Monday 25 April 2016

OUIL406 Module Evaluation



Leeds College of Art
BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION
Level
04
OUIL406 Visual Communication
Credits
20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME
Leah Haywood


1.  What have you learn about visual communication during this module and how effectively do you think you have applied these ideas?
Throughout this module I have learnt a variety of things about visual communication, the most significant being how to simplify an image in order to communicate a message effectively. I’ve really tried to focus on this idea of simplification throughout this module, it appealed to me as a way of communicating and from this I have produced outcomes for two briefs that follow along the ideas of simple imagery and shape. I have also learnt a lot about communicating emotions and feelings through character in the gif brief and how simply you can draw something in order for it to convey an emotion. I applied this by exhaustively drawing different expressions and emotions in my sketchbook and this in turn I feel helped me develop a stronger outcome for this brief. I have also learnt a lot about the importance of research and how you really need to know your subject matter in order to communicate it most effectively to an audience. I have applied this my continuously researching throughout a brief in order to be able to understand my subject better, this was in the form of the greetings from brief and the persons of note brief. The research really helped form a foundation to my work and my ideas and I think it also helped me develop my work and create a more well-rounded outcome at the end of the briefs. 

2. What approaches to/ methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?
I’ve really been concentrating on shape throughout the majority of this module. From Visual Language, I learnt that shape can be used really effectively to communicate to people, to create finished outcomes and to help provide a basis for my illustration work. This informed my concept development progress as I was constantly trying to simplify things down in order to strip an image back to its bare essentials, this is evident in the greetings from brief and persons of note brief. I have also worked with vectors a lot in this module, something that at first I was terrified of due to a lack of experience with the software, but now I feel a lot more confident working with them. I think digitalising my work really informed the development process of my greetings from brief, I was constantly reflecting on my work and when I started to vectorise it, I was constantly evaluating and changing lines and shapes in order to produce a piece of work that was executed well. I also found it interesting to work with gifs and develop hand drawn pieces of work into a moving image on the computer. This is something I definitely want to work with again, I enjoyed the overall aesthetic of my hand-drawn gif a lot and think that with practice it could become something to I integrate into work across other modules. 

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I think my main strength is my use of shape with different briefs of this module. I am looking forward to developing my work with shape over the coming years at university and truly think it’s one of the most valuable and informative strategies of image-making that I have learnt on the course so far. I am looking forward to exploring what you can do with shape and how you can manipulate it and combine it with other ways of working in order to produce professional outcomes. I think I capitalised on my use of shape in the final brief of this module, my work was entirely shape based with some line and I think that this helped communicate my message very clearly without their being a chunk of decoration thrown into it. I also think another one of my strengths has been my sketchbook practice. I really pushed myself in this module to draw exhaustively and build a better relationship with my sketchbook. This helped me a significant amount when it came to decision making, roughs, and final pieces and also allowed me to have a place where I could reflect and build on my work in a way that I haven’t managed to do as effectively as before. I used a bigger sketchbook for the back end of this module as well and I think that this has really helped me, I felt a lot less restricted when working in my sketchbook and I think the bigger size helped me develop my work a bit more and gave me a little more freedom to move around on the page. I’m looking forward to capitalising this in second year, I am starting to understand the importance of having a good relationship with your sketchbook and can see how this informs your practice and can be a starting point for stronger ideas and pieces of work. 

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I think one of my weaknesses was the quality of my work. Now it’s coming to the end of the year and I am reflecting on the work that I’ve done I’m finding it really hard to see any work that I’m proud of and I was really hoping that in this last module I’d be able to produce some outcomes that I would able to be proud of. I think what lets me down the most is my level of crafting. I feel like my work doesn’t look as good as it could do and that if I spent more time on it I would produce better outcomes. I will address this in the future by being a lot more careful with my crafting and trying to take more pride in my work in order to produce final pieces that have a high level of craft and that I can be proud of. I also think one of my weaknesses was not blogging as much as I should have done. I left a lot of my blogging till last minute and this is something I want to change going into second year. I feel that if I blogged regularly then I would be able to make better decisions in regard my work, and be able to reflect on what I have produced more effectively.


5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1) I would make sure that I am constantly reflecting and evaluating my work and progress in order to make more effective decisions. From this I expect to gain a better insight into my practice, a better understanding of illustration, and a more effective way of working and decision making.
2) I would do more artist research in order to allow myself to become more influenced by other creative and to allow myself to become more inspired. From this I expect to gain a broader knowledge of different practitioners and start to begin to be able to recognise what I am interested in and what kind of work I want to be making.
3) I would spend more time developing my work in order to produce a fully developed final outcome. From this I expect to gain practical skills and be able to produce work that is research, well rounded and well developed.
4) I would organise my time better in order to not have to rush any final pieces of work that I am producing. I feel this lets me down a lot and is an unhealthy habit of mine so to do this differently would allow me to have more time to craft final pieces and produce work that I am proud of and that is of a higher standard than the work I am producing now.
5) I would be broader with the range of materials and image making processes that I am using. From this I would gain a better understanding of my materials and tools and understand how to use these effectively in order to create a well developed and well presented piece of work. 

