Hamlet- Collection of costume designs

The rendering technique for these final designs has truly combines digital and analogue process. The hand drawn-line drawings of a basic figure were scanned into the computer and manipulated in Photoshop. Printing these out I then used the figure to develop the costume design for each character. Once finalised these were then rescanned into the computer to cleaned up then arranged on a design template which was digitally created for the collection. Printing the final drawings on the brown paper gave them a textured and atmospheric quality. I then hand painted each design using drawing inks. I chose inks as I like the bleed quality of the media. Before painting each design I tested my chosen colour palette on the brown paper and adjusted the mix accordingly taking in to consideration the colour of the paper. Looking at this collection of design I can see pro and cons of using the process. When using the brown paper it warped slightly and in the future would probably need to be stretched before it was printed on. The warping was not a problem for the actual designs but when scanning them back into the images to retain a digital record of them, the scanner picked up all the creases in the paper. In addition hand rendering the colour on to the design limits the editing options therefore reducing some of the benefits which the digital platform can offer. The artistic result however, is much more interesting. The printed black line of the brown paper has a analogue ink looking quality which suits the hand rendering technique, while the layout offers a professional finish to the design as well as presenting it in an easliy accessible visual format. Some digital features were also added such as the lions on Claudius and the Guards as well as some pattern detail on Gertrude. This clarity sits well with the blurred lines of the inks and has bled slightly with the application of water to the design a similar way the analogue ink bleeds into the image

Cant draw - wont draw

Well that's not completely true but I have found some interesting methods to help in the creation of line drawings. Every designer wants to find ways of saving time and as the most important aspect of design is the the content the drawing side of things is the most obvious place to look for time saving techniques. I have found that by combining analogue sketching with digital enhancement this process is easily achieved.

You can see from the 2 figure above some on this processes. The first figure shows a quick line drawing of a figure which has been sketched and scanned in. The second image shows a much more refined and well proportioned image. The computer was used to clean up the original picture, re-size and remove any elements of the image which has not worked. The leg was reworked as what the right arm which did not sit right on the body. The image was then printed and worked on before scanning and putting back into Photoshop, where the final image was cleaned up and printed on brown paper ready to be hand painted. You might say what go through the process of using the computer. well. Firstly one does not need to be too precious about the original drawing, using a rubber I was able to try a number of options before coming the final design choice. Lastly as the final image is saved in the computer if there are changes to the drawing this image can be edited and printed again.

Hamlet - Research Aim

In December 08 I was asked to design the costumes for the Brown-Sea Island Open Air Theatre's (BOAT) production of Hamlet. I saw this as a great opportunity to further investigate my research topic by considering the combination of analogue and digital process when rendering costume designs. I wanted to explore the potential of combing traditional painting and drawing techniques with digital scanning, editing and image manipulation.

The director wanted a traditional look to the costumes setting the production in its original setting in the 14th Century. Though I was not overly excited by the concept to start with, as it seemed safe and conventional, as I started to read the text and breakdown the production I became more inspired. Using the traditional silhouette and cut of the period I wanted to develop my illustration style. My past explorations of different rendering style had focused on CAD techniques which at times had resulted in different looks, some of which had a strong digital feel. For this project I wanted to focus on my hand painting which I hope it would be a complimentary style for the production.

Also I wanted to record the any tricks along the way which helped the illustration process and whether these could be incorporated into my teaching and benefit my students. Also I will work with a c0llegue from AIB who is interested, for her research, in developing CAD and lazar cutting techniques for textiles - the result of which will be interesting to record. The following entries will focus a great deal on recording rendering techniques.