End Of Module Self Evaluation

I feel that during this module I have gained and developed a fair few new skills, particularly with new practices to me such as with using indesign software, and bookbinding, both things that were entirely new to me before the start of this module, and both things that I now have a basic covering in that I feel I could go on to be able to use them again, adapting them to what I am working on. I particularly enjoyed the book binding, and creating the hardcovers bound in buckram, I loved making them as precise and neat as could try to. I think however most importantly I have as a personal gain really developed my photoshop skills. Four months ago I could barley use this software at all, and I was wary of it and found it frustrating to operate, so for me to be able to produce all of my artwork for my book using it is a huge and very important progressive step for me, as photoshop is essentially the tool that can make the difference in my work from what I might produce in my sketchbook now, to that of a more professional level. 

Leading on from that, with regards to what approaches and methods of image making I have developed, using photoshop is definitely one way. I used a layered approach, usually having a line work drawing and then using tracing paper, applying any colour or texture in block forms, and then using the multiply tool and fiddling with the levels of the image to create my finalised artworks. Although overall I am a little disappointed with how my artwork turned out on the final printed book, I am still pleased to have been able to produce work this way, and I do feel that my image making had improved from the last module. This module I also had the opportunity and introduction into screen printing, however due to the nature of my images and the time constraints of the brief I did not utilise this at all, but I very much hope to in the future. Other approaches to image making that I have tried out in this module and have found to be successful is using masking tape as a medium for drawing with. It creates the most wonderful texture to images, and this is even better when you add colour, particularly when polished with photoshop. I think that this approach suits the way I work and the type of images that I like to create. One further new approach that I have developed into something that was successful and useful, was printing out letters, cutting them out and using them as a stencil. This proved a convenient alternative to more mass production methods, yet was still a much neater result than if I had only used my handwriting, the uneven quality of lettering that it produced lended very well to the aesthetic of my book too. 

A strength that I think I can identify in my work is what I would like to think, inventiveness. My book design was quite a different approach, and it turned out to work as I hoped it would as I discovered in crits, which I was very relieved and pleased to discover. I wonder if looking at the works of Nigel Peake helped me to think out the box more in this respect, as although his book formats were more conventional, they way he regards the world and chooses to display that though his images perhaps influenced me to display in a more unique and interesting way. Also to a small extent I think that I used a little bit of inventiveness with regards to my image making, such as using masking tape and tracing paper layers, both ways that suited me and benefited my finished images. One thing that I really am pleased with in regards to my work for this module, was how I went about achieving all of the work that I had to as the deadline approached, It allowed me to keep a clear head and finish everything to a schedule. 

Weakness that I can identify in my work are that the drawings, and my finished artworks used were not thoroughly considered or planned enough to suit and look good on my chosen format. I realise now after seeing the printed results that I should have been drawing and testing to that scale, using media and more delicate line quality that would have made my images more impressive, and effective on the page. I think the image quality was degraded by it being reduced down, a good example of this is the feather image. I feel in general that my artwork could have been a lot more interesting, and perhaps a little more tied together or similar to make the book that bit more impressive, I should have pushed it on further, and in the future I think it will be important for me to keep this in mind, I need to factor in more time for this with my planning. I also would have liked to have improved the layout, presentation and composition of my images as it would have been better to have shown these collections in a layout that reflected the obsessive way in which they exist together, are gathered and kept, as opposed to how I seemed to display them which was often nothing more than a random gathering of things.

However I am still pleased with a few of my artworks, even if on the whole they do not look as good together as I might have liked. The marbles for example are my favourite piece, I like the way that the image consists largely or shapes, and does not require shadows, it looks vibrant and finished, and I think its simplicity allows it to me more successful on the smaller scale. Perhaps it turned out so well as it was something that belonged to me personally and has connotations to me. I was also pleased the quality of image of the shells and the train tickets, the colours with the more delicate line makes these images more interesting and effective at looking good on the page, and being impactful enough to the viewer. 

The skills that I have gained in this module are ones I hope to keep a hold of and use again in the future to help improve and inform my practice as a whole, they have been greatly useful to my practice and approach to image making, and I think had allowed my work to improve a little.

Five things that I will do differently next time are, to firstly produce much more, and a far more varied array of drawing and image making, this is to push myself further, and to allow time for extra planning and a greater development of my final artworks. Secondly this one is very important, I need to use composition as a visual tool, to not be scared of frames, this will benefit my image making so much more, and perhaps even take it to the next level. Thirdly to lay some of my notes more logically out and carefully with this module if my initial note making had been more organised and been more helpful further down the line. Fourthly it is important that I really use all my time wisely, I think that the Christmas holidays broke up my progress and affected the quality and quantity of work I produced in a very bad way. Finally I want to keep using to do lists  and organisational charts, they are so satisfying and they really keep my mind in order and me on track.

Attendance = 5

Punctuality = 4

Motivation = 3.75

Commitment = 4

Quantity of Work produced = 2.5

Quality of Work produced = 3

Contribution to the group = 3

The Collectors behind the Collections

The collections I drew and included in my book was mostly all from real peoples collections, that I had discovered in my research over the Christmas holidays:

 To source my collections Rocks, Tristan. Taken from the top of Ben Nevis, after completing the tree peak challange. Fit nicely in my hand/in my pocket, There wasn't any decisions made on colour all the rock up there is the same here just different shapes.

