OUIL402 PPP1: Studio Brief 3 - Creative Strategy 1 - Presentation

PPP1 Presentation
6/7 mins
3 mins of questions
=10 mins total.

Ideas

• Initial sketches
• Contextual references
• Books
• Artists
• Where do I want to go with my illustrations?
• Which bits of the year have you found the hardest?
• Where did you feel yourself transforming?
• A reflecting summery of your experiences to date. 
• What points in the year have been truly transformative? - as a learner, as a designer.
• 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses as a learner.
• Creative concerns
• Personal aims
• Professional ambitions
• Over summer and level 5 ambitions
• Specifics!
• Interesting!
• Unique!
• Entertaining!

ISSUU

My presentation as a PDF file on my ISSUU: 

http://issuu.com/dearalice1/docs/ppp_presentation

OUIL402 Personal and Professional Practice - End of Module Self Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL402 Personal and Professional Practice	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	Alice Dear
Through this brief I have developed my analysis, reflection and evaluation skills.  I have effectively applied these when analysing practitioners work and when reflecting and evaluating my own. I have also developed my research skills, effectively applying them when searching for illustrators or other creatives and when researching into my own projects; such as my geisha project which I knew nothing about beforehand and really enjoyed researching in depth into the subject and the topic of Japanese art as a whole. It also helped my develop my skills in image making after finding out what effects I liked best in other practitioners work; which supported me in finding an area of personal interest within programme specific creative practices by introducing appropriate principles, practices and resources. It also helped me to develop skills in identifying and developing areas of creative interest through practical investigation and contextual research. Finally, it helped me to develop individual communication skills through programme specific practical and contextual research, development and presentation.
I have developed an approach/method to image making in this brief that is mainly water colour and fine liner based. This is because this method capitalises in my love for detail but also the paint helps me to venture away from reference and imbue my own tone of voice. Throughout this module I have learnt about how illustration is a process of visual communication that aims to translate, enhance, or clarify content through the use of images, pictures and symbols; which has helped to inform my concept development process as I have thought a lot more about symbols and meaning behind elements in my illustrations. This module has taught me to approach my illustrations as an ongoing examination between the dynamics of personal exploration and professional practice. Looking at professional practice always gives you something to strive for and inspiration to fuel your work. This module has also helped me develop my tone of voice as it has given me time to research and evaluate the other practitioners and art work that I like, notice what it is I like about it, and how I can approach these factors in my own work.
One of my strengths, I think, is that I developed a body of work that reflected my experiences in level 4 Illustration and my emerging interest as an illustrator in Studio brief 2 ‘The Illustrated Self’ well. I focussed on colour, detail, and portraiture/human form, aspects that I have learnt I love best in illustration throughout the year. I will continue to work with these elements but push them more, I tend to stay safe with university work but I want to explore more unrealistic colours and paint techniques so that they have a much more creative edge. I also think I have developed a body of work in response to a defined brief that effectively demonstrates an awareness of my own practice in relation to others, as I have consistently been looking at my peers and professional illustrators work throughout the year. I will continue to do this but I think I will study some particular illustrators and go more into depth so that I can take in what I can learn from them instead of being overwhelmed by many different illustrators. I also think I have used appropriate communication skills to record and present my emerging practice, when evaluating, documenting and researching on my blog.
Presenting is definitely my top weakness. In my presentation I drew together examples of contemporary illustration and related them to the development of my work however I could have summarised my experiences throughout level 4 more.  My main weakness in this brief was presenting to an audience as I am not very confident speaking to a room full of people. I will address this in future by practicing my delivery as much as possible so I get used to it and know my script/subject off by heart. I also think my personal work is trapped by working too closely to reference. I will address this in future by planning out before hand what parts I will need to use reference for so that I do not end up basing the entirety of the illustration on the reference image. I also need to plan composition and layout a lot more before starting to produce the illustration. I will need to go back to drawing thumbnails of compositions to see the potential that my illustration could have if it was laid out effectively.
I will rehearse and practice my presentation a lot more and think about not just the content but how to keep the audience’s attention by making it entertaining. I will also go into depth when looking at an artist; I often get too distracted by many different artists yet if I just focus on one mainly I will probably learn more about how to improve my own practice. I will make my final resolution with a more dynamic layout/composition. I think it looks too cluttered and not finished/professional enough. I will practice converting all my research into a visual form as concisely but accurately as possible; sometimes I research so much but then when it comes to drawing I just rely on a reference image instead of imbue-ing all of my previous research into my illustration. I will practice different methods of image making more, unfortunately due to time scale for our brief I found myself sticking to what I knew however for the exhibition work I will be experimenting with different media more to give a more interesting and varied appearance.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
		1	2	3	4	5
Attendance						/
Punctuality					/
Motivation					/
Commitment						/
Quantity of work produced					/
Quality of work produced					/
Contribution to the group					/
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

