IND-145 DRAWING I

Joel Wennerstrom, Assistant Professor

Email: WEB: http://pratt.edu/~jwenner

Using Drawing to generate ideas/extreme sports part i

One of the most difficult challenges designers face is coming up with creative ideas. Thinking too realistically about a problem prevents us from coming up with anything new. When this happens, we need to challenge traditional thinking and ask ourselves, “What if?” and “Why not?”

It is human nature to search for meaning in whatever we experience. We can use this propensity to search for meaning as an ideation tool by intentionally putting ourselves in unfamiliar or illogical situations. Many times, just moving the pen on your page—doodling and making lines and scribbles—can get the creative juices flowing as we search for practicality in the nonsense shapes we have created on our page. Looking at someone else’s drawings can also help you think outside the box, especially if there is confusion in what is trying to be communicated.

So putting yourself in a state of confusion as you draw can be an effective way of getting new ideas. Let your mind wander as you put lines down. Shade negative space as if it is positive space. Turn your page up side down or sideways. Draw anything but what you are supposed to. Eventually, your natural tendency to find meaning will lead you to a creative solution.

40-minute in class exercise: To be announced in class.

Show class examples of extreme sport project for Cleveland Institute of Art.

Class work:

Class designs/invents an extreme sport. Draw all the products that are associated with your sport such as shoes, pads, gloves, helmets, vehicles, balls, equipment, robots, and the arena/environment it’s played or performed in. Show how this sport is played/won by drawing several scenes on a page with a minimum of call-outs. Show the human figure interacting with your designs.

Assignment:

Think of five extreme sports and do a presentation drawing of each design on 18 by 24 white paper. Do as many ideation sketches as necessary to work out your ideas, and then draw each concept on a separate page with a title, name of sport, rules, signature, date, vignettes, dominant views, plan views if necessary. Present your ideas to class.

Focus on:

·  Show excitement! This is an EXTREME SPORT. Indicate action and energy in your drawings with line weight, expressive views and placement on the page.

·  Demonstrating how this sport is played using drawing and a minimum of call-outs.

·  Draw the figure interacting with the sport and other participants. Practice drawing the figure on trace paper before drawing it on your final page.

·  Name each sport and display it on each page.