photoshop experiments

I started experimenting with all the scanned work that I had, trying to create a repeat with using the line drawings. I layered all the leaves to create a rainforest texture that would link with the idea of the walls of leaves that I had been researching. As a wallpaper I could have the images really big and it would act like a wall of leaves to bring nature into these dull city houses. I started with the black and white images to build up the pattern.

I then scanned in some watercolour backgrounds to start trying to add some colour behind the black and white drawing. I did some textured green watercolour samples to try and get an interesting background. I tried over and over again to fit these drawings together to make something interesting but they designs just looked way to cluttered.

I really wanted to get watercolour into the design because thats what I like but I was really struggling to work out how to make it work. The designs worked being black and white but I kept thinking that they just looked like a colouring book. So I needed to get colour in them somehow.

The watercolour added some of the bright greens in that I wanted but they were just so busy (which in some ways was alright because I wanted to to be like a wild rainforest) but there was too much going on and even as a larger pattern the colours just ended up looking muddy and not what I wanted.