Textile Design lecturer publishes second book ‘Fashion and Textile Design with Photoshop and Illustrator’

Robert Hume’s second edition of the book aims to encourage textile designers to think differently and use the software for individual expression.

BA (Hons) Textile Design lecturer Robert Hume has published a second version of his book ‘Fashion and Textile design with Photoshop and Illustrator’.

The book aims to provide a step-by-step essential guide to using Photoshop and Illustrator within the practice of fashion and textile design, and comes complete with 18 projects for readers to work on, plus seven case studies showcasing the work and thinking of professional designers. The book will teach you valuable skills within the programs that can be implemented through any textile or fashion-based project.

We caught up with Robert to find out more.

What inspired you to write this book (and your first edition)?

It was conspicuous to me that so much instruction in existing books and on the web was orientated towards what was easy to teach rather than what was important to learn.

I thought it remiss not to help students to acquire valid skills that would prepare them for employment in professional design and to enable them also to express their individual creativity using two great applications, Photoshop and Illustrator. There is absolutely no reason that digital tools should lead to formulaic ways of working and generic outcomes.

What is the book about?

The aim of the book is that the reader should not be intimidated by the complexity of Photoshop and Illustrator but rather see ample means for finding individual expression. The book is about not going for automatic solutions, being ambitious, thinking differently and working differently, as well as finding that the applications can be flexible and a deft extension of your thinking.

There is an encouragement to create visual material from scratch and feel uninhibited in manipulating it, not getting trapped by over reliance on photo derived imagery, exploring the exciting new means of drawing and painting.

How do you see the future of Textile Design shaping out?

I hope that a more environmentally and socially responsible attitude to manufacturing and consuming will encourage people to want more from what they buy and this desire could have an effect or raising expectations and standards.  A less throw-away culture could favour a fashion and textile world where individual things were more precious and where there was a rich experiential side to fabrics and to garments.

I see fixations with technology as distractions – 3D printing at home will produce yet more waste if there is not a talented and capable person out there devising the particular substances to be printed. Good design never gets tired.

The book is now available to buy on Amazon.