Self evaluation , 500 words

 Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
I have been able to develop my print skills. Using lino printing I have been incorporating repetition within my work to create pattern, movement, rhythm and narrative. I have also found a new medium, gouache, which I have used widely across the three projects and have played and experimented within sketchbook, and development work. The method of using shape to make images and communicate ideas is something new that I have learned during this module and it has helped to develop my own practise, I am now not as interested in making images that are very detailed but simple and effective. 

 Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?

 Learning how shape can communicate. Shape is something that we all relate to very early on as children, we have a great understanding about and it is something we use to communicate with e.g. fire exit signs. Using shape to communicate is clear and direct, even if it is a poor translation of the object it is supposed to represent, yet we understand it. I have used shape in this module to communicate, for example in Don’t judge a book by its cover, on the front cover I printed a big hat shape, this give an immediate message as to what the book is about and gives clear communication to the viewer.       

3.    What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?

I have used print a lot in this module. It is a very effective and useful way producing images and when finished it looks final and professional. A lot of careful crafting, planning and developing of an image is involved however once the image is completed it has a strong aesthetic, bold colour and shape++ Print can also be mixed with different medium for example paints, pencils and cut paper, and by mixing up mediums I was able to get different textures and refine certain details. However print is time consuming and I think that it took away time that I could have used for development, so finding a way in which to speed up this process is an aim for me.   

What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?

The types on the poster and on the book cover I think really needs more development. They can be hard to read, especially the posters type. In the future I really need to take the time to focus on type more by learning the best type to use and how to position it on the page, because it has let me down I think when it comes to the final pieces. Also I really want to use digital medium to create images because printing and repeating shapes in the correct place is hard by hand, but with digital it would be easier and quicker to do this and will allow me to be more accurate and undo mistakes. Experiment more with different mediums as well, I don’t think that I did enough of this and it may have improved my final images and given me more ways of approaching the images.           

In what way has this module introduced you to the Ba (Hons) Illustration programme?

 It has taught me that illustration is about communicating just as much as image making. A good piece of illustration should include both of these things. The briefs set tried to get us to include communication in our work and think about how we are going to effectively visually communicate a message e.g. Day in the life, is a good example of this. It was a challenge to try to visually communicate the main points of the given article but, I learned a lot in that brief about how symbols and simple imagery can communicate effectively and that it doesn't need to be a massively complex image to make people want to read that article, bold shapes and colours I think can do the same thing. 

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

        

Artist:Olle Eksell - graphic designer.

Olle Eksell swedish graphic designer, published by Pie books.

• Really nice composition , spaced out well not over crowed and an easy to read image.
• Brave choice in bold bolck colours, really effective and the colours compliment and go together well , not too over powering.
• Well chosen type , very simple, well spaced and easy to read.
• A child like aproach/effect, things are drawn simply but it is very clear what they are. Really nice used of shape.
• Line drawn people add a good amount of small detail, not enough to control the image but just enough to create a good narrtive. 
• Well crafted , everything is postioned with presition and care. It has all be though through.
• Same colours are used just 5 but they a distibuted well throughout the image, good aesthetic.  

Artist: Nate Williams.

http://designlust.blogspot.co.uk/

This is a book cover designed by one of my favourite contemporary illustrators. You can get some idea of process when looking at this cover. Print and digital medians looked to have been used, the textures in the shapes and type is definitely print, not all of the solid colour is there within the shape especially in the blue head,  but it give the cover a really nice atheistic , the print around the edge as well. The digital element looks to have been used towards the end of the process to put the different elements. a texture underlays the print and text, and it is right opacity because it doesn't overpower the light tones and colours of the main print sections. The text is hand drawn which I think adds more character and authorship cover, it is a better approach I think than using  digital / ready made type. Hand printing type is a great idea! it is easy to read and well composed, not over crowded and well balance use of capitals and lower-case letter. In fact the cover as a whole is well composed, simple(shape), again not overcrowd and a the main focal points of the cover are central.

Artist:Tom Gauld.

 Tom Gould work involves line work heavily. he use a wide variety of line work, crosshatching, quickly draw short lines to make up he fur of some of his monster and more fluid lines.

