3D Art Foundations: Project #2 - Tyvek Suit
- Abby
- Feb 27
- 6 min read
"Using what you know about the 3D elements of design, a Tyvek suit, Sharpie markers and a Theme of your choice, design a suit that will draw the viewers eye around from one side of the suit to the other. Remember this suit will be worn and is Three-dimensional (even though when you work on it, it is flat).
You must cover the whole suit (Draw big!)
Use repetition and contrast
Use pattern
A linear element"
I went into the Tyvek Suit project with some excitement as I had seen the displays of previous classes on the first floor of D&M and thought they were rather interesting. Along with that, my focus within my Theatre Tech major is Costume Design. This was my arena, the trick was to find a theme that I liked and felt I had a lot to work with. What had really helped create jump points was that in the assignment there were different links to websites with long lists of themes. At the time I knew I wanted to try to find something where I could use a lot of organic shape and soft lines. I wasn't keen on the idea of doing a theme with a lot of geometric lines because I wasn't confident I would be able to move the eye around the suit well.
When looking at themes on these websites I considered Art Nouveau, Steampunk, Spooky, Nature, and Celestial. I ended up making maquettes for only three of these themes. I had really loved the idea of Art Nouveau because it is full of organic shapes and nature type imagery, however I really didn't know what to focus on within that style and I hadn't drawn it before. Along with that I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off with the amount of time I had. I also liked the idea of Steampunk, and I was thinking of doing a steampunk skeleton on the suit with a lot of cogs and machinery. However the more I thought about it this design and the direction I was thinking of going was to grounded and not all that dynamic.
When I was thinking about the Spooky theme I found myself having a hard time making my design dynamic. I liked the idea of the suit looking "stitched together" with some seams open to reveal a skeleton, and I had some spiders crawling out as well as blood bleeding from the seams. The bright red blood and purple spiders ended up being a good contrast to the otherwise monotone color palette. Although the more I looked at it I wasn't as big a fan and the design ultimately didn't end up taking much space on the suit.
For the Nature theme I wanted to toy with the idea of a magnolia inspired tree growing up the side, and vines creeping up the leg. The drawing of the tree ended up being rather tricky, and again there was the problem with it becoming grounded because of it. The tree also felt very dominant because it took up so much space on the suit. The focal point of the tree wasn't even the flowers it was more so the tree trunk and branches. Which most likely could have been fixed if I had adjust the scale of the flowers and repeated them more. While the theme was interesting and enjoyable I wasn't super excited for it.
The Celestial theme was really exciting to me because I love space, constellations, and astronomical imagery. The color palette can be very broad within this theme as well, so I could really make use of the markers I was given. My initial inspiration for this theme was actually a Dungeons and Dragons character I played named Tywla. She is a Circle of Stars Druid, and one of her features is called "Starry Form" where she can take on characteristics of specific constellations. The feature also ends up changing the appearance of the user while it is active. I have a drawing I did of her in this form that ended up really kicking my creative juices into gear for this theme.
The more thought I put into it the more I really wanted to lean into constellations and celestial bodies in this theme. What was a wonderful resource were Astronomy magazines. Recently my mom gave me a lot of her old Astronomy magazines for different art class so I was able to consult some old star maps as well as cosmic photographs people have taken.
To incorporate contrast I left stars and a couple of planets in warm tones, and made things like galaxies and constellations in cool tones. There is also a difference in line weight between the constellations and "swirly bits" I ended up drawing. I repeated 3 different styles of stars throughout the suit design, to try to give the stars more variety rather than sticking to one style. In its own way it is it's own type of pattern, like those you'd see on specialty cotton fabrics at Walmart.
I ended up doing a second maquette of the Celestial theme to see if I could strengthen the design. In this version I played around more with the scale of my stars and tried to incorporate more constellations. The proximity of the elements also got closer together in this version. I adjusted the lunar phases to wrap around the leg to try and make them less static. I also really wanted the galaxies and "swirly bits" to incorporate more colors, as galaxies and celestial bodies aren't always the same colors, so I tried to make some primarily with greens and teals, others with reds and pinks, and obviously some with blues and purples. I liked the addition of the meteor and the UFO on the suit as well because it felt like it gave the design a little more personality. It gave it a feeling that things were happening in this design as space can usually feel isolating and empty, which is also part of why I wanted to include such organic lines.
I think the contrast between the stars and these "swirly bits" is rather strong as each give your eyes different elements to look at and follow around the suit. You can either chose to hop between the stars or follow the lines to guide your way through the suit. Another good contrast with this theme was how I did the constellations and their dotted lines against all of the galaxies and "swirly bits". Almost every other line was very soft and full of movement, however the constellations were entirely hard lines and the weight of these lines was a lot lighter than the organic ones. They were more akin to connect the dots and the constellations seem to almost blend in because of it. Not to mention the constellations are in a light shade of blue while everything else is either darker cool tones or lighter warm tones.
With all of these maquettes drawn the next step was to actually put the design on the suit. To do this we were given alcohol based markers and the suit. The material the suit was made of had a weird texture that I didn't like. Also the material was incredibly wrinkled with no good way to remove the wrinkles. The was an elastic strip at the back of the suit that really didn't help things when I eventually had to draw on that side. It made drawing the Cygnus constellation particularly tricky. Also on paper the markers looked nice and saturated, but on the suit I felt that not every color translated as well. Getting the elements that wrapped around was tricky as the suit is meant to be worn, and naturally I was drawing the design on the suit on a table. There was a lot of maneuvering that had to happen for the drawing to work. Eventually I got the suit to do what I wanted it to and it turned out like I had hoped.
Tyvek Suit Final Product
Within the final product I ended up placing multiple UFO's throughout as well as an additional meteor. In the final version I also ended up playing around with having the constellations overlay some of the "swirly bits". Compared to the final maquette I did, the elements aren't as crowded against each other, and I was able to incorporate more scale changes for the stars and they were able to be repeated more. The new proximity of all of these elements feels more controlled and there's more areas for the eye to take a break when looking at the suit. The "swirly bits" are absolutely the dominant trail for the eye to follow because they are much darker compared to the stars which created an even bigger contrast than in my maquette. Along with that that element is more organic and easier to follow than the stars that to an extent feel static. The focal point of the final product I honestly believe is the back of the suit, as that is where there is the most movement with the linework it is very easy for your eye to be consistently moving. I do wish that I had made the lines for the constellations heavier, as they do get lost within the suit, or gone a shade darker with the color I used.
I really enjoyed this project overall, as my costume design brain got to run a little wild, and I got to theme it around visuals I truly love. I've always thought that space is absolutely stunning and mysterious, and I am happy I got to really incorporate it into my artwork.
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