Goodbye freshman year!

So, tomorrow is officially my last day of freshman year!  I have my Arts and Politics final at 8 am, finish by 10, pack up, then head home!  It's crazy how most people are already gone.  You walk outside of my dorm and cars are lined up, packing up students.
The fashion design final went really well, all the students came up with really really creative designs.  I was really impressed, especially because we haven't even learned pattern making.  Visual Thinking also went well, and I have a picture (not the best picture) to show you of one of my designs!

Well, enjoy your summer!  Thanks for reading my blog!

LAST DAY OF CLASSES

I am officially done with classes for this semester.  Now all I have to do is have my drawing critique, my fashion critique, my visual thinking critique, and take my art history exam!  I have the drawing and fashion projects done, so now I'm working on my visual thinking project, which is the designs for Elie Saab.  So far I have three out of six, but I might redo them... I am crazy, but I want it to be perfect!
Here's one design that I'm working on: (sorry about the quality and that its sideways!)

Well have a great week!  Talk to you when I am one day away!




~Talia

Last full week of classes!

The last week is actually here!  Plus Monday and Tuesday of next week...

Last week was crazy, but this week is settled down a bit.  Most of this week is just preparation for final projects.  I'm waiting for my heat-activated fabric to be delivered for my time arts class.  My final project is to just study what effects the fabric and make a video of it.  For drawing, the theme of our final drawing is Film Noir.  Basically, we have to find the darkest spot on campus and set something up using a light.  It's kind of hard when we all live in dorms.

And the topic of our fashion final was given out last week!  We have to create a look using either shoulders or collars using three circles of fabric.  Only three circles.  That's it.  You can cut the circles down however you want, but you are not allowed to take more!  I am working with a partner on this one, and we are each creating a shoulder with high volume that rolls into a ball.  Hopefully I can get a picture up when it's done so this actually makes sense!  I am actually excited to see how it turns out!  It should be interesting...
I am still in the progress of working on my Elie Saab collection, lots of glam, which I am not used to at all!

There's really not a lot that I can show you until I actually finish my finals, so I am sorry!  I will try my hardest to get up pictures!  (even if I'm not in school anymore)

Well, wish me luck!  Have a great week.

Where did the year go?

So basically, I am done with classes two weeks from today.  I have no idea how that happened, but I am ready for summer!
This week is probably the busiest week of my life.  TWO research papers due this week!  Each 10-12 pages.  Luckily, I got one done (pretty much) yesterday and am 4 pages into one that I started today... due Thursday.  But to be fair to myself, I had to start it today because today was when my professor made me change the whole thing.
Other than long papers, I am working on my couture project for visual thinking.  This week our inspiration board is due.  Hopefully I can come up with something great and post a picture of it next week!  I didn't have fashion last week, so no updates ):  but I did, however get to go to NYC with Art History!  After walking around the MET, I was sitting on the steps with my friends, felt something weird on my hand, and realized that I had put my hand on bird poop.  Where was that bird poop?  On my leg!  I hear that it's good luck though, so I wasn't completely upset... well... I was pretty upset... but I had another pair of pants with me since I was staying in Jersey for the weekend!
Well I have to get back to work, enjoy the nice weather (:

tuesday

Good afternoon!
So today has been a long day!  I have to make a stop-motion animation for my time arts class and it is taking forever!  It has to be at least 100 seconds.  Which means every second is 10 clips.  So ten seconds is 100 clips.  And every clip is a new adjustment.  I'm almost at 40 seconds though, so not too far off?

Well anyways, the one really good thing about being in art or design history is that you get to go to NYC for a field trip!  This Friday is the trip!  I can't wait to go!  We leave at 7 am, which gives us 5 hours on the bus to talk, watch movies, sleep, or write my 10 page research paper.  Once we get there we all get tickets to the MET and we have a sheet to fill out.  This doesn't take very long (well hopefully) so that gives us time to explore the city.  The bus goes back to Syracuse at around 5 p.m..  The nice thing is that you are allowed to stay in the city the weekend if you turn in a note.  I am going to stay in Jersey with my friend!  It's always nice to get a weekend away.

Sooo how about some art?  Here is what I just finished for foundation drawing, keep in mind that it is around 21.5" x 32", so it's pretty big!

