Change Of Plan

Over the holidays I have been working on my prints and trying to enable them to incorporate both screen and digital print techniques.

I really wanted this idea to work and I tried many different ways of putting imagery together where part could be screen printed and part could be digitally printed. However this hasn't gone as well as I would have liked it to. Although I received positive feedback from my peers I myself am not happy with the outcomes, some of which are below.

I feel that the imagery doesn't work well together and it doesn't portray my distortion theme as well as I would like. I have spent a lot of my time trying to get this to work with (in my opinion) not enough success. Unfortunately because of this I have decided to alter my plans for the unit.
In one of my last tutorials we discussed creating an all new collection from more simple and geometric imagery, taken from the visual research I have already collected. This gave me the idea of creating one digital collection and one screen collection that take my visual research into different directions. This way I can still show skills in both processes, just in two collections instead of one.

I now plan to do some market and designer research for my second collection and begin drawing for screen. For my CP3 Extended Essay I researched the differences between screen and digital printing and the ways in which we can design for both. I am planning on using this research to aid my designing for the two different printing methods.  

Colour Palette and Screen Print

Throughout the project I have mainly stuck to the pink and blue colour palette in my prints, however I think this has become a bit tired and overpowering. I looked for new colour palettes to experiment with by taking colours from my own summer photography and also colour palettes I found online. I definitely feel like this colour change is important for me because this could be one of the reasons I am stuck with my prints. I really want to experiment with a wide range of colour in this project as I have been inspired by Clover Canyon and Prabal Gurung.

Another reason why I decided to alter my colours was because I had a colour workshop with Alex. During the workshop I also found out that it is best to have both screen and digital printing in your portfolio for third year. I mainly see myself as a digital printer, however I also really enjoy screen printing and don't do it as much as I would like. I had only set myself the goal of producing digital prints this unit, however I have now changed my mind and would like to achieve more if possible.

One idea I have been playing with is engineer designs to incorporate both processes onto one fabric. My dissertation research lead me to a designer called Emamoke Ukeleghe, who uses both screen and digital on one print purposefully. I find the idea of having a digital element in a screen print really interesting, especially when it has been engineered to do so.

I am now going to design my prints with the intention of screen printing certain elements. I want to be able to show that I can also work with a limited colour palette, as well as having skills in both screen and digital printing. This will provide myself with a challenge for my final project as well as enhancing the portfolio I take with me when I graduate.

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.