Drawing: lettering

         I have created many drawings of many different things such as flowers, animals, and human beings, but the side of art I haven't got a chance to explore yet is with words. In all of my drawings I have never added a single word and I know the infamous phrase "pictures speak a thousand words", but adding just 1 word can make the picture speak a thousand and one words. Adding words to a picture or drawing not only enhances the drawing itself, but also gives more depth and meaning to that specific piece of art. Through the tips and techniques from the book The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing by Alastair Smith and Judy Tatchell I have been able to create 2 pieces filled with words that speak to ones heart and a drawings that touches ones soul.
        Sometimes its hard to think about what to write in a drawing but the way I started my drawing was with a heart in the center of the page and then a band going around it with petals and flowers on the outside. The key to this piece was going to be the phrase i was gonna write. In the book, the authors state, "Small letters are just over half as tall as capitals, Small letters sticks and tails extend above and below the guidelines by about the same amount" (Alastair, Tatchell 112). Knowing that smaller letters are smaller than the capital letters is an obvious, but it is still important to show which letters are smaller so they don't all seam big. The Phrase I chose was "Fill Life with Love", it fits into the theme with the heart and the roses but I can also use the tips from the book that fell me about the sticks extending above the guideline and the tails going below the guideline. I wrote in cursive so the only letter that went below the guideline was the smaller letter f.

   I decided to draw 2 drawings for this blog to show that there are many different styles of words that you can incorporate into a piece. The 2nd piece I drew was a little less serious and maybe a little more humorous. In this piece i drew a bee as a picture and then wrote the word happy with an exclamation mark under it. I wanted this piece bring life into someone's eyes so the type of lettering I used was comic lettering. According to the book, this type of lettering is supposed to look like one that has been handwritten, meaning that is could be a little shaky or even a little uneven. And they said we could even use our own handwriting as a starting base (Alastair, Tatchell 118). I used the tip of using my own handwriting as a base to start off my letters. I usually draw most of my letters with like a swoosh in the end such as with an h or a y. So for my lettering in the drawing i decided to go with that technique of mine and even though it didn't come out perfect, it related back to comic lettering since this type of lettering isn't supposed to be so precise and could be shaky or uneven here or there.
      All in all, I would say the letters of both of my pieces came out pretty good. Not at all perfect, but I drew them to the best of my ability and spent my time worthwhile.
     How do you think that my drawings and lettering came out?
     Do you think that adding words to drawings gives more meaning or emphasis?
     If you draw, have you ever added words or will you ever in the future?

Smith, Alastair, and Judy Tatchel. The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing. Usborne Pub., 2009.

3-D Geometric Origami Post #5

Nathan Cho
Geometric Origami #5

For my last post I decided to make a Three-Loop Cubohedron. Personally the piece seemed really easy until it came to assembly which was the most difficult and confusing part of the piece. The books says "When reading a step of the diagram you must pay careful attention to all of the information in the step" (Gurkewitz and Arnstein 10). The way the book usually shows directions that are pretty easy to follow but this piece got pretty confusing towards the end. A quick note all  make before going into how to  make it, the module pieces are fold the exact same way as my very first piece, the Puzzle Cube.

Step 1: You're going to want to start with six of the modules used to create the Puzzle Cube

 Step 2: Next, you're going to want to connect two modules by unfolding the center of the piece and put the point of another piece into the center of the open module and fold it closed. Connect four of them to create a circle and connect the remaining two together.

Step 3: For this step you're going to collapse all the triangles inbetween the diamond patterns on the circle and other piece.

Step 4: The assembly process of both parts isn't easy to describe but one tip i have is to make a a triangle with three of the diamonds like shown in the picture below.

Notes:

I definitely think the easiest part was creating the modules because of how i had already made it before. Without a doubt the hardest part of this creation is that the assembly. Not only is the assembly process awkward and difficult but the instruction are pretty vague and unclear.

