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. 

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 | 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.