Three-Dimensional Design

Spring 2012

Instructor: Mark Creegan

Project: Planar Safari For this project you will be creating a 3D sculpture of an animal (either full body or wall trophy style) using planes of either cardboard or foam core. Minimal glue should be used, the planar pieces should be able to mostly fit together like a 3D puzzle. Size: It must be at least 15 inches in one dimension. Process: Outside of class: Begin by making several sketches of an animal from several angles. You can start with basic linear drawing but try to also visualize the structure of the form using planar shapes. Then practice fitting together pieces of cardboard or foamcore together. Don t worry if you don t do too well yet, I will help you with this in class next week. IN CLASS: Using your drawings as a base, construct your animal. Materials needed: several sheets of cardboard or at least 3 sheets of foamcore (any color). Glue gun, xacto knife AND utility knife (box cutter)

Tips: The best thing you can do to ensure clean, precise cutting is always use a sharp, new blade for your cutters, after about an hour or so of heavy use, change your blade. Concentrate on evenness of spacing between the planar shapes. Remember the subtle shifting in the shape of the planes creates the overall form of the animal.

Grading Points: Technical: How well did you handle the material? Is the overall craft well done and considered? Is the spacing between the planar shapes even? Conceptual: Did you convey the form of the animal using planar shapes? Cane we read both the individual planar shapes AND the overall form of animal? Aesthetic: Is the conceptual aspect done with inventiveness? Is there an overall sense of unity in the piece? Process: How much prep work went into the creation. Did you do preliminary sketches and experiment with the material?