Environment Design (GCD6I904)

 E-Portfolio of  Environment Design 

Introduction

    This blog post mainly shares the lessons, reflections, and exercises I have learned this semester in environmental design.

Catalog

• Week 1-Introduction on sketching
• Week 2-Perspective Drawing
• Week 3-one point perspective Form Maniqulation drawings
• Week 4-12 box thumbnail drawings
• Week 5 Mood-board& Sketching
• Week 6 Watercolor&Sketching
• Week 7-9: Watercolor &Final draft
• Week 10-11: 15 sketches
• Week 12-14: Use Photoshop to drawing digital picture
• Reflection

Week 1-Introduction on sketching

Learn

    In the first class, the teacher told us about the concept of drawing sketches and how quickly drawing sketches can help us better understand our inspiration and design ideas.

    Then the teacher introduced perspective to us. Perspective can help us to look through the lines and points of an object to make the original two-dimensional picture appear three-dimensional.

    Eye level, where the observer's eye level is, determines the level of the horizontal line and the height of the object in the perspective.

Reflection

    In this learning process, the teacher deepened my understanding of sketching, as I was more inclined to use a tablet or computer for drawing before. However, many times these electronic products do have a lot of inconvenient situations, and using paper and pen for sketching allows me to truly experience the sense of line in the building。

Practice

This image is the result of my practice in sketching, during which I experienced the beauty of lines and improved the stability of my hand-drawn lines.

Week 2-Perspective Drawing

Learn：

    The second lesson is mainly about perspective. Firstly, in the process of finding perspective, you must first determine where your eye level line is, which determines the horizontal position of the objects in the perspective. Then, based on the eye level, we can determine how many vanishing points there are in the picture. In this study, we have learned a total of one-point perspective, two-point perspective, and three-point perspective.

Reflection：

    In the process of learning, it helped me to understand and correct some problems about perspective. In the previous thorough search, I often determined his eye level by feeling, which also led to my vanishing point often found inaccurate. But this time the teacher was very clear in helping me determine the position of the video cable.

Practice：

In the process of drawing, it helps me to better understand and recognize the vanishing points and horizontal lines of buildings. This kind of exercise is very beneficial for beginners like me, enabling us to not only observe a building's color but also to assess the logic and accuracy of its overall construction.

Week 3-one point perspective Form Maniqulation drawings

(exercise)

    In this lesson, the lecturer first taught us how to draw floor plans of different shapes. Then, we drew a central point in the middle of each shape. We connected the four corners of these floor plans to the central point. Based on these lines, we then drew the perspective of these shapes, turning the floor plans into three-dimensional forms.

    
    In the second box, we will transfer the floor plans drawn in the first box. In the second box, we will make these designs more complex. The painting is still the same.

    

    Trying this drawing method for the first time felt very novel. However, it is an excellent practice for perspective drawing. Moving from simple floor plans to complex shapes and then turning them into three-dimensional forms gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

Week 4-12 box thumbnail drawings

    In this week's class, I practiced one-point and two-point perspective drawing. The lecturer taught us how to derive one-point and two-point perspectives from a part of a building.

    At first, it was really challenging for me. While I could envision a part of the building, it was difficult to form a complete image of the building in my mind. This was especially true for two-point perspective drawing, which requires considering the design of other parts of the building. However, after more practice, I gradually understood the techniques for drawing one-point and two-point perspectives.

（Exercise-There are six two-point perspectives and six one-point perspectives）

（Exercise-six one-point perspectives）

（Exercise-six two-point perspectives）

Week 5 Mood-board& Sketching

    This week, the lecturer instructed us to first gather various styles, materials, colors, and visual renderings of different buildings from the internet. Using these as references, we created a mood board. This mood board will serve as a reference for the museum's exterior design, from which we will draw inspiration to sketch the museum's appearance.

