I think overall on the module I have pushed myself to take on as much as possible. In life's a pitch I took control of the group and organised us, putting together ideas and the presentation. It may not have came off as I'd of hoped, but the idea was there and I am glad we tried something different. I think I took a lot away from that presentation and the feedback we got which was to be more professional and be taken seriously. Be funny, but not for all of the wrong reasons. I reigned in my presentation a lot this year compared to last year because I think humour is only good when it is necessary and I can't always rely on that. I must say I don't think my blog has been consistent. I think that in the beginning I was up to scratch and when it came to life's a pitch it sort of faultered because I was more focused on trying to organise us as a group rather than organising myself individually. Most of my focus has been on Studio Brief 3 in putting together my pack.
Life's a pitch was frustrating because I'd teamed up with my friends and with people that created work with a similar context to mine. However, in terms of organisation, it was not the strongest group to work with because no one attended altogether at one time. This meant I was left to do the majority of the work. When collaberating later on in Responsive this was something I considered as I did not want to pair with someone that left me to do the majority. I wanted to pair with someone that did have a similar style to me, but was willing to work equally as hard. I will bare this in mind in the future too, when collaberating further. I think that Responsive was great collaberating with Hannah we came up with some polished designs that could potentially be successful in winning and I learnt a lot from Hannah's way of working and her digital skills. However, if I were to approach the module again I think I would gain more from working alongside someone of a different practice such as a graphic designer or animator, to see how my images could be evolved.
I hope that in this module I have put across a sense of who I am, who I am becoming and what I'd like to become. Most of my focus in first year was about experimentation and being funny. This year I am considering myself as a business much more and trying to be taken seriously. I have established myself as a brand through my logo and taken this across onto social media and product. I think that my time management has been great this year and I have tackled many issues where I could have faultered but kept going. I think that I have also tackled a range of approaches to image making that I had not considered in first year such as animation, etching, collage. I have learnt so much this year in terms of the industry and where my images can be taken. In first year my focus was more about creating an image that had great composition great line of sight etc and this year it has been about taking that image and putting it into something that is marketable. I think Responsive was a great challenge for me to adapt myself to briefs and translate a brief into something that I would enjoy working on. There were briefs I did not enjoy as much such as SpiceUk, Yorkshire Tea I got a little bored of, Secret 7 my image did not really work in the end. There were briefs I enjoyed such as Threadless, WrappedCo and FilmDoo and I put that down to the product I was creating for; I got a sense that I could potentially do that in the future. Taking on these briefs and these products translated into other modules because it gave me a sense of what I could achieve such as wrapping paper, mocking up tshirt designs and iPhone covers. This was something I had not considered before and I learnt these techniques that made my presentation boards more professional. My presentation boards have improved massively and now give off a sense of professionalism and finished designs.
Context of Practise has allowed for me to become passionate in the subjects I have been researching and give it some social and political context. This has given my work much more value and has pushed me to create work that would make a difference. Looking into modern culture and how it is constantly changing gave me the idea that I could potentially create trends for the better within my work which translated across into my postcards, and in other modules such as 504 with my greetings cards. Modern culture can be a powerful thing if the right message is put across. It is also interesting to see how PPP has influenced my other modules without me realising. In Studio Brief 1 Creative strategy I chose to look at greetings cards because of how vast they were and all the avenues you can explore within it; and subconsciously I chose greetings cards in 504 Applied illustration as I felt that cards had resinated with me as a successful idea. Illustrators such as Mr Bingo that I looked at in this module, his practise and how he works as a business, has also resinated with me in other modules such as 504 where I created work that could be equally as successful.
In terms of next year I know that I need to be more free with my linework, crits and tutorials have taught me that I could experiment more with pattern and collage within my work. I definitely need to look more at illustrators and carry on reading things such as Varoom magazine to get an idea of what work is being produced and push my own further. I want to get in touch with these illustrators more, I have not had any responses back so far and this is disheartening but I will continue to make that effort. I want to get involved more in events and organisations which I will make a conscious effort to do over the summer. I am already starting this by getting involved with Moo'd cereal house giving them prints to decorate their walls. I want to be more of an active presence within the university and ensure I am attending as much as possible. This has really benefitted my work, staying behind and not working as much in my part time job. I think next year I will cut my hours down at work and focus more on this course to achieve my potential.
I feel my digital skills have came on a long way and I have learnt lots of new techniques, mainly through other people that I have collaberated with or just asked questions, but also through trial and error. In the summer I will obviously have a well deserved break but I will focus on researching into practitioners and on free'ing up my linework. I will also be taking on commissions as I now have a mac and a wacom tablet! I also feel that I know much more now about the industry, and copyright, terms and conditions. I think that I have came a long way this year and I hope to look back next year and think the same thing, I hope by the end of next year to be a freelance illustrator with my own website selling products.
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