His illustrations have a odd ,imaginative  humorous side to them. For example the tiny guy attacking the monster with a giant fountain pen is funny and ironic.The colours use are dulled down and it emphasise the marks and textures of the pen. So the image is well balanced. It is also composed well. It is not over crowed and everything can be seen cleaerly , but it is so detailed that having a very crowed image I think would spoil the clearlty  and it would be had to see the elements of the image. Plain background helps show the main element of the image and the simplisity of the shapes mixes well with the complex etching.  

Artist: Laura Carlin.

I have come across Laura Carlins work before at a exhibition in Newcastle over the summer. The main feature of her part of the exhibition was her illustrated version of the iron man. The first thing that stuck me when looking the book was how simple and obvious in communicating these illustrations are. The people, animals and other objects are broken down to be very minimal. No faces and not much expression. but because they are so simple I don't think that they need this. As soon as I looked at the drawing of a horse for example , I knew what it was immedietly   because of the shape.  But the composition of these small illustrations helps to create the dramatic scene that tells a story. And because the drawing are so small she is able to add lots of detail and information into a small space.

Bright colours as well. It looks slightly better then the monotone image above, and again she is able to add lots of little details and make the image work as a whole rather then lots of little seperate images.

Artist: Oliver Jeffers.

Oliver Jeffers in my opinion is one of the top illustrators in the industry at the moment.  I had a look at his work for the a-z brief because her had made a whole a-z book with stories for every letter , but have come back to it again because of the simplicity of the characters and shapes.  His really simple approach to drawing is effective and communicates well to the reader. It also allow for him to have a very nice hand made effect to his work which makes the image interesting and adds texture. I think that his simple approach is very effective. He is able to think very simply about shapes and colours of the characters he creates.

These little guys are awesome and a perfect example of this. The many shape is oval and the legs and arm are jus drawing in afterwards. the way he ttys to translate faces as well is brilliantly original and funny. Expressions are simple and clear. The main material he tends to use is gouache. He work introduced me to gouache and I want to continue to experiment with it. because it is good for block colours and filling in simple shapes.

Study task 2- 10 questions.

10 questions that I want to try and answer during my degree:

1:Digital?- I really want to learn and use digital software’s in my work e.g. Photoshop and illustrator. But I also want to learn how to use a Wacom tablet. By experimenting with digital ways of illustrating, I hope to develop new skills and find a new way of illustrating.

2: How to communicating through your work? - communicating to people through drawing is a challenge for me. It is trying to find the balance of a great piece of work mixed with clear communication. And I tend to focus in the look of the piece more then what it is communicating, so this is something that I need to address and try and find that balance when addressing briefs and creating final piece of work.

3: Drawing skills?: I am not very confident with drawing people. In order to try and improve my confidence I need to practise. Drawing people in the street , walking around would be a good starting point I think. Through doing this I hope that my confidence will improve.

4: Writing skills?: I struggle with spelling and writing, especially essays. So when it comes to doing long piece of writing, I could go down to learning support and find a method of approach these which works best for me. So I hope that I am able to write a successful essay and will hopefully make the task a bit easier.

5: How do illustrators work in industry?- to find this out I will try and attend all of the big head talks and guest lectures and listen to how they have worked in industry and how they tackle work loads and briefs. By listening to them and getting some advise I hope that I will get a clearer idea of how the industry works.

6: Organisation skills?: Planning my time seems to be a problem; I am in the habit of doing a last minute rush with most deadlines. To break this habit I am going to try and plan ahead, week by week. And this way I will hopefully be able to organise myself better and avoid a rush at the end of projects.

7: How best to approach briefs?: I think that the answer to this may come through practise and doing lots of briefs. By doing more briefs, I hope to find my own way of working and find the best possible way of generating ideas.

8: 3D illustrations? Paper cut out and photographing them seems to be a growing trend in adding 3D elements into illustration. I would like to use this more in my work but would like to find a new way of 3D illustration, I will do this by experimenting with different materials and hopefully find an outcome I am looking for.

9: Talking about my work?: I’m not very confident when talking about my work, but I think through attending crits and feed back sessions this will improve and I will gain confidence.

10- what makes a great piece of illustrations?: I’m not really sure how I will find the answer to this question but I hope through doing this course and looking at other practitioners I will find out.         

Group session.

Reasons why we chose LCA:

• Reputation -good.
• Atmosphere, creative and friendly.
• Facility's.
• Industry links.
• Staff,passionate about there subject.
• Group size small (relatively).
• Encourage collaboration.
• Encourage independence.
• Contact hours (high).
• The city, nice, events and stuff to do.

