Final Presentation

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Final printed Business Cards

Business Cards:
I spent a large amount of time trying to fit my business card to the branding of The Birds, though it didn't quite fit into the dimensions using the Wren logo that I use.
I decided to use some of my current work to try and keep my own branding current.

Postcards:
I decided that rather than produce a fully printed promo pack I wanted to produce things that I will post along with orders, something which a lot of illustrators I have ordered from have done.
I will include one of these postcards and a business card in every order.
I found that I was getting orders prior to producing these and only had my old business cards to give them, with an outdated website and contact details. My old business cards also had a wrong look to them, as they were printed 3 years ago now. I don't even know how I would go about making work like that anymore.

OUIL502: End of Module Evaluation

I started writing this, then realised it wasn't needed but I think it gives a bit more insight into the module, even if it isn't needed!

summary
I found this module more rewarding than this time last year, it has become more ingrained within my practice to evaluate other practitioners work, not just to look at it. I think that although this was the case I still struggled with key aspects, such as the group pitch for Studio Brief 2. Although taking from that things like pricing and costing up printing and certain things I wouldn't have thought about before, it still was a difficult brief for me.

Studio brief 1
The first brief has been the most beneficial for me as it makes things seem more achievable for me as a practitioner.

studio brief 2
studio brief 3

strengths
- online presence
- simple business cards
- networking - gigs, exhibitions

weaknesses
- could be further developed
- struggled to work in a group
- struggle to talk about myself and my strengths.

5 things for level 6:
Rebrand all websites, logos and letterheads to fit to my work
blog about what im looking at more frequently, analyse WHY i like it and WHY its good.
Look at the branding and proffesionalism of others, not just their work.

End of Module Evaluation: OUIL505 Applied Illustration

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.

Updated Online Presence

Because this year I have been working on two sets of branding I figured they needed two sets of profiles, beside Tumblr, which I use informally mostly for my own work and sourcing inspiration.

Tumblr:
I've found that I use Tumblr as a way to get everything out there, rather than a professional website it's more of a place to put stuff. I post my poems as well as illustrations and paintings I've been working on. But I mostly use it to look at other practitioners.

Instagram:
The Birds:

Wren-Bird:
I found that Instagram is a good way to sell my work, I use it to post prints that i've done and people message me when they want it. I'm in the process of setting up my Etsy shop so will use instagram to link out to the shop to make things more formal.

Facebook:
I found that Facebook at the minute is the most effective way to get my peers to see what I've been doing, hopefully as I do more work the network will grow.
It's also quite a good place to sell work.
The Birds:
 

Wren:

Timetables

Who had any idea they actually work?

I've found that once I began to get stressed, around mid-march when I began to panic about all my work that planning my days helped.

I think I might have gone overboard slightly but this has really helped me with my work. I began by putting in all the deadlines and immovable things like my driving test. (booked a day before the responsive submission, but I passed!)

After this I decided to dedicate days to modules depending on where the submission was, even if I didn't have specific things that needed to be done I would dedicate that day to a certain module. This helped me keep up with 505 and PPP whilst getting the Responsive and COP modules finished.

I think the best way for me to manage my time is to do it as meticulously as this, even if it takes me half an hour to make and figure out, it is invaluable when I don't have time to sit and think about what next, because I will have already planned it.

I think that because of this way of managing my time, I was able to complete the Responsive module a whole week before the submission allowing time to focus on COP, and in turn finished that module 3 days before the submission. This was a huge weight off of my mind and it helped a lot.

G'WON LASS

Eaves Development

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My good friend Joe asked me to sell my work at his album launch gig at the Belgrave last week.
I prepared prints, books and the little booklet above to sell. In the end I didn't make much but it was a really beautiful thing to be a part of. I felt really proud of myself, I think I needed that boost.

There were many incarnations of the unofficial gig poster I was asked to create. The above being one of them. I'm glad that I continued to play around with it to get the final resolution that I was truly happy with. I think working professionally to this deadline forced me to think of composition and what worked, more than I normally would. I think this was serious, it was being judged, and I didn't want to let my close friend down. 

