Week 7

MONDAY

This year will come and go quickly, before we know it, we'll be leaving to go onto other universities, or carrying on at Ravensbourne. Either way, we all have to apply through UCAS. So we took Monday, to go through the guidelines and layout of UCAS.

We spent the morning, with the given opportunity to talk to fashion BA students. This involved being able to ask any question we had, as well as looking through their sketchbooks, which was a great insight to what we can expect if we are to stay on at Ravensbourne. 

After that, we were given a total of three talks. The first talk was on how to set up and submit our UCAS applications. I was really happy to sit through this, considering I have never used UCAS before, so needed all the advice I could get. But all my questions were answered, and I feel more than confident to have my form completed for the 11th of December. 

The next talk was on researching HE courses and institutions. This talk, gave us an insight to the courses we would be applying to, how to apply for them, what we would need in order to apply to them and a brief look into what we would be doing on these courses - in terms of  how many years the courses would be. We were told everything our tutors could possibly tell us, but obviously the most they know is based on what Ravensbourne supplies, so we need to be responsible for attending open days and researching courses from other universities.

The final talk was on finance, including fees and loans. Again, those providing the talk told us everything we need to know, in terms of Ravensbourne, as well as whatever they knew about other universities. But if we want to know more about other universities, we have to do the research ourselves. 

Each talk answered every question we could possibly have. We were also encouraged to discuss any issues we might have, with our tutors, or other members of staff. We were given a list of dates - deadlines to meet, and as much advice as could possibly be given, to make sure we all knew what we were doing, in order to complete our UCAS forms.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday gave us the chance to work individually on our projects.We were given the day to work on, whatever needed work, then called for a group tutorial, in groups of three. 

I have expressed before how much I enjoy, when we are given the chance to just work on our projects. I always find I get so much done, not to mention I'm inspired by others around me. So I went through my book, as I have been, until I was called for a group tutorial.
Called in groups of 3, we sat at a table with one of our tutors, and discussed our work one by one. While someone was presenting their work, it was the job of the person sitting on their left to make notes, this way we would not miss everything. The group tutorial was really helpful! This way you were given 3 sets of opinions on your work, also I think it was more effective since we did it in smaller groups, because you could see everyones work and the feedback we each received, was a lot clearer and felt some much more direct.
Everyone agreed, my initial research was very strong, along with my designs and layout, but I needed a lot more rough designs, and a few more pieces of stand work would be good to. Having received this feedback, I spent the rest of the day working on my rough designs.

THURSDAY
We will soon have to complete, our contextual studies, exhibition essay. For this, we are asked to complete a written report reviewing a site visit to Tate Modern and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
We spent Thursday morning in the Tate Modern, here we were given the option to visit 8 different rooms. We will have to pick at least one, more so two rooms, from the Tate Modern. As well as, a room from the Institute of Contemporary Art, which was where we spent our afternoon.
Overall, the day provided enough research for us to complete our essays.

FRIDAY
Considering assessment week is coming up, again we were left to work on our projects. Again, I thought back to what was said in my group tutorial, on Wednesday, and continued to work on comments which were mentioned then.
During the day, we were taken out in groups to the prototype room. The prototype room, contains pretty much every machine you could think of, and we were given an induction to all of them. Everyone really appreciated the induction, since it gave everyone a bit more confidence to be more daring with their work and designs, since we can now use the machines all by ourselves. 

Week 6

MONDAY

As part of 'group 2', week 6 was our turn to try photoshop - more specifically patterns. Everyone was at different stages and points when it came to photoshop. Some people had never used it before, while others knew all there was to know, and the rest of us were somewhere in between. So we started with the basics.

Having done IT for GCSE and A-Level, I was feeling confident that photoshop was something I would catch onto quickly.

We were taught the basics of creating patterns. This being, making the shape, choosing a variety of colours and transferring that pattern onto a sheet of A4 or A3, where you could auto the size of the scale to suit you. We then went on to learn how to make and design other patterns, such as the drop-down pattern. 

The afternoon, was spent cutting objects out of one image, and placing that object onto another image. This is what we will be carrying on with tomorrow. So have been advanced, to bring in our own images to work with.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday, was all about, taking what we had learnt from Monday, and trying it out for ourselves.
We spent the morning, making patterns by using our own photos. Once we made a pattern we were happy with, our tutor taught us how to convert that pattern onto a model. This way, we could actually see our patterns come to life, and see what the best scale would be on an actual piece of clothing. I found this part extremely helpful, just because, it's all well and good printing out your design on a piece of paper, but seeing them on a model puts everything in perspective.
When we were happy with how our patterns looked on the model, we were put into pairs. Once in pairs, we discussed our patterns and ideas behind them. It was at this point, we had to auto our patterns, to match our pairs. The idea was that the two patterns could be apart of the same collection. We presented this by, cutting and folding the sheets which contain our patterns on a dummy, to make an outfit.

FRIDAY
We were given Friday to work on our projects . As much as I love having workshops planned, and learning new skills, these kind of days are my favourite. I always find, I am so much more focused on getting work done if I do it in class, not to mention every resource you could possibly need is there for you.
We also have the opportunity to talk to our tutor. Our tutor will take the time to visit us individually, asking how we are finding the course, how our project is going, and what the next move is for our project. But if there is anything, advice, or conversation, which is needed urgently, we can always ask, which is always helpful and encouraging. 

