Drawing Techniques.

All my work starts off as an initial drawing. I try to use a varied range of media but I tend to get stuck in the same rut of using left hand, blind, continuous line and loose hand. I also tend to only use a black fine liner, sharpie, stick and ink and a pencil. I feel my drawings and design development will benefit from a different range of media, possibly wet or coloured? And also a wider range of drawing and mark making techniques. I've decided to publish my favourite and most inspiring styles of drawing from other artists here, as a permanent, on-line reference. Here's the start....

Sandra Suy illustrates woman in sepia tones yet leaves the skin the same as the paper. She adds small splashes of colour in some of the garments. This is my style of drawing as I tend to shy away from colour but I think a small insert is manageable.

http://sandrasuy.com/

Leigh Viner is an artist, illustrator, make-up artist and blogger! -http://leighviner.com/

the most beautiful part of her illustrations are the eyes. She probably analyses this in more detail compared to others due to her career as a make-up artist.

Past Portraits

Please excuse the poor quality images. Most were taken on my old phone.

This was my first ever painting using acrylics. It was part of the development work for a module I did during National Diploma Art & Design (2011). The theme was regeneration. I was most inspired by the work of Jenny Saville, in both her themes and her style of painting. I decided that I would look at regeneration as the healing of skin after burns, operations and other injuries such as black eyes. This painting was done from a cross-section of 'Stare' by Jenny Saville.

 Bigger than it looks! I will try get another picture some time. This was the final painting for the regeneration project. It is acrylic on paper and then digitally printed and stretched over canvas. It later went on display at a Church in Gateshead and then as part of the end-of-year show.

Decon/Recon ~Update

Olive Green H&M Military Style Jacket

I used this Military-style jacket that I bought from eBay and reconstructed it into an embellished collar. I used various fabric manipulation techniques such as ruffle puffs, Kanzashi flowers, suffolk puffs and more. I also tried to keep some obvious features from the original garment such as the epaulette, lapel and buttons. Since most the embellishment was on one side, and it wasn't a light fabric, it sat better on the tailor's dummy than on the model. This is the finished result:-

Print&Pattern.

I've just discovered a graduates post on http://www.printpattern.blogspot.com/ so I thought I would share my favourites!

I loved the work of Jade Hemmins. She graduated from Leeds College of Art in 2011 with a BA Hons Printed Textiles & Surface Pattern Design. She gains inspiration for her designs from the natural world and uses a subtle colour palette. Which is why I love these sweet-themed prints. They are instantly recognisable as iced gems and party rings! The prints could be used as a gift wrap or childrens interior decorations.

I also enjoy the work of Rhiannon Una Williams. She graduated from the University College of Falmouth and now works as a freelance textile illustrator. She creates quirky illustrations of everyday things such as pets, food and architecture.Her illustrations appear to use a lot of dry media such as pen, ink and paper collage.

I found these two love birds adorable! They look so sweet and have a very girly colour scheme of pinks and pastels. The embroidery appears very intricate and time consuming but works to full effect. It inspires me to use more embroidery in my own work.

Computer Aided Design.

These designs were made using a single motif from a continuous line drawing of a lilly. I used Photoshop to flip the motifs, alter the colours and create a repeat pattern. However, if I were to develop these further I would explore more with colour and experiment with filters. The pattern below was made by copying the original motif four times and arranging it into a diamond shape. I like how the negative space within the shape stands out. I used this shape to create another pattern which is more abstract.

The design below was made by using the spaces from in between a pattern, duplicating the layer, overlapping it and altering the opacity. This is more abstract than the previous patterns and after weeks of drawing flowers, made a nice change.

Junkystyling.com

I've discovered a london-based company called Junky Styling (junkystyling.co.uk & junkystyling.bigcartel.com). They are influenced by the maintenance of recycling and use "the highest quality second hand clothing, which is deconstructed, re-cut and completely transformed".

This is an example of their styling. The sleeves of a tailored suit have been cut and transformed into a men's scarf.

This 'Knit Flag Dress' is made from an old flag and has a structured skirt which can be worn as shown or tied at the back. This dress is currently retailing at £175 on their Big Cartel store.

To make the most out of every scrap off-cut, JunkyStyling have came up with this pebble shaped patchwork jumper. Hand cut and hand stitched it is one of a kind. Retailling at £190. Their profits must be unreal!

I decided to do a feature on this company as it is inspiring for the upcoming decon/recon project. It also links to my contextual studies on ecology in textiles.

Decon/Recon

As part of this project I have to make a decon/recon item of clothing. This involves buying an item of clothing, using a quick unpick to take out the stitches and reconstructing it into something different onto a tailors dummy. Ive purchased this H&M military style jacket off eBay for £4.49 to use.