Business Cards

Some examples of cards printed by Awesome Merchandise. I used these a couple of years ago and printed on recycled brown stock, they looked really good but they are very outdated now. 

I think I will place an order for business cards again on offwhite heavy stock like in the "Jen Sharp" example as the colours look really lovely offset against the stock colour. 

Looking at pricings:

100 recycled stock cards = £40

100 Heavyweight cards = £35

Although the recycled is more expensive it is more ethical, which I prefer. It makes me sad the amount of fliers and throwaway promotional items that get wasted, thrown and rarely recycled. 

I guess it's worth it, it's an investment in the long run.

Eaves Final Poster

I was asked by my friend Joe to create an alternative poster for his gig at the Belgrave, he's just released his first album and he wants the posters, merchandise and creative friends to sell their work on stalls there, as it will be quite a big gig.

I'm really grateful he thought of me and gave me this opportunity. 

He wants me to sell my own stuff too, it's basically a night for me to sell my own work so I will be taking along personal prints and my recent COP book that i'm proud of.

Before the gig on wednesday I am booked into the digital dungeon to get things printed. 

I've worked out that it will cost me around £37 to print everything I want to. 

I will be selling:

A4: 

5 x Shadow Print: £5 (already printed)

5 x Tunnel Print: £5 each (7.50 to print all 5)

5 x Mountain Print £5 each (7.50 to print all 5)

6 x COP book (33 pound to print all 6, works out at £5.50 per book, I'm unsure how much to charge)

10 x Poetry Zine (Costs £1 to print each one double sided)

A3 EAVES poster : Costs around £3 each to print, though I've spent 10 hours painting it. Is £15 too much? Is £10 better?

I also need to print some more business cards but i'm unsure what I want them to look like. 

COP : OUIL502 End of Module Evaluation

In this module I feel that my practical response is one of the strongest pieces of work I have created so far.

I found that working ahead of the deadline took a lot of the pressure off, completing Responsive a week in advance to allow me more time to develop and finish COP. I wanted to explore introversion in my essay and practical as a precursor to the subject of my dissertation, my initial idea of which is to focus on mental health and possibly art therapy.

My essay provided me a platform to justify my ideas on how as an introvert, I can operate within an industry that requires a lot of networking, through this I realised the importance of my own online presence and digital portfolio, as it will allow me to network without really ‘networking’ in the traditional sense. I think that throughout writing my essay I gained a fuller understanding of the introvert/extrovert spectrum, which helped me gain a better understanding of my own practice and to an extent personality. Although that makes me sound quite soul searching, it is what it is.

I also found it rewarding to be able to write a critical analysis.

During the practical side of my work I decided early on that the Risograph printing process would drive the way my work developed. Although in the end the costing and turnaround made it impossible, I stuck to developing the work in this way because I thought it worked successfully. In the future I would like to send them off to the Riso printers as I think my practical response was really strong. I struggled to properly depict introversion in the beginning, focusing figuratively on melancholy looking women, it didn’t get my concept across and there wasn’t any kind of conflict. I found they could be easily misconstrued. I decided to focus on the feeling, and intangible rather than what an introvert might or might not look like.

I believe the successes of this module to be my final printed product, I feel really proud of the formatting. I developed my knowledge of InDesign and realised it wasn’t as terrifying as I had once imagined. I found that through my own knowledge of introversion, social anxieties and being a creative, I found I was more interested in writing and painting about it because it came from something I knew a lot about. I think the writing I decided to accompany my images with was strong because of the same reason, they were poems I wrote at a time where I felt particularly insular and strange for being so.

The biggest weakness within my essay was being able to link things properly; I knew what I needed to say and why I was saying them, but found it hard to reinforce why I was doing so. I also was accused of not focusing on extroverts enough in my essay, though this was said to me by an extrovert, to which my response was “It’s not all about you”. Though upon that I went back and elaborated a bit more on that area.

I found it hard to find academic source material on visual creative introverts, as it’s not something that’s well documented, I think they’re generally hiding in their studios. I found it easier to research Virginia Woolf, a well-known introvert in the field of literature. Eventually my practical work involved some introvert poetry so in a cyclical kind of way I ended up linking that to my essay, if somewhat accidental.