 

sorry about it being sideways!  oops!  Well the assignment was to pick from a list of painters, choose an image, and redo it ourselves.  My artist is John Frederick Peto.  I also can't figure out how to make the type come out from the left!  Ha!

Fashion related classes:  In fashion design we are working on the jacket.   It's pretty much done except for button holes and closing up the lining.  No class this week though!  And in visual thinking we started a new project.  We are doing a line influenced by a couture designer.  I am doing Elie Saab.  I really don't know a lot about big designers, I have always been interested in smaller lines, but after looking at his clothes... wow... just wow.  They are incredible.  He was the first designer I researched and I am sticking with him.  I love his clothes.  Here is his link: ELIE SAAB  If you like beautiful dresses with a new modern twist, check out his designs.  It's always great finding inspiration from places you didn't even know about before.

Well have an amazing week!  I will fill you in about my weekend in the city next Tuesday!

new project!

Wow, can I just tell you how lucky I got during visual thinking??  So, the new project is to take a brand, research it, and design a collection based off of the style of the brand.  The thing is, we don't get to pick our brand.  So last Thursday, the professor passes around a little bowl with paper slips of all the brands and we have to pick form the bowl.  Guess what I got?  Anthropologie!  My professor wasn't completely happy with it because we aren't supposed to be designing for our style, but I couldn't be happier!  If I haven't said, Anthropologie/ Urban/ Free People is my dream company to design for.  The whole class knows it too, so when I picked it out of the bowl, there were some jealous eyes staring me down. Oh well!  I plan on working really really hard on this project, especially since it is for a brand that I love so much.

Well aside from that, we are starting a jacket in fashion design!  I guess half way done?  This is the schedule for the month of April:  Class last week, no class this week, class next week, no class next week, then two more classes left for the semester!  So basically, we have last week and the week after next to learn how to make a full jacket, bagged lining and all.  I went in Friday night to work on it and promised myself to take my time and make sure this jacket was the best garment I have made so far.  Once we are done with the jacket (and we only have one more class where we learn how to make it) we get to do our final project: designing a wearable art piece that is above the waist.  Last semester was below the waist and my inspiration was a watercolor/ collage piece of a tree.  I really have no idea what I am going to do yet, but I will keep you updated!

So during Spring break, my sister and I decided to start a blog that will help us stay together while I'm at school.  The problem, we don't have anyone posting!  The blog is called Love Art Sisters.  My younger sister, who is 17, loves photography, and I obviously love art.  The point of the blog is for people who share our love of art to go and post their art and to comment on other people's art.  Any type of art is acceptable and can be emailed to us, and then we will post it on the blog!  It is a great way to express yourself.
Here is the link:
http://loveartsisters.blogspot.com/
And any art can be emailed to my sister and me at:
loveartsisters@gmail.com
I really hope you can find something to contribute!

Have a great week!

almost there!

Almost through second semester!  Well, about half way!  So last week in fashion we worked on our knit dresses.  We had so many options for the dress so we could really make it our own.  I chose a navy blue fabric and put a hot pink and metal zipper down the back.  It's not exactly fitted, but it's still one of the first assignments where I got to make my own decisions.

In Visual Thinking we started another project where we got to choose a musician and design a fall layered look for them.  We are really working on improving our fabric drawing skills to make them more realistic looking.  You would never imagine how quickly you can draw a pair of pants that pops out of the page!

Also, the weather here is finally not snowy and gray!  There is sunshine!  After being in dark weather for the past few months it's really nice to be able to see the sky!  In 40 degree weather we can walk around without a coat! Well, at least being from Cleveland I'm loving the weather.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Finished project!

Finally finished my Visual Thinking project inspired by Romare Bearden!  Here are some images, but it's my first project, so don't be too harsh!

