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.

Projection and Garment Research

As I have been very stuck with my designing this Unit, I decided to do some projection onto stand work. This process has really helped me in the past and I felt that it would benefit me this time too.

Rather than aim for actual garments I decided to just create as much drape as I could, so that I could see what draping might do to my prints.

Even though the stand work I did wouldn't be practical for a high street garment, I believe I can still take inspiration from them in order to draw up some more realistic ideas.

I used my projection photographs to play around with illustrations and placement on the body and

I realized I need to look at length, as well as researching what garments I actually want to design. 

Although I roughly dragged and dropped these images, I think they have helped me to decide what kind of shapes I want. I plan on looking further into this and also using these images to help develop my print designs. As I want to make a high street collection I need to make the garments more wearable.



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. 

Distorting Grids and Lines

I have been drawing, photographing and collaging to build up an idea of where I want to go next. This research has lead me explore further into my concept of distortion. Tracie Cheng and Clover Canyon inspired me to concentrate on distortion of lines and grids. I have line drawings from a photograph of a jumper sleeve compressed into a wine glass which I see as quite effective when placed with other drawing material, similar to Tracie Cheng.

I found huge inspiration for the distorted lines idea from 3D designer Noa Raviv. She creates distorted grid like structures for fashion which I really like and share similarities with the drawing I had already. Although her designs are much more high end, I think I can take aspects of her work and incorporate them into a flat print for more everyday fabrics.

With Noa Raviv as inspiration I generated some new visual research to work from, by placing lined fabrics and paper grids into glass jars and vases. I have used different methods of distortion such as compression and folding because they all produce a different result, even with the same fabric. I plan on drawing from these photographs using inspiration from Tracie Cheng and other artists.

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.

Summer Work 2015

One of our tasks for this summer was to come up with a concept/theme to start working from. I found an artist called Russell Tomlin. He is a photographer who is fascinated by water in its different forms. Particularly flowing water.

Russell's work inspired me to think about distortion as a theme. I further researched the topic and took a liking to distortion through glass, as it is unpredictable and unusual. I feel I could take this concept into different directions throughout the project and create very different prints and designs using the same visual research.

As part of my summer work I teamed up with my friend Lucy Fraser (@lucyfraserart : Instagram) who attends Northumbria University, on a collaborative photography project. Taking pictures of everyday objects through a shaped glass provided us with distorted imagery to work with. I really like the photographs, in particular the most abstract ones.

These are some of our photographs inspired by Russell Tomlin.

We also took inspiration from Kalliope Amorphous who distorts images of people.

Researching artists before we took photographs allowed us to plan what we wanted to achieve during the shoot, which made it more succesful overall.

We generated a vast amount of photography to use as visual inspiration in the coming project. One possibility to explore is to take my research in two directions, into faces and also into abstract shapes. I think it will be interesting to see how these go together or can be used separately to create prints. Although we collected a lot of photography I plan on reworking this and continuing to use photography throughout the project.