Experimentation: Developing Skills

  For this experimentation task, I was thinking about recreating one of my design from the sketches that I have made previously. I plan to add a little twist by exaggerating the bubble skirt puffy silhouette and instead of drawing it on a basic croquis, I will draw a more exaggerated croquis proportion to highlight the waist and the skirt. Beside some of the exaggerated feature, I also plan to experiment with different medium to color the illustration. 

Previously I only work with watercolor and haven't got the opportunity to try different medium especially in fashion illustration. Then when I was doing further research, I found several fashion drawings by an illustrator Zhenya that caught my eyes with its unique approach of incorporating expressive line in her illustration.  Zhenya Z, a talented fashion illustrator, whose colorful backgrounds, luminous details, and realistic approach to facial features sets her apart from other illustrators (Houston, 2022). Another interesting art-style she used is vibrant colored paper that dominates her illustration. I really love how she use colored paper to play part into the mood and emotion she put through the illustration, instead of just being a minor role as the background. 

Fashion Illustrations by Zhenya

For this experimentation, I decided to apply several art-style that Zhenya use which are expressive strokes, pastel pencil medium and colored paper as the background. Because I plan to draw the whole body, so I decided not to give too much details on the model's facial feature like on Zhenya's illustration. Looking back, I think it would be better if I use brighter green color paper to enhance the tone and mood. And to add a final touch, I decided to draw a line around the right side of the croquis with the complementary color of green to add a pop of color. I think it works really well to bring the attention more to the garment design because the faded green paper sort of toning down the color.

I also planned to incorporate photo collage as the background to add better illustration of my concept and theme. First I cut the sketch and transfer it to a brown paper which I think works better than the dull-green color paper. Next I cut images from the magazine that's related to my concept of nature's texture. Although most of the magazine are fashion magazine, but I found a few illustration of rocks, mushroom and greenery. Besides of using photo collage, I also planned to add 3d feature to the illustration. I was thinking of sticking cotton balls to give the impression of the puffy silhouette I'm using on the design, however because there's no cotton balls, I decided to just make a tree-bark texture by pleating brown paper and color the surface to add further details of the splitted tree bark peels. 

Here is the result of my experimentation combining photo collage with design sketch colored with pastel pencil and incorporating expressive line into the illustration.

References:

Houston, T. (2021). Zhenya Z has been in Condé Nast, Grazia Italy, Grazia Australia, L’Oréal Paris, and Garage NYC. [online] PhotoBook Magazine. Available at: https://www.photobookmagazine.com/features/fashion-illustrator-zhenya-zs-work-is-eye-catching-capturing-attention-of-art-galleries-around-the-world [Accessed 13 Feb. 2025].

Show Studio (2024). Zhenya Z | SHOWstudio. [online] Showstudio.com. Available at: https://www.showstudio.com/contributors/zhenya-z [Accessed 13 Feb. 2025]