final drawing week

As well as encouraging us to continue drawing from our collections to inspire our technical block work, the drawing weeks have all had something else in common: they challenge conventional ideas about drawing in a fun, and sometimes simply silly way! A breath of fresh air between the intensity of the 2 week assessments, it seems almost a bit sad that this week was our last one. 

On the first day, our first exercise was to 'draw' someone else's shoe from newspaper. I actually really enjoyed modelling this. Thinking about the object in 3 dimensions to be able to recreate it was a good reminder that when you draw with pen and paper the concept is still the same- objects aren't (normally!) just FLAT, they have textures and surfaces and insides....

my paper version of Jess' shoe

Then, in an 'art-attack'-esque fashion (I used to LOVE that show when I was younger), we had to quickly create an image of an animal out of random items of clothing we had with us. It's a good challenge just working with whatever materials you have to hand. Although you are constrained by their physical properties, you are equally liberated, in that you can use them however you want to! This translates to materials for textiles work too. At some point soon I can't wait to get into the wood and metal workshops and create a textile piece that doesn't just involve fabric and thread!

Our lion!

Then we had to combine paper and clothing, using the garment as a landscape for some kind of scene. I turned this hat into a jacuzzi. Everybody made pretty wacky, imaginative things....

some very 'serious' work...!

my jacuzzi hat

John's drawing day was also based around boundaries intended to give freedom. We had to draw our partner next to us using only cube shapes, then circles. It was quite hard to draw them whilst they were simultaneously trying to draw you...let alone the fact that we were drawing by layering up shapes! I found it really enjoyable though, and like exercise from the day before, it pushed me to think more in terms of 3D

My 'cube' drawing of Zehra

Zehra made from circles!

 We then had a truly bizarre task. Writing a list of 10 things we'd change about ourself/super powers we'd like to have, our partner had to translate the information into a medieval-style portrait of us. I told Zehera that I wanted parrot wings, hands that could grow flowers, pogo sticks in my feet and boom-box knees amongst several other crazy things, so she had quite a laugh making my portrait!

Zehra's interpretation of me

On the final day we were working from our Box Clever collection. Claire was continually timing each drawing we did of our objects- mostly we were working between 10 and 30 to 50 seconds...so not all that long at all really! It meant there was no time to consider what we were doing- you just had to work instinctively and keep up with the clock!

series of speedy 30 second sketches 

Towards the end, we drew one of our objects, then left paper ontop of our work, hid the object, and went round as a group writing down what each person's drawing reminded us of. My yo-yo drawing got some fairly interesting comments...

yo yo

...or is it jelly...or a bottle top?!

It made me realise though how beneficial it can be to ask people their opinions about your work. Everyone sees things differently, and a fresh perspective can highlight ideas you might not have ever thought of yourself...or can make you realise that what you thought you were conveying isn't coming across! 

These drawing weeks have been great- a chance to loosen up, have time to reflect and be re-inspired for each new block. And also to just have a good giggle- which we all need, don't we?! 

Screen Print Process 2

As I've found in all the technical blocks so far, work is not over when the technical process is done. After printing my silk, it had to be steamed (thank you Margret, the lovely technician who sorted this bit out for us!), washed and ironed. Then, as I had decided to print onto a large piece of silk, instead of smaller sample sized pieces, I had to decide how to cut up my work.... why is it that making the first cut into a bit of fabric always a tad on the nerve-wracking side?!

I already knew roughly where I wanted to cut my silk from my design sketches and the ideas I'd envisioned while printing. However, before simply snipping away, I decided to do a bit of draping on a mannequin to test out my prints in relation to the human form, for further ideas of how the patterns could be effectively used and divided up. 

I then made a card template I wanted the final fabric samples to be, and did some final experimenting, laying the template over parts of the silk to check for other ways to resolve my designs that I hadn't considered yet, that might also potentially work. 

It was quite fun continuing to experiment with my work in this way. I'll try and keep up this attitude with future projects ahead- always thinking- how could I change this? what would happen if I do that? or add this? or put that here? or turn this upside-down?! 
Seeing as my Box Clever work all derives from the idea of 'playing around', taking a playful approach to my prints also just seemed rather apt anyway!

After cutting up my silk, I then finished the edges and made fabric headers. Having to really consider the presentation of our work for each of the technical block assessments has been really helpful, as the extra effort makes the final samples look much more finished, professional and communicates the feel of your work in a much cleaner, clearer way. Pictures of the finished samples will be posted soon!

Screen Printing Process 1

My two days in the print workshop last week were pretty full on. We learnt how to mix acid dyes (as silk is a protein fibre, 'acid milling' and 'acid levelling' dyes create effective prints on the fabric), how to use the dyes as a printable colour, and how to wash the screen to print again. 

