Apowers' Design School Journey

Struggling a bit with finding inspiration and applying it… Getting a bit impatient on construction as well… Hoping to snap out of it soon.

Will have a scanner again on monday!

Sketching some different stuff…

Went to the Dwayne Edwards presentation in SF and was pretty blown away with his past. I feel like he’s one of those people that has so much history that if you gave him a week to talk about everything he still might not be able to finish. I really liked how philosophical he was, and managed to convince him to look at one page in my sketchbook… He said “not bad” but the proportions were off and to draw feet… 2 for 2 on the draw feet suggestion. Guess I’ll have to study those some more.

I’m also going to enter in the Lead by Pensole competition. I’m going to design a shoe for Table Tennis players. This should get interesting :smiley:

Also, Dwayne says “whatsup”, Michael.

Last couple of pages are starting to look nice!

Thank you!

Big improvements with each post Aaron. I think it is time to start really pushing color in a functional way (use color to draw attention to key design details) and to push beyond the expected, ie you can draw a mouse, now time to idea the around a new mouse design.

Inspirational stuff AP, love the line weights on the last pages.

Thanks guys, I’m always excited to post on here and get some input and inspiration!

Here’s what I’ve been working on the past 6 days:

It looks like the Lead by Pensole competition going on right now is only for Massachusetts students, I’m getting that clarified right now, but I can’t go to the 3-week program even if I get in because I have Summer classes. Regardless, I want to use this as a separate portfolio project and just have something to show when it comes to design process.

This batch is looking really good Aaron. Lot of interesting details and panel break ups. Nice use of color as well.

Thanks Michael,

I’ve been getting a lot of flack lately for the number of side views I’ve been doing, but it seems like that’s what the focus is on when I look at footwear designers’ work. Any way you could give me some insight into the thought process behind profile views and the normal creative process behind designing footwear? I think I might have jumped into the fashion side of footwear too quickly rather than the industrial design and innovation part. What do you think?

As always, thanks a ton.

I submit my entry earlier today for the Pensole competition… Definitely learned a lot since this is the first time I’ve ever had to think about designing something. It sucks that I just never seemed to find a design that I really fell in love with, I ended up going to the very end of my time deadline and had to pick something.

Heres some stylized shoes:
http://i.imgur.com/Z7Nkvpx.jpg?1[img]http://i.imgur.com/eiYVpji.jpg?1[/img]

And here is my Table tennis shoe evolution… The shoe is designed to prevent injuries related to the toes jamming into the toe box such as black toe, bone spurs, and toe sprains. By creating an open toed design I also improved breathability and the weight of the shoe. There is a neoprene sleeve that fits snug over the foot and is connected to a heel locking mechanism that unlatches much like a snowboard binding. By unclasping the heel mechanism the player can adjust how the neoprene sleeve fits over his foot. There is also a webbing over the forefoot to hold the shoes shape. The rounded gum rubber sole is designed to allow smooth transitions between footwork and grip the flooring fluidly.

Evolution:




The last 3 are the final design…

Making the transition into transportation just getting used to cars… Chronological order:

A lot of quick sketches to try and quickly communicate.

Been getting my butt kicked lately by the cars I’m trying to sketch…

That rear view spoiler sketch is cool!

You are getting much looser though, and you are describing form well. Now just get those proportions under control! Your wheel sizes are too small and placement too close. All of the practice is paying off. Look how good that watch sketch is.

Thanks guys, I’ve been really overcritical of my work lately for some reason. I’m stressed out about my first studio class and I still have another month before it begins!

Definitely going to try and nail down these proportions ASAP, the trend right now is that I’m making both the front and rear overhang too short, and I think that’s just me being unfamiliar with placing the center line.

Got a basic car demo on Tuesday, should be making some big progress in the next 3 weeks

*Forgot camera cable in Sacramento, so cellphone shot sorry!

Small scanner so sorry for the poor cropping on some…

Good news is Tom Matano (Director) says I’m ready for Transportation Design 1 based on looking at my previous work, bad news is I’m still so dang slow at sketching cars. I’m not sure what happy medium to stop at as far as time per sketch to get the most out of every sketch.

Some of tonight’s stuff

That is getting somewhere! Work on those wheel designs. They lack center hubs and lugnuts.