This module has exposed me to new medias and ways of working that I hadn’t previously encountered. I’d made simple GIFs before but not in relation to my own work and illustrations, and Adobe Illustrator was a completely new program to me that I hadn’t used before at all.
The GIFs project was a lot of fun and something I found myself enjoying, I felt that the addition of movement in my illustrations really helped my devolve further into what I was trying to achieve. Gesture really made me think about WHO the character I was creating was not just WHAT they were. I also found the whole process of creating small animations very rewarding when they were finished.
Vectors was something I did struggle with; though I got to grips with the program after a while I feel as though the final illustrations perhaps lacked that energy and touch of personality that my initial sketches and scamps entailed. I think the program itself does allow for the creation of very professionally finished pieces of work, but I think a lot of thought and consideration has to go into the images beforehand (sketching out the final thing then importing to illustrator to go over). If using this program again I would be sure to push my scamps further and make sure they were a lot more detailed and developed before scanning them into illustrator.
2. What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?
As above stated, I feel as though the addition of movement to my illustrations in the GIF brief pushed me to really consider the characters I was making. The gesture and movement had to match who the character was and how I wanted them to be portrayed. This meant that scamping out various movements for one character really allowed me to get a sense of who they were. The 3D and lens GIF was also something new to me and forced me to move my illustration in new ways, and transfer them to different surfaces.
The vector brief also pushed my use of shape in illustration. And while shape is something I enjoy using I feel that because I didn’t necessarily scamp in shape the end results may have felt a little lacking in dynamic movement.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I feel like with my GIF and Persons of Note briefs I really played around with ideas as well as developing and being decisive over which ones worked and which ones didn’t, which allowed me to manage my time well while still getting the results that I wanted from my final pieces. I also feel like with all three briefs I did spend time crafting the final images so they’d be at a high quality. Secondary research was also very useful and informed a lot of my thought process and choices within these briefs; looking at other artists and illustrators as well as gaining additional information on my subject matter allowed me to understand what I was illustrating and, perhaps more importantly, form my own opinion on it and decide what I wanted my illustrations to say about it.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I feel that within the vector brief I got too caught up in research and didn’t do enough scamping when it came to my final images. I had a lot of information and opinions on each of the gangs//people I researched for this brief but due to a lacking in extensive scamping and initial play beforehand, I feel the final illustrations may have felt a bit bland. This could be remedied through more exhaustive image making before picking a final outcome.
After using a larger sketchbook for my final brief, Persons of Note, I also feel that the smaller moleskins used in the two previous briefs may have tied me down//restricted me in my image making and how exhaustive I was in it. Buying a larger sketchbook for future work could open me up to more media experiments and a freer way of getting ideas out visually.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
To manage my time well throughout all briefs so that extensive scamping and visual research can be undertaken while still being decisive about what works and what doesn’t. This will allow for more developed final outcomes, crafted at a higher level of quality and understanding.
Work in a larger sketchbook so that more play with media and research can be undertaken. Can also experiment more with scale when compared with a smaller sketchbook.
Ensure to keep looking at current illustration and illustrators while undergoing a project. I’ve found this to really help and inform my own work when tackling a problem or dilemma as well as open my eyes to alternative ways of working both stylistically and in regards to media.
Actively seek out the opinion of others on my work, I’ve found feedback to be really useful both as to help solve problems and identify my strengths. I think it’s also useful to see what other people in the class are doing and how they are doing them; it inspires me to keep pushing myself further and try to get better.
Test out various scamps//ideas before settling on one; don't let an idea become a final image purely because it does the bare minimum (as I feel the vector postcards may have done in certain areas). Challenge my illustrations; could they be better, clearer, stronger? Could they convey more by saying less? Are they saving enough? Push myself even further!
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