Mixing the dyes felt like a bit of a crazy science experiment, as you have to measure out different amounts of the powders and chemicals in a fume cupboard and then  heat them, following a special 'recipe'. I chose to print in pink, yellow, orange, blue and purple- colours taken from my box clever research. Unfortunately, I found it hard to get going, as on the first day the backing cloth where I was working was dirty, so black ink from someone's previous prints came through onto mine- not what I wanted! Then on the second day, after we'd changed the cloth, there were 2 fire alarms which we had to evacuate for. This meant I had to learn to get on with my printing pretty fast to get my samples done in the afternoon! Margret, the print technician, was great and encouraging though, and when I got into the swing of things, I found the process really fun and was sad to have to stop at the end of the day! Screen printing seems like quite a progressive art,  as you work in layers, deciding between each print what you will add ontop next, and how overprinting in another colour with another shape/design will change the design that you have already built up. 

taping one of my stencils to the screen to print

Printing in progress!

goodbye stencil- it was sad to wash them off the screen after use!

building up layers of colour and pattern

prints in progress

Inspired by Antoni and Alison's carefree, energetic SS13 prints, Sarah Raphel's work I saw at the Museum of childhood and Louise Gray's busy and bold layered prints, (the in-depth posts about these influences can be found here, http://hannahhappymaking.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/fashion-print-inspiration.html , here, http://hannahhappymaking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/making-stencils.html and here http://hannahhappymaking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/inspiration-sarah-raphaels-childhood.html!) I enjoyed working on a large piece of silk like it was a big canvas to experiment on. It helped me to design in quite a free, fun way, knowing that I could simultaneously build up different areas of pattern all at once. Also, because I could see my designs all at once as one big picture, I was conscious of wanting to make a family of prints, with my playful vision running through all of them. I was quite careful about my colour choices and how many times I repeated the same stencils however, as I wanted to make sure there would be enough variation in my work to give the final samples their own identity and make an exciting, surprising collection. 

my printed fabric steamed and ready to wash, iron, cut up and present!

digital print design introduction

After our photoshop induction, I found that playing around with photoshop can be quite fun and addictive! There's limitless potential to how you can change a design, all just with a series of clicks and new layers. Suddenly, you can create a new colour-way, background, define a pattern, or turn the whole image into a silhouette and fill it in with another image- and it just goes on! I really enjoyed having the chance to experiment with things I have already taught myself when I've played around on the programme before, as well as picking up new tips and tricks. There is so much to learn!

From my 'hybrid' collages, and the patchwork-like 'childhood cube' I saw on my visit to the Museum of Childhood, I knew I wanted my prints to be quite busy with juxtaposed elements. I began by scanning in some of my Box Clever drawings and then recolouring, scaling and filling in sections, which I could copy and play around with. Here's a few screen shots of some initial experiments, which sparked off further ideas for my A3 designs.... 

Hands on Drawing

The 'drawing week' just gone wasn't made up of sitting around quietly sketching- oh no, it was the complete opposite: collaborative, large-scale and hands on! I felt like I was in one of those Art-Attack challenges that I used to love watching on kids TV.

For our first task, we were each given a 1cm section of a cut-up picture. Without being told what the image was, we then had to enlarge and draw out our section onto an A1 sheet. It was actually quite freeing not having a clue what I was drawing, or how it fitted in with the rest of the picture as a whole. Seeing everyone's different drawing styles in our group, it was interesting to imagine how our drawings would fit together as one. When our individual sheets were all taped together in sequence, then dramatically unveiled from the balcony at the end of the day at college, it was quite a surprise…we'd drawn the Queen! I think she turned out looking quite fine...

my tiny section to enlarge- I had no idea at the time it was part of the Queen's crown!

Taping and rolling the drawing together face down: still in suspense- what was it?

The unveiling- it's the Queen!

Continuing with a royal theme, the next day we were instructed to create a portrait of Henry the 8th from Lidl plastic bags. This specific (and perhaps slightly random!) constraint on our media use, lead to quite an amusing result. I like experimental processes, and it was good to be reminded how just following through an idea to see the results, can allow you to play around and have fun- the constraints we were given stopped us having to make choices about what we were doing, freeing us up to just get creative with the materials at hand. 

Bags, scissors and glue. A truly regal King Henry-sponsered by Lidl?!

We also used the bags as a way of exploring colour, creating gradients and mixing colours using just shades of red, yellow and blue. I love working in the studio and getting to tape all our work on the walls as we go. Just seeing all that colour is instantly inspiring!

I tried to keep my creative process loose, fun and free in our collaging workshop the next day, where I was working from my Box Clever project objects again. 

Finally, a bit of life drawing. I decided to join the UAL life drawing society after getting to do a few sessions on foundation, and finding it really useful and challenging. Hopefully this will give me a chance to to practise, and improve my drawing skills and style. here's a few from when I went the other evening. It really has been a full on week of drawing!