Megan Watkins
COSTUME DESIGN AND DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION
About Me!
My name is Megan or Meg as most people call me. I grew up in a small town in the Welsh valleys but currently live in Bournemouth as I attend my final year at Arts University Bournemouth, studying Performance Design and Film Costume. Over the course of my degree my approach to design has evolved and matured, now in my final year I produce innovative and exciting, thoroughly researched and developed, costume designs that captures and considers characters' personalities and their on-screen actions. I take pleasure in the entire design process, specifically the development stage where I can experiment with different ideas no matter how radical they may be, however, I find true enjoyment in the final digital rendering of my designs. I love illustrating the different components of my design and watching the characters' personalities come together through the garment. As industry standard, during this stage, I also illustrate the characters'/actors' faces giving an insight as to how the costume will look on the actor when fully sourced/constructed. I am so grateful to be studying a course that I am so passionate about and can’t wait to see where the future takes me.
Why costume?
Ever since I was little I have always loved anything creative: drawing, painting, collaging, anything that allowed me to get a bit messy and experiment with different techniques and ideas. I remember cutting up my clothes to make costumes that resembled my favourite characters from the TV, and designing and making clothes for my dolls. At first I thought that I was interested in fashion but as I grew older I realised how much I wanted to tell stories through the clothes I created. I loved the entire concept of storytelling and bringing characters to life. When I applied for university there was no doubt that I wanted to do something costume related, I couldn’t wait to finally pursue a passion that I had since I was a child. Since being in university, aside from developing my costume design skills, I also discovered my love for digital costume illustration and the entire process involved with it. I loved developing a new skill in photoshop and continually experimenting with it to find techniques that suit my design style. Moving forward I will continue to pursue both costume design and costume illustration. Following the completion of my BA degree I hope to refine my skills further through a masters and continue my creative costume journey.