Before beginning my final evaluation, I read over my project proposal (written at the start of my FMP) to understand what my initial ideas were; to allow me to compare what I wanted my FMP to be, at the start of the project, and what the actual outcome was. The differences are listed here:
- In my proposal I wanted to explore a wide range of routines - “daily routines (morning and night routines), work routines, routines performed due to superstitions (saluting a magpie, not walking under ladders, ‘touching wood’ to counteract jinxing a situation, etc.), as well as any additional routines, such as dance or gym routines etc.” I did, somewhat, achieve this proposal point, as throughout the project I looked into my cat’s routine, my grandma’s routine, as well as daily routines such as brushing your hair, washing your face, making food and drink. However, despite recording and carrying out work on all of these routines, I decided to only represent one of the most common routines in my final piece. I decided to do this after handing out a survey to see what tasks are performed by most of the general public, each day. The results highlighted that washing your face / getting ready in the morning or night was the most common routine; I had to make sure that my work was contextualised, to ensure that I am awarded a consistent grade overall (for this foundation course: the only way you are awarded a merit overall, is if you achieve a merit in each bracket we are marked on. One of these brackets is context). Not only this, I wanted to make sure that my final piece was relevant in our society today (and had a meaning behind it) which would be beneficial for the public / viewers of my work to understand. The meaning behind my final piece is outlined here:
“For my final major project, I decided to explore the concept of routines, and how they are mundane and controlling. I was inspired to explore this idea, through my own personal daily routines as well as wanting to understand why we have routines, etc.: contextualising my work. From my research, I learned that the main reason why people have a routine is for the need to be in control; modern-day pressures, busy working lives and social media make people feel out of control. They therefore create certain routines, to help them control a part of their life, whether they realise it or not. OCD is the most common term for this behaviour (along with depression and anxiety).
Therefore, I wanted to highlight this research in my work, to hopefully make others understand the dangers, preventing individuals from developing such mental health disorders. I also wanted to highlight the mundanity and repetition in my work, to emphasise how crucial it is for people to have variety in their lives, such as making memories with families and friends.
I believe we should all focus on enjoying our lives, as life is too short to purely focus on work, money, bills and routines.”
However, to prevent myself from losing marks (for not exploring ideas thoroughly enough / moving onto different concepts too quickly) I decided to stick to exploring one routine, which I preferred the most out of the different ones recorded. Before deciding to only focus on daily (morning / night routines) I did explore a number of different routines, just not all of the ones I initially wanted to. Other than daily routines, I also looked into my cat’s routine and my grandma’s routine, and I carried research into these two routines through photography, observational drawings, and conveying some of the images in different medias.
- Furthermore, another difference between what I planned to do in my FMP and what I actually created, was how I wanted to create street art / graffiti about routines and time being controlling (looking into op art and hypnosis to convey this concept), whilst placing my work around the city to see people’s reactions. I decided not to look into these ideas, after I began contextualising my work: I decided I wanted to keep my work as realistic and relatable as possible, to ensure that the messages behind my work was communicated thoroughly. However, if I had more time to complete my FMP, I would’ve liked to have explored these ideas: maybe I could’ve translated my final piece into graffiti / graphic posters and placed them around the city to gage people’s reactions and thoughts, as this would’ve definitely made my work hit the brief of ‘Out There’. Despite this, I still don’t believe that I would’ve explored the idea of op art or hypnosis, as this would’ve overcomplicated my project and work, causing the true message, of mental health and well-being, to be lost. – I believe that the final piece I have created has encapsulated the idea of how time is controlling, through the addition of the quotes, the use of time in the video I created (through demonstrating how the same task is carried out each day of the week), as well as my use of the same person, the same media for the paintings and the same use of photograph effects. I believe that the way I have communicated this concept within my work, compared to my initial plans, has been a lot more effective and sophisticated than it would’ve been if I went with my initial ideas.
The decisions outlined above, were only possible to make due to all the research I carried out, throughout the duration of my FMP. The types of research I carried out, and why are listed here:
- Derby Museum Visit: inspired my initial ideas of superstitions/beliefs/routines/rituals - after seeing some of the historic religions and beliefs section
- Observational Drawings: allowed me to sketch a variety of different ideas, that I could then take forward and develop further, if I thought the concept had enough potential; it expanded my quick drawing and sketch skills also.
- Interview with people who suffer from OCD: To develop my primary research and further my understanding of OCD, allowing me the scope for development of work, which is crucial for my project.
