Responding from what I learnt during Review week.

Putting together the presentation for last weeks review helped me to see which parts of my practice I enjoyed the most, and made me realise what I need to do before the end of the project. This week I have therefore been doing more development drawings based on the work I have done so far.

The anatomy part of my project has really inspired me ever since I did it, and I also enjoyed producing more abstract work a few weeks ago so I decided to mix the two together. I therefore produced abstract paintings of the cross sections of my own flowers. Overall I didn't like the paintings as I felt they looked childish, but when photographing sections of my work, I realised that they became more abstract and more focus was on the marks an brush strokes rather than the overall painting.

I also thought that my prints were working well, and the idea of creating a print out of lots of elements from one flower worked well along side my learning agreement. I therefore created new work based on a Lily, using the parts to make marks, drawing it, and using the pollen to paint with.

When painting with pollen, I added a little water to make it a liquid but it turned into a really sticky substance that ruined everything that I was using, and was really hard to work with. I think the idea of using pollen could develop further into possibly printing techniques such as screen printing. However I will need to try it out when mixing with manutex, as it might not work at all. This might be a task for after Christmas or in Unit X. I also intend to make these into prints made from just Lily's.

The review also made me realise that I need to try different compositions for my prints, possibly linking them more to the research I completed at the start of the project.

Review Week

This week was review week, and we had to present our work so far in powerpoint form to two tutors and a group of our peers. I used the opportunity to reflect on the work I have done so far and see what parts of my work need more research or more development.

A key part of the presentation was establishing our context. My work for this project is for a surface pattern context, and I am considering four main product areas; wallpaper, stationery, giftware, and soft furnishings. At the moment I can see these dividing into two collections, of a larger scale and smaller scale. The decision to do this has been inspired by my two placements at Tigerprint and Digetex, as well as some key contextual influences.

Rachael Taylor is a surface pattern designer who designs for a large range of products including lamp shades, duvets, throws, cushions and wallpaper. As well as being inspired by her work contextually, I also love her drawing style as it stays hand drawn and quirky.

(Images from Rachael Taylor Designs)

As well as being inspired by designer makers, larger companies like Paperchase also inspire my practice as they have ranges of patterns that are produced across a variety of products such as gift wrap and stationery.

(Images from Paperchase.com)

Compared to Rachael Taylor, they have much lower prices as they are a high street brand. At the moment I am not sure whether my work will be aimed at high end or high street products

As well as examining my context, I also visited a Close up Exhibition at MOSI. It consisted of microscopic images of natural forms which I thought would give a good twist on the work I am doing at the moment.

Image from Come Closer Exhibiton

The geometric nature of these images lead me to think about butterfly wings, and other geometric shapes found within nature. I therefore gathered some first hand research at a zoo and completed some drawings of the patterns, with the intension to mix these patterns with some watercolour based paintings at a later date.

Design Experimentation and Development

For me, this week was all about developing the drawings I have been doing into ideas and designs. Sometimes this was just placing different elements together to see what they looked like, and some developed into design ideas.

I started off by defining my colour palette which is inspired by natural and scientific elements, as well as colours that I like. I have enjoyed working with the colour palette but to improve it, I feel that I need two different palettes or colour directions for me to experiment with (such as bright and tonal). I will bare this in mind when working on drawings and designs in the future.

Colour Palette Development

I started by experimenting with some of the large scale shadow drawings that I have completed, and I like the design below as there is a good contrast between line and shadow. I also like the fact that it involves the shadow and contour line drawing of the same plant, so both elements have come from the same source yet look totally different. However, I after using the larger scale shadow work in my designs, I dont feel it does justice to my concept and the ideas I have had throughout the project. I therefore might use the data ring idea with other elements to make a stronger print: the larger scale work might be something I could pick up again in Unit X.

Shadow and contour line print experiment

I also mixed up some painted elements to create a traditional style print with a modern twist. I like how each element works well together, with the paler silhouette in the background, and the bold flowers. I think if I created more similar, but smaller motifs, they would all make a good repeat pattern too.

Experiment with gouache flowers

I also wanted to keep some prints simpler, using just a few colours, and I am pleased with the print below. I like that this print represents the taxonomy, and data collection part of my project, as all of the elements were collected on the same walk. I think I could experiment more with the way I arrange these, possibly bringing in the botany element from my work so far. 