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.


A copy of your end of module self evaluation should be posted to your studio practice blog. This should be the last post before the submission of work and will provide the starting point for the assessment process. Post a copy of your evaluation to your PPP blog as evidence of your own on going evaluation.


Notes

OUIL405 Module Evaluation

Leeds College of Art
BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION
Level
04
OUIL405 Visual Narratives
Credits
20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME
Leah Haywood



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?The skill that I have developed the most is probably my research skills. This module made us look at the world and the way we document it and research things in a new way. I really enjoyed making my visual journal, I felt really involved in the project and felt like it had more of a personal feel too it due to the research that I had done, I am looking forward to tackling other research projects in this way, I think it’s the best way for me to form an understanding of a subject and to connect with a brief more. I also think my collage and cut paper techniques have developed throughout this project. My book is completely made from cut paper and collage and was something I really enjoyed working with and think that I worked effectively with. I’m looking forward to working with this method of image-making again. I have also developed teamwork skills from this module. I have always shied away from teamwork, I worry that people will think my ideas are stupid or that my work isn’t good enough but I feel like my group got on really well and we all pulled our weight equally. I would definitely be interested in working on a collaborative project again. 

2. Which approaches to research have you found most valuable during this module. How have you interrogated your research to identify appropriate ideas?
I found the idea of creating a visual journal really interesting. I like to document my thoughts and feelings and ideas and found this was a perfect way to combine my experiences with my work. I have recognised the value of documenting things at that exact moment in time, rather than documenting   something when I get home or later in the week it is better to document experiences when they are fresh in your mind. I found researching things in different sections e.g. history, people etc, to be really helpful and once all were completed a strong collection of research was formed. My ideas were initially formed from the research I did while at the forest but I then looked over my research and developed new ideas and ways of seeing things after taking a step back. I delved further into the intial research that I’d done and started thinking of ways I could tell a story. 


3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these? What aspects of your submission are you satisfied with?
I think the handmade pages of my book are one of the biggest strengths in my submission. I produced the pages with a high level of craft with a lot of attention to detail. I would probably re-do a few of these pages again due to me rushing a few of the final pages as the print slot got closer but overall I am extremely pleased with how these turned out. I also think that the experimenting with textures that I did really helped develop my work. I think the images I have made are a lot more interesting due to this experimentation than they would have been had I not experimented with textures. I also believe that my visual journal is a strong part of my submission. I got positive feedback on my research and the lengths at which I’d researched my chosen location. This journal really helped me develop and understanding of the location and in a way made me bond with it. I feel like I am quite knowledgeable on the forest and this in turn helped me develop my images to produce a strong outcome. 






4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
Further development needed in my work is evident in my final printed book. I missed my InDesign sessions so did not save my file correctly, leading to bad print quality. I’m really unhappy about this as it completely ruins the look and feel of the book but I will address this in the future by attending software sessions and also by checking my work is set up correctly before going to a print slot. I also think I could have had more variation within the pages of my book, to keep the story interesting. Half the pages are just forest and path and I feel like I could have added things to these pages to make the book more enjoyable as a whole. I will address this in the future by spending more time developing pages and images so that they are the best they can possibly be. 



5. How effectively are you making decisions about the development of your work? 
What strategies informs this decision making? 
I think I am finding it easier now to make decisions about my work than I was during the first module. I find that I am making mistakes, learning from them and then improving my work based on those experiences. I am also taking on board feedback from tutors and peers that help inform my decision making. I have learnt that it’s important for me to get another view of my work from someone else, and to build on constructive criticism rather than getting a little offended by it. I am also making decisions more confidently. I have always been unsure about my work and my ability and regularly find myself unable to settle on ideas or methods of image-making because I’m not sure if it’s the ‘right thing’. I am running a bit more with my gut instinct now, making decisions based on what I feel would work well and what I feel would meet the brief requirements.




6. How effectively have you managed this project and organised yourself during this module? 
I think I have managed this project well, I have set myself to-do lists and mini deadlines for myself throughout the project and have managed to meet these nearly every time. I feel a lot more organised and I think this is mainly down to the structure of the research task at the beginning. Researching in this way really helped me get my mind set on what I was doing and gave me work to look back on and things to refer too, helping me decide on information to include in the book, the order of the pages and what kind of imagery I should be including in my book. I am feeling a lot more settled within the course now and I feel this is also helping my decision making. 



