Visual Narratives: End of Module Self Evaluation

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?

Throughout this module I have learnt many techniques completely new to me and out of my comfort zone. I am still no master at them, however having to create work using media I am not familiar with has really helped to develop my skills as an illustrator and open new doors to me for when I come to creating artwork. 

In 'SB1 - One Week Book' I created artwork for a book just using screen print as the final finishing process. I have not screen printed since 2007 in my foundation year, so I found being re-introduced to this method hugely enjoyable and beneficial to my practice and me. Screen printing is something I have always wanted to master and in trying it out for this brief, I was able to see for myself how productive this style of working is and I aim to explore these methods a lot more in my future work (and have endless fun doing it of course).

As well as screen printing, in 'SB2/SB3 - Tell an Untold Story' I took it upon myself to try something I always thought I was horrendous at - painting. Not only did I try to learn how to paint with gouache for this brief, I also painted on wood which I have never tried before. Throughout the very raw and unforgiving process of creating final artwork for this part of the module, I slowly saw my skills develop and I began to learn and work well with the media causing me to enjoy the process a lot more as my pieces became more refined. I had to focus extremely hard on creating/mixing colour and colour theory - a lot more than I have had to in previous briefs, which at times was laborious but really paid off when the pieces came together as a set. I really feel in using paint for this brief, I have knocked down a big barrier for myself and realise that making mistakes again and again... and again is all part of the learning process and not scary at all when trying something new. When painting goes well, the outcome can be really beautiful and rewarding and for this reason I would really like to master it as a new skill. 

Digital aspects finally played a fairly big part in my work towards the end of this module and I was able to delve back into my old Adobe Photoshop skills and edit work in a way I have never done before, which I feel really pushed my work to higher level of quality. Without this digital aspect, I would not have been able to produce the work or final product that I had aimed to achieve or meet the brief for that matter. As well as this, using InDesign as a finishing product was a huge help in bringing my work together in the end - what an awesome program that has made me realise that just because I am an analogue girl at heart, digital programs aren't the devil and can actually aid your work massively - not take away from it.

2. Which approaches to research have you found most valuable during this module. How have you interrogated your research to identify appropriate ideas?

Nothing beats experiencing a location in person. There is only so much you can do via other sources such as books and the internet, but actually placing yourself in an environment and surrounding yourself with its elements is key when becoming inspired. I found whilst being on location, collecting souvenirs, rubbings, drawing, taking photographs, writing down notes/quotes/ideas/anything that came to mind really made the most of my field trips and helped take my ideas to new heights and down more realistic and personal avenues. Exhausting all possible outcomes whilst on my journey meant I had more to play with when it came to generating ideas. During my 5 hour long walk in the Peak District, I was so balled over and inspired by my location that I spent a lot of the walk coming up with ways I wanted to create artwork  - in an almost desperate but necessary attempt to try and recreate the magic I was experiencing. I wanted to tell this story, so taking notes and doing quick sketches during this experience became paramount in reminding me of the journey I had undergone and what I wanted my book to be about visually.

On the flip side to this, during the SB1 - One Week Book brief I did find secondary research to be hugely beneficial when I wasn't able to make the group trip to our chosen location. Using the internet as a way to gather information really helped our group to understand the vast history of Kirkgate Market and put its influence and position within Leeds into great context. The secondary research I provided helped strengthen the on site research the rest of my group were able to gather on their trip, helping us to choose a theme for our hotdog book and believe in its message.

3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?

A key strength in my submission is my final outcome for 'SB3: Tell an Untold Story - The Picture Book'. I am both surprised and really proud of what I have been able to achieve, both with structure and layout and overall impact that the story has. I feel I have completed this brief to a very high standard and I am happy that this artwork, although being a different approach for me entirely, really works well at conveying my research location and my story ideas.

I feel that the research I have undergone throughout the whole of this module and all its separate briefs has been significant and I have really pushed each area to its true limits gathering all of the possible information that I can. This stands out as a strength for me throughout this submission because it is the research that has been paramount in informing my final outcomes. Without the information and gathering of facts in the beginning, the final artwork is unlikely to be anything engaging, realistic or genuine.

4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?

This is such a common thing, but I really do need to blog more often. that way when it comes to a module submission, I am not spending hours trying to tie up old drafts of posts and finish everything off at the last minute. I am going to set myself a target of blogging something at least once a day. Even if I don't have anything specifically related to a brief to blog about, I will blog an interest of mine or new artwork that I am always discovering. I plan on making this a new habit for 2015.

