OUIL406_ Visual Communication Evaluation

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

NAME Matthew Mercer


1.  What have you learn about visual communication during this module and how effectively do you think you have applied these ideas?
I think the biggest thing I have gotten from this module is how important simplification of image is. Especially in the last two briefs I wanted to work at using more ambiguous shapes and textures to relay an idea, which I think I did and successfuly developed this through the module. On a similar note, I have learned that what an image is trying to say doesn't have to be screamingly obvious, and that ambiguity is sometimes much more effective in communicating figure and narrative. I have tried to be more ambiguous in my work throughout the module, and have enjoyed the simplification that has followed.

2. What approaches to/ methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?
I really wanted to work with shape and texture throughout this module, and I tried to really experiment what shape (especially in brief 2) and texture (especially in brief 3) can do for an image. Using both shape and texture, I think I have started to move more towards where I want to be as an illustrator at the minute, and am keen to move forward and further develop my use of shape and texture. For me, digital software was used heavily throughout this module, meaning my images took on a more structured aesthetic. I really enjoyed producing work digitally, but think I definitely need to introduce some more hand made elements to my work in future.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I really like the simplicity in my images, even with a more complex use of shape in brief 2 I still felt the image looked quite simple overall. I think the use of shape has definitely influenced this, and as I said before I really want to further my use of shape. I think my work is starting to develop a voice and an aesthetic that is appealing to me. I also like my use of texture in SB3, I played with other textures that I'd collected myself rather than using premade ones, which I think really look good. I will continue to collect and implement these textures into my work.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I think I definitely neglected the development stage in a couple of the briefs. And I think a big part of this is working digitally and moving straight from roughs to the actual making of the image so very little experimentation with media was done. Im not sure weather working digitally necessarily needs this experimentation with other media if I know the aesthetic that I am going for, however I think handmade experimentation definitely has a place within other parts of my practice.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1- Concentrate more on experimentation, hopefully to create more 'refined' images.
2- Consider stock earlier rather than rushing into a shit print, then having to spend more time/money getting quality prints.
3- Create more uniformed roughs, my sketchbooks are messy. Which make sense to me but maybe for people looking in (markers) it won't make much sense and maybe translations of what I have produced from my roughs may become lost.
4- Try not to be too literal, ambiguity can be more interesting.
5- Create work that I want to create, not what I think others will like- start enjoying the things I make!!

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 2
Punctuality 4
Motivation 4
Commitment 4
Quantity of work produced 2
Quality of work produced 3
Contribution to the group 1
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

OUIL406- Persons of Note- Actual Finals

 So here are the actual finals for the brief. I have chosen to go with the just grey ones as I simply didn't like the aesthetic of the red ones. I have played with the textures on some of them and you can see below the redesigned 'parachute' stamp.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with them. I especially like the texture that you can see on the printed versions. Decent.

OUIL406- Persons of Note- Finals

So after feedback from Jamie, and making a few tweaks, below are the final drafts of my work for the brief.



I still havent 100% decided weather to use the ones with colour or not, I'm really struggling with the fact that I think the red ties them all in together and enforces narrative between them but I think I prefer the aesthetic of the ones with no colour.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the work I have produced. I think it's getting towards refining down to the work I actually want to produce. I really enjoyed making the work, and I think I wanted to use this brief to thin out the work I actually want to make, which I think I have done.

OUIL406- Persons of Note- Stamps

 See below my final images for my stamps. for me, the aim of the stamps was to keep it very simple whilst still suggesting narrative throughout. Similarly to the postcards, I wanted to reflect on different stages of Valentina's life whilst not being too literal, which I think I have done successfully. Some of the images might be seen as quite ambiguous but I quite like that.

I didn't want to literally tell a story with the work I produced, and I think I used to ambiguity to suggest elements of narrative, which when looked in to, do tell a story.

 

I like the aesthetics of the stamps, and I think the key to them is the simplicity. The stamps didn't take too much time in terms of production, but the thought behind them was something I took a long time on (although not physically documented so much). I did have to change the parachute one, as when discussed with Jamie, it wasn't completely obvious what it was, I think the change worked.

OUIL406- Persons of Note- Postcard Development

I wanted to look at enforcing a theme between the postcards, mainly to try and tie them in together a bit more. One of the more prominent features on the postcards for me is the crisp, geometric circles that are in the buttons of the space themed one.