Things we want to know and learn: 

• Digital skills.
• How we fit into industry.
• Drawing skills.
• Different ways of working.
• Professionalism.
• How to approach briefs.
• Thinking outside the box.
• Communicating through work.
• Organisational skills. 

Things we are worried about :

• Intense workloads.
• Lots of briefed at once.
• Crits,talking in front of people.
• Not meeting dead lines.
• Emphasis on punctuality (Fred time)
• Blogs.
• Dissertation.
• Competition from peers.
• Different modules.
• Meeting high standards. 

Who am I? Why am I here?

http://www.n8w.com -Nate Williams.


http://www.oliverjeffers.com/ - Oliver Jeffers.

http://www.drewmillward.com/ - Drew Millward.

- Own sketch book work from summer project.

 - Own work from foundation project , screen print.

Who am I? Why am I here?

5 things that I want to improve.

1. My confidence in drawing people, I find them really hard to draw in proportion and hard to depict in images. One of my main aimed this year is to try and overcome this , by practicing or finding some kind of way to draw them in an interesting but slightly inaccurate way. 
2. Coming away from my comfort zone of doing detailed illustration and continue to try and develop images by creating much simpler work, simple shapes and colours. 
3. Communication through my work, this year I really want to push myself to really think about the meaning and communication of my work. It needs to be clear , other wise the meaning will be hard to understand. 
4. Trying not to over think things. By keeping ideas simple and in context with the work your creating , I think that you are more likely to succeed with what you and try to communicate, rather then over complicating the image so much that it has lost its meaning. 
5. Not being afraid to make mistakes, because I try and make every piece of work perfect but sometimes it is the drawings that go wrong that actually help you to improve your work more.      

Who am I? Why am I here?

5 skills that you think are you strengths. 

1. Character illustrations, I really enjoy making up and creating characters and they feature a lot in my work because I like to try and create narratives. The characters that I tend to create are mainly animals but this year I want to challenge myself to come up with human characters too. 
2. Print is a technique that I think that I am quite strong with using , i'm not afraid to used bright bold colours and experiment with print in my work. I enjoy the many process and techniques you can used to print images. 
3. I am able when doing projects to think critically about my work , and by reflecting on my work I am able to see where I can make improvements to help the project move forwards and keep on developing it. 
4. I am able to draw finely detailed images, mainly using  black fine liners or black ink and quill, but I really want to try and and experiment with different  more colourful mediums and see if I can achieve the same detailed effect.
5. I am able to create images out of really simple shapes and block colours. I try and draw the shape I am wanting in one single line, then add colour and line work in after and see what I end up with and if i'm not happy with the it then I will try it again until I get the result i'm after.

Who am I? Why am I here?

5 Reasons why I chose this program?

1. The facilitates are brilliant, and are easily accessible. So for example if one day I came up with and image and I wanted to print it in some way then I could go to the print room and create a print of the image.
2. I took the foundation course at Leeds college of art and the way of working that we learned through that course really worked well for me and this course and it content is similar to that, so I have skills that I learnt that I can use for this course.  
3. I really like the industry focused approach that this course takes. it really helps me think about the next step and what happens after the degree. It help you find your place in that industry, and how you would work in industry .  
4. Visiting practitioners come in giving talks about there experience and work as an illustrator. Also the Big Heads program, where Skype is used to speak to artists in there studio spaces, I think is a really great idea and is unique feather of the course.     
5. Final the way they encourage you to be a independent learner and the platforms they offer for you to get your work out there and noticed.      

Who am I? Why am I here?

5 Reasons why I chose to study illustration:

1. Your making images that communicate to people, be that in a small or big way.You can make people laugh ,feel happy and take political or social issues and turn them into a visual language that everyone can understand, that is a great thing to be able to do. 
2. Illustrations can be seen and used for all different kinds of things e.g. card , books, posters, advertisements. it is a very versatile subject. e.g. I bought a mug coaster the other day because it made laugh and I think it is a really good piece of illustration.  (dognut coaster, photo of product below from RSPCA shop.)  
3.  I really enjoy making images. Experimenting with different way in which to do that e.g. I really like using bold colors, also creating finely detailed images, illustration allows you to do both.
4. I wanted to be able to learn new skills and ways of drawing and by learning new techniques it will enable me improve my work and become a better illustrator.
5. I also want to learn about illustration as a industry , how is it used and how to practitioners today create work.