Assignment 4

A Twist of Color With this assignment came the challenge of 3D construction. Students were asked to pick a polyhedron of their choice that would be used to showcase two gradation scales between two pairs of complementary colors.
   We started out by using the color aid

to find complementary colors (which are colors located directly across each other on the color wheel) and then mixing paint to match the colors. Bristol paper served as the background for our painted gradation scales. Then came the 3D construction...
   After rendering our figure on Bristol paper and then coming up with a design, we tested how well we could contract our figure. Most of the class went on to make their figure out of illustration board, however because my polyhedron twisted in on itself, I chose to make mine out of Bristol paper. (However, looking back the illustration board would have looked more professional, even though it would have been more of a challenge to construct.) I painted my gradation lines across my polyhedron opting to paint the ends of the polyhedron black to put more emphasis on the color. While the design and color came together nicely, the polyhedron itself continue to create havoc. The scoring went well, but there was no easy way to hold the figure in place in order to glue it. (I spray-mounted addition pieces of Bristol paper to the backing of my painted shape to give it more stability, but that didn't give the help I was looking for in regards to glueing the shape together as a whole.) Eventually, with some binder clips and Sobo glue, my twister triangular prism finally came together (minus the twisted part because that proved too tricky for a student working past midnight on a Sunday....)
   While this project gave insight into 3D construction, I didn't need this assignment to tell me that 3D design is going to be difficult. I do wish I could have constructed mine better or somehow figured out a way to utilize the illustration board. This project should have been mainly about mixing neutrals and creating gradation scales...but proved more stressful in terms of the 3D construction. In regards to the color, it was interesting to see how the 50/50 formula did not always provide you with an exact neutral since the various pigments affected each hue differently. All in all, this project was time consuming and stressful, but I did enjoy my color scales and dabbling in the neutral tones that I previously did not have any experience with.