Exploring the relationship between surface and pattern and how each alters visual perception
M3
The Transformation of the Surface
The work is based on The Alba Madonna by Raphael. In the fabric I was given, the most prominent flow is the two ridges that go separately from the bottom to the top left and top right corners. The two ridges converge at a point and divide the space into three parts: the relatively high area in the top middle and the low areas on the two sides. There is also an obvious low point in my terrain so I made it match the darkest bottom right corner in the fabric. That two ridges and the three parts they divide are main reference in my work.
The Painting Sample
The Terrain Surface
The Iterative Process
The amount I have attempted is a lot more than the below, as it acquires both logical thinking and luck to get closer to a satisfying outcome. But each combination of different factors - even if it looks awful, will help with the next attempt. My judging criteria is to determine whether the major terrain is identifiable and clear without knowing the original painting. In the final version, I first lift the height of points at the ridges in Grid Study and then used three groups of point attractors letting the pyramids pointing at three directions and emphasizing the ridge line at the same time. In Panel and Hybrid Study, I left the simplest panels around the ridges and made quite complicated panels around the attracting points to create a contrast.
Grid Studies
Panel Studies
Hybridisation
Final Iterations
Closed-up View of the Hybrid
The Emergence of the Composite
Finally, the lines of the Artifact are combined with the fabric. When looking at the Composite, the focus is on the most protruding part, and then moves to the areas where lower panels point at. The light and shadow would give sense to the terrain of the composite. Highlights would present high areas. Following the flow, the panels extrude outside of the original square, and shrink and squeeze inside the square as their height reduces. The main flow in painting drapery has been modified a little to match the artifact, and the drapery has turned from a very soft texture to growing sharp corners and lines. Also, the shape becomes ragged in the artifact no longer staying in a square. The painted drapery also adds detail to the artifact. The change of different kinds of blue and the unique texture of the drapery make the artifact seem more real and touchable in the real world.
Closed-up View of the Artefact
Closed-up View of the Renders
Final Submission
Reflection
The combination of classical painting work and iteration of geometries is a flesh new concept to me. I would have never known how to use a panel of hard, sharp shapes to recreate a fabric that is something very soft. Compared to other assignments, the feature of this one is that you could never know how exactly the result would be in each process, no matter in shifting the grids, panels or the hybrid, in unrolling each panel, or in the final rendering. This means the outcome would give you a surprise in both senses. It’s a very challenging way to work but also interesting enough to go through.
I have tried too many versions of each grid, panel and hybrid study, and then I realized at a point that even if I could not control the result, in order to do it efficiently towards the desired outcome, I would need to stay clear about where the changes were going to be and how I wanted them to be. This is difficult not only to resemble the fabric interestingly but also to keep a balance between that design and the practicability of fabrication. I was constantly challenged by any problems generated before that would only come to notice later.
Manipulating objects in 3 dimensions requires more operations and provides a more comprehensive outcome than in 2 dimensional. However, the tedious unrolling process was not really annoying to me because I used to make lots of paper models in the past, and those etches and tabs were too familiar to me. This project just excellently introduced the process of creating those fabrication drawings.
Special thanks to my tutor, who led me to improve on the work in ways I couldn’t come up with myself.