Intentions | Back to the drawing board

I have been searching for something new to add into my designs to make them stand out from each other. While I was drawing I decided to experiment with foils in different colours. My favourite was the copper, I really like the way it contrasts with the blues.

I have also introduced the copper tones into my digital designs which have turned out pretty well. I either used Photoshop to add the foil details or I edited the hue of something that was already there. The orange and the blue strangely compliment each other and I really like it. They were definitely lacking that extra pop of colour, which I was stubborn to include because of the trouble I had with too much colour at the beginning of the Unit, but better late than never.

Intentions | Development

My digital prints came out exactly how I wanted them to, and in some cases a lot better. Although I intended to work on them further in the print room, I found some of them to be lovely enough on their own. This made me wonder whether I should just stick to digital printing...

I screen printed on a few of my samples just to see what the outcome would be, as this might also come out better than I expected. Although there are two prints which I do think were reasonably successful, overall I think the pigment dye on top of light fabrics is too heavy, especially in comparison to the detailed print in the background.

I have decided to now only aim to produce digital prints as this seems to be where my strength lies. Although everything is still mostly screen printed, digital printing is definitely coming through and will probably take over in the future. Even now Photoshop is used to create the separations for screen printing, so developing my digital skills will not go a miss. However, I am still comforted by the fact I can take my designs into the print room if I need to.

On the topic of digital designs, I played around with masks a lot this week. I do like how things came out however the collection as a whole is looking a bit too similar. I want my prints to tie in together but also have some aspects of individuality, which I dont feel they have at the minute. They currently blend into eachother rather than compliment eachother. I'm going to head back into photoshop to come up with some new designs, and also do some more drawings to work with.



Intentions | Garments

In order to have an idea of what my collection would look like, I have been photoshopping my designs onto garments that already exist. I needed to get a sense of what I want my designs to be made into, so to brainstorm I took to Pinterest. The board I created, Garments, has a mix of outfits, individual pieces I like and also some plain garments which I can see my prints being used on. 

So far I have decided that I would like to create a collection of T-shirt dresses and possibly some skirts/shorts. I have created an inspiration board of garments similar to the ones I would like to make. This has really helped me to visualise my end products in more detail. The vision I have in mind is taking my grungy prints and using them on more feminine garments to create a 'girly-grunge' collection. This is what I have in mind when I picture a final collection.

Now I plan to spend time on photoshop using masks to really experiment with my designs and where I would like them to go.

Intentions | Direction

One of the main criteria of this unit is to think about your work, its purpose and audience. I am really interested in printing for fashion, I know that almost for sure. However I have never thought about whether I want to go in the direction of high end fashion or high street.

I have thought about it a lot in the last few days and I came to my own conclusion. I thought about how I would feel seeing my work on a catwalk, and as proud and incredible that would be I realised I would get more of a buzz from seeing a regular person wearing my prints in the street. Obviously this makes me want to design for high street fashion, for example retailers like Topshop, H&M and Urban Outfitters. I've realised the 'dream' is to have my designs available to the average person like myself, and to remain affordable.

I did some research on high street clothing and their materials. I found that high street clothing is largely made up of polyester and cotton. The fabrics used on the high street need to be cheap, fast and easily accessible. Due to this I had my first set of digital prints done on a Cotton Voile. I also had a set of prints done on Crepe de Chine, which is a silk that is a little more expensive. I chose this because the example fabric showed that the colours come out vibrant and opaque, whereas the cotton provides more of a translucent print. It will be interesting to see how the two fabrics produce the same print designs.

I also took a look at WGSN to see what kind of fabrics are set to be used in upcoming trends. I found that a lot of S/S15 predictions make use of sheer fabrics along with opaques. I like this trend and it is totally adaptable to high street fashion. I like the idea of an opaque dress with sheer sleeves or sheer sectioning…

Intentions | Editing

This week I finally took my drawings into photoshop and began to work on them.

