End of Module Evaluation

End of Module Student Evaluation

BA(hons) Illustration

Module Code: OUIL402 Personal & Professional Practice

Name: Meghan Armitage

Student ID: ma258999

Please identify where the evidence for each of the learning outcomes is within your submission and how well you feel you have met the learning outcomes. Please also grade yourself in relation to the learning outcomes using terms:

> poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent (Note- This is so that the team have an understanding of how well you feel you have done. It is not an indication of the actual grade you may receive)

Learning Outcome	Evidenced where? Blog, Sketchbook, Roughs Final Illustrations, development sheets etc.  (No more than 75 words)	Your grade Using words: > poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent
4A3 Demonstrate an awareness of appropriate areas of practice within the creative industries and cultural environment.	My blog shows where I have looked at different artists include professional and students in Level 5 and 6. I have also analysed applied art and illustrations in books. This can also be seen in my A5 sketchbook where I have gone on gallery visits and recorded what I saw.	Satisfactory
4B2 Analyse, evaluate and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as learners.	This can be seen on my blog where I have asked myself questions as well as a blog post about myself (Study Task 7) where I have reflected my strengths and struggles both as a student and a practitioner.	Good
4C2 Develop a body of work in response to a defined brief that effectively demonstrates an awareness of their own practice in relation to others.	Sketchbook is a good example of this as it includes word maps and lists where I have considered what influences my work. This then developed into making visual ideas which can be seen in my final illustrations which shows how I have completely analysed myself.	Good
4D2 Use appropriate communication skills to record and present their emerging practice.	My sketchbook shows this because my intentions are clear throughout as my work develops into the final designs. Researching other practitioners on my blog to aid my work is also an example.	Satisfactory

Evaluation (See guidance below for more information)

You are required to write a 500 word evaluation of this module.

Overall, I have engaged half-heartedly throughout the whole module until the end of the year for the Illustrated Self and Creative Strategy briefs. The studio briefs have been useful to me because I have become more confident of being critical of myself and my work, as well as analyzing work created by professional illustrators. Studio Brief in, specifically Study Tasks 1-4 have helped me to gain knowledge in contextual research. I have learnt that the discipline of illustration is a lot more complex than I initially thought. It’s about being able to visually communicate a message when working with a set brief. The module as a whole has made me consider myself as a practitioner. Especially, Studio Briefs 2 and 3 which has made me reflect on myself (which is not one of my strong points). The task of creating a word map about myself and who I am as a practitioner was a challenge for me as I see myself as an uninteresting character. Although, I soon discovered that being a boring person is one of the main influences of my practice. A perfect example of this is my final poster for the Illustrated Self which shows examples of my expressionless face. This outcome is one of my strongest pieces of work from this year as a whole as it relates to me as a person and a practitioner. It also shows how I have a strong opinion on things which I feel like I haven’t been able to show too much this year because of the set briefs. Throughout the module practitioners such as The Berkeley Political Poster Workshop have influenced my work into trying to express my opinion in a lighthearted tone by creating simple but powerful imagery with a deeper meaning by simply using one colour to print with. As well as the relationship between text and imagery which I intend on focusing on more in the future. I have tried to create similar ideas to this in my Illustrated Self poster by adding text to strengthen the images to make the audience understand the context of my work more clearly. The use of POSCA pens has been relevant to this Studio brief because they aid me into slowing down my drawings which I tend to rush slightly when I use a pencil. The pens also add vibrancy and simplicity to my work which is what I want to work more in my future work. The presentation has allowed me to reflect on myself more formally which has allowed me to consider the small details which relates to me as practitioner. I hope that in the future this will help me further analyse myself as it will be useful to look at retrospectively to see how much I may have changed in Level 5 and 6. If I were to do this module again I would take more time in reflecting on myself from the very beginning of the year to see how I have developed as a practitioner and a person by the end of the academic year.

