402 Personal and Professional Practice - end of module evaluation

1.     What learning have you inherited through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied it? Consider differing approaches to contextual/professional research All the PPP session we had where we had to bring in other practitioner’s work and critique it, meant that I became better at critiquing my own work. Hearing other people’s opinions, which sometimes challenged my own, meant I had a better understanding of pieces, and had a better-informed opinion of my own work. Having continually looked at other practitioners in different areas of illustration has meant that I haven’t just stuck to one area or style throughout all the projects, I feel having a constant influx of different methods, ideas, material, context etc. has made me excited and intrigued to try out as much as I can, so each project I have done is very different from the one before it. In the ‘illustrated self’ brief, I felt I was a lot more confident when composing my pieces, I was coming up with lots of different composition ideas, and the fact that I had to know what I wanted to put in the collages before I made them, meant I was constantly thinking about it and had a clear idea of how I wanted them to look before I even started. Listening to Roman Muradov really helped when thinking about photoshop, because he showed us his initial sketches, which he then coloured digitally, actually seeing it helped me make sense of it as I find it difficult thinking about how I would make my drawings into finished pieces on photoshop.

2. What approaches to image making have you developed during this module and what informed such ways of working?

I managed to use photoshop successfully during the ‘illustrated self’ brief, which was something I have stayed away from this year, but having to make the majority of the collages digitally, I now feel more comfortable with the program, which I am pleased about. I also tried working with collage, which I did briefly in CoP, but I really got into it for this project. It is very different from most of the work I have done this year – mainly being only bits of it are analogue work. But collage is something I have always loved the aesthetic of – like with Kate Gibb’s work, it is something that is so playful and experimental, so I thought I would give it a go. I usually work from lots of reference material that is where I feel most comfortable. But this being a collage project, all the compositions and how I wanted it to look came from my imagination, which I found quite exciting as its not something I have done before. I got the idea of working from quotes after looking at the Folio Society’s collection of illustrated novels, and I just thought they were all so well done, and I found myself really inspired by some of the artists – like Bill Bragg and Finn Dean, that I wanted to give it a go, and it has been a way of working that I definitely want to do again.

3. What strengths can you identify in your practice and how have/will you capitalise on these in the future?

I feel that throughout this year I have been taking inspiration from other areas of creativity – not just illustration. I have made sure that I have kept up my interest in photography, literature, architecture, film etc. I find that I get inspiration for ideas mostly from these areas, and I feel illustration has to be driven from lots of different outside sources, as it is a profession that is so relevant to our society and current issues. I am pleased that I have managesd to keep up to date with my blogging throughout the year, I haven’t let all the PPP tasks set at the beginning of the year, build up on me. And I have made sure that when I come across something I find interesting/inspirational, I have blogged about it so to keep note and refer back to when needed. I have made it a routine to continually visit illustration websites, read magazines etc. because I think it is essential to this practice to keep up to date with new illustrators, different styles and processes. And it definitely has manipulated the way in which I work, before I started I new very little about illustration, and I always drew and painted in the same way, but now I have been continually changing the way in which I approach projects, to see which I feel most comfortable with – and it has been the constant research into other practitioner’s practices that has sparked this.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your practice and how will you address these in the future?

Although I do research into lots of illustrators, I don’t feel I am deconstructing their work as much as I could be, I can identify what I like and don’t like about work, but I haven’t applied processes I am interested in to my own work as much as I could. So in future I want to be able to fully understand a practitioners way of working, so that I can take elements and apply it to my own way of working. I am pleased with most of my final pieces, except my fire collage, it was the first collage I did, before I realised the style of how I wanted them to look, so I feel I could have gone back and improved it or just started again. So in future, if I’m not happy with a piece, I shouldn’t just make little changes, I need to get to the point of why I don’t like it and either start again or make that big change that is needed.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

-       when we were given all the ppp tasks at the beginning of the year, I feel I could have analysed them more on my blog, as it would have given me a better understanding of what I like/don’t like about it when I look back over my blog for inspiration. So I will always make notes about what I think about pieces as it is information that will always be of use to me. -       I will make an effort to try and understand other practitioner’s practice, so to learn new skills/ways of working to apply to my won process. For example, with photoshop, if I tried to really understand how a piece is made digitally, I reckon it would make a lot more sense to me. -       A lot of the research I do, and where I get inspiration from, mostly comes form the internet, so I want to make an effort to use other sources like books, magazines, galleries, just going outside… I think it will be much more stimulating to my practice. 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.

ppp presentation

Here is a link to my PPP presentation:

http://issuu.com/astridweguelin/docs/ppp_presentation

I went through the presentation talking about: 
- how my drawing style has changed since the beginning of the year, how it is much looser now
- that I have been quite experimental this year
- where I struggled; time management, compositions, being too complacent with some projects and final images (not pushing them far enough)
- what I enjoyed the most in the year; narrative project (reportage element of it), cop (research element), ppp (collage, narrative aspect)
- reportage illustrators I like
- how I want to try out screen printing
- I want to do more personal work throughout the summer

I feel I covered most things in my presentation, I gave a chronological overview of my year of where I feel I did well or not so well. Although I feel I could have been more detailed in some areas, like explaining and critiquing my work, saying exactly what went well or wrong, I was quite brief in some parts. I'm not a very good public speaker so that played some part in why it was a bit rushed. 

