PPP - End of Module Self Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL402 Personal & Professional Practice 1	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	Adele Pierce

1.  What learning have you inherited through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied it? Consider differing approaches to contextual/professional research
I have learnt how to be really open to all aspects of Illustration. When first starting the course I think I had a very closed view of what Illustration was. I looked around at my peers here and they were all different. We all have very different skills and interests which often lead me to feeling out of place, or unsure of whether I belonged. But now I see that that is a strength, and I can use them to bounce ideas off and better my work. I think that constantly looking at illustrators and the practise on a whole pushes you to want to be better, and personally for me makes me want to complete my work to a higher level. I think looking on websites has been really useful, setting up a Pinterest and Tumblr account in particular for me has been a breakthrough. This allows me to search really specifically for areas I want to look at. For example, in the past I would visit the AOI website and have to sift through lots of illustrators’ portfolios before finding one that I really liked. Now I can be specific with what I search, and come up with lots of illustrators that create work reflecting my interests immediately. I have used the library quite a lot here too, to take out books whether they are about illustration or just contextual research in general, which has been very beneficial. I also really enjoy the ‘Big Heads’ skype sessions, listening to professionals talk so personally about their experiences gives me a great idea of what to expect and what to aim for.
2. What approaches to image making have you developed during this module and what informed such ways of working?
I have used my research skills to look at illustrators work that I would like to be as good as, or work that excites me and motivates me to want to make imagery. In particular for this module at the end of the year I have came out with work that combines all of my interests into one. For the final brief I researched into poetry quite a lot because this has been a running interest of mine from the start on my blogs. I then decided to look into weird and whacky humans who maybe have body issues and wanted to make work that was charming and relatable from this idea. I looked into circus freaks and people with exaggerated body parts, then created poetry from images I’d found on the internet. I was happy with the results of this and decided to carry on the poetry and illustration idea. I thought of how I would like to perceive a character in a media I would be comfortable with which was a watercolour painting. I then decided to challenge myself and create character development borne purely from my imagination, in a quite animated style in book form. This was a real struggle, and something I would be embarrassed to show anyone but really informed my thinking. I then decided to study on one character in particular from the book which was of a giant. From this I challenged myself to create poetry based on this one character and I feel exhaustively thought about who this character was, what he would wear, all the angles of his face and posture. I feel I definitely could have done more of this having had more time, and experimented with more media for it. I started to create a book on this but felt my drawings were becoming restricted so needed to work on larger paper to figure out the character first. I then experimented digitally with my outcome, drawing and re-drawing my idea until I was happy with it, then scanning it in and colouring it digitally for the final piece. I added text (a poem) on Photoshop and battled with the composition, and font style to suit the illustration.
3. What strengths can you identify in your practice and how have/will you capitalise on these in the future?
I think my strengths are recognising work that I can appreciate as good illustration, but also finding work that I am passionate about and that really motivates me. For example, I could spend hours finding illustrators work that I ‘like’ but there are few that grab my insides and make me think, yeah, I want to do that. When I find those, I print them out and have them beside me as I am working so that I can reflect on them and think ‘how did they do that’ ‘what makes this so successful?’ ‘maybe I should try those colours’ ‘I am going to try do that with my linework’ ‘what makes this so funny?’ ‘that looks really professional.’ And this allows me to constantly question my own work which I think is a strength. I think I have really good ideas, I am a thinker and a dreamer and this comes across in my work. I think that I am good at pin pointing really original funny ideas and creating work that makes people feel something. I am the concept, I think my ideas are what makes my work successful. I am able to make work that I know people will relate to, find recognisable, and sometimes even get involved with. I think in the future within the illustration industry I will create work that sells well because its open to a mass of people and is not just for a specific niche.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your practice and how will you address these in the future?
I think my weaknesses are how I am not experimental enough with my media. I think sometimes I am too many ideas and not enough ‘doing.’ Or maybe I do lots, lots of research lots of drawings but none that really inform my practice. I never spend long enough on getting something right to a standard I am happy with because I don’t have the patience, I’m too busy coming up with other ideas. I think I am too restricted with using fine liner at the minute especially when creating character because they all end up looking the same. They are all outlined, and when it comes to colouring this on Photoshop there’s only so much I can do without it looking stupid all outlined in black. I really need to work at shape and colour within my work and finding illustrators that do this. I would also like to challenge myself to look at collage more because I’ve found some really nice work in collage and think I would love to be able to structure an image in that way. I think another weakness is sometimes being too ambitious with my outcomes that in the end they become rushed. Doing too many things at once when I should concentrate on getting just one right. I think particularly for the summer show I would love to spend three weeks on one painting, to make it something I am proud to display.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
Next time, though I say it all the time, I really will be experimental with my media. For this brief I think I have improved because I used books as a way of collecting my thoughts, I looked at poetry, character development which I fought with, a little bit of paint, worked on larger paper and really small paper and then digitally to finish it off. But next I will work on paint more, maybe a little bit of ink, try not to draw in fine liner at all and really work on my drawing practice. I need to do more research into illustrators and try discover which area I would like to go down and what do I see myself as? A visual entertainer – is that enough? Can I always entertain? Because sometimes I don’t want to be funny, sometimes I want to make work that is quite emotional, or charming, or just a really nice painting. I will continue to stay behind on nights where I can to get work done because I feel this has been really successful so far. I will continue to blog as I go as well to avoid an overload of work at the end of a brief.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance			x
Punctuality			x
Motivation			x
Commitment			x
Quantity of work produced			x
Quality of work produced			x
Contribution to the group			x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

