Okay I Am Back. With More Passion.

Yes, I'm trying to blog again after not touching this space for a very long time (Alas! Didn't even welcome 2014 with a post). So logically and unfortunately, I have a huge backlog on my design ideas but I will try my best to catch up and put them here. Aside from that, I'm back to share also more of my passion for illustrating.

Design Idea: Pinnacle.

The last post I had under my Design Ideas was my first attempt to design a chair in Google SketchUp. I called it the Pinnacle Chair. I promised to redo it in CAD since I still don't have rendering tool for my SketchUp. I wasn't able to do it right away though as I was pretty occupied with work in the past couple of weeks that I had to let it all pass before I can bring myself completely into this.

So here's the Pinnacle, reinterpreted in AutoCAD.

Reading The Lark Studio Series Furniture Books.

I was lucky to get the last copies of these - the Lark Studio Series' Chair and Tables. I bought them last Christmas vacation from Fully Booked in Gateway Mall at Cubao, Quezon City.

I stumbled upon these pocket size books on a visit to that bookstore months before but I didn't have the money then. They were a perfect Christmas gift to myself since I did not have much to do when I spent the holidays in the province.

A Different Flavor.

It was high time for me to try SketchUp! Loooooong overdue activity to be honest.

Sometime last month, I suddenly recalled that my SketchUp 8 installer had been buried long enough in my hard drive. I got it last year from my friend, Allie, who taught me how to go about the different tools of the software. So I pulled it up and installed it on my computer and earlier this month, I began to experiment with it. Basically, I tested the nature of SketchUp - the correspondence of its tools to AutoCAD. I discovered that not all the functions I know in AutoCAD are present in SketchUp. They have to be downloaded and copied to the plugins folder. Even the render tool has to be downloaded that's why I just screen grabbed the one below. This is my first design attempt and I call it the Pinnacle Chair. I shall redo this in AutoCAD and tell the story behind the design on my next post.

To sum up the experience, I was trying to do something outside my comfort zone (AutoCAD) which I have been in for more than a year now. Nagpapaka-versatile! (Trying to become versatile!) So it's now possible that the upcoming design posts would be done either on SketchUp or AutoCAD.

Design Idea: Prisms. Of Shapes and Weave.

I had a week-long break last month to spend some summer time in the province. Lengthy vacations are great stress relievers but at the same time, they easily break your mind and spirit when you're about to get back to work.

So a few days before it ended, I looked around the house and took some photos of things that I think would help me in designing my next furniture concept. When I saw our old chairs with solihiya weaved seats, I knew how my next design would look like.

Art In The Park. We Contemplated.

We have proven that art has the power to wake our lazy butts.

No, I'm not a Noranian but I like this. Veteran actress, "Superstar" Nora Aunor.

Design Idea: Inverse. Putting Some Sunshine.

Rendering with sunlight is something that I've been meaning to do for a long time. So I'm more than happy to share to you that I have finally accomplished this goal!

Presenting the Inverse Table X Sunlight project! :)

A Day In My Imagination.

For the first time, I'm giving this little corner of mine a much needed upgrade:

 A BLOG HEADER!

It took me three weeks to finish this doodle project. I got the inspiration from this illustration book called "Illustration School Let's Draw Happy People" by Sachiko Umoto.

From blogs.babble.com.

Saying Hello To 2013.

After nearly two weeks of spending the Christmas vacation (plus the New Year's celebration) almost away from the computer, I'm back to say...

In case you didn't get what the zero is, it's a rolled mattress.

Design Idea: The Stack.

Back in October, a friend from the office, who happens to own a furniture customization business, approached me and asked for a bed design idea suitable for a condominium unit. I can't remember if it was a studio or a one bedroom unit. Anyway, assuming that it was a small space, I picked the sofa bed and started sketching my version of it.

Here's the Stack.

Holiday Photowalking.

October 28 to November 4. It was a long break from work.

AND IT WAS VERY NICE!

