1st year.

It is crazy to think that just September gone I was nervously starting the first year of my degree and now it’s nearly over. Looking back at the projects that I did at the start of the year I can see how I have advanced already just over a few months. I like the fact that I can look at my own work and see that there is a change enabling me to see my own progress, it’s a really nice feeling rather than just been stuck not leaning anything new or excelling in an area that I possibly didn't start out so well in.

The first project that I had to do when I first started the course in September was all about illustrations, doing the right research to produce image boards for our portfolio, which a designer could work from easily seeing which market level they were looking at and the type of client they were design for. But luckily for me, I was the designer aswell as teh researcher and we had to go on to create a capsule collection from our research.

The theme that I chose to base my project around was water; I looked at different aspects of it and it in different forms. I also looked at the ordinary things such as sea life and the ocean. I used the colours that I found fitted most which were greens and blues and got the best effects when I used water coloured paints.

I will admit illustrations are not my stronger point at the minute; it is definitely an area that I aim to focus more on so that I can become stronger and more confident with it. Regardless though I felt like I had gave it my best shot and I had picked up a few helpful tips that I could use again.

We had to draw our own body blanks too; I did find this a bit challenging but was proud with the overall outcome of them, as they had improved massively from whenever I had tried to do my own in the past.

I also got to try my hand at drawing flats/ technical drawings. Again I had never drawn in this style before but I really enjoyed it, and found that I felt more relaxed and happy with them, a bit more than what I was with my actual designs.

For this been my first degree project I was happy with my result and felt that it was a good start to the year. Clearly from this I can see where I did well and were I need to pay more attention to so that I can do better again in upcoming projects. I also enjoyed working in this style having a go at a little bit of everything allowing me to see which areas I work best in and enjoy the most as in industry I highly doubt I will be doing it all.

Inspiration

While I was at work the other day a women had come into the shop with the most beautiful/ unusual necklace on I think I had ever seen! As I got talking to her she showed me a bracelet that she had  which matched the necklace. She told me that she was called Leigh Patterson and that she had made the jewellery herself, she explained that it had just started out as a hobby but she now sells some of her pieces on the Internet, although every piece is one off I imagine that there will be some disappointed people if they don't get to it first. The more that I talked to Leigh she told me that she is constantly finding new environmentally friendly materials to use.
 I think the large beads used are absolutely beautiful and all very inspirational, as I would love to be able to incorporate it into a garment or bag ect as I feel it would make the most unique piece of embellishment. I really love the fine detail that Leigh has put into every little part of the jewellery and I find the colours used so interesting and definatly eye catching.