（mood-board）

（sketching）

    During the drawing process, I had many ideas. However, I want to use irregular rectangular prisms to make the building's exterior resemble a stack of books.

Week 6 Watercolor&Sketching

    This week, we mainly extended the sketches from the previous lesson, refining and rationalizing them based on the lecturer's suggestions. We then turned these sketches into two-point perspective drawings.

    After modifying the sketches, we also learned how to hand-draw trees, rocks, bushes, and other elements. Using these materials, we enriched our backgrounds to make them more realistic. Additionally, we learned how to use watercolor paints for shading and coloring these plants and buildings.

    Personally, I really enjoy using watercolor paints to color buildings and plants. The experience is wonderful, as the addition of colors brings the drawings to life, making them more visually appealing beyond just black and white. Although I felt a bit overwhelmed when I first started using watercolors, the overall effect turned out quite well.

（watercolor）

(sketching 1)

(sketching 2)

Week 7-9: Watercolor &Final draft

   This week, we finalized Sketching 2 as the final line drawing and, based on the lecturer's suggestion, redrew it by lowering the building's horizon line. We also decided to use wood as the material for the building's exterior walls, and I sketched wood grain patterns on the walls. During this lesson, we redrew an identical line drawing to use as a coloring practice for the final assignment. By adjusting the colors on the line drawing, we ensured a more accurate presentation for the final project.

    However, during the process of redrawing the sketching, I made a significant mistake，I chose the wrong pen for outlining, which caused my coloring attempt to fail badly.

（watercolor-color test）

Week 10-11: 15 sketches

In these two weeks, we learned the course of space planning. It helps us to realize how to divide the space, plan the route, and what kind of route can be chosen. In fact, for me, I can clearly understand the planning route, but when I draw the sketch, I find that I still lack perspective and drawing skills, so I have a lot of ideas, but I can't draw😭

Week 12-14: Use Photoshop to drawing digital picture

(The "material wall" on the 1 floor mainly shows visitors the raw materials of textiles)

(The "leisure area" on the first floor provides a resting place for visitors, where visitors can sit and enjoy the scenery, eat, etc)

(The 2-layer "manual area" mainly includes 3 areas, adult area, children area and feedback board.)

(Located on the 2nd floor, the “souvenir shop” mainly contains textiles produced by client companies, which visitors can buy.)

（The clothing display area is located on the 1st floor, where visitors can see different styles of clothes from the client company.）

     The biggest challenge for me personally when drawing this part of the picture was using Photoshop. Because the first contact and use of PS to draw pictures, so the keys and strokes will be very unfamiliar, which also leads to the process of drawing will spend more time than usual. I still remember that it took me a day to finish highlighting and coloring a painting.

     Therefore, I chose to use the Ipad to draw in the middle to shorten the time I had to spend so that I could have some time to write other assignments.

PROJECT-3

project 3 mainly shows all the assignments done in the environmental design

Reflection

During this semester, I learned about various architectural design styles and drawing techniques through the environmental design course. We learned how to use watercolors and draw one-point, two-point, and three-point perspective drawings, as well as how to use Photoshop to create digital images.

The most challenging aspects for me were drawing perspective sketches and the 15 interior sketches. At first, I struggled to master the perspective techniques, so my drawings turned out quite abstract and unattractive. Similarly, I had difficulty drawing trees, grass, and stones, and they did not look good either.

For me, this was primarily a practice process, as hand-drawing requires constant practice to improve. I hope that in the future, the teacher can provide more guidance on how to draw plants and similar subjects.

During my classes, I felt that there was a focus on spatial design, which made the environmental design aspect seem somewhat lacking. It might be necessary to find a balance between these two courses.

Finally, I am very grateful for the teacher's guidance, which greatly helped me, especially with perspective and drawing plants. Without their help, I would not have been able to create my current work. I appreciate their assistance in correcting many of my drawing mistakes. Overall, despite starting from zero, I learned a lot from the environmental design course.