Peicen Liao

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Peer Review

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Blog3 Project Outcome

The blog post that I would like to respond to is the project outcome and your personal development by Yanyu Pan. She started off with talking about the drawing exercise we did after each workshop and some of the difficulties she met which includes how some scrap materials like newspapers are thinner and weaker so it is more difficult to work and draw on it comparing it to regular sketch paper. She have said that newspaper was too thin to watercolor, so some colors are not as bright and saturated which lead to the realization of how precious papers are and therefore should not be wasted. I agree with her realization as I also first start off practicing with newspaper and ink. For myself after the first attempt I then start to add acrylic layer base to newspaper as being taught in the workshop and which adds strength to the paper, and I draw with paint and pastels instead of watercolors. I really like the drawing exercise that you did and I would love to see more of it and I really like how you use paper and which adds dimension and colors to the face illustration. I then also like the illustration of the day in the green dress especially the shapes and line of the piece that there is a very clear and strong silhouette.

As for the final illustration, I really like the topic you choose,Alexander McQueen’s 2010SS show, which is related to the ocean and ecosystem. It is correlated to the sustainability theme that we are consistently discussing and awaring. I personally like the use of the watercolor and the wash being used in the illustration as there is translucency and are very clean. In my opinion I would love to see brighter and more colors in the illustration as I can see more colors in the actual dress and I think in the future if you were to draw this again it would be nice to use more colors. Also I think you can the contrast stronger as it will can probably better catches people’s eyes. And just personally I would also love to see more details of the hand and the face as it will seem more finished and completed and I also wish I could see more of the drawings and illustrations on the topic.

I strongly agree with the conclusion of your personal development as I also feel like it is extremely important for people who are working in the fashion industry to not only made self-aware of these themes when creating and designing but also to stand and speak about it in public. Artist, designers, and most importantly a member of the society, it is our responsibility to make our society and planet a better place.

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Project outcomes and personal development reflection

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For my final outcome of the better lives unit, we have been told to choose a brand that we ‘re interested in and create three fashion illustrations based on the research that we have done on the brand. The workshops have taught us techniques on creating fashion illustrations and I think the workshops have helped me a lot in the process of making the final illustrations. We have been taught to create drawings of images and poses in fashion magazines and also using different mediums. And I have tried to also draw fashion illustrations with different mediums, colors, and techniques

  • practice
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I have chosen the brand Y’s by Yohji Yamamoto for my final outcome. The first thing that I noticed when I first saw this brand is how the color black is widely used that there is usually not many other bright colors in his designs. It actually doesn’t affect any of the tensions and quality of his designs and it is just as eye-catching as some of the other designs that uses many saturated and bright colors. Personally I really like the color black but I have to admit that in many of the situations bright colors are more drawing to the eyes and so it is one of the reason why his designs really intrigues me. In my culture and in my family’s values black is very not ‘welcomed’ color and it is often a symbol of something bad. In his designs he has really proved that black can be also be ‘aggressive, rebellious, somber, romantic or seductive — is beautiful’(Menkes, 2000) just as all other colors. In the past blogs, I have also mentioned about how I was inspired by Yohji Yamamoto’s words in his interviews. After knowing more and doing more research on him and his brand it has made it clear for me that I am choosing Yohji Yamamoto for my final outcome.

I have looked over the past campaigns and runway looks of the brand and then chose a couple of the looks to do an illustration on. I wanted to create this very layered texture for the illustrations so I have used scrap materials as a base of the drawings and then painted it over with white acrylic. I then dry brush and drag pastel over the base while I was drawing.

the final illustration 2
the final illustration 3

In all of the three pieces, I have used Magnolia for their hair. Magnolia in Taiwan and also many parts of Asia, is a flower that is commonly seen sold by some of the people who are economically unstable or dependent to support their livings. This community I think is a group of people who generally will be considered to be ‘excluded’ from ‘fashion’ But after studying in LCF and better lives unit, I have learned that it is important to include every community in fashion as it is always inclusive of all people in the society and it is also what that creates diversity. I feel like adding this element into art, it is then including them in ‘art’ and ‘fashion.’

Magnolia is very well known for its strong scent but the scent disappears as it withers and it is most likely to be thrown away and very unlikely to be kept. In my opinion, witnessing the process of it wilting away is also witnessing how time flows and how life fades. I think this then corresponds to the concept of time and sustainability. No matter how flower withers and how time fades when art is created it is ‘perpetuated’ and is ‘timeless’- which is one of Yohji Yamamoto’s pursues.

