Drawing lessons
Posted by Vincent Leman on April 19, 2012 0 Comments
I am currently working on a sketch for a potential commission. The project requires a more in-depth sketch than I generally create for initial concepts. The design concept for most pieces can be captured with a rough 2-d sketch, but in this case to communicate the idea effectively I'm sketching in 3-d (I'm still analogue, so this requires the use of actual paper).
As I hone down the sketch, I am reflecting on the source of my original 3-d drawing training. I've taken numerous drawing classes, I pursued a minor in art & design while at Purdue. I've spent hours working with digital drawing packages. I've drawn my entire life. I love design & composition. But my first real training started in an elementary school drawing class. I remember first being taught to draw a three dimensional surface. Draw a half circle, drop two short, vertical lines down from the ends, draw another half circle. What do we have? A coin. I was amazed and there it began.
A little while after, I checked out a book on drawing from the library. I remember the process of sketching with a pencil and then inking the lines you liked. Then erase the pencil and I again was amazed how this mess of pencil lines vanished to leave a clean, succinct pen drawing.
And so now, age 34, after establishing myself as a professional furniture designer and shipping furniture all over the world, I am still using the same drawing techniques I first learned in elementary school.
-VTL
Sidebar: I am digital as well. After I sketch ideas with pen & paper, it all goes into the world of technology. But the first thoughts are form best without the distraction of super-precision.
My Dad's Old Drill
Posted by Vincent Leman on November 16, 2011 0 Comments
I have been re-organizing my work-space of late and in the process I came across my dad’s old drill. This drill was his very first power tool!
He began woodworking part time in a garage. Originally he and my mom refinished furniture, then he started part time woodworking to support his farming income during the winter (corn fields don't require much intervention when they're covered in snow!). Eventually his cabinet business grew and became his primary livelihood. By the time I entered the scene his cabinet business had matured into what it is today, Leman Cabinets.
My first work in the cabinet shop began as a kid with the manufacture of wooden swords and guns with my older brother. In middle school I started working part time in the cabinet shop during the summers (I used to do a lot of sanding!) and after school. I continued working at the cabinet shop during college breaks and for a few years after I graduated.
During this time my artistic curiosity prompted me to start experimenting with furniture design (which I could do since I already had years of woodworking experience at this point). This artistic experimentation was the beginnings of Dust as you see it today!
And you know the rest of the story; when Jessie & I were still dating, she helped me turn my beginning designs into a line of reproducible furniture called 'Dust Furniture'. We ventured off and collected three galleries to carry our furniture. Just a short month after we got married we took Dust to the Buyers Market of American Craft in 2005 which launched our little business from 3 galleries to 30 galleries over a long weekend in Philadelphia.
So, this drill is a special object to me; it represents my dad's beginnings as a woodworker which lead to his cabinet business. And his beginnings gave rise my own beginnings as a woodworker which has lead to Dust Furniture & Uncommon Handmade.
