End of module evaluation

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

NAME	Rebecca Williamson

1.  What skills have you developed through this brief and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Before this module I had never used adobe illustrator before, so the module has taught me how to use the basics, especially in studio brief 2 where I learnt how to create vectors with the pen tool etc. Because of my lack of knowledge, i did struggle with the brief, therefore I decided to carry on experimenting with illustrator for studio brief 3 in the hope it would build up my confidence and improve my skills as a illustrator. I discover how to use other tools such as the paintbrush tool which helped me create the floral polish pattern I used in the development of my person of note project. In conjunction to illustrator, I have also experimented with using Photoshop more regularly, as this is also a program I need to become more confident with. Unlike other projects where I have used collage material to create work by hand, I instead scanned in collage material into Photoshop, and digitally enhanced it using the cloning tools to make it more complex and the levels tool to add contrast.
2. What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process? In studio brief 2 I used line to create the building vectors on illustrator, because the project was based on illustrator it limited me to just work with line and didn’t allow me to add tones and shadows I would usually add If I was drawing by hand, however this showed me that detail in not allows essential to make something look recognisable. I took this theory into studio brief 3 where I used line (outlines) for my postcard designs. This along with contextual reference from illustrators such as …… I used different width of lines to ad represent areas of block shadow and areas of block highlights, I feel combining this with the collage method I developed from previous projects works well as it creates a stronger contrast between complexity and simplicity.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I feel one of my strengths in this module, especially studio brief 2 and 3, Is that I have been able to show consistency in my stylistic choses in each final resolution, creating a strong set of recognisable and linkable work. I feel I have also pushed myself to experiment with different techniques in the hope to build my confidence and skills, such as Photoshop and illustrator, i feel i have done this, and therefore have boarded my choice of methods to consider for other project. I feel in this last brief I managed my time quite well, I have been able to evaluate my final resolutions a number of times and make any slight changes i felt would improve my work which I may not of noticed needed changing otherwise.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I feel a weakness in studio brief 1 was my ability to have a strong voice or opinion. This was a weakness to the majority of my group, there was no leader, we were all quite shy to be direct with ideas. This is something I will have to work on in the further, especially to prepare myself for after my degree, I will need more confidence to deliver and pitch my work to get recognised. I feel one of my weaknesses in brief 2 was my lack of motivation and passion towards the project, because the project was based on a program (illustrator) I had no experience with, I immediately felt pessimistic about the brief and presumed my work would not be as visually interesting and professional as other peoples which made it hard to put the same amount of effort and time into it as I would other projects.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? Next time I will make sure to annotate my blog post of work/experiments each time I post them, as it will enable me to remember what I have articulated about the work. When given a project with multiple resolutions required, I will make sure to spend a equal amount of time on both and develop them as best I can, rather then focusing more attention on one while the others lack development and therefore have a weaker impact. Make sure I always If any future projects require printed resolutions, I will make sure to book well I advance to avoid a mad rush. Make sure I finish blogs for previous briefs and make alterations needed to the work before started a next brief so I don’t have multiple projects to think about at the end. Try not to be outfaced at the beginning of projects or be negative towards them as this will inevitably lead to poor quality 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.

responding to peer crit sugguestions

sophie and rosie who reviewed my work in the progress crit mentioned that i should rethink the composition of my postcards, this was something i also worried about being a issue. though i had previously played around with composition, i decided that my current layout worked best as using landscape meant that some products looked lost in the page/postcard,  however because of the amount of negative space to the left of the postcard i felt that maybe the resolutions looked too bare and there was too much white in the image. 

i started off by playing around with using a coloured outline to try and conceal the white 

i then thought about duplicating the illustration to fill in the space. however when showing this to matt, he felt that this was taking away from the hand drawn quality as this made the postcard look more digitally made as i was using exact copies. the only way i could resolve this problem would be to draw 2 more jars again which would have some difference to show they are hand drawn, however this would take up more time which i feel i need to put in to other areas of this project ready for the deadline in 2 days. 

here i have played around with adding more of the textured pattern to emphasise it, i have shaped it to  represent a spillage of the product inside. i feel this involves more of the space in the postcard, yet still relies on the use of negative space to maintain a strong focal point on the product.

Final crit- peer feedback

final resolutions

Al poster 

after printing, i spotted a few things  that i was unhappy with on a bigger scale, such as the outline around the pattern dress, i purposing made the lines thin and in some places non-exsitant to give the impression of areas that have been hit by light, however i think this just looks like i have half heartily started to erase the outline and forgotten about some areas. 

