copper mountain mistress
and a Floral Backdrop (Part II)
The main objective of this multi-part project was developing a series of print designs for textile to be used by a fashion designer in her clothing line (see more of this project in Part I and Part III).
A key inspiring motif for the whole collection was a series of slavic folk tales featuring Copper Mountain Mistress, a goldsmith patron and a protecting spirit of gems and valuable minerals; specifically this character was a main focus for a print idea outlined below
A key inspiring motif for the whole collection was a series of slavic folk tales featuring Copper Mountain Mistress, a goldsmith patron and a protecting spirit of gems and valuable minerals; specifically this character was a main focus for a print idea outlined below
For some reason, I have been very fond of reptiles since I was a small child. They were one of the very first things I was inspired to draw; as years passed by and I was growing up and perfecting my drawing technique, I would also often find myself gravitating towards plants and flowers as some of my most favorite objects to study for this purpose.
That is why when my client had approached me with an offer to collaborate on a project involving floral and reptile motives, it felt like it was made specially for me. The client had a vision of developing several pieces of clothing and corresponding prints and patterns for these items within her collection, all inspired by a folk character named Copper Mountain Mistress. According to numerous slavic tales featuring her, this spirit was a protector of regions rich with valuable minerals, where she often appeared to miners in a form of a young lady. This character was also able to shape-shift into a crown-wearing lizard; this visual form of the Mistress was the one that my client wished to include in her collection.
Before starting to work on this idea, we agreed on a general visual style for the whole collection. Having already had some experimentation and the finalised version of a pattern design for the collection (see Part I of this project), we agreed on using the same layered watercolor technique which was used for it. Additionally, my client also resonated with visual style and color palettes of several medieval tapestry pieces, and was very eager to use similar motifs across all works for the collection.
Specifically for a scarf of a large (1 x 1 meter) size, my client had a vision of having the Copper Mountain Mistress in her lizard form as a central visual element of the whole composition, with a rich floral pattern covering an entire background. These two key elements of the print were interpreted both through a lens of my personal approach to illustration, as well as the mentioned above inspiration of medieval tapestry works.
(Below you can see the final version of the entire background for the scarf).
This pattern consisted of 4 identical mirrored "tiles". A single and original square of such a tile was drawn on a A4 watercolor paper, fully by hand, and later scanned and multiplied in Photoshop, with some minor color and brightness adjustments for achieving the final desired feel of this key visual. Additionally, in order to give a hint and stay true to the central topic of the collection, numerous stones and gems were incorporated within the ornament.
(Pictures below show a difference between an intermediate version of a mirrored pattern without an added black background, and the final version of the visual).
As to the look of the Mistress in the lizard form, its visual interpretation was also deliberately referencing the desired by the client medieval art aesthetics look, which has purposefully somewhat distorted proportions, as well as light/shadow rendering of objects.
Below you can see experimentation with putting both elements together into a single composition; later on, several frames were also added in the composition.
Eventually a version with a double frame was chosen, as seen on a photo below (left) with the client holding a test print-out of a scarf in its original size.
The chosen version was later was printed out on silk, and presented during a fashion show as a part of client's collection.
Also, per client's request, the visual of the Mistress with a fence was incorporated into a separate pattern, eventually used for a second type of cloth.
