Designing from Shape and Research

For session 3 of IFS, we were tasked as SDS to expand upon the design work we had completed in class and explore how the other shapes we had traced from our artist research could turn into potential designs. I liked the idea of this, as I was curious to see what kind of designs I could mould the other shapes I created in class into, and thought the nature of the task would be quite fun-spirited and enlightening.

To begin I picked 3 other designs other than the one I had worked on in class from the initial drawings I had and created a handful of potential drawing designs on 2 sheets of A4 paper each.

Original drawing from during the session

While much of the line work from these drawings are quite plain due to the simplicity of my artist’s works, I feel I will be able to extend on them visually through fabric choices and colour, and am also slowly beginning to connect them to my brand which is Gucci. I also see potential for some designs in there to be a variety of garments other than coats; possibly dresses etc.

Ideally, I would have preferred to be partaking in on campus teaching this term, as I feel I would have been able to get direct feedback from a tutor on my drawings and the direction I could take them in, as well as which ideas were good enough to be taken forward. Now, I must rely on my own design instinct and thoughts, which concerns me regarding the final quality and outcome of my designs, as I do want them to express my ideas and blend well with my media work and business work.

Moving on, after these initial drawings, I created some standalone designs on figures. I actually decided to do this part digitally, perhaps contradicting what some of my tutors would prefer. The reason, however, I decided to do this was to allow myself more creative freedom and to produce better designs, as I work much better digitally as I feel I have more control over my drawing. I also did not have access to a printer to print figures, so ultimately being able to use my tablet to draw over figures I had acquired online digitally was more efficient. While some of my ideas may not present very well through my drawings, I do hope I will be able to take these forward and continue working on them and that they will be enough for the end design result we will have from this unit (which frankly, I am still a little confused about).