Theme Inspiration for Surface Design

Before the final outcome of my Havana Dusk wall covering came a whole lot of other stuff. First of all I needed to research a subject of what my design theme would be based on. Then I had to research more in to the theme to find out what the theme was exactly. Then I had to research in to what I could draw for the theme to meet the intended outcome and well basically, I did lots of researching in to subjects and themes until I found my theme...phew.

Image from Pinterest by Andrey Vinogradov  

In the end my chosen theme was Havana, Cuba. It was summer and I was designing for Autumn and my initial thoughts were 'tropical, vivid, urban, badass' so there you go Cuba it was.  

I started hand drawing and painting things like tropical plants, palm trees, rustic buildings, distressed walls and eroding architecture. I began drawing with pencil, stick and black ink and fine line. After researching colour palettes, I started introducing colour to my drawings along with other medium and development techniques. 

Image from Pinterest 

Image from Pinterest 

Some of my favourite techniques for developing drawings are monoprinting, printing with bleach, collage, screen printing and marbling. I especially like monoprinting for the texture it leaves behind to compliment your image. 

In the end I had a sketchbook filled with research, drawings, paintings, colour palette research, developed images, failed images, exciting images, digital development, pattern development, final samples and then of course my final design. 

Here is my final outcome!

  

Final Garments

My finished garment fronts!

Anatomy & Botany Art

Argentinian artist Juan Gatti illustrates and combines together botany and anatomy drawings of the human body, plants, exotic birds and other various creatures. His illustrations are extremely intricate and I find them so interesting, I could look at them all day! There is something so elegant and peaceful about the human body and animals shown throughout his work. He is also known for his photography and graphic design and has worked with big names such as Zara, Karl Lagerfeld and Italian Vogue.





 

I Love Arts & Crafts

Crafty Sunday! I love being all cosy inside my warm house making lots of things, whilst its all rainy and cold outside. Perfect Sunday if you ask me!

Butterfly Drawer Liner

Here is the drawer liner I designed for Cherished by Charlotte. I actually did this a couple of months ago and I have only just got around to uploading it! Charlotte upcycles beautiful vintage furniture by hand painting and refinishing them in a quirky and unique style. She came up with this wonderful idea of having butterflies inside of the drawer so she got in touch with me to see if I could design something. So this is what I came up with and in the end it worked wonders. She also found a very pretty butterfly door pull to match! You can have a look at more of her stunning and unusual work on Etsy or check out her Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/CherishedByCharlotte/info

Monoprint & Acetate

Layering acetate over a monoprint works really well! I love the effect it gives.

Hand Drawn Pattern Repeat

This week I've been creating hand drawn pattern repeats for my current brief's theme 'folklore'. I'm probably going to develop these patterns further digitally and hopefully use them in my finished garment so keep your eyes peeled for the final outcome!