Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Computers in Art & Design

Forgot to update after the lesson three weeks back so thought I'd do some catching up. So basically we were just playing around with ideas in Photoshop and although this has nothing to do with the concept for my final piece I thought I'd have a play around with an image.

I took an image of an Urban alleyway and just went with the flow really, firstly I changed the sky using colour range to select the white areas of the image and then used the dapper to add into the white to select the whole sky, I then found an image of the sky I wanted and dragged it in using free transform to position it where I wanted. Then on the original layer on the colour range I selected the white and went back onto the new sky layer, I then created a layer mask to add the sky in. Next I used Curves to get the required lightness/darkness on the sky.

I then added some lighting into the image, so I drew beams of light using the pen tool to draw the shape and then filled them with solid white, I then used a Gaussian Blur and lowered the opacity to create a sort of glow emanating from the sky, down the alleyway.

Next I wanted to add something to the plain brick wall, so I took an image of the Joker and used filters to make it appear more illustrated, and then I used the layer blend modes and changed the perspective with transform to make it appear to be on the wall.

Lastly I wanted to add a person, so I searched high and low to find a decent profile image of a hooded person, and when I came across one that would work it was cut off just below the waist. Undeterred I used the image and used the pen tool and brush tool to draw in the legs and feet, I then scaled and positioned the person in the alleyway and darkened him up as the light source is behind him. Lastly to add more of a real effect I added a shadow of him in by duplicating the layer and filling it completely black, I then used free transform and perspective to position the shadow before lastly using a Gaussian Blur to make it appear as a shadow.

Before.

After.






Monday, 21 October 2013

Graphic Design update

Right, this is an update for everyone to see what I do, a lot have asked what I do in my day job and when I say I'm a graphic designer, people have different opinions on what that entails. So recently I've been heavily involved in two magazines, mostly in the 'Livin IT' one as that involved a lot more design work.

The magazine has now been published and is being distributed to home sellers across 23 different postcodes as well as various retailers, for example anywhere that has seating/waiting area such as doctors, hair salons, dentists etc. The estimated readership for the magazine is 80,000 people so the exposure for my work is massive.

The work I've done for the magazine includes the layout designs for all the property pages and the design work for the company adverts.

I've included some images for you all to check out.








Textiles techniques

Update on what I did last week. Firstly I took the distressed fabric I'd previously created by exposing it to bleach - I then developed the sample and used different types of paper, pencil, oil pastel and water colour to re-create it.

I'm quite happy with how it ended up, and thought the use of different things in one piece really worked well.

Secondly I learnt a new technique called Batik, although I don't think it will help me with my final piece, I really enjoyed this style of art. The technique involved using hot wax to create a resist on the fabric. You then paint over it with dye layering from light to dark to create a really cool background - finally you sandwich the fabric between layers of newspaper and iron the wax off to leave behind the original fabric, this creates really nice effects (would make a really good space effect if done correctly).



Sunday, 20 October 2013

Textile Project - Research

So, I've finally decided on an idea - it kind of links what I want to eventually do. The idea is a landscape made from computer components, been thinking of using metallic materials within the final piece but this is something I'll need to explore a little more. In the mean time I've been trying to find some examples and inspiration and these 3D models are amazing.



Wednesday, 16 October 2013

Fabric distressing

Just a quick update on the fabric distressing task - managed to try two things so far and ran out of ideas, firstly I took a chefs torch to one piece of fabric which resulted in it withering up and bubbling slightly, this created a cool effect.

The second I have placed in a glass of bleach, and will post a picture of the end result once it's done.

Any ideas on some more methods are welcome.





Applique & Suffolk Puffs

So, I thought I better bless you all with an update seen as I've been neglecting the blog slightly. 

So last week I learnt about two things, firstly was Suffolk Puffs - although at first it seemed very simple I quickly learnt that being a bit of a perfectionist with the stitching was not a good idea. My stitching was far too small and close together which resulted in the fabric not gathering into a "pouch". Second and third attempt at this did however prove a success but ultimately I wasn't sold on the technique. 

Second and by far my favourite technique of the night was the Applique - although we kind of cheated on the process and quickened it up using bondaweb instead of a stitch I found it really good. My borderline crazy obsession with triangles shone through again as I used different layers of fabric on top of each other to create a nice triangular piece, to finish it off I started to add a little running stitch round the edge of the fabric pieces. 



Thursday, 3 October 2013

Update!

Getting stuck in with this printing today, found working on the foam board very good - came up with a cool grungy effect.

Wasn't as keen on the transfer printing but it did come up with some nice results - probably need to give it another go at some point.