Major project: Sketches

I created some sketches for my major project. They are six pattern designs inspired by natural forms.

This picture shows elements took from a butterfly's wing. I wanted to show a feeling of calming. Some of us may remember childhood holiday spent watching butterflies. In my case, it was the school travel day in primary school. I was having picnic with other children on the grasses, butterflies are around us. One very beautiful blue butterfly was fluttering its wings and remained there until I moved my arm. It was like enjoying the sunshine with us. How a calming and lovely sunny day. I have never felt that before, the warm sunshine and beautiful creatures. I learnt sometimes we just need to calm ourselves then we might not miss any interesting things surrounding. My second defining moment with butterflies was looking at their wings in a collection glass box. It was a chance that I visit a museum with my family. There was an exhibition of various specimens. I was shocked by the extremely patterns on the butterflies's wings. Their wings are actually a weaving so intricate and looked like dedicated art of glasses. Therefore I used blue as the major colour, in order to create calmness. Also, this image created by small pieces. I wanted to show details of the pattern.

If people say butterfly, I might associate flowers. I tried to show calmness in a different angle. I think the idea of the composition of this image is fine, just need more details as Lindsay Philip's work. It may be better to work further.

When I was drawing this image on my iPad Pro. I was struggling with the transition fo these three colours. Then I discovered a tool call Linear Fill, it allows to transition from red at the top to yellow at the bottom.

When I was thinking about warmth, energy, love, excitement, enthusiasm or attention, it might be somethings in red, yellow or orange. Red is a bright, warm colour that evokes strong emotions. It lets us to associate love, warmth and comfort. Red in text always use for warning or highlighting. Then, I combined these three colours and thought the Sun is a representative object for this topic. However, this sketch was not successful. It is too simple and does not look like a professional textiles print. I will consider work further on this piece or create another one.

I inspired by colours on rooster's feathers. Different from hens, their feathers are more colourful.

 I took elements from a peacock and used shapes and patterns of its feathers. I created a yellow green background that the patterns can stand out. According to an article, peacock symbolism: Vision, Royalty, Spirituality, Awakening, Guidance, Protection, & Watchfulness. I though yellow might be more suitable colour to represent Royalty, then I used yellow green to instead of green for the background. I am satisfied with this design. But when I ask Charlotte's opinion, she thinks it is not exciting enough, I should consider garment design rather than just pattern design.

This design is bases on pattern of zebras. I think it might be interesting if I not only work on colours. Black & White also an attractive topic to develop.

This idea is for wallhanging design and carpet design. It may be useful for train or bus companies to promote their business. Also can use for decoration.

I am satisfied with most of my work, but still think it should be improve. I do agree with Charlotte's suggestion that garment design is more beneficial for my major subject in University. The next blog will show further designers research and work process of final pieces.

References : j.m.s.(n.d.) Symbol: peacock. [online] https://www.mindbodyspirit-online.com/peacock.

[viewed] 24/11/19

Yumpu Flip Book: First Experiment

This week I was looking for a way to present my work for a major project. I decided to make a presentation through a Yumpu FlipBook. Here are some experiments in Word and Photoshop. This is a preparation for the Yumpu Book. After I completed my final piece by iPad and edited it, I will upload to Yumpu website to create the FlipBook.

The reason why I did not choose to make a Powerpoint or Word document is I wanted to try some more new digital techniques, such as the Gallery or Yumpu. Also, I think the Yumpu Book looks more suitable and more professional for a portfolio for my major project.

Firstly, I dragged the pictures of my garment in Word which I thought Word is much easier to use than Photoshop. However, it is not a good enough tool for a professional portfolio. I found it is hard to organise the photos since sometimes I miss the edge or gaps appear between them. Also, the background of the picture shows above is not pure black. It is a little bit messy. Therefore, I moved on to Photoshop to edit my images.

The FlipBook would be a mini-portfolio that I don't need a big size canvas, such as A3. Then I created an A4 canvas here.

I opened my picture in another layer, just in case it fails and will not affect my canvas. This screenshot shows the edited image. I lost the screenshot of my process. But the working process of the Clone Stamp was posted in my previous blog, go to check if you want to learn about it. It is a tool that covers the mess and extra colours by using colour expected in your background.

Furthermore, I started working on the design of the heading title and subtilises. I wanted to find a colour stand out from the background, also relates to my garment.

Also, I tried different letter patterns.

I changed the heading to yellow which is one of the elements in my design. This colour is bright and it stands out, much better than the brown, go for it!

So this is the final version of my first experience with Photoshop. Now it's ready for making a Yumpu Book for my final pieces.

Critical Feedback

I got a critical Feedback Form about my major project and website from Jessica. I will include photographs of the form and add responses to the comments.

