Scott Robertson's name is often dropped by people who are interested in drawing and industrial design. His work is referenced by teachers and students. Whether it's auto, product, or entertainment design, his drawings almost always float to the top as "this is how to show a 3-dimensional form on paper" example material.
Most of us who are interested in drawing cool, new, objects have never met Scott or taken a class that he' s taught, so there's not much of a notion about how he does what he does, or how he thinks, other than reading a couple lines in a book or seeing his perspective lines and "draw-through" focus in one of his drawings.
So, it was especially interesting to read
this blog article today on
core77 about a presentation that Scott made recently at Autodesk University. He spoke on how he uses a camera and some free software to gather material for inspiration. Photographs of paper bags and vegetables, or any number of every day objects or places, become alien faces, landscapes, or vehicles. With a little bit of digital manipulation, they are unrecognizable as the source material and incredibly interesting new objects.
Above: A crumpled paper bag becomes an alien faceAs a designer, and as a human, It's not too hard to become influenced by the literal appearance of everyday objects and the impression they make in passing. Without even realizing it, this mental "muscle memory" is surely a drag on designing objects that are really different. Scott's presentation took that visual wallpaper and made it a source of concrete inspiration through abstraction. Make sure to read the whole post
here, and many thanks to
Carl Alviani for writing it.
Above: A cabbage becomes another alien face
