Summative Statement

I began this module feeling very unmotivated. After receiving my COP marks I felt as if I wasn't good enough and I think it slowed me down a lot, and I began to think that everything I was doing was just going to be wrong. I realised that I needed to snap out of this way of thinking so by arranging to speak to my tutors about how I received that mark and noting down what I need to do to improve put me in a fresh mindset. I did face a few more bumps in the road whilst working through this module such as my Nana passing. This again massively slowed me down for quite a while, but I knew from this point I needed to prove to myself and my nana that I can achieve my goals.

Throughout this module I had the opportunity to engage with my own self lead briefs, some longer than others, and some set briefs which consisted of responses to editorials. It was really refreshing to see my work developing, and seeing pieces that I never thought would appear, such as the packaging brief. My goals for this module was to make work that interested me and kept me going until the end, which it did, and I’ve also found a new passion for making work with meaning and work that I have a personal connection to. There were of course stages where I felt like I was a bit stuck and was being a bit repetitive but I have learnt from this and realize the best way to get past this is to just keep going and exploring new paths, because you never know what might come from a project.

I think over the past 3 years this is the module I’m most pleased with, i've experimented with lots of different mediums such as Lino printing, Screen printing, painting and strengthened my skills on lots of digital softwares including Illustrator, Photoshop and Indesign .I've thought about where and how my work can be applied which is something I've never done in such depth before, but has been extremely beneficial. And I’ve made constant reflections which has helped me further develop my work, and practice as a whole. I’m confident in thinking that I finally have a more consistent tone of voice within my work,  which is something i’ve always been worried about not having - I feel confident in saying that throughout all of my briefs, although they have a different subject matter, you can notice the playful colour palette and the bubbly shapes which tie them all together. I’ve realised that this has become apparent through constantly having briefs to work on, in the past I feel like there's always been a break from each brief and my work would differ massively throughout, so this is something to take forward - even after university, to perfect and solidify my tone of voice even more, I need to continue to make work and continue to strengthen my skills on digital softwares and even within the print room because it’s what I enjoy doing and believe where the best outcomes are produced. I’ve also never really made work with such strong context and meaning behind it, and it’s nice to think that my work could perhaps benefit or enlighten someone on such a serious topic.

Research has always lacked in every single one of my projects, however I’ve really tried to explore every option I can take this module. I’ve realised that research is important, without knowing the context behind something its difficult to make work around. And in terms of application, without researching I would have never known there were so many areas my work could fit within, and its allowed me to find a new love for areas of illustration that I never thought Id get into, much like the packaging project.

During this module I've come to the realisation that it isn't so scary creating briefs and that it can be easy to complete  goals if you make the time and push yourself to achieve. This is something I've never been great at, I've never been good at managing my time and I know it does still need to be worked on, however this module has really allowed me to strengthen this attribute. I do realise that it is normal to set goals and not complete them and I've realised that this happens maybe due to the fact that I become bored of the project as to why I need to focus on work that interests and excites me, which the majority of it did. If I could go back and change anything from this module it would be to plan my time better and don't get too carried away tacking too many briefs at one time - although this has massively improved its something I still feel I could work on - I kept daily to do lists and printed out a calendar with important dates and tried to stick by my statement of intent, whilst also looking back through sketchbooks to see what has been working and what hasn't , but it’s easy to push work back and be lazy, I need to have the motivation to complete all daily tasks so that my time is used more efficiently and that I can complete everything I have planned such as the printing and binding of my publication. I’m overall really pleased with this module, and it's been great practice for what's to come next, I’ve learnt a lot including skills and weaknesses and I just hope that I keep developing and improving.

Presentation Boards

7 x 7 and Refelction 4

This image is a final reflection of where my practice is currently. it is a visual response to a quote I found "you dont have to do it all by yourself". I've been illustrating some quotes in preparation for them to go into my publication. I had been in contact with the author and asked if it was ok to illustrate her quotes, which she said yes. It was really nice for her to share my image on her page for a great purpose. 

I really like this image, its successful in conveying the correct message, its powerful yet playful - it shows women together empowering each other. I think the colour palette is rally powerful and holds great energy. I'd like to explore this image further and create different compositions of women to maybe create a series of prints, I think that would look great for my end of year show. 

Some exciting news has also come from this image, after posting it onto instagram, I received a direct message from Jamie Long who was interested in buying it as a print, after having back and forth chat he said that the image would look great for a clothing company he works for and that he sent my image off to his graphic manager, and he said he would see if the company would commission to make some graphic t's ...and the company he works for is ASOS!! this has been the confidence boost I needed, and its a nice little reminder that people do like my work.

Also Ive been really into seeing how and where my work can be applied to at the moment. Ive been focusing on applying my images to a range of mock ups such as book covers, publication layouts and posters. I feel like this is an important step as you really see your work come to life where it really has a purpose.

The publication is coming along nicely, I was starting to worry that making it was going to be a bit pointless and that putting a mixture of quotes/articles etc, wouldn't really flow but Ive realised that it doesn't matter too much as this is generally a celebration of my work, its just a bonus that it may also raise awareness on the matter. I also worry that I wont be able to get it printed or bind it myself in time, but I think as long as its done for my end of year show that will be fine. this is something to take into consideration - I need to realise my work load and plan my time more effectively because submission is creeping up and I definitely need to be finalising my projects. I think if I keep making daily to do lists this will help me ensure I finish on time.

Where Im at now:

I'm in the middle of making my publication, I'm happy with the images Ive selected to go in it, still needs to fill in a couple of more images.