I am delighted to see that my blogs are easy to understand for her. She can clearly see how did I create works and how did I apply the inspirations from artists or designers to my projects. I think it means the blogs and the website works well. Even the students from other subjects can understand my working process and what I wanted to show. Besides, she mentioned that she can see my reflection and work process on the iPad. I do think using different devices, such as iPad, helps me to experience new digital techniques. In this term, I started to work digitally. I attended Photoshop workshop, Illustrator workshop, also Photography Induction. I gained experience in using digital tools and improved the quality of my photoshoots.

Furthermore, a new technique I have learned is to use bottoms wisely. Since I have uploaded plenty of artwork, the Gallery looks a little bit messy and it was not user-friendly. I was looking for a method to organize the pictures. I wanted to create additional pages and separate them, but there may be a problem that too many pages for a website. It will not be an appropriate presentation. Then I have chatted with Charlott. She taught me how to add bottoms in my Gallery and link to the mini-galleries. Also, if I do not want them to show on the top of my website, I can go to the particular page in Menu and click '...', there is an option to hide the pages. The bottoms are very convenient, it allows the users to see specific work with the same topic. However, the bottoms are one-way through. Zoe reminded us to add bottoms in the hidden pages to help the users get back to the main gallery directly. It is very helpful because users always get lost when they are looking at a website with lots of works.

In addition, Jessica gave comments about the customize of my website. She thinks my website is welcoming because of my works, they are eye-catching. But it would be better if  I add more colours and details to the design of my pages. I kept the backgrounds of the website in white because I think if I used colourful background it may mess up with the artwork in Gallery and become hard to read.

Additional work: Photography Induction

I have attended a photography induction in the Art Factory. The topic I was working on is ' Traces of you'. Literally, I took photographs that can prove I have been there or I have used those objects.

Trace has different definitions. For example, it means to find something or someone lost. If I use this idea in my works, I perhaps take a few sequential photos about how I disappear from a place, such as I walk through a corridor. It may be something like the pictures I posted before.

But  I don't think the quality of this section, it is not good enough for now. Therefore, I decided to look into another definition. I was interested in the causes or origins of something or to find the description of something has developed. Then I found something interesting.

To begin with, I took a picture when I was spinning a pencil. I always do that when I am thinking, so I think it might be a trace of me.

The camera caught the amazing movement of the pencil, it surprised me. But when I showed to Zoe and she suggested me to shoot it on a white paper, the green cutting mat does not make professional photos.

Then I had a try with a white background. They look much better, but I think the light level should be higher. The ISO was 400, I need to change the Exposure Comp level higher by press +/- bottom next to ISO.

I also took three pictures of line drawings and see how it goes.

Here is another series, 'Flipping a book'. I was flipping my 3D book sculpture. There are 22 pictures, so I combined them through PhotoScape X and I used sic columns tile. Some problem with these pictures, too dark. 

More photographs here.

These are pictures of my Land Art, I like the details of the peanuts, but it is not exciting enough.

I changed the setting to 2 columns and increase the roundness percentage. I combined the paper cut with my land art sculpture. Furthermore, I used black papers to create the background. It allows the book paper to stand out. Also, it shows a very nice outcome, the combination of paper cut and Land Art. The viewers can see the plants through holes on paper.

I like the tiny and exquisite necklace. This is one of my favourites. I continued to use a black background. It shows more details, light and shadow of the silver necklace. If I use white paper, it may be too bright and fail to show a clear outline of the small bike.

This bag also very important to me.  I have been using it for a few years and it has broken many times. I used thread to sew it, but the thread keeps coming unstitched.

Some marks show on the eraser.

Moreover, I am a person who likes wearing a watch all the time that I found beautiful traces on my watch.

This is my favourites photograph, I combined the rest of them as a contact sheet.

I think it is a nice experience that I not only learnt some basic techniques of using a camera, also the quality of the photographs also improved by help from Zoe. I agree with what she said, Photography is not focused on how much work you produce, it how many knowledge you gained in class.

References: Cambridge Dictionary. [online] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/trace

[viewed]17/11/19

Critical thinking: Noise

Noise has been a hot debate problem in society. Some people like working in a quiet place, but some of them like to put their music on. They hold their own opinion. I found whether noise becomes a problem is depends on the person.

In my opinion, I hate noises like a car engine, a barking dog, music from clubs, bars or party, etc. It totally distracts my life that I can not work efficiently and I cannot concentrate on anything.

 I made a conclusion of why I don't like parties, especially the noise. I do not like being in a crowded environment and having alcohols. Besides, it is not a good place for meeting new friends. I cannot hear clearly when someone talk to me, not even possible to understand it. The music is too loud and it damages people's ears, and so on. Musics from club, bars or parties always too loud and affects people who are living around. It distracts people who having to telework or need early sleep. Furthermore, those music are not the type of music I like. I like to listen to the piano. Therefore, pop music, trap, rap become a noise problem for me.

