In my most recent university project i was given the opportunity to create my own brief. i began by doing broad research on the word urban. i looked into gun and knife crime, graffiti, drug addiction and homelessness. from the beginning i knew i wanted to focus on the darker more sinister side to the city. People flock there for the bright lights and the promise of a better career......although this happens for some people, it isn't the same for others.  I initially chose to focus on homelessness and began sketching people from the streets.

I thought about how a lot of homeless ended up in their current situation and, after reading some online stories, I found it was mostly due to alcohol abuse and drug addiction. I thought this was interesting because drugs are so glamourised by celebrities who live and party in the city, but the reality of drug addiction is somewhat different.

Although I love colour I find it really difficult to apply it to my drawings.

As well as focussing on people I looked at buildings. I was interested in more run down buildings as I feel the way we abandon older buildings that are crumbling away reflects the way we try and ignore people.

  I struggled to create a final design for this brief, but when writing the brief I hadn't specified that I would create a final idea but that I would concentrate on developing my drawings. However, I did merge some ideas together to create the image below.

New Brief

New Unit...New brief!

Produce a design for a duvet cover. The duvet cover measures 200 x 200cm with no repeat. Subject choices are: Mixed Media, Organic or Urban.

For a recent project i did Urban issues and I'm quite comfortable with mixed media work, but organic is something i tend to steer away from as i'm not too keen on florals. For these reasons I've decided to rise to the challenge and choose organic. I say rise to the challenge because organic is constantly used as inspiration for textiles so it will be difficult to create something that doesn't imitate or resemble someone else's work. 

My initial thoughts about using organic as my inspiration are looking at nature under the microscope and seeing the colours and patterns hidden to the naked eye.

Fashion illustration

As part of the Textiles course we have to participate in a supporting study where we have the opportunity to look into another area of design. This year i decided to opt for fashion drawing as, if i decide to choose a career in fashion, this will be a good skill to have.


The brief we were given was to find some vintage clothes and re-invent them. From the offset i Knew i wanted to look at pattern and so I went browsing in vintage shops in Manchester's Northern quarter. Below are some items I liked.....

I really love geometric patterns and i wanted to use this brief as an opportunity to use some geometric prints from the past. The majority of the above patterns are taken from 70s/80s dresses. 

I wanted to use the above prints to create more modern garments. I used a photograph of twiggy from the 60s and adobe photoshop to place her over the prints to see how they look on a model.

I began to draw my own interpretations of the patterns I found on a more contemporary dress style.

Overall I think the designs are okay, they are not final designs but are useful in illustrating my ideas.