PPP presentation.

End of Module evaluation.

1.  What learning have you inherited through this module and how has it impacted on your own understanding of professional practice? Consider yourself as a student at University as much as an illustrator
I have gained a better understanding of what illustration is, both the practise and how it is applied in different ways, editorial, digital/ website, and marketing. I am also beginning to build up my own opinion of what makes a great piece of illustrations for example a good aesthetic, the image has to have context and content but also I think an interesting process. I also think that this module has helped me think more about the work life balance. It has made me realise that having an even balance of both is very important and I think when this is correct you work more effectively and gain more enjoyment out of working in a creative environment.
2. What approaches/ types of research have you found most valuable over this module? Why did they have such an impact?
The most valuable types of reaurch is looking at other practitioners work and taking it apart and think critically about their intentions for the piece , the message they are trying the communicate and the process and method of image making the do this.  By looking at others work you gain a better understanding of the many different ways you can communicate to an audience but also you can set yourself aims or aspiration, they inspire you to try new techniques.  But by doing this also and using the pintrest page I have personally been able to indentify the work that I am interested in and this will in the future I hope help me to see where my work could fit into industry.
3. In what way has PPP informed the way your work in other modules and your illustration practice as a whole?
It has made me more aware of certain things when image making, like the aesthetic or context of my images. By thinking about how they look and where they would be seen , I think has helped me to give meaning to them and also seeing how they could exists in the professional world.  It has also given me a structure to look at when critiquing others and my work. But also using the pintrest boards to identity key featres in other artist images too , gives me an aim and a determination to improve the methods and reach that aesthetic or correct context.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your PPP submission and how will you address this in the future? I think that my final poster is hard to read. I think that I was over ambitions as I was trying to portray something that was complicated and very personal to me and that had a big impact on the personal and professional life. However just having the one symbol on the poster dose makes the image impactful and interesting. If I could go back and make changes I would maybe made the half tones smaller so you can see the brain photocopies clearly and, I wish that I did more colours because I would have like to have made crazy patterns and textures in the background.
5. What communities of practice and professional contexts do you intend to investigate further as you approach level 5? Why do they appeal to you?
I would like to look into editorial illustration more, I would really like to incoripate more print media into editorial illustrations and it would be really exciting if I could find and interesting way to do this. I am also really interested in concept art and character building , I really enjoy coming up with strange and usual character and I would like to investigate this further by looking more into concept art as I don’t know much about it.  However one big thing that I feel needs addressing not just for this module but for all is my observational and reference drawing skills. I need to improve them and by doing so my drawing skill and confidence in them will improve.
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

Link to Pinterest Broad.

https://uk.pinterest.com/mn111088/boards/

Final poster and meaning behind it.

• The meaning behind this poster is mainly baced around the mental illness I had throughout the year. I strongly believe that this has impacted on me both personally and professionally. 
• Reasons for the images used in the triangle:
• The brain and waves symbols obeously the brain , but I blurred it on purpose using half tones to make it unclear. for a while we did't know what was wrong and this happens in a lot of mental illness cases. I have repeated the triangle inside itself to show a proffestional side in that I have used a lot of repition in my work over the year.
• Finally the triangle frames it all nicely in a geometric form which could give the image a mathematical and scientific side, which is something that I have become interested in. 
• And the colour I wanted to be quite a positive colour because throughout the year I have come back to normal and am so much happier and positive. 

• Things I could improve:
• Overall I think that the meaning because the image is personal to me , may not make sense to anyone else.
• I am happy however with just using the one triangle, it definitely has more impact.
• The final print is slightly messy but I think that it works with the ascetic however It would have been nice if it was neater. 

Oliver kulger.

 When Oliver Kulger came into give a talk I found that I was more interested in the process of making the images rather then the final images themselves.

His sketchbook work is amazing and it seemed to have more feeling and free flowing lines that describe the objects better then the final images.They where also drawn in detailed like the car here. It is hard to guess a time in which it took him to draw this but an interesting techiques he used was, using a HB pencil pressing down hard to create the lines, so they where almost embossed into the page. This suggest a certain confidence in drawing for observations but also a risk a line is drawn wrong he would have to work with this.

I need to improve my observational skills so I am able bulid up my drawing skills and iimprove my drawing techniques.

Triangle screen print and photoshop experiments.

• I made the positives for the triangle screen prints using the half tone adjustment setting on Photoshop and then blew it up so it was A3 size.  
• This is an example here, and when I was screen printing I tried to play around a bit with the shapes and I particularly liked this one. 

•  I did this experiment by scanning in the prints and duplicating the layers. Even though I think that this is a nice pattern, it is over complicated and I think for this symbol to communicate I need to just have one or two on the page. I think a single symbol would be more impactful.  

Quick experiment sheet.

I don't think that the circle or any of the other shapes I have tested in this expeirement is working that well because the shape isn't that geomentric and from doing this quick experiment sheet here, I see that a triangle might work better. I need to experiment with this more and try and form a meaning behind the symbol.

Development and experiments.

I went to the print room and made textured backgrounds using mono print and cut out the shapes and made the into a cut out version of the circles. I am really happy with how this has turned out and , but I think that the black shapes should be infront because the gray needs to be at the back.I want to develop this further by making a large scale verison and having that as the main point in my poster.

Group Crit.

