Monday, June 1, 2015

Extra may blog

This month I did stuff to get ready for my senior presentation. 

I drew things for the slideshow 

I made things to show people 

I learned a lot from the senior project and I am a better Designer because of it. 

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Blog 23 Senior Project reflection

itle: Blog 23:  Senior Project Reflection
Label: Presentation
Directions: Please answer the following questions, and submit them to the blog.
Due Date: The day after your block presentation by 8:00 A.M.


(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?


I am most proud of what i learned during the project. I am proud to say that I went out and found a mentor along with other people who guided me through the process of design.



(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

       P+          

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?


      P+          

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?


What worked for me in the project was the independent component. Because fashion design is my passion, I was able to advance my studies in this area while still doing something that I love.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?


If I could go back in time, i would do more interviews with more people not just my mentor to get a better idea of what to talk about in my presentation. 

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.


The senior project was helpful to me because it let me study design, a passion of mine. It also allowed me to express my creativity in a presentation format.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Blog 22: Mentorship



LIA Response to blog:
    Literal
·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog -DONE 

·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place
-Kami Boonthanakit

    Interpretive
     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
- Working on the senior project, i was able to draw valuable skills in research from the research that we had to do. I also was able to practice my skills in searching for something important to me, like my mentorship. This helped me with persistence. 

   Applied
     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.
-My essential question focuses on the difficulties of creating a fashion collection, throughout the past months, i was able to work closely with a mentor and on my own to create many collections. These collections i created help me answer my essential question because the direct experience showed me what is the best way to create a successful collection. 



Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Exit interview blog


Content:

(1) My essential question is "what is the best way to create a cohesive fashion collection?".

 My first answer is "The best way to create a cohesive fashion collection is by gaining an understanding of your inspiration and applying it to your collection using a design technique to tie in each garment."

my second answer is "The best way to create a cohesive fashion collection is by incorporating personal design style with the influence of your inspiration to impliment in your collection"

My third answer is  "The best way to create a cohesive and successful fashion collection is by influencing your designs using an idea and a material that reflect your inspiration while keeping in mind the objective of the collection.  "

My best answer is #3 because it embodies the most important factors of a successful collection.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

I arrived to this answer by creating and working on many fashion collections over the course of the senior project and i have concluded that #3 shows the parts of a collection that the consumer and others look for in a design. 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

some problems i faced were design and construction related. I had problems with sewing and designing sometimes. These were easily solved by searching online for information or contacting my mentor.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

The two most important sources I had were Voislav Cionca, an architect, and my mentor and fashion designer, Kami Boonthanakit. These people showed me how to overcome problems in design but also how to push my abilities in design further. 

Thursday, April 30, 2015

April Blog

What I did this april to further my essential Question:

I spent a lot of time with my mentor this month, we worked on various projects and she helped me answer my essential Question. One thing we did was work on the concept of a cohesive collection with was fitting considering my essential question has everything to do with that. The conversations that I have with my mentor and her husband, Ted, who is a fantastic illustrator have made me a better designer and have taught me about illustration and design which i will teach in my presentation.

Below are some pictures of things I've worked on with my mentor:

Above is a couture style illustration using ink and maker

Above is an illustration of a pair of shoes to practice perspective, shading, and glare. 

Above is called a "flat" illustration. This is where the illustration is motionless and is often used to show the details of a complicated garment so that they can be understood and not just interpreted as they may be in a kinetic sketch. 

Sunday, April 26, 2015

independent component blog




LITERAL
“I, Alexandru Andronescu, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 65.5 hours of work.”

(The biggest help I had in answering my essential question was through my mentor, Kami B. She was a great influence on my designing and has taught me a lot about design in the many hours that I have spent with her. 

WHAT DID I COMPLETE? 

I was able to complete a few well constructed garments, illustrate them, pattern them correctly. I was also able to advance my illustration and design skills in a way that would push me farther when I go to college for design.

I was also able to compete many illustrations that can be presented upon request.

INTERPRETIVE 

I will present below illustrations, my completed garments, and some photos of my pattern book. If any more is required to defend the hours that I have completed, I will present them.



APPLIED

The independent component was instrumental in me answering my essential question because i lived the answers to my question. There were no hypotheticals involved and i was able to experience exactly what i was trying to prove with my answers. 
above is a watercolor illustration I made while studying the anatomy of shoes

here is the beginning stages of studying how to illustrate shoes using a 2HB pencil

here is one illustration of the dress i am currently working on but began during independent component 

above is an illustration using COPIC markers to study face structure, contrast, and hair.

above is one of the completed garments for one of the first photoshoots that i was doing at the beginning go the component 

Sunday, March 22, 2015

March Blog

WHAT I DID THIS MARCH TO HELP ME FURTHER MY ANSWERS FOR MY ESSENTIAL QUESTION?