Question:

So when the instructions to something aren't clear do you try to decipher the directions or do you go on your own trying to do it you way? 

Origami Rose

Since this is my final post, I wanted to try a particularly tricky origami. I picked the rose since it not only look complex, but it also required attaching multiple parts with difficult folds.

The piece started off with making six of the same piece. This starts off by folding the paper in half diagonally and then to fold it corner to corner to create a crease.

The next fold is to fold the triangle corners against the crease I just created. Since this is a fold that typically ends up messy for me, I turned to the beginning of the book to see if there was a trick that could help me. The books says "hold the corner in place with your left forefinger and make the crease with your right thumb" (Nakano 6). I'm glad to say that my fold turned out significantly cleaner than it was previously. 

The book then says to "overlap the two front flaps and glue them together" (Nakano 57). 

I repeated this five more times as stated by the book to not only have everything ready for the next step but to also let the glue dry for each piece. 

Once every piece was dried, I folded the overlapped corners forward as instructed by the book (Nakano 57).

I then glued the sides to each other as shown in the book. However, I ran into a problem with gluing as I used liquid glue as well as the fact that I did not wait for the glue to dry because I wanted to just glue it all at once. I also felt that I did not understand the diagram well as the folded corners got in the way when I tried to attach it all. I guess it was a little too complex for me.

The final product doesn't look the best. I'd like to be able to create a vase of origami flowers. So, is the any other way to fold the rose origami or just any other flower origami, that anyone knows of? 

3-D Geometric Origami Post #4

Nathan Cho
Geometric Origami #4

So a common theme or trend among my past folds was that they were very square or cube like. The module in this post is called the Modular Dimpled  Dodecahedron Ball, the differences of this piece is that the general shape of is triangular and it requires a connector to connect the modules. Since there are two different parts you can either fold all parts then go assembling or fold each part and add as you create more parts. The authors says "One might try to put modules together in groups of three and then put the groups together. I find this style more difficult than having a model 'grow' piece by piece" (Gurkewitz and Arnstein 12). Personally i just added piece by piece for this piece but i don't think it was a major factor into making it.

Step 1: To begin with you're going to want to start with a square piece of paper and fold it in half, corner to corner, and create a triangle. On the triangle fold and unfold on side so it touches the bottom of the triangle

 Step 2: Using the crease for a guide , fold a corner to the end of the crease line

 Step 3: So for this step you're going to fold and unfold the top part on the line. Then on the very lowest triangle fold it in half and unfold it.

 Step 4: You're going to next fold the top half over the bottom so that a tip is poking out and then fold and unfold the tip over to the main body. Then unfold the upper half

 

 Step 5: Separate the top piece fold the front piece into the pocket in the middle piece.

 Step 6: These modules use the pockets and points. The pocket is underneath the center piece where the arrow is pocket and the point is found on the top piece, the point is also highlighted in black. If connect six different modules you'll create a cone.

 Step 7: To create the connector take a square paper and fold the corners so it'll form a parallelogram. Then on the shorter sides fold the corners into the center again.

 Notes:

Overall, this piece was pretty easy even though it's kind of different from all my other modules. The fact that this one had connector didn't make it anymore difficult. I think that these modules were easier than the previous.

Question:

The question I want to ask you guys is when making a multi-part creation do you build all the pieces first before assembling or do you assemble each part as you create them 

The Art of Origami

The Art of Origami Part 5

For my very last post i made a Birdwing Butterfly. About a few post ago i made a moth. What is different about this is that the Birdwing Buttefly from the moth, is that this butterfly has more detail. The authors describe the birdwing as "incredibly beautiful, geometric markings " (Lafosse, Alexander 101).  When i made this butterfly i have to be honest, this butterfly was the most complex piece i have made out of all of my previous creations. As i created the butterfly the authors recommended "using a black and indecent green duo washi for this model" (Lafosse Alexander 102).I used a plain black and white sided paper since i didn't have washi paper and also i didn't want to mess up on one of the more fancy papers i had. What made this difficult is that the large amount of detail it contains.   Although the outcome was very worth the amount of difficulty i caused.

