Thursday 25th April - Surface Design Artists

As well as looking at Indian artists and designers, I want to look at surface design artists. This is because I want my research to be as broad as it can be, so I am not narrowing my ideas down from the start, as whilst I am looking at these artists, I might be inspired by their work and want to create a sample in the style of it.

Organic Patterns - These portray natural forms of flora and fauna, which is the most popular design category. Observational drawings play a major part. There is emphasis of fruit, flowers, leaves and animals. 

Johanna Basford

This artist does not use any colour at all, and weirdly, I think it is an effective way of creating a pattern, and the detailed parts are more defined - it drawn you in to explore the work, almost like a game of hide and seek - you have to look through all the big leafy drawings to see the tiny detail. 
These patterns look a lot like henna designs - maybe that is why I am so drawn to this particular artist's work. 

Another artist that I looked at was Julie Ingham. She creates designs for postcards and birthday cards. 

Ingham's designs are more block like in the sense that they can be filled in with colour. They appear to be more graphic like and not as detailed as Basford. The work is still effective for it's purpose. 

Hannah Werning 

Werning's work is very floral, and I think some of her pieces have a theme such as the one above. It reminds me of Africa due to the zebras and the colours that have been used. As I am currently considering using old sacks of rice and images from flour and rice bags, I want to to be able to bring India across in my prints, so it almost tells a story about the place.