Creative Strategy Presentation

Creative Strategy - Plans

I made this pretty quickly because Matt had helped me with how to set the slides out in my tutorial making my life easier.

This might all change when it comes to making the presentation.

 I need to work on making my manifesto looking professional for my final slide.

How can I make my presentation creative?

I'm too awkward to be doing any performance.

I made this and forgot I had 9 slides not 8 because of the first slide with my embarrassed face.

I need to look through my work from the past year and see what will be most suitable for the presentation, including work from my sketchbooks.

The Illustrated Self - Final Poster

I am so happy with the final outcome even though I wasn't so sure whilst I was drawing the designs. It caused me a lot of stress because the peachy pen became blocked so I ran it under water and thought I'd ruined it (I eventually managed to fix it.) 

The idea of creating a typology poster to represent who I am as a person is one of the best things I've come up with this year. 

Thank god I'm an uninteresting character. If not this poster might not have been half as good. 

Using the POSCA pens has made this piece a lot stronger because of the bold colours that can be seen across the page, as well as them being paint based making them less streaky.

If I was to make this again I'd possibly try a different method of drawing the characters such as screen printing or paint.

Overall, I'm happy with the outcome and I think the audience will be able to connect the characters in the poster with myself, especially people that know me and see me on a regular basis.

Creative Strategy - Looking Forward

What sort of things do you want to do more of next year?

• More free range briefs where I can visualise things I'm passionate about more e.g. feminism, politics.
• Become closer to the other people on my course to help me get inspiration.
• Explore more places that could influence my work (observational drawings, galleries.)
• Experiment out of my sketchbook a lot more.
• Stop being lazy and procrastinating.
• Research more into subject specific briefs as well as finding more practitioners that influence my own work.

Is this an action, location, way of thinking, lifestyle choice?

• All of the things in the question really.
• My way of thinking needs to change when it comes to making more friends with people on the course. I'm way too judgemental.
• I need to take action on working out of my sketchbook more and being playful.
• My lifestyle choices need to change slightly. I should go out more often and explore new places (with sketchbook in hand) rather than staying in bed all day.
• Location could be a massive influence on my work which could be something I might discover next year.

What mistakes do you want to avoid making again next year?

• Leaving everything to last minute.
• Procrastinating.
• Not meeting many new people.
• Staying in too much.
• Not coming out of my sketchbook enough.

What are you apprehensive about next year?

• The work load.

What are you looking forward to?

• Having more open briefs where I can show myself as a practitioner a lot more (opinions).
• Being able to use more facilities.
• Hopefully the lectures are a bit later than the ones this year.

Creative Strategy - Looking Back

What have you learned and what do you want to learn more of?

• How to do a digital screen print which I hadn't done in the past (I always stuck with analogue methods).
• I need to learn how to manage my time more effectively.
• My skills in observational drawing have improved BUT they could still be better.
• I've been a lot more accepting to trying new things and accepting briefs that might not have been to my best interest.

What mistakes have you made and how have you learned from them?

• Being too lazy at times. There's been days when I couldn't be bothered doing the tasks set (never mind personal work) resulting in me stressing when I haven't got anything done when it's close to the deadline. Next year I'm going to improve my body clock to make sure I get up at a good time every day as well as being motivated.
• Time management (similar to the point above). I started making to do lists which helped me keep on track.
• Not going out enough (I don't mean drinking). I should have explored places a lot more even if it's just in Leeds. This has been a learning curve for me meaning that next year I'm going to walk about everywhere with my sketchbook and work on my observational drawing.
• Being unsociable. I haven't really made an attempt to speak to anyone else on the course which could have helped my work improve. I should stop being judgemental and approach more people.
• Too much time on my phone. Sometimes I hate myself for being stuck to social media (as if I give a shit about what anyone else is up to). I'm going to start switching it off when I'm at college or at home doing work.

What are your strengths and how will you develop them further?

