Prints

With my prints I didn't want to have any particular motif, more 'patterns'. I also did not want the prints to look like a collection, however I have created some colour ways as the whole point in creating prints for this project was to suggest how the trend could be translated in the trend book. I feel like they do represent 'Conceal/Reveal' and some of the print are quite in your face and some are more subdued. They are all digital prints as I wanted to use my digital skills within this project. If I was to produce these prints myself I would aim them at 20-30 year old women who want to add some colour to their workouts, without having to wear illumines clothing.

 

WGSN

WGSN has been a huge inspiration throughout this project. I have been referring to this website whilst trying to figure a layout for my trend book as I really like the aesthetic of site. Whilst looking through the website I spotted one of their predicted upcoming trends 'Distilled' it's about using abstract camouflage which gave me an idea of 'urban camouflage'. So I have started to use my own imagery to create this style. I plan to incorporate this within either my own trends or within the layout of my trend book.

Antipodium

Throughout this project I have been constantly looking for more inspiration and research into a variety of companies. Antipodium is a design house which stood out to me the most, I had never really bothered to look at their work till recently. I felt a strong connection to their work as their customer is the same market that I am aiming my own design towards. A bold, sophisticated and young woman who is not afraid to make a statement. The cut of their clothes is simple but the design is bold, along with their colour palette. Also I noticed some of their inspirations for their most recent collection where similar to my own, looking at CCTV as part of my urban influences brief their new collection is actually called 'Sex, Lies & CCTV'.

Fabric Samples

My final designs have been taken to digital print. I chose Crepe De Chine as it was light, kept the colour vibrancy but also remained looking expensive and sheer. The outcome of my designs on this fabric is amazing, I love the finish of the design and has made me feel a lot better about this project as a whole. Putting my designs onto fabric has really put my work into context and I could see the prints as an actual fashion fabric, rather than just a 2D design on photoshop. Although I have experimented in the print room with fabrics I feel that using digital print was definitely the best decision for myself and my designs. This has also allowed me to view my work as a collection rather than a group of designs.

Concept/ Context

These are my final boards which represent my brief, showing my concept, the context and the results of my process. I will not present all of these boards in my area on the day of submission as I do not want to over load it. So some of these boards will be simply presented along side my sketchbooks. I am really pleased with the outcome of these boards as I feel they are cohesive and put my concept across well. For my main illustration board I chose my three favourite prints from my collection and really tried to work on the styling of my illustrations.

Final Prints

These are my final designs from this project. I am quite happy with the end result especially when I compare them to my first designs. The colour palette I have used works really well together and I feel has been used evenly throughout the designs. Also looking through my initial drawings and ideas, I feel that these designs are a reflection of my initial ideas and primary research. Using this amount of colour has definitely been a learning curve for me, as I was quite scared to used colour, so this has been quite a risk for me.

Adding Designs into Illustrations

After teaching myself how to use layer masking, I have been referring to my technical notes a lot and using this technique with my new illustrations. There are a few things that can be tweaked, other than that I am very happy with this design. I see my designs working more as placement prints or using certain areas of one particular design as apposed to a full ' all over ' print. I have also tried to work on my style like Alex asked in previous tutorials, and I feel that looking back at my original illustration that this is a vast improvement.

Print Room Day 1

After developing a number of digital designs I thought it best to experiment with the Print Room. Last year I did not have the best time in the Print Room, and do not particularly enjoy it, so this was a risk for me. However I felt that I needed to take this step in my project to make sure that I have explored all possible avenues for my project to go down. My main aim in the print room was to experiment with composition, colour and texture. I chose fabrics that I thought would work well as a garment rather than fabrics that would work well with the dyes (big mistake) but some interesting end results.

These first two images are of some thick jersey fabric I used pigment dyes on, I used a combination of screen printing and painting onto mesh and printing directly with it. The effect that the mesh has given reflects the 'urban' brief that I was originally given, its quick and rough and it not perfect which is what I like most about it, although I do not like the over all end result I am happy that I have done this as it has encouraged me to improve my digital skills and include more of the mesh within my digital designs.

The next two images are firstly of purple vinyl, which I could not set the pigment dyes on as it would wash straight off. However I really like the effect the pigment dye has on the vinyl, the motifs are slightly opaque, like a layer on photoshop. In the next image I have added some pearl pigment to the dark grey I had been using. I really liked the way the pigment looked in the pot as it reflected back to one of my primary images of petrol in a puddle, it gave this reflective, metallic, silky effect. However when applied to this synthetic fabric it did not have the desired effect.

 

Something that I have realised since being in the print room is that I need to spend a lot more time on getting my colours perfect. Although I may think that the colours suite my colour palette at first, when applied to fabric these colours are a lot different. Here I have experiment with clashing colours. Over all I do not like anything that I produced within the print room. However I am going to experiment with foils as I think that this could be used as a finishing effect on my digitally printed samples.

