Digital textile design with Adobe Photoshop: geometric shapes

What is the course about?

This is a fun but intensive course to advance your creative direction and push your understanding of designing textiles using Photoshop. The aim is to understand and take you through how to build a mini textile collection from basic hand drawn designs through to complex pattern repeats. You will learn how to develop designs using a range of hand drawn and Photoshop techniques and explore how mark making, colour, pattern structure, and scale effect your final outcomes.

You will be taken through a well-constructed and structured pathway of skills and techniques to help you develop your designs. In this process you will be looking at producing more advanced samples of your work, and producing coordinated patterns such as dots and stripes to compliment these complex patterns. By the end of the course you will not only have some new design samples ready but will gain an awareness of achievable targets and an understanding of how to develop your work independently.

What will we cover?

The topics we will cover include:
- Creative drawing and mark making techniques
- Experimental scanning using your phone or scanner
- Cleaning up drawings and artwork content digitally
- Expanding design development work on Photoshop
- Developing drawings and content into complex directional block repeats, half drop repeat pattern, Complex mirror/symmetrical repeats and complex multilayer repeats.
- Learn to balance complex patterns with simple repeats like stripes or spot repeats
- Managing and working with brush swatches colour and pattern tiles
- Sending a file to a professional printer in our digital lab.
- Sampling onto fabric using the heat press and printing onto paper.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

- Analyse your creative work and define the direction you wish to develop
- Create content and drawings defining a new body of work
- Advance textile learners may develop old designs applying new digital skills to old drawings, artwork or designs
- Develop a body of digital designs saved for future use
- Understand Photoshop applications for pattern design and repeats
- Create six final repeat patterns designs applying new skills to design and drawings.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This is an intermediate course in textile software design but refreshers are welcome. You need to be confident and competent in your use of Photoshop and be able to import files, make selections, use layers and select and adjust brushes. It is deal for learners who have completed Designing textiles online using Photoshop: stage 1, or students, designers and artists wanting help to develop their surface pattern design skills.
You should be able to follow simple written and verbal instructions, demonstrations, technical handouts will be provided You should be able to use numbers and be able to do simple measurements and calculations.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

You will be taught using demonstrations, practical exercises, analysing samples, one to one tutorials and hand-outs. Please note the City Lit uses Apple Mac computers.
Student preparation and homework outside class times is strongly encouraged to support your progression on this course.

The course is supported by Google classroom as an e-learning virtual environment where handouts, and useful information will be stored. Details on how you can access the portal will be provided before the course starts.
You will need to login into our Google classroom before our sessions starts where all course materials will be stored.Details on how to access this will be provided in advance.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

Access to basic materials and resources are available as part of the course.
You will also need;

- A memory stick with designs to work on with sufficient space to save all your files. 4 -8gb is recommended
- Examples of your work, preferably in a portfolio or printed samples or products, so it is easier to share with the group.
- A4 note book and folder to store your notes, samples and hand-outs.
- Your ideas and a selection of source images/photos/drawings/ideas to work on. These can be your drawings, photographs, paintings, fabric samples, designs and images but can also be colours, textures and patterns that inspire you.
- Basic drawing tools are advisable to explore different mediums, black pens different thickness, like a sharpie and ballpoint. We will discuss in class.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

The techniques learnt on this course can be applied to many areas of Art and Design. City Lit runs a wealth of courses in contemporary crafts and digital textiles for beginners through to advanced learners. Please browse the website for upcoming courses.
General information and advice on courses at City Lit is available from the Student Centre and Library on Monday to Friday from 10:30 – 12:00 then 15:00 – 17:00.