Trying to get golden hair

Nick Cave soundsuits

I found this show of nick caves soundsuits on another blog that looks at artists and how they work. I really like the look of these outfits because of how odd and unhuman they are, When i look it them it sparks questions i would ask the deisnger, How did you make them? what are they? how did you make them?

Rationale

For my project i am going to make a series of designs/illustrations revolving around the rakes progress. I am responding to an array of artists that have made unusual collaborations with clothing lines to create a unique catwalk fashion style, the collabs i am looking at the most are Lucy Mcrae - Bart Hess, Merce Cunningham - Comme De Garcons, Walter Van Bierendonck - Chris+Tibor.

The illustrators i am looking the most at are Hayden williams and Gino Erana, both are professional illustrators that have been commissioned to do work for magazines. I will try to do a mixture of styles in my work, probably using graphic markers and photoshop more than anything else because it gives the best sharpness and cleaness.

The scene i have decided to illustrate is the final scene in the mad house, i chose this scene because i found it to have the most interesting characters in it. the characters in it include Tom, Sarah, Sarah's father, upper class women, mad men and other lower class patients.

I really think i could extend these characters and push them too their limits by creating clothing that either fits their personality completely, or making them wear the complete opposite of what you see them in.

Getting a better look on fashion

Lately ive been working a lot like other designers to try and get a better outlook on fashion and how i can contort the fabrics to fit the human form.

I think dooing this had given me a better insight as to how i can edit my designers, my designs at the minute are very refined and not very out there. Im really hoping doing this physical work will help me branch out into the wider world of illustration and inspire me to do some proper wacky designs.

Merce Cunningham working with Comme Des Garcons

Merce cunningham did a collaboration with fashion label Comme Des Garcons, the work they produced reminded Hussein Chalayan.

I would like to try to recreate the works they did in my illustrations, using the outfits as inspiration to how i could alter the human form by using fabrics.

A lot of these designers i have been looking at intrest me because of how wacky they work, they obscure the body so much with clothing that it looks almost normal to wear.

I would like to incorperate some of this style to my work in a rakes progress, as i think it would fit the theme of madness and obscurities at the time the story is set.

Working like Erwin Wurm

This work was inspired by a designer named Erwin wurm, who's garments have changed my view on fashion completely. Its asthough he stretches the entire fabric of the human body to its limits, without actually altering the body itself.

I tried doing his kind of work on myself and after looking at these photo's i can't help but laugh, overall i think the pictures turned out really good though, although next time i think i'll try doing this on a blank background.

Hussein Chalayan

 Although i like these outfits, i dont think i would design them myself, and if i did i would have made them more colourful.

I recogonise that the garments themselves are not supposed to be colourful, they are meant to be dull enough to amazing the viewer when they transform.

The top image of the bubble outfit is probably my favourite, as one of my designs has taken direct inspiration from it. the design itself is very simple, yet look incredibly complex to do. what are the bubbles made from? how were they made? are they solid?

Walter Van Beirdonck

http://www.waltervanbeirendonck.com/HTML/home.html?/HTML/COLLECTIONS/collections.html&1

 I think i am going to try and do some work similiar to this designer. Me and Megan and Chloe are going to decorate my hair like the picture shown above, we will probably try a few different ways to do it using things like glitter, glitter gel and hairspray

Lucy Mcrae and Bart Hess

I really liked this collaboration between Bart hess and Lucy Mcrae. This ties in perfectly with the kind of design work i want to do, it so outlandish and wild that you wouldnt ever expect to see someone wearing it in the street, Its the kind of thing that if you saw someone wearing it, you couldnt help but stop and stare, just too wonder who the person is wearing it and where they got it. By looking into this, im looking into the fine art/performance side of fashion, which also interests me alot, as it gives me a better chance to expand on my ideas and concepts of what i can do with the human body and how far i can stretch what goes on it.

 This last picture was a larger collab including Bart Hess, Lucy Mcrae, Nick knight and Alister Mackie.

Erwin Wurm's Kleiderskulpturen

I really liked these outfits, they seem to be very outlandish and wild just like my work. i think i will try to do some of this work at home will my own clothes. The designers made a very strong link between art and fashion when making these outfits. Nora von Waldstätten: "I highly appreciate Erwin Wurm and Elfie Semotan and I'm looking forward to our collaboration. It's exciting to deal with fashion in such an unconventional way."

