OUIL401 COP End of Module Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL401 Context of Practice	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	Alice Dear
I have developed many skills throughout this brief; time management; which I have effectively applied through learning to split my time wisely in order to have a decent amount of time dedicated to each aspect of image making- research, visual research, idea development and creating the final outcome; my mark making skills have also improved, particularly in my final piece where a lot of time was invested in careful marks and details that would portray the figures as part of a set yet identifiable as individual figures; also my decision making skills as I have had many different ideas and options throughout this brief yet I have had to make precise decisions in order to direct my work to a strong message. I found this hard as many aspects interested me however deciding on my specific topic made the rest of my work a lot easier to organise. I also had to decide on what parts of reference images I wanted to use and how they could fit together to form the Union Jack best, I focussed a lot when making this piece and the decisions I made along the way led to all of the many illustrated figures working together.
I have used a lot of collage in my sketchbook for this brief; it has been an approach/method I have developed as it informed my concept development process. Collage meant that I could use real life material to support the facts behind my art work on binge drinking; I used advertisements for clothes and alcohol, and then drew over the top of them, for example drawing bruises and strangling hands onto the models. My drawings were conveying the dangers that the advertisers do not want you to see. Collage meant that my concept could be taken further as it allowed me to combine the ideal of the advertisement; the fun celebratory atmosphere, versus the dangers; the unprotected and possible unwanted sex, fights etc. I also began to use ballpoint/biro pen more which allowed me to concentrate on my approach to mark making and pen stroke as the pen was very sensitive to pressure. My concept development process was also informed by the range of media I used in my sketchbook which allowed me to explore how certain tools worked most and least effectively.
I think the strengths in my work are confronting real issues, my sketchbook contains some dark parts of our binge drinking culture such as unwanted pregnancy from unprotected sex when drunk, abuse from an intoxicated abuser or being vulnerable to it from too much alcohol. Violence to your body, your health and your mental health, from others and yourself is heightened when intoxicated and binge drinking (drinking a large amount in a small amount of time) is common and normal in British culture particularly in the young; so it was crucial that I confronted these issues when visually researching the topic. I think drawing in details is also a strength of mine as I am able to concentrate on perfecting these small aspects of my work. Figures and portraits are something I naturally head towards, I could always improve however they are definitely one of my strengths and I created my final piece based on the human aspect of alcohol which capitalised on this strength. To capitalise on these strengths further I will continue to study the human form and push myself to create more intricate and detailed work.
I need to draw more possible format ideas and layouts as well as keeping in mind scale and how it can affect the message I am trying to convey. I don’t think I explored enough aspects of binge drinking in my work however it is a huge subject and endless issues are continually found linked to the topic. Creating more mind maps and exploring ideas that way would improve this in future. I also think I failed to look at other artists work in detail enough, I looked deeply into Hogarth and other 18th Century print makers in my essay and throughout this brief however I failed to look into my contemporary illustrators who look into binge drinking in today’s culture. In future I will spend some of my time researching into other artists working on the exact same topic as me in order to see how else the topic can be approached; I have stepped away from this in the past as I want to create original work and get scared I will be too influenced by other artists.
If I were to do this again I would: ·         Create it to a larger scale; the Photoshopped version of the mural version would have worked more effectively as I would have been able to create more in depth story lines in the set of illustrations creating the flag. This would draw in the viewer further and allow them to interact with the image more. ·         Made my set of illustrations of the figures that make up the flag more interlocked with linking story lines or signs and symbols. Although they were from separate sources I could have made them relate to each other more. ·         Put some more shocking and dark imagery in the piece amongst the satirical figures. This would have represented the dark reality of binge drinking, the only reason it’s lacking slightly is because it was extremely difficult to gather reference images to support the drawings. ·         So another thing I would do differently would be to take more of my own photographs. This would give an originality to the work and also allow my piece to turn out with more of the dark images I intended- I could set up artificial scenes which I could depict as whichever dark scene I needed; there are few to none secondary images of these scenes. ·         I would also experiment with exploring more ideas in my sketchbook and trying out new media. I would have loved to create a print like Hogarth for this brief however as I was unsure on my final resolution I did not have enough time to carry out the print making process as it would have had to be very carefully created with so much detail. In future I would definitely attempt this though as it would create a further link to Hogarth and the parallels in his work of Beer Street and Gin Lane, and it would also enable me to create multiple sets.
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.

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