Locating | Unit Evaluation

The Locating Unit is the first in which we were required to produce both a Self-Initiated Brief and a Live Brief. Producing two sets of work along side each other has been really beneficial for me, and I feel I have produced better work because of it. I thought that I would become stressed and find it difficult, however if anything I have been more relaxed.

 I often get frustrated with my work because of seeing it too much or getting temporarily stuck. Sometimes I need to take a break from it or a step back in order to overcome the issues. Having another project to work on at the same time has meant that I haven't had to stop working to take a breather. When one project came to a stand still, I would work on the other until I was ready to resume both. I also think I made less mistakes because I wasn't doing things for the sake of doing something, I had more time to think about what I wanted to do. My time management has always been one of my strongest points, however I feel like having two projects has helped me improve it massively.

One of the things I feel I could have done more of is new techniques. I have developed my skills in Photoshop which is what I stated I wanted to do when I wrote my brief;  the Mirror-effect, Offset Repeat and Image Editing are a few of the things I have experimented with. However, in a way I wish I could have pushed the boundaries a little more and tried something completely new. I will definitely be pushing myself to do this is Unit X.

Nevertheless, when it comes to processes I have greatly benefited from experimenting with stand work. I find it way too easy to just copy and paste a print onto a garment in photoshop. The stand work made me really consider where the print was going and how it would look on a finalised garment. The anatomical feel to the final collection was largely due to the placements of the prints as a result of using a mannequin. I will definitely be repeating this development process in future units.

One of the learning objectives in this unit was to build networks and contacts as a career development resource. I took part in a Threadless competition and also adapted my self initiated work to fit a Bradford Textiles Association brief. As I said above I felt this was beneficial to me in terms of time management and work load.

In addition to the live briefs, I also decided to create profiles on popular social medias to get my work seen by the outside world. This has certainly been a productive and valuable process for me, as the responses have helped me gain confidence in my work. The positive feedback has enabled me to overcome the fear that people won't like my work and that it isn't good enough, as well as giving me the confidence to send my work to companies or designers.

Additionally, the career development objective pushed me to write and design a creative CV that I can send to companies or use to apply for internships and placements online. My aim is to use this to arrange some placements over summer.

Overall during this unit I think I have come out feeling like I know where I belong in the Textile Industry. Through briefly dabbling in interiors I know that fashion is the right direction for me, and I have also cemented the fact that digital printing is where my strengths lie. The self-initiated brief shows me that I am capable of setting myself useful goals and achieving them. Positive feedback from social media and also from Louise Whitaker makes me think I am ready to connect fully with the outside world and start experiencing it myself through internships and placements.

   

Locating | Networking

One of the objectives of the Locating Unit is to make connections and start networking, and to get in touch with the creative world outside of the University. The idea of live briefs and getting my work seen by people got me thinking. My previous work is currently sitting in a folder in my room where no one is going to see it, not being of any use at all.

This has given me the kick start I need to try and get my drawings, designs, prints and work in general seen. The easiest and most used source is obviously the Internet, which is why I have decided to upload my work from the Locating unit and the Intentions unit to Pinterest. I myself am a massive Pinterest fan and I know that a lot of people whether in creative careers or not also use it as a form of inspiration. Putting my work on Pinterest will hopefully get it seen.
 Here are the links to view the full Intentions Board and the Locating Board.

Another one of the most used social media right now is Instagram. I haven't really uploaded much work to Instgram before as I have only ever had a personal account. However I decided it's about time I made an account for my work. Instagram is great for getting your work seen through the use of hashtags. By hashtagging different words along with my pictures they can be searched for by people worldwide.
I'm really glad I decided to create an instagram account, as when I uploaded my work I was really flattered by the amount of likes and nice comments people left. It gives me confidence in my work as complete strangers are saying that my work is cool and amazing, which is lovely to see. The account is @caramilletprintdesigns for anyone who wants to have a look.

One more way of connecting with the outside world is to contact the people out there. I have already emailed Louise Whitaker who was really lovely and gave me so much help and advice. I felt inspired to email other recent graduate designers to see if they have any advice on preparing for the outside world too.

