After creating design 10 i wanted to build on this repeat by varying it slightly whilst still avoiding a rotational form. At first i simply experimented with lowering the central two smaller aliens so they would bridge the linear gap between the rows. However although different i was still not very excited by this idea once it was in a repeat.
Instead i tried to introduce a new alien to see if this would help to make the design more interesting. Overall i felt this actually made the design look slightly messy, so decided to stick to the new alien; however, return to my linear structure.
For this design i decided to use a brick repeat. Although happy to a certain extent with the outcome once again i do not find it particularly exciting. I think for now i need to take a break from creating repeats in order to let my subconscious work so i can get back to producing designs i am happy with. As well as taking a break i think when i return i need to focus on some placements or integrating my liquify experiments to my work just to refresh my ideas and expand my mind in relation to my collection.
For my next design i really wanted to move away from a circular and reflected form as this has been central to most of my repeats so far. The attraction to creating this type of repeating structure is how complex it can be and i’m never sure how exactly it will turn out so there is an element of anticipation and excitement. For this design i decided to move away from this structure completely and into creating a more linear pattern.
Once again i wanted to start to experiment with some imagery i haven’t used as of yet so i could start to explore its possibilities in relation to my collection. For this motif i decided to present my illustrations as if they were holding hands. Following this i then reflected the two motifs horizontally. Once happy with the 4 illustrations, to create the motif i then started to explore how i could slightly change this so decided to move the outer aliens to the middle and the smaller aliens to the edges.
From here i then moved onto creating the linear repeat and interlocking each motif by using the idea of them all holding hands. I feel what makes this repeat look the most interesting is the use of scale as this distracts from the very linear form. Although being happy with what i have produced and feel it is visually appealing, it does not really excite me in any way. When using rotation there is always the anticipation of what will happen next and quite often something happens which i am not expecting which leads me onto a tangent. However, this design came out pretty much how i was expecting. I may choose to return to this repeat at some stage and use some different imagery.
Totally unintentionally this is where the previous two designs became merged into one. I was thinking of what imagery i could add to the larger circles to break up the negative space; however, was hesitant to add in a different alien because of the vast amount of pattern already going on within this design. And then when staring at the gaps i needed to fill i suddenly realised that the fist design i had created out of these three would fit in really well. Because the first and second design come from the same basic motif structure which has then just been repeated in different ways, this meant the two designs were not miles apart in colour, texture, structure and form.
When initially combining the two i first started by putting in the first motif as it is within the original design. However, i wondered if it would look any different if i rotated this 45 degrees as the second image shows. Overall i couldn’t really make my mind up so decided to copy and past this first motif throughout the second design to see how the two would compare within an actual repeat.
Now within a repeating structure i could better assess how this would look within my final design. From the two i selected the original as this then exactly reflects my first design bringing them together better within my collection and this way i felt they merged in better with the second repeat as they appeared to be more so at an angle and less in a linear fashion.
From here i once again set about playing around with background hues. As the structure of the design is so complex i found a green background to be most pleasing as this reduces the contrast between the motif and the background, creating a much softer image.
Between this design and my previous two it has really been a learning curve for how my designs could co-ordinate better as a collection. At this stage i feel i am producing the images i have had within my head since the research stage; however, not all these designs will be within my final collection. To produce a really united and well rounded collection i feel i should develop designs much how i have developed these three as i feel they will work quite well together in a bedroom setting.
Now having created a design with this illustration utilising a vast amount of positive space i wanted to use the same idea; however, create one with more negative space to balance the two out. So the two would coordinate well together i started with the same basic form; however, stuck with my original idea of creating a 90 degree rotation repeat.
However, despite thinking this would be my motif once trying to repeat it i realised that there should only be two sides so there is not a double layer of aliens around the edge. To rectify this i simply took away two sides of the motif.
From here the process was quite simple to line the edges up and create the entire repeat. Despite being happy with what i had produced and felt it matched up well with my previous design i wanted to see what it would look like if i rotated the design 90 degrees.
Overall the only difference this made was to where the aliens interlock and from this i decided the original diamond pattern was more appealing than the square shape as i felt it was more elegant. Despite achieving what i intended to create, there is a vast amount of negative space within this design so i wanted to develop it further which leads onto my next design.
For my next design i have decided to develop my 5th as when finishing this design i felt there was so much more i could do with it. Within my previous outcome i really liked the smaller green illustrations so wanted to develop these further.
