Here is an example of a technical flat drawing of a rib-necked T-shirt using Adobe Illustrator, with this drawing i used the grid lines, and snap to grid, to ensure that the t-shirt was entirely symmetrical.

These shoes are made for walking!!!

Very much like the shirt that i posted previously, using Adobe Illustrator and the Pen tool, i drew the different segments of the shoe, using the photograph as a guide and then positioned the them all together to re-create the original shoe/trainer.

With the first shoe you can see that i have attempted to completely replicate the shoe in the photograph , however with the second shoe i have played around with colours, prints and gradients to come up with my own design.

I then went on to try a different style of shoe.

Again experimenting with colours, patterns and gradients to come up with various options.

Hearts and Diamonds!!!!

Using the various marquee tools i have created the shapes below, for the club, heart and spade i used pathfinder to unite the various shapes giving the final and desired result. 

I have then experimented with different colours and patterns.

Shirt illustration

Using Adobe Illustrator i created an illustration of a shirt, using both the pen tool and brush to give the final effects.

Jamie provided us with the original image above, and using the Pen tool i drew round the broken sections of the shirt and the aranged the individual pieces together, then created the seams using the line segment tool, and then brush and pencil tools to create movement and shadow within the shirt, my final image can be seen below.

Colour Lovers

So a while ago when trying to come up with my colour palette and pattern i checked out this website called colourlovers.com, that we had been told about by one of our lecturers, its a really useful website for coming up with colour palettes, patterns and prints. You can create your own or browse other peoples designs and people and comment on them telling you what they think.

Anyway i thought i would have a bit of  a play, although this is now a bit old and out of date, i thought id share some of mine with you.  I much prefer my 2nd pattern but that's what practice is all about.. whats great about the website is that it gives you the RGB number from the colours you have used/created so when using Photoshop you can recreate the exact colour.

Pattern 1

Pattern 2

Unfortunately when i upload the JPEG's on to blogger it seems to flatten the colours making them appear less bright and more dull so you can't see the full effect.

Tokyo - Fashion capital of the world

As part of our PPRD unit we had to do a presentation in groups of four on our chosen fashion capital of the world, my group chose to do ours on Tokyo. We perhaps made the mistake of assigning each group member a particular aspect of the presentation, and then came together after we had done our research to create a PowerPoint, causing the presentation to run on and at times become dull and boring.

My focus within the presentation was to look at fashion schools within Tokyo.

Bunka Fashion School - Japan's most respected fashion design college

Esmod Japan - International fashion education in Japan

Joshibi University of Art and Design -Fashion course at Tokyo based university

Mode styling college - Fashion courses offered all over Japan

These are just a few examples of the popular fashion schools based in Tokyo, I looked at the various courses that were available at the different universities, their facilities and what opportunities were on offer, for instance some of the university's offered year placement in their sister school in Paris and New York.

Stop motion animation!!

I've been watching the program "Behind John Lewis", it has been quite interesting finding out about what happens behind the scenes, it also tied in nicely with my buying unit.

During the first episode they were getting ready for Christmas and coming up with their television advert, their first idea was inspired by this stop motion music video, unfortunately that idea didn't go to press but i liked the music video so much that i thought I'd share it with you all.

Although i finished my designs for my manifesto project a while ago now, i have been trying to re-create them on the computer using illustrator and Photoshop, in a bid to be able to actually incorporate my own print on to the designs, this something i am yet to master.

I have however been able to complete the first part of my challenge, using illustrator i have been able to draw my design onto photographs of Alice Dellal and an unknown ASOS model, i then exported the illustration into Photoshop, where i added colour, i am quite pleased with the results. Obviously there are improvements that could be made but for a first attempt i am pretty happy, 

The original image is from David and David

i much prefer this type of fashion illustration to free hand, as it gives you more of an idea as to what the garment would actually look like on.

My aim is to create a sort of look book to showcase my designs using a photo shoot from a magazine.

The Original image is from ASOS.com

A vision of beauty!!!

So i didn't want to write one massive post and bore you all, i always think its better to keep it short, sweet and to the point. 

However it would be a crime to not tell you more about London Fashion week, even if it is 2 months late.The jobs we were given weren't the most senior of roles, more often than not it would be things such as handing out leaflets, directing people to the catwalk and holding umbrella's on the main entrance in order to promote OnOff, as tedious as these may sound, each and every person is vital to the running of the shows, ensuring that everything is ready on time and that it all runs smoothly, and to be honest i was just grateful to be able to be in that environment. 

Everyone was beautifully dressed although in true London style with their own personal touch.. tailored hareem pants, brogues and wedges were just some of the key items that adorned the many beautiful women. What i love about fashion week and London fashion week especially is the individuality and buzz that just surrounds the city for a week, there was one particular woman, i think she was a stylist, who wore the most outrageous outfits, but still managed to pull them off. One time she wore barbie heads on her shoulder pads!!!

[London, February 19. Image via Getty]

As well as getting the best opportunity to people watch i have ever had, working for OnOff gave me the most amazing experience of getting to see what happens on a catwalk show, i was lucky enough to get the opportunity to help set up the catwalk for J Maskarey, where as most of the shows had visuals just projected onto a white flat, J Maskarey's was a bit more elaborate, with rich draped fabric and Greek plinths. the collection was unlike any of the others throughout the week, with garments adorned with Swarovski crystals, there's no way to describe it other than a vision of glittering bejewelled beauty.

J Maskarey had produced a collection not only of ready- to- wear clothes but of bejewelled body art, her stunning creations combined leopard print with symbols and names,  Black was the dominant colour of choice, while the sparking jewels added a brightening playful edge to the collection. Statement shoulders was once again present on the catwalk,  hinting that shoulders are here to stay for another season.  The show was like something i have never experience before and that not even words can do justice, instead you are probably better off, watching the video below, as the chances of owning one of her creations are sparse.

J Maskrey Catwalk from On|Off TV on Vimeo.

Reminising about LFW

I have been so distracted with other parts of my work recently, i.e creating my print and designs..they are something i am still to post online...i am trying to create a sort of look book using Photoshop to showcase my final designs...more on that later.

For now i thought, that i should complete my blog about London Fashion Week...i was lucky enough to see 5 shows throughout the week... i found that if you placed yourself at the backstage door just before the show started then you were pretty much guaranteed to experience something beautiful, of which i defiantly did. The first show that i got to see was Ashley Isham's..I'm always going to remember it now, for many reasons. The main being that it was the first ever fashion show that i had ever got to experience, the clothes were incredible and also there was the occasional difficulty with the models walking in their shoes, not the least being the final dress..i think at one point one of the models ended up actually taking her shoes off and walking down the runway..although it was quite hard to see over the crowds of fashionistas.

Take a look at the video below

Ashley Isham Catwalk Show AW2010 from On|Off TV on Vimeo.

Marina, Marina!!

As well as being in love with the song, 

I'm completely inspired by Marina's 

costumes within the video,  

I really want a varsity jacket and cheerleader outfit now!!

It's hard to believe she comes from wales!!

Just to get it printed

I wasn't entirely happy with the look of my final print, i didn't feel the colours flowed properly, if you look at my previous post, the Orange and Purple, create a divide, making the individual tile more noticeable, to solve this problem i have changed the colours slightly. Its not a huge difference but i think it makes all the difference.

I have also changed the colour of the lines within the print to a darker shade of blue, not only do i feel that it brings out the rest of the colours on the print but also makes it easier on the eyes.