OUIL 406 Visual Communication - End of Module Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL406 Visual Communication	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	Alice Dear
Throughout this brief I have really developed my Illustrator skills. I think I have effectively applied them especially in my Postcards from cities around the world project. I spent a long time and a lot of effort on these postcards and they really helped me get to grips with the programme. I really like the clean cut effect of Illustrator and I will definitely go on to develop these skills even more. I have also developed my time keeping and organisation skills through working as a group in Studio Brief 1, it was crucial we all communicated well in order to create a succinct final outcome. I think that project could have been improved much more but it was a learning experience and I think if we were to do it again we would plan it out from the beginning a lot more clearly. I have also developed my Photoshop skills particularly when using scale and organising work to fit the criteria of the brief; I started out some of my projects without really thinking about the scale and size of the end result, however I have learnt over the time of this brief how crucial it is to keep this aspects in mind throughout creating the work and by the time I had finished my person of not project I was thinking a lot more about how I could improve the pieces, given more time, to look most effective in the format given.
I really enjoyed experimenting with felt tip pens and adding water as I found out if I used a particular card it allowed the ink to run like water colour but created a stronger and more powerful effect. This method to image making is something I have developed through my Person of Note project. I have also developed approaches such as drawing out a rough design and then reworking into it digitally, this informs my concept development process as it means I have to organise my time wisely and think about what methods and approaches are best to use on digital programmes. Also informing my concept development process has been the approach to printing; through this project I have discovered how important printing can be as I have often had problems with my final outcomes. I learnt from this and carefully scaled and used a professional approach to printing my Person of Note portrait using A2 matt paper which I think worked really well.
I think my strengths, from looking at my work in this module, are definitely attention to detail and use of colour and pattern. I will capitalise on these by continuing to try to portray the atmosphere and intention of the pieces through using colours to symbolise aspects, and by creating even more intricate and detailed work, whilst trying not to overwhelm the piece. I also think water colours and hand painting are one of my strengths so I will aim to do more of this in the last brief; I find more thought goes into my work when I am hand rendering it especially when using an irreversible media such as paint.
I definitely have weaknesses when planning out format in my pieces; I spend ages on the content of the image but then fail to execute it professionally which leaves my work lacking. Especially in this module my work has ended up not fitting the recommended sizes and I have had to edit the images slightly which I think I rushed and ended up having final pieces that weren’t as succinct and effective as I would have hoped. I also think I need to take more pride in my final work and ensure that how it is presented is thought about as much as the image content itself, I will address this issue in the future by consistently think about scale and drawing all sketches to its final format (although perhaps on a smaller scale if necessary) and by spending time making sure it is printed out appropriately and professionally, by using the right paper and ink.
Five things that I will do differently next time are: 1.    Spend more time planning my design to the scale intended – this will mean my final pieces will look more professional and will work better at their intended task e.g. postcards/stamps. 2.    Print my work out more professionally- this will really improve the effect of my final pieces and help them look finished. 3.    Experiment more with borders and small but essential details- I sometimes forget to spend much time of these aspects but that time will make a huge difference in the final image. 4.    Draw more scamps for layout- The more options for potential layouts I have means the more likely I am to have a successful one that fulfils the brief most effectively. 5.    Think about limited colour palettes too, - I love colour but always use a lot, next time perhaps using more limited ranges will create a different but interesting effect.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
		1	2	3	4	5
Attendance						/
Punctuality						/
Motivation					/
Commitment						/
Quantity of work produced					/
Quality of work produced					/
Contribution to the group						/
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