This March I met with my mentor several times to discuss design and illustration. My mentor showed me some different mediums of illustration such as watercolor, Marker, and ink. We also discussed chef coat designs and their practicality. I then spoke to my mentors son, a chef, about what is necessary or something that is often something a chef would like to have in a chefs coat to improve the design. With this information, I went back and discussed with my mentor important factors like material and ventilation for the coat. I was then given the assignment to go home and start working on them. 

Chefs coat design
Above is an illustration I made of a chefs coat design that I came up with. The upper body is loose with wide and short sleeves to allow ventilation as well as to not restrict movement. It also features key important details like the neck being open and the pen pocket. 

Pink ink design
Above is an illustration i made with the use of ink. My mentor was telling me all about how the ink is similar to watercolor but in some ways is faster to access because you still need to wet the watercolor. In this piece, my mentor had me use one color and to show the feeling as well as the color of the dress. By the silhouette and color of the hair and the lips, it gives a different feel and theme to the illustration and garment. 



Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Blog 18 : interview 4

1) what schools do you recommend I study at? Why these schools? 

2) you mentioned during the time we worked together that New York City is the best place for a young designer to begin, why so? 

3) how did NYC inspire you or help you achieve your dreams of fashion design? 

4) what pushed you to keep designing? 

5) what are some ways to get inspired by NYC? 

6) when you studies at FIT, How was the fashion design program structured? 

7) did you complete the four years of fashion design that was needed to have a bachelors in fashion? 

8) do fashion houses look for any spurt of credentials for you to work for them besides your work and portfolio? 

9) when you started working in New York, who hired you first? 

10) what was the last job you occupied in New York? 

11) did you have to search around for job opportunities or did the school offer connections? 

12) where was your dream place to work in NYC? 

13) when you applied to colleges, you mentioned that you had to take lots of classes on sewing before you were admitted as part of the design program. Where did you take these classes? 

14) what did you do to push your name further in New York

15) did you attend many fashion shows because of your connections at the company you worked for? 

16) how have fashion shows changed since you lived, studied, and worked in NYC? 

17) where do you think fashion is going Now? Is it cyclical? 

18) what is it that you consider to be success in fashion? 

19) what are your long term aspirations in the world of fashion? 

20) do you believe that you completed everything that you wanted to achieve when you lived and worked in New York? 












Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Blog 17

Title:  Blog 17: Third Answer
Label: Research
Due Date:  Thursday, March 5th by 8AM

Content:

Just like you did for answer 1 and 2 post your:
  • EQ  - "what is the best way to create a coheisive fashion collection?"
  • Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)* - "the best way to create a coheisive fashion collection is by incorporating research and design style into a collection that clearly reflects your inspiration" 
  • 3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example) -1- you need to understand your inspiration, 2- one must express their design style to make it their own, 3- you have to demonstrate the understanding of your inspiration through the garments
  • The research source (s) to support your details and answer - Fashion icons of the 20th century 
  • Concluding Sentence - this book and my mentorship will have given me the answers I need to answer my essential question 


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

February Monthly Blog

What I did this february to help me answer my essential question:

This month I worked on the designs of different pieces in my collection, Talked with my mentor for advice and suggestions on where to bring my collection, and conducted an interview with Kami, my mentor. 

The Collection: I worked this month with illustration and gaining an understanding of where i want to bring my collection. For my next collection, I waned to tell a story of about ten pieces. To accomplish this, I began with my First piece, last piece and then the piece that would be a mix of the two as my center piece. This was  Technique i learned when i was studying in New York. 
Above is an illustration not of the collection I am working on but of the idea behind how exactly i am working to put together my collection. My mentor and I talked about it and also talked about famous illustrators that she enjoyed the work of when she was going to school. She suggested The works of artists like Antonio Lopez, a famous fashion illustrator in the 1980s to observe the work of and perhaps learn from. I then studied his work and came to the conclusion that his work is both elegant and gets the point across. 
Above is an illustration by the famous illustrator Antonio Lopez as i had mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Blog 16

Title:  Answer 2
Label: Presentation
Due Date:  Thursday, 2/19 by 8AM


1.  What is your EQ?

"what is the best way to create a cohesive fashion collection?"

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

"the best way to create a cohesive and successful fashion collection is by researching and gaining an understanding of your inspiration to incorporate into a collection"

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

"The best way to create a cohesive and successful fashion collection is to incorporate your personal design style and point of view of your inspiration to implement in your collection"

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.


- Research - important because you want to accurately represent your inspiration in a way that can be conveyed to the viewers 

-understanding- you have to understand the point and meaning of a collection when you are assembling each garment so that it gives out a cohesive message. 

-personal design style- important for making the collection yours

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?