Still trying to finish off some of my images supporting the quotes, again this will go in my publication.

Need to start considering what I'm going to do for the final show: Publication along with some screen prints? Need to research more methods of the layout for my publication - have seen a concertina style layout inside a match stick box - I thought this concept was really clever and would fit really well as a part of my project e.g the match box can open and close, once its open all of the contents will unravel and its almost like a metaphor for a woman's voice - so this is something I intend to mock up and perhaps execute if I have the time.

Project Proposal - Me Too Publication

Me too Publication:

What I intend to do:
Create a publication based on the me too movement where the purpose of the creation of me too will be explored both visually and theoretically.
- also taking into consideration Editorial Illustration

What is the purpose:
the purpose of the publication will be to project the positives gained from the me too movement and the strengths that are still being worked upon. to also share past experiences and the background information of me too where it will educate and raise awareness to the audience. It will also empower women and encourage them to push through bad experiences by connecting with others who have gone though and are currently sharing the same thing
-educate
-raise awareness
-empower women

Audience:
-women of all ages, perhaps maybe 16 plus

Research:
I will use social platforms such as twitter and instagram to try and gain knowledge on peoples past experiences in regards to the me too movement. I will also use these platforms to try and get quotes in which I can then communicate them visually.
-books
-articles e.g new statesmen
-conduct questionnaire (is this too sensitive?)



Steps to take next:
- find quotes and information/articles to include in publication
-draw some initial sketches in response to the information 
- consider materials/style of publication e.g double spread images etc

7 x 7 and reflection 3

This image is a part of a mini project I've just finished titled "women are strong". This has been a part of my continued work on the me too movement where Ive come up with a concept of women being physically strong which is a visual metaphor of women being mentally strong. 

This is one of my favourite images I've made so far. Everything that builds up this image, the line quality, the colour palette and the simplistic shapes, it just appears extremely visually appealing and is successful in conveying the message that women are strong. My process has stayed quite consistent of sketching my ideas in my sketch book to then move onto turning it into vectors through illustrator. I definitely want to start including some more hands on methods within my work such as painting, because I love seeing the finalised outcome right on your page. I've really enjoyed this mini project and I've found that by exploring different concepts within my work it is allowing me to go down so many different pathways. 

I'm now starting to consider how I can tie all of my images together. Im currently researching different types of publications that will enable me to showcase all of my finalised images - I think this will be a good idea as the publication itself could perhaps hold all of the information Ive researched and then the visual responses I have created. The publications purpose will not only raise awareness and educate the viewer but it will also share the journey of my visual language.

Up to now I feel like i've bene managing my time really well but theres so many ideas I keep generating and I'm eager to complete them all. I know it will be difficult getting the publication ready before the deadline but I'm definitely wanting to execute the idea before the end of year show.

7 x 7 and reflection 2

The work I have been creating at this stage has been based on the "Me Too" movement which developed from an Editorial Illustration from The New Statesmen article "The year women said me too". I initially had the intention to only make Editorial Illustrations for this article, however my interest in Female empowerment has lead me to propose a wider project within this subject matter. 

Before my tutorial with ben, I had decided that the best route for me to take was to try and create and execute as many of the editorial briefs as I could. However after telling Ben that I was enjoying making work for the new statesmen brief, he suggested that I make it one big project as I realised that my best work becomes apparent through enjoyment. Not only do I enjoy making this kind of work, but I also feel like I have a personal connection to it and its something I feel very strongly about so it only made sense to widen the project.

I've realised that I'm definitely becoming more interested in minimal shape and line quality, I really like the pure whiteness against the grey/green, it really adds depth and helps add to the feeling of there being a crowd, rather than just rows of women. I think this way of working definitely adds to my playful theme I have running throughout my practice and I'm excited to keep seeing it grow and develop.

Ive enjoyed seeing some experimentation with printing methods, Lino is something I haven't often practiced however I am really pleased with the outcome and its something I'm going to develop further, at first I wanted to remove all of the scratchy lines, but I realised thats just the uniqueness off a lino print and I think its what makes it look like an original print.. I think I need to start consider experimenting with other printing methods too such as Screen printing as its something I do really enjoy. 

So from this point I'm going to start focusing on the work that interests me and excites me because its evident that successful pieces come from this. I'm going to try and still carry on with some other editorial briefs on the side but I want to make this my main project and explore it thoroughly.

7 x 7 and Reflection 1

Reflection

Ive chose this first image to reflect on where my practice is currently at. Im currently getting my hands into a range of editorial breifs as working in this field is something that I would like to do after university, so getting a portfolio together with this type of work will benefit me after graduating.

 For my first brief of the module I chose a couple of articles that interested me. The first one I decided to work on was "the age of loneliness is killing us". it interested me because of how bizarre it first seemed, when in fact after analysing an unpicking the article, social isolation is "as potent a cause of early death as smoking 15 cigarettes a day" - as to where my idea for the imagery came from. I wanted my response to visually respond to elements of this article whilst kinda playing with visual metaphors as that is what I experimented with in COP. I think using visual metaphors helps develop the way I think about things and is good for helping explain context in an alternative way. 

I'm pleased with the outcome of this image, I think its clever and looks professional. Ive definitely been strengthening my skills within Illustrator as I have become much faster at using it. I think my process is still similar to COP, Im using my sketchbook to draw initial designs to then digitally manipulate them through Photoshop and Illustrator. I think its a good way for working for me as I'm always eager to see my sketched finalised so that they can look really lean and neat. I do plan to experiment more with different mediums and I'd like to start adding more texture and depth to my designs so this will be my next step to take.