Further Development

Feedback from my presentation included the idea of further distorting the prints I have created already. I decided to do this in the same way in which I distorted the original lines; compression, folding, and as I had samples digitally printed onto fabric, I experimented with draping. I decided to do this using photography as it worked for me so well at the beginning of the project.

I believe re-working my prints was successful because it provided me with a lot more to work from. I have kept on drawing throughout the project and distorting these as I go. Something I hadn't tried already was distorting my images digitally rather than physically. Alex told me about a tool in Photoshop called liquidize, where I can pull parts of the image to distort it. I really like this tool and what it does to my drawings, I think it gives some of the distorted grids a more 3D feel which I like although I hadn't anticipated it.

 I came across an artist called Yvonne Hindle. The mixture of colours in her work is really effective and looks similar to the liquidize effect I have been using. In particular I like the way she uses negative space. Sometimes my prints can be very busy and overpowering, looking at Hindle's work has got me thinking I should play with leaving some space blank.

Print Designs and Bradford Textile Association

I took the drawings I created last week into Photoshop and tried to generate some motifs to design with. These were really easy to put together and blended how I intended successfully. I am happy with how the black and white line drawings look in contrast to the colourful mark making, and I think they give a similar feel to the Clover Canyon garments I looked at previously.

I found it difficult to keep in mind my fashion context when designing prints, and I felt that some of my designs weren't suited to be used on clothing. I am also concerned with my colour palette as I think the bright pinks and blues are becoming too over powering. Many of the designs I made are repeat prints, I feel I need to explore more print placement designs instead to hopefully help me develop further.

I attempted some fashion collage illustrations with my prints in order to try and inspire myself to create print placement designs, and also to try and get an idea of what shape I am going for. I have been conducting market research during Julie's fashion workshops, and in particular I am drawn to garments that have drape. I like the idea of my prints being distorted even after the print itself has been created.

For the Bradford Textile Association live brief I decided to take one of the prints from my self initiated project and adapt it to a live brief. I wanted to submit something more traditional and elegant for this brief, which is why I reduced the colours to black and white. I found it interesting to see how changing the colours of a print can alter its whole vibe.

I decided to put the black one forward for Bradford because I like the proportion of black to white. I haven't often done this with my work and I feel like it really works well with this print.

Drawing Continued

I took inspiration from various artists while I was drawing from my photographs. Tracie Cheng remained an important inspiration to me for line drawings and backgrounds. I also came across Satsuki Shibuya, who paints very delicate looking artwork with watercolours. I have taken a liking to her work and the mark making she does.

I chose to use watercolours for some of my drawings as a response to Satsuki Shibuya's paintings. Although I am yet to decide on a colour palette, as I was drawing there became a strong presence of blues and pinks. I am happy to make use of these colours for now as I can edit colouring in Photoshop later if I wish to do so.

My favourite aspect of these drawings is the very hand drawn presence. The way the lines fade and the mark making really gives each drawing some texture. I want to keep some texture in my work as I am conscious of losing it during digital steps of designing. 

Drawing and Contextual Research

This week I started drawing from the photographs I collected over summer. I like how the drawings have turned out however I want to create a larger library of work that I can keep developing all the way through. 

Below are two images that originally are separate drawings, however I then took them into Photoshop to edit them together. I have found that taking my drawings into photoshop allows me to enhance them without losing the textural quality they have.

I personally like the contrast of the messy distorted drawing with the clean and precise lines of the black and white image. Pairing these together relates to my concept as before something is distorted by glass it appears clear and detailed.
I have always liked collaging as a creative direction and I love experimenting with placement and layering of images. I took to Pinterest to find some more inspiration from artists, but also from designers so that I can get a sense of where these types of prints might fit contextually.

I am very fond of the work of Tracie Cheng. She places thin and detailed line drawings on top of rustic painterly backgrounds, which I think works perfectly. I want to experiment with layering in this way with my drawings.
I also found these garments from Clover Canyon. The reason I like these is because the black and white lines and geometric shapes are placed with much more graphic and colourful images. Again I want to experiment with this in my work and also play around with colour.
In terms of contextual direction, I aim to design garments for High Street consumption. I'd like to design for this market because I like the idea of creating something that can be worn in everyday lives and isn't over expensive.

