Context
Designers use Photoshop in the
industry to develop and create original prints. Designers such as Basso and
Brooke and Erdem prominently use prints in their collection as they all have
their own style it really helps to separate and understand and gives the brand
a identity. Designers can use a lot of different methods to print such as
rotary printing, screen printing and block printing most high fashion designers
use digital printing as it is a lot faster and it is less likely to make
mistakes. It is also a lot easier to print off what you have designed rather
than create it by hand as it doesn't create the same effect. Designers can
easily create block, repeat, engineered prints on photo shop and print to the
digital printer. The advantages of young designers to use digital printing are
that they can create their designs and create a professional looking piece of
print fabric where as if digital printing weren't available they would need to
employ staff and re-create their print designs were as the digital printer just
needs one person.
A lot of the photos I took were
quite varied but the most interesting picture I had was a skip, I also had
pictures of irons, plugs and an ash tray. They all related due to the fact they
were objects you throw away. I also sourced broken technologies such as phones,
hard drives, car key fobs and USB's I broke them up as much as I could. I found
the circuit boards in each of them were all really interesting and unique.
I was mostly inspired by Swiss
artist Jean Tinguely he uses different items such as steel frames, cardboard
and various other items people would just assume were rubbish, which reminded
me of my photographs, to build kinetic structures which also reminds me of the
technologies I used. I was also inspired by Nick Gentry he requests
on his website for different items such as USB cables, film negatives and
floppy disks to create his artwork. He create portraits out of these objects. I
found it really interesting how he
used technologies to create something very different
and unusual.
Content/Form
I have used the main circuit
board from my hard drive placed right in the middle but then I have different
circuits boards layered on top of the left hand side and the headphone foam
pieces placed around the top of the page. I think the works really well as
there is a lot of detail in the bottom portion of the print and the head phone
foam pieces really add interest to the top whereas without them all the
attention would be to the bottom portion. I really like the contrast of the
colours and the different objects; I think the shapes look really interesting
even though most of them are basic shapes. I really like how the colours look
together I think they look really fun, bright and bold which reminds me the
target market. I think you can see the circuit boards but I don't think you'd
notice if you didn't know that what it was about. I think if you knew what was
then you what it was made of you could understand that it was based off
everyday things but I think the beauty of it is that you don't know.
I think my print is very
harmoniums and fits together really well, I think it’s very coherent and
nothing looks out of place it flows really well. I think it is very pleasing
and works really well as a whole because of the colours and the shapes.
Process
I used my circuit board of my
hard drive to create this print I added various layer modes to experiment I
chose to use the print which I added the linear dodge layer mode to the hard
drive because it’s made out of metal the sheen of the camera flash and the natural
sheen of metal when it hits light creates a gradient effect so when I added the
colours it looks quite degraded which works really well with my theme. When I
added another print underneath one that I made out of a broken car key fob as
this is coloured and the actual main print is a little transparent it really
affects and brightens the colours of the print. I also did change the hue and
saturation to brighten it up at bit more with yellow tones. I opened my
photograph of the headphone foam pieces and cut out the background with the
magic wand tool I then used the define brush function to make the head phones a
brush tool. I dotted this all around on a document and made them yellow and
dragged them over to my print and positioned them until I found a place on my
print that would look effective. I also made a brush tool out of one of my
other circuit boards using the same method but I made this one light pink and
put them behind the head phones I also added the layer mode exposure to them. I only put a few of them in the top left
corner and one in the middle I felt it worked really well and is easy on the eye. Most of what I used
was photographs with just effects on and brush tools so I could have incorporated
drawings and collages in my print as I don’t feel I used a variety of sources
but I personal felt that if I did there would be too much going on. It didn’t take
me too long to make as I just kept changing filters and layer modes to result
in different effects so I quickly got to my print but it was a rapid process.
Final Outcome
I think my final print is really
effective as it is vibrant and really unique I have never saw anything like it
before and it's really eye catching. I feel my print does meet industry
expectations as it is very professional, it has been created out of unusual
objects and I haven't seen anything like it. I think people would like it as
they wouldn't be able to buy a garment with a print like this on even though
this fits with my project of the old technologies, I feel it is also quite feminine
due to the colours but I think is also unisex too. I think my print fulfills the
brief as it is an original print created from objects that we use every day and
are very relevant to our technology obsessed society. The print is really fun,
individual and bold; I feel these are adjectives that also describe my target
market.
I think my CAD skills have
progressed as I have never used layer modes before and I am really glad I did
as it has really improved my prints and my skills on Photoshop. I also learned
how to put elements and prints on top of each other. I learned how to create a
working sketch and an illustration in Illustrator and how to curve lines and
use vectors. I also learned how to invert selections to add print to a
working sketch. I feel I have developed a personal style as my prints are vibrant,
bold and quite abstract and in a playful style. I think my print is very unique
and innovative no other designer has made a print like this before and because the
objects I used were old and broken it would be really hard for someone else to
recreate. I think the head phone shapes
work really well as the circles break up some of the colours and add interest
to the print. I also really like the large square piece of metal in the middle
of the print as adding colours changed the whole effect and it always catches
my eyes. The details at the bottom work really well too as they are lined with a
luminous pink which reminds me of the UV lights/ computer lights. I would like to try different colours and make
the elements I added different colours too, to change up the mood and looks and
I would also like to try swapping some of the paint brush tool elements for
drawn and/or collage just to see how it could improve my print.