So looked for ones with cool shapes.

Mums shell collections, bit rustic.

Train tickets, these also belonged to Tristan, who had been collecting them for the last few years, they document the journeys he made as a part of his routine, and then also the stray adventure elsewhere. The begin with their repetition to create a sense of his life almost. "Well whats the point in throwing something like that away...ann so they just built up" "it was kinda lie a physical thing - like I did that". "sometimes a different one would turn up. A special day."

The coppers belonged to my sister, she likes to keep them all in little stacks on one of her desk shelves, "somethings just accumulate." 

The Shells belonged to my cousin, who had gathered them from the ocean floor on a scuba diving experience in Brazil.  "The were a reminder of a wonderful things, a trophy of proof to me"

The ink bottles collection came from my granny, she had accumulated them over the years, some even turning up in fields from around the farm. She liked them for their aesthetics and keeps them on the mantle piece in the dining room. 

Feather collection created by my sister. They were found around the farm and she liked them for their nice aesthetics. Its a shame but this collection is now missing the most interesting feather that turned up on the farm, which was that of a parrot. 

 A CD collection, this is quite a logical thing to collect however, and I am really more interested in looking at things that in general have less real life value perhaps, and can be found not bought. So I feel this will not benefit my book or my concept.

Ink bottles on mantle piece. 

Collections of glassware. 

Elastic bands - Granny again! She had accumulated such an enormous amount over time, and her grandchildren used to turn them into a ball by adding them all together.

Wishbugs. Well really they are thistle seeds, but not to my six year old sister. She went around the garden one summer day gathering these whispy seeds into an empty margarine tub which had holes punched into the lid for them to breath of course, and was filled with beautiful flower petals.

Development of final Art works

With regards to my book, I do not want to include any text alongside the images explaining them in anyway, as I want the images to speak for themselves, and for the viewer/reader to interoperate and explore the book themselves, realising as they go, hopefully the books format will lend to this too.

 

Here is my first outcome of the bottle tops, they don't look quite right as they are still to dirty and fuzz, I think I will try to remove more of the paper texture and add another tracing paper layer of fine lining in a bid to improve it. 

I am relatively pleased with the colours and line work of this drawing, I was concerned it would not be proportional enough for a long time but i think with the colour this does not matter so much. I will try to align the colour with the line more though, its too squint to look effective just yet. 

I am relatively please with how these turned out, it is another great example of how using photoshop can make all the difference to an illustration, I doubt I would have achieved this clarity had I not been able to draw the marbles and the net separately and multiply them together on photoshop. 

I'm not too pleased with this however, the line work looks very basic and messy, but I think this will be helped out when it is reduced down, and I am struggling for time to be able to improve them so drastically. The background is very messy though. 

Final Big Crits

General Feedback

I am really pleased with a lot of my feedback, most of all that my book format succeeded in the way that I hoped it would, as I wanted its different format to make the book more engaging and fun to explore, and for it to let the reader focus on the images on each pages. I was also very glad to see that people did understand what is was a book of, its content was clear. I also tried very hard to take a lot of care with the production of my book, so it is very rewarding to read too.

I found this feedback to be really helpful, as it indicated which areas I could potentially resolve further, or where I have left gaps in my documentations. Such as for example, texture was very much an aim in my work. 

This book was my first attempt at creating a finished book. Overall it turned out relatively well however I am quite disappointed with the artwork. 

somethings went wrong which is inevitable on the initial productions, in this case I forgot to engage my brain and so accidentally cut off one of the blank end pages. I was also evidently not careful enough with the glue, so some pages became stuck together a little which damaged the art works.

Book Binding

In this bookbinding workshop we were shown three different types of book binding, that would give us a basic covering of skills which would allow all sorts of different possibilities to evolve from then.

Japanese stitch

Concertina

Pamphlet stitch

Changes to bottle tops and Wristband collections

I am quite disappointed whit how these came out up close, but the colours and shape will hopefully still look okay in my finished book. 

I transformed this bottle top image to the cleaner slightly more defined one on the left. It works better at the smaller scale this image, and it is more clear, which I find helps it match the aesthetics of the other images I have created for this book. 

Creating the collections artwork

 My redone fine lined ink bottles on the left, to attempt to improve the overall image. 

my pencil marbles, which I combined with a coloured layer to create the marbles, as they are small and hidden behind the red net it is less imoprtant that they are not perfect. 

 

 after editing the images levels on photostop. 

Page layout consideration for glass bottles

 wrist band test drawings. 

masking tape texture for rocks. 

 

I used this texture behind my stamps to compete them. 

These stamps do not look at all good at this scale, however I am to scale these down and display them at a much smaller size, so this will hopefully make up for that and not look to poor quality when printed out.

 The tree components I used to create my train ticket compositions. 

Wish bug sketches, this one is so tricky as its all but impossible to edit successfully on photoshop.  The levels can really be adjusted drastically, This artwork is struggling to turn out well, but I was to keep it in as conceptually its a perfect thing/collection to include. 

People collect wrist bands from good nights out of fun events that they have been to, this is something that I have noticed in a lot of my friends, I found these ones pinned on my friends pin board. 

masking tape

my initial components for my cornflakes image . 

colours layer for coppers, I even used a hint of gold ink.