Look Book: How to

Right t this moment in time I am waiting to find out how to create a look book to go with my designs for my FMP.

I want to create a look book as I want it to show my favourite pages in my sketchbook, my CAD work and my photoshoots.

I have been told by my tutor that we are to be using InDesign and Photoshop so I will be giving loads of updates as and when I start my look book. I will give loads of How To Tips, so watch out!!

I am intending to have it all done by my appointment with hayman graphics by 15th May so fingers crossed!!

I'm quite excited by all the things that are going together to make my Final Major!!

xoxo

Melanie Katelin

Sketchbook Review

I have been talking about doing a sketchbook review for a while so here it is!!

I have scanned a few pages in from my sketchbook and I will explain what I have done on the page what I think has worked, what I like and dislike and how I could have improved!

I started my FMP on Tuesday 12th March as the day before I was so ill and did not feel well so I just rested for the day. On the Tuesday I was still not 100% therefore I decided that I would do some secondary research and watch Elizabeth: The Golden Age and draw from the film.

This is the first page in my sketchbook. I have created a fabric swatch drawing of the detail that was in the dress that I had drawn as I did not want to ruin a lovely continuous line drawing. I will admit it and say now that I DID pause the film so that I could see what it was and what angle I wanted to draw from. I have also along the bottom which you can not clearly see quoted part of the film from this scene that I found interesting/important and wanted to make a note of. The colour on this page has been created simply by using watercolours.

This again is a continuous line drawing from the film. I have mainly concentrated on the colour blue as it was a main feature in that scene. I feel as though there might be something missing from this page and unfortunately it is not the whole of the double spread as it would not fit on my scanner so I am sorry about that! I think I should have possibly added some form of text or a background or something else as it feels as though she is floating on the page and to me it feels slightly boring. 

 

This is one of my favourite pages that I have created! I have used this image in my CAD mood boards which I posted about, if you have not seen that post then <Click Here>. I think that the yellow is really bright and vibrant and I just really like the way that I have set everything out on this page and the pattern which is on the left of the page was an over head shot in the film that I really liked. This page really pops out and is very much a stand alone page. Although there is a lot of information on my page, I think that it is nicely set out my the use of the yellow shade. Queen Elizabeth is in painted in a brighter harsher yellow and the pattern is placed on a more washed out yellow. This is purely due to the fact that my paint brush was not large enough to fill the page the way that it should have and it leaves this nice wash out/ streaky background.

This page is also another image that I used for my CAD mood boards. I decided that this page was right for my 'Ice Royal' colour scheme spread as it is all blue and white with slight colour. I really like the way that the ink has run in this image and how the lines look soft but with shading.

*This technique is really simple but effective, to do this you will need an inky ball point pen, a paint brush and pot of water. Firstly draw you image like you would any other, using a wet paint brush with ONLY water (be generous) you paint along the lines. Quickly after doing this you get your pen and draw over the line below, the ink will then blend with the water but still show your line below. Repeat this until you are happy with the way it looks. I will also put up a demonstration tomorrow :)*

I really like the layering of this page. This page originally only had the smaller drawing on it, however I felt that there was something missing and later on in the film Queen Elizabeth was wearing another blue garment so i made it seem as though this was the main feature image and added more violet and blue into the water colouring.

On Wednesday 13th March I went to London with my friend which I have previously posted about, <Click here to go to that page> While I was there I took advantage of all the primary research that was around me. I loved that day although it was rather hectic and I had to take my medicine with me... BOOOOOO!

These pages are a lot quieter then the ones above from the film that I watched, however I have not used a lot of watercolour and I have concentrated on just line, tonal, dotty drawings. I tried to incorporate all the skills that we learnt in the first term of this course.

This is all that I am going to show for now as I do not want to bore you and I have missed a few pages out so I shall try and get that done for tomorrow.

