Illustrator patterns

I originally intended to design my prints on photoshop but I learnt I could manipulate each individual line of the image in Illustrator. As I wanted my print to feature a lot of abstract lines I decided to design my print in illustrator.

This was a lot easier and enjoyable than my experience of making prints in Photoshop, I could precisely edit the original image and zoom in and use specific sections of the image for my print. For example, on the 2nd print I only used 4 of the windows in the image.

Print 1

I am really pleased with the outcome of this first print, its got quite a hypnotic effect on the eye the business of the lines in the image is quite stressful to look at but I like that effect it has.

Print 2

This print is the one I just used 4 windows from the original Chanel shop outline image, this print also has a stressful feel to it.

Print 3

The repetitive curved lines in this print remind me of some futurism pictures. Particularly this one below, this isn't one of my favourite prints, its not like the abstract look I intend to create, I don't think it will look very good printed onto a garment but I'm not going to rule it out just yet, I plan to experiment with it.

Print 4

The random lines and each individual rectangle placed on different angles creates a frantic look that yet has some kind of organisation and order to the print. I plan on trying to replicate this vibe in some more prints that show more white background and space.

2nd round of prints (2nd attempt)

Print 5



This is one of my most liked prints of the collection so far. I love the busy-ness of the lines it reminds me of the busy-ness of Old Bond street when I took the picture of the Chanel store that inspired these prints. I wanted to develop and change my original prints in my second go at designing because I wanted to keep an architectural feel to the prints because I am so in love with the copy of the Chanel store I drew in illustrator and I want to keep recognisable elements of that in my prints. In this print, you can recognise the layered up empty picture frames with the tube lighting inside the edges from the window displays of the Chanel shop. From my composition focused drawing of the different bits of the original image of the shops exterior, I considered composition when designing this print by angling the shapes differently and layering them on top of each other to get a busy yet organized feel to it.

Print 6

This is another one of my prints where I tried to keep the prominence of the architecture of the illustrator drawing of the Chanel shops exterior in the print. I love the way this looks on its own as a print, because it looks like a distorted architectural drawing and its very confusing to the eye yet it makes sense. Unfortunately this print doesn't look good filled into a garment because you can't make out what it is and it looks like messy lines created with no thought, which is the complete opposite of what it is, putting it onto a garment doesn't do it justice. I may use it on a scale or something thats just a big plain piece of fabric rather that using it on a tie or something small like a square pocket as it doesn't look right small scale.

Print 7

I am pleased with how this print has turned out as it unintentionally looks like a block repeat. It reminds me of the 50's Art Deco period in interiors, it looks similar to the wallpapers of that time. Like this Art Deco style wallpaper from Bradbury&Bradbury. 

Similar concept and swirling lines, except my print has my own theme prominently running through it with the white and black colour palette and the straight geometric lines rather than circular twisty lines predominantly used in the Art Deco period.

Print 8

This print has the same concept as the 5th and 6th print, I was trying to keep the visual of the architecture of the building prominent in the print, but on this one i concentrated on just the windows on the top half of the building. I moved them around and rotated them and and the window frames to create this distorted look. I'm really happy with this print, I think it has enough white in the background for it to look effective on a garment and the small size of each rectangle will make it look very striking.

Geometric print inspiration FMP

Geometric print inspiration FMP by gracieandhearts on Polyvore

Using the app Polyvore, I quickly created this mood board, to portray my inspiration, ideas and mood of my print.

I intend to use just black lines on a white background, the variety of black borders are representative of the numerous black squares and rectangles in image of the Chanel shop. I have altered the size and positioning of each border to show my ideas to have abstract recurrent lines over lapping each other in my print.

First Illustrator drawing

Using Illustrator I went over the image of the Chanel store using the various tools. Concentrating on all the lines in the image, and ignoring the figures. I loved working with illustrator, I have started to really enjoy using photoshop as well to produce work as it gives a really professional look and I am more of a technology kind of person rather than a hands on drawing/painting. I work quickly and efficiently with illustrator so I am definitely going to use these programs throughout my FMP.

My next plan is to manipulate this image in photoshop to create a geometric black lined print. I am not currently planning on drawing any design ideas of the print yet, as the outcome when using photoshop to create a print is rather unpredictable.

On reflection, I am really pleased with this outcome. I think it looks really professional and has a 3D look to it because of the angle and accurate proportions of the whole image.

Drawings from photographs

With the vague idea in mind of the intention to create a digital print from the photos I took of the Chanel shops exterior, I started off by drawing the outline of the shop in my sketchbook.

This was very tedious and time consuming, without giving a very good effect as a result. I didn't enjoy doing this, it was very difficult to look at the image and try and replicate the many lines in the picture onto a drawing.

I intended to do some more drawings of the picture using different medias but from the poor drawing I decided to try a different approach and consider composition. This is the 2nd drawing I did, again I found this drawing not leading onto anything further reinforcing that taking the drawing onto a digital format would be easer to work with and manipulate into a geometric print.

