Digital Print

I missed a week of print due to illness, it was a shame as I was really looking forward to it, but it was probably the best one to miss as print is what I have done the most of before and I am not really considering taking it as my specialism.

My photoshop skill level was so low before I started the digital print block, I had taught myself very basic stuff over the years but I was very keen to be properly taught it. On the first day we learnt how to edit colour and basic transformation skills as well as how to make half drop repeat and offset patterns. As Melanie said, you can learn simple processes in photoshop and use them well to create really interesting designs and patterns.

This was my first design done by repeating my drawing from my swatch book and changing the colour to a light pink, then copying and enlarging in a dark colour and layering on top. It’s a very simple process and colour palette but I am pretty pleased with it, although I could improve by changing the background colour to maybe a very light grey pink. This design could work for fashion but might look better for interiors.

This is another one of my designs, using an abstract painting that I had done, I extracted parts, overplayed and played around with the transparency and effects, and then with my previous design as the top layer. I think it looks good with the black pattern as it really stands out over the painterly background. I seem to have this kooky illustrative style that always emerges when I do print, that I actually don’t like that much but I know looks quite good and has a consistent theme.

This is another design using one of my drawings. I made the design into a paintbrush, and then printed multiple times onto of the original, changing the placement to create darker and lighter sections. I could take this further by changing the colour but I am quite satisfied with it in black and white. The paintbrush effect created a soft edge, I think it would look better if the lines where a bit clearer and sharper.

On the second day we continued developing our designs then learnt how to create digital fashion illustrations. I have done a lot of fashion illustration in the past, but by printing out designs and physically cutting out the garment shape and sticking it on to the drawing. This has a really nice hand done look to it, but I can see how learning to do this on photoshop can be so much quicker, giving you more time to edit and scale your design and produce more professional designs. I traced photos from magazines then scanned and put in my patterns. I was amazed at how quick this process is, you can realise how your work would look as a garment so easily.

I am pleased with these illustrations, I like to keep it simple, I think too much detail on the face and hair or background just distracts from the design. I pasted in the original face from the photo as I am not good at drawing faces and I felt as its so close up it would be the focus of the image if I drew it myself. I would like to do something a bit more interesting with them but I don’t know exactly what, I might look online or in some books to get some ideas.

I scanned in lots of my drawings and overlaid them to create designs, I want to find a way of making more abstract designs, I might cut sections up and create a kind of collage, changing the scale of different parts. I have realised through this that photoshop can be an amazing tool not just for creating pattern but for creating and changing illustrations and compositions.