Captain America Pumpkin

Every year I try to tie my pumpkin carving in with my Halloween costume and I always try to go off pattern and challenge myself by sketching a custom pattern directly on the pumpkin.   Last year was Green Lantern but this year I'm going as Captain America (I've been rebuilding the Avengers costume from screen shots, pics and possibly patterns to come!) and my girlfriend is dressing up as a USO girl.

Check Out My Tumblr!!

I just started up a Tumblr site to house some of the more day to day work of mine that is not featured here.

Check it out:

http://jetpackproject.tumblr.com/

scrabble blanket

As a follow up to last month's scrabble pillows, this month i created a blanket in the shape of a Words with Friends tile.  Personally I think the WWF tiles are more interesting form and color wise.  A "3" replaces the traditional "1" point value of the letter "A".  Blanket dimensions are 58" by 58"... and it is very soft.

More pictures after the jump.

sketch from the plane - emerald light alchemist

A few days ago I flew out to L.A. On the flight I started working on a superhero mash up I'd been playing around with in my head for a few days, The Emerald Light Alchemist.  The sketch was done using Sketchbook Pro on the iPad

The character is a combination of the Full Metal Alchemist and the Green Lantern.  For the uninitiated, the Full Metal Alchemist is an anime character who has the ability to transmute objects into other objects using alchemy spells.  In the show the main character, Edward Elrich, is in search of the Philosopher's Stone, an infinite power source for alchemic reactions, after he loses his left arm trying to bring his mom back from the dead.  In my world, Ed stumbles upon a Green Lantern power ring and, being a notable alchemist, begins experimenting with using the energy provided by the green light of will power to not only create light constructs but to actually transmute objects; in this case, his own metal arm.  This earned him the name The Emerald Light Alchemist.

Pencil sketch after the jump.

my action figure - part 2

I've been working on this action figure in my spare time for a few months now.  Based on the original concept sketches I started sculpting the figure out of Sculpy III.  I got the base form as far as I could and then boiled it.  I  made a resin cast of the hardened Sculpy buck.   In my opinion the resin figure is more forgiving than the Sculpy.  From here I can sand the figure down and use Bondo to get the finish to the point where I can make a final mold.

More photos after the jump.

scrabble tile pillows

I created these pillows as a 2 month anniversary gift for my girlfriend.  It was fairly simple project, I grabber some screen shots from Words with Friends and blew them up in Illustrator to create the patterns.  The whole project took about 10 hours to complete.

green lantern bubble bath

For an Alias class I was tasked with designing a bottle...any bottle as an exercise in rendering semi-transparent liquids. As a potential movie tie in I decided to create a Green Lantern Bubble Bath.  I thought it I designed the bottle to look like the lantern I could create a great and cheap way for kids to have a lantern toy of their very own.  I chose to base the lantern shape off of the more traditional (and in my opinion iconic) train lantern form from the comics rather than the more spacey / organic lantern from the movie.   I also chose to flatten the lantern shape, allowing it to sit on the shelf more easily.  I love the deep emerald color of the liquid.

3D Mouse

This project was done in Alias and is a design for a 3D mouse.  A 3D mouse is operated by the left hand as is great for use with modeling programs such as Alias or Solidworks as the puck allows you to zoom, pan, and rotate all at the same time.  It is also great for programs like Photoshop were the puck can be used to change the brush size.  I used an existing puck model and built the mouse around it.   Since this tool is operated by the left hand I designed it with an L shape which would allow it to wrap around your keyboard.  The buttons are positioned just beyond the puck allowing you to rest your hand on the platform without engaging the puck or the buttons.  Based on my experience using a Wacom tablet to draw on the computer, the one command that I use more that any other is "Ctrl+Z".  As such the UNDO command is located near the thumb allowing it to be quickly pressed without removing your hand from the puck.

prada shoe model

A few weeks ago I was asked by a local footware company to model an existing Prada shoe in Solidworks.  The cut outs that cover the main body of the shoe made this especially challenging.  I added a fold line and some stitching along the back edge so that even though the shoe would be injection molded it would not look overly industrial.

masters project - round 3 concept sketches

This week my focus was on combining different aspects of my concepts from rounds 1 and 2.  Additionally I wanted to try to focus the concepts on parkour training equipment that can be stored in a relatively compact manner yet provides a large footprint once assembled for stability's sake.

Additional concepts after the jump.

masters project - round 2 concept sketches

Over the past 6 months I have been doing research on parkour.  This has taken place in many different forms.  I started with a literature review.  I ran an online survey and have conducted a series of interviews with new and experienced traceurs.  This round of concepts focuses addresses some of the comments during the interviews and some of the ideas that we generated in a brainstorming session I held with some classmates.