A copy of your end of module self evaluation should be posted to your studio practice blog. This should be the last post before the submission of work and will provide the starting point for the assessment process. Post a copy of your evaluation to your PPP blog as evidence of your own on going evaluation.

Notes

OUIL404 Visual Language - End of Module Self Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL404 Visual Language	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	Alice Dear

I have developed both my practical skills and methodologies within this module which I am effectively employing within my own practice. I have really developed my decision making skills in selecting what information to take from reference images. Although I still like to start by drawing them out how the information appears in the photograph in order to get to grips with the image, I then start to look at it in terms of the key essential elements which I need to use for some areas of my illustration; but not all. I also have developed my practical skills in terms of mark making and thinking about the variation of line thickness, gesture and pressure. I use mark making and line a lot in my work and thinking about how to create pattern to best reflect the message in my work has meant that the illustrations look more finished and balanced. I also think spending time to look at shape and collage has really helped me to step out of my comfort zone more and recognise how shape itself can be an effective method in creating an image. Shape can be simple yet effective but it can also be extremely complicated and can contain interest within it; such as when I worked with water colours, or paint, the colours and brush strokes within the shape help to suggest movement or feeling; without the overall outcome being too over complicated.

There have been many principles/theories of image making that I have found valuable during this module which I have been employing within my own practice. The Japanese concept Notan has been valuable during this module as I find colour a really powerful element in artwork and I think it conveys most of the atmosphere of the piece. The concept notan is about how light and dark within an image can create harmony, dynamicism or beauty; notan formalises similar principles of value in the composition of artwork.

I can recognise some strength’s within my Visual Language work which I will definitely capitalise on in future. I think working with shape as a base layer, particularly in paint or water colour, and then working on top with line and mark making has been a method which has produced some of my favourite work and definitely one of my strengths. I think the fact that you can create so much vibrancy and atmosphere with the colour in the paint beneath yet still show a clear image in pen on top which is recognisable to its reference or purpose means that I don’t have to compromise in wanting to be free and expressive but also wanting to be a perfectionist with my figurative drawing. I wish to capitalise on this by producing more work like this but perhaps experimenting with media, but also to see it on a larger scale and explore more expressive shapes and colours.

I have also identified some areas for development within my Visual Language submission which I will address in future. I can improve my process by developing my work by drawing the same image over and over again and pushing my illustrations further by tackling them again and again. I definitely avoid this usually as I like working on a fresh new piece and trying to get that perfect. However I will definitely address this in future because I have seen within my own work how important creating multiple illustrations for the same image is as it allows me to explore techniques and add my own tone of voice to the piece.   

This module has informed how I deconstruct and analyse artwork; both my own and that of contemporary practitioners. It has encouraged me to look into the way mark making, line quality and shape can completely change the artwork and how important it is to choose the appropriate method or process relevant to the message the piece is trying to convey. This module has also informed how I deconstruct work with relation to line of sight and the careful composition of the elements in the image, sometimes it is easy to forget how important frame, perspective and composition are when you’re creating the image but this module bought my attention to these roles separately and how big an impact they can achieve in the piece. It has made me think about a lot of separate elements and how they relate together to convey a particular message.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality				x
Motivation				x
Commitment					x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group				x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.