• Character design is my main strengths. I want to continue improving on this skill by being more playful and experimental outside of my sketchbook.
• Sketchbook work is another strength of mine. When I look through my sketchbooks my aims are clear and you can see how my work is developing towards my final designs. I'm going to improve on this by doing this outside of my sketchbook on larger sheets of paper (or different materials) to show my intentions more clearly.
• Screen printing which I didn't do much of this year is one of my favourite things to do. I love using acetate with chinagraph pencil which I want to develop on further. I want to work on how I can simplify my designs down to 2 colours or less.
• The tone of voice tends to be clear in my designs. I want to show this further in my work next year by analysing how my audience will view the work.

What are your weaknesses and how do you intend to address these?

• Time management. I'm going to address this issue by making time plans as well as to do lists for every week so I don't fall behind.
• Being playful. I need to get over my nerves of trying new things and make better use of the facilities in the college to improve my work.
• Observational drawing. Next year I am going to go out a lot more with my sketchbook and work on drawing landscapes and people.
• Procrastination. I spend way too much time doing things that don't matter too much (like sorting things out in my room all the time, it's already tidy.) I need to focus more on my work so I have more time to make personal work as well.

What have you enjoyed and why?

• Living in leeds has been enjoyable as I've met new people and there's so much more to do compared to Sowerby Bridge (all we have is geese).
• Making new friends has helped improve my work as they have been critical and letting a fresh mind see your work always gives you new ideas.
• Learning new techniques (in particular in screen printing) I wasn't sure how to do the digital method of printing which is a good skill to have under my sleeve. As well as how to bitmap on Photoshop to make it appear to have a different tone on the print.
• The discovery of POSCA pens. These have improved my work so much as I can focus on how to make simple drawings as well as the pens making me slow down (I tend to rush when using pencil).

What have you disliked and why?

• I've not been a fan of all of the briefs as I found them limiting. Such as 'Acts of Kindness' because it wasn't to my taste at all (made me cringe at the thought of being nice) as well as having to make it using Illustrator.
• Having to work with people I don't know. I hate this so much, I feel like I'm not confident to express my ideas and I don't like it when people talk over me or not listen to what I say.
• The short briefs. It takes me a while to get my wheels turn meaning when I'm finally getting into what has been set it's almost over making me have to rush my final work.

How does this affect your ambitions?

• I am completely aware that the things I disliked are things that I need to learn how to deal with. If I want to be a freelance illustrator then not every brief is going to be to my taste. As well as the time I have to make work as well. I need to work on my speed and stop procrastinating if I want to get where I want.

What did you want to get from your first year?

• How to work in a more professional environment surrounded by people doing the same kind of thing.
• New skills in how to create professional standard work that I can sell.
• Better social skills.

What have you discovered that you weren’t expecting?

• That so many people on this course are incredible and absolutely love what they're doing which I've found intimidating in some aspects.
• I thought it would be easier than foundation. Oh god how wrong was I??? It's such a different environment to work in, as well as not having separate working spaces where you can spread your work out.

Research - Sujin

 I recently discovered this artist on the Its Nice That website.

The characters that Sujin creates relate to my own as they all have a similar face, the only difference between the characters is that they are wearing different clothes and have different hairstyles.

Similar to my own work in a way that only slight elements of my face changes.

However, the characters created by Sujin are a lot more complex than mine as she creates a scene by adding elements to the background as well as considering composition as the overlaps the girls.

“I like to draw what I’m like,” she says. “My illustrations are based on my taste, which has become my style.” (From the Its Nice That website)

This quote relates to the idea behind this whole brief as she tries to relate her work to herself. Similar to what I am trying to achieve. 

The small changes in the expressions of the characters relates to the theme of my poster. The girls are all pretty sassy looking with uninterested faces (like me).

The Illustrated Self - Even More Visual Ideas

I have been practicing different designs for each of the ideas I've had, some being a lot easier than others.

