Testing Techniques

Well I have been researching on the internet on how to create the cross stitch pattern, there are a few techniques that I would like to try. For my first attempt I have followed a tutorial I found on the internet, here is the website:
http://ltsmith.tripod.com/pshop/cs3.html


This tutorial shows you how to change a picture/image into a cross stitch chart in Photoshop, I thought that this tutorial would be really good for the sort of thing I want to do for my pattern but I found that once I had created a cross stitch chart on a photo, it didn't look as clear as I thought it would, I don't think that it is up to the standards that I need my cross stitch pattern needs to be at. 


Here is my attempt at a cross stitch chart.

After

Before.

Help....

http://ltsmith.tripod.com/pshop/cs1.html

                     ^^^^^^^

 How to create a cross stitch on photoshop

Cross Stitch Patterns

To help me decide what sort of pattern I want to design I will be looking at other patterns to give me inspiration and it will help me decide if I want to keep the pattern simple by using one colour or to step it up and experiment with using more than one colour. There are downfalls of using one colour as there are not many patterns that use just black thread, using just one colour also doesn't make it as exciting and as challenging. But there are the positive sides of using one colour, you don't get confused with what colour goes where and you wont make as many mistakes. In my opinion I do think the black cross stitch patterns do look effective and I do think they look good. The positives of a coloured cross stitch is that it is more detailed and there are more variety in designs. The downfalls of a coloured cross stitch is that it is a lot more complicated and will take a long time to complete. So I will be looking at other cross stitch patterns to help me work out what I will do. 

New Idea

I have changed my idea for my extended project. My new idea is to design a pattern for a cross stitch. I had this idea as just the other week I bought a cross stitch to complete in my spare time, I am really enjoying the cross stitch I am doing at the moment it does take time and patience but its all worth it when you see the piece completed. I am really looking forward to designing a pattern for a cross stitch as when I was looking on the internet to but a cross stitch for myself I couldn't find simple one for beginners. This is the cross stitch I am currently working on.

I have already spent around 8 hours and have only just finished half of the rhino which is the middle animal. 

My Chosen Idea

I have decided to create a children's colouring book for my extended project, I will use Adobe Illustrator to create the images of objects/animals. I have bought a colouring in book to get some ideas. I will also create the front and back cover. I'm not sure whether to make the colouring book themed, or just random pictures. If I choose to do a themed colouring book, i could do all sorts, for example: animals, people, objects, places. 

Children's Colouring Books.

My second idea was to create a children's colouring book, it would consist of man pages of animated animals/objects/number/letters etc. in which children can colour in, and having five niece's myself a colouring book comes in handy. I would create the animated images on Adobe Illustrator , we have only just started learning how to use Illustrator but this project would allow me to develop my skills further. I have looked on Google at animated images and have picked a few of my favourite.

i Stop Motion Animation Video's

I have been looking at i Stop Motion animation video's on YouTube. There is a wide selection of video's ranging from people using Lego to create the animation, using other objects and using themselves. I have picked a few which I really enjoyed watching and hopefully if I choose to create an i Stop Motion animation for my extended project I could pick up some idea's from the video's.

This first video is two young men making an animation using themselves and t-shirts. I really enjoyed this animation, it has humor and you could watch it over and over. 

The second video is made using Lego, it is a re-creation of a scene from the film Grease, I really like this animation firstly because i love the film Grease and you recognize who the Lego characters are meant to be acting.

This last video is falls into the comedy genre, it's just a simple wooden model but the creater HansSeg has been clever and given the model a character, sort of like a personality, it made me laugh so much when the creater slaps the model for moving while he's drawing her, I think it's a really good video and has had a lot of thought put into it.