SMART TARGETS - WEEK OF 24/04/2017

SMART TARGETS FOR THE WEEK OF 24/04/2017

• Finish all paperwork for previous projects
• Create idea for next WBL project
• Start artist research before creating rough sketches
• Plan this project thoroughly
• Manage time for college and personal work

REFLECTIONS - 19/04/2017

REFLECTION FOR 19/04/2017

I am currently working on my PPD module and planning my idea for my next Work Based Learning brief, which is to create a series of characters within a page, these designs will be very simplistic and minimal for several reasons, to maintain and keep an effective time flow and management while I work with PPD alongside this project there I won't have to spend as much time in the project and I can divide my time equally also I would like to experiment with another art style and within the WBL project, show as many different styles, methods and production methods. So car I have my comic strip and my 3D environment for Air Max Day. I would like my theme to be based around mechs(mecha) and essentially to create a page full of robotic characters with a slight cartoon-like appearance. I will keep the shapes and colour to a minimal so I can use the designs for vinyl cut that can also be submitted for the project as well as be used with my final show. I have also recently used a character illustration from my comic strip and had that design cut out in vinyl, I haven't had time to transfer the design onto wood so I created a Photoshop version to use until the main design is complete.

EVALUATION FOR PRINTMAKIG

EVALUATION - PRINTMAKING 

This project was entirely based creating relief prints, using a previous illustration to then alter for the plate design or create a new illustration to use. I recycled the illustration of the previous project, character design and took the design of the character Anansi and altered it to fit in the 25cm by 25cm document to then get it laser cut on a materiel of your choice, whether its plastic or wood to create a texture then the design was the pressed and rolled with ink to create a relief print. This project was purely experimental and didn't require any research or previous planning; just documenting the process of creating these relief prints and experiment with different coloured inks and even blind embossed the design without using any ink, having the design press into the paper. I enjoyed this short and easy project as it didn't require weeks of planning, refining ideas adn designs to then be developed. Simply create a design for the plate adn produce prints within you own time. 

I then documented the process of altering the original illustration to create the design for the plate and explained the pros and cons of my relief prints I produced, wherever they weren't successful and consisted of mistakes or explaining how I applied a base coat of red ink then layered the black ink above. There are many different ways and methods you can use when creating prints.I used 2 additional designs that I created in my own personal time and produced additional prints to then hand in with this project, having a series of different designs and different medias/methods showed the experimenting that I produced. Overall I really enjoyed this project adn I would like to have more projects that are quick and don't require planning or research, just the process and creation for the final pieces.

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR CONTEXTUAL STUDIES 2

SWOT ANALYSIS - CONTEXTUAL STUDIES 2

STRENGTHS:

• Chosen topic
• Imagery and references used
• Word count
• Using timetable to organise when to produce work
• Being intrigued int the essay and research
• Asking classmates for their opinion

WEAKNESSES:

• Balancing multiple projects at once
• Meeting all requirements of the brief
• Time spent on essay

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Learning new ways of creating artwork, leading to a wider knowledge of programs and software

THREATS:

• Not spending enough time on the essay
• Balancing multiple projects
• Time management 

EVALUATION FOR CONTEXTUAL STUDIES 2

EVALUATION - CONTEXTUAL STUDIES 2

This evaluation takes place after receiving my formative grade for this project, personally I am disappointed in the grade I was given, I believe that the assessment of not only this but previous projects are very harsh and are marked on the tutor's standard and not the brief/college standard. I actually enjoyed researching and learning about this essay and due to the chosen theme which was the evolution of comics within the past 10 years, there were no local primary sources, like books and magazines that I could use that explains my theory, so I strongly disagree with the reasoning why I was given a poor grade. I think that because how specific my chosen topic was you would have to understand that secondary (internet) sources are essentially primary sources for this topic as I used a selection of quotes and information from conferences and interviews, all of which are shared across the internet and not in books. 

Negative views aside, I actually enjoyed this project, especially the research part and learning new facts about a topic that I am very interested in. Personally I would like to produce another piece of work based on the theme of comic books and graphic novels. Due to the essay having a strict word count of 10% above or under 2500 words, I would of added more detail within the different sections adn spent more time connecting them together and creating a nice flow between different sections of the essay. If the time spent on this was extended as well as the word count I would try to find convention newsletters or subscription books that may possibly show quotes based on comics or explaining a situation about comic-books.

Overall as a whole project, I enjoyed writing this essay and learning the information that was placed into it, although I disagree with my grade I do believe I could of improved the essay if the terms adn requirements of the project weren't as strict and specific. 