I decided to try and put at least one perfect circle into the others without making them feel too cluttered. Results below.


I decided to make the handle of the scissors mcuh more circular on this one, and although they aren't a perfect circle I think it definitely suggests that on first glance. I also added the roll of thread as a new feature which I really like.

I added a circle just below the wing of the plane of this one to give the suggestion of an engine, although this isn't how planes worked in those days, I think I can get away with that? Hopefully.


This one hasn't changed.

I really like how the images have turned out now. And I think they do tie in together much more. Just need to decide on the colour now.

OUIL406- Persons of Note- Postcards

See below the first drafts of my postcards. I'm actually really happy with how they look so far, and I don't think they're too far off being finished. Off the back of mine and Jamie's chat yesterday I decided to introduce some colour into them, the obvious choice was a really bold red. When I think of soviet Russia the first thing that comes to my head is red.

I really wanted to steer away from using too much colour from this brief as I really struggled with it last time, but I think I like the single strong colour.


And here are the postcards with colour introduced.



I'm still deciding which ones to use for my final. And they still need tweaking.

OUIL406- Persons of Note- Feedback from Jamie

Yesterday I sat down with Jamie to speak about the work I had done over easter. We started by talking about how the project was going as a whole and I explained that I was slow to start and wasn't really enjoying the brief very much but had enjoyed actually making my work.

We looked through my sketchbook and spoke about the roughs I had done and that the work I had produced was realised and this was obviously because of the amount of roughs I had done.

We went on to talk about my 'final' drafts that I had produced. Overall I think Jamie seemed to like what I had produced, and we spoke about introducing colour and repetitive shape to the images to tie them in together and finish off the images.

I got a lot out of the chat with Jamie and I think it made me feel a lot better about not only the amount of work I had produced but the quality of it as well.

OUIL406- Persons of Note- Texture Experiments

Because I wanted to use texture to quite an extent for this brief. I decided to try out creating my own textures to overlay on top of my images. The process is quite easy. All I did was take a picture/scan in a texture and use the overlay filter in photoshop to impose the texture on to the image. Below are the results.


This one was created using the texture from my desk, I like the effect that it gives but I don't think it look appropriate for this brief. I was looking for something loser and more fluid and natural.

The next texture I tried was a rough carpet in my flat. I thought the curved edges might give a more fluid feel, but the structure of the stitching sill made it feel quite structured.


The third texture I used was from my sketchbook cover. Again, I really like how the texture looks but I feel this one is just a bit too subtle to use for this brief.

I have started to 'stockpile' textures that I like, to use in future briefs.

OUIL406- Persons of Interest- Poster final draft thing

So although this may not be the final final draft for the poster, I'm pretty pleased with how it looks so far, so might stick with it.

I'm really enjoying using shape, and using only greys it really pushing me to take more care of textures within the shapes, as I don't have to worry about colour. I'm really enjoying it.


I think I still need to work on making the image look less 'clean-cut'. I've made some brushes which should help achieve this but for now I'm fairly happy. Just needs more depth.

OUIL406- Persons of Interest- Roughing

I started by exploring ideas that I already came up with whilst researching VT. Most of which I seem to have stuck to and carrying on with. I feel much more comfortable with roughing now, before it was really cluttered and disorganised. Now, I'm using scale properly, and exploring each idea exhaustively, which I feel like I am definitely getting better results from.

I wanted to create a feeling of isolation. And the poster seemed like the best way to get the most out of it. Because of the large scale I could really play with isolating elements of my image and use composition to enforce it. I'm pretty happy with where my roughs are going at the minute. Just need to keep going.

OUIL406 Persons of Note- Decisions

Valentina Tereshkova

I have finally decided that the person I want to make work about is Valentina Tereshkova. In my opinion she is the most interesting both in what she did in her life and her character as well.

I love space anyway, so the first woman in space is a good place to start with it. I think I want to focus more on her journey to becoming an astronaut than her character, because although she's an interesting character, she's very politicly enthused (which I am very much not).

I have continued my research into what I want to look at during this brief. I haven't really documented any of it (shit) but I feel like I know enough about her to start my works.

On another note, am I fuck using colour like I did in the last brief. I am embracing a lack of colour in this brief.