Unit X | Final Collection

Our presentation to Tom went well last week, and the main point to improve on was the presentation of the samples, and to provide pictures of the knits as they are too complicated to draw. We were really happy with the feedback we got from him and the other groups.

Now that the group work is done we had a week to focus on our individual projects. We have continued to work together in the studio to help each other out until the deadline. Me and Pipp have been taking advice from Nicole on things we haven't had to do before, like garment flats, breakdowns of each design and other things we need to create a final collection file. I'm glad we have had this unit to learn things that are needed to design for the fashion industry, such as technical drawings and range plans. I feel like learning these skills is going to benefit me in future units.

I finally put together my final collection. I made decisions based on people's opinions and I also tried to incorporate as many of my best samples as I could. I wanted to make use of both my print and embroidery samples so that there was a mix of texture through my collection. 

I am happy with the way my collections looks, however if I could go back and change one thing it would be to be less safe with my designs. As this is the first fashion unit I have done I was focused on the new processes we had to do. In the future, I would like to me more experimental and out-going with my final collections. 

Unit X | Print Room Experimentation

This week me and Nicole went into the print room to start creating samples. Overall it went really well and we have come out with some really good samples. I plan on embroidering into the ones that didn't work as well or cutting them up to stitch together or pin tuck. 

Before I started printing I did some plain embroidered pieces with the intention of printing on them. The inspiration for this came from Eleanor's workshop on the french technique entre deux. They helped to create a different texture which looks really nice in certain places. Also, the pigment changed colour very slightly on the varied fabrics I had stitched together, I think this is quite interesting.

In order to tie our work together and experiment with the specialisms, Pipp made us some plain and pleated knits to print on. These also created a really nice texture as the pigment was only applied on the highest points of the knit. I think the mix of the two specialisms was really successful and created some great samples.

The rest of my samples were on plain previously dyed fabrics. I experimented with different weights and thickness such as Suede, Chiffon, Voile and Organza. I tried to vary the amount of print on each fabric, the colours used and the process used. I also tried various techniques such as foiling and puff binding and pigment printing. Overall I am really happy with the two days we spent printing and I am pleased with the motifs I chose to use, as they were very flexible and easy to manipulate.

Unit X | Fashion Collage and Muse

We've had several workshops since Easter with Sarah, which have been focused on fashion illustrations and collages. The first thing we had to do was pick a muse to aim towards and take inspiration. The muse we chose is the lead character of the film 'Stick It'. She is a boyish personality with a lot of attitude and opinion, but also has feminine features and is pretty. This is the mix that we have been trying to achieve in our collection. 

I started by sketching different images of her facial expressions to work and collage from.

 The next step was to collage together some illustrations, trying to locate where different textures might be on a garment or what different pieces might be made of. I particularly tried to work on print placement and scale, using the photographs from the projector work really helped with shape too. I think these went quite successfully considering I've never done them before and felt a bit lost to start with. I realized the trick was to not think about it too much.

Unit X | Digital Editing

Although we aren't supposed to produce digital prints for this Unit, I still want to be able to play to my strengths. Which is why I am choosing to digitally edit my designs before putting them onto a screen to be screen printed.
I'm not sure whether my drawings would be best as repeat prints or placement prints, so I decided to experiment with both so that I can see the designs full potential before putting it onto a screen.

Reducing to one colour edit

Quick Repeat edit

Experimentation - placing drawings together as placement print

Overall I am happy with the experimentation and development that I have created by taking a digital route. After showing my work to Louise she really took a liking to the design above, which is simply an edit of my original drawings. This would definitely be a strong and effective placement print. Next, I plan on experimenting with ways of engineering prints, possibly through using a projector or pinning paper copies to a mannequin.

Unit X | Visual Research and Drawing

Taking inspiration from my chosen artists, I began to draw from my photographs. Finding media was particularly easy as I only need black, white and grey colors. I started with some basic line drawings with the intention of getting me going and finding a direction to go in. However, my drawings turned out a lot better than I had anticipated and they are visually strong on their own. I particularly like how the bends in the bandage appear slightly three dimensional regardless of it being a completely 2D drawing.

I originally planned to develop my drawings a lot more before I started designing prints from them. However during our group tutorial with Louise and also a Tutorial with Susan, they liked the drawings already and thought they were strong enough to be made into prints as they are. 

From this, I decided to layer and photocopy some of my drawings to see how they might look placed together.

