Literature, Villains and film

With my sketchbook going well I was able to take a break and revisit my research. I had recently come across one of my faveourite books, The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C.S Lewis. (Although my copy isn't as pretty as this image) after reading it for the 50th time, I had a light bulb moment the white witch in storybook was a very savage beauty, this was idea that follow onto other characters such as maleficent and snow white's evil queen, they were all extremely beautiful and savage. And all of them came from books of the same fantasy genre. In relation to my research I was thinking about the similarities between them as well different versions of there characters over time. Recently these characters have been adapted for film and TV.

Reading about these character is exciting and seeing now how Hollywood and Disney have adapted them from paper to film is an interesting area to explore. I began to rather my research and discovered that it was the costume of each character that made it clear who they were, status and personality. Now i am studying the design of the costumes, the shape, texture and materials. My textiles can now more forward as i look at the designers behind the costumes in film and TV adaptions and inform me in this exploratory unit. (None of the images belong to me, no copyright infringement intended)

Sketchbook studies

I think it's always daunting starting a new sketchbook, its not so bad once your started but the first part is also the hardest for me. I usually like to start off with mark making because this helps me relax and feel more confident in experimenting. Staying away from colour at this stage will help me focus more on line and shape as colour isn't my main focus for my research just yet. I have practically enjoyed working with black fine liner. When I wet my brush it creates a similar effect as using ink...I guess its a cheaper cost effective alternative.. (Every little helps)

Preliminary research

Starting a new project is always hard, at first but the once I've got started there was no stopping I spent a good chunk out of the day organising my research and choosing a starting point, which was easy considering I had the amazing opportunity to visit the V&A exhibition, over the summer and got to see Alexander McQueen's Savage beauty exhibition! It was a really amazing collection that I really did enjoy and learned quite a bit about the designer. After revisiting some of the images I had taken and a book I had bought at the time, I had made critical observations from the visit. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos inside the exhibit, but I can clearly remember the atmosphere that was created inside. 

After first walking the doors I found myself amount a huge crowd of people, and a few of the designers work, I thought to myself that although the room was crowded everyone was very calm and quite, so much that I could clearly hear music and an audio recording of the designer introducing the designs around us. As we walked through, the very strong theme of the collection was infused within the walls, in one area the ceiling was covered in bones and skulls, the faces of the models were covered, which was a little unsettling. Then I began to think about how my textiles can not only be visually impacting but how a piece of textiles could make you feel. (sources: fashion.telegraph.co.uk and vam.ac.uk/alexandermcqueensavagebeauty)

Exploring Textiles Day 1

Day 1

On the 14th of September 2015, I had arrived at the last first day I would ever have as a University student. I had done it I had made to my final year, which means there would one final project. The challenge (if I choose to accept) is to research, design and make a project with a topic of our own choosing, with key concepts, and ideas beyond my course and into the creative industry. We were advised to use our past experiences on the course, the skills we had learned, techniques and process' to guide us in this final step...After meeting my tutors and technicians once again, panic began to set in..after almost 5 months off on holiday coming back to an overload of information, Visiting lecturers, New Designers show, Formative assessments, Tutorials, Trades shows in France and the all important dissertation and the defined phase, repeated over and over by my tutors "Plan your time wisely and start now."

With our introductory session over, I took home one messy and scribbled pad and one black pen low on ink and one hell of a rattled brain..with quite a journey home I left feeling rather numb and dazed. After finally returning home, I needed time to relax and calm down, my rather panic train of thought had slowed down while I had time to think about how to start, what did I want to look at? What do I like about my practice? What am I aiming for? After thinking about this for a short time I then decided to go back to the beginning. The best way to move forward is to remember where I started. Looking at past work, Textiles for Fashion and Interiors years 1 & 2.