Brock Fuller: Week 1 - 4 Castle

 Reference Image:

1994 Fisher Price Great Adventures Castle

Inspiration:

        When I was little, my parents got me a medieval castle playset. My inspiration comes from this childhood toy: the 1994 Fisher Price Great Adventures Castle. To me, it encompasses everything a traditional castle should have: grey walls made of stone slabs, towers topped by parapets, a dungeon, and even a moat and drawbridge. I wanted to include all of these signature features in my model and arrange them in a layout that is unique from, while also in reference to, my source material. Unfortunately, the moat was cut from the plan fairly early on.

Ghosted (B&W)

Ghosted (Color)

Front view (Shaded)

Top view (Shaded)

Textured model

Ground level (Textured)

Realized Image

Techniques:

        Most of my model was made from inserting and adjusting simple primitives into the shapes you see. There were however several instances in which I drafted elements from planar shapes extruded from curves that I had plotted. The opening for the main entryway is one such example; created from drawing and joining the extrusions of two separate closed curves. In fact, every opening shown was made in such a way.

Materials:

        Most of the castle is constructed from various types of stone and brick. There is also terracotta accenting along the base and parapet of each tower, a wooden frame for each window, and a metallic grate leading to the dungeon. While I didn't want to deviate too far from the colors used in the Fisher Price castle, I did include a small variation of color and texture in a few of the accenting features to offer a more diverse set of materials. Although my goal was to maintain an gritty, "earthy," appearance, in retrospect, I think it would have been much more interesting with even more colorful features like bright red banners or flags. A wider variety of objects featuring textures other than just stone - perhaps thatch or weave - might have helped to reduce the "flatness" of the model.