Although I like the layered images I think the drawings might be better on their own or next to eachother rather than layered. When they are overlapped some of the quality of the drawing is lost and becomes a bit too much. However I do really like the two tones of grey together, which happened due to my drawings being on tracing paper. If I was to have these drawings as individual motifs placed together, they could work well being printed in different grey tones.

Unit X | Research and Artist Inspiration

After mind-mapping ideas and doing further research, we decided to use bandages, rope and drape of fabric used in martial arts uniform as a starting point. Bandages are regularly used in several martial arts to wrap around the wrists and ankles for support. Rope is used in a similar way in the underground, illegal side Muay Thai - a form of Thai kickboxing. I think that this is an interesting idea to develop into drawings.
Furthermore, James Long uses different yarns together in order to create their own fabrics, so making our own ropes from various materials could be a good direction to go in.
I began my visual research by taking photographs of loose and wrapped bandages.

During our tutorial with Tom, he said that they do not want us using digital print during this unit. My specialism is digital print so this obviously put me a little out of my comfort zone. Nevertheless I have experience of screen print and I know all of the processes. At first it was daunting but as I develop my ideas with the intention of being screen printed I am more excited to be going into the print room, especially to dye all of my own fabrics.

My group have made a joint Pinterest board so that we can easily share our ideas and show each other what we're pinning. Link is here. While researching I found various artists that caught my eye. They all have a parallel line drawn element to their work which I think would work really well with the bandage concept. These inspirations will also make it easy to keep with the black and white colour palette of our collection.

 

Locating | Marbling

Marbling turned out really well and I came up with a few possible colour stories. I liked how although I moved the inks the way they spread wasn't down to me and there was a broad range of drawings as a result. 

As marbling is a predicted trend forecast there are a lot of designs out there that include marbling. I want to make my designs different and not just remain a simple marble print. I researched ways in which I could edit them and came across a few collage artists that I've taken a liking to, one of which is Justine Khamara who uses small pieces arranged in interesting and regemented ways. Her circular pieces drew my eye because I could replicate the pattern in order to look like an iris.

I have tried some collaging techniques myself and have gotten a little carried away. I didn't expect the outcome to be so strange or look so weird. However I actually like the obscurity. I have never created something I would consider 'weird but wonderful' so I think it would be a good idea to give it a try. This also gives me the opportunity to work with a lot of colour, which is again something I want to experiment with as in the last unit I struggled with using too many colours at once. Now the plan is to get my drawing scanned in so I can start photoshopping some designs together.

 

I came across an artist called Piafries on Pinterest this week, and I really like his work. It looks unpredictable and organic, similar to marbling techniques. I especially like his use of colour and virbancy in his work. The colours appear random but also really compliment eachother and so a probably thought about previously.

I attempted to copy his work which didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. The colours don't bounce off eachother in the way that his do. Although I wont be using the rough acrylic paint marks in my work, I am going to continue to be inspired by Piafries use of colour.

 

Locating | Cliff Briggie

I started a Pinterest board in order to get my ideas together for the Locating unit.

While researching on Pinterest I stumbled across an artist I'd never heard of before, Cliff Briggie.

His work instantly drew my eye as it is very unique and mesmerizing. Some of his works look like moving smoke, splattered paint or stirred water. I have developed a real admiration for his work and will no doubt be taking inspiration from his pieces.

Although I haven't photographed moving water directly I did photograph inks merging through the perspective of an over head projector. 

Briggie's work has inspired me to look more into water and the blending of colours, as they create an unpredictable and delicate outcome similar to that of the colours in an iris. I have bought some marbling inks to play around with and see what I can create. I really like the fact that the results will be volatile and uncontrollable to a certain extent. I usually have a lot of control over my drawing so this will be something for me to experiment with.

Locating | Self Initiated Brief

This is the first time that I have ever had to create my own brief for a project before, and although it is really exciting it is also a little daunting. However, I splashed around with a couple of ideas and decided on working with the title 'eye of the behholder'.

Brainstorming ideas lead me to begin with drawing and trying to imitate the appearence of the iris. This part of the eye is fascinating especially in terms of colour. I didn't realise quite how strange an iris was until I really payed it some attention.