Initially i started with opening one alien and then reflecting it horizontally so the two looked as if they were looking at each other. From here i noticed that this may make a nice pillar repeat because of the form of the aliens. So, i decided to flip the two aliens vertically so they were reflected once again and then lined these up directly bellow the original so all 4 aliens were mirroring. From here i copied and pasted the 4 aliens and lined the new 4 up directly bellow the original. Although liking the free flowing form the aliens created i wanted to see if i could instead turn this into a 90 degree rotation repeat so the pillar would run both horizontally and vertically. However, upon copying, pasting and rotating the aliens around the centre point i created the bellow motif which i felt was really interesting. The way the feat and legs of these aliens interlock creates a beautiful symmetrical pattern which i really wanted to push further with.
Because of the shape the motif creates i felt this motif lent its self to an interlocking pillar repeat. If i had put this design into a block repeat this could have allowed for more negative space in which i could have introduced a second motif; however, i felt this motif was complex enough as it was. When in a repeat i love how the centre of the motif is dense with newly formed patterns and textures which blends nicely into more negative space before going back into the same positive textural areas. I feel this design would really play on a child’s imagination by wondering how it is possible that they all interlock in this way.
Finally with this design i started to play around with the background hues from my colour pallet. As there is so much pattern and texture within this design i feel the white and pink background works best. This is another design i want to experiment with an even lighter background hue such as a paler shade of pink or green; however, i want to wait to decide which designs will be in my collection before messing around with my colour pallet too much.
For this outcome i initially set out to create a placement design which would take the form as a hero for my collection. However, i have ended up creating a 90 degree rotation repeat as i felt the motif i had created lent its self to this repeating structure.
Unhappy with design 4- block repeat, i wanted to use the central motif of this design and build on it as i felt there was so much more i could do with it. For my hero design i have had this vision of a mandala type form where all of the aliens within my collection are present to draw them all together. However, i soon realised through experiments i am not 100% sure which aliens i will use within my collection.
To start this design i took the central ring of alien daffodils and then started o build around it using more imagery. To assess which alien would go best next within this pattern i brought the majority of them into this photoshop document and played with their scale and rotation. After building up a couple of layers i felt it might be nice if an alien was repeated more than once within each section to create a break within the deign. Although initially thinking this was a good idea i soon found that this was over complicating an already complex design so decided to just stick to the one copy within each section.
Once fairly happy with the structure i had created i then brought the motif into a different document. As i had merged the layers as i built them so all the yellow aliens were merged, as were the pink and the green this allowed me to pull the motif apart whilst still retaining the circular form of each layer of aliens. From here i started to think about how i could break down this pattern into secondary designs. However, i soon realised i was getting distracted and moving away from what i actually set out to achieve. Although experimenting and getting distracted like this is very useful sometimes, i really wanted to focus on getting a solid hero design down on paper so this could be used for my postcards which are due in 5 days.
After messing around for a bit i soon moved back to developing this outcome into a hero design by building up the layers of aliens. When moving outwards i started to become more experimental with scale to create depth within this outcome. Despite being happy with the structure of the bellow motif i think it is awfully busy. Despite really wanting to create this hero design i think i should wait to see which aliens exactly are to be included within my collection as this will give me a much better idea of the imagery i exactly want to include.
After making the decision to wait and see what imagery i will use within my collection i still wanted to utilise the work i had put in so decided to create a different design other than a placement. For this i resorted back to my first motif; however, removed one set of the aliens with wings. Although there is a lot of imagery within this motif because everything is duplicated and rotated it does make the overall image appear to be less overwhelming.
From here i then went about putting the motif into a repeat. Because of the odd shape of the outline, this motif it was not instantly visible in how it would best interlock. However, after a bit of rotating and moving the motif around i soon realised it best suited a 90 degree rotation so the aliens with wings on the very edges of the design could all reflect each other. The first image below shows how they initially interlocked; however, because they were not linking in an exact horizontal or vertical fashion i found it slightly annoying to look at. Instead i went on and experimented with rotating the entire design so the motifs would line up in a pillar fashion.
Like all of my other designs i did experiment with different coloured backgrounds; however, because of the vast amount of hues within the motifs i found a white background was far superior as it did not retract from the design.