A copy of your end of module self evaluation should be posted to your studio practice blog. This should be the last post before the submission of work and will provide the starting point for the assessment process. Post a copy of your evaluation to your PPP blog as evidence of your own on going evaluation.

Notes

Presentation - Creative strategy

Things I will be including within my presentation

Important points from the brief:

• Reflective summary of my experiences 
• Personal development as an individual
• Personal development as an illustrator
• Areas of strength
• Areas of weakness and development
• What have I learnt
• What do I want to learn next year
• What have I enjoyed most
• What have I disliked
• What are my ambitions
• Examples of my work
• Interest in the contemporary field

The Battle - battling with my drawing technique from portraits, realism, to becoming interested in other methods of image making, simplifying my lines down

The Visual Entertainer - Mr.Bingo, funny, ideas

Found myself. Finally found how to combine my creative writing with my love for drawing. Been able to put my thoughts down on paper whether it be in writing form of poetry, or visual thinking.
I've pushed myself, and remained focused throughout. I know what I want now, being older I am more determined to succeed, learn and grow. Any criticism I get I actually take on board, I listen, and do something about it now. I'm never satisfied with anything that I create, I always know I can do better.
I've became organised, and really tidy. Tidy life tidy mind! I've been really motivated I think because I've found something that I am passionate about. Everything I used to do, though I enjoyed it, I never felt I was good enough at it. As cringey as it sounds I've just became a happier person and made work that made me laugh, for my own sake. I've learnt there are no wrong answers, and I'm making work for myself to really develop rather than work that other people will find impressive. I've tried my hardest which is all I can say. I know there are other things I need to try, need to work on, but I am constantly trying. I think in the beginning I wanted so hard to be here and learn I was trying out more things and making more risks which is something I need to do more of but now I'm finding things I am interested in, materials I like and sometimes that is restricting me as well as being a good thing. I'm pushing myself to write more poetry as I now feel it is accepted as a form of illustration and expression and is actually benefitting my work. I feel I am finally settling in to what I am doing and becoming comfortable with the way I work. I am aware of time management and how long it will take me to do certain things in order to meet deadlines. I have started to stay behind late on the days when I am not at work in order to get things done. I have learnt that I work better on a night time, I work better in the mezz on the cintiques.

Powerpoint presentation

I really enjoyed this presentation because I felt that I wasn't alone in some things that I felt when first attending the course.  A few people touched on how they felt a little bit out of place compared to others when seeing their work. The idea of not being good enough, and I liked how people felt the same as me in terms of being unsure where they want to go in this field. Someone said that they don't know if they are going to be driven enough to succeed and I can relate to that. I'm quite a shy person and especially when listening to Illustrators on Bigheads talk about how they interact with their clients and go out and find work I find that a bit daunting. I also don't have enough confidence in my work to sell it and put it out there. I feel like I never make work I am completely happy with or proud of. At the same time, secretly I am competitive. It was good for me to explain myself in this presentation, I think something like this at the start of the year would have been beneficial so that people could better understand the work I have produced and how I am constantly pushing myself. It gave me a better understanding of the things I need to work on. Looking at how others have approached the year and the methods they use has pushed me to want to make more work. Straight away after this presentation I felt the need to go and paint. I felt in myself I hadn't experimented enough with that this year so I sat down that night and painted for hours, and really enjoyed it. I feel I need to get back into painting over the summer to keep me going, I posted a message to say I would be taking commissions for portraits and got lots of messages asking for paintings so I am pleased with that. 

The Illustrated Self - Giants, midgets and all sorts of madness

What I'm interested in 

I came up with a brainstorm of things that interested me, I found this quite a struggle because I'm not really sure what interests me until I actually discover it? 

I started to look back at work I'd done previously and thought about what it was within that work that I enjoyed. I realised that I quite liked humans, our behaviour, what it means to be human. I know already that I enjoy making work that makes me laugh, but in particular what is it about my work that makes me laugh? I think putting people in situations that they wouldn't usually find themselves is a big thing. The shock factor, something against the norm.

Combining the two together I realised I was quite interested in humans that aren't normal. And what is normal?? 

In terms of voice and intent I know that I want to make something that is against the norm yet recognisable, playful, something with an underlying meaning behind the stupidity of it. 

I would like to create work that is funny, but at the same time I kind of want to step away from this for once. I'd like to create something that is quite emotive and not reliant on humour as much. 

I think my poetry reflects my thoughts a lot and this is not necessarily always funny. 

I like the thought of putting humans in situations they're not used to, but at the same time like the idea of creating a new world of people that aren't necessarily human or the norm and giving them human qualities. 

Crit feedback

I had a look at Kimya Dawson's lyrics and liked how playful yet honest they were and this influenced me to write poetry of my interests. 

Poetry

If I was to think of a giant in my head, someone based on something I would see in a fairytale or on a film I would come up with something like this

I made this portrait of a giant from watercolour and pencil. I really like the colours in this I think they reflect a friendly person. Especially within the eyes, we can see a sense of sadness almost. I really enjoy painting things to look realistic. I think in terms of the end of year show this would be something I would be proud to present.

Character Development

To contrast my realistic approach to character I started to fill a sketchbook based on things that make us human, or inhumane, extended body parts, weirdness. All borne from my imagination, no reference. This was quite a struggle as this is something I've never really done before. They are far from realistic. 

I became quite interested in this character I'd drawn so decided to run with that idea, the tall man, and started to draw a series of giants. I think there's something quite charming about them and giants in general, something we could relate to rather than ridiculously exaggerated body parts.

From this I created poetry based on giants and showing them as real humans with real emotions to make them relatable (they're quite sad).

Poetry

Research into poetry

I looked at my favourite poets and read back over some of their poems wondering what it is about them that I really liked. I guess I like their honesty and imagination, how they make you feel. The poems are almost like a song when you read them which I like. I like how there's no wrong answers with poetry. They could be based on something that you have absolutely no knowledge of, or a place in time that you've never experienced yet there's something within it you can connect with. Such as Robert Browning's 'My last Duchess' based on a painting of the late Duchess of the Duke of Ferrera - Never heard of him, but it's packed with emotion and I feel like I knew her just based on the descriptive words used. I really want my poetry and images to reflect this and create characters that people can relate to.

Wordsworth - I wandered lonely as a cloud & strange fits of passion I have known

Carol Anne Duffy - Havisham

Ivor Cutler

Really lovely poet and songwriter. Charming, down to earth, relatable. Especially like 'Beautiful Cosmos' 

- "This is our universe, cups of tea, we have a beautiful cosmos you and me "

I'd love that to be my universe! Cups of tea and sandwiches!

John Hegley

Jeffrey Lewis

Spike Milligan

For one of the poems I took a poem that I had written and put on my homepage of my blog called 'Always the bridesmaid'. This poem was quite a sad morbid one about how I felt about relationships, growing old, being messed around and wanting to feel complete. I decided to adapt that to the giant theme because I think this character needs an underlying message. In order to make him relatable and create emotion I have to feel something myself and so I edited this and included it in the giant poetry book which is quite a risk. I asked a few of my peers to read the book and one commented that the last poem (this one) didn't really represent giants. I think that is true, but I don't want every poem to be 'hey look at me I'm a giant' and I think is a nice change to just purely show feelings. 

A little book of big

Extending on from my original giants I thought of making a little book, with giants squeezed inside of it. This could be quite playful and I could consider this format further as to how small I could actually make the book. The small book represents how the giants can be seen in a different light, such big humans in a tiny book with poems alongside it I think is quite a nice idea.

Further character development

Working in such a small book can be quite restrictive so I have experimented with my character further on larger paper and pencils for speed. Ditched the small book idea for now until I am really confident with being able to draw this character lots of times.

Final product for Crit

Though for the show I would like to create a book, I thought for the hand in I would produce an A3 piece that represented what the book would be about. The character 'Ted' that I have created, with a poem that sums up the emotion of the book. I decided to re-draw one of my earlier ideas of a giant on top of a mountain to indicate his isolation from the world. I think this best shows a sense of scale alongside a poem of his feelings. I want to make him look really sad so his posture is key.
I've opted for one outcome ready for hand in because in previous briefs when I have been a little too ambitious and made many outcomes I think the drawing style weakens and I want to create one outcome that I have paid a lot of attention to.

I had issues getting his posture right so I posed for a photograph and used this to help me

I draw it out a couple of times until I was happy with it 

I then drew it out finally in fine liner 

Colouring on Photoshop
Deciding which colours work best together

Text

I wasn't sure which text would best suit the concept so I was playing around with this and the colour, and position on the page

I decided spacing the lines worked better and made it easier to read

I was finally happy with the font and position of the text and so added finishing touches such as tone, and clouds in the background

Final outcome

I am quite happy with this, though I feel the poem could have maybe been stronger and his posture is a little bit awkward and could have been more exaggerated. I think it does sum up a lonely giant as an outcast from the rest of the world. Maybe I need to think about the font more for my book and a colour scheme that will run throughout. Overall I am happy with my character development and look forward to seeing him come alive more throughout the book.

When I printed this in A2 I noticed a lot of gaps in the colour. I think this is really important to do, print things out and look back at them because it's something I haven't done in previous briefs until the very end and then seen areas of improvement. I will now go back into this and edit it.

I wasnt happy with the typeface and composition so decided to go back into it and work on it further

FINAL OUTCOME - No really, this one is! 

We had a crit whereby we displayed our work in the coridoors. I saw a lot of people around my work talking about it which was really nice to over hear what they were saying. A lot of them felt sorry for the giant, and one said they wanted to hug him. People came up to me to say they really liked my poem too which was a nice change to hear. Usually I get feedback about how my work is funny, so to see that it touches people or just makes them feel something is really nice to see. Especially because this character is not real, to create something people can relate to is brilliant for me.

Further plans for the book

I want to create a book that tells the tale of 'Ted' the character I have created. I want to show his loneliness and struggle as a giant, how he tries his best to make friends but everyone is scared of him and run away. This will be supported by poetry that runs throughout. I then want to show how he finds love with another female giant and his life is complete. I have already experimented with the different facial experiments for this. I would now have to come up with character designs for the female. 

Format

 This is something I have struggled to get my head round. The dimensions of the format. Fitting this book idea into an A1 format. I figured out that A1 is 8 lots of A4, or 16 lots of A5. With wanting such a small book full of big giants being my initial idea then A5 would work best. However, this means creating 16 illustrations in just three weeks which I think is too ambitious. Especially reflecting on previous briefs where I think giving myself so much work like that means that my final outcomes don't come out as nice and as finished as I would hope. 8 illustrations would be manageable and realistic but then can you really make a book of just 8 illustrations? And how would I show a story in just 8 illustrations? Would this be enough?

'Make something you're going to be really proud of'

Is this something I am proud of? Not necessarily. This is not my best piece of work, but I think its a nice idea. It's an idea that is borne from my interests, though it does not reflect my funny sense of humour. I think it is again something different, something showing emotion which I don't think I have touched on so far. Does this work sum up my year as a whole? Yes and no. I think you can see that I have started to consider scale and composition here as well as a colour palette that compliment eachother. I think it is clear that I've started to think about my line work more here, taking away lines (within the mountain). I think theres a clear sense of character development, and thinking outside of the box in terms of creating a poem and then illustration to support it. However, I am still not proud of it. 

Looking back I really like the watercolour painting I did of how I'd view a giant. I like how realistic it is, I like how I'm taking imaginary characters and making them real. I don't think this type of work (creating character) really suits me yet because I am not confident enough in my drawing style. 

For the show I am quite torn now, I am unsure whether to create a book or make a really nice painting. I want to do something I enjoy with a really nice interesting concept behind it, but on the other hand I don't feel over the whole of the year I've made work that I am really happy with. So for a change I kind of feel I want to just make a really nice piece of work. A really nice, finished painting maybe? I'd like to show 'Human' and what it means to be human through a character that is still a character, maybe with like big elf ears or something, but still human through emotion and realistic painting style. 

Though I'd like to create a book I think it's too ambitious when only having two weeks to create something of a high standard. I know I have previous experience but I feel it would not come across as well as I'd like. I think now I'd like to show the balance between character and human and what makes us human, emotion, through painting.