I think that you can be neither and still be a woodworker -- if the only things you make are from premade plans, then you aren't doing any design, and thus it's not engineering, and you aren't doing anything overly creative, so it's not really art. If, on the other hand you do your own designs, and the design is both functional and asthetically pleasing, then you are an artist and an engineer.
Seeing as most woodworkers make custom stuff, I would say most are both.
John
I agree. The Come Up With Stuff and Make Stuff Work are, at some level, what makes a woodworker.
Because many are aliens. Roswell offspring.
As craftsmen, we all know that the best tools fit well and easily in the hand. Sketchup is in this category. After a surprisingly short learning curve, the tool becomes transparent. Compellingly simple is a good description. Many of us have found that we can replace your step 2 above with "Start SketchUp", and also delete the "not to scale" part. Where the pencil was once suitably facile at doodling, I find now that it fails by echoing too closely my faulty imagination and distorted sense of proportions. (At the same time, "compellingly simple" quickly becomes "frustratingly simplistic" when you start to wander far from the blocky shapes that works so well. Which is just as welll. Much of what I would undertake to build in the woodshop are of blocky shapes.)
I'm learning SketchUp this week and am impressed. However, I can't help but think about what industrialization (and manufacturing) did to furniture design. Is SketchUp users going to encourage "blocky shapes" on its clients? That is, may the likes of SketchUp induce a subtle affect much like that of industrialization? Just a thought.
Bill
There's little danger, IMHO, that your taste in design will suddenly change to match the tool. If that turns out to be the case, however, you will have answered your own question: the engineer will accept the limitations of his tools and environment while the artist will hold true to the ideal and its exprssion. I was cutting 4-square blocky shapes on the tablesaw, planer, and jointer long before Sketchup imposed its blocky world. If your taste is toward free flowing faired curves inspired by and gracefully echoing the figure and grain of carefully selected timbers, I doubt any design tool can replace the touchy-feely eyeballs- and hands-on approach. Sketchup or other CAD can still be the better pencil by overlaying a photo of the grain on the part, but I would be very surprised to find that person comfortable with an elaborate design process. I think that's the short answer: Sketchup appeals to the engineer within. We are satisfied with the design when the artist-within cringes only minimally at the outcome.
The common aesthetic of furniture and furnishings is dominated by straight lines. I don't find this to be at odds with an artistic bent. Efficient and appropriate use of material is itself an art.
As with any tool, only to the neophyte.
"Tools" certainly do influence the outcome of specific tasks, and therefore influence the collection of tasks that make up a piece. "Materials" do the same, arguably to an even greater extent.
That said, it is the artistry with which both are wielded that takes a project out of the ordinary ... take a look at some Michelangelo for an example. :)
He did that with SketchUp? Wow! ; )
Who do you think Google bought out to get it! ;)
Few people really know that.
then there is that DaVinci/Mona Lisa/Photoshop rumour..
"Swingman"wrote
And once again, history is rewritten...
That would be some headline--"Google buys Vatican".
Pssssssst. (you do know that The CABAL monitors this forum right?)
Gotta run - I think I'm being followed.
[choking sound] [user connection lost]. . .
There is no cabal!
On Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:13:18 -0500, the infamous Swingman scrawled the following:
Else why is there a gap there. It looks really odd to me.
Ever wish you'd gone with fumed QS white oak instead? That's the kitchen which would make me drool. It's only "very nice" as is.
Indeed. Nice segue to reality there, pard.
On Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:12:57 -0700, the infamous charlieb scrawled the following:
Two Master Pointes, charlie.
On Wed, 7 Oct 2009 08:03:02 -0400, the infamous "dadiOH" scrawled the following:
I'm a little of both, with no formal training in either, 'less you count the architectural drawing class I had in 8th grade.
Ooh, Ooh! That's me, too!
On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:48:18 -0500, the infamous Swingman scrawled the following:
And the artiste makes up the last third. Some can do extraordinary work with the cheapest and worst tools, or the worst materials, so the artistic bent can be stronger than a third.
Old Mikey? (See sig for comment.)
----------------------------------------------------------
On Wed, 7 Oct 2009 16:35:10 -0700, the infamous "Lew Hodgett" scrawled the following:
A bit obsessive about it, are we, Lew?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.