Friday 27 April 2012

Pattern ideas

This was my very first shell-inspired pattern. 

In this pattern I continued the black and white palette but I used more interesting and better quality photographs of shells.

In this print I experimented with my micro photographs and some colour. I decided that my previous patterns were too plain. I selected a swatch from a heavily textured shell that I had photographed and filled the outline of my scallop shell with it. I think the contrast between the black and white and orange is nice.

Here I have formulated my final pattern. This is the first version of it where I have filled in all my shell motifs with the pattern swatch. I also added a pink-ish background which I think goes quite well with the colour of the shells. It took me awhile to create this pattern because every time I repeated it there would be track-marks where the pattern swatch did not match up completely.

Here's another variation of the above pattern. I have to decide which out of the two patterns I will hand in. At the moment I think I prefer the first version (with the enlarged shell), however I will seek others opinions before I make the final decision.

Shell motif

Scallop shell:


Spiral shell:


Tulip shell:

Shells: micro and macro

I have decided that the most effective way for my print to reflect my neighbourhood (Coogee) is by theming it on shells. Today I found a large amount of shells that I have collected over the years, some of which were from Gordon's Bay, an aquatic reserve five minutes away from my house. Gordon's Bay is also one of Sydney's most popular diving sites.
















I'm going to try making a half-drop print with three of the shells as motifs; the scallop, spiral and tulip shells. I'll be turning them into black and white stencils but I still need to think of a way in which I can include the micro aspect of the shells in the print. 

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Underwater inspiration

Harper's Bazaar Australia Collections spring/summer 2012 p. 93
Harper's Bazaar Australia collections spring/summer 2012 p. 92

Saturday 21 April 2012

Stencil

As mentioned in my previous post regarding the prints of Florence Broadhurst I'm considering making the print for my assignment in black and white. In week 5 we learnt how to turn a black and white photograph into a stencil using Photoshop. I'm thinking about adopting this technique to create a motif that has a stencil look to it. 

I experimented with this technique using a starfish image. 
In Photoshop I was able to create the stencil effect by setting the file on grayscale mode and adjusting the input levels to remove the grey. I pulled all the input sliders into the centre until the only colours remaining were black and white. An alternative tool which I also tested out and achieves the same effect is the threshold tool. Like the levels tool, the threshold tool makes all the pixels in the image to be either black or white. I adjusted the threshold slider so that I could get as much white detail.

Research: Florence Broadhurst prints

Florence Broadhurst was an Australian designer who owned a successful wallpaper and textile company based upon her own designs. Florence had a signature style of black and white or brightly coloured geometric and nature-inspired prints. I love her black and white prints because they are very striking and versatile. The following images have been taken from Signature Prints.






After seeing these I am inspired to produce the print repeat for my assignment in a black and white colour scheme. The reason for this is because Florence's designs demonstrate the way in which a black and white palette can make for highly effective prints. Black and white reflect neutrality and can create a very minimalist and contemporary feel. 

Friday 20 April 2012

Research: floral

I've started to conduct some research into floral prints as I am considering theming the repeat print for my assignment on plant life. The repeat I create is supposed to reflect an aspect of my neighbourhood. I could gain inspiration from the garden of my house, specifically the flowers in it (roses, camellias, frangipanis and magnolias). Alternatively, the suburb in which I live is very much a beach suburb as it's beach is one of the most popular in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. In this case, I could look at its sea life, for example I could use shells or coral as motifs in my print. 
Zimmermann prints:




Dries Van Noten/Alice and Olivia/Proeza Schouler/Marni prints:


Half-drop repeat experiment

Today I experimented with creating a half-drop repeat pattern in a camellia print. I made two variations of the camellia motif as I didn't want my pattern to repeat the exact same motif. I did this through using the offset tool and then filling the centre of my image with the second camellia. The only variation between the two flowers is that the flowers and leaves are in different directions. I also played around with filters in order to give my camellia a grainy effect. 

Original flower: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Camellia_japonica_flower_2.jpg

Thursday 19 April 2012

Types of repeat patterns

1. Half drop repeat
http://friedahor.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/slide11.jpg
2. Brick repeat
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rxSM5LZ_pqo/T10ZMGWjWPI/AAAA
AAAABpQ/f14m3HDdWuE/s1600/moorish+half+drop.JPG
3. Stripe repeat
http://www.layoutsparks.com/1/140826/pink-white-striped-pa
ttern.html
4. Spot repeat
http://s3.amazonaws.com/spoonflower/public/design_thumbnai
ls/0092/1899/rpatricia_shea_heidi_polka_dot_repeat_150_shop
_preview.png
5. Diamond repeat
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3154/2567724871_0ea1f47127.jpg
5. Toss repeat

6. Ogee repeat
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4457906797_1f8e20892f.jpg
7. Mirror repeat
http://www.betafashion.com/submissions/large-preview/origina
l/2817.jpg

Repeat systems

In class we learnt about repeats and how to create them in Photoshop. A repeat is a design or image that can be copied endlessly. Below are the pattern repeats that I made:

Stripe repeat
This was the first pattern I ever made by creating four stripes and using the rectangular marquee tool to select an area to define as a pattern. 
Block repeat
This repeat is very easy and involves a motif being snapped to a grid. I had to use the offset tool to divide the motif into 4 sections.
Rose image: http://forestgirlstock.deviantart.com/art/png-pink-rose-154778162
Half drop repeat
This is a relatively simple version of the half drop repeat in which a single motif is used. I created this repeat by using the offset tool, altering the image and canvas sizes and defining the pattern. 
Magnolia image: http://www.eliteoptin.com/plants/magnolia-pictures/attachment/magnolia/

Monday 2 April 2012

Photoshop tutorial

For homework this week I had to complete an online tutorial which required me to put to use all the photoshop skills I have acquired so far. This particular tutorial demonstrates how a watercolour effect can be simulated on photoshop. The watercolour-type brushes that I used throughout the tutorial were downloaded from Brusheezy.
Below is the end result:
Challenges:
Overall I found the tutorial relatively simple and easy to follow, however there were a few problems that I stumbled upon. Firstly, using the polygonal lasso tool to remove the background from the image of the girl was tricky because it only lets you make straight edge selections (it was difficult to trace around the curved edges of the head). Secondly, I initially wasn't sure how to rotate and resize a single layer (the watercolour brush strokes), however I located some straightforward instructions on the internet. Similarly, when the tutorial instructed me to create a gradient using red, yellow, green and blue I was stuck as it does not provide steps on how to do this. Once again, I found the solution to this problem on a website.