Alexander McQueen: legacy 

6.  What other source supports your answer?


Icons of Fashion 20th Century 

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.


These books and my personal experience helped me reach my answer

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Blog 15: indépendant component 2 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I plan to draw, design, and construct different garments to create a collection. I did this my first semester  and feel that doing this again will allow me to further research my essential question.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

Constructing garments is a time consuming task. I don't believe i will encounter any problems completing the required hours. I will able to produce photographic, video, and tangible proof if requested.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

This will help further understand what it takes to assemble a cohesive fashion collection. This is my essential question so i will be directly answering that.

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log. 

-done-

Friday, February 6, 2015

Blog 14: independent component 1

  • LITERAL
    (a) Write: “I, Alexander Andronescu_, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 72.5 hours of work.”
    (b) the biggest help to me in completing my independent component for first semester was my mentor and a book called Pattern Magic which she baught me. 
    (c) Updated hours
  • (d) I completed various garments and illustrations, and conducted 2 professional level photoshoots. (Proof can be shown with pictures and actual products brought in)
  • INTERPRETIVE 
    The significance of my the work I have been doing for my project has been to move forward as a designer and discover different things that I didn't know and different things that I can use in the future when I am designing more collections in college and afterwards. 
    Above is a shot from a photoshoot I had organized in January. 
    Above is an illustration I made with the help of my mentor, Kami Bootanthanakit 

  • APPLIED
    The fundemental idea behind my topic and the essential question that I am currently using (What is the best way to create a coheisive fashion collection?) are all based around the assumption that I am indeed designing collections and garments during my senior project time. By creating an illustration and turning it into an actual peice of fashion, I am able to embody the idea of my senior project. 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Lesson 2 reflection

Label: Presentation


Content:

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I was most proud of how I was able to engage everyone and engage them in the activity. They all were very interested in the presentation as far as I could tell.

2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

       AE

     b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract

I met all the requirements on the contract and based on how I was able to draw in the audience with how much I love fashion and trying to relate to them. Also by looking at the audience, I could tell people were interested.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2? Everything went well. 

Especially the activity

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

I would have included some illustrations with swatches that I would pass around. I feel like that would have given them something to see physically besides what hanging from the board 

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

The best way to create a coheisive fashion collection is by researching and gaining an understanding of your inspiration to implement in a collection. 

Friday, January 23, 2015

January blog post

 What I did this January: 
This month, I had a photo shoot for 4 garments I made for my independent component. This photo shoot included a professional model, photographer, and studio. This is something that will prepare me for the future as this will be something that I will be doing a lot. Photo shoots and learning to direct photo shoots properly are a big part of being a designer. This photo shoot I learned from the photographer that it Is not uncommon for a shoot to have music, sometimes supplied by the model. The other thing I did this month was started volunteering at an air museum (specializing in the uniforms of the Second World War) I use all the research I gained from volunteering there to incorporate in my designs, not just for the design but for the functionality aspect. As depicted in the second picture, I have also been practicing the different styles of illustration. This month I have mostly been focusing on the 1940-1970 style of illustration as this is what they would be teaching students in that time period. 

Thursday, January 15, 2015

December blog post

What I did this December with in my field. 
This December I worked with my mentor and studied things like brocades on fabrics and asian style designs. I studied the different styles if brocades from China to Korea to Japan. My mentor also showed me the different ways to work with a computer to enhance the way you communicate to your client exactly what you are featuring in your collection.

Explanation of picture: These pictures above are from what I have been working on in the month of December. From left to right; a red brocade with gold cherry blossom patterns. The gold matching the gold on the cherry blossom. The next is a grey brocade with elastic top. The pants are a lycra cut. The last garment is a top made from silk green dragon brocade, grey chiffon, and black waistband/collar. Also featuring lycra pants.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Blog 12; mentorship hours check

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

With Kami Bootanthanakit

2.   Who is your contact?

Kami Bootanthanakit


3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?

55


4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did. 

During the summer: i worked with my mentor on sketching and creating. 

During the first semester: I worked with my mentor on styles of sketching, design, books and discussion as well as assembling pieces. 

Monday, January 5, 2015

Blog 11: Holiday project update


1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

During my break, my mentor and I went over fashion sketches and the types of drawing for the fashion design. We covered the difference between an illustration and  a sketch. I also worked on a mens jacket for the wintertime with the use of symbolism in a design. 


2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

The most important thing I learned about this month with my project was to tell the difference between drawing an illustration for a fashion final and a sketch for an idea. This skill is important because when it comes to ideas, you want to be as direct as possible. 
3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I would interview my mentor's husband about illustration. Ted Bootanthanakit is a fantastic illustrator for video game, and storyboarding companies. This skill is incredibly useful in fashion and I would like to learn more.