Alyssa Tucker - Digital Style
Digital Style is a fully wearable evening gown covered head to toe in 3D-printed parts and pieces. Included in these pieces are large blocks of text, intricate line art drawings, and two 7 foot long trains made out of pointed scales that drape down the back of the garment. The bodice is comprised of a opaque black fabric that has been boned and laced to create a corset-like fitting. The skirt is made out of a thick, sheer, knit fabric that has a substantial amount of weight to it. As for the 3D-printed pieces themselves they are made of melted PLA plastic that has had a light black tulle fabric imbedded into it to hold the pieces together. Each individual small section took between 1 and 10 hours to print and the spiked scales each took between 26 and 12 hours to print each section. In total the finished garment took approximately 700 hours of continuous printing to be completed, this is not including failed prints, so in total the print time on this project was likely around 1000 hours.
Technology is something that has been a big part of my life for my entire life, so much so that in a way getting a scope of my life and daily activities is almost impossible to do without including the amount of work I do my digital means in that consideration. Digital illustration and online storytelling is a large portion of the work that I do on a day to day basis and it comprises about 90% of my creative pursuits. Creating art by traditional means has always something that I have enjoyed but when taking into consideration the range of possibilities that incorporating technology into my work has provided me it seems almost impossible to separate technology and art at this point in time. Technology is always growing and improving and with that becomes more methods and material that artists can use to create their works. So in this piece that is exactly what I did, used one of the newest forms of technology in tandem with a very old world style of creation in the dress making.
Sewing with non conventional materials is something that has fascinated me for a long while, and what inspired me to try and take this challenge on. Doing something that was basically experimental in all aspects was what excited me the most about all of this. As for what I decided to print and include on the dress I compiled a massive file of digital work that I have created in the past year to print out and include on this dress. For one I took the drawings of characters I have created and designing myself and converted them into a simple printable line drawings that I then added to the design. As for the text that is draped down the sides of the dress in long panels, this are detailed overviews of 13 of the characters I have created over my time writing. So if one were to get close enough to the dress they would be able to get full overviews of these characters that are depicted in the art decorating the skirt. I also have a small detailed drawing of a door on the front and back of the dress almost to point to a opening up of my own world to the view. Because in a way my world is digital, in most senses of my existence, much of it exists online. So in this piece I decided to take this idea of my digital space, or my digital world, and bring it out to physical space that more people can view and touch and experience.
This is a showcase or self portrait of my work and my own personal style when it comes to the creative process all encapsulated in one dress.