Semantics Forms
By: Gia Marino
Today we are starting our form project.
I picked out a shell from Jacky and now I am going to draw it to really learn the form.
- insert drawing*
Doing this drawing helped me notice how the shell curls and the overall proportions of the shell. I think I could even reference this drawing while making my shell.
Daphne said to start with clay so we can learn the form better before moving to soap and paper, and I believe her. Also, I am experienced with clay and pretty good at it so I think it’s better to learn a form with a medium I am comfortable with. So I am gonna start with clay and try and get the main base proportionate tonight
So I am having a dilemma, working with plasticine is so hard because it’s so soft and hard to not undo what you just did. So I decided to try harder plasticine and this would be much easier to put in detail, however, it takes so so long to get the right proportions and overall form since the clay is harder than it is not worth it. So, I made two basic forms of the shell. I think now that I am trying soft plasticine again I have decided this is the most efficient medium.
I made more progress on my white clay form. I got a lot of the overall curves and proportions correct and I started to craft the spiral. I think now I just have to add details, but I know I can do that pretty easily, and I am much more worried about the paper shell than anything.
I decided to do paper over soap because I think I would go crazy trying to make my soap shell perfect with exact proportions without messing up along the way. So I will do a soap mouse later.
Time to start paper! I am first gonna start by sketching out the vertical and horizontal cross-section of the main base of the shell. Then from there, I can do slits into circle disks to connect all the vertical sections. I will figure out the ear of the shell after I get the dominant form.
Update, I drew the two main cross-sectionals, however, once I made a circle disk I realized my structure is going to be too weak because the slits will have to be super deep. I asked around the studio what I should do and I could move to a strong paper or chipboard, but then I talked to Margot and she showed me I could keep the two cross-sections but do have discs instead and connect it to the cross sections. Then I could put half the slits in the discs and there would be less stress overall on the paper since there will be 2–3 slits instead of like 6 in one disc.
Here's my progress on my paper shell. I am kinda confused on how I want to do the ear the shell but so far I am very content with what I have currently. I feel like I got the proportions very close so I will make sure to use these proportions for my final.
I am now moving onto mouse because I am behind and I want a critique on my mouse for Tuesday so I got to get started. I am going to start with soap because I am so afraid of soap I have to face it early and head-on. I have two soaps: a smaller white one that doesn’t smell fantastic, and a slightly bigger one that's prettier and smells nicer. I asked Conner which one I should work on, he suggested practice on the smaller white one and move on to the one I like better later. So, I started on the white soap with no mercy nor fear.
Even though I wanted to do this mouse with no fear, I still had to plan and learn the form. So, for the mouse instead of drawing it, I put boxes around photos of my mouse to see where I needed to take in my soap since it was a rectangle shape. I think this helped me dissect the form in a manageable way. I did get this idea from Ricku, so credit to him for this idea.
So, I did my first soap mouse and I made a lot of mistakes. The overall form is close but definitely not perfect. I also, realized halfway I completely forgot to accommodate for the scroll wheel and button, and my mouse is already so small I just stopped and figured I’d restart. I learned a lot from this iteration though. I learned where it was easy to mess up. For example, I found that the inner side curves are difficult and it’s easy to go far in some areas but still not enough to make it look deep enough. I also learned that the top front of the mouse is not perfectly flat and it rises a little in the middle with the scroll wheel. Lastly, the front is more square than I realized. I also found out slow and steady wins the race on this one.
Now that I have learned all this, I am going to start my next iteration on my better soap. I am going very slow this time.
So, since I was going slower and it was later in the evening, I didn't get much done on my 2nd iteration. I was working on the back curve of the mouse. It’s getting there but the back curve is not close enough.
Daphne said I made good progress but she definitely saw the flaws in my first iteration. She said I definitely need to account for the scroll wheel but if I do clay instead of paper for my other model then I don’t need to do the side button on my soap and I can do the side button in only the clay instead. I thought this was a fair point so I will follow her advice.
I am going to start my clay today because I think I need to learn the mouse form a little more before I continue the soap mouse. So, a got another chunk of the soft plasticine clay and started molding trying to get my mouse either a 1 to 1 ratio with my real mouse or close to it.
I am going to start on the overall form and curvature of the base first then start looking at the scroll wheel and button afterward.
After getting the basic form figured out with the clay, I was able to continue on the soap with confidence. However, I am still scared about doing the side indents so I didn’t pursue those yet. Even though I figured them out on the clay, I still think it’s hard with the soap because that’s where I messed up big time last time. Also, I left a big chunk for the scroll wheel because I want a lot of room to work with once I start the scroll wheel.
Today I have to finish my mouses. So I get to get working on these scroll wheels and buttons. I am going to start by finishing the clay so I know the ins and outs and figure out where I may mess up on the soap.
I did the scroll wheel on the clay mouse and fixed a few mistakes I saw on the bottom and overall form, but now I am tired of working on clay, so I thinking I am going to work on this soap mouse till it is finished. I am determined.
Update: I have started the side curves of the mouse and I have done a scroll wheel. Neither is perfect. Side curves definitely need to go in more. The scroll wheel probably needs work but I have been looking at it too long.
I am tired. So, I am going to just put on a side button super quick and call it a night. I think the mouse is rough but it is almost there overall!
I took photos but I feel like my photography currently is highlighting my mistakes, so I know now I definitely have things to fix.
So I looked back at my mouses and I there are some issues. My clay mouse I am pretty content. I just did some small touches up on the button and base form, and I feel like it looks good now. However, My soap mouse has some fixing to do.
As you see, the scroll wheel is huge compared to the small body of the soap mouse. It’s like as big as the real version. It also looks like a tic-tac. There needs to be an engraving and a curve and it just looks so wrong. So I am going to fix all these issues and maybe go in a bit more with the side curves.
During this whole time of working on the mouse, I’ve been slowly chipping away at my clay shell. I have been fixing a form and putting little detail after detail and taking breaks.
As you see, I have added a lot. I added the bumps on the top, which took a lot of time estimating the gaps between bumps. Additionally, I added the groves that go into the inner ear. I tried to copy the curves almost perfectly. I feel like these two things really make the clay feel like a shell. I think all I have left is to re-fix the gap of the ear and the spiral a tad.
I have finished my paper shell
I had to just finish it in one go. I did the spiral with one long strip with tony slits. Then, I decided I just needed a skeleton of the ear, and I found a way to attach strips to the main form. So I just did thick strips to get the ear while trying to get the proportions about right. I also added an angled disc to get the slant at the top because I felt like that was important to the form of the shell. It is a tad fragile overall, but I think this is the best I can do right now with my time.
Here are my final photos:
I think overall I am decently happy with my final. I did a couple of touch-ups before I decided to take my final photos. Nothing major though. I think all of my forms I could work on for longer if I had the time but this project really was all about how much time you can put in, or at least for me. I know I could get these forms perfected if I wanted to or had the time to. I think I am happy that there are at least no glaring mistakes in my eyes.
I think the one model that could improve the most is paper because I feel like I could make it look cleaner and I think it needed to show the body of the shell a little bit more, but paper is frustrating so I forgive myself. I think the 2nd one maybe the soap mouse. I am not sure though. I think I discovered having to mimic a lot of random curves is much harder than one thinks, sometimes you can’t even see all the curves, but instead feel it.
Overall, I am happy with my work even though I know it needs more work. I think I got decently close in the end.