Despite setting out to create a placement repeat i am really happy with this outcome as i find its structure and how the whole thing interlocks so interesting. I think this is a vast improvement on design 4- block repeat and definitely want it to have a place within my final collection.
Since writing this blog post i have decided to make this one of my hero designs. Within my interim tutorial a tutor mentioned making it very large scale and i feel this would look really nice. Because of its large scale and variety of hues and imagery i feel it will work well as a hero design within my collection.
For my fifth design i wanted to do something completely different to what i had previously as i found myself always creating a mirrored repeat using the same imagery. Although i do need my 30 designs to co-ordinate, i feel now is my chance to get fully experimental with imagery and the repeating structures so i can find out what is working best for when i am refining down my collection later.
Inspired by what a tutor said to me initially, i was placing these two illustrations next to each other so they looked like they were looking and interacting with each other. However, i was wondering how i could repeat this in an elegant and professional way so then decided to duplicate the smaller illustration in the image bellow for some inspiration. From copying and pasting this illustration i was suddenly reminded of a design from my online research which i really wanted to create a design inspired by.
As most of the imagery in my previous outcomes has been pretty similar in scale i wanted to really experiment with this so decided to make the central alien a lot bigger compared to the exterior ones. Following this i placed three aliens to the left hand side to make an oval shape and then reflected this horizontally to create the right side. Overall i really like this motif and it is really different from all my previous outcomes which i found quite exciting.
Once happy with my motif i then set about playing with repeating structures. Initially i wanted to see what this design would look like in a block repeat; however, found this very linear so soon moved on.
Despite not finding this outcome particularly pleasing it has given me ides for how i could develop it further and use this imagery to create new repeats. Where the bottom two aliens join from the first motif with the top two of the second creates a very interesting pattern which i could easily develop.
After not being particularly pleased with my block repeat i soon moved onto a brick which i found a lot more pleasing. Despite being happy with this outcome once again i could go onto develop it further by removing the central larger scale alien and only utilising the smaller one.
Bellow shows the outcome with a variety of different background hues. Although trying to refine the hues i am displaying within my blog posts, i had to display this design in a full range of hues as it is amazing how much the background hue and tone can effect the foreground imagery. Because the aliens have green and pink in them they do not contrast so much with the pink and green backgrounds, or only with the opposite hue; however, against the purple background it makes all the hues pop out from the page.
Despite being initially hesitant to starting my repeating designs, now i have started i am loving the process. I find it amazing how a single illustration can be manipulated into different structures to create an all over pattern which creates a diverse range of effects depending on the repeating structure it has been manipulated into. Despite loving the research and drawing phases which are all about experimenting and finding out new things, it is definitely this part i love the most. Although i know the formulas and scientific elements that go into creating a repeat it still feels like a magical process every time.
After my first mirrored repeat not coming out exactly as i wanted to i decided to have a second attempt. Initially i tried to just make the scale of the design a lot larger just incase this encouraged any more negative space; however, i do not feel this was any stronger than the original.
Following this i then started with experimenting with the motif trying to encourage more negative space. To do this instead of having eight aliens within the motif i refined this down to 5 and set them at equal angles. Once happy with this outcome i then went about creating a repeat with it. The structure of the motif lent its self to a brick repeat which i feel overall is actually quite attractive. However, i felt once again i had manipulated this design too much so went back to the drawing board. I would like to create this repeat again but use different aliens as i feel i have used this one a lot already.
Following this attemot i then went back to using eight aliens within the motif; however, staggered where they were placed so there would be more negative space between each one. Overall i feel this has worked but i could have been more experimental with scale. As the aliens are now staggered it created a square shape, but if i had made the outer aliens smaller i still could have retained the circle like structure. Despite not experimenting with this at the time this is something i can still refer back to to create a different repeat.
From my bullet point list i had created when analysing and reflecting on my previous outcome i decided to create two different motifs; however, in the same positions so i would have two different motifs which could interlock.
Once happy with these motifs i then set about putting them into a repeating structure. I wanted to find a way where i could integrate the two angular motifs without them being in a striped format so decided on a brick repeat. Overall i feel this works well as i have managed to avoid a clear stripe down or accross the design.
Once happy with this i then went about adding background hues to the design. Overall i feel my colour pallet works a lot better as a background forthis design than it has with previous. Despite this, i may still go back and experiment with lighting the hues of the background once i have created more designs for my collection.
