Who am I? Pitch

Pitch and Feedback.





Today I presented my 'who am I pitch'. I usually find presenting to an audience really uncomfortable and previously Ive found that I just read off a piece of paper/script and it always feels really stiff and awkward - but today my pitch flowed really nicely and I feel as if the more of these group presentations/crits I do the more comfortable i will feel. so all in all I'm really pleased with how it went.

I got some really helpful feedback off ben, and I've got some guidance now in what direction I want to go in - as before I felt abit lost. We decided that my next steps are to play around with process and just crack on with making things e.g because I enjoy printing I need to get down to the print room and start playing around with screen printing. As well as experimenting with process we said that because I'm highly interested in Editorial work that this would be something to start thinking about including in my portfolio e.g the editorial briefs.


Next Steps

- Have a mess around in my sketchbook, maybe create some positives for screen printing. 
- Grab the editorial briefs off Ben and sit down and analyse them.

Individual Practice Boards

Live brief Boards

Studio Brief 2: Individual Practice

.

Evaluation

Within previous briefs that have been set I have always struggled with the concept behind the work that I create but with this particular module I feel I have really pushed myself within my creative skillset and range due to the personal connection that I had with the source and specific idea of Dementia and the implications and struggles that come along the way. When producing the work, I allowed myself to go back to my “old roots” and include the use of painting which I thoroughly enjoyed and I feel like in this body of work it works really well as when I was younger I used to paint with my Grandad who is unfortunately suffering from Dementia at this stage. I found researching this particular illness quite hard as I was uncovering what I would in-turn experience but feel it was necessary in order to create the desired work I had in mind.

Going forward I realize that I would like to focus more on editorial work as I feel like this is where my work achieves the highest of its potential in this field. I feel like I have gained a stronger understanding of where I am played within the creative industry and feel like I have developed myself in the sense that I know the tone of my work now and the characteristics and personal flares that are included.

Despite the fact that I have had to apply for an extension within my work deadline I feel like I have worked to the best of my ability when taking into account the unforeseen circumstances that I have faced. In spite of all this I feel like I stand in a strong position to work forward, knowing myself, my work ethic and my creative tone I feel like I not only have the concept that I was to push but I also feel like I am producing work that I want to continue to develop.

I aim to apply existing skill within the print workshop to the work I am currently creative but include the use of screen printing as I feel like my work is strong enough to progress within this creative process. I will also continue the use of lino printing as I feel the free hand nature of the method works well with the concept. Areas in which I would like to improve upon is within research. I feel like I could carry out more within the ideas I have instead of focusing on mainly upon the creative aspects and producing physical bodies of work

Applying to products

Research - Visiting my Grandad

An experinece of someone who is impartial.

I can fortunately say that I personally haven’t been in a situation where a friend or family member has been effected by dementia so when I was going to visit heathers grandad I really didn’t know what to expect, she had talked about him to me so I had an idea of what sort of person I was about to meet. When I got to the hospital I felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness, the rooms were scarce of basic human interactions, minimal objects and a feeling of unease. When I met heathers grandad he couldn’t of been any more jolly despite the horrible surroundings and general sadness of the situation. It was hard to be there and hard to take everything in and it really made me think about my grandparents and I wasn’t even part of the family but I could see just by the look on my girlfriends face that he wasn’t how she remembered him. The whole visit made me feel like I had to protect what I loved because unfortunately illnesses like dementia are.common and happen to the people we love the most

Research - Visiting my Grandad

My experience visiting a specialised dementia hospital.

I visited my grandad due to it being my birthday - the last time I saw him was quite a few months ago so the changes within my granddads symptoms where noticeable to me. He recently got admitted to a hospitalised home where they specialise in my granddads illness and this was my first time experiencing anything like this.

