Steampunk Boards Development

After having a tutorial on my Steampunk portfolio work, there are a few

changes which i need to make to my boards, such as

adding more drawings, larger annotation, and using cream imagery to

link to my cotton, lace and leather fabrics for my final shirt.

I also tried to create a 'package', having a common denominator

on each board, linking them together, which i decided would be my key

drawing, having the same style writing and laying each board out in the same way.

The inspiration board as a whole worked well, so i decided to lay out the rest of my

boards in this way. On the fabric board, i chose cream and brown colours and the fabric

im using for my final shirt to do manipulations on and i changed around the colours on the colour

board to help create more of a set of boards. To create the final design board, i included

the key drawing, flats, fabrics, imagery and matching annotation to complete the

overall look.

Inspiration Board

Fabric Board

Colour Board

Final Design Board

CAAD, week 4.

Over the initial stress of not being able to figure out why my image was

going blank when I was tracing around the flat, I learnt that I

need to press the 'no fill' button so that i can still see my original image underneath.

I also learnt not to trace the whole outside of the flat, but to do each section

individually and create a new layer for each one and use a thin black line to go

around the flat.

I learnt more about the brush tools and how to thicken and add stitch lines

to the garments and how to add block colour and my own fabric

swatches into the flats and how to shrink down the pattern.

To help further with my pen tool and brush techniques, I traced around half of a

model to create a tank top and learnt how to mirror the other half

of the image to create a symmetrical drawing and how to curve the lines.

I found these last few lessons quite successful compared to the first few sessions as

I now find it easy to learn the techniques.

AD114 SWOT Analysis

Strengths -

• What strengths did I have that others don't? - When starting the project and course after doing an Art Foundation, I found that I had a better understanding of the project and how to lay out moodboards and create flats in the right way compared to the other students. I had also done a lot of work on the subject so knew it well.
• What do people see as my strengths? - After getting my assessment sheet on the project, I found that my strengths were in my sketchbook, collecting a wide range of research to fuel my imagination throughout the rest of the project.
• Which of my achievements am I most proud of? - I would say I am most proud of the final figures I created, getting the silhouette and shape right as beforehand, I felt this was a weakness.
• Which section of the work did I complete well? - I think the work I completed well was the final flats and two moodboards as I feel these are my strengths.

                                                              Weaknesses -

• What tasks did I avoid? - I mostly avoided doing the body blanks and figures as I feel I'm not as confident doing them as other parts of the project.
• What do others see as my weaknesses? - My weaknesses in the project were applying colour to the final figures, as I originally liked it when I first tried it out, but then it didn't turn out the same when putting it on the final sheets.
• What holds me back? - What held me back was my lack of confidence with it being the first project in the course.
• What are my negative work habits? - My negative work habits were spending the most time on the moodboards rather than the final design pages.

AD114 Portfolio Development Project Feedback

For my first FdA fashion college project i was asked to produce an A3 sketchbook, portfolio

and file of work demonstrating what is required from the industry, developing

on my research, drawing, design development, fashion

illustration and portfolio presentation. During the summer i was asked to

pick a theme of my own choice and construct a sketchbook of ideas ready for when

the course was about to begin. At this time i decided to look into 'Under the Sea', which

was inspired by the late Alexander McQueen's spring/summer 'Plato's Atlantis' 2010 collection.

To start the project i created a sketchbook of ideas and designs from looking at a variety of research

on the theme. I also created 2 moodboards, muse boards, shop reports, design development,

final illustration and flat boards, all relating to the theme of under the sea.

MoodBoard

MoodBoard

Muse Board

Shop Report

Shop Report

Design Development

Final Illustration

Flat Board

The feedback i got for the whole project was 65% which i was very pleased with

and the sketchbook was shown to have been created with great care, there was a good

amount of primary and secondary research which fuelled my imagination when designing giving me a 

good range of options to persue in the design stage and the work was annotated appropriatley

highlighting my thoughts throughout the project. The work was also said to have clearly

identified a good progression of drawing and i was starting to show my own fashion style.

Although i did get alot of positive feedback, to improve it i could have added more fabric samples and

annotated overviews on the boards, practice my media techniques to create a more realistic

fabric representation, which i agree with as i found to struggle doing this and to improve upon the final

illustration boards so that they sit well together.

