popantique

I'm nearing the end of my first semester of grad school, so look out!  Because I'll be producing a lot of work and improving rapidly.  At least, I hope.  I already feel like I've grown a lot.  They really push you.  It's a good thing, although I'm not overly fond of being constantly tired.

I've been meaning to get my application for the Academy of Art University's MFA Fashion Design program in since March.  As my portfolio was at that time, though, there were no photographs, only illustrations, and none of those very recent at that.

When I graduated, or at least, was supposed to have graduated, last summer, my favourite uncle gave me a congratulatory card with an offer to do a photoshoot of my senior collection.  My uncle, Andrew Faulkner, is a professional photographer, though admittedly not for fashion.  (We're an artistic family.)  However, he does have a good friend who is a fashion photographer, and who would be able to get us free professional models who need to update their books.

Anyway, so I didn't really try to contact my uncle about
setting this up for real until March came around and it was suddenly crunch time and I was going, "Crap, if I'm to start in the fall, I should get my application in this month."

There were some false starts, such as me e-mailing him at his old aol account.  At one point we thought we were going to do it on March 23rd, and shoot the three small collections I had made while in school.  That fell through.  When we finally got together, it was on May 18th.  But there was a catch.  Or rather, several.

The photoshoot was in San Francisco.  That night, I was to go to a concert.  My best friend was also to go, and she had agreed to do makeup for the photoshoot as well.  I originally planned to go up to Sacramento with my boyfriend, who lives there, on Friday or Saturday, and then we'd go to San Francisco from there on Sunday the 18th.  However, my best friend convinced me to wait and go with her on Sunday morning, straight to the city.

On Wednesday, I changed my mind and decided I really did want to head up on Friday, for a variety of reasons.  I messaged her on facebook.  I called her several times.  Thursday night, I sent her an e-mail, begging her to call as soon as she got it.  When I finally got a hold of her, I was in Sacramento.  She decided that she absolutely cannot find it in her to drive the 2 hours to San Francisco by herself (I am totally useless as a navigator, for the record), and I am stuck with an extra ticket for the concert, and worse yet, no makeup artist.

Then it appears that, actually, that doesn't really matter, because the models were only on hold, not actually booked, and we ended up with only one model.

Well, in the end, that kind of worked out for the better.  We had no way to get a hold of the girl and tell her not to come, so JP (the other photographer) was going to shoot her anyway.  And I really like the technique of superimposing many images of the same person into one setting.  So we decided to shoot the one girl in all the outfits of one collection.

So that's the Daydream Believer collection of which I have the great shots posted.  But I mentioned a passing regret after the shoot that it was only my knitwear collection that got shot in the end, as the others were really strong, and the one that was my senior collection isn't in my portfolio at all.  Hint, hint.  Well, Uncle Drew got the hint, and said he'd ask JP if he'd be up to doing it again some time.

And apparently JP was up to it, and we decided to try again the next weekend!  But that was a holiday weekend, so again, no models.  More false starts, etc...  I went on craigslist and found a professional makeup artist looking to expand her portfolio, and have since had to cancel on her about 3 times now because we keep not getting models, or something.  (Tomorrow/Today [Tuesday]) was the most recent date I canceled.  I feel really bad...  I hate inconveniencing people, and though I know I can't control this and I'm probably not actually bothering these people, I feel like I'm pestering Uncle Drew with e-mails, wasting the makeup artist's time by continually canceling, and that JP is only indulging me because he's friends with Drew.  Likely none of this is true, but I'm paranoid and insecure.

Anyway, at this point, I'm guessing that this Sunday (Sundays and Tuesdays are the only days we can do this) will be our next attempt.  I hope it flies.  I'm really anxious to get those pictures, for my portfolio, for my website, and admittedly even for here on DeviantArt.

These collections are really spectacular.  Well, maybe not spectacular, but lovely.  They are more high-end, sophisticated, and designer-y than Daydream Believer.  A lot of the look in Daydream Believer comes from the textiles, while the silhouettes themselves are extremely simple (but a couple of them have a neat little trick and aren't entirely basic at least).  With the other two collections, Alice in Suburbia and Straight Laced, I was working mostly with wovens, in which I feel better able to express myself.  There are also some fantastic fabrics there, don't get me wrong, but the garments are more expressive and detailed.  Also, corsets.