Which is your favorite origami piece that I've made?


LaFosse, Michael G., and Richard L. Alexander. Origami art: 15 exquisite folded paper designs from the Origamido Studio. Tokyo: Tuttle Pub., 2008. Print.

The Art Of Origami part 4

The Art of Origami part 4

For my 4th post i made a bird. In my previous post i would say that the origami i was trying to make was complex and difficult, although i did some research on the types of folds i would not understand. It took some time to understand the folds but it was worth it. As i read the book i notice that the authors also struggled at first, "Each had been frustrated by the simplicity of the traditional models" (Lafosse, Alexander). So this then made me realize that origami is frustrating to all but not impossible to create. 

When i made this bird i didn't use anything special like different paper. I decided to keep it plain in simple. The authors Lafosse and Alexander consider the bird a graceful creature considering they describe it as "the most elegant perched birds" (Alexander, Lafosse). This was very simple but creative due to the pleasant outcome. All in all i say this was one of the origami projects that has a smooth process.

If you were to make something out of paper what type or print or pattern would the paper have?

LaFosse, Michael G., and Richard L. Alexander. Origami art: 15 exquisite folded paper designs from the Origamido Studio. Tokyo: Tuttle Pub., 2008. Print.

The Art of Origami Part 3

The Art of Origami part 3

For my 3rd post i decided to make a Monk seal. This project was way more complex than the others which was as expected since i talked about it before, The authors got the idea of creating an origami Monk Seal when they first encountered the Seal in their trips to Hawaii. According to the book the authors say "we enjoyed seeing a pair of endangered Monk Seals at the Honolulu Aquarium" (Lafosse Alexander,67). So ever since they seen the seal they've decided to create an origami version.

When i created this seal i decided to use a different type of paper. Authors Michael LaFosse and Richard Alexander state that " many origami artists are usually happy to just find paper that handles the required folds well - "suitable", if not "perfect" paper. it may not be exactly what is desired, but it will do." (Lafosse Alexander 31). This got me wondering whether or not the type of origami paper would make a big difference. So when i made the Monk Seal i decided to use fabric paper to see how much of a difference it would make. As i made the craft it became difficult to create due to the lack of detailed instructions and photos. The paper of the other hand had a different texture and was thicker than the original origami paper and printer paper that i used in my previous creations. i eventually had to make some alterations to make it actually look like a seal but not so much that it looks completely different than the original photo. All in all this creation was successful but once again the instruction lacked detail as well as the photos.

What would you do if you could change the instructions in the book?

LaFosse, Michael G., and Richard L. Alexander. Origami art: 15 exquisite folded paper designs from the Origamido Studio. Tokyo: Tuttle Pub., 2008. Print.

Making a Lantern

Lantern

In my last post I mention that as I post more that I would try to do more advance origami. In the picture that you are going to see it will not look like more of an advance from the last origami that I tried but the folding's and the directions on the book seems more advance than shown on the origami itself.

In my book easy origami by John Montroll it mentions how the lantern is a very achievable origami to do but its also difficult do to the directions(Montroll 29). The lantern at the end was very manageable to make and also very calming. Sometimes doing origami is very stressful but be patient origami is suppose to be a relaxed activity and rushing through the directions will not help (29).

As time went on Origami has grown on me and its probably my new favorite thing to do during my spare time. Some people know origami as just folding papers and making it into some kind of shape but origami is very calming and keeps you busy if there's nothing else to do.



Creating a origami hat

Origami Hat

As my last post says I really enjoy doing art but didn't know what kind of art I'll be doing so I decided to try out origami. As my experience grown I will be trying to do more difficult origami then before and this time I decided to go with making a hat out of the origami paper. Also as this project continued I have found a new hobby in doing origami during my spare times.

