2D DESIGN: PROJECT 4: TEXTURE

What is texture? With texture, we are dealing with the concept of surface characteristics. Is the surface smooth, rough, soft, hard, patterned or plain? When approaching texture in design as a visual element, we must first classify it into two categories: 1. Visual Texture and 2. Tactile Texture.

Visual Texture. Visual texture, although two-dimensional, has the ability to convey a sense of surface. Seen by the eye only, it can convey the illusion of tactility. It is a flat interpretation of that which can be touched.

Tactile Texture. When we speak of tactile texture, we are identifying texture that has dimension. Something you can touch, not just see. You can run your hands over it to feel the varying degrees in surface changes. It is not flat.

Within these categories, there are still further distinctions to be made: 1. decorative texture, and 2. structural texture.

Decorative texture is something that can exist independently from a form, meaning it exists only on the surface like a skin or a coating. You could peel it up or lift it off, and the form beneath would remain unaffected. In this sense, decorative texture has a flatness and uniformity to it. Think of it as wallpaper, gift wrap, or a shirt with a printed pattern. You may wear a shirt with texture in the form of patterned stripes, but what is on the shirt does not describe the structure of what is beneath it, namely you. However, if you were to look closer at the shirt, and see the texture of cotton fibers, for instance, then you would be noticing structural texture. For the pattern of the woven fibers is related to the very construction of the fabric of the shirt.

Just as in our exploration of line as being mechanical or organic, we can identify structural texture as mechanical or organic. Consider the organic texture of tree bark, or even a plank of wood-- the pattern of its fibers determined by the course of its growth, compared with the texture of that shirt mentioned above-- most likely the product of weaving by a machine, or even a human hand that guides the thread on a more rigid course.

In this class, although you may be using tactile texture as a source for study, you will not be creating it. That is, rather than creating dimensional texture that you can feel, you will only be implying texture in your project using visual texture.

PART 1: TACTILE TEXTURE ZINE

Locate and study at least six tactile textures that you can touch. They can be either six mechanical textures, six organic textures, or a mix of the two. The only requirement is that each of the three are completely different and in total contrast from one another. Think of wood, rock, fabric, skin, soil, smoke, liquid, paper, plastics, fur... the list goes on. You need to either take a photograph of the texture, or figure out a way to scan/xerox it.

After choosing/recording six textures, you then need to write about them. For each texture, make a list of adjectives describing their inherent properties. You must describe them, as if you were describing a texture than has never been seen or felt before. You cannot describe a piece of wood as being "like wood." Instead, you need to think about what makes wood "wood," as if you were telling another person who has never seen wood before.

Following this handy online guide:

http://experimentwithnature.com/03-found/experiment-with-paper-how-to-make-a-one-page-zine/#.V-qye5MrLdQ

... you are to make a folded, black and white zine, that presents your text and images, with a cover and a back cover of your design, with a title, your name... It is as if you are making a miniature book with a sequence of text and images. Each page should be divided in half (horizontally), so that your texture is on the top and your list of adjectives is on the bottom. Bring your completed booklet to class on Thursday, March 9.

PART 2: VISUAL TEXTURE DRAWING

Using our zines, we will then abstract each of the textures by focusing on an area or a patch, and then making a line drawing of that area only in the form of a thumbnail on sketch or gridded paper so that you will end up with three thumbnails each containing a detail of the six textures.

Then divide a sheet of 10 x 10 inch bristol card into a composition, adding and expanding upon multiplied views of your texture details. You can do this by sketching the textures out lightly in pencil, and then inking that in. In the end, you should have on your 10 x 10 inch bristol card, a composition of contrasting texture abstractions. What I mean by abstractions, is that since you are focusing only on the texture, we will not see what that texture belongs to in the end. One of the three bands may be the lines taken from a piece of bark, but there is no indication of it belonging to a tree. Just pure texture.