The room where my grandad and other patients where was obviously securely locked so a nurse came and collected us from the entrance of the door and let us in. As soon as the doors opened I honestly felt scared. Id never felt anything like this before, my mum had warned me that going to a place like this wasn't nice and she prepared me for it but I just never expected it to be this bad. There were lifeless bodies pacing up and down the room - maybe about 20 people in the room and about 15 of them where just pacing up and down. after being in so much shock I noticed my grandad sitting down at a table - just staring into thin air. My nana said to him 'Look who's here' and he acknowledged us, but didn't really say much - just kind laughed and was really jolly. My mum would ask him general questions like 'how're you doing/ you alright' and he would answer them on a very basic level. 

My grandad looked a lot older since I last saw him and we'd only been there for about 10 minutes and I just burst out crying, and still my grandad was oblivious. The nurse asked us f we could go and sit on the sofas so my grandad and the other patients could eat their dinner - so we went and sat down where some other patience where near by. I noticed that when I tried to interact wt other patients even if it was just giving them a friendly smile they would literally have no idea and would not acknowledge you at all... once we sat down a patient near by would look at me extremely intimidatingly and just start clapping really loud at me and mumbling under his breathe -- it was quite scary! Another patient continuously moved all the furniture around, even moving tables where patients were eating their dinner off - sometimes you just had a to laugh. Another patient would pace up and down and I could see he was getting quite agitated and he'd frequently hit other patients.

I've never experienced anything like this before and it wasn't a nice situation to be in however I feel like I have learnt a lot about this illness from my visit - I feel like it will be helpful in terms of creating some imagery relating to my experience. I would like to create some nice playful images conveying the symptoms and severity of my granddads illness - I also want to take away the dark side and scariness of the illness making my images appropriate for all ages meaning raising awareness for this illness will be hopefully more successful and younger generations can be more aware of dementia as I have only been aware of the seriousness of dementia about a year ago.

My grandad slept the majority of the time we were there but as long as he knows we care and that we were there that is the main thing. 

Study Task: Industry research

.

Unfortunately at the time this study task was set I was in hospital having my appendix taken out which caused me to be off uni for around a month - so I took it upon myself to get in contact with peers who were also interested in this topic, and decided to get some good research points. Whilst completely this task as an individual I managed to find some great illustrators who specialise in Editorial work who I really think i can get some great inspiration from.

Research

Individual Practice Proposal

Studio Brief 1: Live brief

EVALUATION

At the beginning I found this project extremely stressful, I have made band posters in the past and also found them quite stressful but due to having been asked to make band posters on a number of occasions I thought I would take this brief on where I could expand and perfect my skills in this particular format as I thought it may be beneficial in the future. I had never heard of hookworms before so I decided that a good starting point would be to listen to their music and I found that the best starting point would be to create some sound maps. I found this method really interesting as I was able to project music and what I was listening to into line drawings and images. with some successful results I then built a base for my project and continued to experiment with the shapes that I initially developed from listening to the music. Because the initial shapes representing the bands songs I thought this fit really nice as it completely related to the hookworms themselves.

I found that by creating sound maps this would only get me so far and because of the feedback I received in my tutorial, which was to experiment and develop the abstract themes I had going on, I thought I'd expand and carry on with an abstract theme. I found that collaging my initial shapes on block pastel backgrounds was extremly successful, the colours and the basic shapes looked very visually appealing so I decided to carry this out throughout the whole project.

It felt amazing to bring back painting into my practice as I felt as if I had forgotten about this medium this year. Painting with gouache and acrylic in block colours really helped bring my simplistic shapes to life - painting in this manner is something I'd really like to make more effort with in future projects as I feel as if I've created some really successful and visually appealing images.

something I really did struggle with was actually piecing the poster together. Yes my images looked great on their own but it wasn't actually a poster without all the information on. I struggled the most with lettering/fonts - it seemed almost impossible to male my images look good with text on. I found that the most successful techniques for me was to make sure that the text wasn't too big and too over powering, but to chose a colour that made it still stand out.

from this brief I feel like I have definitely expanded my skills in Photoshop, I felt a little rusty after not using this software in a while but I feel confident in using the majority of the tools again. Photoshop enabled be to slice bit of my paintings up and create new shapes with them which was useful in terms of creating lots of different outcomes with the same image.

