Research for Powerpoint: Studio Ghibli

These scans on Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli are extracts from Empire magazine. As well as the more fantasy-based feel to his works, there are some with influences of Steampunk in them such as Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Howls' Moving Castle, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky all have steam-powered or hi-tech gadgets included.


 Click on the pictures to full-view image.

Basic Appearance

The basic outlook of the model during progress. At this stage, I have finished most of the painting, including sanding down and painting the parts into a specific colour (bronze for the saw disks and silver for the tubes).

The next task from here is to start equipping the widgets onto it.

Components

Close-up images of some of the widgets I will be adding on to my control panel.

Project Brief

The following are scans of the brief, highlighting the few important key points essential for our understanding of the project.

Photographs from the V&A Museum

For my primary research, I have assembled a collection of photographs I took during my trip to the V&A art museum.

The following is a link to the album:
http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee110/JRocKOtakudesu/Museum%20Pictures/

More examples of my pictures from the V&A: 


These pictures gave me a lot of ideas in making a 3D model. The structure of the furniture is very important and the designs have to be practical.

Painting and additional ideas

I have finished most of the painting today, (painted the circular frames silver, and bronze for the sawdisks) so the next task is to attach more widgets onto it.
I was wondering if I would need to add wheels to the control panel for it to move, and the metal plates are still an issue... And if there is a bit more time, I wonder if it is possible to install LED lights onto the sphere so it could light up!

Further progress

I was informed that my control panel is STILL too high for the client's taste, and so had to cut down the poles again to make it waist height.

Continued to paint the rest of the model today (decided on the dark "Dramatic" blue for the base to match the sphere, and "Chocochip" brown for the stands) including some touch-ups.

Jason helped me again to make more widgets to add onto it and will be attached as soon as I have finished painting. We planned to drill holes into the sphere to place wire connections through it, with steam meters, tubes and gas instruments.

Progress

My control panel is developing steadily. We've recently screwed the two halves of the sphere together with wing bolts and attached it onto two steel rods for it to revolve around the circular frame.
At the moment I have started to paint a section of it (dark "Dramatic" blue for the sphere so that the metallics would stand out) and experiment with colours that are available to see what would work. I was thinking of using complimentary colours for the frame and the stand, preferably bold colours that would stand out from afar.
I will need to attach more accesories onto it such as pipes, wires, glass tubes and buttons, but I'm having difficulty with sticking the metal plates onto the sphere fearing it might be too heavy for it to spin.
Overall, the construction is going good so far. I will need to photograph the process for evidence.

Model Frame

My drawing and maquette was scaled up by 3.

We first build a rough frame of the of the model out of MDF wood to get the basic idea of shape. There were various methods in making the shapes; either to crop them by hand and alter them accordingly or crop them through the laser cutter. However the major set-back while using the laser cutter is the limited space available for the material to fit in.

Most parts were therefore cut using the bendsaw and sanded.

The two halves of the "hemisphere" were made using different thickness of MDF in order to create a sense of depth.

Plastic tubing were used for the stand.

The basic MDF model was later coated with emulsion in order for the main paint to stick. Plastic accessories needed to be sanded first before applying emulsion.

Miniature Model/Maquette

[Back]

Before moving onto building the live-sized model, I first created a maquette of my design to get into grips with 3D appearance. This produces a base point for the materials I would need for the live model (e.g what would be suitable to make the sphere out of, and what materials would best support the overall sphere)

At this point the widgets proved to be difficult to come up with. However the type of gadgets I am able to attach onto them remains flexible.

The "hemisphere" would either be made out of sheets of plastic to make them lightweight or alternatively thinner MDF to compensate.

[Front]

Solid buttons/switches will be attached directly onto the sphere.

Plastic and metal tubes and wires would act as the connectives.

The stands will be made using strong plastic tubes attached onto the wooden "hemisphere".

Most of the model will be made out of MDF.

The size of the sphere still proved to be a challenge at this stage.

Design sketch

The following image is my initial design. Out of the list of designs I have drawn, this one prove to be more of a challenge to make due to the concentration of add-ons it has as well as the overall shape.


I have planned the rough idea onto paper, but the materials and the position of the widgets still remained undecided.

The general practicality of the model can be developed further from this stage.