INTRODUCTION TO FASHION DRAWING_

   The third week already, it had come around so quickly. With work already piling up, I realised how much this course is going to take over my life. That being said I want to fully immerse myself in the world of fashion and my own passions, so it wasn't a negative thought. 

   Today was a short introduction to fashion drawing and different ways in which this could be achieved.  First stop- modelling on the stand. It proved a great way to quickly get down creative ideas, a starting point to develop from. Our source of inspiration was taken from an interesting photograph, drawing or texture in our sketchbook, but as I was finding out, inspiration for fashion can literally be taken from anything, anywhere around you. It's a big old world, plenty of ideas to go around. I began with a simple scrunched up piece of paper sort of folded around and manipulated to form what could be a skirt. This was really successful, and mimicked the irregular folding seen on the base of deer antlers. I liked the flow and continuity, and I could instantly see an outfit design.  I then moved onto the machine, and tried to incorporate the wiggly line on top of the skull into a seam or interesting motif on a garment.

   Leading on from this was fashion drawings. Technical and precise drawings are not my forte, but I gave it my best shot. I felt the smooth lines didn't suit me, but it was to quickly get an idea across, not look amazing. As we only included small sections when modelling on the stand, this now gave us a chance to visualise a complete garment. I struggled at first, not really feeling a source of inspiration from my designs. I put some designs into the layout pad, but as I got going more flowed to me and I built up about 12 different designs. I felt they were sufficient- they explained my ideas visually, but I wasn't crazy about the look of them. Looking around the class, many people had so many exciting pieces, but maybe I'm just being harsh on myself.

   Helen bullock, a very influential textile print designer and fashion illustrator was the source of our next task. Fashion illustrations were more my thing, as you can kind of go crazy on them. Incorporating hints of the designs created earlier, I produced 5-6 A2 illustrations, all of which I was pleased with. Like Helen bullock, we were encouraged to include colour to suggest the garment, in a washy way, not just colouring in the piece. I got to grips with only putting in lines where they were needed, not creating a definite outline of the model and garment. The colour was predominantly used for this.
   For someone like me, who it's always critical of my own work, I was really pleased. Plus it's always nice for people to walk past saying 'wow is that yours?' I feel I already have a style within my work. I wouldn't say its messy but it's definitely not precise, and a small mistake has never bothered me, I'll just work around it. My fashion illustrations were no exception. I went for it in this workshop, and the style of them was basic and colourful. They worked well and were visually pleasing, lively pieces.