Conclusion

Overall I felt that this project defiantly helped me to appreciate the work that goes into the costumes that I studied. Form the flexibility of the ballerina’s outfit to the intricate detailing of queen Victoria's gown, I feel that is project has forced me to pay more attention to the smaller and more subtle detailing that goes into costume making. Finally I also feel that I have grown as an artist as I have; experimented with weird materials, gained an appreciation for the non-digital side of things and I have learned that traying with both hands is incredible fun and effective. so to close I would say that this project was a personal success.

Task 7 – Favourite costume

This week’s task was to get images of the costume that has most inspired us. When thinking about this my mind instantly went to Alice in wonderland and all the spin offs. When I was young, even now, I was inspired by the images and illustrations interpreting the characters and their clothes. The bright colours and chaotic amounts of contrasting patterns, was just bewitching to me and I needed for it to be real. Then in 2010 the live action seconded Alice in wonderland came out and I just fell in love, with the mad hatter. I have designed hats, books, art, sculptures, costumes (as revealed in the previous post) and so much more based on wonder land. So it was vey obvious which costume I had to pick. So for this project I started of by drawing all the drawings in pencil, I did this because this time I was tracing the images, I did this so I could use both hands at the same time to draw. I did this so that the piece would end up looking a little Mad, as to represent the character. Once done I then worked back into three of the drawings. For the close up I used only hard colour pastels and a rubber, I did this so I could have a contrast of soft textures and harder lines. I liked how it turned out not as bright as the image but muted in a creepy way, which I feels brings a different side out. For the medium long I just left it as a drawing, however for the super close ups I did work back into them. For the cotton spools on his sash, I used a mix of paints pens and pencils. I had these new pencils that I really wanted to try, they have a great wait and texture and I though they would look brilliant for cotton. The paints I used for the chain, but it was to dark and I didn’t end up liking it, so when I doubt ink it out. So I went over the piece in black fine liner and I feel like it came together. The final close up of the shoe I just used my new colour pencils, just to pick out the colours with out overwhelming the details. Over all I liked drawing this costume, it was super fun to use both hands for a change and I would defiantly do it again. 

Task 6 – Styles and details

This week's task is a blast to the past for me, as my family is very famous for dressing up. Especially me if there is special effects make up involved. Anyway this task is styles and details. So for this project I had to get images of my family and friends dressed up in costumes. So I went looking into my past photo shoot where I had my family and friends dress up in costumes that I had made/altered. This was such a fun project for me as I felt that this task helped to give me new perspective on my own work. So for this I got my brother in-law, childhood friend and old friend from collage ‘s photos. My childhood friend was dressed up as little dead riding, who has scars down her face; this was interesting to draw as the hood is really velvet and so I used coloured pastels and to try and recreate this soft velvety texture. Whereas for the scars I used a fine liner whit made them really stand out especially as I purposefully didn’t colour any thing but the cloths in, to make them stand out more. For my brother in Law I had him dress up as my favourite character The MAD hatter. For this though I wanted it simple and just drew in fin liner/pencil as I felt adding colour would take a way from the detail I was trying to capture. So I do feel that at this point I'm my project I was really grasping at being able to pick out important details and not just go crazy in layering things to get detail but simplifying things and just specifically pic out though details. So with that I mind I created a piece of my friend from collage who I photographed adorning my authentic venetian mask. With intricate detailing and fathers I felt that it was a perfect way to demonstrate my ability to pick out details, and I feel I did it rather well. Overall I liked this task and as I mentioned at the start, I felt like this helped me to grow in the way I experience my own art. 

Task 5 – Movement and scene

For this task we were given the aim to capture movement within an art piece. Naturally, this called out to the closeted dancer inside of me and so I chose to do two of my favourite dances, opposites of the dance sale, Street dance and ballet. When I was younger, I danced both of I can even now, just writing, still feel the vibrations of the music and how my body wants to respond. This is what I focused on when I was drawing, for the ballerina dancing “the dance of a dying swan, I tried to make the stokes of the pens/pencil long and delicate but with a slight harshness as the “dying swan” glided and then stutters a lot through out the dance (as it is dying). For the next dance I did street dance and comeback dance for George Simon as it was a dance that resonated with me and because it is an almost homage to street dance. For it I did a continuous line drawing and the music is quick and doesn’t stop and just like the dance, continuous line drawings can look quite chaotic sometimes, so I thought it fit well. What I really liked doing though was the print as I went a bit mad and decided to do an acetate print using eyeliner, and hey it worked well. All I did was get and image of the dancer trace him and print on paper. Finally my favourite though was swan lake as in the dances there is a scene where she is in a joint dances with the prince. And the dance is very…. Stipply. There is lots of hopping and tapping and jumps and so to me it only made sense to stipple. I used large more compacted dots to create shadows and bolder lines, whereas for the high lights and features smaller and more dispersed dots were used, and I really liked how it turned out. Overall I really enjoyed this task as I fell it resonate with me and I just wanted to keep going with it but I had to rain my self in and focus, which is something I struggled on at the start and now have developed a little discipline at the project continues.

