Process Blog
I am not sure where I ever got the idea for the style of graffiti I like to draw, probably some book, somewhere. One of the items I have drawn a number of times has been a Yin-Yang. It would be a nice design to have on a set of coasters.
I’m an anticapitalist Boulderite and have always liked rude corruptions of brands well-crafted logos. I was inspired by the Supreme x Louis Vuitton series of merchandise and the general lack of novelty it had while somehow becoming so profitable. I wanted to create something that was functional but easy to make as to just plaster the unoriginal design of Supreme x Louis Vuitton on it. Being as that is copyright infringement, I added The Pirate Bay’s logo to it as a nod to the stupidity of paying large amounts of money for normal clothes.
Artist Statement:
Name: Proto-Ocarina
Tagline: The First of Many
Artist’s Statement: We were inspired by the Ocarina from the Legend of Zelda game, Ocarina of Time. The one we made has twelve holes instead of the game’s one which has 8. We also tried to make the object look like it was sculpted in a 3D Program and left it with a geometric outer form. The geometric outer form provides a more exact shape for 3D printers to use and is a variation on the classic form.
We split the model into two in order to print the Ocarina more easily, due to the fact that 3D printers cannot easily print at a 90-degree angle.
We liked the idea of creating a usable object instead of an artistic sculpture. The Proto-Ocarina will hopefully be playable; however, it will likely sound like a kazoo because of its construction material and the inaccuracy of the modeling program. The 12-hole ocarinas are designed to work on a pentatonic scale and would sound good no matter what notes are played. Unfortunately, the Proto-Ocarina will likely be off-key.
The model was based on a twelve holed Ocarina from Legend of Zelda. The subdivisions were added before the boolean which caused them to be rough on the edges. I tried to add a second smoothing modifier but it caused my computer to tank.
For the presentation sheet, we took the styles from the Zelda website and attempted our hand at tacky 90’s web posters. (No .gifs or dancing babies included.)
Monopoly pieces are the vaguest concept of a thing. Beginning with the original zinc alloy set, Monopoly pieces have ranged from howitzers to houses, from terriers to tanks. The only common denominator has been their size at about 2’x2’x1.5′.
I wanted something I could use. There were few things that are usable that are that size except for trinkets that I could put on my key ring. I had watched a disturbing music video involving black and white footage from the Telly Tubbies and one of them – Po – had a ring on his head that I could use for the key ring. I was also against direct plagiarism so I looked in the artist Ron English who makes dark recreations of pop culture icons. I also looked at some of the pieces Kid Robot had done involving perversion of the same.
I settled on Po’s head on a chopping block in a World of Warcraft/League of Legends style of exaggeration.
Clockwise from left: Ron English’s ‘Telegrinne’; overposted image, author unknown; Po from the original British series; Black & White Image from ‘Christopher G. Brown’s Teletubbies Joy Division Edit’
The model was fairly simple I started with a sculpt and then retopologized it so it looked better. I tried to create the crossed out eyes I had in my sketches but my model’s eye sockets were too deep and the crosses didn’t look right. Instead, I opted the cross of St.Peter, often mistaken for the Satanic Cross, on his forehead a la Deicide. I thought about changing the headpiece to a proper satanic cross but there is no loop to attach it with.
Cyron and I decided on recreating the Ocarina of Time from the video game of the same name for our first project. As it is a hollow object it will be necessary to create two sides of it and glue them together. It could also be possible to print locking joints but since the Ocarina is a type of whistle, the glue will hold it together better and, hopefully, make it sound okay.
The Ocarina of Time
In Why Design matters, Alain de Botton argues that good design makes people better and that people have emotional attachments and aversions based on the looks and feel of things. Good design can take many forms: sups, phones, sunglasses, and even the small dongles and knobs attached to everyday objects. Unfortunately, bad design is even more common.
Take the design of Colorado cities. I hate them. They popped up overnight and had a checklist to fill out. Houses. Check. Schools. Check. A place to get necessities. Check. But they lack character. The houses are all the same. You must drive everywhere. The schools look like prisons. I could take a picture in any one of these pop-up towns and you couldn’t tell me where it was taken. Everything in it looks the same. On a surface level, though there are changes, the color might change from one corporate approved color to the next but the urban planners at these development companies must be alcoholics because they are forced to create such unfriendly cities.
Now take a city with good design. Take Barcelona. Each city district has a crossroads dedicated to commerce and pedestrian walkways to make each district more livable. The intersections are also more open to allow for café seating and, on occasion, are closed to cars. The city is livable and thriving as it was designed not despite it, like what we have in Colorado.
I have always like modern teapots to the point that whenever I am in New York I will go to the Met to see the teapots. I selected the modern one because of its relative simplicity and functionality.
A modern teapot
I created a modernist teapot for practice with Fusion 360. The spout presented a challenge as creating the end was harder than I initially thought. Fusion 360 is built like an Apple product by prioritizing slick design over usability and using a cloud-based rendering engine. Despite the drawbacks, I believe the teapot looks functional.
Final Render of Teapot
I read Paul Kirchner’s “The Bus” a while back and was inspired by how he was able to write a whole comic series using only a few characters and no dialogue. The book was quirky and surreal. I really liked it, particularly this self-referential one here:
I also needed something to craft The Bus into. I am not a material person so just a model of the bus was not going to cut it for me. I decided on a water bottle top as it is both functional and novel, without adding extra weight.
The modeling was a bit harder with the bus given the number of parts needed to create an accurate bus. The windshield, in particular, was challenging as it was curved in an organic fashion and simple cylinders would not work. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the specifications for the screw lid for my specific bottle and had to approximate.
Paul Kirchner’s “The Bus” and the 1970 GMC Suburban Charter were my inspiration
First round of bottle top sketches
Process Images and a few final renders