Line up for the final collection..

This is my intial line up of my collection.  It features 6 party dresses, 6 leggings and 3 capes.

These designs may change due to any toiling problems I may have.

Digital Print Design for Sleeping Beauty

From Sketchbook to Photoshop...

This is some of my artwork that I have created in my sketchbook and I am going to develop it in Photoshop to create some digital print designs for my dresses.

Inspired by a trimming I bought in Walthamstow, did some linear drawings and developed them in Photoshop.  This was the result: 

Painted flower using acrylics, 

Experimenting with different colour ways and scale of print..

I wanted to create another fairy character for my Sleeping Beauty collection.  This is the fairy I have designed, quite quirky but friendly looking which is the most important thing.

Developed it into a border print which would be on the skirt of the dress.

Sampling: Hand Prints for Sleeping Beauty

Each dress is going to have a combination of hand printed and digitally printed textile design.
Here are some examples of my hand printed samples for this fairy tale. I have used techniques such as screen printing, discharge printing, devore and foiling.

Dyeing the fabric and getting ready to print!

This is one of the prints I have created.  It has been exposed onto a screen for me to sample with.

The collection of hand prints starting to grow...

The finished collection of hand printed samples for Sleeping Beauty.

Pinks, purples and silvers are the main colours within this dress..

Sleeping Beauty...

This is the first fairytale that I have chosen to look at.  Even though I have looked at this fairytale last semester, I still thought I could develop it much further by looking at different imagery within the story as well as refining some of my old artwork.

The moodboard for Sleeping Beauty.  Depicts the main colours that will feature in the dress: Pink and Purple.  I will be looking at crowns, castles, flowers, fairies and jewels to create a rich body of artwork suitable for develop into digital and hand prints.

Strawberry Hill House

I was really excited to visit Strawberry Hill House.  I had heard that it was full of rich, decorative features such as wallpapers and ceilings.  It did not disappoint!  It was a great chance to gain some first hand research, (something I have found difficult to gain through looking at story books).  Although the whole interior and exterior design is the best example of Georgian Gothic architecture, this was not something that I aimed to gain research on.  I am not producing a Gothic style collection, however I thought that I could gain inspiration from the initial design work and re create my own slightly softer prints suitable for children's wear.

Here are some photos I took of Strawberry Hill House:

Gorgeous ceiling design...

Like the colour combination here, duck egg blue, gold and white.  Reminds me of colours for my 'Snow Queen' dress.

Inspiration for FMP

My main inspiration for my FMP are the fairytales.  I am inspired by the books and the imagery that is associated with each fairytale.  I have researched lots of different children's books from the original 'Grimms Brothers' and 'Hans Christian Anderson' ones to the more modern day versions.  My main focus with these books are the illustrations.  Illustration is a really important factor within my work, I love the hand painted and hand drawn 'look' and I want to create my own little illustrations that I can scan into Photoshop and develop into digital prints which I will then have printed onto the fabric that will be used for my final collection!  This will be a long process but I feel that it will be worth it as I will get to create something different.

Other inspiration for my collection is, of course, flowers! They always feature in my work somehow.  However, I want to develop the way that I am inspired by flowers, not only for their shape but looking at how I can create prints using the flower as a paintbrush.  I think this could create some interesting textures.

My other floral inspiration can be found on my Pinterest page!!

http://pinterest.com/anirose1/florals/

Strawberry Hill House has also inspired me a lot.   Created by Horace Walpole in the 18th Century, it is one of Britain's finest examples of Georgian Gothic revival architecture.  I was inspired to visit this house because it looks so fairytale and fantasy like!  I have never seen a building like it before, full of print, wallpaper, imagery and pattern..but that is another post!

Windsor Castle along with Queen Mary's Dollshouse was also inspirational just because of the castle shape and because I do like dollshouses!  I also looked at the fascinating real life dollshouse built for Queen Elizabeth in 1932 in the grounds of the Royal Lodge.  This was inspirational in a different way because it was built especially for the young royals to play in, so the atmosphere of it would have been breath taking and exciting- something that I want to portray with my collection.

  

Final Major Project (FMP)

I started my FMP at the end of February, carrying on from last semester's project I have kept my theme of 'fairytales' running.  However this time, I will be designing for the Autumn/Winter season and I will be changing some of the fairytales.  The new fairytales I am inspired by this semester are: 'The Snow Queen' and 'The elves and the shoemaker'.  These stories are not so well known but full of rich imagery that I feel is suited to an Autumn/Winter collection. I am developing further: 'Cinderella', 'Snow White', 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'Sleeping Beauty.'  I chose to develop these further because I feel that I can produce more prints that are inspired by the different elements in each story.

I will be designing a girls wear range age 5-6 years.  The luxury collection will include party dresses, capes, coats and leggings as well as hairband accessories.

Here are my initial moodboards, 'the look' I am aiming for and my wall space: