#finalevaluation

Why did I choose this client?

I decided to go with Talisman as my client due to 3 main reasons.

1: Talisman is one of my closest friends, hence I knew the best way to communicate with them, and wouldn't have to worry about if I was communicating with them through the best platform I could.

2: Talisman already commissioned me prior to this, hence they were already my client. I simply had to ask if I could make this brief about said commission.

3: What Talisman asked of me, the comic pages of an AU of The Owl House, is media I am already familiar with. I am familiar with her AU, and with The Owl House.

Due to this, I believed going with Talisman would be my best choice. I also attempted contact with Alex Hirsch, GLITCH , and the music artist known as "bbno$" . None of which have replied sadly.

What did I learn during this brief?

I learnt many things to be very honest. I learnt that even simple back-and-front Reference sheets can be exhausting to make. I learnt that it's best to figure out the style the client wants before I begin design work, as redoing the reference sheets was also quiet tiresome. I learnt how to use the "Candy" art style, which I will likely incorporate into my current art style, as I really like how it looks, and it is overall very fun to use. I realised just how much grids and taking your time with backgrounds is important. I'm not very happy with the big background in the Doorway page, where the parade enters the castle. This is due to the fact that one side of the road is angled differently than the other, and the overall area around the path was a bit too empty. I also realised that, if I believe that something will be a problem, I should communicate with the client. I wish I didn't keep my mouth shut, and instead told Talisman my worries about the Balcony Scene page, as the longer I worked, the more I realised how draining it was due to the amount of characters featured. I wish I asked if I could remove a character or one of the panels for my own sanity.

How have I organised and managed time?

Frankly, I didn't. When I begun working on this project quiet a lot was happening. Financial issues, medication changes, dealing with grief of loosing family. A lot overall was hitting me, which did not help with the fact that said medical changes led me to sleep for most of the day, which made it so that there was barely any time left in the day for me to work, if I even had the motivation to do so. Because of this, I simply worked whenever I had the time and had enough drive to do so. The Reference Sheets took far longer than I expected, however that is due to my mistake on working on each one back to back, hence not taking a break from the formula for days, leading to burn out. I will say, thankfully using Tumblr made my drive to do the writing/reflections far easier, as Tumblr is a site I know a lot about and how to use, unlike the previous sites I used which I found a bit complex.

How have I generated ideas and came up with the visuals?

When it came to the character designs, I pretty much just used what I knew about the characters, the theme of the fanfic, and then just search on Pinterest for ideas for what could fit. An example being Camila, she is meant to wear a beautiful gown like that of a Disney Princess, alongside that I had references that Tali gave me to start off with. Hence I looked on Pinterest and found as many references that I think would not only fit Camila herself, but that could actually inspire me to make something new. I then would drag all the references onto a Milanote board, and used those references to make 3 different concept sketches, and would finally ask Talisman for her opinion on which she would like me to go with, and potentially mix and match elements.

However with the pages, I pretty much just used Talisman's reference sketches and descriptions alongside the animation from the Prince Ali song from the Aladdin movie itself for inspiration.

What feedback did you use?

There wasn't much that Tali wanted chained, mainly a few additions to designs or mixes of concepts, alongside just making it clear if she wanted me to change something in a page sketch. I of course listen to all of it, and always made sure to ask if she wanted anything changed as she is my client, hence her happiness with the final product is my top priority.

What software did I use?

For everything drawn I used Clip Studio Paint EX. I used nothing else to draw. I used Pinterest and Google to gain references, and Milanote to organise said references. I used Tumblr and primarily Discord for communication with Talisman.

What hardware did I use?

I used a Desktop PC with Windows 11, and a XP-PEN Artist 24' Pro 165 Hrz. I also used an Ipad Air 11' while doing my work in class.

Examples of improvement?

An example of improvement is my consistency with drawing with this new style. When I originally began using it with the reference sheets, some this were different from piece to piece. Especially hands and feet. (as shown below)

And here is an example of the comic page where both of these character are seen, but this time more consistently, especially in the hand department.

What were the strengths and weaknesses throughout development?

The main strengths I had throughout this was that I was already pretty good with colours, hence the change in style wasn't that bad colour wise. The other strength was that I was already familiar with these characters and their personalities, hence I could portray them as close to how they are within the show. Alongside that, my choice to use mainly flat colours was due to the fact it is what I am mainly experienced with.

The main weaknesses were, I am horrible with backgrounds. Before this project I only did 1 within the span of around 6 years. Alongside this, I have never made a comic page before, so this was completely new territory to me. Thankfully I have read comics before, so I know a bit about panelling and spacing within them. The other main weakness is, I don't draw more than 2 characters within one piece, even then drawing a piece with 2 characters is rare for me. Hence having to draw so many, was definitely something new for me.

What overall went well?

I adore how the designs turned out. Even the ones that didn't get much time to shine, I adore each one.

I love the colours, I'm very proud of how they all turned out.

I'm relatively happy with the backgrounds, even the one that looks slightly off.

