1. 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.
Responding to and applying feedback received across these briefs has been really effective in formulating my own opinions, getting the most out of my work and pushing my ideas further. I have always been nervous about showing my work to peers, friends, family etc, as no one likes bad feedback, however the process of group critiques and showing people what I have created when it comes to peer feedback sessions has been really helping me to grow in confidence.
Learning to record and blog my image making processes, successes and failures has helped me to be critical of my own work and improve in areas throughout the module. I have managed to develop and really improve on existing skills especially with paper cut/craft and pen & ink and have managed to apply these skills effectively to my final solutions for each brief. I have also managed to experiment with other media that I am not so confident in using such as watercolour, and tea etc, but I have still been happy with the process and the overall results. These are all forms of media I am continuously inspired by when it comes to using them and I plan on refining these skills even more and applying them to new work throughout this course.
2. Which principles/theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these in your own practice?
Learning that roughs are just that - 'rough' and that this is for a reason, has been quite a big aspect of this course to get comfortable with. Having an idea drawn out perfectly really limits that idea in the end, and reduces the chances of further scope, development and experimentation. Finally learning to keep drawing, even if an idea you are inspired by came to you in the first rough, has been so beneficial as it has helped me to become really aquatinted and comfortable with the brief and it pushes me to explore my ideas and possible ways of approaching final solutions instead of going straight for the obvious. This process of creating a solution to a brief and working towards it has also helped me develop and improve my craft and skills, which I can now apply to all areas of this course and my own practice.
Drawing in general has been really helpful for me as I recognise I tend to get an idea and go straight to making the final imagery. The use of repetition throughout the development process has helped me to warm up when image making and has helped me to refine my ideas and push my skills to their full potential. Despite this, I still need to draw more and make use sketchbooks in the future to record my thoughts, ideas and development. Loose sheets have not worked well when gathering together a body of work for a module.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?
I am really surprised at my responses to the briefs in this module, and quite pleased with my generation of ideas and how inspired I have been. It is always worrying what the next brief is going to be and if I am going to connect well with it or not, however I do feel that I have been able to produce strong, refined and successful ideas in response to these briefs and that I have communicated these ideas well throughout my development work and up on my blog.
I feel my strengths also lie in the final work I have produced for these briefs. I am not comfortable showing work that I am unhappy with and have high standards when it comes to the quality of my own work. This hunt for perfection has helped but also hindered my final solutions, therefore I hope to improve on this and find a good balance to help get the most out of briefs in the future and get the most out of the time I have been given.
I am really surprised at my responses to the briefs in this module, and quite pleased with my generation of ideas and how inspired I have been. It is always worrying what the next brief is going to be and if I am going to connect well with it or not, however I do feel that I have been able to produce strong, refined and successful ideas in response to these briefs and that I have communicated these ideas well throughout my development work and up on my blog.
I feel my strengths also lie in the final work I have produced for these briefs. I am not comfortable showing work that I am unhappy with and have high standards when it comes to the quality of my own work. This hunt for perfection has helped but also hindered my final solutions, therefore I hope to improve on this and find a good balance to help get the most out of briefs in the future and get the most out of the time I have been given.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
I feel that exploring a variety of new techniques is something I need to try and incorporate into new briefs in the future. I have really pushed myself in the work I have produced for SB1, SB2 & SB3 and learnt a lot in the process, however I think there is always room for more challenges and time to develop new skills (even if this does slow the process down and affect how happy I am with the final outcome).
Making mistakes is such an important part of development and exploring ideas and although I have finally come to learn this fact, I still need to apply this when approaching new briefs and learn to use the mistake to my advantage.
Organisation and time management are obvious points but really important when on a demanding course with many on-going modules such as this. I feel if I had used my time more appropriately throughout these briefs, I would have a fuller body of work to show and my ideas would have been a lot clearer and concise. This is something I am going to make a priority in the briefs to come, and make use of my many to-do lists and structure my time appropriately.
5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA (Hons) Illustration programme?
Visual Skills has helped show me what is expected in terms of work load on this course and what time frames to work too when approaching set briefs. If we have a brief that lasts two weeks with a group critique in response to the generation of our roughs half way through - this means one week on the final pieces is what is being asked, not 3 weeks worth of high detailed work. Keeping this in mind, this module has also helped given me an insight in deadlines as a whole and what kind of briefs I can expect after university and when working as a professional in the industry.
This module has helped introduce and outline the structure of the course as a whole and what I can expect from it in the years to come. It has introduced me to new ways of working, gathering a body of work and publicising my work such as posting to my online blog which I have found really beneficial. Having a place to put all my thoughts, development, progress and evaluations has been a great tool in helping me to reflect on my own practice and improve my working in certain areas. Although my time management skills can be improved, I do feel that this course has really pushed me so far to produce work that I am proud of at a much faster pace in order to meet deadlines, and juggle other modules at the same time.
I feel that exploring a variety of new techniques is something I need to try and incorporate into new briefs in the future. I have really pushed myself in the work I have produced for SB1, SB2 & SB3 and learnt a lot in the process, however I think there is always room for more challenges and time to develop new skills (even if this does slow the process down and affect how happy I am with the final outcome).
Making mistakes is such an important part of development and exploring ideas and although I have finally come to learn this fact, I still need to apply this when approaching new briefs and learn to use the mistake to my advantage.
Organisation and time management are obvious points but really important when on a demanding course with many on-going modules such as this. I feel if I had used my time more appropriately throughout these briefs, I would have a fuller body of work to show and my ideas would have been a lot clearer and concise. This is something I am going to make a priority in the briefs to come, and make use of my many to-do lists and structure my time appropriately.
5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA (Hons) Illustration programme?
Visual Skills has helped show me what is expected in terms of work load on this course and what time frames to work too when approaching set briefs. If we have a brief that lasts two weeks with a group critique in response to the generation of our roughs half way through - this means one week on the final pieces is what is being asked, not 3 weeks worth of high detailed work. Keeping this in mind, this module has also helped given me an insight in deadlines as a whole and what kind of briefs I can expect after university and when working as a professional in the industry.
This module has helped introduce and outline the structure of the course as a whole and what I can expect from it in the years to come. It has introduced me to new ways of working, gathering a body of work and publicising my work such as posting to my online blog which I have found really beneficial. Having a place to put all my thoughts, development, progress and evaluations has been a great tool in helping me to reflect on my own practice and improve my working in certain areas. Although my time management skills can be improved, I do feel that this course has really pushed me so far to produce work that I am proud of at a much faster pace in order to meet deadlines, and juggle other modules at the same time.