 4 postcards

                     4 stamps
                    

                    

stamp designs in 1890's -same time Marie Curie discovered radium

after the final peer feedback crit where we layed out all off our final resolutions, i found there was something missing from my stamp designs, after looking round the group i found a few people where using common elements from existing stamps/recognisable elements of stamps. i want to play around with this idea as i feel this will make my stamps more recognisable as 'stamps', and  will make my work look more professional.

i started off by researching into 1890's stamp designs, to tie in research of the time period marie curie discovered radium

choosing colour backgrounds for postcards

creating the stamps.

playing around with character settings to align the layers of writing. 

i played around with choosing the a front. i googled period table font and discovered the font used in sans serif, so this is the font i used. 

i made sure the pattern behind each one was different to show the variety in the pattern. 

experimenting with floral polish pattern for stamp design

though matt felt my microscope pattern was more effective, i still wanted to experiment using the floral pattern idea for my stamp just to see the result. 

after seeing a part of the floral pattern (a flower) on its own, i totally agree with matt that i would need to develop the design further. the flower looks to simple and does not have the visual skills/qualities i would want to show in my final work. i think the design is too plain especially when it is linked with a plain background. 

i have added the rest of the pattern to the background to try and make the design more interesting, i would also lower the opacity to make the flower stand out. though i think this works better, i am deffinetly going to stick with the microscope pattern. 

stamp ideas

first idea:

• periodic table /sign of radium 'R' etc in the corner and a flower design in the middle from my floral polish pattern. 
• using different parts of the floral pattern for each stamp 

discussing idea with matt - he felt maybe my floral pattern would need more development to make it good enough to use.
he felt the microscope pattern was more original and interesting compared to the floral pattern as the floral pattern is to similar to the folk polish floral pattern i was working from.

next idea: using the neoplasm microscope pattern  and the  'r' symbol  etc from the periodic table. 
possible elements i could use which links to Marie Curie.
radium
polonium
Curium
uranium
thorium

Curium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This element of theactinide series was named after Marie and Pierre Curie – both were known for their research on radioactivity. 
What did Marie Curie discover?

uranium, thorium 
Answer: Marie Curie studied the radiation of all compounds containing the known radioactive elements, including uranium and thorium, which she later discovered was also radioactive. She also found out that:
- you can exactly measure the strength of the radiation from uranium;
- the intensity of the radiation is proportional to the amount of uranium or thorium in the compound - no matter what compound it is;
- the ability to emit radiation does not depend on the arrangement of the atoms in a molecule; it must be linked to the interior of the atom itself - a revolutionary discovery!

drawing of Marie Curie and her children.

i have decided to stick with the idea of using a image of Marie Curie and her kids. 

however because i want to make Maries face portrait really detailed i decided to you a different reference picture of her face which is more detailed to work from. 

to make sure i was able to add as much detail as possible, i drew the figures/image at a big scale on 3 different sheets and then attach it together on photoshop. 

it was quite difficult to join the images up accurately without there being any overlapping or aligning problems. 

exsiste within its own space.

experimenting with different images of Marie Curie

as i have drawn my postcards products in bold black brush pen but have used pencil to draw my poster drawing of marie curie, i was worried that this would not make the 2 link very well. so i have experimented with drawing marie curie using a brush pen aswell.

though i like the boldness you get when using brush pen and how it creates different width lines to represent shadow etc, it was hard to achieve as much detail to the face as what i would get with a pencil. 

remembering back to when we first got given this brief, i remember matt and fred saying the facts that we find out about our person of note should be ones that we did not no about the person, as this will make our work more interesting. as more postcards are primary about radiation (radium products) which is something that is commonly linked with marie curie, i wanted to add something to my work that people perhaps would not know about her or not necessarily think of when they think of her. from the research i found out about marie was that she was a family woman and had always been close with her family and was a mother herself of  2 girls. i have decided to draw a picture of her and her children to add this aspect or her life/personality to my work. 

to make Marie curie the main focus in the illustration i thought about drawing the 2 daughters in a different and simpler technique so Marie would be the most detailed and therefore the main focal point.  i really like David Hockneys line drawing of people (above) and think this would be a good technique to draw the girls in. 

evaluating this technique, i don't think the combination of pencil drawing (Marie's face)and the line drawings work. i think it looks to miss match, i feel it detail and simplicity would work, but it would need to done using the same tool i.e. both pencil or both pen. 

 i played around with adding different thicknesses of lines to the daughters, though i still feel this technique is not right for my project, i do like the mixture of thin and thick pen line and will consider using and developing on this technique in other projects.