Thinking forward to my extended practice and dissertation I will:

-       Reserve money and time for printing, I want to produce what I intend to produce, rather than proposing something I might.

-       Read and highlight physical books, I lost some quotes by losing page numbers.

-       This is from my previous years evaluation but I feel it still to be relevant:

-   Not just make notes from the chronologies, actually try to respond to them too, maybe look at photographers or counter what the lecture was on. This will stop me from just taking influence from illustrators.

-       Be more exhaustive with figurative drawing, I’m still unsure if avoiding drawing people was a cop out, even if I still went down the same route I should have tried to develop my figures more regardless.

Responsive: OUIL503 End of Module Evaluation

In this module I feel that I have developed my ability to professionalise my work, something that I have struggled with for the duration of the course so far. Initially I was really anxious to working to deadlines that seemed so solid, although I am used to the module submission process, I think because they were external I felt more pressure. I realise I worry about everything far too much and feel this may have impeded my progression of the briefs.

Studio Brief 1 required the completion of substantial briefs. Initially I was worried I wouldn’t find competitions I liked, or wouldn’t get any live briefs. I was lucky that I was contacted to be part of an exhibition to gain some exposure. I believe each brief to be successful in a different way; the Illustration Friday briefs allowed me to explore my own practice in different ways whilst still gaining exposure from uploading online. In a different way, both the Interflora and John Lewis briefs forced me to think about my work in different contexts, such as packaging and advertising campaigns. The briefs as a whole pushed me to professionalise everything I did and push through the creative blocks to make them “finished pieces”.

During the collaborative part of this module Orlaith and I decided to work together. Thus began “The Birds Collective” which we decided to brand ourselves as when submitting, and when working together in the future.

The downside to working together was our similar temperaments, whilst sometimes beneficial we found that we could both be as distracted as each other. This lead to the brief’s practical work being rushed in comparison to the discussions about where it could go, we spent weeks talking about boxes and how we could turn boxes into plant pots and what seeds will go with each season. I think we were thinking too much of concept and not much of context, when the designs were made we regrettably didn’t make any physical prototypes. I think this was a weakness across my presentation boards, I could have been better at putting my work in context.

I think my main strength of this module was my ability to plan my time to focus on specific briefs, I knew day-by-day which brief I would be working on to ensure I finished my work way before the deadline, leaving a few days before to finalise and tweak my work. This is something that I aim to do a lot but never quite achieve it. I have been much stricter throughout the module to enable I don’t panic quite as much.

I think that I have got more capable in type and layout, I stopped trying to leave typeface’s as an afterthought and used my own hand painted text for the FilmDoo creativity brief, which I thought was very successful because of this. It also helped me to revert back to how I used to compose images, by piecing together reference images digitally before I begin my hand-generated imagery.

I believe this module has helped increase the material for my online portfolio and has lead to me making prints to sell, from both the North Bar exhibition and the Illustration Friday briefs.

My weak points of this module has been the development work, I find that through lack of ideas or lack of confidence I jump ahead to the final resolutions without trying things out enough. I believe this to be something I struggle with across all modules and my practice in general. It’s something I am trying to push through with use of my visual journal in OUIL505 but I regret not being better throughout this module.

In the next module and throughout next year I want to:

- I want to spend more time on each piece for better results; I think it will make them more resolved.

- I want to further develop my layout approach; I think possibly becoming more proficient in InDesign will help with this.

- I will respond quicker, even if the response is only for development purposes I need to be creating sharper and more refined development throughout.

- Become better at proposing products in context, I think my mock-ups could have been more professional.

SB3: Initial Presentation Boards

For the crit with John I decided to make some quick presentation boards as I feel they get my point across.
I feel that at this point I have the branding for "The Birds" down, but I was struggling to get my own online presence and branding in line with the rest of the branding.
At this point I am looking at The Birds as an umbrella brand for myself and Orlaith, which my own branding will stem from but be more personal, as I assume Orlaith will be doing the same for her own presence.

When looking at Nous Vous I realised that they do this successfully. They are an established trio, but also are working solo and are known for that too, I am thinking of it as having many many strings to their bows and working to their collective strengths.

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