Alice in Suburbia is very feminine, a little bit gothic lolita, but without being super harajuku or impractical.  There are some playful prints, such as a party dress made of silk tweed, or a blouse with accents of silk dupioni in a small blue gingham weave.  The color palate is also richer: teal, charcoal, pink, dusty purple, and rich red.  3 outfits; 2 tops, 2 skirts, 1 dress.

Straight Laced's initial concept was "careerwear with corsets!11one!" but when I actually developed it, it turned out to be somewhat impractical (ie sexy) for that purpose, and now just has a bunch of business attire references, plus 40s chic and a slight punk edge.  Cliche (or "classic") colors: black/white/grey bold business prints with a twist, bright red linings.  4 outfits: 4 jackets, 3 bottoms, 3 tops, 1 dress.

Anyway, whenever the damn photoshoot actually happens, I'm sure the pictures will come out amazing and I hope you all enjoy.

If anyone actually read all that, truly, you are to be congratulated.

So I'm finally/again trying to shelve my loose fabric.

For those of you who don't know me in person (so, practically everyone here on DA), I'm really untidy.  My ridiculous amount of clutter consumes two entire bedrooms, with a healthy sprinkle in practically every other room of the house.

A couple months ago I decided to switch from the larger bedroom to this smaller bedroom (previous home of my sewing machine, etc) on the basis that a larger room would be more convenient as a workroom.  But I'm lazy myself, and I asked my also-lazy boyfriend to help me do the switch.  (Because moving furniture was involved.)  Besides the fact that we're both lazy, he rarely wants to do productive things when he visits because he drives 3 hours each way and usually can only stay for a day or so to begin with.

So we kind of stopped mid-switch.  My bed and my computer are in this room, my fabric got moved to the other room, but none of the tables and sewing machines made it, and I've yet to sort my closet.  Then I went looking for things in the closet, which resulted in the majority of its contents being strewn about my floor.

Long story short, the floor of the large bedroom is almost entirely covered with clothing and fabric.

So in a spurt of productivity, tonight I jumped in to try to shelve the fabric on the unit I have for that specific purpose.
Turns out that was too big a task so I settled for dividing the fabric into piles, based on type (silk prints/solids, cotton prints/solids, novelty, chiffons & organzas, etc), which I will hopefully continue to fold and shelve tomorrow.

But basically looking at all that fabric makes me both exited and sad.  A lot of it I just have, and I don't yet know what I'm doing with it.  (Potential = exciting.)  Some of it I know exactly what I want to do.  The question is, then why have I yet to do it?  (Personal character flaw = sad.)

Perhaps shelving the fabric will give me much needed room to set up tables so I can draft patterns and actually use it.  I like designing, making patterns, and sewing (though I dislike cutting out fabric).  I think it's just hard to get inspired to work when one doesn't have a good space in which to do so.

Browsing the fashion design category I've seen a couple really cool things, and it really makes me want to push my craft farther.  The illustration side, I mean.

I still like and am fairly proud of the figures I've been posting, and if I post anything done recently it'll be hugely improved upon them, but I'm so sick of everyone looking at my style and saying "anime."  (Not..  here...  but, you know, out in the world.)  I haven't considered it anime for several years now.  I do think that fashion illustration has a lot of common ground with anime, and that is what I started out drawing, but I've moved on now.

So hopefully when I go to grad school I'll take some illustration courses as well, and have some kind of epiphany.  I want my stuff to look more unique.  I know it's good and the skill level is better than is expected for fashion illustration, but I think my lack of a truly distinctive illustrative style would hold me back from getting a position doing illustration.

That and the fact that there just isn't much call for it anymore.

Which is why I really want to learn to paint, and start doing vintage-style pin-up art.

There is already an influence of that style in my current work, I think.  Aside from the holiday pin-ups I've been posting, the poses, at the very least, in my fashion illustrations are frequently either copies of old pinups or pinup style poses.

And my facial proportions and styling have been getting more realistic as well.

I guess part of the reason my illustrations look anime-ish is their faces:  angular, with big eyes.  But, that is my facial structure, and it is truly said that we drawn our art in imitation of ourselves.

Anyway, it has made me pensive.  I think I'll pursue inspiration later this evening.  See what results.

(Is there a 'pensive' mood (emote)?  If so, where can I find it?)