1.Inspiration

We received the new project brief this week. It's quite an open brief since the only requirement was that we chose something "man-made". This is what the term means:

I watched Edward Scissorhands the movie from 1990 by Tim Burton. It is a sad story about a "man-made" boy who used to be a robot and had been planned by the inventor that he was to become a real boy gradually. Unfortunately the inventor dies just before the final stage when he was about to give Edward real hands in place of the scissors he had.
It's charming how the character goes through a lot of emotion in the movie but displays it very subtly and I love the contrast between that with the punk outfit he has- it is embellished with lots of buckles, studs, stitches, which are non-functional but add interest to the character.

2.Secondary Research

I researched on some designer collections which have punk influences and embellished surfaces.
The ones I liked best which I think can relate to this project are Burberry Prorsum and Proenza Schouler.

From Burberry Prorsum SS08

From Proenza Schouler SS09- lots of metallic elements in the images of my research and contrast of shiny and matt with steely hardware.

I found this brilliant Ann Sofie Beck leather skirt with navel rings in leather which I thought gives an interesting effect and unexpectedness via Jak and Jil


I made a moodboard with some keywords and textures I would introduce as optical illusion in my work as well as the overall feeling created by my work in relation to my research.

3Collecting Items for Drawing

I have collected bits of things from the hardware shop so I can draw them out. Most of what I have collected are to secure things which I think is relevant to the project because Edward's outfit was meant to protect him from harm which his hands might do him.
There are screws, hinges, fasteners and locks.

4.Secondary Research- Repeat Pattern

Aimeé Wilder
Aimeé's work as I have seen in "Fashion Source: Cutting Edge- Patterns and Textures" is an artist whose work I think is great. The shapes she use in the tiles that are used to create the overall design are simple and most of them have only got two colours. Although they are not designed for fashion, there are some great ways of repeating the tiles in her work which I will try out after my drawings are completed.

Half drop repeat pattern or 2 tiles alternated in a grid arrangement.



Full repeat

Rotational ?


HALF DROP

5.Drawings

I started drawing feel very excited about this project and then got a bit worried about my wiggly line drawings of hardware which is so structured and hard. I drew screws, hose holders, hinges and other bits and bobs which I bought from the hardware shop. I tried not to combine the different things together because I was interested in the kind of uniformity that each final print will have just like the designer research I had done where the hard ware basically was repetitive and varied in little bits of detail within each stud.
I used a variation of sign pens, markers, calligraphy, charcoal, drawing pens and pencils in each of these initial sketches

i drew these screws in varying sizes and adding the thin lines going around to add depth to the drawing i think it looks quite cute..


i drew the hinges in a sketchy way which i now think is really ugly and im not so sure how al of my drawings are going to differ from one another using black n white all the time..

i tried drawing this using pens of different thickness and find that the variation of the calligraphy pen gives off a more interesting look

I drew this metal thing which i thought was quite interesting to have it kind of repeat horizontally but then have that bit of difference in just once of several rows.

6.Screws

i tried drawing the screw in different ways layering white charcoal pencil on top of paint and then..

found an amazing bunch of paper clip things which look really raw and quite dangerous especially after i fixed the on paper. then developed it later on..

7.Hose

so i drew that crappy pencil drawing earlier and now using paint to draw and adding the details with the calligraphy pen which i am often drawn towards as my favourite tool of line marking. although its meant to be like a tool for old manuscripts i love the way it moves and gets a bit scratchy when the ink doesnt come out right or im holding it in the wrong angle. i thought this piece was one of the better ones so far
also did this drawing its a bit murky and dirty and grimy which i thought was prolly a bit too much i dont see myself liking it im not sure.

8.Diamond Grip

today tried to drawin this with my hand drawn grid which turned out not bad but then later tweaked it a wee bit used some chinese ink to paint the shapes adding different tones and make some ones pop out more than the others.
i drew this one below with a marker so its really neat and quite flat. its pretty structured since i used a ruler to draw the guides then methodically filled all the shapes in with pen
i drew this and filled it in with marker ink and some paint. i thought it looked nice but then hated the marker ink whichdidnt flow out so well its a bit bad .. though i half liked it

9. The Strip of Bullets

so i wanted to draw these things pictured above but then they turned out like some kind of citrus fruits which isnt necessarily a bad thing i dont want my work to look like fruits


so i drew the way this thing looked from the side and then layered the same shape one on top of another to get a different look to it since i have a tendency to draw things quite "literally"

10. HInges and Door Locks

i draw these in a sketchy way .. im not sure if having to draw hardware means i might have to draw it using a ruler? but it can look so dull and mathematical..

so i just tried drawing very straight lines and it kind of worked...