1. What skills have you developed through this brief and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I feel this module has pushed me and helped me develop more skills than any previous module by far; mainly digital skills, such as furthering my knowledge of Photoshop to being able to create animated gifs, to taking on the completely new (and difficult) programme of Illustrator. I have begun to apply digital aspects of working to much of my work now, due to being able to use it with much more ease and understanding the benefits when it comes to saving time and creating a more finished visual look. Aside from the practical programmes, this module has pushed me to develop my time management and decision making abilities; I now feel like I know how to research, rough and create finals in a much more refined way, which I think has positively and obviously impacted on my development and final pieces. In short, I have gotten much better at getting brief and getting straight on with it, without faffing and putting it off, resulting in me having more time to create better finals. I know I have effectively applied them as I do most of them without thinking, and only realise when I come back to reflect.
2. What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?
I have realised I find it useful to just start drawing if I am stuck and see where it takes me; not to create 'roughs' as such, but to find something useful I can take further. These drawings then lead to more final roughs in frames and eventually final pieces. I also have found it very useful to experiment on Photoshop when creating things like pattern; it saves time, as you can repeat, change colour and add texture within minutes compared to if you did it manually. I think Photoshop will always feature heavily in my development work now because of this and I can pour out twice as many drawings and ideas as I had time for before when trying to do it manually.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
Compared to previous modules, I have invested more time into contextual research than before, and it has really helped with idea generation for both concepts and aesthetics; for example, looking at classic shapes found in African pattern so I could develop my own, yet keep the same style. It is inspiring to look at other peoples work and it makes me think if they can, why can't I? Sources such as Pinterest and Instagram have been key for this. I will continue to visit these sources and document what I think is applicable on my blog, and hopefully improve on how well I gather relevant information. I also think my final pieces are all much better than what I have created before and it is the first time I have been happy with nearly everything! This is probably down to creating more development work. I just went for it more this module and my work has paid off as a result. I will continue with and improve on this new found work ethic until it becomes routine!
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I slightly neglected my evaluation and reflection in this module, as I was so caught up in trying to address my development work (where my marks have fallen before) rather than looking back and using my past knowledge to inform where I was going. I also became more involved in getting the work finished than trying to create ideas and pictures that were personal to me and my tone of voice. Because of this, I got a bit deflated about the work at points and just did it to get it done. I really need to start developing my own tone of voice, ready for next year; I feel like this module has helped me realise that. As a result of realising all this, I am going to relax into doing what I want to do more instead of doing what I think I should be doing; I need to find the balance between the two, and once that has happened I think my work will start to improve and I will have more of a 'thing' to it. I want people to be able to look at my work and know it is mine.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Try to relax and keep in mind what I want from my work as well as what the brief wants from my work; when I find the balance and can answer both, I will start to develop my own tone of voice.
2. Do more work over the holidays; this will make it easier to balance out all the work when I get back to Leeds and make it less stressful.
3. Blog little and often rather than do it in chunks; this will make it easier to reflect on where I have come with a project and how I can take it further, and curb rambling.
4. Draw more; the more I draw, the more I will improve - with my own tone of voice and just general hand eye coordination.
5. Get more books out from the library; internet sources are great, but books can be more reliable for information on other practitioners.
