HAWAIIAN SHIRT- Intro to Digital Media
INTRODUCTION:
In this project, my task is to make a Hawaiian shirt with a unique pattern. In keeping with the general theme of Hawaiian shirts, I designed a pattern and applied it to a drawn shirt with buttons and an imaginary shirt company label.
MATERIALS:
Adobe Illustrator was used to create all the assets in the project, including patterns, buttons and labels. Reference, inspirational images and texture image samples used are all collected from internet searches.
CREATIVE PROCESS:
I wanted to create an undersea world. I love drawing dolphins because of their smooth body curves. I also love corals with different colours and shapes. After searching many photos on Britannica ImageQuest, I chose to use a dark background and light patterns to create contrast. Dolphins in blue, corals in orange, pink and fluorescent green, which seem colourful and lively.
INSPIRATION:
https://cdn.quest.eb.com/images/132/132_1350/132_1350493-W.jpg
https://cdn.quest.eb.com/images/138/138_1126/138_1126211-W.jpg
I drew the dolphin with the shape builder tool, and then drew the corals around it with different brushes. Complementary colours are used—pink and fluorescent green, orange and blue.
WORKFLOW:
First, I placed a picture of a Hawaiian shirt into Illustrator as a template layer, and set the visibility as 50%. I traced the general shapes for the shirt elements, one on top of the other. During the template tracing process, I ensured that all the edges and lines met appropriately and were layered in the correct order.
After the tracing was complete, I deleted the template and I went back to make sure all the edges lined up and the shirt was one cohesive piece. Then I used the curvature tool to modify the edges.
Now I started drawing a dolphin and some corals. After trying different colors and brushes, I created them into a layer group.
The undersea artwork was then made into a pattern using the pattern-making tool in Illustrator. After experimenting with various tile types, I settled on a grid type with 5x5. I wanted to keep space between the illustrations so each section could be clearly distinguishable from one another. The copies of the pattern darkened to 70%.
Using the appearance panel, I applied the pattern fill for all the elements that made up the shirt structure. The underneath colour is dark blue. I also use "Move" and "Rotate" function to adjust the pattern so that it appeared to be more like real textile.
I utilized the appearance panel once more and used the "Multiply" mode to achieve a darkened, shadow effect on the inside element of the shirt. The "Screen" effect was used on the inner triangle portion of the shirt to create the look of the inner fabric.
The pen tool was utilized to draw shadow shapes under the collars of the shirt. The appearance panel was used for these shapes with a "Multiply" mode along with the "Gaussian Blur" effect to create the look of a shadow.
I used the ellipses tool to draw a circle and filled it with blue colour. Four circles were drawn inside the large one and the shape builder tool was utilized to subtract these smaller circles on the inside, leaving spaces behind to create a sort of button shape.
In the gradient colour slider, multiple colors stops were added at varying shades to create the look of a beveled ridge. A lighter colour was applied to the inside to create greater dimension. Shadows were drawn and layered behind the button to create more dimension. Finally, I used yellow thread to match the corals.
The buttons were arranged vertically on the shirt, aligned with equal spacing in between.
The shirt label was coming. I found a rough texture image on Google and brought it into Illustrator. I want the label to be consistent with the bottom pattern of the shirt, so I created an imagined company that called "Sunshine Beach", which was made in Hawaii. The name of company is in STXingkai, with black font and yellow border. The font of production address is in Times New Roman, with dark blue.
Then I opened the resource library of the brushes and chose a "Random size flower", set it to red, representing the sun. I also chose a "Flower-shaped brush" and set it to dark green, representing the beaches and mountains. The "Multiply" effect was added to the art and the text to give the appearance of the rough fabric on each element of the label. Stitches were added to the sides using the pen tool to draw a dashed line.
The label was placed on the inside of the shirt. It looks very harmonious.
Then I laid all the elements of the shirt at the bottom of my art board. Everything is done.
FINAL WORK:
This is my "Undersea World". The colour contrast is distinctive, and the pattern is simple and generous. If possible, I would like to wear it to the beach in the summer.
CONCLUSIONS:
This is the first costume design I completed. Drawing with adobe illutrator is very interesting. By constantly trying new tools, I have uncovered an infinite variety of inspirations. In fact, I encountered some difficulties when filling the shirt pattern. But after watching all the videos, I solved the problem. If I have another chance to do it, clothing design can be further expanded, such as the gradation of the shirt background color, the more refined dolphin pattern, and so on. It is really rewarding in the digital media class.
