Fun Sketch

Well I'm finally doing some more sketching just for fun... Haven't had time to do that in a while. Cool thing is I'm getting much better than I use to be.

Drawing II: Portraits

Well we're now up to drawing portraits of our classmates using value. This is going to take some practice. I'm not very satisfied with the results. They aren't bad but they're not good either. Tomorrow were suppose to try doing self portraits with this technique. I hope it works better this next time around. I picked up some watercolor paper for this project I'm hoping the larger tooth of the paper will hold the charcoal better.

Technical Writting????

This weeks assignment was to describe an ice cream scoop (shades of design 102). Only this time we were asked to actually describe it rather than use abstract descriptions of it. Thankfully it was a collaborative effort with the following results:

Luke M. Wilson, Shawn Nelson, and Joseph Naylor

Description of an Ice Cream Scoop

An ice cream scoop is a kitchen gadget, much like a spoon or ladle, that uses a mechanical scraper to help release the scoop from the bowl. The device consists of two main sections: a fixed portion—which is used to scoop the ice cream—and the mechanical “scraper” portion.

The fixed portion is composed of two subsections; the first of which is a six inch plastic handle. Enclosing one end of the handle is a four inch rubber hand grip with grooves near the thumb & forefinger locations and has hole about an inch from the end for hanging storage. Adjacent to the grip, just above the grooves, is a plastic finger guard. Attached to the handle opposite the grip is the second subsection, a hemispherical, stainless-steel bowl, which is three inches in diameter and is used for containing the scooped ice cream.

The mechanical assembly is composed of three subsections; the first of which is a semicircular, stainless-steel scraper mounted on the interior of the bowl by two pivot points: one just above the handle, the other on the opposite side. Through the handle pivot point, the scraper connects to the second subsection, a geared, stainless-steel shaft that is parallel to the handle and ends in the finger guard. The shaft’s gear is a half inch from the finger guard and meshes with slots in a rounded triangular or “bell-shaped” metal plate, the final subsection. Opposite these slots is a screw that allows the the plate to pivot and affixes it to the handle. Additionally, the plate has two flanges which serve as stops—one of these also provides space for a plastic thumb press. Between the plate and the handle is a spring which returns the scooper to the default position after the thumb press is released.

Typical operation of an ice cream scoop occurs in the following fashion:

1. using the device as a spoon, ice cream is scooped into the bowl
2. positioning over a serving dish, force is applied to the plastic thumb press

· which pivots the triangular plate

· in turn spinning the gear

· that rotates the shaft and

· drags the scraper along the bowl’s inner surface, freeing the ice cream

3. releasing the thumb press, the spring returns the scooper to the original position

While it is known as an “ice cream scoop”, this device can be used for any relatively malleable material, such as mashed potatoes or cookie dough. Also, because of small parts, like the scraper and gear, the ice cream scoop should only be used by persons 12 years of age or older.

Drawing II at ISU

Self Portrait Value Study.
Is approximately 24x32" And took approximately 26 hours to complete.
I had a picture taken against a black background, which was then pixelated to provide something of a map for the grayscale values that were to be placed on the page. The process consisted of laying down a combination of Vine and Compressed charchol in layers and then pulling it back out with an eraser and blending stump. The effect is that of a very soft velvet texture.

Drawing II at ISU

I don't think I'll ever get completely use to blind gesture drawing. Supposedly it's suppose to give your drawings more depth and vitality. Mine usually end up being a big black blob on the page. The ones where I'm looking every once in a while generally turn out better. Go figure....