Print based on collection of natural elements

Finally, I also like these two prints below because I feel that they are starting to become more original and different to whats already out there. I feel that the mix of hand drawn, graphic, textural and solid colour work well together and I wish to develop this with my next set of designs too.

I am really pleased with my design development and I feel that this will now help me to focus my drawings as I know the kind of designs I want to create. 

Tree ring data and going even bigger!

This week my main focus was to go even bigger scale than I did the week before with my shadow drawings.

I created paper that was up to 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres and pinned them up on the wall for me to draw on. The way I chose what I was drawing linked back to my original brief based on data collection, as I went and collected 5 objects from my garden that had 2 colours in the leaves. Using these I then created my own experiments in 10 minutes using a variety of tools and media.

I am not sure whether I like the results as I feel the paintings look rushed and bad quality rather than loose. However my favourite painting is the one below, because I like the way the two colours of paint mixed whilst I was painting.

Large scale shadow painting experiment.

Another task I set myself this week was to look at ways that data is found and recorded in nature. I came across tree rings which hold a variety of data for each half year of a trees life, meaning scientists can look back into the past to find out what weather conditions, and various other factors, were like years ago. After doing tree ring drawings I decided to make concentric circles inside and outside of the outline of a plant. I thought these were effective and have the potential to be part of a design.

Concentric tree ring data drawings

I then combined these two ideas: paint mixing on the surface, and tree ring data. I also wanted to illustrate both the inside and outside of a tree, so used the mixed paint to represent bark patterns, and added the line to illustrate the tree rings on the inside.

Tree ring, bark and mixing paint.

I felt that this small painting was quite successful as it got across both elements and I like the contrast between line and mixed paint. I have also realised that I am at the stage where I need to establish a few colour palettes to work with so that I can start to develop my work with colour. However, I feel that this style of work wouldn't suit my target market based on the research I have done, so this more abstract style might be something that I could pick up on in Unit X.

This week has also shown me that I should look over my learning agreement again. I stated that I wanted to look into science and nature, but now I have realised that it is data, rather than science, that I am interested in investigating. I intend to edit this next week.

Large scale, florals and doodles

Last week we had a 2tutor crit with Alex and Rihanna which was really useful because the main idea that I took from the tutorial was to be more experimental. I brought up the fact that I was feeling lost but I was reassured that at this point in the project experimenting and trying new techniques will make my work stronger in the end, which is what I aimed to do this week.

Large scale experiments: casting shadows of plants and represeting with different tools in 5 minutes

After the shadow drawings that I did last week, I wanted to continue this, as well as bringing in the data part of my project by making them a set of experiments. I therefore made myself do them in 5 minutes and experimented with different tools like a stick (left), a tool made out of scrap cardboard (middle) and a brush on a stick, a meter away from my body (right). I was really happy with the way they turned out as it loosened me up, and created effects that were out of my control such as the dripping paint.

I was also keen to try out different styles this week, and also creating an all over pattern. I therefore created an all over floral with gouache, and scanned it in to play around on photoshop to create the two versions below. I enjoyed creating more stylised work as I haven't done it before, however, on reflection, I dont believe that this does justice to my concept so I probably wont take it further, unless it's mixed with other more relevant elements.

 I also created more 'experiments' this week including creating 3 'doodle' style drawings in increasing time to link back the idea of creating my own data. I then produced the image below, mixing them together. Although I like the line qualities in this piece, I think that the large mix of elements might be too much. I feel I could solve this by either mixing it with painterly qualities or not using so many different elements. However, I feel that if I added colour I might like it more.

Combinations of 'doodle' experiments

Organising data and using shadows

In this weeks tutorial I realised that most of my drawings consist of various lines so I wanted to experiment with different styles of drawing. I tried to push myself by producing a loose watercolour painting of flowers rather than accurate ones, and produced the painting below.

Watercolour flower painting

As well as doing this I played around with the image by collaging it with a line drawing (below left). I also cut up a scan of the painting into shapes and tried to re-organise them based on their colour (linking to taxonomy, and data collection), and the way that the colour merged (below right). Although I wasn't that pleased with the results, I learnt that I like contrasting line and watercolour, as well as using the paper as a way of documenting data, even if its just sorting an image into colours.