7.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.

OUIL404 Module Evaluation


NAME
Leah Haywood



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 have developed a number of practical skills within this module including how I work with line, tone, shape and texture as well as exploring the different elements of composition. I would say the practical skill I have developed most is my use of shape and texture, I was really interested in how images could be made using simple shapes and how this can be further developed with the addition of texture. This crossed into other areas of my studio practice and was the main media that I used to create my book for my picture book task in module 405. I have also developed practical skills in observational drawing, and am now at a place where I understand the importance of observational drawing and how this can help you develop a deeper understanding of the world around you. I would also say one of my key areas of development was in terms of the composition sessions that we have done. I am now trying to employ these within my own practice my spending a good amount of time experimenting with compositions, layouts and different frames when creating work in other modules. Composition is of key importance and can really help when conveying an idea, thought or feeling and helps to make practical work feel more rounded. This is evident in work that I have done for a recent postcard task in module 406.

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?
Overall I think I found the principles and theories behind composition the most valuable during this module. I have often previously made work and not   tried different layouts and composition and have ended up with work that doesn’t quite feel or look right. I was unsure on how to place emphasis on certain elements of and image and now I feel a lot more comfortable in creating images and pictures that have a more rounded feel to them and that communicate a clearer message. I especially found the session on composition and frame useful as I often find myself frustrated my the constraints given to us in terms of picture area and also was in the habit of fitting everything in the frame. I can now see how frame can be used to emphasis different elements of an image and how you place things within that frame to give importance to certain subjects. I also found sessions on shape valuable as it moved me away from making detailed, intricate work and got me to see how we can simplify images down to shapes to communicate a message clearly and effectively. I am employing this well within my own practice, trying to avoid over complicating things and using shape as a basis for a decent amount of my image making in modules like 406. 

3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?
I feel like my strongest work would be my line drawings within the visual subject task and also some of my shape and texture work. I really enjoyed these sessions and tried to push myself out of my comfort zone to experiment with new media and ways of image making. I can see now how line can be used to convey different feelings and emotion and also to add a tone of voice to my work. I also understand now how shape can be used to create simple yet effective images and this has been something I’ve work with in other modules. I am looking forward to taking shape and texture further and combining it with my practice more in other modules throughout the remainder of this year and into second year.

4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?
I think areas that need developing within this submission include working with 3D and lens and also working with mark making. These were not tasks that I was overly excited about so didn’t produce work to the highest standard for. I am not keen on the idea of working with 3D and am yet to discover how I can integrate this into my own practice. It is something that I would like to develop at sometime and would be interested in illustrated objects and product such as ceramics. I also struggled a lot with mark making, it felt messy and unnatural and I’m not sure if this is a way in which I enjoy working. I would address this in the future my trying to work with mark in appropriate situations but I think I would prefer working with it in a smaller amount, like not filling an image completely with marks but maybe just adding some here and there to highlight certain things or 
features.

5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)?
I think this module has taught me most how to look at different elements of an image and deconstruct it rather than analysing the image as a whole. It has shown me how to look at composition, how to see the different principles   of composition and how to use these to look at why practitioners or myself have put an image together in a certain way and what they have aimed to communicate and how effectively they have achieved this. I have also learnt   to look at different elements of images such as the line quality, shapes they have used, colours and textures that have been used and how these devices have been used to create a meaningful piece of work that conveys a message clearly and effectively. I also think above all this module has taught me how to consider how I make my own work. It is easy to stick to what you know and feel comfortable with but I have learnt a variety of techniques and compositional theories within this module which  in turn has helped and allowed me to be critical of my own work through the development process and also once I have got to an end product. 

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.

Saturday 16 April 2016

This Year SUCKED

I spent a fair bit of time over Easter thinking about how this years been, if and how I've progressed, and whether I'm doing well enough.

My attendance overall has been shocking, I know in terms of that I've messed up a lot. But I know that as much as I messed up and as much as my attendance isn't great at all, I've really tried my best in the situation I've been in. My depression kicked in majorly at the beginning of the year, there was too much change to deal with in one go. It was way too much for me at the start, and it continued to be way too much for me throughout. I'm a fairly introverted person and stupidly shy so found it really hard to take part in group discussions, make new friends and settle in with my new flatmates.

I've also found it really hard to produce any work that i've actually liked this year. To me, it seems like first years a lot to do with experimenting, taking risks, making mistakes and learning new ways of approaching and completing a brief. That's great, honestly I can say I've really benefited from the development and experimentation that I've done this year. But, now I think about it, if i had to pick out work that I was really proud of, I'd struggle to choose anything. I'm hoping that next year I can really try and focus and find my thing, something I enjoy doing and that I'm happy with at the end.