Overall I'm really happy with my final outcomes - I thoroughly enjoyed making work in this project once I got going and I feel as if I could have easily carried on making work if I had more time, I feel like there was endless concepts I could create with my abstract paintings so I'd like to consider this methods in future briefs.

I think what id like to take forward from this brief would be to continue painting, I feel like my mages were so successful because I enjoyed making them! and to also continue to use Photoshop - the more I get to know this software the more advanced I will be at using it.

Hookworms research

Project proposal: Live Brief

Goals for 504

ONE THING I WILL TAKE FORWARD FROM 503

Id like to take forward screen printing, its something I massively enjoyed in 503, I feel like id like to start perfecting my skills and techniques in this area. Id also like to continue to strengthen my town of voice in my work - to do this I just need to enjoy creating work. another thing to take forward is to realise my time limits and to manage my time more effectively. Last module felt quite rushed and I feel like I am able to take forward lessons learnt from poor time management.

WAYS IN WHICH I WILL PUSH MYSELF OUT MY COMFORT ZONE

Be open with experimentation, try new methods, techniques, new ways of printing etc..Dont be afraid, dont second guess things, trust my instincts. Dont be afraid of getting feedback - ask peers, attend crits, speak to tutors.

WHAT I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH BY MAY

A successful body of work in which Id be happy to put in a portfolio ready for future interviews in the creative industry. I'd also like to notice a consistent tone of voice in my work where I feel confident that my work will be recognisable and unique.

LAUIL Summative Report

Project Proposal and Final Deliverables

Studio Brief 1: Idea Pictures - Reflection

Really think the colour palette works effectively - Donna Tartt appears to me as quite mysterious and spooky and I think the deep purples and pale beiges capture this vibe extremely well. I think the most successful image and the one I feel like I connect with most as an illustrator is my portrait image, its clear that I spent more time on that one in comparison to my landscape one and I feel like the tone of voice is more interactive with the viewer. I also think the idea behind it is a lot more intriguing as I based it on her book 'the secret history' - I felt as if when I read it there was so many parts where I was surprised, shocked, happy, sad and I really didn't expect it, so I created donna tartt creeping over the holes in the ground but its almost as if she could fall in at any time.

I used mixed media (paper cut and scanning paint textures) simply because I feel like it is more visually appealing than a pencil drawing, I feel like these images are nice to look at and the viewer will be able to engage more with these rather than a simple pen/pencil drawing.

I didn't really have enough time to perfect the land scape image, I feel like it's slightly less interesting than the others, the other two are slightly more complex and a bit busy and I feel like the  landscape image is slightly out of place next to the two, so in future I would like to make sure I spend my time equally on all images. I think if I get chance I will definitely go back and change it.

my main reflection of this brief is that I realise I haven't done much testing, I had done a lot of thumbnails and initial sketches but not much experimentation, I realise this is an important part of the process as it has limited my final images.

Studio Brief 2: Reflection

I think this brief was certainly more stressful than the editorial one. I came across so many different problems - breaking screens, my screens getting wet when coating causing it to not expose properly with lots of unwanted water marks etc.. I think I wasted a lot of time preparing screens for them to just not deliver successful outcomes - however I learnt a lot from these mishaps and I feel like my techniques and methods have improved massively since I last screen printed.

I'm really happy with my overall prints, I think the A4 size works much better than the A3, although I would like to make some A3 prints in future but not as a series, I think smaller sizes look more visually appealing when in a series of prints.

Rather than using half tone to create different shades and values of colours, I decided to experiment with line work - this is my favourite aspect of my prints and I think it looks very visually appealing throughout all of them. I wasn't too sure on the colour scheme, originally I wanted to stick to dark colours as I think it represents donna tartt quite well, but I wanted to step away from that obvious vibe she has. I decided to go for bright quirky colours because I think it allows you to look at donna tartt in a different light - she's very talented and creative and her books, especially in the secret history, which was my main influence for these prints, have some dramatic, yet sad, and also happy moments which instigate all sorts of feelings and emotions and I think the colours I picked represent this well.