- Survey: What is your daily routine?: To develop my primary research, whilst outlining the most common routines performed by most, everyday, this research was crucial in ensuring that the work created was relevant and contextual. This research also focussed my next steps in the project, preventing me from losing crucial time.
- Photography: I used my photography skills to capture crucial images, (outlining the different routines I chose to explore during the experimental stages of this project) which without, I would’ve struggled to develop my skills and work, etc. My photography also allowed me to gather more primary research, furthering the level and effectiveness of my FMP, overall.
- Moodboards: I created these moodboards throughout my FMP, to allow me to visually see how I could develop and forward my work:
(initial ideas Moodboards): Zodiac Signs/Astrology,
Beliefs/Superstitions/Routines/Rituals
Presentation ideas moodboard
Moodboard of comic books/ comics strips
Moodboard of brick wall patterns
Moodboard of famous stop-frame animation movies
- OCD Research: To fully understand my topic, of routines and rituals, I decided to research into OCD; I decided to research into why people like having set daily routines, how common OCD is, what OCD is, examples of OCD and symptoms of OCD. Completing this research allowed me to create work which encapsulated my FMP, whilst contextualising my work, ensuring my work had purpose and meaning.
- Research into different pathways my work could go:
Superstitions Research: Despite gaining more knowledge on this concept, I decided not to take it forward in my FMP, as I felt it wasn’t as contextual as my routines idea, nor did I feel I could explore it in a variety of different ways which were effective and of a high-skill.
Religions/Religious Rituals Research: Despite gaining more knowledge on the three most popular religions of the world (Christianity: 2.4 billion people follow, Islam: 1.8 billion people follow, Hinduism:1.15 billion people follow), I felt that I wanted to focus more on everyone’s daily routines, rather than specific rituals. This was done to ensure that my work was inclusive for everyone, as I feel that my work is truly relevant in today’s society, despite your gender, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. This is because we are all challenged by time itself, and the routines and repetitiveness of daily life. Therefore, I wanted to highlight the problems with this, in the hope to prevent people falling into poor mental health/ not living their lives to the full/enjoying themselves, etc. As we all only have one life, and we should all make the most of it whilst we can.
- Artist Research: During my FMP, I always strived to find new artists. This was because, I wanted to ensure that my work was well influenced and developed to its potential, to certify the effectiveness of my final piece; without the artist research, I would’ve really struggled to create as much work as I did.
Overall, I feel that both my primary and secondary research was really helpful and necessary for me to progress within my FMP, as without it, I would’ve really struggled to come up with ideas and processes to push my theme as much as possible. Despite feeling as though my research was enough, I do feel that I could’ve improved my level of research by:
- Visiting galleries and exhibitions, for more influence and inspiration
- Getting more peer feedback about my work and the direction it is going, through carrying out more interviews, surveys, questionnaires, etc. As this would’ve pushed the effectiveness of my FMP, even further.
Moreover, I feel that my time management skills, level of organisation and recording, has been exquisite throughout this project. This is because, at the start of each week I planned what I wanted to do each day, ensuring that I wasn’t being too over-ambitious with my targets. This was done, to prevent not meeting them and feeling deflated about the project overall. In doing this, at the end of each week, I would then reflect on what I had achieved, by marking whether I did or did not complete each of the tasks set. Carrying out these weekly plan sheets, allowed me to focus on each task in hand, each day, without becoming overwhelmed with the amount of work I was wanting to do, ensuring that I was working productively and proactively. In addition to my weekly plan sheets, I also reflected daily, outlining what I did each day and why I completed each of the tasks. This was done to allow me to focus on what I had achieved and what needed to be done next, to again, prevent becoming stressed or confused on the work that I had to produce. During my daily reflections, I often also placed how I could improve the way I was working, whilst writing new and updated to-do lists for that period of time; writing these types of notes ensured that I wasn’t forgetting what needed to be done, and in what order. On top of having weekly plan sheets and daily reflections, I also ensured that my Tumblr was well updated throughout my project: I posted all kinds of research, recordings, experiments, to-do lists, images of my plan sheets, etc. to certify that my project was in chronological order, to allow whoever reads/visits/marks my work the ability to understand the development of my FMP. Along with this, I also kept a sketchbook for this FMP. In my sketchbook, I made sure to contain all types of visual work, such as relevant moodboards, sketches, experiments, artist influence, etc., all in chronological order with brief explanations. This was done, to allow people to visually identify the development of my FMP, as well.
