I reflected on my sketching skills and found that I was able to create designs in one point of view. Due to this I created my design sheet by drawing my designs in the side view. I sketched futuristic motorcycles with an electric motor in mind. This made it easier for me draw as it would need to focus on making sure the mechanical part of what would be an engine would be included like exhaust pipes and engine headers. Instead I focused on the look of the bike itself. After I drew the basic lines of my design, I picked four motorcycles I liked the most and added shading to bring the designs to life.
My inspiration for one bike design came from a movie called Batman the dark knight rising. The reason I liked this motorcycle design is because it was futuristic and unique as the wheels of the bike spun horizontally.
In this week I also began the experimental phase of the project. I started by creating a motorcycle from Styrofoam. The reason I wanted to use this material is because it can easily be cut and shaped using a hot wire. To begin with I drew out the wheels of the motorcycle and continued drawing the rest of the basic motorcycle body shape. I then went to the hot wire and switched it on. After it heated up slowly cut around the lines I had made. I realised I cut too much material off, so I used scraps of Styrofoam and glued it to the motorcycle with hot glue. And shaped it with the hot wire. After this was done, I felt that the model was missing curved and body lines.
This gave me the opportunity to experiment with clay. I pushed clay on to the Styrofoam and it surprisingly stuck to the material well. I then continued to add clay to the motorcycle while using my thumbs and fingers to shape the clay with some basic curves. This would make it easier for me to go back with clay tools to carve out shapes as there would be less clay to take out. I then coved the model with a plastic back and let it dry out for a few days.
When I came back to the model the clay was firm enough to use tools on it. I used a looped tool to shave the clay down and to carve out pieces of clay. I did this because it would allow me to add details to the model. By the end of the week I had a complete motorcycle model. When carving some areas of clay that were thin, it would start to see the Styrofoam, but it was easily fixed because the clay was still wet enough to be smoothed over it would be covered.
Manifesto Project 