I think maybe to reflect on this module I dont think I did enough experimentation, it would have been nice to experiment with more textures or to use the half tone method with my screen prints. I also think more experimentation with mono printing would be useful as this was my least favourite and I feel like I didn't really connect with my work when using this method - maybe with more experimenting I could've found that I really enjoy it.

I loved my lino prints! it was extremely fun, the only reason I didn't chose this method was because I had already made one screen print by this time and I really liked the outcome however is was really fun playing around with making my little pannels for my book case design - I think that composition was really effective.

Studio Brief 3: Reflection

Overall I'm fairly pleased with the outcome of my animation, After effects is something I really struggled to get the hang of, and although we had really helpful workshops it was just unfortunately something I really struggled to work with. I never really enjoyed creating anything to do with animation e.g in first year we created GIFs and I just really hated the whole process so I thought again I'd really not enjoy making a 15 second sting, however, once I had time to have a little experimentation with my own work I found that I really got the hang of things and quite enjoyed seeing the outcomes.

I think my final sting really fits in with my previous briefs in relation to this module because it has that fun, bright coloured feel to it, and although Donna Tartt can be a bit dark and mysterious, I kind of wanted to create a different vibe (whilst also keeping that theme) which I think I did quite successfully.

I didn't realise how much difference adding sound to an animation could make. By adding little sound effects and a backing track you view the animation in a completely different way and it really offers so much more to the piece of work. I struggled a little on finding sounds to add to the sting but I think I've carefully selected a successful range.

I think a reasonable reflection to make for this brief is that I really should have planned and experimented more with After effects - I should have made more story boards and more experimental animations, I think because I felt a little unfamiliar with the software I was a little reluctant to being experimental. I did find story boarding really helpful, I would feel extremely lost without using this method - it really helped me think in the form of animation and movement.

I think my sting is fairly simple however I'd like to experiment with more features in future like working with the effects. With not leaving much time to create this sting I think I limited myself on what I could experiment with.

Study Task 6: Presentation

Ugo Gattoni

• Bought this from colours may vary, comes in a lovely sleeve/cover, so you can then take it out and it pulls out as a concertina.
• In colours may vary the cover was propped up and to to the side the concertina was slighly open so that you could see that there were pages inside.
• Giant Leporello book 
• published by Nobrow press
• London olypics 2012
• ink on paper, 500 x 41cm
• Aslo very well Photographed on his website.

Louise Lockheart

• Came accrsoss this on the printed peanut after louise lockheart came in as a visiting lecturer
• concertina book that folds out into a high street celebrating the traditional shops that are disappearing from British towns.
• stretches out to 139cm long and is printed on both sides

Final Sting

Study Task 5: Sound Study

Morning Breath from Superdoodle on Vimeo<

• Sound effects represent exactly what is going on in the animation
• I think the sound effects make you view it differently, adds a lot of humour, especially the voice 'I love you'.
• The sound effects really bing the animation to life, it would be boring without them.

CBBC: Sofa Surfers - Shane from Superdoodle on Vimeo.
/a>.

• realstic sound effects
• work very effectively
• really like the 'pop' noise at the beggining and the 'bubble' noise of the sofa drowning, adds a little humour and energy to the animation.

Study Task 4: Animated shorts/Stings

Catch me if you can (2002) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwvIzFqrd7U

• narrative and sequence flows perfectly
• extremely complex animation which I really like.
• the music is not over powering at all and doesnt take any attention away from the animation itself.
• the music however does add to the animation and without it I think I would view it completely different.
• the sting has a nice pace and the artist has quite clearly thought a lot about composition.
• It would be helpful to refer back to this animation if I'm struggling with composition.
• colour scheme is very effective and visually appealing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ0rtyV_NdE

• really nice simplistic colour scheme
• looks a lot more straight forward than the catch me if you can sting.
• helpful for planning my story boards.
• flows really nice
• is it too simple? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c068JwAE8jc

• really nice colour scheme
• the sequence flows smoothly
• quite complex?

 E4 - Sweet shop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2SLZpRvir4

• usually a large colour pallete can be a little over whelming but the colours here have been carefully selcted
• very energetic
• love how playful it is.