Some of the drawings are a lot simpler than others which will stop the poster from becoming overcomplicated.

The relationship between the text and the image will be vital to this poster as the idea might be unclear to the audience.

I am considering a title to emphasise the humour.

What could the title be?

 After drawing the different reactions some ideas are clearly a lot stronger than others.

I wasn't too happy with the green face to represent after a night out but it gave me the idea of making an alien related character (I've been watching X-Files too much recently).

Would this idea suit the rest of the poster?

The metallic blue pen is perfect for the teardrops. I think it makes the poster look more interesting than the regular blue pen. Adds a bit more emotion to my uninterested face.

 I love the idea of changing small elements of my face to change the situation I'm in, still with the same expression on my face.

The pink embarrassed face is so accurate it hurts. I'm such a glowing little pink grape.

I might change the expression to "doing a presentation" seen as though I have to do one on Tuesday.

Will the pink fit in with the rest of the peachy faces?

Will it actually make the poster funnier?

Will it through people off making them focus mainly on the pink face?

 The angry face alongside the pink embarrassed face might cause some confusion in the poster.

I'm not going to use this one, I prefer the bottom left design with angry eyes.

It amazes me how a simple line can simply change how my character looks.

I need to consider how the poster will look (layout etc).

3x3?
2x4?

How many of the designs will I want to include in my final piece?

 These two ideas are both pretty weak which I'm a little bit disappointed about. I love Pound Bakery veggie rolls (as if i haven't mentioned this enough) but I don't think this idea will be included in the poster.

As well as the no glasses look. I wanted to show my lazy eye but it doesn't work because of the direction I'm looking in.

Not enough people know about my lazy eye anyway.

Does the character even look like me without glasses on?

I don't think so. Eye makeup would be needed to make it more suitable but that would ruin the other character designs.

 This metallic blue pen is magic. It creates such a nice water effect.

I want to add something onto the 'Too tired' but I'm not sure what.

Too tired for college maybe?

Should the eyes be closed or open?

Think I'll keep them closed (I've fallen asleep at the back of the room plenty of times making it more relatable to me.)

 I enjoyed drawing the abducted by aliens piece but I don't think I've cracked the look of it just yet.

Will the head shape look okay amongst the other round ones?

Should I have alien eyes or still my normal eyes with a funny shaped head?

Is the hair still relevant?

Do aliens have hair?

At first I was unsure if the cat nose would look normal on my face but I think it makes me look cuter.

 I have chosen the strongest ideas out of the designs I made and attempted in the poster.

I love the alien idea but it doesn't fit right on the page?

Should the head shape be the same as the others?

I asked some peers and they said to change the head shape to be more circular and keep the eyes as they are.

I'm going to continue drawing this character until I get it right. (Maybe at a larger scale).

What should the title be?
What kind of font?
Am I capable of making a suitable font?

I normally like my quickly drawn font but I don't think it would suit the title of this piece. The characters are too neat and simple.

Should it be more three dimensional or flat?

I think I'm going to use the title "The Many Faces of Meg"

The rushed lettering looks too messy and might be difficult to read for some people.

I need to focus on writing the small captions underneath each character as well.

Should I write in all capitals?
Joined letters?

I'm going to explore these ideas further to make sure my poster is to a high standard.

New POSCA Pens

I bought more POSCA pens, the black and the peachy tone in preparation for the final Illustrated Self poster, and the other colours because I have no self control.

I am going to try and interpret the metallic colours into my poster design. (The blue shade might be suitable for the 'Watching a Sad Film' character.)

These pens are my best discovery so far. I hope to use them more in my future work.

Bury me with a bouquet of POSCA pens.

Colours May Vary - Out of Order

 I thought I'd already made a post about this but apparently not.

Colours May Vary is an light and open gallery space with a small shop selling stationary and small items made by professional practitioners as well as a small exhibition space which regularly changes.

