coming to the end of the year.

so i'm on my last brief of the year: the live brief and i am really enjoying it and i have loved seeing the work of the designer kate usher. its also coming to end of the module ppd ( professional and personal development) a series of online lessons designed to help you plan your study time and make action plans to achieve your goals on this course. the lessons may have taken some time and taken a lot of writing but i can say they have helped me learn how to set time aside for college work. i've even been writing my own action plans to keep me on track. the only thing is i can't wait to start all over again next year.

edinburgh

so last week i visited edinburgh. i had all the intention of taking beautiful photographs at princes street gardens of the lovely plants and flowers, but they are currently relaying the grass and so there wasn't many to photograph. i did however find these lovely florals at the zoo and i am really looking forward to drawing them

pattern creating

so i've started putting my designs into photo shop now and i've been playing around trying to create patterns and i love this one. using a drawing of a crysanthemum i have altered the colour, and layered the design on top of eachother lots of times to create this. i think it fits my theme nicely and i love the vibrant red colour.

drawing water lillys

to fit in with the oriental theme i had in mind, i've drawn, painted and used pastel to re create a photograph of a water lilly that i had taken. i even used pastel on gold paper as i thought it might be nice to use metallics in this brief especially seeing as i have chosen a bar/ hotel environment, i believe they would fit in very nicely.

water colour

so i used water colours this week; i was feeling inspiration from the liberty designs i had looked at in my research. i used a subtle colour palette and quite a loose brush stroke to create this design from a photograph i had taken.

using masking fluid to draw with

so using masking fluid i marked out some floral designs on paper. i waited for these to dry before adding gradients of water colour paint over the top. i waited for the paint to dry before peeling the dried masking fluid away. i am very happy with the results; its just different to see a white design and coloured background rather than the usual. i really love the colours i have chosen too. i feel that maybe i might go towards an oriental style with my work.

playing with promarkers again

i've decided to get out my promarkers again for theis brief and i love them just as much as before. they blend so nicely and i love the bright colours. i worked with some of my own imagery to create these drawings. i used a fine liner over the top to create more detail, but i am looking forward to using them in pattern creating.

new wallpaper brief

so we've started a new brief, working alongside the designer kate usher. i have chosen the theme of florals because i love them and i feel that you can do so much with them. i have also chosen a bar theme for my wallpaper designs to be placed. i am very excited for this brief and i am really looking forward to it. so i have initially started drawing flowers and plants.

New York, New York!

so last week, as part of the course we had a trip to new york and it was absolutely amazing. a little chilly but beautiful and such a wonderful experience. we even got a tour of the fashion district and got to visit the amazing mood fabrics.

altering saturation and hue

i found the saturation and hue button when creating patterns. this pattern is my favourite overall and just by altering the scale a little on the saturation and hue setting i have managed to create lots of different colour combinations and i think they're beautiful. i could sit and change the colours all day, looking for what they'd turn into next.

creating final boards

i've really enjoyed the cad module we've been doing at the moment. i've loved using my designs to create digital patterns. from these patterns i have inserted them into garments here, and i think it's wonderful to see your designs brought to life when it is placed on an item of clothing. from my patterns i have also created a swatch; i picked out colours i though looked well together to put down the side. maybe some shading would really improve these flat garments though.

my designs are printed on fabric

these are some of the beautiful patterns i have created during my CAD brief. its amazing to see some of my patterns finally printed onto fabric; i can actually imagine them being used as a fabric to make a dress. i love them. i would love to print them larger and actually make something but for now its really lovely to have a hard physical copy of my designs.

more garment experimenting

i used my macrame same to create a tassle on the front of the dress which i believe looks good but i am not sure that the colours work well together. i like the bold shoulder pieces too, but again i think the colours could be a little vibrant on the black dress.

garment experimenting

so i tried some of my samples for gothic luxe onto my garment, i am definitely sticking with the ruff collar idea as i have tried a small sample with the purple fabric seen here. i think its going to look great.

princess pleating and suffolk puffs

so i tried some princess pleating and suffolk puffs this week to try and fit into my gothic luxe theme. i love the fabric and the tecniques but i don't know how i would use them on a final garment as i am planning on making a ruff collar.

water colour and collage

i did a watercolour observational drawing of some jewellery i had at home. i love the painting and i think the fine liner outline really makes it stand out. from this water colour i produced this rose collage, part of a bracelet in the painting.

trying some reverse applique for gothic luxe

i tried out this cameo design using reverse applique but i am not entirely happy with it. i don't think it is clear what the design is supposed to be; it was very hard to produce using machine embroidery. it could be better using different materials because velvet moved a lot whilst trying to sew it. i don't think the purple material shows up enough either, but i do really like the gold thread.

drawing skulls

to fit in with my theme of gothic luxe i decided to produce some skull drawings in various media: coloured penicil, water colour and even bleach. i love these drawings but i am not quite sure yet what i am going to do with them.

new theme: gothic luxe

these are some of my initial drawings from my new module: gothic luxe. i tried using more colour this time whilst drawing from a brooch that i own that i felt had a gothic feel to it. i am please with these initial drawings. i especially like the combination of tonal drawings and line drawings together.

monoprinting

so i haven't monoprinted in ages, these were done a few months back in our first module. i drew from live plants to produce some lovely designs. i forgot how much i like the grittyness of monoprinting and the dirty smudges it leaves on the page. i find it really effective and hopefully i can use it again soon.