot be physically invaded or entered. It is space that is purely visual and thus the frontality of the space is what holds its significance.

Question 2: The Flatness of Le Corbusier’s painting’s are attributable to two properties. What are they? And what are these pitted against?

The flatness of Le Corbusier’s paintings are attributable to the object and constellation of such objects, as they are pitted against a consideration of colour and texture to provide contrast. Furthermore, the continuous extension of edges with a two-dimensional manipulation of shape immediately flattens the paintings. The use of colour and texture, although still does not create depth, does suggest a distance between the object’s representation and the object itself.

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MARIO’S WORLD 2D TEMPLATES

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1ST MARIO’S WORLD

COMBINED MARIO’S WORLD

These elements need to be cut off at a 45 degree angle to show where the edge of

Area masked in the original photo, thus opening up

the Mario World is and

opportunity for

avoid visual confusion

creative expansion

in the determination of the ‘end’ of an object.

EVALUATION / ANNOTATION In the initial development of my Mario World, I chose to block out the elements without organic features or detail of character. This allowed me to organise the space and focus on accuracy before moving onto detail. Upon reflection and peer criticism it became obvious that there were a few flaws in the layout (marked in blue). These flaws were to be improved on in the later stages of the design development.

In addition to flaws, areas with potential character and detail development became obvious (marked in red).

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DETAILED MARIO’S WORLD

The edge of the mountain to the river is not clearly defined and should be resolved.

The edge of the mountain to the ground is not clearly defined and should be resolved.

EVALUATION / ANNOTATION As the Mario World drawings progressed, I continued to add detail to the scene. At this stage all section cuts were drawn with a 0.4 fineliner, while finer details were finished using a 0.05 fineliner. With the progression of detail in the world it was important to keep perspective and scaling correct. This was ensured by using practice sketches on spare A3 tracing paper. Thus the image above is a product of multiple trials and experimentation with creative ideas.

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WEEK 4 READING: AXONOMETRIC PROJECTION: NEW GEOMETRIES & OLD ORIGINS

Question 1: Explain the difference between Pictoral (in this case perspectival) space and Projection?

Pictoral space is an arguably limiting perspective of space. It allows a fixed view of a scene that is essentially a pictorial representation of what is currently in existence. As Lissitzky explained, pictorial space offers only a “facade view” of the world where space “has been made finite, closed”. Whereas projection allows a vanishing point at infinity with a view of both frontality and depth of an environment, object or scene. Projection can construct what is not in current existence, with no intention to represent vision but to construct an accurate construction of measurement.

Question 2: Where did Axonometric projection first arise, and why?

Axonometric projection first arose in a military context. The exact measurability and predictability of space that occur in axonometric drawings were perfect for military needs to chart the three-dimensional trajectories of artillery projectiles. This practical application of axonometric drawings progressed into engineering schools in the eighteenth century, always with a close relation to mechanisation and industrialisation.

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ILLUSTRATED MARIO’S NEW WORLD

EVALUATION / ANNOTATION The graphic Mario World was first touched up in ADOBE Photoshop then once exported was given colour and line clarity in ADOBE Illustrator.

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APPENDIX N O . # 1 A N N O TAT I O N This image shows the initial blocking out of the axonometric drawings.

At this point I had progressed onto the second Mario world using a HB graphite pencil.

N O . # 3 A N N O TAT I O N Once the sketches of the character details were realised, I placed a new A3 sheet of trace paper over the original geometric axonometric drawing and added the character details. This was one of the most time consuming sections of the design process because this was the last stage before I would scan and digitally edit/create the mario graphics.

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NO.#2 ANNOTATI ON This image shows the progression of my drawings from the basic blocking of the elements in prisms to the introduction of character detail. To ensure the character detail progressed with accuracy I experimented with sketches over the top of the original block axonometric drawing.

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