STELLA McCARTNEY FALL 2013

Stella McCartney's stripe collection inspires me when working on my own designs by looking at how she has used a basic line pattern and predominately a monochrome colour scheme to create a whole collection. Especially looking at the placement of the designs on the garments and the directions the lines are going in, as well as the scale on which the patterns are on the body.

  

Group Tutorial 26TH October 2015

I have been working with the idea of using an minimal amount of process to create a complex design. I have gone back and done more mark making looking a lot at stripes, vertical and horizontal lines and see what outcomes I can get that can then be made into prints. I have also been working on different types of papers, especially tissue paper that has already been creased which adds to the design. Ive been working with white on black and I think this has developed my work well. I am now starting to look at additional ideas of how to print onto black fabrics compared to printing black on white, I have already created heat transfer samples onto lycra and elastic polyester that are strong samples and start to show my prints in context.

Group Tutorial 19TH October 2015

Looking at my work, todays we discussed that I need more designs to work with, I need to go back and do some more mark making but this time thinking about it working in a design rather than just marks, developing these ready to print. 
I don't need to over complicate designs, some work just as a simple print, layering up the prints experimenting with them on photoshop slightly over completed the design but I found some worked well especially fitting in with my theme of complex and minimal but overall I need to go back and create some new designs to push my ideas further and widen my range of designs. 
Also I used the heat transfer to put my prints onto fabric but they didn't take too well as I don't think they where left under the heat long enough and came out with a green tint, so I need to experiment more with the printing. 

Photoshop Prints

Using Photoshop to play around with colour seeing what my prints would look like. Only changing a small amount of colour which made a big impact to the designs and also layering them up. Repeating them worked well as a continuous design to be used on panels as well as using a white layer over the top of my design, taking away part of the design instead of adding to it worked well.

  

ALEXANDER WANG FOR H&M

Alexander Wang's sportswear collection for H&M has a clear colour scheme of blacks, greys and whites which fits in with my own designs and ideas. Creating lots of panels on the body these designs have created a very fashion forward, minimalistic collection. One recurring animal print, in the designs have been printed onto some of the garments and have also been laser cut into others showing a different technique but using the same print. This inspires me to think of how my designs can be used in other area then just print and looking at they types of fabrics that have been used for the sportswear collection. 

Group Tutorial 12TH October 2015

I have been trying out repeating my designs into a continuous pattern, but my group felt this wasn't working as well as it could and discussed just mixing my prints on a garment, working in panels with different design or layering up. 

We talked about adding in colour to my work but everyone seemed to like the black and white colour scheme, but decided I should scan my prints into Photoshop to see them in different colours but been selective with adding in colour keeping it to minimum, trying blues and greys. 

I am going to start creating design ideas to see how my prints would work in context, instead of working on women's wear fashion we discussed using my prints for sportswear and as my colour scheme is black and white at the moment it could work for a unisex collection. Working on materials such as lycra, polyesters and fleece to see what my prints would look like on fabric.

TIMOROUS BEASTIE

Timorous Beasties, wallpaper designs are usually a continuous pattern with a repeated design. Creating one colour prints with tonal shades and highlights that come through in the technique of the design, letting more paint come through in areas compare to others making the colours lighter and darker. Looking at this technique will help with my own work to see how I can make the most of using limited amount of colours, as well as Beasties wallpaper inspires me when repeating prints to see how I can place my own designs effectively and then translating these ideas onto garments.

Layering Prints 7TH October 2015

From the first few print designs I have been working on I feel the marks I have drawn over the top of have worked really well as its added an extra design on the top which starts to make them into patterns rather than abstract marks. It also creates a good mix of techniques and design using drawing and printing together. 

Although I feel I could improve my prints by working more with scale, both the size of the prints and the scale on which I am working, I have started off working on a smaller scale and have kept my prints and photocopies of my designs at the same size, so I think I would be able to develop my work massively by changing my scales around. I also found it hard to translate the marks I have made into drawings as these didn’t give the same effect of the original marks but seemed to work as outlines instead which worked well for layering the designs. 

Crit 5TH October 2015

Working on a larger scale seems to be working well and has a good impact on my work. The marks that I have been creating are becoming very effective and already can see them been used as part of a print design. I have already created a lot designs with my mark making but I need to exhaust these ideas, use the objects I have been using in as many ways as possible; Working in black and white means I am just focusing on my designs and textures first of all, colour can be added in later on. The work I have been developing from my embroidery, looking at the stitching on the back of the designs and creating double sided samples is effective as a stitch technique but the work I have developed from this is where I need to improve. Creating quick sketches of the stitching using techniques such as blind drawing and my left hand to draw the detail haven’t been very successful as they don’t look very interesting and been done too quick. This is just something I have tried but hasn’t been worthwhile.

I definitely need to work on acetate so can visually layer up designs and prints to see what they can look like. Overall I am working to the aim of making a print but my ideas seem that they would work well in relation to a weave, so at the moment I am keeping my options and ideas for sampling and experimenting open to other specialist areas.