404 Visual Language - end of module evaluation

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?

I found that this module has taught me to really explore a subject matter, drawing it repeatedly with different materials, from different angles – I find, aids in understanding the subject so to depict it for what it is. I found this applied the most to   the beginning of the module where we were given the task of only using types of line or mark making, this really helped loosen up my drawing practise, and got me to experiment more. I now try to experiment with as many materials as possible when developing an idea, trying to understand what I am depicting through my drawing methods before actually composing the image.

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 within your own practice? I found the sessions where we learnt about composition very valuable to my practice as it is essential for an image to have an interesting composition, although colour, line, tone etc. is very important for an image, I think it is the composition that makes it truly effective when depicting a scene of some sort. But it is something that I didn’t always consider, so being continually reminded to develop composition has helped in making it a routine when progressing work throughout my practice.

3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?

I find my strength is in my drawing ability, I really enjoyed the beginning of the module as the tasks set were to just keep drawing and I felt that was where I was my most capable; focusing on the one subject of the Galapagos islands and just experimenting with different lines, tones, marks. This is a skill I will continue to use throughout my practice, as I will always have to experiment with different visual aesthetics, and it is something that needs to be practised in order to progress.

4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?

I found that my work produced nearer the end of the module was less strong than at the beginning, I think this is due to the fact that I had more work on so visual language slipped behind, but also I find that I am less confident when it comes to actually composing an image, I am capable in my drawing ability but when I have to consider where each element should go to make a piece more effective I become more unsure. But the sessions and hand-outs on this matter have really helped, and it is something I need to improve so will keep experimenting with different compositions on other projects, I realise that thumb-nailing ideas is very useful for this.

5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)? Having everyone in the session show work they have done each week, and have us all analyse, compliment and give constructive criticism really helped in how I assessed my own work as I saw elements of it – good and bad, that I hadn’t considered before. Also by having other practitioner’s work shown to us who are relevant to the task we were being set gave me inspiration for how I planned to work. One session in particular was very useful; the line of sight presentation where we drew where we thought the line of sight was in illustrations and photographs, as I initially found it difficult to get my head around how to achieve an interesting line of sight, but this helped in visualising how it should look. 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.

colour

I saw on article of some work of Vincent Mahe, and I was really interested in his use of colour.

The use of a limited colour palette has been really effective, using mostly dark blues, to then using flashes of bright red and yellows to draw attention to the figures, or any action going on in the scene. I think the contrast is very striking. I also love the composition in these images, quite simple and what would ordinarily be considered mundane has been made quite beautiful and intriguing.