Chanel shop

Narrowing down the images of the shop windows I am using as a starting point to seed ideas, the Chanel store had the most admirable exterior. The window displays were rather simple compared to others shops on Old Bond street, but the shops exterior as a whole had lots of lines and geometric shapes and layering, which is particularly appealing to me at this point in my project.

Current inspiration and connections

The Chanel building reminded me of a few of my current interests and things I've seen and took an interest in recently.

The building reminded of me of my fascination with the architecture of the houses in areas of London such as Notting Hill, as it has a similar look with the multiple rows elegant windows, the black iron railing contrasting against the white bricks.

These are some photos I got from instagram of the housing in Notting Hill. These houses were built in 1850's and there value range from £3.5m to £340,000 a very wealthy area of London that was originally built for the poorest people in London and was labeled a 'slum' but has not turned into one of the wealthiest areas.

This is another photo I discovered on tumblr a while ago of similar architecture to the houses in Notting Hill.

"I always find that if something I'm working with reminds me of something I'm interested I am a lot more creative and inspired with it, so I allowed some of the images from my instagram and tumblr to connect with my project to generate more productivity in my work."

A further connection I made to the Chanel building, in terms of clothing, was the Christopher Kane AW14 collection from London Fashion Week.

These images below are my favorite pieces from his collection, the movement of the layered up geometric shaped material looks like the undulating pages of a book as they are walked down the runway. An ingenious design.

The strikingly contrasting colours used on these dresses reminded me of the Chanel building, the bricks on either sides of the windows are an off white colour with a black outline, similar to the contrasting outline on each of the rectangle or squares of fabric on each dress.

This above dress reminds me of the layering position of the unfilled window frames in the window displays. The repetitiveness of the squares in the dress are similar to the repetitive presence of the  frames in the window displays. 

These dresses below, when pictured in 2D form look similar to the print I want to design. Abstract geometric lines.

 I intend to use the repetitive geometric shapes in the Chanel window to create some kind of digital print using photoshop and illustrator, using inspiration from the lines and movement of these dresses.

Journey - London

Using the given word, journey, as a starting point for my FMP I decided to use my photographs from recent trip to London to work off. I selected the images that most inspired me from the trip, these being the pictures of the window displays of all the high end designer stores on Old Bond street. I also wanted to make my FMP more to do with my future aspirations to study buying and merchandising at university, so I sparked my creativity off with something I'm passionate about, Visual Merchandising.

Fenwicks

The attention to detail of the windows at Fenwicks was exquisite. It had a lovely floral theme, fitting to this time of year and the transition into SS14. The shops exterior depicted the shops elegance and made it look very welcoming and approachable as opposed to some of the other shops on Old Bond street. The beauty in Wonderland event was taking place at the time this photo was taken, hence the Alice in Wonderland mythical themed window. So Fenwicks have done very well to catch the eye of the wealthy passers by on Old Bond street and get them into their store. The large scale beauty products made out of flowers, surrounded by flowers holding lipsticks and perfumes and butterflies, all has an enchanted backwards world vibe, much like the story of Alice in Wonderland. This was one of my favourite window displays, its so feminine and pure. 

Tory Burch

The Tory Burch wasn't as exciting as Fenwicks but was still interesting non the less. They used a big picture of a pool side as their background to the window, again fitting to the transition into SS14. This alone was rather engaging due to the bright aqua blue and green, and the fact its a holiday kind of picture contrasts against the grey London weather during march and makes the shop prominently stand out.

Mui Mui

Mui Mui was nothing interesting, the window was quite basic and there wasn't anything particularly engaging about it. Which was odd because Mui Mui's products are known for being very different to a lot of other pieces on the market, they're quite quirky and playful, I was surprised their window didn't match. But perhaps they don't feel the need to produce a big show stopping shop window because to draw people in because of their existing, very well known and highly commended reputation.

Hermes

Hermes was selling some kind of story through their window, it was very childlike and creative. It looked like an adventure story, because of the forest building scene and the out at sea during a storm scene. Hermes only sells accessories, and their windows display are only suitable for accessories so they are at an advantage in that sense that they can pull this kind of visual merchandising off because they have no full garments and outfits to display. So they can be really experimental with it, as they have successfully done in these pictures.

Chanel

Chanel's windows were the most simple in terms of creativity. However for me the white and black colour palette and rectangle shapes just spark ideas in my mind and I feel I could make something from this. The windows have had thought put into them because of the composition of everything makes the products easily visible to the passers by, they're not going to be over whelmed. The simple windows are part of Chanels branding, their logo, bags, colour scheme all look like this building - very simplistic and elegant.

Moschino

Moschino was quite simple, displaying their products with nothing fancy. The windows were brightly lit showing their stunning products. They haven't conformed to the visual merchandising trend of doing something creative and different with the props and positioning, which is quite refreshing and straight forward. Making Moschino appear quite easy to shop in as if the Moschino customer can easily access and see all the products in the shop, comes in to get what they want in a short space of time.