Despite it nearly driving me insane, I'm very happy with the Balcony Scene page, absolutely worth it.

What overall didn't go as well?

I didn't realise it during the time I was designing them, but I definitely should have made some of the designs simpler. Especially Adrian. I adore how he turned out, but gosh that fuzz was frustrating to draw every panel.

Some of the colours don't fit too well, especially some for effects or eyes (like Gus' and Willow's.) , I wish I noticed it sooner and fixed it.

I wish I spent more time on the backgrounds, especially in the Door Scene page. I wish I added some nice engraving to the walls and door.

I should have communicated my struggles about the Balcony page with Talisman. As I believe if I did I would be able to figure out a way with Tali to make it less draining.

Final notes?

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:

Primary Research:

- 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.

Secondary Research: -

- 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 a comic strip

- Creating a flipbook

- 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

- Oil pastels

- Felt tip pens

- Pencil tone

- 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:

- Having hobbies

- 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.

When I was deciding on my design approach I wanted to make sure I know how I want to present the talk. I felt I needed to research editorial design a lot to know how I can exactly get the specific feeling in my reader with this editorial piece. At first, I had a clear vision in my mind that I want to present this talk as bold, bright and fun because the topic is incredibly important and I felt that more people would read it if it looks fun and exciting. However, half-way through my design process, I realised that that kind of approach doesn’t really suit the talk. So I split the talk into three different parts, listened to the talk a few more times and paid attention to words that inspired me. This led me to a different path and I completely changed my design objectives. However, I still wanted to mix the softness of nature with the sharpness of architecture. As I changed the title to ‘Nature as a Design Tool’, I felt that it should be interpreted as an inspiring piece that an architecture student would see and get inspired because nature really is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. This made me research more about macro-photography and I liked the idea of using simple images that could represent some of the expressions (words) that stood out for me. I also wanted really simple, clean layouts and finding some inspiration on Behance definitely helped when creating this piece.

Once I decided on what my design objectives are and how I want to interpret this talk, there weren’t many big changes. I kept the same typeface for my body text from the beginning because I really liked it and Laura and Jeanne told me it looks good and it’s readable. Also, I didn’t change the title typeface, nor the quote typeface which I think is an improvement because I stuck with my design choices and they did really work from the beginning. However, I feel that my introduction page went through more changes than anything else because I didn’t like the placement and the size of the quote. The rest of it was only matching the colours and figuring out the placements of subheads so it looks more coherent.

I believe I have managed my time well throughout the unit. Perhaps a little too much of time was spent in the initial phases when I couldn’t decide on which talk I want to choose. Also, I wanted to do a lot of research before I went in and tried different layouts because I had felt that my knowledge about editorial design was not good enough. However, this maybe wasn’t the best approach. Maybe just trying out different layouts would’ve brought better results.

I feel that I’ve responded well to feedback. I listened to the advice which Laura and Jeanne gave me and considered and tried out any changes that were proposed (e.g. highlighting text with colours from images, keeping the point size and the position of the subtitles consistent, having quotes in colours). I applied some of those changes and some of them I gave a shot but didn’t really like so I tried to find a different way.

As in the last project, tracking my ideas through a sketchbook didn’t really work out for me especially because this was a digitally-based project and most of the work I did on my laptop. However, I did work on noting down my thinking process, drawing mind maps and using a sketchbook to write down some research. Also, I am more and more understanding of how important typography is in design and how much you can achieve with using it properly. I feel that there is still a lot that I need to learn about editorial design and typography, but I can definitely see progress from our first project this year.

One important thing I have learnt in this unit is that with the right intentions in mind and knowledge about different typefaces, you can really create a design that is suitable exactly for your target audience. While working on this project, I realised that I, and probably most of the artists, don’t really think that they are creating something for someone else, but that they are creating it for themselves. However, this is not something that makes a good designer, it is what makes a good artist. A good designer is aware of his client and his needs and incorporates his own passions with the desires of the client. I will try to think more about my target audience in future projects because I believe that this is crucial when it comes to any type of design.

For my research if I were to re do this project I would of definitely done a lot more research to help and expand knowledge for different prints. This would of helped me to design two final prints maybe a bit more easily as well as helping me throughout the project for example on my mood board, as well as getting a feel for what actual prints look like sold to different people and companies. 

The research I did I started off at looking at lots of different prints and patterns and then narrowed it down to ones I favourited and also ones that matched my colour palette and influenced me on my mood board as well as the different colours. I really liked the work by Wacka and Elmira Amiroua because I really liked the contrasting colours which are poppy and bright as well as their simple designs. which are effective.

From doing my initial research on Pinterest then narrowing different prints and designs down by placing them into my personal journey as well as the research from the Eden Project, I then developed these ideas I liked onto an A1 mood board to explore different media, colours and parts of prints I could use. I feel this mood board could of been made a lot better if I had figured out the time constraint I had and planned my week in advance as towards the end of the week I started to rush it which I feel can be shown on the mood board. However I still feel without the mood board I wouldn’t of been able to move onto the next part of the project which was to create a colour palette and as I have previously mentioned in a past reflection post I liked the left side of the mood board and feel this was the stronger part as all the media works well together. 

