Final Major Project: Final Designs

Character Designs:

As my project includes a character at its centre now, a ballet dancer going through her routine, I had to think about the design and appearance of her in my project. This is important so that each motif can be seen as continuous in the sequence. Therefore I thought about outfit, hair style and colour scheme, considering different possibilities but in the end I kept it as simple as possible to avoid problems. My final design is a woman wearing a simple leotard so that I do not have to worry about the movement of her clothes as she spins and her hair is up in a bun. I kept to the colour scheme picked out earlier and consequently she is in a blue leotard with red ballet shoes. I'm not very good at drawing faces and am worried about the problems of replicating a face to look like the same person over and over while also having to worry about appropriate facial expressions and so left her faceless. Hopefully this won't look too strange and mannequin-like in the final outcome. One detail I did allow myself to include was that as the storyboard progresses I plan to have my character's hair slowly begin to fall out of the bun. Hopefully this detail will add some personality to my designs and give the impression of an energetic dance routine:

Final Character Design

Now with these details determines I felt capable, after my research watching ballets and familiarising myself with the different steps, of drawing out a storyboard of all the components of my final garment. I spent some time looking at various dance moves and picking out those that I think can be effectively represented through imitations of pre-cinema animation devices. I then visualised them to consider how they could work in a sequence that would look like a natural progression of dance, essentially choreographing the whole thing. As I don't know much about dance this was rather difficult, but my research helped and eventually I settled on the storyboard below:

Final Storyboard

With this storyboard and my previous design as reference I was able to design all my components. Having formulated my final idea I realised it was too complex to design the final garment before making all the components as I am not entirely sure how it is going to turn out. As it is, it looks like my final garment will be a kind of patchwork dress. If I had quite a lot more time it would be nice to create mock-ups and plan in great detail so perhaps I could make a garment with more structure. However, as it is I am still happy with my idea and hope to make up for lack of construction techniques in surface design and detail. I have ended up with a total of 18 different motifs, nine different device designs and six different making techniques:

Appliqué Thaumatrope Onto Point

Fabric Paint Magic Lantern Slide Plie

Digital Print Zoetrope Reel Port de Bras

Digital Print Anaglyph (to be scanned in and edited for 3D effect) 4th en Pointe

Machine Stitching Flip Book Spin

Fabric Paint Flip Book Arabesque

Digital Print Phenakistoscope Arabesque Spin

Hand Embroidery Stereoscope Back Pose

Free-Hand Embroidery Camera Obscura Fan Kick

Hand Embroidery Flip Book Jump

Fabric Paint Stereoscope Combre

Fabric Paint Magic Lantern Slide Spin

Digital Print Phenakistoscope Jete 

Fabric Paint and Machine Embroidery Camera Obscura Jump

Fabric Paint Magic Lantern Slide Landing

Digital Print Anaglyph Pas de Deux

Free-Hand Embroidery Zoetrope Reel Top Body Spin

Digital Print Film End Screen Kneel

I thought about different techniques n my designs, deciding what move would look best as single motifs or sequences etc. Altogether there was almost an overwhelming amount to think about but I managed and I decided to finish with an end screen from old movies to bring together the idea of a narrative having just being witnessed in the form of 'Pre-Cinema' animation. I am very happy with my designs and can only hope they'll translate well onto fabric. My peers and tutors also were positive in their feedback, saying that my designs work well as a sequence. However, some still find it difficult to picture how my work can be made into a garment and I guess my only course of action is too make it all to see how it turns out. I have been advised not to undertake quite so many, as 18 different slides is a big undertaking. Though I am worried about how time consuming it will be to make all of these I feel dedicated and feel the outcome will be work better with a wider range, therefore have chosen to continue with my designs as planned.

Final Major Project - Sampling

To begin the final stage of my final project to create my final piece, I came up with a colour scheme and started collecting fabric swatches to help with the sampling and design process. 

For the colour schemes I used photoshop to pick out samples from images closely connected to my theme and project from the beginning. This ensures that the palette doesn't clash with the theme and complements the motif and mood I am aiming for, creating a cohesive project:

In the end, what I have selected out are bright blues and reds so that I can use anaglyph themes in my designs, however the rest keeping to sepia and the black and white spectrum to give the idea of aged devices and old photographs. I also got several fabric samples, keeping to whites and creams so that I can add all the design and colour with surface design and thinking mainly about textures.

With this done, I started making samples for my project, experimenting with different techniques on different  fabrics, while also trying to keep the designs relevant to my project:

Blinking Eye - Digital Print and machine stitching
 on White Polyester

Arabesque - Digital Print on Cream Sateen
Polyester

Machine Stitching on White Polyester

Fabric Paint on Acetate

Digital Print and Fabric Paint on White Polyester

Digital Print and Fabric Paint on White Polyester

Fabric Paint on Polyester Crepe and Acetate

Digital Print of a collage on White Polyester and
Cream Sateen Polyester

Fabric Paint on Cream Cotton and Viscose

Machine Stitching on White Polyester

Transfer Printer (you scan in drawing and print them out with
special ink, that then heat transfers onto synthetic fabrics)

