1987 to 1989 - Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Industrial Design
1987 - Wooden Push Toy Hand Drawn 3-Quarter Exploded View
This is a hand drawn, 3-quarter exploded view of the various parts of the wooden push toy I created when I was 19 years old. In 1988 using computers to render models wasn't something you'd even consider as possible while I was in art school. For one, we didn't have personal computers. Nope, we had to draw things by hand using drafting tools, paper and pencils. While I found drafting to be interesting in it's mechanical means of illustrating perspective, I can't say I enjoyed it. I drew this on some heavy paper I happened to find some scraps of in the basement of a building. I can remember having a bit of tedious trouble trying to execute all these rounded and curved edges. I then burnt the edges for the presentation board of my project, trying to give it a different "feel" from the other students' work. I wanted to be as if you were looking at a treasure map.
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
What can I say? I was a still a kid and was just getting out of the punk scene and beginning to focus on school and my career. Soon after this was taken I realized that my appearance wasn't what made me an artist and basically gave up trying to look "wild."
Me Assembling the Blue Foam Mock-Up
I'm uncertain as to who took this photo, and I just happened to find it as I'm assembling the imagery for this page. It's of me when I was creating the dragon push toy mock-up model. I used insulation foam the exact width of the wood the final would be fabricated from. I'm most likely using that dowel rod to make indents where peg holes will be drilled. *Note; I know I look crazy but hey, I was a teenager in art school... so there you go.*
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
These are the original designs used when planning this little diorama. For me they are a real reminder of what doing text on presentation boards was all about. Without computers we'd have to hand burnish pre-made vinyl letters onto the boards and use colored tape for lines, etc. Oh the FUN! Back to the design, the rear mirrors reflected the rear of the foreground corners, where small lights were installed. It seemed to work well and made the tunnel in the back look a lot deeper than the box the scene was placed into.
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
In December of 1987 the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's new Industrial Design program held a wooden push toy contest. The winning design would be chosen via a student voting system. The winner would then get to turn the rest of the class, around 25 - 30 students at that time, into a production assembly line using the wood shop in the basement of the school. I have to admit I was really stumped for a design. The very night before the contest I finally just started playing around with pieces of blue foam insulation and some soda straws and put together a mockup of almost exactly what you see here. Having spent weeks scrapping designs I didn't think my last ditch effort would do well. Mainly I just wanted to make something fun for my girlfriend. Some how I won!