Bearded lady designs

These are my designs for Tom Rakewells 2nd wife, the bearded lady. I wanted to indirectly illustrate her, so I took away her beard and gave her more obscure features, such as the wide hips, the cow hooves and horns, or the last one which is not as obscure. The last illustration is supposed to be a foreign woman, as foreign women would have been a marvel back in those days, I depicted this through the models jumper showing the rising sun flag.

Alcohol and Artwork

Today i was doing some designs on photoshop, trying to get a new look in my designs. Normally i hate photoshop simply because its hard to use and i struggle to get my ideas into the designs (nothing a nice bottle of baileys didnt fix).

I did some more designs for Tom and Sarah, modenizing them more, and turning Tom into some sort of maniacal clown.

i honestly do like these designs, as they seem to have come out better then i expected. i tried to give them similar colours because of the attatchment between them, i wanted them to almost be the same character, a set if you will.

I got a lot of inspiration from Gino Erana for the design of tom, as his works are very outlandish and wild like that one.

Rakes Progress designs

This design was a desgin for Tom Rakewell, it was supposed to make it seem as though he was carrying the burden of the city on his shoulders. the entire city is after tom because he is so wealthy, they all want a peice of him. The costume is supposed to look heavy, so that it weighs the wearer down just like the burden would have tom.

(middle) this is a design for Nick Shadow, this design was inspired by darkness, which led me to start designing with skulls. the outfit is made to look like a gazelle/ox skull, mainly because they are the skulls that look the most hellish with the horns.

the other two designs were not originally supposed to tie in with the rakes progress, although i may find a way for them too.

this was just a random design, although it may mix in with a character from the paintings, for now though, it will just remain a doodle in my book.

David Hockney

http://www.hockneypictures.com/graphics_rakes_progress/graphics_rakes_01.php

David hockney is an artist that i have found who has done some illustrative etchings retelling the story of A Rakes Progress. In his etchings he has modernized the story, making it look like tom rakewell is going to modern day london, and visiting bars and opera houses.

the etchings david has done are very etchy and simple, so im still unsure if i like them, but i will use them as reference in my printing work as the style of drawing is similar to my lino work and block printing work.

Bedlam (2012)

I recently watched this movie clip from a film in 2012 called "Bedlam". i don't know if the film was directly connected too a rakes progress, as there is no spoken connection to it.

I enjoyed the feel that the trailer gave me, it made it feel Erie and mad. the masks the characters wore in it were especially weird, they completed the look of making them look like his inner mad essence.

i will have to do some more research into this clip to see how connected it is to my work.

Personal designs

These are some designs from my sketchbook that have been inspired my artists like Hayden Williams. They are all my own representations of A Rakes Progress' characters such as Tom Rakewell and Nick shadow. I didn't want to make the characters look like they were from the period the paintings are set in, so i tried my best too modernise them.

(above) This character is tom, the man who carries the city on his back and falls because he cant balance out the good and bad. I chose to make him look like he was literally wearing the city, and i gave him high heels because those bitches are so hard to walk in.

(above) This was supposed to be Toms beloved Anne, i depicted her as a kind of tartish, material girl, who is easily fooled.

(above) These characters were some of my first designs, although i didnt really intend on using them, i think they could suit as possible characters such as the background people who beg tom for money. The zombie can be zombified by the greed after tom and his wealth, which has driven him to look almost dead. The ghost.... i dont even know about the ghost.

(above) This design was supposed to be a type of peasant cotour, the bucket replacing a bag, and the actual model dressed in sacks instead of designer clothes.

Personal Statement

I'm on my 3rd draft of my Personal statement for univercity and i think its safe to say its being a bastard to write. I think its just hard to write so much good stuff about yourself when you dont think you're that good in any shape or form :/

I'm trying to level it so it talks about both fashion and illustration, but writing about it, and having all this stress about uni is honestly making me not want to go, i think i need a day of just chilling on wow with the rest of StarkIndustries (Guild).

If anyone has any hints or wants to read my personal statement to give me feed back just comment with your email :)