I had so much fun working on this.  Too bad class had to be canceled because of the snow!
Ends up that I didn't get to go to fashion design last week either, I got sick.  It's really hard missing class, I don't recommend it!  Good news is my professor was really willing to help me with what I missed and I am already caught up.  Sorry that I have no real fashion updates, I promise to have more next week when I actually get to go to class!

overload

For some reason, almost every professor decided this week would be a good week to make projects be due!  For Arts and Politics I had a midterm essay, for writing a 5 page paper, and for Visual Thinking I have a big project due!  Good news is that I turned in the midterm essay today and my 5 page paper is already done!  All I have left is my Visual Thinking project which I enjoy doing anyways!  I'm actually excited to start that project.  It is the one I talked about earlier that is inspired by Romare Bearden.  I'll hopefully be able to put up pictures of my designs when I'm done!  I love fashion drawing and I still can't believe that I get to draw clothing for a grade.  Last week in class we got to share our ideas with other people in our class.  So many of the students are so talented and it's really nice to be able to see what other people come up with.  I can't wait to see the final collection designs on Thursday!

Donation

So last Friday in fashion we had a very busy day.  We started off cutting fabric to work on muslin samples. We cut out three types of collars and put together two of them on mini shirts. We have to design 10 for homework, along with a collar quiz and cutting more fabric, as well as making a slash pocket that we designed ourselves.  The fabric that we are cutting is for two baby shirts.  One of the shirts gets to be donated to the children's hospital!  I think donating them is a great way to mix charity with class work.

In visual thinking we took a tour of the history of fashion design!  To do so, we looked through huge books that showed us all types of silhouettes.  We have to take some of these shapes and consider them for our collection that we are drawing out.  I can't wait until the project is done, only because I'm excited to see what everyone comes up with!

And one last thing, here is a cute website for handmade gifts!
www.thelongthread.com

fashion update

Finished my first garment of the semester in fashion design on Friday! It's a simple top, but I'm happy with it!  I learned a lot of techniques in the process of making it, such as understitching and making button loops.  Our next big project is a knit dress, but in the meantime we our designing our own slash pocket (trust me, way more complicated than it sounds) and on Friday we will be making a child's shirt which we will donate to the children's hospital!  (and also one to keep for ourselves)

For drawing, I spent three hours in Shaffer (art building) sitting in the hallway drawing one-point perspective.  Putting in the time really paid off.  If you rush through your assignment, chances are you won't get the best outcome.  It was actually really relaxing being able to take my time and concentrate on drawing.  Better than doing math homework!  Another thing that I do for drawing is keep a sketchbook and draw in it every day.  Some of the other students were complaining, but you can really have a lot of fun with it!  Check out this website with examples of sketchbooks from all over the world; http://www.urbansketchers.com/

Also, I had to make a twitter for my Time Arts class.  I was pretty against it at first, but now that I joined and started to 'follow' a bunch of my favorite designers, I'm finding it really interesting, especially with updates on fashion week.  Nicole Miller just tweeted about getting in all of her shoes for the show!  Speaking of designers, I'm trying to find an internship with one for the summer.  I think it would be such a great experience and a great thing to put on my resume.

With every fashion class I have had this semester, I really cannot wait to become a designer!  My dream job would be to own a boutique in Bucktown in Chicago!  Wish me luck!

First Fashion Post!

Hello.  My name is Talia.  I am currently a freshman at Syracuse, and my major is fashion design.  I am from Cleveland, Ohio.  I chose Syracuse because it is a great choice for a fashion major.  I get education in all the fields of design including: drawing, 3 dimensional arts, 2 dimensional arts, and time arts, as well as education outside of the arts fields.  I think that it is important to have knowledge in subjects other than just fashion, so coming here allows me to also take academic classes and gives me a chance to have a minor in business. 

Second semester started 2 weeks ago and so far I am really enjoying my classes, more than last semester.  I feel like I have a much better handle on how to manage my work.  I do not procrastinate!  My favorite class this semester is Visual Thinking.  In this class I learn about how to draw clothing onto a model and how to create a mood board.  It is all about finding an inspiration.  This is really what I have always wanted to do, so this class really interests me a lot and really involves creativity.  Art is what I love to do more than anything, so being in classes that involve art motivates me to work hard.

For my first visual thinking assignment I chose Romare Bearden as my inspiration.  I will be designing about 6 clothing designs based off of his Carribean inspired paintings.  Here is an example of his work:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61Z%2BGfpw6uL._SL160_AA160_.jpg
The project won't be finished until the end of February, but I will update you on my progress!