I don't think I've done well enough this year at all. I have massively let myself down. I'm horrendously ashamed of my attendance, the quality of my work and my crappy attempt at trying to be more confident and make new friends. I don't know, it just seems to be one whole load of stress. I can't see any progression in my work, I can't see how I've improved at all, if anything i think my skill set has dropped massively. I'm hardly getting a chance to do work for myself anymore and this is getting me down a fair bit.

BUT there's only 6/7 weeks left till everything handed in and that dreaded presentation is over and done with. I'm really going to try and be in all the time, get my work done to deadlines and just get this over and done with so I can spend sometime over summer getting my head together, motivated and focused on what I enjoy doing.

Ambivalently Yours

I've seen these drawings floating around for a few years now but could never find who did them but I've finally found them (kind of). Turns out Ambivalently Yours is an anonymous online persona created to facilitate the exploration of feminist convictions and concerns.


- I always loved the splashes of bright colour that's included in this work, bits of watercolour paint that really stand out on the pale pink backgrounds

- Also really enjoy the hand-drawn type, and the messages it delivers. I really love work that combats an issue or provokes and emotion or response in the audience. I think type usually helps with this and adds to the image rather than taking away from it

- The use of mixed media is really nice, and adds bit more character to the girls that are drawn

- The consistent pink background and the style this artist uses to draw is easily recognisable, there's a really strong sense of visual signature throughout all of their work.

Alice Ferrow

Alice Ferrow is another Illustrator I've found while trawling through pinterest and I'm so glad I found her! Her images are so beautiful and delicate, the colours work really great with the simplicity of her images and everything about her work is beautiful. I especially love the colours she uses, really soft pastel tones that fit with the delicate topics of her illustrations.



- Those colour schemes! I always struggle trying to figure out what colours go together but the colours that Alice uses are really lovely and fit together perfectly with the imagery

- Love how colourful and simple these illustrations are

- All are really well executed but still have a hand-rendered quality to them

- I really love the composition of the image with the moths and the light, this is done really well and the colour works with this, quite simple, does not distract from whats going on in the image

Tallulah Fontaine

Tallulah Fontaine has become a new favourite of mine after following her work for a few months. She has a really nice simple style, working mostly with shape and line but executing it perfectly. Her colour schemes are really soft and which enhances the simple nature of her work.



- Range of media but consistent style throughout, I think it's pretty easy to recognise her work out of a bunch of others

- Soft colour schemes, soft imagery, I find a lot of her work quite calming and tranquil to look at

- This girl has nailed drawing hands

- Composition is clearly thought out in a lot of her work, as simple as it may be

- I just love all of this, it's so cool and chill to look at

Frances Cannon

I found Frances Cannon's work on a late night scroll through Instagram and instantly fell in love with her fluid and honest drawings. Focusing mainly on feminism and body image, Cannon's work radiates self-love, positivity and body confidence, executed in a simple yet effective style.




- Really love the quality of line, and the scribbly, fluidity of her drawings

- Love the type that accompanies the majority of her images, it's got a really personal feel to it which makes these images that little bit more relatable

- Relatable subject matter, I'm sure a lot of people struggle with body confidence and her work pushes to make people realise there own self worth and the beauty they hold

- Super nice drawings, super nice type, super nice gal!

Monday 11 April 2016

EXCITING (and nerve-wracking) THINGS ARE HAPPENING

I'm holding a stall to sell my work! How great is that! 
I was contacted by the lovely people at Illustration Showdown and asked if I would like to hold a stall to sell my work at their first Leeds event at Outlaws on the 27th of April. Usually I would have said no, I'm not really great at putting myself out there and my nerves and lack of confidence mean that usually as much as I'd love to do something like this, I more than likely pass the opportunity on. 



BUT after a lot of over thinking on whether or not I'm good enough for this kind of thing, and some gentle persuasion from friends and family I took the plunge and took the offer! I've had a fairly crappy year, uni's been hard, ridiculously tiring and my motivation is lacking massively, I thought hey, maybe if I do this it might give me a bit of a push in the right direction. I know it'll help me with my confidence, even if I don't sell anything I think being asked to take part in this and getting to know some other creative illustrator types might help me out a lot and help me get my head back into the right place. 


I'm still not entirely convinced that I'm good enough for this kind of thing. I don't class myself as a professional at all. But maybe this will be good for me, maybe this will give me the little confidence boost I need in order to get my head back on track and motivated to draw. At least it'll be a nice way to end first year!