My final project for "Textile Printing for Product," a graduate class I am taking at the Academy of Art University, is a collection of custom made t-shirt designs. The project presentation is soon, so I am in the final stages of the creative process. What a fun project this has been!
I started working on the final project a few weeks ago. First, I selected my inspiration. As inspiration, I enjoy combining different topics within the same project since it pushes me to think creatively and look deep into the original idea. For instance, I am investigating the idea of landscapes for this project. I recently visited New York City and Amsterdam. My travels prompted me to search for images of city scapes (e.g., skyscrapers) and country scapes (e.g., rows of tulips). Both of these are man-made but offer different color schemes and textures to implement into my t-shirt designs. Below you can see a board that pulls my favorites photos/imagery together to communicate the collection's inspiration.
I started working on the final project a few weeks ago. First, I selected my inspiration. As inspiration, I enjoy combining different topics within the same project since it pushes me to think creatively and look deep into the original idea. For instance, I am investigating the idea of landscapes for this project. I recently visited New York City and Amsterdam. My travels prompted me to search for images of city scapes (e.g., skyscrapers) and country scapes (e.g., rows of tulips). Both of these are man-made but offer different color schemes and textures to implement into my t-shirt designs. Below you can see a board that pulls my favorites photos/imagery together to communicate the collection's inspiration.
Second, I got to hand-paint on t-shirt shaped muslin cutouts. This allowed me to practice and generate many different designs. The t-shirt designs combine the inspiration: I use cool color schemes and geometric shapes to portray the city, and I use vivid color schemes and organic floral shapes to portray the country.
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Third, I created different color schemes for the t-shirt designs in PhotoShop. I took photos of the t-shirts that I painted and altered the colors using various tools the program offers. This is a great way to produce additional design ideas without having to actually paint them by hand.
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The last step of the final project process is to select three designs and paint them on actual t-shirts. I like to give myself time to make this selection as I want the collection to be visually appealing and balanced. I will keep you posted of my final collection! Stay tuned!