Manipulating scans of my drawings and arranging into data 

I also wanted to try and do some looser drawings to add variety to my work so I drew from plant shadows, drawing quickly because the plants were moving in the wind which helped me to achieve a loose drawing. I felt that these drawings were slightly out of my control as I just drew as quickly as I could before the sun went in, rather than consciously choosing which bits of the plant to draw which I thought added a really nice quality to my drawings. I definitely intend to develop on the idea of working with shadows next week, possibly on a larger scale.

Quick shadow drawings of plants outdoors

I also went out to take photos of various natural environments that I liked the colour, texture or composition of. I then studied a few of my favourite photos closely and represented them as data. I started doing this using Pie charts, but also dividing up rectangles in a similar way. I think the rectangle experiment worked better because I don't feel that using traditional data representation such as pie charts will suit my context.

Representing my photos as data

I think this could give me some good ideas for composition and I think that taking more photos like these could help the rest of my work as well.

Anatomy and Time

This week I started off by looking at a book called 'The Anatomy of Flowers' by Arthur Harry Church. It is filled with intricate drawings of cross sections of flowers (such as the drawing below), some of which looked like expressive shapes rather than flowers.

Scan of drawing from 'The Anatomy of Flowers'

I began by painting accurately the drawings from the book, and also drawing the parts of the plant that interested me most. However the most successful part of this exercise was when I scanned in one of my drawings and cut it into the main shapes of the flower, rearranging it into another shape. This collage idea worked well for me as it created an imaginary shape that I wouldn't have drawn if I tried to draw normally: I will bare it in mind for other drawings that I complete. 

My Collage made up of my original drawing based on the anatomy of flowers.

This week I also collected seed heads from Hogweed and drew them at different stages in time, from being alive and flowering, to having seed pods, and being dead. Whilst drawing all of them in different styles, one drawing inspired me to create these drawings below. I illustrated how many flowers/buds/stems, each seed head had with a key, which I thought linked back to representing data very well. 

Data drawings from Hogweed seed heads

I also came across an artist called Marisa Redondo this week who creates lovely drawings for a similar context to what I want to make designs for. She has a brand called River Luna, and her work can be found at http://www.riverlunaart.com. 

River Luna Artwork -- https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/RiverLuna

I love the way that she uses painterly effects and line, and creates tone (even through thin lines). I wanted to explore the way that she creates her designs, so I have been recreating the way she works so that I can be inspired by the techniques and methods she uses.

My response to artwork by River Luna

I tried creating the designs using various methods, but the most effective are the designs above, created digitally from a watercolour painting and a fine liner drawing. Although I didn't get quite the same effects as Marisa creates with her paintings, I have taken on board different ideas and techniques, including filling abstract shapes with loose watercolour, and experimenting with fine lines on top of this. I intend to develop these in my own way next week.

Botany and Data Collection

After my first tutorial on Tuesday with Alex, I have spent the last week looking into Botany as a way of representing nature scientifically.

Botanical Drawing of Oak branch - www.lizzieharper.co.uk

I looked at botany books from the library to study how botanists drew, including their use of composition, media, language and subject matter. I produced a few drawings in response, looking at plants that were beneficial to humans, such as he crocus which is thought to contain a cancer cure. I realised that most botanists drew tonal drawings in pencil and then painted over their drawing, and left some areas in black and white to emphasise the area in colour which I felt worked well. I felt that the Cone flower drawing below was the most successful, as loved experimenting with watercolour on top of pencil, and I also thought that leaving some areas without paint worked well. I used the paint to emphasise the bits of the flower that I thought were most important

Cone Flower drawing inspired by Botany illustrations

This drawing also lead me to think about the anatomy of flowers, due to the cross section at the bottom right. I have found an amazing book in the library called The anatomy of Flowers which has massively inspired me. I am looking forward to getting the chance to explore this next week.

Anna Gillespie Sculpture made of Acorns

This week I was also inspired by Anna Gilespie after seeing one of her sculptures at Artzu. She uses materials that nature discards which seem meaningless. I decided to draw some of her subject matter, as well as taking this as an opportunity to collect my own ' scientific data' on my walk into University. I passed 3 beech trees and collected seeds from each, drawing their different colours and mapping them as I went. Although this seemed like a small task at the time I think the idea of representing data naturally has a lot of potential and I intend to develop this further as a result.

Sketchbook page about collecting Beech Seeds.