Overall i feel this design is a big improvement on my original. Throughout the process of developing this i have found so many other ideas of how i could develop future designs which i am excited to experiment with.
For my next design i have created yet another rotation repeat. I realise that so far most of my outcomes have taken on this structure; however, i feel if i do create a variety using different imagery i can then select the strongest for my final collection.
Like usual i started off by creating the motif out of the imagery i wanted to use. The temptation for creating yet another rotation repeat came from how the feet of this alien could interlock to create a perfect circular shape.
Once happy with my motif i then went about experimenting with different repeating structures. Initially i experimented with a brick repeat; however, found this too simple. Now reflecting back i feel i could have developed it further with some additional imagery or by adding a liquify background.
Not realising the potential with this repeating structure i soon moved onto a brick repeat. However, there was an awful lot of negative space between the circular forms. To break this up i decided to add some more illustrations, also in a rotated format. Initially i experimented with these aliens at approximately the same scale as my daffodil aliens; however, thought this would be a good chance to get more experimental with scale so made them slightly smaller.
Following this i repeated the new pink aliens into all the gaps to create the final repeat. Like usual i then went about experimenting with different coloured backgrounds for this design. However, this time chose to only present the strongest to start to refine down my ideas.
So far this is probably my least favourite outcome as i feel it is similar to some i have previously produced; however, not as strong. Despite liking the way all the feet interlink this does mean this motif is really noticeable and it does not blend in very well within a repeating structure and background. Despite not being happy with this outcome i feel if i developed it further it could be a lot stronger. I intend to return to this repeat at some point and totally change its structure as i feel it has so much more potential than what this block repeat is offering.
Now having created a few mirrored repeats utilising the same imagery i felt it be best i diversified a bit. For this i took a long time staring at my imagery imagining how more than one alien could come together and what repeating structure they could go into.
Eventually i settled on this little guy with wings. Eventually i do want to come around to naming my aliens so then i can title each outcome as the names of the aliens i have used. I feel giving them names will not only help me to be more organised, but also help to spark a child’s imagination.
As my previous two repeats have been quite complex i wanted to strip this repeating structure right back and make it really simple. To decide exactly what repeating structure i wanted i referred back to my repeating structures research and decided on a rotated pillar repeat. Although i could have really refined the repeating structure right down and just gone for a horizontal mirror i felt this was simple enough in form. Initially i tried packing in the aliens as tightly as possible which is displayed in the bellow image; however, once coming up with this small section of the repeating structure i felt more negative space between the aliens was needed as once again i had created a very dense design.
Once re-arranging the aliens and more happy with the amount of space between them, i then went about repeating them fully across the page. Inspired by my previous design i felt a staggered top was also very alluring on this design so decided to leave it coming to a finish near the top of the page. I feel having boarders like this introduces movement to the design and creates the impression that these aliens could be marching up and down the page.
Despite being happy with this outcome i felt that it needed a break between the identical aliens so tried adding in another alien. Initially i added this new element across the top to extend on the idea of the boarder. To create a more alluring finish i then rotated this line of aliens 180 degrees so they mirror the one bellow them. Despite being glad i experimented with this i felt this new alien, with less surface area than the original, was not creating a strong enough finish to the design.
Scrapping this idea i them decided to replace the central line of aliens with this new one to see if this helped. Overall i feel if i were to introduce this new alien it could have to be integrated more into the design rather than just on a single line. However, from my first experiment with this new alien it did give me an idea of how i could develop this design further.
Inspired by my first previous outcome i added a new row of aliens to the top and then rotated them 180 degrees. Overall i think this creates a much nicer finish than with the previous alien, and as the alien is rotated it creates a firm finish to the design. For now i am going to leave this design as it is; however, once again i have many more ideas of how i could develop this further. I will wait until i create more designs for my collection before acting on the bellow points as i do not want to spend time developing this design and then find out that this design did in fact coordinate better than my new/ updated version:
Turn aliens 180 degrees half way up the design instead of at the top.
Move boarder design to the bottom to create a nice edge of a blind.
Better integrate the other alien i experimented with either randomly, or swap in within every other row.
Following creating my finial outcome (for now) i then went about experimenting with my colour pallet for background hues. Overall once again i think the white creates a much cleaner finish. I may want to return and make these hues lighter in tone so there is not so much contrast between the background hues and my aliens.
BA Hons Textiles Final Major Project Blog 