I then moved onto the colour palette where I went back to my research and the mood board to figure out the 7 colours I wanted to use in my final prints. I decided to go for pastel type colours as the artists I researched that I liked seem to use these type of colours and I had used a few on my mood board. I completed my colour palette before the heat press workshop where Lucy gave us some extra advice for the colour palette. She told us that it should look professional not just colours splatted on a page or messy etc and that it should look like something you would show to a client. After hearing this I would of liked to of redone my colour palette as it would not personally be something I would want to show a client. I painted my colour palette sitting down not realising that this made the stripes wonky where as I originally wanted them straight and if i was to do it again i would of made the stripe straight and all in line to give off that professional look. As there wasn’t enough time for this I had to leave it but I don’t think it was awful but it just could of been better. 

I had 3 different workshops within this project which were monoprinting/drypoint, group painting and heat pressing. I really enjoyed all of these but feel if I was to make more time I would of done some more experimentations in the monoprinting and heat press workshops which were thought out more instead of random prints I did from looking in my sketchbook from eden.

It got to the end of the two weeks and I still hadn’t started the final prints. Because of my poor time management I had to do these over the weekend and finish them today which is eating time into my next project. But I managed to get them done but are rushed and definitely needed more time and though process for them to create a more interesting and good design. 

Unit 1

1.1

Having told about our project and its brief, “The Self”, I felt that I was going to struggle trying to interpret myself, personality and my face in different ways as I felt that there isn’t much of me to interpret. However, I did look forward to learning different techniques in drawing, painting and digital art as I felt that I didn’t have a very broad knowledge of different ways in expressing art. Having our keepsakes as our starting point helped me so much as through drawing this, in line and tonal drawings and even through photoshop, it helped me learn a variety of ways in expressing myself. Through this, I also found out my passion for continuous art drawing. I felt that I wasn’t restricted to much things such as making things ‘look right’ as anything I created as long as I felt that it was right and it was a piece that presented myself, then it was right. There wasn’t much restrictions, rules or regulations that I felt that I had to set but I felt that my self-confidence was a big restriction as I’ve always felt that I couldn’t draw, however I overcame this through changing the way I hold my pencil and letting myself loose; rather than thinking of drawing a face, I’d draw it as different shapes I’m trying to put together, which helped me and due to this my portraits looked more realistic than expected. Adding to this, I thought time was a restriction for me, as for every main task, it was meant to be done within a week, and I felt that if I had more time, my pieces would turn out much better.

1.2

Although I researched and look at several artists, I was heavily influenced by at least one artist for each main task set each week. For example with the continuous line drawing, I was influenced by Claude Heath’s loose and messy lines to create emotion; however I didn’t follow the colour scheme he uses for his piece, I stayed with one colour to keep the composition and outlook of my piece balanced. However with my little book full of continuous line drawings, I created several drawings with different colours to experiment. Another example was with the pattern creating, I was inspired by Sonia Delaunay’s use of shapes to create patterns and Keith Haring’s use of primary colours to make his pieces bold. For my 12 page Passport booklet, I was heavily inspired by Humans of New York (Brandon Stanton), with his use of portraiture and statements of people sharing their stories. Instead of focusing on one artist a create a piece, I was influenced by several artists to create one piece, to create a very experimental piece.

2.1

Most of my pieces had a plan, or several ideas before creating the pieces as I felt that you need to create several ideas until you feel like you’ve gotten the perfect idea, as for me, I can never create a piece without several ideas beforehand.  An example of this was during the creation of my trophy, I had five different ideas before creating the piece. However, I encountered a problem when creating this trophy, my measurements were wrong, making the nets overlap. I overcame this through working around with the nets I had and created an overlapping trophy, where the train tracks aren’t visible until you actually pay attention (see blog for photos). Throughout this whole project, I have been given feedback which includes things I could do to improve my work, such as doing more extension tasks and finishing unfinished work, and in response, I did an extension task and I’ve finished my unfinished work and have created more extra work, to experiment with different techniques and broaden my skills.

2.2

There were a range of techniques and methods taught to us throughout the project such as different drawing styles (continuous and tonal), use of acrylic paint, uses of several adobe softwares, 3D modelling, lens based media and so much more. However not only did they teach us techniques and methods but also expressions; drawing your faces with your eyes closed, with your non dominant hand, which were really out of my comfort zone. Although I found it extremely difficult, I created very abstract pieces which I ended up liking. The most successful techniques and methods that they taught me were continuous line drawing and use of lens based media. I found these successful because these are techniques (especially continuous line drawings) that helped me become more confident with experimenting in art, as I did struggle in drawing as I felt that my pictures never looked ‘right’. I tried so hard to make it look ‘right’, but never tried to make it look like what I actually saw. I learnt several skills such as being able to use Adobe Softwares such as Illustrator, Indesign and Photoshop, also being able to use a wide variety of techniques when sketching something

3.1