As well as drawing beech seeds, I decided to collect other materials discarded by nature and draw them in a botanical way, linking both elements to my work this week. I used different media and paper to experiment, and I thought that the different sycamore seeds on the black (below) worked particularly well, as it's striking and the colours stand out. The drawings below also represent how nature changes over time, as the Hosta leaf has started to decompose and the top sycamore was dried out, linking to the idea of representing data mentioned in my learning agreement.

Sketchbook page: Decomposing Hosta leaf (left) and Sycamore seed collection drawing

This idea of using time as a way of collecting data could be developed next week, along with looking further into the anatomy of flowers.

Summer Work: Preparing for final year: Concept and Inspiration

Part of the work I have completed before going back to University has involved thinking more deeply about what I want to produce and achieve next year. Below are two boards that I created to show the concept behind my work, and the inspiration that I have looked at.

This year, I want a theme and concept that can lie underneath my work to make it stronger as this is what made my final outcomes strong last year. As I am inspired by science and nature, my concept will incorporate both of these and give me lots of inspiration throughout the year. I have brainstormed my theme and have lots possible ideas to develop, including disease, cells, geography, super foods, and nature that's medically important to us. The board above shows how I have started to respond to some of my ideas.

My main inspiration over the summer has come from both the nature surrounding us, and the experiences I have had, including working at Digetex and Tigerprint. Being surrounded by designs for so many different contexts including wallpaper, cards, gift wrap and soft furnishings has really inspired me to create designs for a variety of contexts this year. I have also been surrounded by a variety of nature over summer, from holidays, trips out and my garden. I love finding natural patterns in the world that surrounds us, and I also love looking at how other designers respond to this from designers at Clintons, to designers from the Arts and Crafts Movement like William Morris. I intend to use all of this inspiration and my experiences to inform my work this year.

Summer Work: Preparing for Final Year: Media, Process and Context.

Part of the work I have completed before going back to University has involved thinking more deeply about what I want to produce and achieve next year. Below are two boards that I created to show the context of my work, and the technical skills that I want to focus on throughout the year.

Context Board

This year, I want my work to have a variety of contexts. I intend to create designs that can be applied across many surfaces, including soft furnishings, wallpaper, giftware and stationery. At the moment I am considering creating two different collections for large scale designs, and small scale designs. When considering this as a final outcome, I looked at work from this years degree show from both Lindsay Swan (http://jennasimpson94.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/visiting-2014-mmu-degree-show-lindsay.html) and Jessica Brown (http://jennasimpson94.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/visiting-2014-mmu-degree-show-jessica.html) as these artists work towards a similar audience. I reflected on what I learnt from them in the posts I have linked. 

My work experience at Digetex and Tigerprint has also inspired me as I designed for wallpapers, cushions, giftware and cards, teaching me about their audiences. For example, when designing cards, I learnt that a designer is designing for two customers; the person buying the card and the person who the card is for. I also looked at designers and companies such as Rebecca Newport, Paperchase and Rachael Taylor who create gorgeous designs for a variety of contexts to inspire my work this year. At this point I am unsure about whether I want to work freelance, as part of a studio or as a designer maker, so looking at these artists should help me confirm my context.

Media/Procces board

I also have a clear idea about the technical skills that I want to focus on this year. As I am located within print, I want to create print designs that have both a hand drawn and digital element to them. I feel that this added a great quality to my work in second year and I want to continue this next year. I also want to develop my colour and digital skills whilst doing this, and I hope that by looking at artists like Khristian Howell for inspiration, I will be able to achieve this.  

Tigerprint Placement Summary

On Friday I finished my placements for the summer! After working at Digetex throughout the summer break, I was lucky enough to spend the last two weeks on a placement at Tigerprint Studio's in Bradford. I have always wanted a placement with Tigerprint, from the moment I developed my love for pattern design and making my own cards.

Tigerprint Gift Wrap - www.tigerprint.uk.com

Tigerprint are an exciting, diverse and multi-disciplinary company with a studio that is full of creative energy! They design giftware for Marks and Spencers, and their studio has a lovely bright atmosphere, and something amazing is happening at every desk. From mocking up 3D hot air balloons to painting a cute dog and photographing their latest products, there is never a dull moment. The designers are divided into different teams that come from a variety of backgrounds such as Illustration, Annimation, 3D design, Packaging Design and Textile design. The wide variety of skills within the studio mean that fantastic, diverse products can be produced, combining lots of design elements together.

