Assignment 4 Feedback reflection

I was so pleased that my tutor commented on my improved drawing skills as this was an area I myself felt I had improved in, particularly the bedroom sketches I had undertaken.

My tutor had previously asked me to reference others work more often, which he noted I had done – but which I must keep up.

The comments about my cube studies were better than I expected, I initially struggled with this exercise but I persevered and spend a lot of time to aim for better results. Again, my tutor gave particularly positive feedback about my collages, in particular the digital collage, this was very reassuring and encouraging.

Although I had very positive feedback about my bedroom perspective my tutor was a little more negative about the ellipses on my lampshade – which when reviewing I can see why – some more practice required in this area!

I sensed a little disappointment with my actual assignment piece, which I think is fair as I struggled to get a strong sense of what I was aiming to achieve. He suggested I experiment a little more with media, explore and find what works best, also to annotate the preparatory work which I displayed as part of the assessment, also to think about the structure in the real world. All feedback which I think is fair and I will aim to improve on/include in future work.

Assignment 4

Assignment 4 Reflection

This has been an enjoyable and enriching part of the course as I can see progression in my work, particularly my drawing abilities.

Having not drawn for years my initial attempts felt childlike and with little skill. Although I have a long way to go the practice I have been doing, along with research into techniques I believe has benefited me and I can see improvements. 

During these exercises however there were times when I got frustrated with my attempts, particularly during the texture exercises. In the midst of my frustrations I wondered why I need to sketch with any ability when we have computer packages which can do so much of the work for us? I read that Le Corbusier “used sketches to record things he felt a camera could not, such as concepts, underlying structure or feelings experienced in a space” (Spankie, 2009:51). Reading this at the at the time I was struggling helped to spur me on and appreciate that sketching is more than trying to create a picture.

When I did manage to create a texture or sketch which bore some resemblance to that I endeavoured to portray I felt very satisfied which further helped to motivate me with my drawing.

Learning one- and two-point perspective felt like a real skill to have and is hugely beneficial in achieving realistic drawings. It made me think that perhaps one day I can whip out a sketch book and undertake a quick and accurate sketch for a client, which can help to shape the beginnings of an interior and assist with clients perceptions – not something that is so easy to do so quickly with a computer – and a task which can easily and quickly demonstrate a level of skill to a client.

Using a variety of media has been valuable. It has provided me with an opportunity to understand different mediums and get to know which I work best with and can provide the look I aim to achieve.

I spent time looking at sketches of Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid which made me see real benefits of sketching as it allows the designer to provide their thought processes, through diagrams, sketches and text – and which can also be very beautiful.  Zaha Hadid’s are so full of movement with some sketches only showing squiggles and fluid lines – I expect to express the fluidity she intends for an interior. I have taken a lot of pleasure in discovering Frank Lloyd Wright’s sketches, many of which are themselves works of art, with their delicate colours interpreting a real beauty in the architecture and its surroundings, often depicting the atmosphere created by cascading water. I found that Frank Lloyd Wright’s work reminds me of the art work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh an artist and designer I have admired since I was young.

When looking at the works of interior designers I noted that designers Harding and Read have no high-tech computer aided designs on their website only images of their interiors along with pretty watercolours interpreting their designs. These watercolours are simple but affective, these along with the sketches of the other designers I looked into convinced me that sketching and rendering by hand is an invaluable and hugely satisfying skill to have.