HAWAIIAN SHIRT—Introduction to Digital Media
INTRODUCTION:
This project required us to create our own Hawaiian shirt with a unique design. We had to include a pattern which we illustrated, a button which we were to make look three dimensional, and an aloha style label which included texture. We were required to put it all together in a neat tabloid size layout.
MATERIALS:
Adobe Illustrator was used to create the shirt and the reference images were sourced from google.
CREATIVE PROCESS:
When thinking of Hawaiian shirts, my mind automatically goes to holidays on the beach, relaxing and enjoying fruit and all things tropical. It also goes to crazy parties and music festivals. I wanted to create a shirt that someone could wear to a festival or a night out that plays on the idea of a traditional Hawaiian shirt, in a way that would be a conversation starter. Since one of my favourite fruits is a pineapple, and they are very traditional staples in Hawaiian Shirts (I even own a pineapple Hawaiian shirt), I wanted to play on that imagery. I had seen them compared to brains before, and thus decided on my Zombie Holiday shirt. After all, I'm sure Zombies would prefer brains to pineapple. I used images found through google searches to reference when creating my illustration. I played around with the design a lot, as well as the colour in the shirt in order to create something that was harmonious using traditional Hawaiian shirt themes and colours in a new and fun way.
https://www.finecooking.com/ingredient/pineapple
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-makes-a-human-brain-unique/
A first draft of my Illustration
My final illustration
WORKFLOW:
To Start out, I added the image of the Hawaiian Shirt and embedded it. I then traced the different shirt components, being careful to do the panels that would be on the bottom first.
Once I finished creating all the panels, I removed the image of the shirt and ensured that all the lines were smooth and all the corners were in place, that nothing was sticking out anywhere.
I then went on to create my design. I did a lot of experimenting with different tools and effects until I was satisfied with my design. I then used the scale tool to scale my design down to a reasonable size for a shirt, ensuring that I scaled corners, strokes, and effects.
Once I had my design, I experimented with making a pattern using the pattern maker tool. At first my illustration would get blown out every time I put it in the pattern maker, I ended up having to add a stroke to any blob brush components for it to work properly. I decided to add a second pineapple and rotate them so that my pattern was not so straight up and down. I tried out many different pattern types and spacings, but eventually chose a grid pattern with smaller spacing as the way the two pineapples were placed created a lot of space on its own.
I added a yellow colour to the shirt components as it reminds me of the inside of a pineapple. Then added the pattern as a second fill above the colour fill. I used the tilde key to shift and rotate the pattern on each separate section, in order to give it a more natural look. I then added shadow details along the collar and front shirt panel by copying and pasting below the original component, using multiply as a blend mode at an opacity of 35 percent, in the colour black, with a Gaussian blur. The inside of the shirt was made to look as if it was the other side of the fabric by a similar method but white instead of black.
To create the button, I used the elipses tool to create a circle and four smaller circles inside. Using the shape builder tool, the smaller circles were then removed from the larger one. This was then copied, pasted, and offset so there were three separate parts. One was created into a shadow using the method in the previous section, the middle layer was darkened to give the button depth. On the top layer, a radial gradient was added with multiple colours in order to create a three dimensional effect.
I played around with the colour of the button a lot but eventually I imported a wood grain image and used that to create a more traditional wooden button. I added a second fill with a white gradient with various levels of transparency in order to create the highlight, 3D effect.
I added yellow thread to match the colour of the shirt, I used multiple stroke widths and colours to create a 3D thread. I then added it to the graphic styles to use for the rest of my stitches.
The buttons were then scaled down to a reasonable size and added to the shirt with equal spacing.
To create my aloha label, I imported a linen texture to use as my label. I was inspired by the aloha labels I saw where the designs were embroidered on to the label. I used a dashed stroke to get this effect. I kept the design simple and more traditional but gave the company the name Sesh Threads to give a more contemporary feel. It's also indicative of where the shirt is intended to be worn.
I used the envelope distort, mesh tool in order to add the label to the shirt in a natural way.
I then placed the shirt centred at the top of my art board and the pattern, label and button were placed along the button. I added the name of the Shirt Zombie Holiday, and my name centred below the shirt. At this point, I decided to change a few things. I changed the colour of the shirt to be more orange and added a gradient as the bright yellow was too distracting. Additionally, I changed the colour of the linen on the label to fit better with the colours in the shirt.
FINAL WORK:
CONCLUSION:
This project taught me a lot about different ways I could blend modes, gradients, and all the different tools and effects available in illustrator. I spent a lot of time experimenting with different things before I was happy with my illustration. I think it was a really valuable experience because I was able to figure out what worked and what didn't in creating different effects. I think the most challenging thing for me in this project was making decisions. I tried out so many different colours on every element, and it ended up taking me a very long time. Overall though, I really enjoyed working on this project and am really happy with the outcome.
