Creating Order and Chaos with Nature.

As part of exploring order, chaos and nature, I thought i would combine all three and experiment with some marking. I decided to randomly collect some sticks from the garden and order them to make a tool which was like a twig fork. I then created both order and chaos by dipping this tool in ink and making various marks.

I started by making marks randomly, including dots and stripes. The image on the right started to look like a dandelion head so I will use this as a motif in some of my designs.

Linking back to order and chaos, I created an ordered sheet of lines and then ripped them up and randomly layered them onto paper. I scanned these in an started experimenting with them on Photoshop.

This then inspired the idea of enhancing the ripped paper effect. I therefore painted a piece of paper black and used the layering of white ripped edges to create a pattern on Photoshop. I am happy with the result and think it has potential for a simple design within my collection.

Extending contact with the design world!

During this project I am making an effort to look for placements, competitions, and chances to get involved with the design world and put myself out there. So far I have entered the Tigerprint Typography design competition, and I will also enter the next one which is a surface pattern brief. This is a great way to get experience creating the type of designs that I aspire to make, and it helps me to see what Tigerprint are looking for.

I have also entered a local competition for the Waterside Open, which involves submitting up to 3 pieces of work to be exhibited, and there is also a winner, and runners up. Below are the pieces that I entered (which were framed and mounted when I entered them). I chose them because they show a wide variety of skills, and because I didn't know what they were looking for, I thought this might be the best way to submit work.

Natural form piece from A-level

Oil and Water photo from Origins L4

Chromatography Embroidery samples from Origins L4

Throughout the project I have been emailing lots of companies regarding work experience, including Greetings card Companies. So far I have heard back from a small company called Hobzy (http://hobzy.com) who are a website that post craft tutorials and pictures. They have kindly offered me some experience, and because they are based in Birmingham, I have arranged to spend a day or two with them in their studio to get an impression of what they do. So far, the hardest part of getting experience has been finding somewhere relevant and close to home. I think I will also email local secondary schools to see if the art department will take me as a volunteer for a week as teaching is definitely an option that I will consider when I graduate.

My CV is plays an important part in applying for work experience jobs, so I have been spending time making it relevant for me. However I do not have a creative CV, so I also intend to visit the Employability Hub, and get their advice on how to make a creative CV.

Pattern Idea Development.

Setting up a colour palette was my main priority this week, as I knew that before I started doing any designing I needed to get this right. I therefore chose a palette of 12 colours based on 2 images that would give me a lot of colour combinations to play with.

I then decided to start drawing and designing some patterns based on my initial research. I have also really enjoyed combining my hand drawn and photoshop skills. For these 2 examples I drew the pattern in black fine liner first and edited the colour when I scanned in the image.

The first pattern was inspiredby my leaf collage piece I created last week (http://jennasimpson94.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/creating-order-out-of-chaos.html). When I scanned in the image I really enjoyed experimenting with colour combinations and thought it had potential as a pattern.

I have also tried to create some placement images this week to see whether the colour, scale and pattern work well on a small product.  It was a really useful exercise,  and I like the results but to make these images better, I want to take my own photos and have a larger range of products.

The collage piece that I created last week has also inspired a motif that I might carry forward further as a design idea.

The next pattern that I designed was based on the tree ring research I have done so far (http://jennasimpson94.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/tree-rings.html). I like the subtlety of this design, and think that its simple yet effective. When I scanned in the image I found that simple lines worked best, but I did try to fill in the rings in different colours. I don't think this worked very well but I would like to keep experimenting with this to see if I can make it work better.

During my live brief for Tigerprint (http://jennasimpson94.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/live-brief-tigerprint-typography.html), I created a pattern to go within some text, which after looking back at this week, relates well to the work I have been doing. I therefore decided to change the colours to my palette to create these patterns below.

I have really enjoyed trying out some ideas of surface pattern and also placing them onto some possible products, however I soon realised that having them in repeat would have been useful. I know how to put motifs into repeat, but I don't know how to achieve this with such intricate designs, so I will be attempting to do learn how to do this next week.

Inspiration: Paperchase.

Paperchase has always been an inspiration for me because of their great colour use and the way that they transfer pattern to a wide range of stationery and gift products. For this project they have been an even bigger influence for my work because of the Pattern brief I have authored.  I aspire to become a designer for these sorts of products.

When doing some more research into what they sell, I have realised that for this project, my patterns seem to be more stationery based rather than gift based so I have payed particular attention to their notebooks.

Creating order out of Chaos.

After experimenting with different techniques this week, I wanted to try and use the method of drawing with leaves (order) to create chaos! Below is a photo of a piece I creating by pouring inks, water, and watercolour onto paper and pushing it around with leaves. In particular I used a Bay Leaf, which is actually very sharp and hard, and I found that it scratched the paper. This allowed ink to absorb into these areas more, leaving darker marks which I found really interesting.

After creating the Chaos, I started to order it. I randomly cut out leaf shapes from the paper (not intending to create any sort of pattern) and ordered them neatly onto another piece of paper. It was only at the end that I realised that the pattern I had created out of the cutout paper was actually quite interesting, so I had created a chaotic pattern without even intending to. Another unintentional aspect of the piece was the hint of beige, which occurred from the black ink mixing with water (as shown in my last blog post) which I really like! I think it added a lovely colour to the piece, and allowed the final pattern to have a sophisticated colour palette.

I really like the piece on the left, as I feel the colour, shape, pattern and composition worked well. I can see it being applied to stationary products, and aim to keep developing this idea next week.

Tree Rings.