But while making the presentation I feel it did help me properly evaluate how I have done this year, as I was going through all my old work, looking at my marks from previous projects, and I could see that I have improved a lot, my work I have been making recently, in my opinion, has been a lot more exciting and interesting for me.

It was also good seeing everyone else's journey, as we only ever see each others work during crits, and it is reassuring to see other people going through the same issues I went though, but still having improved a lot since the start of the year. 

final collages

These are my final collages, which are to be printed out 280 x 563 mm, so they will be quite large scale, so to allow all the detail to hopefully be fully noticed.

Overall I am happy with how this project turned out. I am mostly pleased with my final outcomes. 
I don't like my fire collage; I feel it doesn't fit at all with the other two, it looks quite messy in comparison, like there is a bit too much going on. 
I realised that photos of people in collages don't work as well as landscapes, they have turned out a bit blurry and jar a bit with the background. 
I think that is the case with the figure in the mountain collage, I think it would look better if it was just scenery. 

I do really like my car collage though, it has turned out just how I wanted it - very surreal and dreamy, I think it is composed well and the unrealistic scaling of all the elements work in its favour. I think it could probably be quite effective as a piece on its own, as it has been the most successful in responding to a quote, in my opinion. 

I am happy with the mountain collage, I really enjoyed making it. It is very colourful and surreal, but I don't feel all the elements in it fit together as well as in the car one. It might be because of the colours I used, thy are all so bright and clashing that there is no harmony between them. I think that is what works so well in the car collage; it is colourful but all quite dark shades with only a few bright parts. 
So if I was to do the mountain collage again, I think I would alter the colour scheme, and get rid of the figure. 

I managed to get to digital print in time, luckily. On the most part they printed out well, but parts of the painted elements came out a bit blurry. This must have been due to the resolution I scanned them in at. 
It was only once I had them all printed out, that I realised how much the fire quote doesn't fit with the other two, sometimes you need to see everything in their final format in order to analyse it properly. 
I need to start thinking about the exhibition; I definitely won't be using the fire collage, and the mountain one would have to be altered. But I would be happy with just using the car collage because I feel it is strong as a piece in itself. 

finishing

I am pleased with how this collage has worked out. Although I am unsure of how to do the sky; I tried a flat background but it looked really out of place compared to the rest of the piece. 
I think the second pattern works best, it is softer and sort of blends in behind the mountains without drawing too much attention. 

I felt the piece was still feeling quite unfinished, like everything was sort of floating rather than fitting together. So, like with the 'rolling under the stars' quote, I added some shadow which I think helps give a heaviness and sense of depth to the layers.

It is only a slight change with a bit of shadow between the trees and on the side of the mountain, but I think it does make a noticeable difference. 

I made some changes to the moon in the 'rolling under the stars' collage, so that it fitted in more with the sky. 

I just made multiple layers of the shape, but with rougher edges, and had varying shades of opacity. I feel it blends in more with the scene as the outline of the moon is less harsh against the background - it doesn't clash as much. 

development

I wanted there to be a figure in this collage, showing the walk over the hills, up the mountain, to give more of a sense of the scale of the mountain.

I like the second one best, there is more detail to him. 

Very annoyingly, as I was quite close to finishing the same thing that happened to my first collage, happened again

I couldn't work out what caused it and couldn't go back to where I last saved it, so had to start again.
Luckily I had all the different parts saved, I just had to piece them all together.

extra bits

I needed to add more scenery to the collage. I wanted a little car to be driving along under the stars to give a sense of scale for the mountains and sky. 

I tried painting the car, but I don't feel it looked as good as the photocopy version

I added in some trees to play around with scales again

I think adding a drop shadow to the car and trees really adds depth the the collage. Because the rest of it is so surreal with the bright colours and unrealistic scale, the shadow gives the only sense of real to the piece, makes the whole scene more fitted together.

Decided on a moon:

 I used a scan of butterflies from the nature books for the background, I felt it needed to be slightly textured to fit in.
It still looks a little out of place so I will need to do some more scaling and maybe lower the opacity to fit it in properly.

mountain quote

"in the end you won't remember the time you spent in the office or mowing the lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain"
I love this quote. I interpret it as a reminder that the word is an amazing place, and its the experiences that affect us emotionally that stick with us and guide how we live. The mundane tasks we do don't add to our character, there is so much out there that still needs to be experienced and we should take every chance as it comes. 
So for this quote, I want to depict this mountain as something surreal, magical - something we haven't seen before, make it look like the viewer is entering a entirely new version of the world. 

I thought my use of painted elements in the previous collage was really effective, so want to do a similar thing for this one. 

Think the painted foliage works well with the photo mountains. I like how it splits the page in two, like its two separate worlds to travel through.