While on Pinterest I came across Hannah Beth Fincham. She graduated with a degree in Mixed Media Textiles and now runs a business and a website selling her clothing. My favourite pieces are her embroidered sweatshirts, especially the 'Too Sassy for you'. I thought it would be good to ask her for advice too as her consumer is of a similar age to mine, teenage girls and young women. Also, even though I see myself as part of a company after I graduate I don't want to rule out any other opportunities, so getting some advice on starting my own business from someone who has done it would be very useful.

Louise responded and gave such a detailed reply, which for me is really helpful as I am not completely sure of what direction I want to go in after graduation. Hopefully getting some advice from other people will keep my options open and make me feel more prepared.

Locating | Louise Whitaker Advice

 The Locating unit is the perfect opportunity to branch out to people in the outside world. Previously I didn't feel confident enough to do this as I didn't have any applicable work worth showing. However, now that I have two completed Units of print design I feel I can be more assertive.

I came across Louise Whitaker's website and read that she graduated recently from MMU. Her work is really lovely and she has a long list of work experience and placements, and also works as part of a company now. I personally see myself going in a similar direction and working with a company, which is why I thought it might be useful to ask for some advice.
I thought I'd email Louise and see if she could offer any tips on life after Uni or anything I could be doing now to benefit myself in the future, as well as sending her links to my Pinterest incase she could give me any personal guidance.

 I was hoping to recieve a reply with maybe a few pointers or tips, but Louise's reply was more than I could have asked for. She gave such helpful and detailed advice that is not only useful for me but for anyone studying textiles in any specialism. I recommend anyone take the time out to read her tips in this email.

I was very lucky to recieve such a thorough response and for Louise to take such time out of her day. We have corresponded a few more times after this email and I feel confident that I would email her in future to ask for more advice if I ever become stuck in a project. She is so lovely and more than welcome to help me which I am very grateful for.

One of the points Louise made was to contact companies about placements and internships. I really want to put my foot in the door by doing work experience, however the fact I didn't have a creative CV was keeping me back. I decided not to avoid it any longer and to finally get it out of the way.
 Now I have a CV I can start sending it off to companies, finally!

Locating | Final Collections

This week I made the finishing touches to both my high end and high street collections.

I'm really happy with how they both turned out. My main fear was that the garments wouldn't be appropriate for the audience intended, as in the Intentions unit I aimed my collection at high street and although it was still high street in the end, the collection was more suited to high end high street, which was technically a different consumer.
Overall I am happy with the final garments and the prints themselves. This week I will be attending to finishing touches such as presentation of samples, consumer boards and finalising my submission for the Bradford Textiles project.

 

 As my final collections are finished I had to choose fabrics for each print to be printed on. This process is very limited for me as I don't have the budget to buy my own fabric rolls, which means I have to use the ones available to me in the studio. I have experienced these fabrics from the previous unit so I already have knowledge of which ones will or won't work for this units prints.

Luckily, most of the fabrics weren't too different to what I imagined the garment to be in which was a plus. After choosing the most suitable fabrics for each print, I had three different materials being printed on; Habotai, Cotton Optic and Cotton Satin. I am really looking forward to seeing how these turn out this week.

 The only major change I would have liked would be the sweatshirt and tshirt in the high street collection, I would have preferred those to be in a more stretchy Jersey material.

Locating | Engineering Prints

This is the first Unit in which I have experimented with Stand Work, as it was suggested I should experiment with it in my tutorial last week. I pinned Fabric and Paper prints onto a mannequin in order to get a sense of where the prints could be placed on a garment. I feel this process was incredibly successful and I will definitely be repeating in the future.
The only mistake I made was not photographing infront of a white background. The placement can still be seen however it would have been much more clear infront of a clean white backdrop. I will remember this for next time however for now I will just be editing out the background in photoshop.

I sketched over the top of my photographs so that I could really see how the prints would work on certain garments. The sketches were easily dropped onto my illustrations and turned into a design idea. While I was pinning the prints, I was trying to keep an anatomical connection with my concept by placing certain parts of the print over a particular part of the body to imitate it, whether it be inside or out. For example, the first black and white design below is placed so that it imitates a ribcage. Similarly the circular designs on the t-shirt are placed specifically to represent a woman's chest.
Even if the placement doesn't represent a specific body part, the actual print design itself looks like muscle, bone or cells.