In my book Easy Origami by John Montroll he mentioned that "Fold the creases very well will help the shapes"(1 Montroll). As I mentioned before creasing and folding the paper is very difficult for me and that's one of the main points of doing origami by folding papers and creating the design that you want.

John Montroll mentions that if the folds are not well folded than the shape you want will not have a successful origami. He also mentions tips for having a successful crease which is running your thumbnail along the creases.

What's your tips for having a successful crease on the paper?



3-D Geometric Origami Post #2

Nathan Cho
Geometric Origami #2

So the next thing I decided to make was the Small Rhombicuboctahedron designed by Rona Gurkewitz. This module is definitely more difficult than the previous one I built as the Rhombicuboctahedron required much more time and patience. The process of folding and arranging the module wasn't as cleanly done as the book instructs but the end result is alright. Again like last time i'm going to walk you guys through the steps of creating the module.

Step 1:
You're going to want to begin with a square piece of paper then fold and unfold each corner to the opposite corner. Then fold each corner into the center of the paper and unfold it. With the smaller triangles on the corners fold the tips into the base of the triangle and refold the whole triangle back to the center.

 Step 2:
You're going to want to turn the paper around and again fold the corners into the center of the square so there's a cross in the middle. Finally fold the tips of the square again but point the tips upward and you'll be done with the first module. You're going to need to create a total of 18 of these modules in order to create the Rhombicuboctahedron.

 Step 3:
Once you have all the modules you're going to want to connect them by folding down the tip of a point and insert it into a the pocket of another point and repeat until you're able to link eight of them in a circle.

 Step 4:
Link three more modules and attach it to the top of the circle by inserting a point on one end and insert a point on the opposite side of the circle

 Step 5:
Add two more modules to the remaining points of the top middle piece creating a kind of dome

 Step 6:
Recreate the dome on the bottom and you'll have  a Rhombicuboctahedron.

Notes:

So overall the entire process of creating this thing took over an hour for me as creating over 18 piece as some had to be scraped because they didn't fit or didn't turn out as i wanted. Arranging the Rhombicuboctahedron also took some time as some points wouldn't fit or stay in place so I kind of cheated and stapled some points together to keep the module together. Folding the pieces was pretty easy but arranging the pieces was definitely the hardest task and the book even says " The difficulty of assembly may be intermediate even though the difficulty of folding the individual modules is simple" (Gurkewitz and Arnstein 10).

Question:
So i definitely scrapped some pieces due to them being less then ideal but i also kept many which were close to being good but weren't. My question is, when folding origami or creating anything, do you guys keep going when you make a small mistake or do you redo it and do it perfectly?

Origami

Origami  

Welcome back! Today I will be doing my second post. After doing my simple ninja star I found a more complex ninja star in my book, if you want something more simple, go check out my first post! Today we will be doing an 8-sided ninja star! This is definitely a lot more complicated than the original ninja star but as the author puts it “origami is an art where you don’t use glue, tape or scissors, you don’t decorate it after it is complete, and all you have to have is a piece of paper to make something extraordinary”. So let’s get started and make something extraordinary!1   You will need to start off with different colored sticky notes (this will be much easier than normal paper)

2.     Take the Square Origami Paper and fold it twice diagonally and another two times to get the bisecting crease. 

3.     Fold inwards, two of the top corners, using the middle crease to help you  

4.     Overlap both the triangles and fold in the top crease in between the two folded triangles. 

5.      Fold all the other papers in the same way 

6.      Insert one paper unit in the other and lock it by folding the corners 

7.     Insert all the paper units like this and lock them in the same way by folding the top corners of the triangle.

8.     You will get a complete circle in alternating colors. 

9.     Holding the paper circle in one hand firmly, rotate the paper in push out the paper units. 

10.  in the end you will get a pinwheel like design in the center and star like sharp spikes forming an easy paper Ninja Star.

How difficult was this one? can you make a 16 sided one?