Week 5

MONDAY

At the end of last week, we were given the option to look at knitwear, or accessories for week 5. Considering I want to go down the design route, over promotion, I decided to pick knitwear. 

To give us an idea of knitting clothes, we used knitting machines rather than needles. So once our tutor showed us how to set up the machines, we began with the basics. This involved completing a basic stitch, a drop stitch, lace stitch and honeycomb stitch. 

I really wasn't sure how I was going to take to knitting. It's something I tired when I was younger, but decided it wasn't for me, and gave up with it. But, I am so happy I took this week to take it up again. Don't get me wrong, the techniques were always a bit hard to get right the first time. It usually took 2 or 3 goes to get it right. However, overall I found the methods easy to pick up, and enjoyable. I will definitely consider making knitwear in the future. 

WEDNESDAY
While Monday was about knitting patterns, Wednesday was more about knitting clothing. We were taught how to; knit curves, knit sleeves and finish our knitting piece neatly and professionally.
On Monday, we were also encouraging to bring in a range of yarn and materials for Wednesday. These were used to weave with - which creates a type of pattern in our pieces.
I was really excited for today because, Monday went so well, I was very confident to get started.  The techniques were explained and demonstrated well for us, and I could not wait to get started.
We spent the whole day practicing and finalising our skills, after being told we would use Friday - our last day of knitting - to knit 2 A4 size pieces, which would consist of any pattern or technique we had learnt in the last 2 days.

FRIDAY
On Friday, we were left to our own creative minds. We had spent the last 2 days being taught all we could possibly learn, and now it was time to put our knowledge to good use.
We were given the whole day to create at least 2 A4 size pieces. Each had to consist of the techniques we had learnt.
I tired to include all of the techniques we were taught. But found the weaving and honeycomb were my favourites.
Overall I had so much fun this week. I loved doing knitting, and am definitely considering doing more. 

Week 4

MONDAY

On Monday, we were introduced to fashion illustrations. We began our day completing research. This involved looking online, as well as going through books in the library, exploring different styles of fashion illustration. The afternoon, than consisted of each of us taking it in turns to pose while the rest of the class completed a fashion illustration. With each illustration, our tutor explained it was important to try different techniques, whether this be; not looking at the page while drawing, using more than one media, drawing the pattern of the models clothes then drawing the figure over the top, using two pens or pencils at the same time, as well as many more. This was to give us variety to choose from when it came to developing our own style of fashion illustrations. We were told the quicker we developed our own style the better, so I think we were all grateful for the amount of techniques, and time we spent on the topic.

I found the whole day both enjoyable and beneficial. I came to Ravensbourne from a fine art a-level, so drawing and illustration is definitely where I feel most at home. I appreciated being shown so many different ways, I felt like then I had more than enough options to display my illustrations. Although the idea of drawing out any illustration without looking at the page makes me feel sick! I am such a perfectionist, and while I understand that not everything has to be perfect, and this technique is a great way to coordinate your eyes and hands, it's really not for me and I hate the way my drawings come out from it. However I can see myself using or trying all the other techniques in the future, especially using two different colours, or two different medias. 

WEDNESDAY

While we were having our tutorials last week, our tutor believed some of us were still unclear of how to develop our projects further. Keeping this in mind, it was decided we would spend the remained of the week collecting a total of 3 different tasks, all of which should inspire us and help us carry out our projects.

The tasks included:

TASK1 - developing our mind maps further. Including how the images make us feel. Finding links and developments from the words we have already listed.

TASK 2 - Picking three words from our mind maps. From these three words, find; colours, images, concepts and shapes that we associate with them. 

TASK 3 - Picking one concept and developing it further in our sketchbooks.

The layout to our sketchbooks now, is very similar to the layout of my sketchbook at a-level, so to be honest, I did not feel leading up to this point that I was struggling that much with the project, or developing it, but you can never have too much help. 

The day did offer us time to work in our sketchbooks, which is not always easy to do at home, and what was even more helpful, was while working in our books we had 2 tutors right there along side of us, continuously asking us to explain our ideas, giving us tips and opinions on where we should go from here, as well as communicating what they felt worked well in our books and what did not. The only thing I could comment on that I did not enjoy about the day, was that since I already had an idea of where I wanted to take my project, some of the task did not help me, or could not be linked in with the work I had already done. Having said that, I completely understand why those tasks were set for us.

FRIDAY

Having had Wednesday to collect our research, Friday was about bringing it all together. We had to make sure we had completed the 3 tasks which were set, and present our findings in our sketchbooks. Keeping in mind our projects, the layout and composition of our work.

I found it helpful to do this is class, because we could ask our tutors for their opinions or advice if need be.

Our homework was then to carry on with what we had been doing, which was easy, since we had had 2 days of practice.

SATURDAY

While obviously going to the exhibitions and completing the work our tutors set is important, as students, and young adults, we need to be more independent. Keeping that in mind I travelled to the Strand in London on Saturday, to attend the Louis Vuitton Series 3 exhibition. 

While there was nothing there that would benefit, or add to my personal project 'Patterns in Nature', there was plenty there that would benefit me in terms of the course itself. 

We were allowed to get up close and personal to the; clothing, shoes, bags and accessories, we meant I could inspect every fastening, collar, cuff, button, stitch work, and everything else I had been told to look for in the 2D design workshop. This inspiration and influence will come in handy when I am designing.