I am pleased with how the designs came out, they aren't final prints but they are a step in the right direction. While editing I realised that all of the designers I have been influenced by such as Mary Katranzou and Chris Kane use digital prints. I considered just producing digitals however there are some physical print processes such as foiling that I want to try and think will be effective on my work. As a result I have decided to create some unfinished digital prints with the purpose of working on them in the print room afterwards.

As well as preparing prints for the print room on Monday I also experimented with the brushes I created from my drawings. Turning them into brushes makes the editing process so easy. Here are a few experimental prints from this week:

 

Intentions | Chris Hadfield

While I was having trouble drawing I tried to find new inspirations to give me the boost I needed. A friend told me about Chris Hadfield, a Canadian Astronaut who took the most fascinating pictures from space and put them on twitter.

His photographs are inspiring enough on their own, however I find it incredible how each one has meaning and shows a part of the world in great detail from a perspective that no one has seen before. I have borrowed his book 'You are here' from my friend and the photographs are absolutely incredible. I plan on using Hadfield as a massive influence throughout the Intentions Unit because his work is unique and I have never created anything like it before, so I'm hoping to face new challenges.
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I have been collecting other influences and inspirations for this unit on a Pinterest Board called Intentions
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Hadfield's work has really made me interested in different textures and their appearances, which has sort of lead me astray from my initial concept of windows. I'm considering taking a new route with my work, or possibly using the two ideas together? I'm going to wait and see where it takes me.

Taking inspiration from Chris' work and my own photographs of texture around the Benzie Building, I wanted to create textured drawings. One of the learning outcomes I usually struggle with is risk taking, so I decided to try drawing using different materials and processes that I'm not familiar with. The first thing I tried is paper making. I've never tried this process before and I wasn't sure if it would work. To be honest, it really didn't work. The paper I used was too good quality and didn't bond well. when I tried to use newspaper, that worked better but still didn't produce the results I wanted. You win some you lose some!

Although everybody says they used it at A level I had never even heard of Brusho, so I've been using that a lot in my work since the start of the project. I created these drawings from paints, sugar, salt, sweetener and black pepper. I really like the results because the salt crystallised and absorbed some of the colour creating whiter spaces. I plan to experiment much more with this to create different backgrounds to work on top of. 

Intentions | Colour Palette

This week I got stuck in a rut with my drawings. I hated everything I was creating and nothing looked right. I tried doing more research and I couldn't get going. 

I decided I was using way too much colour. I was stubborn to change as I liked the large range of colours but it is just too much to work with. I decided to go back to my original drawings in order to pick out a colour scheme. I painted colours from a couple of images and decided on a photo with a black, grey and turqoise colour palette.

Once I decided on a more refined colour palette I found it so much easier to get into drawing. I've learned that too many colours throws me off and that deciding on a palette needs to be the first thing I do in order for my drawings to be successful. Now that my drawings are working I can begin to experiment and take risks before taking my images into photoshop to work with.

 

 

Intentions| Visual Research

I came to a decision on the direction I want to go in for the Intentions Unit. My summer work left off going in the direction of Geometric and futuristic prints which I find really interesting and want to continue. Keeping this in mind, I was drawn to look into the idea of windows - their shape, structure and the idea of reflections. As I used a lot of mirroring in my summer work I think this will link perfectly.

Because my theme for the Unit is Urban Influences I took pictures in the city centre, and have been editing them a little because the originals are dull and in some cases too dark. I have been struggling to come up with a colour palette I like. I have experimented with a few but the colours are random and all over the place, they don't particularly compliment eachother. I feel like once I have chosen a colour palette my drawings will be a lot more successful.

 

 

From my photos I have been using the mirroring app like I did over summer. I have fallen in love with the images that can be recreated through symmetry. I want to base my drawings on the edits rather than the original photos so that they will be more abstract and not so literal. I want to do some line drawings rather than drawings with more depth, I think it will be nice to just have the image in black and white and to keep the structure the main focal point.