Digital Printing on Polyester Crepe, Acetate and White Polyester

I kept my sample within my chosen theme, thinking about representations of movement. With some I also considered how to make them in the style of pre-cinema animation devices, as with the blinking eye and ballet dancer digital prints seen above which could be used as zoetrope reels. As I feel all the techniques I explored - painting, stitching and digital printing - worked well to make detailed designs I think I will include all of them in my final product. As I am planning to represent several different devices with these designs I also feel a range of fabrics will work well to give a range of effects. For example, fabric paint on cotton gives the idea of aged paint on rough paper while on acetate it can look slightly luminous, like a glass magic lantern slide. Overall I am pleased with my samples and they way they have turned out makes me hopeful for a strong final outcome. I also received positive feedback from my peers on them, and the suggestion that I should be more adventurous and try mixing media to add interest to them is one I shall take seriously. One thing that does make me apprehensive however, is that during the sampling process I realised how long each individually design can take, and so will have to be sure to manage my time very carefully if I hope to finish this project by the deadline. Nevertheless, making samples was very helpful as it meant I could test out each fabric and technique and decide which ones would be best to use for my final outcome.

Final Major Project - Final Idea

Looking back at all the work I have produced so far and thinking about what ideas and themes are most relevant I now have to embark on creating a final piece. I have looked at a lot of different aspects of pre-cinematic animation devices and optical toys. However, it is now my job to simplify and consolidate all of my work into a clear and focused final piece. The ideas that have stuck with me the most throughout the last three weeks are those of movement and storytelling and so these are the key points I wish to represent in a garment. Regrettably the work I had done on optical illusions didn't quite fit with the other two and I felt, and my peers and tutors agreed with me, that too many concepts on one garment would over-complicate it and eventually mean a lower quality outcome. 

Once I had decided this I gathered together all the work I had done on movement and noticed that a recurring theme in all the artists, photographers, and other sources I had used for inspiration is that of dance. It appears to be the most interesting and diverse way of exploring movement and so I have decided that the motif for my final project should be dance. Thinking about this it seems best to incorporate ballet, as it would the most easily recognisable in a static image while also offering a wide range of motion to study. Now it seems to be the obvious progression with which to include my ideas of narrative and character development that I set myself in my proposal, I could put together a garment which acts as a storyboard for a dance routine. I feel this will be effective as it also draws on ideas of pre-cinema animation having storytelling functions due to their entertainment value. The final link in the idea is that the individual motifs that would all work together as a story board to be created in the style of pre-cinema animation devices, e.g. an arabesque in a zoetrope reel. 

Example Image and Inspiration: Dancers in a Zoetrope Reel

Dance and Motion Study Collages In Sketchbook

This idea also means that I can use a wide range of textile techniques on my garment to create the surface designs e.g. digital print, fabric paint, embroidery etc. and so can be experimental and diverse. The next stage is for me to familiarise myself with ballet and the movement involved so I can accurately represent and convincingly depict it on my garment. I plan to do this research with the resources available to me i.e. watching youtube videos of ballet because it is very expensive to go see them live. I feel confident that this can provide me with enough visual reference to enable me to essentially choreograph a routine through static images. My main concern is that it will take a lot of components to achieve this and so making will be very time consuming. Also, when pitching this idea to my peers it seemed too complex to some of them and so I have to be careful not to overcomplicate my designs. Most of them gave me positive feedback on how I had brought together the elements of my development work into a natural conclusion. I am looking forward to experimenting with this idea to see if it will work but have to be organised as I am still a little behind in my timetabling as I am now into week five. 

Final Major Project - Print Designs

 After getting an idea of structures from my stand work designs, I now want to think about the surface and pattern designs of my garments, really tying in the ideas of fashion and textile influences to my pre-cinema animation devices project. Therefore, going back to a technique I have used before, I have taken images relevant to my project and have then used photoshop to turn them into prints and impose them onto garment so I can see how they work and be inspired:

Stereocard Design

Flip Book Dress

Flip Book Design

Thaumatrope
Design

Phenakistoscope
Design

Camera Obscura
Design

Zoetrope Design

Anaglyph Design

After completing a few of these successfully with one device per design I tried to make the designs more complex and interesting by combining several optical toys prints into one garment:

Magic Lantern Slides, Writing, Flip book, Phenakistoscope, Zoetrope and Anaglyph Designs.

Phenakistoscope and Optical Illusion Designs

Phenakistoscope, Stereocard, Flip Book and Magic Lantern Slide Design

Magic Lantern Slide, Flip Book x2, Phenakistoscope, Anaglygh and Writing Design

Optical Illusion, Phenakistopscope, and Zoetrope Design.

 Now that I have structural designs from my standwork as well as these print designs I am in a position to plan my final piece. I like some of my print designs better than others, but am particularly happy with the combination ones, as I would like to use several different devices as part of my final product.  I was using a technique now familiar with me to create the designs, despite the fact that before starting this course I had no idea how to use photoshop at all, and find that by imposing patterns onto garments I can easily see how devices can work with the body. I received positive feedback in my progress review from tutors and peers, who said they could not see how pre-cinematic devices can be used to produce a garment due to the work done this week. However, I am still a bit behind on my planned schedule due to the extra time I spent researching and at this stage of the project I had originally aimed to have met the following objectives:

1 Developed design work.

2 Developed experimental sampling and making techniques.

3 Illustrated the chosen short story, with designs to translate these into at least four different imaging techniques

As I decided not to concentrate on the short story idea the last objective is no longer applicable, nevertheless I have not yet been able to create samples or final designs and so will need to speed up my work to complete these quickly as I enter the next stage of this project.