Christmas cards produced by Tigerprint for M&S - www.charlymouse.com

Whilst I was on my placement I was given the brief of 'Fathers Day' to play around with. I spent the first few days drawing and getting used to my surroundings. I loved being surrounded by creative people and also being restricted to working at a desk 9 - 5. When I am doing university work, if I am stuck for inspiration, I give up and leave it for the day. But actually I found that being forced to push through that block generated ideas and made me think more openly about my brief.

Also in the first week, I was invited to take part in a Tokyo Workshop which was so much fun! For a whole day we were given small tasks based on inspiration that one of the designers had brought back from Tokyo. There was so much to look at from painterly post cards to typographic cards and small illustrations of animals. The idea was to push us out of our comfort zone with drawing, and make us think about using other styles apart from our own. For the second day of the workshop we then had to take our favourite drawing from the day before and develop the style and spend a whole day drawing in that style. I chose Typography for this task as I haven't done it before and I linked this back to fathers day to create a selection of designs for fathers day cards. 

I spent the second week of the placement refining my ideas from the first week. I created a collection of male pattern for wraps and a collection of card designs based on my illustrations and typography. I also got used to all of the techniques and machinery that the designers use to mock up cards and product ideas. They had foiling machines, embossing tools, a gorgeous haberdashery and a large selection of glitter. I loved being able to foil some of my gift wrap designs and properly mock up cards using embossing, appliqué, glitter and foil. I was also able to make gift tags to compliment my wraps. Having learnt these skills I am looking forward to using them next year in my collections to enhance my work.

During the second week of my placement I also took part in an Innovation work shop which was designed to help us think of new ideas for projects. It consisted of thinking of a random letter, and then thinking of a random word starting with this letter. Then we had to brainstorm everything we could think of to do with this word, and when this was completed we linked as much as we could back to the project at hand. The task is supposed to generate ideas that you wouldn't have thought of before to help widen ideas for the project you are tackling. The word we chose was Jam and the theme was Party, so some of the ideas that we came up with were putting cocktails in Jam Jars to create a vintage party feel, or a humour idea of raising a toast (I.e. jam and toast), as well as musically 'jamming'. For this task we had to produce a board at the end of the day as a team of 3 designers. It was great to work in a team, as we all had different ideas that the others wouldn't have thought of. Both this and the Tokyo workshop thought me new techniques and transferable team work skills that I look forward to using in the following year and in future jobs.

Tigerprint Stationery - www.tigerprint.uk.com

Overall, I loved my placement at Tigerprint, and I definitely want to work there in the future. At the end of the week I had to put together boards of the most refined outcomes from the two weeks. I created a gift wrap board and a greetings card board. At the start of the two weeks I was pretty nervous about working towards products for a male market as all of my work is very feminine. However I am really glad that I did because it really pushed me and proved that I can work towards different markets. 

Visiting the 2014 MMU Degree Show: Pip Pittman

Pip Pitmans work immediately caught my eye when I walked into the degree show. The large floor cushions shown below were on display and their intricacy and colour immediately fascinated me. I also love the fact that she has made such professional end products as part of her show; I could easily see them in a shop.

Pip Pittman's floor cushions - http://www.pippittmandesign.com

After reading more about her work, it is clear that she thoroughly researches her subject matter using a variety of media including photography, drawings and printing, to get to grips with her subject. She has recently been inspired by 'natures gift' and is passionate about surfaces that surround us every day. This idea of 'natures gift' is very similar to the kind of concept I want to investigate next year. I am inspired by nature but don't necessarily just want to draw flowers, I want to delve beneath the surface.

Pip Pittman's Tote Bag - http://www.pippittmandesign.com

 Something else that inspired me was the wide variety of products that she applied her designs to, including wallpaper, bags, diaries and ceramics as shown in the pictures above and below. It shows that she can use colour and scale really well and work for a variety of audiences. This is another aim that I wish to achieve this year; I want to create designs for a wide range of products.

Pip Pittman's Diary - http://www.pippittmandesign.com

 Pip's love for texture also comes across in her work, especially in this ceramic piece below. I love the line quality in all of her work, and these two elements are something that I want to achieve in my work next year as well.

Pip Pittman's Ceramics - http://www.pippittmandesign.com

Over all visiting the degree show was an fantastic opportunity and I gained inspiration from every single student, including those who weren't from Textiles.