EVALUATION FOR CHARACTER DESIGN (ANANSI MODEL SHEET)

EVALUATION - CHARACTER DESIGN (ANANSI MODEL SHEET)

This project is called Character Design and the aim/requirements of the brief was to create a character and apply this design to a model sheet specifically for this character. The requirements were that the design has to be produced, or at least the final outcome has to be digital and be printed and mounted on A2 paper. Despite these, the brief wasn't too strict and allowed a wide range of freedom within the production of this character. The model sheet required a background story, several dynamic poses and/or expressions.

My chosen theme of this character was based on Gods, more specifically African Gods; while researching I came across a story about this African Deity known as 'Anansi', I then used this myth and revolved my design around this and re created my representation of this African God. The appearance of this character was inspired by Alex Pardee's work and several other artists from the illustration book called 'Zero Friends'. I deiced to approach this design with a style that I wasn't comfortable with, using silhouettes to create this character and having the highlights and detail show with minimal white. I tend to use both colour and detail without my illustrations so staying simplistic was a struggle but I am happy with the outcome and appearance of the character. I created these illustrations for the model sheet by using Illustrator and the pen tool to create the shapes for the body and limbs. The model sheet background consisted of a texture I created using stained tea that I then scanned and placed into Photoshop to then apply the illustrations and text to the document.

The positives of this project was the appearance of the character that I created, I was happy with the outcome due to the amount of times I constantly changed the design as I struggled to think of a theme at the beginning of the project. I am also proud and pleased with the outcome of the model sheet, the layout an positioning of the elements work well, they aren't too cramped onto the page and the font is readable. I did encounter a few issues throughout the process of creating this design and before this concept was created, a main issues was time management but to solve that in future projects I will constantly create and update my timetable and write lists on my current progress and what needs to be done.

Overall I am please with the outcome of this project and believe that I have done a good job considering I decided to use a unfamiliar art style to help broaden my horizon  and to get used to theses situations where I may not be able to use my preferred art styles when working with clients.

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR CHARACTER DESIGN (ANANSI MODEL SHEET)

SWOT ANALYSIS - CHARACTER DESIGN (ANANSI MODEL SHEET)

STRENGTHS:

• Outcome and appearance of final character
• Appearance of model sheet
• New art style and simplicity of character
• Using custom typefaces and the use of typography within final design
• Character design can be used for further designs like relief printing

WEAKNESSES:

• Constant change of idea/theme throughout the beginning of this project
• Struggled to create an initial idea to develop
• Development of idea changed dramatically 
• Time management was poor due to constant new ideas

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Share design and progress across social media, make it become noticeable 
• Enter design into competitions and exhibitions
• Add commercial values to final pieces and acknowledge that purpose
• Communicate with fellow illustrators for assistance and opinions

THREAT:

• Wasn't satisfied with the marks I was given
• I believe the reasoning for a low grade was very unfair and unjustified 
• Time management could of been improved
• Update timetables and plans

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR TALES THROUGH OTHERS EYES - PART OF WBL

SWOT ANALYSIS - TALES THROUGH OTHERS EYES (WORK BASED LEARNING)

STRENGTHS:

• Used my preferred art style
• Confident with digital programs used
• Illustrations production method/techniques
• Improving my comic art skills with digital drawing
• Story, narrative and theme of design
• Research within the project
• Time management within this project

WEAKNESSES:

• Getting distracted 
• Slowing down illustration production
• Spending too much time on certain illustrations
• Background designs

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Create a full 22 page comic to sell/advertise across social media
• Collaborating with smaller comic artists/illustrators
• Sell illustrations/stickers of characters
• Enter design into competitions and exhibitions
• Contact comic stores to advertise/sell your work for a share of the profit

THREAT:

• Create more timetables (or update them)
• Be aware of other ongoing projects
• Balance time between projects

EVALUATION FOR TALES THROUGH OTHERS EYES - PART OF WBL

EVALUATION - TALES THROUGH OTHERS EYES (WORK BASED LEARNING)

This project is called Work Based Learning and within this project the brief requires a number of individual projects to be completed and finals to be produced for both live briefs and for competitions to then be entered in. One of the competitions is the 2017 Cheltenham Illustration Awards that requires producing an illustration or series based on the theme ‘Tales Through Others’ Eyes’.

My chosen theme for this competition was to create a comic strip based on the infection and fungus known as Cordyceps. This idea came from a series of mind-maps that were made to branch out to try and find my theme, the mind-map lead me to the term infection, where my tutor told me about the Cordyceps fungi, which brought me to my idea to humanise this disease and apply this theme to a comic strip. The illustration is inspired by the 2000AD Judge Dredd comics, specifically a character within this series called Mayor Jim Grubb. The art style itself is inspired by Frank Miller’s Sin City series that uses a mixture of black and white illustrations with individual coloured elements, to make that specific design stand out. In this case the whole comic will be black and white whereas the infected elements will have colour.

