Overall I found this module rewarding once I found the time to dedicate myself to it. With the rest of the modules running at the same time and the deadlines sooner, I prioritised them, which is possibly to my detriment as this is a larger credit module. I found that putting my work onto products and thinking about how much further I can take an initial body of work has helped professionalise my work to a higher standard.
I have found that towards the end of second year, I can see a noticeable improvement to the work I was producing a year ago, if not 6 months ago.
In the research section of this module I found the time and freedom to look to practitioners whose work I felt was what I was aiming towards in my own practise. Because of this I found it became very similar to things on my PPP blog.
I found myself using my visual journal in the correct manner to get everything onto paper, though a lot of the pages within it are sloppy and not to a standard that I’ve been working at, I realised I needed to accept that and move on.
I struggled with pulling imagery out of the poetry initially, wanted to illustrate them quite literally. Upon reflection I found that it was easier to find certain images and draw upon them, making my work more abstract but also focusing more on the atmosphere and feeling of the poetry, which is more successful.
This was beneficial when taking the illustrations from each double page spread and adapting them to fit with other products. This helped in covering the range focus of the module.
Initially I wanted to produce almost everything I proposed, which included the promotional material, the finished book and accompanying range. I tried to spread myself too thin. Because the focus on the module is not just creating a single product, I adapted my proposal to make the work more manageable. Instead of a 16 page full colour book, I have produced five page spreads with front and back covers, as a taster to the full product. This allowed more time to focus on the range and distribution aspect.
The strengths throughout this module was my use of media, during a critique I was told to stick to watercolour and ink as it’s a skill I have practised and it’s where my practice is the strongest. The process of painting everything In black and changing the colour digitally is something I began to develop throughout the COP module, and a skill which I have further honed throughout OUIL505.
A strength which is usually a weakness of mine throughout almost all modules I have completed is my time management, I began by making a three month plan from March through to the end of May, dedicating days to certain modules and then towards the end of this deadline, planning things by the hour to make sure I achieve everything I want to by the end of each day.
As aforementioned, I don’t believe I dedicated enough time initially to the beginning of the module, although I have created work I am proud of it is difficult to know whether I would have arrived at the same end point had more development work been completed. I think that throughout my studies I rush to the end point and don’t spend enough time to fully investigate the different options that I have. I also had a completely different idea at the start of this module, something that was too large to be feasible at this level, which meant the time I spent focused on that idea was time where I could have been developing practically and conceptually.
From this module I have realised that next time I must:
- Be less precious from the beginning, get everything down on paper and focus on being neat and professional when it comes to the final resolutions.
- Continue to meticulously plan my time from the beginning, as this is the way I work best.
- Improve the proposed mock ups of my work, or produce them and photograph them professionally, this is something I have struggled with throughout this module and also responsive, I could do better.
- Keep refining my brushwork and build up a tool kit of different brushes to ensure I achieve different qualities of line.
