art deco mill
----- the assignment -----
for this assignment we are working on a number of designs for different things. by the end of this assignment we have to create a vehicle, a building, 3 props and an environment. for each design we get four weeks. two weeks long we work on it in 2D and two weeks in 3D. for the vehicle and the environment we work in 3D for the first two weeks, then we paint over it in 2D over the last two weeks. for the building and the 3 props we will first design in 2D and then make these designs in 3D in the last two weeks.
the first four weeks we work on the vehicle and the building, the second four weeks we work on the props and the environment.
at the beginning of this assignment we were given a list of the things we need to work on. this list stated what style we were going to work in and what kind of vehicle, building, props and environment we needed to design. the style in which I am going to make these designs is art deco, which I think is a very nice style, so I am very happy with this. my vehicle must become a transport vehicle on land, my building a mill (water or wind, that's my own choice), my props are chairs and my environment is a desert (this does not have to be in the indicated style, and the other designs also don't necessarily have to fit in this environment).
----- the beginning -----
to start on this assignment I first looked at the style in which I am expected to work. for this I made a mood board and studied the style of what makes art deco, art deco.
after studying the style I started looking at water and windmills. I didn't only look at art deco styled mills, but also other styles, as I can also get inspiration from these. for this study I again made a mood board and looked at which things I like best about these mills.
when I finally knew what my style entailed and what makes a water or windmill, a water or windmill, I started on drawing my sketches. I had made two sketches of a windmill and was sure that I wanted to include the blades in my final design. but I also found the idea of a waterwheel very interesting, so I made two more designs that included a waterwheel and blades combined. I found the design of the middle most interesting but I also really liked the bottom of the right mill, so I combined the two to create my final base design.
I also tried a few designs for the blades to see what kind of blades I want to use for my design, but I soon realized that I like the left version the best and decided to use that one.
now that I knew what I wanted to make, I worked out the design for all the small details and the different views that I will eventually need use when I start working on the 3D model. during class our teacher had told us that it is smart to first divide the silhouette of your design into large, medium and small parts to be able to see how everything works together. while doing this I saw that my mill would look better if I moved my blades higher and moved my water wheel further away from the base. I changed this on my drawing right away.
in my top view I added a second version where you can see the building below the second plateau, as this also has several layers, but you cannot actually see this from above (due to the plateau).
the last image is for scale refference.
----- epilouge 2D part -----
I really enjoyed this assignment. it was very interesting to study a style so well and eventually use it to design a building. I also really enjoyed working on a wind- and watermill. mills have always been rather fascinating to me due to how many different types of mills there are. I am very happy with the end result and I am really looking forward to making this design in 3D in the coming weeks.
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----- 3D part of the assignment -----
the last few weeks I have been working on making my design a reality in 3D.
----- the process -----
I had an absolute blast modelling this mill. I did run into a few things that caused me a bit of a struggle, like the round fences at the bottom and the gears underneath the platform, but when I finally figured out how to make them I was really happy with what they looked like.
for this project I worked in Blender.
here are some progress pictures.
----- the final result -----
and then of course some renders of the final product!
I did try my best to get out as much as the noise as possible, but I couldn't seem to be able to get it any clearer (I really tried!)
----- epilogue 3D part -----
I am really happy with the end result! when I had originally designed this mill I was a little worried about how I was going to translate it into 3D, but once I was modelling it all just worked. I honestly never have been this excited about 3D modelling and I am planning on improving this model in my free time as well, just to make it even better and hopefully figure out how to give it a little animation as well.
