A day trip to the Royal Armouries

So, as part of my medieval project and thinking of my saint (Joan of arc) I decided to take a trip up to the Royal Armouries to get a bit more inspiration and a feel for armoury. There was plenty of armour there to look at and lots which were giving me garment ideas.

Such as this piece of armour here, there’s not a load of detail on it, and it isn’t the most stand out piece there but there’s part of it that could turn into something great.

I really llike how the centre part of the chest curves out, almost like there is a large belly to fit in there, but it is interesting and something which could be sample in a more contemporary way, maybe using boning through the centre or running wire though it.

 

This was another piece of armour that I found really inspiring. I like how the armour protects the leg but also how it is layered, this will mean it can move making it easier on the soldier underneath whos wearing it.

 

During this project I have been thinking I would make a coat as it is something I haven’t made before, this could be a really good feature on a coat, just like tails that you would see on the back of a man’s tailored suit jacket this could be used as an idea as well as the idea to create a really unique and contemporary looking coat/jacket.

So with all the pictures I have collected from the museum I will take them back and use them as research and exhaust ideas out of each that have caught my attention, I will design an also work on a stand to create something visually interesting but also complex, something contemporary that could be worn today but the influences on the medieval can still be seen in the garment.

Working with Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator

As part of my Medieval project we had to create our own brief, meaning I had to say myself what I wanted to involve in my work, I wanted to use more Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator as they are both programmes that I haven’t used much and wanted to get more experience from them, to finalize my boards I want to create more professional looking illustrations so the past couple of weeks that what I have been doing, I have been taking pictures off of the internet and creating new layers on top of the picture to create my own type of illustration.

This was the model before I used Adobe illustrator:

This was what the model looked like after I had used Adobe Illustrator and made layers of colour and shadowing on top to create an illustrative but realistic picture:

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the work I had created, at first I felt quite frustrated with the work and wanted to give up, but with a little bit of patience and perseverance I managed to make an illustration I am quite pleased with!

 

Another part of the museum I found interesting were these statues that were also found in St.Abbeys catherdral outside the museum. I am very interested in drapery so these caught my eye…naturally.

Whilst working in my sketchbook for this project I have tried to recreate this type of look by working on the stand and taking pictures. I think I recreated these well but in a more contemporary way, working on the stand gave me a lot more inspiration and gave me a few good design ideas.

Medieval York

So for the first of two projects in my BA(hons) top up degree we are working with the york museum to create a one off piece inspired by the medieval part of the museum and also our own inspiration and a saint of our choice to help inspire and develop our work. We have visited the museum and I found certain parts of the museum really inspiring and made sure I took plenty of pictures of these parts. I found most interesting the stonework that was presented in the museum, the work that had gone into these piece were incredible!

Part of St Abbeys cathedral outside of the museum

This was part of what I found most inspiring, the craft work that has gone into this piece of stone work is incredible

Hue and Saturation

This process was quite similar to the black and white one before

Instructions:

1. Get a picture you want and once up go on to ‘layer’ chose ‘new adjustment layer’ and then pick ‘Hue/Satuation’
2. A box will appear with a name type in the name you want and click ok
3. Another box will appear with the hue/saturation changer, change the hue and saturation to what you want, and then click ok.
4. Your picture will then automatically change to how you wanted it to be.
5. Then click on your paint brush tool again ensuring the paint is black and colour what parts of the body or clothing you want to, this will then return those parts to their earlier colour.

I liked this process, I found it fun to mess about with the colours on the model, you can make them look quite wild and then tone them down a bit again. I used three Alexander Mcqueen designs to manipulate slightly, I like how wild they look and i woud use this process again to make something look a bit wild.

More Photoshop work tools

Once again I have looked at using different tools on Photoshop, this time i have changed the colours of certain areas of pictures.This process was changing parts of the picture black and white

Instructions:

1. Get a picture you want and once up go on to ‘layer’ chose ‘new adjustment layer’ and then pic ‘black and white…’
2. A window labeled new layer will appear, type what name you want it to be and press ok, another box will turn up make the adjustments you want and press ok again. This will automatically turn your illustration black and white.
3. Make sure the paint is black, and then click on your paintbrush, put your paint brush on to the pieces you want to make the normal colour again, such as hair or the outfit, and it will straightaway turn the bits you want to be the normal colour normal again.