Additional sketches after the jump.  Feedback is welcome, let me know what you like and what you don't.  Feel free to email me or post your thoughts in the comments section.

masters project - round 1 concept sketches

Surprisingly, I have never talked about my master's research project on the blog.  Formally, the title of my project is "the design and development of dedicated parkour training apparatuses for use within a controlled gym environment".  For anyone unfamiliar with parkour, here is a little primer.  Parkour is the efficient movement from point A to point B.  Its a young sport that is gaining popularity quickly but does not yet have a strong infrastructure to support it.  As a result, potential new parkourists (traceurs) try parkour without alot of guidance, are attempting skill beyond their ability, and often get hurt.  Parkour training in the urban environment can be dangerous for experienced traceurs too (concrete isn't very forgiving).

Right now traceurs will often use existing gymnastics facilities to train and small parkour gyms are starting to pop up.  My idea is to design dedicated parkour equipment that can be used in and make use of the safety features in  gymnastics and other gym environments.  The ultimate goal is to start people thinking about the training needs of traceurs and hopefully jumpstart the growth of the parkour infrastructure.

My first round of concepts are after the jump.  If any traceurs stumble upon the blog I'd love to get your feedback, either by email or in the comments section.

my action figure - part 1

Not to long after I started grad school I attended a portfolio workshop.  One of the topics they we discussed was the idea of a leave behind; a small 'something' that you literally leave behind whenever you go to an interview like a mini portfolio.  It can really be anything but regardless it should be unique.  I started thinking about what I could do and I decided that the coolest thing I could possibly create was an action figure of myself.  That would be so amazing!

I kept the idea on the back burner of my mind for a while and have finally decided to go through with it.

sling'n green

Way before Halloween I a started reading the Green Lantern Rebirth comics.  I have always liked the Green Lantern but reading this book gave me a much greater appreciation for the character.  I think what draws me most to the Green Lantern character is the idea that the green light is concentrated willpower and that what you are able to create is a direct reflection of your willpower to create it.

Like I'm sure many GL fans, after becoming intrigued by the character I wanted a power ring.  Unlike most other GL fans I started to think about the GL ring in terms of industrial design.  After looking at many of the rings that are out there, I was amazed at how large and obtrusive they are.  I wasn't going to walk around with it and I figured that if Hal Jordan was wearing that huge green ring around all day it would take about 3 min. before his secret identity was not very secret.  So, with that idea in mind I started to design my own, more subtle GL power ring.   I sketched it out, carved it in wax, and molded it.

Currently I have the green ring which I wore with my Halloween costume and a bronze version that I can wear like any normal ring.  I'm about to make a second (cleaner) mold.

Pics of the bronze ring, the mold and concept sketches after the jump.

beware my power, green lantern's light

After being forced to abandon the Space Ranger costume due to time constraints I had about 2 weeks to figure out a new costume.  I took Kyle Rayner's Green Lantern suit as a source of inspiration and made some modifications to it.  The biggest change was that I wanted to make a jacket and pants rather than a skin tight body suit.  I created a suit with motorcycle jacket look to it.  It zips up the center and then the front flap Velcros into place.  I also made a pair of pants to match the jacket fabric.  I really like the way the raised stripes look on the pants.

Additional photos after the jump.

despicable me - minion plush

My little sister is a big fan of the movie Despicable Me, specifically of the little Minions.  The other day we were talking and she said that she was looking for a toy version of the Minions but was surprised that she could not find any.  I was also surprised, the things are pretty cute looking and based on the DVD advertising they are clearly the big selling point of the film; it seemed like it would be an obvious move to make toys of the the little things.  It turns out that they do make a few plush minions, but they are pretty crude claw game type of things (a few pieces of fabric with screen printed eyes, etc.).

I decided that I could to it better.  The resulting polar fleece minion (about 20" tall)  is shown above with more info and pics after the jump.

no evil will escape my sight...

About two weeks before Halloween my little brother was still without a costume.  By this point, I had finally admitted that there was no way that I was going to be able to finish my Space Ranger costume and had decided to make myself a Green Lantern costume instead (more on that to come).  I figured, Green Lantern Corps. sweet.  One of the many cool aspects of the Green Lanterns is that their suits are light constructs and since everyone creates constructs differently based on their personality it makes sense that everyones uniform would be different.  So on that note I asked my little brother to sketch out what he wanted his jacket to look like.

