504 End of module self evaluation

Adele Pierce

OUIL 504 Process and Production


End of module Self Evaluation



At the beginning of this module I was given a Summer brief in which I was drawn to Burroughs as I knew nothing about him, he was extravagant and reading up about his disturbed life made me want to explore more. I could have played it safe and went with the authors I was comfortable with, but I took on the challenge. I went into Studio Brief 1 with an open mind and ready to be experimental. I began by using media I have not been comfortable with in the past such as collage, crayons, and bright colours. I am glad I stuck with them because I now find collage to be quite an interesting format and I am shying away from colour less.

When given Studio Briefs 2 & 3 I had a real challenge about what I could illustrate for Burroughs; I felt purely illustrating his work would be too predictable. As he is such an interesting individual I researched further into his life, his upbringing. I wanted to know what made him tick and the mind behind the words. This for me was the turning point of the whole module where I became excited about the work I was going to produce. 
When given the choice between etching and screen printing I decided on etching as I felt this media would best convey the concept and also compliment the way I work. I tried mono printing while I waited for my plate in acid but the line work was really thick, there wasn’t much depth to it. After researching contextually into etching artists this drove me to consider background and composition more and how my pieces could work as a set.

My etchings reflect his upbringing; they are bold and narrowed down to symbols that may be disturbing or confusing in order to make the viewer/audience wonder what they mean. I am happy with my outcomes but there was a real challenge along the way. I set out quietly confident but did not leave myself enough time. I focused more on my animation and then my plates started to go wrong. I used the drop in sessions to get on with my prints alone; from memory of the workshops. I put too much wax on my plates that it crumbled and the lines didn’t take in the acid. I then didn’t put enough wax on and the same happened again. I spent two weeks solid trying to get it right, leaving no time to play around with backgrounds or colours and perfect those. I was so frustrated as I’d spent weeks etching into my plates getting as much detail as possible to then find the acid ate away at all of my plate and left no line work. I was left with a week to re-etch and ink my plates. I feel I have done well to turn things around and actually produce my prints in time, however wish I included colour. This would have made them much more interesting. I have learnt to take more notes before I begin the process alone; and leave myself enough time for mistakes to occur.

For Moving Pictures I attended the After Effects workshops but when it came to doing it myself I could not get my head around it. I began animating by hand and this really helped because it allowed me to visualize how I can make image move with use of a light box. However, this process is really time consuming and as my concept was so huge I needed a format that was going to simpler and realistic to complete. I wanted to explore animating my own hand drawing as if I were Burroughs himself, and include a mixture of media. I wanted to collage and layer sounds, however this was not realistic with the time I had and I discovered animating on Photoshop.

Photoshop allowed me to ‘onion-skin’ layers and see how my images could evolve from one frame to another, saving a lot of time. 
When told we had to include text I spent a lot of time figuring out how I could write like Burroughs. I used a range of pens and experimented digitally. I also put a lot of consideration into sound; I wanted something quite creepy but also involve his voice, as it is so interesting. I decided to layer music and an interview together, which I feel works well as an advertisement for a documentary. I had to produce the animation in 5 sections on Photoshop then convert them into After Effects, then add the sound layers. I looped some of the animation and played around with the volume of the sound.

I feel overall my animation works well but I would have liked to have spent more time with it in After effects to make it run smoother as one continuous line where the screen moves along to the right, and also some scales zooming in and out. I would have also liked to have played around with the background a bit more and animated my handwriting. However, I feel the text and the colours I have used are relevant to the concept. I am really happy with the progress I have made with animation, as last year I would never have imagined I could achieve it. It has allowed me to think outside of the box in terms of where my illustrations can be seen, what format I can use. This is definitely something I will consider in the future and has influenced me in other modules such as Responsive to want to work collaboratively with animators. 


I also have learnt how to stay interested in a brief for a long period of time, it has been nice to step away from humor and consider darker concepts. I will begin to consider text and collage more in future briefs. My attendance for this module has been very good and I have remained passionate and determined to do well in it. Most days I have been first in the studio and last to leave because I have been trying to get my head around the processes, teaching myself, which I hope comes across in my work. Overall I have battled with the briefs and learnt so much from the processes to take away with me, even if my final outcomes are not how I imagined them in my proposals, I am proud of what I produced and have came away with.