So either Good Morning, Good Afternoon or like me Good Night 

Melanie Katelin

xo

CAD - Last Day - Outcomes

I have really enjoyed doing this course! If your at all interested in fashion, graphics or just like computers then it is something to look into. I have decided to do this course purely for the fashion side of things and to improve my portfolio, however, it just so happened to land perfectly with my FMP and now I have some professional looking designs to take back to college with me and I have the knowledge and skills to get by if I want to create any more styles or colour schemes. Actually pretty much anything!

My tutor for this course was Erica Godfrey and she has been such a wonderful tutor. She really knew what she was talking about and she made it so easy to understand what it was that you were about to go and do or what you should have done. Erica really showed me some cool tricks to do on Illustrator and Photoshop and I have had such a great time and she is so talented int what she does it's crazy! And if you click HERE you can go to her website!! OMG, OMG, OMG its so EXCITING!

This was created by Melanie Katelin, Please do not take credit for my work. Thank you

This is the first mood board that I created was for my colour scheme 'Revenge' which is Gold, Black and Red. I have scanned images in from my sketchbook and used them as you can see with the yellow illustrations that are slightly dimmed. These images do have effects on them which were created on Adobe Illustrator with Live Trace on CS6 and I used the 6 colour effect.

On this board I also have all my illustrations which clearly show the front and the back as well as the stitches and seam lines. I have put a brief description and I have created colour blocks which are shown along the bottom of the page.

I also did a Blue, Sliver and White board that goes with my colour scheme which is called 'Ice Royal'. I have tried to use a different lay out for this board to make it more interesting and to make it seem as though it is of a different design.

This was created by Melanie Katelin, Please do not take credit for my work. Thank you.

All that I have done with this board is change the layout completely. I have made half of the page an image and on the other half shown my ideas with a small description. Again with this mood board I have used my own illustration from my sketchbook which was simply scanned in and then I have edited my image on Adobe Illustrator and put my colour scheme circles along the edge of the page.

I think that both boards are slightly different in layout and style and I have worked with all my components that I had to work with. Please feel free to use my examples as inspiration or as a guide but do not claim this as your own as I have dedicated a lot of time to this project and to my CAD course. Also if you want more inspiration visit http://www.coroflot.com/people#keyword=fashion I found so may inspiring boards that have helped me create the two above which I am so proud of!

Let me know what you think and if you have made any boards please leave a link so I can see your amazing work :)

Melanie Katelin

xo

CAD - Day 3

Yesterday, I made my Blouse (front and back) and I finished off my FMP shorts which took a long long time and when I went home I started making a dress. I am currently finishing of that dress and this afternoon I will be making my mood boards which I will post on! And I will go into detail about everything I have learnt this week.

xo

CAD - Day 2

Ooooo Look at what I have just done!!! Looks so professional don't you think?

I'm having so much fun doing CAD!

CAD - day 1 outcome

So these are the shorts that I made yesterday that I was telling you about.

I'm so pleased with the outcome and today I will be starting on my FMP and making my designs into CAD format which I will write all about later.

Melanie Katelin

xo

CAD - Day 1

Today has been my first day learning how to use CAD for fashion. I am doing a short course at Nottingham Trent University as I feel that this is a skill that is worth knowing and I know that it will help me when I am at University. (CAN NOT WAIT NOW!!)

So today we were working on Adobe Illustrator which I have managed to get along with and I have had so much fun! I really really love doing this and tomorrow I am going to be creating designs for my FMP so wooooo! This is so relevant and hopefully it will also help with my grade.

Today we were just getting used to the basics so - Pen Tool  (TOTES my new bf! it just gets me ;) hehe )
We also changed the lines to show Top Stitch, Twin Needle Stitching and Seam joints, I also added in fabric creasing to make it seem more realistic. Unfortunatly I do not have my copy of what I have done today on me so when I get into the Uni tomorrow I shall try to upload what it is that I am currently doing. BTW I CADed (made up word) some High Waisted Shorts which I am rather proud of!!!

Have you done/do CAD? Tell me of your expreience!!

Melanie Katelin
xo