My art teacher in high school pointed out that once you choose to see as an artist, which is the first (and most important step), you look at the world quite differently. You become aware of your ability to visually “dismantle” what you’re looking at. Seeing a bright blue sky will send your mind racing on the proper color formula to achieve the same hue, just like superimposing an imaginary grid over what you’re observing will help you see things in proportion.
"I figured out some basic stuff, that form and color defines your perception of the nature of an object, whether or not it is intended to."
- Jonathan Ive
When it comes to product illustration, it’s quite an intriguing process taking apart a design and reducing it down to basic elements. It’s silhouette, the texture of it’s materials, sculptural aspects of it’s form and color. Great designs often reveal a hidden poetry when reduced to their core essence.
These are just a few of my favorite designs. Some are older and some are relatively new; some designed by the famous, and some less known. Each has a certain quality to them that intrigues me. Whether it’s the iconic, skyscraper outline of the Longacre Lamp, or the rhythmic twists of the Teco vase, there’s something more happening under the surface.
To actually “see” each of these creations a little closer, I began by taking them apart. Reducing each to a line drawing and then stretching and extending these lines, sometimes far enough to cross over themselves, looking for alignments and intersections. What’s left is a spider web of proportion, and at the core of these designs, great symmetry and balance.
“Fashion is an extract of complications. What’s simple is very strong.” - Helmut Lang
Alan Pepin / Creative Director
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Reply #1 on : Fri January 14, 2011, 21:11:14