Seer Sucker Workshop

Seersucker is basically a technique which shrinks an area of fabric. I did not know what it was until I turned up to the workshop today, but as soon as I observed samples of the technique I really connected with the style. I feel that the technique will work hand in hand with the styling of my fabrics, as I want to use a lot of sheer fabrics and layers.

This has been one of my first workshops in the print room which I do regret this year as I am very anxious to get into the print room and start experimenting. Although I had originally planned to only use digital printing within this project I realise that not experimenting with hand printing methods would be stupid and I there could be a major oversight within the project.

My current plans to carry on with the project are to develop 2 A2 screens in the print room and spend the majority of next week in the print room, mainly experimenting with reactive dyes and the seer sucker method. Also I plan on developing my illustrations, the feedback that I got from past tutorials was that I need to concentrate more on the styling of my illustrations and the smaller details within them such as adding more definition to the hair. I agree with this as looking back at my illustrations they are rather flat and dull so this weekend I intend on developing these.

Group Tutorial

This weeks tutorial was probably the best one so far. It had the most attendees and personally I felt it was a lot more constructive than any of the other tutorials that I have had this term. Alex said that he really liked the colour palette I had been using and said that I need to be more decisive with my work as I had told him I was still unsure with the colours I had chosen. However after leaving the tutorial I am fully decided on this colour story.

Other areas of my work that we touched upon where the actual prints that I had put together. Alex said that I need to experiment more with scale, and think more about how the design could be communicated into a garment. Which I agree with, so I am going to start putting my prints into garment flats and illustrations using Photoshop, this will be to experiment with scale, composition and to work on the styling of my work, which is another thing that Alex touched upon.

I showed the group an illustration I had put together just before the tutorial, which was a very basic drawing to help visualise my work. The group all thought that I should make my illustrations more abstract and detailed, adding things like hair or collage to the illustrations to make them more aesthetically pleasing.

Secondary Research

To reinforce my primary research that I have collected this week I have began to search through a number of blogs and look into a range of artists that have work relating to my brief. After collecting my primary research I have decided to look into much more industrialised urban surroundings, rather than the architecture within my urban surroundings. My reasons for doing this is to support my research and further my understanding of designs within the industry, as I am in the process of deciding who my target market is.

The reason I have chosen these four images is not solely for the print design. I quite like the idea of having a print on a transparent fabric, whether it be on a mesh based fabric or silk based as seen in the two right hand images. The opposite images are quite that, opposite, the bottom left image is in the same colour tones as I plan to use, and the placement of the print is something I have not thought about before as I tend to stick to an all over print in my own designs. The final design in the top left corner is a more literal design influenced by architecture by Mary Katrantzou. However the image I feel most reflects the type of design and styling I will be going for in this brief is the bottom right hand image due to the contrasting colours, type of fabric and the over all styling of the garment.

Relating Designs

After establishing what my design were going to look like I started to look into different designers, I found a few images from Holly Fulton's F2012RTW collection which I felt really related to my designs. I feel that these designs relate to my own work and prints, more specifically my digital work rather than my screen prints, as she has used a gradient effect, which I have also used.

   

Some of the colours in Holly Fulton's designs are also quite similar to that of my own. The bright pinks and the deep reds really stand out against the darkness of the black and create a beautiful contrast.

However, one designer which has stood out to me is Peter Pilotto, especially his Resort 2013 collection. The colours are so similar to mine and have really shown me how I can proportion my awkward colour scheme to my advantage. The composition of his prints are exquisite and I wish I had seen this collection a lot earlier in my project as I would have been able to use this inspiration in a much more productive way. Here are the images that I have found and been inspired by.

                               

The colours in these specific designs are really similar to that of my own. I also feel that they have been used in the same proportions as my own, the purple and reds are the most dominant with a hint of green and orange, which I what I have been trying to achieve myself.

More Screen Printing

This past week I have spent all of my time in the print room, I really like the print room as it is always full of people creating work and it is quite inspirational.. and theres always people to ask advice from! However I am a very impatient person as Screen Printing just is not for me. Maybe in smaller doses, however I have found the past week quite stressful and have only been able to produce a hand full of designs. In the future I will plan my time better after having this experience. Here are a few of the prints that I did manage to finish.

I really started to enjoy printing after creating the last three prints you can see. I used a blank screen, which I masked off to create a a4 shape, i then added Pigment dyes and used the squeegee to create a multi coloured background. After waiting for this to dry I then used my screen with my motifs and layered my designs up on top of the background. I feel these are my favorites from the designs, which I have created, but I still feel that they can be better. Personally I favour my digital designs, as I am just a more digital girl. I think that with maybe another week or so in the print room that I could vastly improve my designs further.