I have always been fascinated by tree rings,  and how uniform and beautiful they are. They highlight order within nature, illustrating the growth each winter and summer. They are so perfect, which makes them a great subject to draw. I have been experimenting with this using various forms of media, starting by drawing the basic structure of a tree, as shown below using ink. I soon realised that what I loved about drawing the rings was the tonality that can easily be created by drawing the lines close together. Each time the next ring is drawn it changes slightly, and following this line over and over gradually morphs its original shape.

I therefore tried to recreate this using a different shape (not a ring), which is shown above using a strange kind of 'S' shape. I thought the results using fine liner were really nice, and I loved the 3D effect. It reminds me of contour lines on maps, mapping out hills and mountains.

I tried to bring some colour into my work, and represent the same thing using stripes of Gouache, but I wasn't pleased with the result. Although it looks okay, it didn't portray the effect I was hoping for, as the contour, 3D effect of the lines didnt come across. I do however, think something like this has potential for a design.

After trying to incorporate colour using stripes didn't work, I tried a different approach, by painting leaf shapes and drawing contour lines around those. I am happy with the result, and it has potential for a pattern in itself. The line effect came across well, and this proved a good way to bring in colour. I could also scan this, or another drawing, into photoshop, and try and fill in the lines as another way to add colour to the drawings.

I also used a technique I used in my last blog post, drawing with leaves, to create this piece above. I made a few swift movements with the leaves of a branch to create some inky marks, and then traced around all of them with a fine liner to create these rings. I thought the combination of chaos created by random leaf movements, and the order of drawing tree rings worked well together. I was really surprised and pleased with how it turned out, and I would like to try and create something similar again but using colour as well.

Drawing With Leaves!

Nature is one of the most ordered things on the planet. Each cell, leave, stem and tree is a mathematically ordered and this is often disregarded. I wanted to use this directly in some drawings this week, so I went into my garden and cut off a section from different plants with different qualities.

First, I drew all of the branches observationally and immediately certain aspects jumped out as being applicable to pattern, such as these two plants, with the outline of the Euonymus and the star like seed heads of the Spirea.

I then drew WITH the branches dipped in ink, with both the top and bottom to see what patterns and shaped I could create.

I am very intruiged by the results, and I am going to think about what else I can do using the same effect to create patterns, drawings, or designs.

One interesting aspect of this experiment was very unexpected. When I had finished drawing with the plants I let them to dry off on kitchen paper, when these colourful, expressive marks presented themselves. I am intrigued by the fact that yellow and blue can be created from Black Parker ink.

At the moment I don't know whether or how I might develop this idea further. However, I do have ideas about how I want to develop the idea of drawing with plants. I might create some messy, chaotic pieces with the ordered plants, to represent creating chaos with order. Depending on the results, I might also continue to order this chaos again, to create a repetitive cycle or Order and Chaos.

Getting back into Locating.

During the Christmas break, my main focus has been on the Tigerprint Brief, but now I am ready to get back into my own brief. After my tutorial yesterday I have a few ideas for starting points.

One aspect of starting a new project that I always debate about it colour! I have never been sure about when to choose a colour scheme. Do I choose a colour scheme at the start and make sure all of my work links into this, or do I create a body of visual research and see what colour palettes emerge from this. After speaking to Alex during my tutorial about the issue, he assured me that there was no right or wrong answer, and some people start briefs with a colour scheme to abide to, and some people develop the colours with their project. I have therefore decided to look into colour schemes to see if any colours jump out to me as being appropriate. If this doesn't work I will carry on with my visual research and see how the project develops.

As a starting point for this term I have created a mood board of the kind of designs that I aspire to create during the project. The context for my designs is going to be the same kind of products that PaperChase create. For example, a range of stationary products, and/or ceramics and soft furnishings such as cushions and tea towels.

This week I am also going to do some initial drawings to get some ideas. I want to experiment with the Order and Chaos brief, and with nature as well. I intend to draw with plants, and investigate patterns and order within nature.

Live Brief - Tigerprint Typography Competition.

As part of the Locating Unit, it is advised that we undertake a Live Brief to enhance our project and our engagement with the design world outside of University. I decided to take part in the Typography Brief created by Tigerprint, as I love pattern design, and working for Tigerprint is my ideal Job. I thought having the chance to engage with the kind of industry that I want to work in when I graduate would enhance key skills such as Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as my use of colour, and making me a more commercial designer.

I therefore dedicated one week to designing for the competition and created 5 final designs to submit. A shortened version of the brief is shown below:

This month’s theme for the competition is hand drawn typography! The hand drawn type could be applied to cards, bags and wraps, so consider how your design might work in a repeat pattern.

The design can be for any of the following occasions:

• General Birthdays (Male & Female)

• Valentine’s Day

• Mother’s Day

Here are some captions for you to use:

• Happy Birthday

• It’s party time

• Birthday sparkles

• Happy Mother’s Day

• Mum, you’re the best!

• Thank you, Mum, for everything!

I therefore responded to the brief in a variety of ways to come up with 5 very different and unique designs, which are shown below.

I experimented with hand drawing and scanning in my designs to be edited on photoshop.

I also used a graphics tablet to draw some text and objects, to give a hand drawn, yet clean feel to my designs.

Although some of my designs are more sophisticated, I tried to create some that were more quirky and unique.

I used new techniques on Illustrator to push my skills and knowledge, such as creating the pattern shown above in the word 'mum'.

This is my final design and probably the one I am most proud of. I combined hand drawn scanned in drawings, with my Illustrator knowledge to create this card.

Overall, taking part in the competition has really improved my Illustrator and Photoshop skills, as well as helping me to understand how a designer would work in the industry. I will definitely be taking part in more Tigerprint Competitions, and will keep trying to organise a work placement with Tigerprint, as this competition has made me want to work with them even more!