Finished!

All the work for Level 4 is now finished, annotated and handed in. What a relief! I really enjoyed the Photoshop module despite feeling lost in a haze of gobbledegook for most of the time. I really found the best way for me to get my head around the techniques was just to go for it and play about.

The brief was to produce 2 A3 size fabric samples and 1 A3 picture of a model using own design to fill in the garment, using the path tool in PS to select the shapes. I never thought at first I would get how to use the pen tool, but practice makes not quite perfect but acceptable.

Here are some of the designs created

based on my drawing of cow parsley.

Cow parsley and poppy heads in differing scales

Poppy heads and fishbones

Lilies

Lilies and barbed wire

onion seedheads with poppy bloom brush.

poppy bloom brush and barbed wire pattern

Poppy seedheads and fishbone in adjusted colour

For this I tried my hand at Adobe Illustrator to make a block pattern and converted it to a brush for the background using different colours and then overlaid with a mirrored pattern,

This was the original block pattern which was defined as a pattern. overlaid and the joins tidied up with the patch tool

Block brush pattern with colours adjusted.

Model with fabric designs overlaid.  (Model image from the Stork magazine).

Oh this weather is too nice to have to spend indoors doing work on my personal development file. I think it's a bit of a joke really as a mature student who already has a lifetime career behind her to have to do this, but it's part of the course so I have to grit my teeth and get on with it.

Hand in of the last project was last Tuesday and there's a general sigh of relief within the group when this happens. As usual, I always wish I'd done things differently - why do my best ideas always come to me in hindsight I wonder? Anyway, too late now. Here is some more of my sketchbook work.

Feel like I've had enough of college work for today, so I'm off to look at a new book I've just had delivered, it's called Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman and is about experimenting with forms and colours to take quilt designs into the abstract.

Well at last my wallpaper is printed. I was a bit miffed that one of the designs had about 2 inches cut off the bottom, but I didn't have time to wait until it was reprinted. So here they are. My main ambition was to make them fun for children, with a story attached to one of them, hence the polar bears leaving the planet with their suitcase. The actual colours are brighter than shown.

Line drawing half drop repeat with background of collaged cut outs.

Pastel drawing made into brush and put down on a grid in different sizes.

Collage of textile, line and detailed drawing, mono-print background

and painting using half-drop repeat.

They are very different to what others in the group have been doing, so I hope they fit the brief.

I'm still here

I had decided to withdraw from my course as I've so many other interests wanting attention, but decided I would at least complete this Level qualification. Having been inactive for three weeks in doing course work I had to spend a weekend frantically trying to catch up. So I've been doing more drawing, painting and development work and fiddling around with Photoshop.
Here is some of the work

polar bear in soft pastel 

pencil drawing 

reclining bear drawing repeat

bear head in watercolour

ink drawing cut out

Moved on to Photoshop trying some repeat patterns, brush making and messing about with colours.

When I had finally sorted in my head what my 3 final project designs were to be I spent most of today making them into repeat half-drop patterns, using the healing tools on PS to blend in and finally getting them into A1 size. My next step is to take them to college tomorrow and have all 3 printed out. When that's done I'll try to take photos to post on here.

As well as doing the wallpaper project we're also having a Photoshop module with 2 hours tuition a week. I have to say it's doing my head in! The speed of delivery is so quick, I find it difficult to get my brain in place to take it in. No sooner have we been shown one application, we're off to something else before having a proper opportunity to play or make notes to remind us of what we did. I took some screen shots as we were progressing but looking at them they seem meaningless to me. I'll have to try to remember what we did and practice at home for the rest of the week so at least I feel more comfortable with the applications. For this PS project we have to design 4 floral patterns and place them on a garment, then we can have the designs digitally printed on fabric. Ha! can't wait to see how that one goes.