Overall, as shown by the examples and analysis, I feel that I kept good time management and organisation, and I feel as though I couldn’t have done anymore to fully record my FMP.
Despite understanding what I wanted to communicate and highlight within my final piece (the repetitiveness / mundanity of daily routines, and the impact this can have on our well-being) I had to explore lots of different materials and processes before deciding on how I was going to demonstrate my FMP. The materials / processes I have explored throughout this FMP are listed: -
- Creating different styles of videos, in a stop-frame animation style
- Creating a collage out of photos (of a typical morning / night routine)
- Watercolour: in the style of Agnes Cecile
- Ink: in the style of Agnes Cecile
- Acrylic paint: in the style of Francoise Nielly
- Biro and metallic pens, expressive style
- Biro and metallic pens, cartoon / stylised fashion
- Pop art style: inspired by Roy Lichtenstein
- Charcoal: in the style of Henry Moore
- Bright coloured chalks, expressive style
- Painting with fine liner and water
- Painting with coffee: in the style of Giulia Bernardelli
- Painting with toothpaste
- Painting with inks (masking tape and fine liner)
- Layering drawings, on tracing paper, together – to see the overall effect given
As shown by this list, I have used a breadth of different materials and processes during the experimental stages of my FMP. This was done, to push me to try new things, to see if I would be able to work with the mediums or not, not only generating lots of work, but developing my FMP to the best that it can be; this section of the FMP was crucial for me to decide on what would be most effective in showcasing my theme within my final piece, without these development stages, my final piece wouldn’t have been as refined, etc.
The mediums that I felt confident using were: pencil tone, charcoal, pop art, painting with fine liner and water, painting with inks, using biro and metallic pens in a cartoon / stylised fashion and creating videos. This is because, I have used most of these materials before, so I had a better understanding of how to manipulate them, to create the desired effects wanted. However, the materials I didn’t feel confident using, and would probably not use again are listed: painting with coffee, painting with toothpaste, creating a comic strip, creating a flipbook and painting with watercolour / ink (in the style of Agnes Cecile). This is because, despite watching tutorials on how to paint in a certain artist’s style, or how to make a flipbook, I really struggled making these pieces effective: thus, these pieces of work are not as effective as the other ones (which were created using the mediums I am more confident at using). – I would probably not use these materials / processes again, unless I feel they may work, in the context of what I am doing at that time, although, I am glad that I experimented with all these mediums, as now I know what does and does not work for me and my style, whilst developing my basic art knowledge and skills, at the same time.
After deciding on the routine I wanted to explore within my final piece and the materials and processes I wanted to use, I was able to begin creating. Details of what my final piece represents and what I decided to create for it, are listed below:
Chosen routine: a typical morning / night routine (daily routine)
(Key factors wanted to show in final piece: the mundanity and repetitiveness of daily routines, to emphasis how we should all break our daily routines, to enjoy ourselves more, preventing us from suffering from common mental illnesses, such as OCD, depression and anxiety, etc.)
How I have decided to depict this routine, is listed below:
- 12, A4, ink and fine liner paintings - each depicting a different stanza in the chosen routine
- A stop-frame animation, depicting the chosen routine, which will be played on loop, displaying the same routine for each day of the week
- A collage of images (also depicting the same morning/night routine as the paintings and video) positioned in a typical brick wall pattern, to highlight the repetitiveness and mundanity of daily routines
- Making my final piece both in the style of illustration and installation, by decorating the surrounding areas of my work, with items used in the video shown, to again, implement another example of repetition and routine
Once I had outlined and began creating my final piece, I did come across a few problems which I had to deal with, in order to fully create my piece as I had envisioned and wanted. Some of these problems are listed below, with how I solved them and why:
- When creating my 12 paintings, I did come across some problems: I ran out of my quality watercolour paper, and had to use the only paper I had left, which did start to bubble and flake away, the more water and blending I added; with the technique required to paint with ink, I had to add lots of water and blending, so this problem couldn’t really have been avoided, as I did have enough money or time to go and buy the better quality paper. However, to solve the problem, I kept hair-drying my work, to remove the excess moisture, to try and decrease the amount of paper that was flaking away. In hind-sight, I should’ve made sure I was better prepared.
