Peer and self-assessment for mixed media illustrations

I mainly like to use collage for illustrations as they are simple to create yet can look really effective. There are many different ways to develop this type of technique also, you can easily layer it up using more images, cutting into parts of the images, adding fabric or stitching into the illustration. Another option is to scan the image into Photoshop and edit it using different tools such as hue/saturation, the levels, brightness/contrast and the colour balance. Then when the illustration is printed out it looks more professional and neat, however it gave no texture to the illustration and with my theme I think that it needs more texture. 

I was advised by my peers to carry on developing and working into my existing illustrations as they look good now however they have potential to look even better. They have suggested that I incorporate other techniques, such as using the sewing machine to stitch into my illustrations to add texture and to make them become more 3D as this suits my theme more than them being flat. 

One of the illustrations I created using collage, is not really the style I would usually go for as it doesn't quite fit with the theme of my collection. Therefore I may change the colours to make the illustration look more subtle, or add texture by sewing on pieces of fabric. 

I also did some more illustrations without using Photoshop, I used scrap pieces of fabric and layered onto them pva glue, blue and brown coloured drawing ink and white acrylic paint. Using strands of the scrap fabric I also placed these pieces into the paint and glue before they dried. I will use these as inspiration and as a starting point for my swing tags and business cards, as I may want them to be textured.

This was one of the experiments I made, by using a scrap piece of fabric I layered different media such as; white acrylic paint and pva glue, then I mixed in some blue drawing ink to give a marbled affect. To add more texture, I broke off pieces of white chalk where some pieces crumbled into small pieces and some stayed in larger chunks, creating a mixture of textures. Next, I found a long thin piece of white string, which I thought would further add texture into the sample. When this tried it was a great starting point to work from to develop prints out of.

These are more developments of the experimentation I did with the fabric, pva glue and inks. On the left, is another example of how I used scrap fabric to distress and tear into, fraying the edges giving a more textured look. I then layered on pva glue, white acrylic paint, other pieces of scrap fabric, and string. This experiment gave a lot of texture helping me to develop my ideas, which then allowed me to create the sample on the page opposite. I made this sample using just pva glue, I then added texture by adding in some chalk, and brown and blue ink. Once the glue had dried it had gone clear, making the colours and the chalk stand out more. As this was the sample that had worked the best, I decided to further develop this into a print. I scanned it into Photoshop and edited it slightly by adjusting the hue/saturation and the brightness/contrast, to make the blue colours stand out more. This has been my main print for the majority of my press pack pieces, such as my logo, my business cards and my swing tags.