A big issue I had in the second and third stages of this module was trying to think and act outside of my comfort zone. Most of my briefs to date have involved paper and crafting in someway and I really need to train myself to branch out and try new things. It is a difficult thing to do as I am so inspired by paper, but I can't just aim to be good at one thing - I should aim to be good at everything. This module has already helped me on my way with re-training my "paper brain" to try new things. I just need to keep it up, learn new skills and not be so scared of mistakes and failure. Its all part of the process.

Throughout this submission, I feel the area which needs most development is my use of sketchbooks. I hardly used a sketchbook at all and used separate sheets of paper instead. I love the idea of using one and having all my ideas and creativity in one place. however  when it comes to committing to that blank page in the book, I cant bring myself to do it in fear of making a horrible mistake and having to tear the page out. I have already started a new personal sketchbook at the end of last week. So far it is just an ideas and quick sketches book, but I am hoping it will help me overcome the issue I have with committing to a book and this should in turn help me use a sketchbook more effectively for briefs and modules in the future.

5. How effectively are you making decisions about the development of your work?

What informs these decisions? What problems have you identified and how have you solved them?

This module has been such difficult one for me in terms of making actual decisions based on the research I have accumulated. I found that in the initial stages of 'SB2 - Tell an Untold Story Pt. 1' I had a lot of research but nothing jumped out at me in terms of a solid idea of where I wanted to take it, so I found myself floating around lots of vastly different ideas all at once. This stunted my productivity greatly as I felt confused, lost and I couldn't commit to an idea unless I had made it into something that it wasn't, something that inspired me - which moved away from the research I had gathered. My first main location, The West Indian Centre, despite being of interest to me - wasn't taking me anywhere special in terms of ideas for artwork and I found this really frustrating. Luckily for me I knew I had to fix this and ended up going on a completely different journey and experienced something that spoke for itself and inspired me so much to create artwork I was proud of. 

Speaking with tutors and other students really helped me throughout the decision making process during this module and evidently caused major critical incidents leading me to change my idea and media choice several times. Although this can feel like a step backwards at the time, it is so important to get a second, third, fourth perspective to help push my work and skills further. I know in myself without this interaction and advice from others, I would have stayed within my comfort zones and produced something similar to a lot of my other work. This may not always be a bad thing, however I knew at some point I would have to make the decision to try something completely new to take my skills further, and this gave me the courage to do it - which I feel grateful for.

I couldn't paint before starting ‘SB3 – Tell An Untold Story Pt. 2’ which was a huge problem considering I had just decided I wanted to paint my final artwork. To solve this, I took it upon myself to learn, experiment, watch online tutorials and play with the media until I was confident enough to produce final pieces with it. The pressure of a looming deadline helped and I can’t say I'm ecstatic about the results, but I fixed a problem to an extent and have something to show for it. This is the same with Photoshop and InDesign. Teaching yourself and learning from others solves the problem.

In future I definitely need to be braver in making key decisions, committing to an idea and pushing it to its true limits. Communication is so important when working with research and telling a story through images, therefore if I have an interest and believe in an idea during the early stages then there should be no reason not to follow through with it and produce something worthwhile. Stepping into the unknown is key - who knows where it will take you and that is the exciting thing. You don't learn anything new sticking to what you know and even if you fail at something - you have still learnt so much during the process.

6. How effectively have you managed this project and organised yourself during this module?

At the beginning of 'SB2 - the Visual Journalist', I feel my organisation was all over the place. I didn't feel inspired by the research I was generating and couldn't commit to a solid idea. This meant that ideas development lacked, and I quickly fell behind with the work due to no motivation. The work I was doing involved wasting time trying to turn the research I had gathered into something that it wasn't in order to inspire myself. My health has definitely not helped with this matter throughout the final weeks of this module which couldn't be helped, but I did feel I slipped even further behind after missing so much studio time. 

Although I was late in changing my research idea and theme, this change really stepped things up a notch for me. I was so inspired from the word go that I was confident and sure of what I wanted to create and organised in the process in order to complete the project and make the deadlines set. I made use of my diary, used many to do lists and set myself tasks all in order to feed my new found motivation. I feel I have quickly but efficiently caught up with the work I had fallen behind with, completed the tasks required of me throughout this module to a high standard and have sufficient evidence to show this.