I thought I'd start the unit as I intend to go on by getting straight out of my comfort zone. We learned a drawing technique last year in which you place a glass bowl over a projector and drop ink down the sides. It creates a really nice effect which resembles an eye. Normally in the first couple of weeks of a project I stay in my sketchbook when it comes to drawing, this helped me break up my routine and get the ball rolling.



Intentions | Fashion Illustrations

In order to start putting together a final collection of garments I needed to create my own fashion illustrations to photoshop them into, and make sure they are keeping in with my theme.

I see my collection is being grungy, which fits in with the original theme of 'Urban Influences'. I took to Pinterest again to research before creating my sketches, making a collection of fashion illustrations and mood boards to take inspiration from [Illustrations/moodboards]. I also did this to get ideas of how I might present my final designs when it comes to doing so. 

After tracing the garment shapes I wanted I then edited them by drawing in what I wanted to change.

The hair and shoes were the main things that needed changing, as well of a couple of arms and legs in a different position. On Pinterest I found that Grunge shoes were chunky and simple, and grunge hair was messy and undone with minimal styling if any. These are the ideas I want to portray however I also want to keep the idea that a certain amount of effort has been made too. I played around freehand with these ideas until I was happy with my sketches. The shading/scribbles links to my grunge theme and makes the sketches more my own. Here are the final designs:

Photoshopping my prints onto my sketches has gotten me really excited, I can finally see a collection coming together.

My plan is to create a couple of designs on each garment to begin with. To narrow it down to a final collection, I am debating asking people around the studio and making a tally chart of people's favourites, then using the results to pick my final garments. I want to be working towards a high street audience in particular young adults, which means the opinion of university students could really be a big help and give me some direction.

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 | 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.

 

 

Unit X | Working in the Studio

During Unit X we have been able to work in the studio in a way which we never have before. We have always been entitled to putting our work up on the walls but it wasn't exactly instructed. However in drawing and film this is exactly what we have been told to do, and I have very much enjoyed having the experience. 

It is really nice to be able to see other people's work and how they are developing their ideas. I never realized how seeing how my peers are working could inspire me to work harder and show off my work. Normally our work is enclosed in a sketchbook which can be seen by our friends and who we choose to show it to. Having work up on the studio walls enables anyone and everyone to see our work develop. 

I like this way of working as when people walk by you can see their reactions to your wall, and a lot can be shown through facial expressions. When people have a positive response to my work it gives me more confidence. I have also had people come up to me and tell me they like my work, in fact I've received lots of really lovely comments. 

I also find it interesting to be able to see the difference between my wall at the start and at the end of the unit, and the journey it has gone through.

Unit X | Development

Yesterday in our workshop we had the chance to experiment with Projectors and acetate. 

I really liked playing around with different drawings together. Me, Abi and Zoe all had drawings prepared on acetate and it was really interesting layering them up on the projector. I really like the look of the different styles which brought me back to thinking of Bryan Holland and his work. 

After the workshop I experimented by layering my acetates with other papers. I really like how these look and the collaged element really adds something to my work. I also want experiment with taking my work onto photoshop and editing in different ways. I am thinking of possibly doing parts separately then collaging them digitally so that they can be used over again in different combinations and compositions. I feel like this will give me more contol over my work, as I can delete, erase or undo any aspects I am unhappy with, which is something that can't really be done on paper.

Unit X | Investigation

Since deciding what my direction is going to be I have been experimenting with colours and patterns.

I started to look at the designs used within typical fairgrounds and circuses. I then wanted to somehow portray this imagery onto animals to put across the idea that they are seen as part of the fairground rather than actual living things. I started with silhouettes because a basic shape is a lot easier to put a pattern onto. I quite like how these turned out, and I really liked the hand painted element.
Although I do really like the silhouettes filled with bright patterns, I also wanted to experiment with more real looking paintings. Bryan Holland paints the animal as it actually looks and turns its surroundings into pattern and imagery. I wanted to try this out for myself.

 

While I was doing some research on Pinterest I found lots of artwork that showed elephants on newspaper and book pages. I really liked how it looked but it also relates to my work, as newspapers were what told people all over the UK that the animals were in Belle Vue to be seen. That's where they were advertised.
I have painted a circus elephant onto newspaper, this time as the elephant actually looks rather than the silhouette filled with a pattern. I found that I really like the texture of the paint on the newspaper, and the finish was lovely. I plan on taking the newspaper idea further in my work.