Conversely, reports showed that people like parties because of plain reason. They think they can forget what they are and what they suppose to do in a loud environment.  It is a chance for them to run away from home, from stresses or from the work pressure. They believed that loud music lets them relax. It actually claimed in an article that loud music releases endorphins so listening to loud music is essentially self-medicating. Alcohol also seems to be an excuse for all silly actions. They express all feelings and forget everything after a few shots.

Photo from Mariën's article.

References: Mariën.S.(2019) 5 Reasons why people like loud music. https://blog.loopearplugs.com/why-people-love-loud-music/
MuleSoft.(2019) What kind of music do DJs play in the club these days?https://www.quora.com/What-kind-of-music-do-DJs-play-in-the-club-these-days

Website creation: Mobile Version

I add some screenshots here to show the mobile version of my website and check if it works.

Here is the Home page, the title is in the centre and it is clear. The picture here does not show the whole page, but I think it is fine.

The menu changed to the right-hand side.

Besides, I looked at the About Me page. It looks fine with the image and text. However, the edge of the image reduced so I think I might make it smaller in the website version. Hope that helps.

Since I moved down the top edge of the Gallery, there are enough spaces for these buttons. They did not show up in the version before, now is fixed.

Here is the Contact page, it looks organised. The position changed, the image was on the left and it moved on the top. I think all the pages changed in this way. Also, I have checked the Submit button. It works, after the viewers pressed it, it will show if submitted successfully. I am satisfied with it so far, see what can improve and I will illustrate on the next blog.

Website Creation: Textiles designers' website research

I have been searched for two textiles artists and look at their website designs.

The first designer I have looked at was Lucienne Day. It is not a personal website for Lucienne Day, but it is a website shows textiles designs from different artists. This website called' Classic Textiles' includes four designers' work which has a similar style. This website shows these designers name clearly on the left-hand side of the HOME PAGE and it illustrates them all with buttons that is the way I used in my Gallery. Botton is a convenient tool that allows the viewers to click on and it links to the page what they want to go for.

Lucienne Day was one of the most influential textiles designers in Britain. Her work still famous and use for interior decoration because of the freshness and originality. She was inspired by other artists to create a new style of her designs which is 'Contemporary' design. Her works combined with abstract repeat patterns and certain colours. Moreover, these design often used for interior decoration such as wallpaper. Also, she interested in ceramics and carpets.

This website combines Lucienne Day's work and Bio on one page. The advantage of this method is that the page is simple and unambiguous. The viewers can see the introduction of her and look at her work style at the same time if they do not understand some word in the text. For example, if I am the first time to see the word 'Contemporary', I might not know what it means, even the website explains Lucienne Day works with abstract art. In this website, the viewers can look at the pictures on the right-hand side that they can know what style of design the artist has.

However, one significant problem of the website is it does not provide enough information. For instances, I think it can include more text to describe the artist. It can add pages of writing about how this artist created a particular work, what influenced her, what are the inspirations, etc. That can let the viewers know about this artist better and they can actually learn something meaningful that can use as inspiration.

Also, Sue Timney was another designer I searched for. She has a similar style of Lucienne Day's work that works in Contemporary design style. Totally different from the last website, it is a personal webpage only for Sue Timney. It looks more organised which list all content on the top of the page. Compared to the 'Classic Textiles', it includes more information about Sue Timney. As we can see the screenshot I added below, the website shows a menu under the designer's name. It includes social media, Home page, About me, Project, etc. I think it is better than the Home page of 'Classic Textiles'. It looks modern and fashionable. I can see the website designers spent time on the page creation. Obviously, they have considered a specific text pattern and let it combines well with the images of social media. Besides, I like a mini gallery put on the front page. It became a sign of this designer. As we can see, a portrait of Sue Timne in the mini gallery shows her custom style and it matches the background. This picture lets viewers know what kind of style she likes and work on.

Here is a screenshot of her gallery. Sue Timney became the most famous British textiles designer and interior in 1980 for her black and white graphic imagery designs. The major colour of her project in the gallery links back to the Home page. Besides, there is another gallery at the bottom. It directly links to the Project page. I think it is a good way that if viewers find it's difficult to find a specific series of her work.

Also, the same picture on the Home page used for About page. It shows the copyright at the corner of this photograph which viewer know this picture shot by Paul Murphy.

Further, I don't like her contact page. I think it is not convenient for customers who want to email them or ask questions. Some website page, also what I did for my webpages, always make a form for the customers that they can provide their email address and the text might automatically send to the service. But her website just provides the company website address and the company address, it brings inconveniences to people that they need to create an additional email, but not allow to send messages through this website.

However, the best thing I like about this website is it has a Blog page which I think I might include on my website. The benefit is people can see what work Sue Timney updates when they are looking at this website. They do not need to go to another website or her blog to find the news. I think it is a very clever way and it helps to promote.

References: DAY.L(1917-2010), [online] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucienne_Day.

DAY.L(1917-2010), Classic Textiles, [online] https://www.classictextiles.com/lucienne-day/

TIMNEY.S(1950)[online] http://www.suetimney.com/