The Needs part of the Author project finished with the tutors asking us to design, make and wear a full body suit that would let us have access to the needs each of us listed for ourselves. Most people were not happy with this project, me included. Because of this I ended up leaving doing the costume until only a few days before the deadline. I regret not making something more oroginal but as my needs were observing, recording and learning, the only extensions that I felt I needed for making this easier were practical things like a strap-on desk for drawing and long pockets. I could have considered creating more arms for easier drawing/writing and like the tutors wanted, to really change the form of my body to answer the needs.
However I was more interested with the human body as it was and adding on gadgets to make day to day existance easier. I think this is because with any project, I tend to take quite a literal approach and for me to add extra arms would be to suspend belief and reality and just pretend, when I really actually wanted to make something that made drawing, observing and writing easy and practical to do in any situation or environment. And this is why I decided not to also make wings for my costme (in my crit we established that travelling is also a need of mine although it is connected with the need to learn.) Had I been better at sewing I believe I may have achieved a suit that getting my needs in would be easier in! I miscalculated the amount of fabric and needed and the garment ended up being tight and uncomfortable at the legs.
Otherwise I am quite happy with certain parts of my suit, the strap-on drawing desk for example did actually make drawing easier when standing up or walking as I tried it out on the day of the crit and at home the night before. The front sokets for pencils and pens were also very useful and much easier and quicker to access then they would be normally. And the sew on “rucksack” at the back is useful for the same reasons of easy and quick access without fuss or loss of time. Also only just yesterday I added to the suit a longer skirt as I had intended to have to begin with before I miscalculated the amount of fabric. And as well it now being more of an extended “bodysuit” it also has a few more useful pockets, made especially long for my biggest paintbrushes.
This is the original sketch. And these are the examples of me using my suit.
Pic 1: Using the drawing desk/apron
Pic 2: Using my Camerca “glasses”, the part of my costume that worked the least. The glasses I made out of Papier Mache and they were quite strong but the weight of the camera that I put into one of the lenses (for easier recording) was just too heavy for them to take and they kept falling down. Even the papier mache hat it was strapped on didn’t hold it in place properly; for a few moments maybe. I was able to take a picture while wearing them though!
Pic 3: Using the sewed on “rucksack”. The downfall though was that it was not as easy to reach as other pockets.
Pic 4: Taking out my sketchbook out of its sketchbook pouch! Right under the drawing desk for even easier convenience!
And below the final finished garment, now with Paintbrush pockets, which I think would be even more useful and easiest to reach if you sat to draw or paint for example and the pockets were just conveniently around your legs! All in all I found the project much more enjoyable then I expected and offcourse it did stretch my thinking and possibly improved my sewing skills but also I couldn’t wait for more traditional Ilustration projects.