The Art of Origami Part 2

The book "Origami Art" has taught me a lot. Michael G. Lafosse and Richard L. Alexander have very descriptive information about the techniques that are provided when making origami. The authors say that " Origami art as a recent development is indeed a strange type of art." (Lasfosse, Alexander, 6). I understand where they are coming from when that say this since at first it may seem odd when you are able to create something from paper without glue or tape.

For my 2nd post I've created a Mudarri Luna Moth."The Luna Moth is an exquisite creature. The vibrant color and slender hind wings seem much too showy for an animal that is active only at night." When i created this moth i used floral print origami paper so then the moth wouldn't look so plain like the previous flower i created. Compared to the flower i made before this was slightly more complicated due to the precise folds that are provided, but it was fun to make. I was happy with the outcome because it turned out looking just like the photo.

What would you make out of paper?

LaFosse, Michael G., and Richard L. Alexander. Origami art: 15 exquisite folded paper designs from the Origamido Studio. Tokyo: Tuttle Pub., 2008. Print.

The Art of Origami

The Art of Origami 

When i was a bit younger i used to make origami. I made the easy and basic things i found off online like frog, crane, fish, etc. So the reason i have decided to base my blog on origami is because i not only want to learn to make new things but also learn things that are more in depth with the art of folding. I hope by the end of this i will have gained a stronger knowledge of origami.

In the book "Origami Art" by Michael G. Lafosse and Richard L. Alexander they discuss the history of origami, techniques,display, and also talk about a origami art gallery called the Origamido studio. As I read on i immediately learned a lot about origami some of the things i learned are the types of paper used, how to stretch paper, and also what made the authors interested in origami. The authors say "a fascination for transforming a single square piece of paper into something wonderful"(.Michael G. Lafosse and Richard L. Alexander, 5) This shows how someone can become hooked onto origami due to how interesting and fascinating the art of origami is.

So the book also includes various step by step tutorials on how to make a few pieces of origami. So I've decided to create something simple to start off with. I created what they call a modular flower. The book says that Modular flowers have been popular origami subjects at the Origamido Studio... We have chosen thee models to illustrate the world of compound origami projects and displays(Lafosse, Alexander, 106). I think that what they are trying to say is that art has a way of presenting something even if its just through a piece of paper.

So the book recommended using something called duo washi paper which is a unbleached or non dyed Japanese paper which made of the fibers of mitsumata, kozo, or gampi. So i didnt i have to i just used plain old origami paper i had.So the instructions were very detailed and were clear since there were also instructional photos.

So this is the final product which i think turned out pretty nice, im pleased with the outcome. The only concern i wish i knew what certain folds were since the instructions didnt visually show them.

So do you think that i should i try making something more elaborate with more techniques? Also do you have any recommendations/tips to origami?

LaFosse, Michael G., and Richard L. Alexander. Origami art: 15 exquisite folded paper designs from the Origamido Studio. Tokyo: Tuttle Pub., 2008. Print.

The Fun Of Making Origami Art by Azzahra N.

Origami is the art that not a lot of people know about. In the book Easy Origami by, John Montroll this teaches you different collection of traditional Japanese projects for beginners in the hope of sparking a life long interest in Origami (1). Doing Origami keep my mind busy and keeps me occupied. I've always been interested in doing some kind of art. Following directions hasn't always come easy for me but why not try again. This book provides a good foundation as you move on to more advanced folding (1). Origami is not just about folding and making shapes but you have to be precise on the folding and following direction

In Easy Origami by John Montroll it teaches me step by step on how to make things from dogs to Frogs. As the book goes on it gets harder and harder. I started out with the first item that John shows in the book for beginner. Origami is an art from Japan that not a lot people do on a daily basis

What I struggle the most when doing origami is making them look equal and folding them equally. As times goes on I could improve Origami with this Independent Reading Project Quarter 2.

What kind of Origami do you like to do?