Observation Studies - Understanding Shape and Colour

I wanted to get a bit more of an understanding of the differences between 40's/50's props and furniture and futuristic designs - this will help me in creating designs that blend the two themes together well.

So using Pinterest I started by doing some observation sketches of furniture I saw from the 40's/50's as well as the colours used in these pieces.

50's/40's furniture observation sketches

Timelapse of the process

After finishing my sketches, I created a new layer and just drew out some of the basic shapes in the pieces of furniture, overall, there seems to be lots of squares and sharp edges/angles, as well as lots of circles especially on smaller details. 

Outline of the basic shapes

Next, I used Adobe Color to extract some themes from my sketches, what colours appear most consistently, while it's only a small selection it can still help give me an idea of what colour schemes and moods are most common in 40's/50's furniture. I have included the suggestions Adobe gave below, along with my own selections and a link to the site.

https://color.adobe.com/create/image

Colourful

Bright

Muted

Deep

Dark

My selections

Overall, it seems to vary across cool and warm colours, but generally, there does seem to be a lot of high saturation, bright colours. Which fits in with what I have seen through researching.

Continuing on with my observation studies, I did one leaning more into a futuristic feel, these where commonly 3D models created by artists rather than real life example (as of course, it is themed in the future). But I still felt it would give me some insight into what designs other artists create to fit a futuristic theme.

Futuristic designs observation sketches

Timelapse of the process

Similar to the first set of sketches I did, I had a look at what shapes occurred most on this sheet. Sharp angles and edges seem to be really common here, which makes sense with the futuristic feel. A lot of designs designed to fit into that theme have lots of sharp shapes.

Outline of the basic shapes

Once again as with before, I took the sketches I did into Adobe Color to see what themes are most consistent in these designs. As well as again getting my own selection.

Colourful

Bright

Muted

Deep

Dark

My selections

The futuristic designs are considerably more muted and use cool tones in comparison to the 40's/50's furniture. They use lots of greys, and a scale across blues to greens.

By using the shapes and colours from both of these studies, and blending them well, I should be able to create designs that while feeling 40's/50's inspired, they also will appear to fit into a futuristic setting. So the next steps in this process is essentially just for me to get started on sketching out some concepts, I want to really focus on exploring everything - even if an idea feels silly, I need to get better at exploring them regardless. 

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