off to a good start

First of all, the title of this post is slightly misleading. I completely forgot to blog on Monday, so the blogging thing isn’t off to a good start. However, lots of other things are. I feel like this is going to be one of my best semesters in studio. I just feel driven and motivated, investigative and experimental…lots of new territory. In the past, I’ve tried to stay well within my comfort zone, drawing my tiny little sketches in my sketchbook, only making sketch models if I was specifically assigned to make them. This semester, I feel much more like the process is sinking in. You really can’t cheat the design process. You’ve got to sketch and model, and there needs to be a dialogue between them. Otherwise, your final product looks bad…period. When David was talking to us in the shop today, he said something that I felt was relevant to my work in the past. If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, all the design decisions you’re making–every last detail–then you end up with a model that doesn’t look quite right, and your lack of enthusiasm for it shows in your presentation. I think this could be exactly my problem. In the past, I’ve tried to cheat the design process. Now, I’m resolved to do better. I’ve got myself a ream of 11×17 paper so I can do big sketches that actually communicate something. I bought an entire sheet of 2″ pink foam so I can make all the sketch models I want to. I’ve moved all my supplies into studio so that I do my work there, in the presence of other students who can help me when I get stuck. I’m calling it an experiment. If my work doesn’t get better this semester, I’ll throw in the towel–maybe I can’t be a great designer after all. However, I’m betting that this will be my best semester yet.