#1: Troll Doll

Zai's description (my teammate)

"A friend once jokingly gifted me a lighter cover that was shaped like a troll doll. Big black beady eyes, a wide nose, a fixed closed smile, 2 sculpted ears, and plastic tan skin. It stood at about 3 inches tall with its arms spread wide apart, almost ready to enclose you in a creepy hug. It had four fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot. A small circle marked its belly button, and on the left of its belly, a white vertical scratch. Instead of a head of tall, up-combed, fiery, orange hair - the signature of the troll doll - a real flame floated above its head every time the lighter was ignited. I tattooed its name on its tummy in handwritten cursive script. I named it Guy Fieri, after the culinary legend, and sometimes I’d use it to light my gas stove for a home-cooked meal (among other things)."

- Zai

Design Process

1. Fully read and highlight any important parts of Zai's description

2. Draw it out

3. Organize portions of the drawing

4. Code

Reflection

Zai described the troll doll in a way that was poetic and nostalgic. It painted a very clear picture as soon as I read it. Vivid words like "flame" and "sculpted" helps to personify the doll's features. Zai even provided a bit of context to what it was used for; with its "fiery" hair and how it got its name, "Guy Fieri". All these descriptors aid in painting a mental picture of what the object is used for too. It's a lighter!

I'm sure my abilities will continue to improve while in this class, however, now I feel that my coding abilities aren't matching what I truly want to create. As much as I am excited about this first code, how do I create objects that are more complex, that show depth? How can I also use 2D code to create flat design objects? Some issues I was dealing with when interpreting the image is how to show the complexity of the device; it looks like a troll doll but was actually a lighter. Is the actual lighter flame supposed to look like the hair when it's ignited, or is the hair already painted onto the device? I wasn't sure how to draw this device where it still looked like a lighter while also being a troll doll.