I used these images to create some final design ideas for each garment, which was made really easy by the stand work process. I have realised the actual 3D visualisation of the print is extremely useful and can creat designs that I wouldn't have come up with by just working on photoshop. The only thing I would chang if I could afford it is I would use fabric rather than paper prints, as the paper didn't give any drape and often had to be ripped in order to pin it where I wanted to.



Locating | Fashion Illustrations

Part of my self initiated brief for this Unit stated that I wanted to develop my fashion illustrations and make them more outgoing and playful. Because of the colourful and lively nature of my prints I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to create crazy illustrations to go with them.

I began with photographs of my friend's faces and altered them in an app to give perfect complexion and increase the size of their eyes, overall making them look strange. I found an artist on Pinterest called Niky Roehreke, who's collage work inspired me to collage peculiar hair onto my faces using marbling photocopies. I loved the results because of how ridiculous they look.

After showing these in my weekly tutorial it was suggested that I also add block colour features like eyebrows and lips to make them even more bizarre. At first when I did this I wasn't sure if I liked them or not because they really were strange, however I have definitely warmed to them and think they go perfectly with my print designs. They are particularly suitable for my high-end print collection.

I then experimented with poses to see if they looked better. However, with the addition of the heads the weirder seemed a little but too much and looked way over the top. Because of this I decided to go back to the original basic standing position with arms by the sides. I feel like this works better because it doesn't take attention away from the faces and also shows the garment well.

 There is a more cartoony-like feel to my illustrations this time, which definitely goes well with the print collection as it is very colourful and reminiscent of pop art.

Locating | High End Research

I have chosen to make two smaller collections for this unit aimed at two different consumers. As I have never worked towards a high end client before I decided I needed to do some research on the general shape and designs of designer garments. Taking photographs in Harvey Nichols and Selfridges has helped me to sketch what their garments look like in order to decide on shapes for my own.

Sketches of garments in Harvey Nichols and Miss Selfridge


I also did some research on print placement on high end garments. Theres examples of both repeat pattern and print placement in AQ/AQs newest collection.

Locating | Editing in Photoshop

I have finally taken my drawings into photoshop and started to work with them. So far they have turned out quite well.

I want to work with contrasting colours through this unit as it is something I personally haven't done before, I normally stick to a well thought through and structured colour scheme. Because of the way I am, I would stuggle to choose the right colours to contrast with eachother as I am too inclined to choose colours that 'match' or go together, which isn't what I want for my designs right now.
As a result of this, I am repeatedly using the 'Hue/Saturation' tool in Photoshop to edit the colours for me.
So far I really like the effects it is giving me. It makes my designs colourful, weird and a little bit crazy. The vast colour story reflects those used by my inspirations Basso & Brooke, Clover Canyon and Piafries. Although my colour story doesnt match the literal colour of an iris, I feel the designs somehow still look anatomical, keeping in theme with the concept. This is something I said wanted to achieve if possible in my brief, so I'm glad that is starting to look possible.

For a while after my first set of designs I became stuck, as for some reason the colours weren't changing correctly when I altered the hue/saturation. Eventually I realised that it was my projector photos and the vast change of colour in them that was creating the results I wanted, meaning I needed to find a way of working those into each design.
However, I didn't want to disregard the shapes and cut-outs in my collages, so I used different layer effects in order to work them together. Here I experimented with hard light, soft light, divide and overlay. The colours show through nicely and worked perfectly when the hue was altered.

Locating | Clover Canyon and Basso & Brooke

I recently perchased 'The Print Revolution' by Tamasin Doe, and I absolutely love it. It has really reminded me just how much I love digital print. Although I had heard of a lot of the designers there were a few new names. Two of which are Clover Canyon and Basso & Brooke.

I have fallen in love with all of their collections, and they produce the exact type of designs I want to create for this Unit. They are so energetic and full of colour, and are beautiful to look at. In my brief I stated that I want to be more experimental with colour and not stick to a strict palette this time. Taking inpiraton from these colourful collections should help me fullfil this. I will be taking inspiraton from both designers when it comes to editing my own designs in photoshop.

As I am creating a High Street and a High End collection, I believe prints like these could be adapted to both easily and effectively. The prints are so enthusiatic and vibrant on their own, so positioning on the garment will be crucial.

In particular I really like the mirror effect on many of Clover Canyon's Garments. This effect is done a lot in the fashion industry, so if I choose to made use of this I will also have to try and make it my own.

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.