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.