- When adding the white highlights to my paintings, I found that the white pen would start to soak into the black fine liners (used to create the realism and details within the protagonists face). This is maybe due to using a different brand of fine liners, compared to what I used when I carried out all of my experiments. I tried to solve this issue (of not having any white highlights – for realism) by using white acrylic paint in the key areas of the portrait. However, the paint also seemed to soak into the black fine liners, causing the portraits to lack contrast and definition; I did not have enough time to restart all of my portraits, and because of this, I decided to leave the portraits as they are. I don’t feel as if they are completely terrible and of a poor standard, but they are not exactly how I wanted them to be. If I were to re-do my final piece, I would definitely ensure that I used the same materials that I have always used, to prevent problems like these, from occurring.
- When mounting my paintings onto foam board, some of the paintings were not mounted completely flat onto the board, which caused bubbling to occur. This is probably due to not getting all the air out from underneath the paintings. Luckily, you cannot really tell, as they are only small bubbles, but to prevent this problem from happening again, I would make sure that I was more forceful with pressing the paintings down onto the board. The reason as to why I didn’t do this in the first place, as I didn’t want to rip or tare my paintings, after spending so long creating them.
- When mounting my paintings in my presentation area, I had trouble making sure each painting was perfectly positioned (straight/level and the exact distance from each of the corresponding paintings). Due to this, it took me over 5 attempts to perfectly position each painting, which caused me to become flustered and stressed. It was not until my peers guided and helped me to mount my paintings, was I able to mount them all correctly. Next time, I would ask for people’s advice first, before starting, to prevent loss of time, effort and increase in stress.
- When mounting my brick wall pattern (collage of photos) on my second board, I ran out of photos. This was because, I was trying to cover the entire board, rather than the section I was initially wanting to do; I don’t know why I changed my mind at the last minute, but I wish I didn’t, as it caused me to have to take all the images down and rearrange them another 2 times before placing them where they all fitted well, etc. Next time I will stick to my initial plans, to prevent wasting time and resources.
Overall, I feel as though I managed all the problems I came across well, as I was proactive with my approach to solving them: trying to fix things myself, before asking for others advice and guidance (as I knew other people would’ve been busy presenting their final pieces, etc.).
I believe that my final outcome is really successful, as it encapsulates all the messages I wanted to communicate, without it turning into an infographic on mental health, for example; this is a positive, as I am wanting to go into illustration, rather than graphic design. I feel that my final piece highlights the importance of:
- Spending time with family and friends
- Alone time, enjoying the things you want to do
- Focussing on the more important things in life
This has been achieved through the five different explorations of the same daily routine, e.g. 12 ink paintings, stop-frame video, collage of photos in a brick wall pattern, quotes about repetition/time and the scattering of objects, shown and used in the video. As mentioned, nearer the start of this final evaluation, I wanted to ensure that my final piece highlighted the important factors above, due to the increase in poor mental health, caused by social standards, work and self-inflicted pressures. – I hope that the people who come and see my work, understand the messages behind it, to ensure their own personal health and well-being are retained.
The features I love about my final piece –
- It is an installation, and it is illustration based – which is key as this is something I would never have done before taking the foundation course
- It contains multi-media and showcases a variety of skills I have learnt whilst on the foundation course
- It is eye-catching and bright
- It is simple yet effective
Features I could improve / add to my final piece, if I had more time –
- Instead of just doing 12 paintings, I would have liked to create an entire wall of paintings, to really showcase my skills and the messages behind my work.
- Another video outlining another common daily routine
- Make a collage of varied work, which each outline a different routine e.g. gym routine, dance routine, shopping routine, etc.
- I would have liked to create graffiti / street art based around my theme, and captured people’s reactions of it – similar to Banksy and his style –as this would’ve truly made my work ‘OUT THERE’
In conclusion, I’m really pleased with how my final piece turned out / how the project has been brought to a close; I have created something I never thought I would ever create, as it is so out of my comfort zone.
This course, and particularly this FMP, has really challenged me in lots of ways, which intern, has helped me to grow artistically and as a person. My independence, throughout this course has truly grown compared to when I first started in September 2018. I’m proud of myself for my perseverance and patience to continue, even if obstacles got in the way.
I truly believe I have hit the project brief of ‘OUT THERE’, as my work is not only contextually relevant, but promotes a balanced lifestyle and mentality, which intern, should help to combat the current battles we all face with our mental health and well-being.
janainaart
snowghoul
origamiaround
yousharknotpass
annaxmalina
jacobvanloon
dailybridgerton
germansingergirl