More after the jump.

ridgid office - pencil sharpener

After some concept sketching and study modeling I created a physical model of the pencil sharpener from my set of RIDGID branded office products.  One of the primary features that I decided was really important for this brand and the target user was for the pencil sharpener to sharpen rectangular carpenters pencils rather than standard pencils.   I finished the pencil sharpener model around Christmas a few years ago and I took it over to Home Depot to take a few pictures next to other RIDGID products.  The pencil sharpener must have looked right at home because an employee made sure I wasn't stealing anything as I left the store.

Additional pictures after the jump.

ridgid office concept sketches

Here are some of the sketches I did last year when I was designing a series of office products (stapler, hole punch, and pencil sharpener) based on the RIDGID brand language.  I tend to alternate between sketching in orthographic and perspective.  I also tend selectively marker render, I think it is a nice way to add visual interest to the page.

a fully customizable shoe

Advanced Parametric Modeling is essentially equation based modeling.  Rather than just building a model in Solidworks as you go, parametric modeling takes a bit more pre-planning.  You begin with a series of key sketches/dimensions (which you drive) and related all subsequent dimensions/sketches/features back to your driving dimensions.  The big advantage of modeling parametrically is that you can very easily modify one of your driving dimensions at the beginning of the feature tree and the rest of the model will automatically update itself.

I wanted to show the possibilities of parametric modeling by designing a lightweight single piece parkour shoe (one with a split big toe) that automatically adjusts it shape to perfectly fit any wearer by entering a series of foot measurements into a data table including; foot length, ball width, heel width, toe length, instep width, toe spread, heel height, ball height, and toe height.  Theoretically,a company could produce custom shoes by 3D printing a hard mold, and then filling the mold with a flexible shoe material.  Right now this would be pretty expensive, but who knows what the future holds for mass customization.

 A 3-D printed model the shoe which fits my foot is pictured above.    More pictures are after the jump.

mp3 fedora

Following the success of the Keypad Tie, the question was raised "what about the girls?". So we designed and developed the MP3 fedora; a hat that allows you to control basic MP3 player functions via Bluetooth.  Pressing the brim allows the user to play, pause and scroll through tracks.  Swiping across the brim allows the user to raise and lower the volume.  When designing the MP3 fedora, the challenge was to make use of the same 3 design guidelines introduced with the Keypad tie.

More info and photos after the jump.

Keypad Tie Update

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HGX5V9pnEM

I finally got a chance to take some nicer photos of the Keypad Tie.  Another shot after the jump.

avatar inspired dress

For our last assignment for our fashion design class we were given one week and a movie and had to design and build a dress inspired by the movie  I was given the recent James Cameron film Avatar.  Being an industrial designer and not a fashion designer,  I wanted to stay away from the over the top types of dresses that you often see.  I wanted to create a dress that someone could and would actually wear.

My primary inspiration came form the blues and greens in the war paint the Navi use.  The green stripe was achieved by masking off and spray painting the back side of the fabric.  I was also inspired by the braided headdresses that the Navi wear and integrated it into the strap design.  Drawing from some of my ID experience I molded styrene to form the straps and braided leather over them. The result is a suspended dress   with some unique cut outs.  Because I molded the styrene the dress will hold its shape around the body but is still flexible enough to wear.

More pictures after the jump.

that's despicable

A female friend of mine was trying to decide on a Halloween costume and thought about being a minion from the movie Despicable Me.  She quickly dismissed the idea because she thought there wouldn't be a way to move around in a huge costume like that, not to mention the fact that it wouldn't look "cute".   Although she decided on a different costume, the question was now in my head; "How do you make a cute female minion costume?".   The sketch of what I came up with is above, colored version to come.

It breaks down like this: yellow long sleeve shirt, short overalls, black leather boots, "science lab" rubber gloves, and a yellow baseball cap with a minion eye and goggles on top.

To Infinity and Beyond...

I've always been a Buzz Lightyear fan, he's the embodiment of a clean cut hero.  After playing with the idea for a while I started to re-imagine what a Space Ranger would be like in real life.  The main difference between my suit and the Buzz Lightyear suit is that mine is designed for sub-atmospheric engagement where as the original seems to be modeled after a space suit.  Overall I attempted to keep many of the features which make Buzz iconic and recognizable; the arm laser, the big chest buttons, wing pack, and the color scheme.

The concept sketch above was intended to be my Halloween costume last year.  Sadly it was too large of a project based on my schedule.  I'm hoping to have it built before next Halloween.  Colored sketches to come

More sketches and commentary on the design after the jump.