1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: DANA KANJIA TORNG
STUDENT ID NO: 0323648
WORD COUNT: 802
ENGLISH 1 (ELG 30505)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: PROCESS ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSIONDATE: 11th
MAY2015
2. Draft
A pencil, a piece of paper and a pair of hands. What usually comes into
your minds-eye when all these are put together? That’s right—A sketch of
course! A sketch is usually done simply to give a rough outline of a place, an
object, or a figure. How detailed and fast the final sketch is done all depends on
the individual artist. As an architecture student, I personally think that sketching is
a very important process. This is because the hands-on experience of using a
pencil and sketching something on a piece of paper really helps us to generate
ideas. Although architecture students would be using computers for most of their
work in their future, my first year of foundation would still require us to learn the
fundamental basics of doing architectural drawings. Therefore, as a form of
practice, for my first English assignment, we were told to describe and elaborate
our experience in producing an attractive sketch of a kitchen utensil.
Being a very indecisive person, choosing a specific kitchen utensil was a
torturing process for me. In the end, I finally decided on the can opener. While
the humble can opener might seem like an insignificant invention today, it was an
essential tool during the harsh World War times, where food supply were mostly
stored in tin cans. Before the practical can opener was invented, people actually
had difficulty getting at the food as the early cans were far too thick for any can
opener. Therefore, could you imagine that people in the olden days had to use
brute force with knives and hammers to open the cans? Fortunately, the familiar
can opener you and I use today is much more convenient and efficient. I chose
this material as it is my saviour in times whenever I need an afternoon snack
without ever going through the hustle of using the stove or even reliving moments
of “Dana’s Cooking Adventures of Terror”. In the present day, a simple meal of
baked beans, sardines, tuna spread or mushroom soup can be served when we
use a can opener to open the cans they are stored in.
Once I have settled on the kitchen utensil to sketch, I make a quick
observation of its physical appearance. The can opener I have chosen is made of
metal and has rubber-gripped handles so that our hands would not slip when
cutting. It has a hand crank which makes the cutting wheel rotate around the
perimeter of the lid while cutting it. Besides that, there is also a bottle opener for
easy cap removal from glass bottles. In order to begin sketching, I gathered the
necessary materials and drawing tools and cleared my workspace so I was free
of distractions. First of all, I placed my can opener at an appropriate angle on my
desk and determine how the light shines on the reflective surface. I started off by
using a H pencil which has a harder lead than B pencils to rough out the basic
form of the can opener, mainly two cylinders for the handles and a long cuboid
for the hand crank. I made light, thin straight strokes so that it would be easier for
me to erase them if I got the shapes wrong.
3. For the next stage, when I have achieved the right shape of the can
opener, I used a darker 2B pencil which was a softer pencil to define my strokes
more precisely. I also paid more attention to the finer details like the small gears
for rotating the cutting wheel of the can opener. I had to capture the definite
jagged shape of the can opener so it looks sharp enough to cut. After that,
shading the object was easy once you know how the light plays onto the surface
of them. For my case, it was pretty tricky as I had to bring out the smooth metallic
surface of the can opener. First, I started by drawing the contours of the
highlights, shadows and reflections I see. I then worked on shading the areas
starting from the brighter parts of the surface which were closer to the light
source and eventually focused on the darker ones. I made sure to shade evenly
in the same direction so that its smoothness is brought out and it gives more
depth to seem realistic and concrete. Lastly, I went back to blend some areas,
erased some smudges and refined my highlights with a sharpened lead.
All in all, I took around an hour to finish my sketch. This sketching process
was a fun and meaningful experience as I got to explore how different drawing
techniques can be applied to produce an attractive sketch. I think that anyone
can draw well as all it takes is proper techniques with practice, pursued interest
and patience. Besides that, I truly believe that drawing is an important
communication tool in architecture as our ideas and thoughts are better
conveyed in visual form. I love the sense of satisfaction it gives and I will
definitely practise more to develop my skills as an architecture student.
4. Process essay: Steps Involved in Producing an Attractive Sketch of a
Kitchen Utensil
A sketch is usually done simply to give a rough outline of a place, an
object, or a figure. How detailed and fast the final sketch is done all depends on
the individual artist. As an architecture student, I personally think that sketching is
a very important process. This is because the hands-on experience of using a
pencil and sketching something on a piece of paper really helps us to generate
ideas. Although architecture students would be using computers for most of their
work in their future, my first year of foundation would still require us to learn the
fundamental basics of doing architectural drawings. Therefore, as a form of
practice, for my first English assignment, we were told to describe and elaborate
our experience in producing an attractive sketch of a kitchen utensil.
Being a very indecisive person, choosing a specific kitchen utensil was a
torturing process for me. In the end, I finally decided on the can opener. While
the humble can opener might seem like an insignificant invention today, it was an
essential tool during the harsh World War times, where food supply were mostly
stored in tin cans. Before the practical can opener was invented, people actually
had difficulty getting at the food as the early cans were far too thick for any can
opener. Therefore, could you imagine that people in the olden days had to use
brute force with knives and hammers to open the cans? Fortunately, the familiar
can opener you and I use today is much more convenient and efficient. I chose
this material as it is my saviour in times whenever I need an afternoon snack
without ever going through the hustle of using the stove or even reliving moments
of “Dana’s Cooking Adventures of Terror”. In the present day, a simple meal of
baked beans, sardines, tuna spread or mushroom soup can be served when we
use a can opener to open the cans they are stored in.
Once I have settled on the kitchen utensil to sketch, I make a quick
observation of its physical appearance. The can opener I have chosen is made of
metal and has rubber-gripped handles so that our hands would not slip when
cutting. It has a hand crank which makes the cutting wheel rotate around the
perimeter of the lid while cutting it. Besides that, there is also a bottle opener for
easy cap removal from glass bottles. In order to begin sketching, I gathered the
necessary materials and drawing tools and cleared my workspace so I was free
of distractions. First of all, I placed my can opener at an appropriate angle on my
desk and determine how the light shines on the reflective surface. I started off by
using a H pencil which has a harder lead than B pencils to rough out the basic
form of the can opener, mainly two cylinders for the handles and a long cuboid
for the hand crank. I made light, thin straight strokes so that it would be easier for
me to erase them if I got the shapes wrong.
Next, when I have achieved the right shape of the can opener, I used a
darker 2B pencil which was a softer pencil to define my strokes more precisely. I
5. also paid more attention to the finer details like the small gears for rotating the
cutting wheel of the can opener. After that, shading the object was easy once you
know how the light plays onto the surface of them. For my case, it was pretty
tricky as I had to bring out the smooth metallic surface of the can opener. First, I
started by drawing the contours of the highlights, shadows and reflections I see. I
then worked on shading the areas starting from the brighter parts of the surface
which were closer to the light source and eventually focused on the darker ones.
I made sure to shade evenly in the same direction so that its smoothness is
brought out and it gives more depth to seem realistic and concrete. Lastly, I went
back to blend some areas, erased some smudges and refined my highlights with
a sharpened lead.
All in all, I took around an hour to finish my sketch. This sketching process
was a fun and meaningful experience as I got to explore how different drawing
techniques can be applied to produce an attractive sketch. I think that anyone
can draw well as all it takes is proper techniques with practice, pursued interest
and patience. Besides that, I truly believe that drawing is an important
communication tool in architecture as our ideas and thoughts are better
conveyed in visual form. I love the sense of satisfaction it gives and I will
definitely practise more to develop my skills as an architecture student.