I visited my hometown, the city of Naga in the province of Camarines Sur, to spend the Halloween holidays. On November 1 and 2, my family and I paid a visit to my mother's hometown, Bulan, Sorsogon. They say Sorsogon is the Switzerland of the Orient. It's got many mountain ranges that I would always look forward to seeing them whenever I get the chance to go to Bulan. In those two days, I did some pleasant photowalking.

Design Idea: Intersect 22. An Outdoor Attempt.

Apparently, this is not the "interesting chair" that I declared on my last post a month ago. I still have some reservations on how to execute its design but nevertheless I shelved that concept for future work.

For the meantime, this is the first time that I moved away from the indoor theme that has been present in my previous designs. You might expect a sunlight on the output. Alas, I still haven't tested my skill on the natural lighting department (but it's still on my AutoCAD priorities list). So before I dive into the natural lighting worry pool, here's my outdoor chair concept that incorporates lines and some curve, the Intersect 22.

Why the name Intersect 22?

Design Idea: Jigsaw. Seven-In-One.

While I was already on the process of designing my next chair (a round ottoman), I encountered an illustration from the AutoCAD book that I'm reading (this book came from the AutoCAD weekend class I  attended earlier this year) and it depicted a shape similar to a jigsaw puzzle. I was quick to hold off the round ottoman and jumped into doing this one. I was really engrossed by the shape that was made possible by a specific AutoCAD command.

The Jigsaw ottoman.

Origami-fied.

You might accuse me of being very domesticated for doing this activity but I just had to look for ways to fight boredom, a thing that loves to visit me on weekends. The whole month of August had me fixated on shaping origami furniture.

A Southern Bolt from the Blue.

When August came, my zest for the upcoming Davao trip was wobbly. I had no idea what to put on the itinerary. Certainly, the "Davao = Durians" thinking did not help. And I was still reeling a bit from the expenses in Boracay back in June. But the biggest thing that almost ruined my gusto? The torrential monsoon rains that pounded the metro!

I was just left asking in the dark, "Will I ever get to say 'Hello Davao!'?"

Unearthed What Might Have Been My Thesis Poster.

It wasn't a trip down the memory lane, but a few days ago, I suddenly remembered my design for what could have been the final version of my thesis poster. I rushed and took out my external hard drive to find out if I still have a copy. Lucky that I still have it! 

Did I already have an obsession for solids and lines back then?

Lines, cubes, colors. I made this in Photoshop. *I'm not sure why this one has those gray layers.*

Design Idea: Elliptical. Its Unlikely Inspiration.

I love lines! I do. Whether they're intersecting or parallel to one another. Be they diagonal or perpendicular. You name them, I love them. They're generally evident in my previous designs. But this time, I was up to the challenge (as well as part of improving my furniture drafting and designing craft) of putting some curves.

This is The Elliptical. The inspiration behind it? Prepare to say 'very unlikely'!

My Eiga Sai Experience.

Determination. 

That's what I learned from the Eiga Sai Film Festival 2012. Well, 60 percent of it came from the fact that watching the films was free. The rest? The Shangri-La Mall mainly hosted this event (annually!) and that mall is a five-minute ride from where I'm staying; I'm not a die-hard fan but I can say that I like almost anything about the Japanese culture (I'm an anime fan by the way); Eiga Sai is something different from the things that take up my current normal day so I wanted to try.

Promotional poster from Lagarista.com.  Photo caption doesn't allow you to type links. :|

Design Idea: Amusement. Lift and...Surpise!

After designing those chairs that you probably came across with on this humble blog of mine, I began to move on doing tables. In contrast to the first chair I did, which was more of applying what I learned from the AutoCAD course or what I called 'testing the waters', I tried to tinker my creativity in doing this table by tapping in some transformation.  The result? A dual purpose table, changing from a coffee table to a playful-looking study table - I did not have any particular name to this design.

If this was real, how would one do the transformation?

Design Idea: Book Boxes.

Modernity dictates that the bookshelf no longer has to be traditional. Just like the bookshelves you can see on this inspiring post by Freshome. I'm pretty sure you reacted the same way I did after seeing those beautiful and lovely designs. And talk about inspiration, I did my version of the bookshelf by incorporating it with a bench.