But overall i definatley enjoyed the project!

Design Illustrations

I have recently stumbled across http://www.mydeadpony.com/, full of

design illustrations by a self taught illustrator, which

uses scribbles, patterns, layering and hints of colour to create some very

beautiful and inspiring illustrations.
When doing my own final illustrations in future, i will most definately be
looking at these for some needed inspiration!

Introduction to AD107, CAAD Project.

Over the past few weeks we have been introduced to the new project alongside

the Steampunk project, which is CAAD - digital skills.

For this project, were are asked to create 2 A3 colour digital fashion illustration

boards containing the final colour, fabric swatches and background. I also need

to keep a daily diary of my time in the CAAD sessions to show how i am developing over the

week with my new skills. With this I also need to collect 20 images of digital

fashion illustrations from 1980-2000 and comment on how digital illustration has

changed over this period of  time and then create an essay from this research.

During the first lesson I found CAAD to be very difficult as I have only ever

used it for a few weeks during my Art Foundation course.

We were taught how to use the basic techniques of Adobe Illustrator, how to

fill colour and use the pen tool, which is neccessary for doing anything on illustrator.

In the first lesson I was practising how to use the pen tool, by drawing freely and

doing pictures of myself to help build my confidence with the tool.

I also learnt how to scan and do more pen tool techniques and completed a basic

illustrator and pen tool quiz online to test how well i already know the subject.

For my Steampunk project i was asked to create layout sheets of initial designs, which I

then took and scanned into the computer ready to trace them up with the pen tool.

When trying to trace the first flat up I traced around its original shape successfully

but im still not sure why the whole picture has went blank inside the tracing. Help!

Dior Spring 2011

I first fell in love with Dior in year 10 when asked to carry out a study on the designer & now

since Christian Dior's Spring 2011 came along, i have been obsessed

with their new collection, reflecting on Dior's iconic 'new look' from the 40's and 50's with

the beautiful pencil skirts, corset tops and full skirts, creating

the look of light and shade on the garments, taken from artist Gruau at the time, from the use of

several layers of tulle mixed with embellishment on one side of the piece.

Overall, a beautiful collection, but my favourites are definately pictured below.

Image from Style.com

Acquisition & Application of Skills Project Review

For one of my college projects, i was asked to put together a file containing

pattern cutting techniques, tear sheets and samples relating to Steampunk along with

an evaluation reflecting on my experiences & variety of other things to gain an understanding

of the techniques and processes used when designing and constructing a garment 

in the industry. 

When collecting the tear sheets i looked specifically at techniques that i 

could use in my current Steampunk project and set out to do 

working drawings of certain elements from the garments i found to understand

how they would be constructed. Although, as i did find this successful, i was advised that

the drawings were to the standard, they were more fashion illustration type than

working drawings. 

For the samples, i constructed a fan effect collar, which i later used in my current project,

dart and seam samples, a juliet sleeve, fan effect sleeves, pocket styles, a curved peplum and

gathered neckline along with a variety of others. 

The feedback that i was given for this project was that i successfully demonstrated

skill and an understanding with my pattern cutting and sewing techniques, and to practice further to

broaden my experience and work closely with college tutors to ensure the

techniques are effective.

Working Drawing

Working Drawing

Tear Sheet

Pattern Cutting Technique

Fan Effect Collar Sample

Seam Sample

Curved Hem Sample

Gathered Neckline Sample

Final Toile & Alterations

After discovering that i needed to alter certain patterns, i began by

taking 1cm off the shoulder so it would sit better on the arm and widened the sleeve pattern

so that the sleeve head had more fullness in it, creating more gathers.

I also unpicked the button placket and collar to ensure they were sewn on correctly before i create

the final shirt.

After doing this, i arrived at my final pattern pieces, ready to create my shirt!

Sleeve head

Button Placket

Unpicked Collar

Final Pattern Pieces

I picked my final fabrics which are brown leather for the buckles,

cream lace for the sleeve heads and cream cotton for the main body of the shirt.

When doing my final shirt i will overlock all the edges to neaten the insides up,

create a single frill to have less bulk and pull all the corners out of the fabric

properly so that it creates nice, neat edges on all pieces.

Fabrics

Final Shirt Toile, Front & Back