• The Brain/tree/nerves system is interesting, continue exploring this further. Aesthetically I really like the maps that combine geometry and brain waves, nice colours. 
• Use of cropping and circle borders works well, contributes to a more impactful image. 
• I like the scientific approach- biological elements. 
• Collage with real medical images.
• Your interests in dark and creepy is evident in the nerovs system roughs. Can hear your tone of voice in this. 
• Tone and different textures of mark making using pencil , also think the photocopied images works well mixed with other materials. 
• Cool mark making , use of photocopied images in collage is interesting. 
• Form of shapes:
• Do you need to taper lines?
• How can you create more geometry?
• Straight edges and more symmetry?
• Really interested in collage/ shape interplay. Keep it graphic. 

Overall I am happy with the feed back, however I don't think that I will go down the line of photocopy collage because I have done this in projects before and I want to try something different. I like how the circled shapes and lines have gone down. But I do need to think about how I use line and shape more but I will experiment with that more in development work.By doing this I could uncover and new technique of mark making/ line and that would make my images more original and interesting.    

Developments and experiments.

I really like how this looks and using the pencil to experiment with the quality of line was good and I definitely want to develop this further.  However it could be said that these shapes don't really have any relation into what I am trying to say, but I need to try and pin point certain shapes to represent things.

Development and Experiment of the idea.

I used a photocopy of a head scan to create this next image. I am happy with how this appearer although the background could be much neater , but if I decided to develop this further, I would like to make it more geometric and scientific.

Experiments/ Developments of idea in sketchbook.

I used water colours to overlap the different layers and and tones in the image. I think that these work really well and the colour scheme too. these images are loosely based on the nervous system sketch I saw , but the image looks more like a plant of some kind which I like also some parts still look dark and scary.

I wanted to put the images in a circle composition and by doing this I think it looks like brain waves and this fits with the theme of my presentation and poster idea.

Grayson Perry- Sculptue- Melanie

I remember watching the documentary that surrounds this piece of work , and it was interesting to see the translation between the research Perry did into the final piece.  It was based around a women who was obsease and was proud of it. She and a group of women like her didn't want to change there bodies and instead chose to embrace them. This is why Perry has decided to sculpted this women , emphasising the natural shapes and placing her in a proud happy stance. But also the photocopies around the body which represent the dress, depict foods like doughnuts and stereotypical beautiful women. The collection of the images make the viewer think about what makes a beautiful women. In a way this piece is a perfect example of the illustrated self, it is an interpretation of this women and shows who she is.

Final mind map- the 5 key points.

Key Points:

• Illness throughout the year.
• lacking in confidence.(at beginning) 
• Confidence growing.
• Taking more risks in work. 
• Using work as an outlet. 

Mark Hearld- Exhibition at the Lumber room York.

The exhibition of Mark Hearld work held in the lumber room was a short but really great exhibition. There were several of his images around the room , sketchbooks and taxidermy bird and fish too which was unusual. But did suggest that he used objects like this widely in his work as reference material. I have been interested in Hearld work for a while and I have always been interested in the scale in which he creates his work. They are large scale pieces, however the detail within them is fairly simple. But I think by doing the original images large scale allows for him to be more experimental with materials ,scale and techniques used. His work could works for main thing, for example editorial, marketing, book illustration. The work aesthetic is very unique and he has an established visual signature, which is great. I also really like the the way he has combined collage and print, it is a technique that I used a lot and it was interesting to see it being used differently.

C.o.p end of module evaluation.

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I have developed my research skills a lot during this module. My skills in finding resources and critically analysing, taking quotes and drawing conclusions from them as a result I feel have improved massively over the course of writing my dissertation in particular. By these skills improving I was able to source more references and gain a wider understanding of my subject.   Also learning how to visual respond to a self set problem, the different ways and method to go about solving it for example using key quotes from the essay to build the foundations of the project.
2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your practical outcomes? The main method of research I have used have been looking at propaganda posters from the 1970s and later, also researching the techniques of propaganda. From this I was able to find methods of propaganda that wanted to base my work around and as a result I started to develop ideas easily from there and directly informed my practical outcomes.  I also watch films and read quotes about Margaret Thatcher, this gave me an understanding into her life ,and the film especially helped me understand the extent of how a powerful women became very vulnerable towards the end of her life. Also by looking at other artist work I gained a idea of the kind of stereotypes and political messages that are out there currently.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I think strength in my work is the experimental approach I had with this brief. In my sketchbook, I used a lot of collage, print and other mediums in making images. Through this I was able to identify the medium which were most effective. From this I went and used the print room to create a large amount of experimental prints which helped me to decide what kind of print techniques to use in the final print and get to the final idea. My collages also have an experimental approach for example adding in rolled on printing ink to give the image better values and textre.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I think that I had problems in the practical side of this brief focusing on what I was making and why. I struggled a bit with finding a successful way to communicate my ideas and what I was saying by doing it. For example in the Thatcher collages it took me a while to find what I wanted to say, but I was over ambisous and tried to mix the stereotypes of her with less well known facts. This made the image very confusing and had to read. So in the future I think that I need to be less ambition with the ideas and go with a clear and well structured design instead.
5. Identify five things that you feel will benefit you during next years Context of Practice module?
·      I think that time tabling my time and sticking to it would help as I don’t feel like I have done this effectively this time and if I had my time would have been used to greater effect. ·      From doing this first module I will have a better understanding of what to expect next year and how to approach tasks like the essay and the practical work. ·      Not leaving all of the practical work till that last few months. I have realised that getting ahead with your visual journal is worth it as when it come nearer the hand in you can look back at what you have produce already and develop it further without having a rush to find ideas. ·      Having a better understanding of how to go about finding resources and how to go about summarising and analysing them. ·      Again from doing this first module I will also have a much better idea of how to structure the essay and how to incorporate quotes and summarise of texts.
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