Task 4 – Accessories

This week we were given the task of drawing Accessories. This was probable the most diverse I have been so far with my tasks as this time I introduced a little bit of impression tracing and printing. I started with the impressions first as all I had to do was print of an image, I chose a broch I saw at the art museum and draw over it whiles having thick water colour paper under near to catch the impressions. I like this technique because its simple and can look very effective, however mine didn’t work so well has my paper was to thin and so didn’t hold to dints very well, so when chalk was rubbed over the image wasn’t very clear. But I didn’t let it get my down I decided to  use the excess pen on the image to printing and a sprits of water. This, I felt was a lot more successful this time, even if it wasn’t perfect and still a little faded, as it really gave the imaged textures and a new life. In fact I like this printing so much I managed to rip my photos that I was using but that just made me like the phot as an art piece on its own. I did some more images like a parrot, made with chalks and fin liner, which I like but over all this task didn’t inspire me as much as the others have and so if  I was to do it again, I would pick more interesting objects and materials.

3 – Drapes and Details

This week we were tasked with draping and detailing, the aim was to really focused on the textures of the fabrics and the intricate details that go into a garment. I first started by drawing objects that I had photographed from around the classroom. I first started with a shear fabric with a teal/turquois colour that I had wrapped and tide around my mannequin’s waist. I created two drawings both drawn using a dark blue and medium green overlaid chalk, in an attempted to replicate the light shining though the translucent fabric revealing the interference colours and layers underneath. I really enjoyed this way of working as I felt the blending of colours and the over laying gave it this very soft and textured feel just like the real fabric. Moving on to another creation I painted a joker's hat that had pompoms. This was a first for me as when I paint, I love to go over the painting with fine liner, as it brings out all of the details and some time shadows giving the piece a bold look. This time I did not do that I stuck with the raw edges, adding on to the idea of began unusual I added hand made pompoms instead of drawing them and I really liked the result. I did some more drawings after that, really detailed and so as I little fun fact I did them with my left hand as I am ambidextrous and so although I tend to use my right for the last three, I swapped. Out of all the tasks completed so far, I have to say this was the one I enjoyed most.

Task 2 – Colour

This week we were not in on a Thursday but a Friday as we went to the Bankfield museum, in Halifax. We were there to look at, draw and photograph the costumes and accessories that were being displayed. This was so interesting to me as it gave me a real insight into the detail and colour, which brings me on to  my next section. the task we were given was colour. To look at the shades, details and contrasts of the garments, photos and/or the film that were saw or took. I fist sketched out a few basic designs when in the museum, however once I was home that’s when I took it up a notch. Along with drawing some of my own objects I also worked back into the gallery photos I took. Learning from last week about being settled when creating, I started with digital, as that is my preferred method of creating, and so I worked back into the images; drawing over the detailing, creases lines, and shadows. I also chose to do a one line drawing just to push it a little more. Even though I did like this affect I wasn’t settled and so I tried a more traditional approach of chalks and water colours. Overall I was surprised with this tsk as I almost felt like I was transported back in time through both the costumes and my own drawing style. 

Task 1 – Monochrome quick sketches

This week we were given the task to create a set of artworks monochromatically, using a variety of different medias. This in mind I created pieces using: a continuous line, blind sketch and times sketch (2 mins, 3 mins & 5 mins). Furthermore I went on a created a detailed drawing of my friend across the room as I felt that all the tasks were to rushed for me and I needed time to settle back into my drawing after not drawing on paper for a while. This drawing of my friend was defiantly the right call as after I felt much more settled and comfortable to open mind and try out different mediums. Form there I started to enjoy my art even if they were no where near perfect, I felt I could at least laugh at them, especially the blind drawings. Going on to the next task I will probably take the same approach in doing a detailed drawing and then plying as that seemed to really suit me.