The Out of Order exhibition was hosted by 3rd year Illustration students which is a perfect insight for my future self (if I survive that long.)

The exhibition was full of bright and interesting pieces of work created by Level 6. Seeing it all displayed on a wall in a well known Leeds gallery is quite nerve-wracking.

 This piece of work caught my attention because of the use of ambitious shapes and patterns which work collectively to create objects.

The objects and characters have been made with one or two simple shapes with an added pattern to make it more representational, such as the banana.

Would it still look like a banana without the black dots?

This piece was created by Madeleine Richardson.

 This screen print has been created using only 4 colours but the artist has considered how to use tools on Photoshop to make it appear that there are different tones.

This method has been used cleverly to give the effect of the woman's body being under the water which is something I wouldn't have thought of myself.

Composition is a strong point in this piece because of the use of value which has been used to create a three dimensional effect. The viewpoint as almost as if the spectator is stood at the end of the bath and looking down onto her.

This screen print was produced by Tilly Butters.

This design interested me because of how pattern has been used to create separation between the black and white characters.

Texture is also a leading factor of this piece as it makes the characters stand out against the solid red background.

It also makes me wonder why one of the characters is facing the other way.

This piece was created by Billie Francis.

The exhibition as a whole has made me want to put more effort into my current work and be more playful when it comes to trying out new things to make sure I can work to a professional standard by the time I'm in third year. Just like the student's who have their work on display.

The Illustrated Self - Visual Ideas Again

The one to one has helped my development a lot. I'm focusing a lot more on designing myself as a character and trying to simplify myself down as much as possible.

I want to visualise my general uninterested expression that I happen to have on a regular occasion, no matter what situation I'm in.

At the moment I'm practising my own face, I want to visualise how bored I always look in the best way possible, as well as considering simplification.

Should I use POSCA pens for my final A2 design?

Should I use more exaggerated colours?

Will using brighter colours make it look less like me?

 I think I've cracked how I want the character of myself to look.

I like the idea of changing elements of my face slightly every time.

Can I think of enough ideas of how my face can change each time to make a whole A2 poster?

Should I use POSCA or paint?

I'm thinking POSCA at the minute but it might change to paint (I need to experiment).

How large should I make the faces?

I have made an extensive list of things I could be doing where my expression doesn't change. Some things relate a lot more closely to my mind map than others.

Should I do 9 or 6 variations of my face?

Which ones should I choose?

I am going to continue in my sketchbook by creating the designs to see which of them will be the most suitable for my final piece.

My A3 sketchbook will be where I experiment with paint and POSCA to see which medium will best suit my final design ready for the end of year show.

Tutorial with Matt

Always a life saver. Especially when you don't really know what direction you're going in (which was my current situation)

I've got help with the Creative Strategy brief as well which I haven't really considered at all so far. I'm too focused on the poster.

List of feedback related things

• Felt restricted with a lot of the briefs from this year (want to explore and push opinions further next year).
• Agitate, champion, speculate, challenge and propose.
• Veganism, feminism, politics and ethics (something to express more next year)
• Why do I aim to be a liberal person?
• The typology poster is a good idea with the same expression thing. 
• I initially thought of writing different emotions like happy, angry etc. Matt gave me the idea of writing things such as "judging customers that say yes when I offer them a bacon roll for a pound at work" as I was ranting about it in the tutorial.

Creative Strategy Help

• Paint, print, character, drawing, writing, colour (strengths)
• Take the piss, stupid/daft, low fi, suczzy, DIY, protest, anarchic, strange, uneasy (a bunch of descriptive words about what my work is???)
• Rebel, combative (argue with old men in pubs), tape deck (stuff that relates to the descriptive words as well as who I am as a practitioner.)
• David Shrigley, Berkley Protest Workshop, Paris 1968, miner's strike, Lucy Kirk.
• Start with this year and end end with a manifesto as a start off template.