For this assignment I was prompted to create multiple designs that could be applied to various surfaces and repeat if necessary. The large body of my work focuses on darker content which I felt was inappropriate for this assignment. To begin brainstorming I created a mood board to help me find a new way of making that was more upbeat.
What I came to discover, was I had a specific interest in distorting reality and the figure. I’ve always been drawn to psychedelic work as it distorts reality in a fun and colorful way. I found creating psychedelic illustrations for a surface design was the solution I was hoping for. In creating this work I put down whatever wild, fun, and or creative thing came into my head. It was incredibly automatic and reminded me a lot of the artistic process I had when I was a child. When it came to coloring the illustrations I chose to use colored pencils as it gave a relatable feeling for a broad audience as almost everyone has worked with colored pencils. It made the work more approachable.
I looked to SkillShare for assistance in converting these hand drawn illustrations into a surface design. Through a link provided by our professor, I watched a tutorial on creating a repeating pattern that can be created on something as accessible as office paper. I used this method to create my final three solutions. Each solution is little more or a little less busy than the next.
My final step was applying it to various surfaces. I envision these surfaces pulling attention mainly from young adults. I chose to apply them to Vans, which is a shoe/apparel brand mostly consumed by an alternative crowd, and an apron as I would like to think an artist would use it and get ink or paint all over it during their making.