In conclusion, the better lives unit not only helps with how I read a piece of art and also how I create in the future. It has taught me to think deeper and about the responsibility that comes with it. Lastly, to be very honest, I think one of the most important things that I retrieved from my fashion illustration tutor is to really have fun during the process of creating as it is where the passion lies.

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Themes Reflection

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After studying the Better Lives unit which including listening to the lectures and participating in the Fashion illustration workshops, I have learned many new techniques and also a new mindset that will definitely be carrying on into my future works. One of the things that we have discussed is to work with scrap materials. Like what Yohji Yamamoto has said in an interview, ‘there is something more than sustainability using vintage or regenerated fabrics, because there is a history in the material.’ By using scrap materials like bubble wraps, cardboard, and newspaper we have also added something more into the work. In the first session, I think I didn’t really ‘let go’ so I am still a little restrained so I think this is something I also need to work on in the future that I am not really used to work around other people.

the work using scrap materials and paint

 Another technique that I really like that I’ve learned from the workshop is to create templates using collage and then create illustrations and drawings based on that template. And then also it can be developed further into patterns and etc. by using photoshop. The final outcome then looks pretty interesting because it is unexpected and different from what I usually draw. This has reminded me of Sarah Eisenlohr, who is an artist who has been working on contemporary surrealist collages. I have always been very intrigued by this type of collage which uses the juxtaposition of different images and subjects very well.

  • Collage by Sarah Eisenlohr
  • Collage by Sarah Eisenlohr

Then also this technique has also reminded me of a point of the clash of the culture being discussed in the lecture about cultural sustainability that people can create a new culture by merging different cultures that they have seen and experienced. Collage is using images in magazines from different cultures to create something new and then on top of the collage, we can create art and add more to it.

  • the collage
  • after outlining the collage
  • after coloring and putting it in photoshop

I’ve always enjoy looking at collages but I personally don’t really work well with collages but I think In the future I will definitely make more use of this technique of creating templates of collages that I think it will also works very well for character design and all sorts of design. I really like the outcome and I think putting the images in photoshop and working with them digitally also creates more possibility for them.

I think after taking this unit, what is more than learning the themes of sustainability, culture and social responsibility is to really have fun in the process. We were being told in the past that experimenting and play with the materials is also a thought process and I didn’t really understand it but from the workshops I think I kind of understand that a little bit more.


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Lecture Reflection

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Among all of the lectures talking about all sorts of topics, I feel like the two lectures that got me thinking the most is the lecture on culture and the lecture on cultural sustainability.

What I truly understand from the lecture on culture is that this concept of sustainability is more than just a thought, so people are not thinking about it urgently enough. This sustainability theme is not just an art it is about people recognizing that there are limits to how we can live and operate because there are limits to our natural world and resources. So it is important that people keep this in mind because it is not just about a project, design, or a simple solution but a mindset.

 In the lecture talking about cultural sustainability, in the lecture, it is being said that ‘culture, in its most basic form it’s about ideas customs and social behavior. We all have our own culture. We all have a culture. And that’s because. They are innately part of us and what we do where we’ve grown up. It’s part nurture and how we’ve developed as people.’ and which makes me think me about the actual meaning and definition of culture. It is being said in the lecture that the objective culture is what you can see from the outside, from your appearance and your looks. Subjective culture, on the other hand, is invisible like your values, norms, and attitudes. For me personally, culture and the idea of ‘root’ has always been confusing because of my own background.  I was born in a country where I know almost nothing about and raised in my parent’s culture but grow up in another environment with peers that hold a different value from my parents. There is a very important point being made in the lecture and that is that all of these culture ‘acts as a filter through which people process experiences’ So there is a clash of culture and when people experience a different culture, we start to process what we have experienced and therefore creates a new culture. Throughout my life I was confused and I don’t really know where I belong and for some of the work that I have produced in the past, I try to make them heavily ‘culture’ based . In the future, that can be less of a purpose.

Then another thing worth noted is the politics of dressing and the cultural elements of politics that it reminded me of how in Taiwan before Japan’s colonization, people are used to wearing clothes from China in the Qing dynasty but after being colonized by Japan, western and Japanese fashion and clothing has been brought into Taiwan. Therefore in a period of time, people wear clothes from all three cultures and what you wear defines your attitude and also sometimes your political values at that time. 

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