I tried and tested this method, I found it easy to do, once I got the hang of it. I liked having the option to change certain parts of the picture without having to paint or just fill it. I think this makes it a lot more interesting and makes the illustraion you may be using a lot more interesting to look at. I would definately used this method again when maybe wanting to make a picture stand out or look a bit different.

Original Illustration

This is one of the original illustration I used before putting it on to the board, I wanted to show how different they can look before and after putting them through the scanner and on to photoshop.

I used Gouache paint to get the look of the clothes and I also used a specific acrylic skin colour paint and added water to get the creamy light colour of the skin. I like the style of my illustration and I think it has changed a lot since I started drawing different illustrations, I like the simple facial features and I like the positioning of the body.

Final boards for the Sashiko project

Once I had finished my Sashiko Sketchbook (which took me a while) I decided instead of heading to a wedding dress themed area I found a Valentino Outfit which was made in organza, it looked shear and sleek and decided this is where I should take my project. I quite liked this idea and found this was the best way to take my collection, I mixed the organza with different styles such a batik and  layering. Once I had done my ten design developments, with the help of Dawn I picked my final 3 designs and turned them in to boards. I wanted to make the message of my garments very clear so I used Organza as a background and then put my illustrations on top along with a brief description of the outfit and a working drawing of the front and the back.

As you can see I have finished my 3 Illustration boards. I was very happy with the presentation of the boards, I think they look professional and clearly show what i designed and how they would look. There is quite a large gap underneath but that was for use of a sample which has been stuck on to the printed version. I also added fabric samples to the bottom of the page where the fabrics names typed. I am pleased with the outcome of my boards overall, i dont think there is much i would change about them, i would maybe make the illustrations a bit brighter, i would also use my newly found photoshop skills and put them to good use on my working drawings.

Also as part of the Criteria I had to make a Story board; this was to include a rationale of the client and also a clear understanding of what my range was about. I tried to combine all my ideas so i used a Sashiko style as my background and used the outfits i found inspiring and put them onto my board this shows the mixtures of ideas but in a subtle way. I like this board I like the colour use and i think it looks quite professional. I faded the models slightly so they didn’t stand out too much, I also made sure i out on a colour story and a fabric story so the customer has a clear indication of what I am doing with the collection. I havent detailed the rationale to much as I think it is the type of collection that any kind of female customer could wear. I am overall pleased with the look of my board.

Working on Photoshop

During computer studies we have been looking in to filling patterns.

Christine gave us instructions on how to take patterns from something we like or a certain fabric and putting on to an outfit or a working drawing (sheet provided by Marie)

Instructions:

1. Find an image off somewhere such as google get the pattern you want and print screen. (CMD+SHIFT+4)
2. The image will then appear on your desktop, click on the image and drag it on to the Photoshop logo. This will automatically bring it up in a Photoshop window.
3. Click on the ‘rectangular marquee tool’ and crop the image to the pattern you want.
4. Once it has a certain square around it, click on to edit and go on to define pattern. The pattern box will come up and type into it the pattern’s name (such as big print) and click ok. This will automatically take it in to the fill section.
5. When you have done this, find an image which you want such as a working drawing, take it and put it onto a photoshop page. Decide which piece you want to fill, such a top. Use either the ‘magic wand’ or the ‘magnetic lasso tool’ to get the piece you want to fill.
6. Once you have the piece you want to fill, go back on to Edit and click on ‘Fill’. This will bring you on to the fill window. In the window it has a box saying contents you need to press on to the box and scroll to find patterns. Click on to the word pattern, this will then highlight a box underneath saying patterns.
7. Press on to that box and scroll down to find you pattern which you have saved. Once the pattern is found click on to it and then click ok. This will bring up the pattern you want to use in that cropped area you chose. If the pattern is small it will replicate the pattern to fill the area. As you can see I have tried it myself, and this is my results. I enjoyed the process and once i had done it a few times it was easy to replicate, I like the fact most of them are bright and are eye-catching and the textures all look completely different, so if for example you were doing a working drawing and wanted to fill it with the fabric you were using you would have the option to. It is a simple way to get a professional finish.