To create the illustrations I sketched each individual design within Illustrator then refined then with layers, adding detail and refining the shapes each time before I apply the final layer of the linework then adding colour within Illustrator as well. Once the individual illustration was complete I placed them together in Photoshop and arranged them in the position I wanted.

I really enjoyed this project and it was by far my favourite due to the art style and theme of the project, I stayed away from comic art for a while as I wanted to learn new styles and techniques throughout the previous projects so I as happy to be using my preferred art style again. The positives were the production methods and appearance of each individual illustration and the success of digital creating these designs within Illustrator and Photoshop. The negatives would be to not to focus on one illustration as much, try to organise my time management a little better and effectively divide my time spent on each design efficiently. Several improvements to the overall final pieces would to create a second comic strip therefore it would become a double page spread, this would only happen if I had more time to spend on this project. Another way would be to simplify the designs and art style so it is more cartoon-like comic art allowing me to have more time to create more illustrations due to the timing on creating each design would be less.

Throughout this project there was several flaws and obstacles that I encountered, the main one being time management; to prevent this in future projects I will create constant and up to date timetables to stay on track and organise the amount of time spent on each illustration or time spent on research. If I solved this issue then I shouldn't come across any problems throughout the future projects and it would allow me to not becomes stressed or worried with illustrations not being finished or having to be rushed when the deadline approaches. Overall I really enjoyed this project and creating this comic strip.

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR DIGITAL SKILLS APPLICATION

SWOT ANALYSIS - DIGITAL SKILLS APPLICATION

STRENGTHS:

• Having freedom with my theme/idea
• Using digital software like Illustrator, Photoshop and Cinema 4D
• Colouring techniques used within the programs
•  Time management and organisation of my schedule
• Documenting process
• Number of individual illustrations created

WEAKNESSES:

• Adapting to a different art style
• Being satisfied with the appearance of my final illustrations
• Visualising my idea at the beginning of the project
• Balance time spent on each illustration 

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Sharing design across social media
• Enter designs into exhibitions and competitions 
• Communicate with smaller companies and artists, contribute in a collaboration 

THREATS:

• Make sure timetable are updated so you don't fall behind schedule
• Organise your work flow
• Ask peers and tutors for critics and opinions
• Marks for the project were disappointing
• I wasn't happy with my received grade, I felt like it was misleading and the reasoning was very unfair

EVALUATION FOR DIGITAL SKILLS APPLICATION

EVALUATION - DIGITAL SKILLS APPLICATION

This project was called digital skills application, the brief was to create a series of sequential illustrations all based around a theme or narrative or an animation, I chose to create three illustrations all connecting to the theme of psychedelic and hallucinogenic consumables. The designs follow a narrative that connects the three illustrations together.

All three illustrations are inspired by the surrealism art movement and artists such as Todd Schorr and Mark Ryden, whereas the art style of theses illustrations is something that I don’t tend to produce, this project was a perfect time to learn new technique and illustration methods, learning new digital skills to then apply to a concept. Throughout the entire project I used a selection of programs, such as; Illustrator, Photoshop and Cinema 4D.

What I like about the final pieces and the process to create them is the techniques and methods that I have learned in order to produce these, there were several issues and challenges that I had to overcome, one being taking out a huge element of my initial design half way though creating my first illustration but after help from tutors, classmates and recreating a timetable to organise what had to be done or altered.  The positives of this brief was learning a new art style that I want familiar with, using colours  that contrast with a minimal amount of linework, yet still show depth of field and 3D like elements by just using tones of colour. The negatives would be the constant changes to my idea; all of which have been resolved and the outcome has been a great improvement to the previous design. Usually my timekeeping and organising my time to spend on specific illustrations, is my downfall but by constantly referring to my timetable I have been much organised throughout this project.

In the next project I would like to incorporate using multiple software and production methods to not only expand my knowledge of these skills but to produces illustrations all of which consist of multiple media. I would like to set myself several targets to improve in for the next project, the first being to allow my initial idea be more flexible, to accept changes and ask tutors and classmates for opinions on my idea before I go ahead and develop the design. Another target would be to dedicate a specific amount of time for every final that is being produced. Although my timetable helped a lot it wasn’t enough to split my time wisely and focus on the important aspects and elements first, leaving the least complicated or design that requires less skill to be completed after the essentials are finished. Overall I am very happy with the work I have produced for this project, I enjoyed working with the brief and I am satisfied with the illustrations I have produced.

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR COMPOSITING

SWOT ANALYSIS - COMPOSITING

STRENGTHS:

• Learning new skills, methods adn techniques within Cinema 4D and After Effects
• Improving my confidence with the program
• Successfully created series of composites that consist of individual elements adn different production methods
• Having my own freedom with the design and ideas for the composites

WEAKNESSES:

• Placing my composite into After Effects with minimal knowledge of the program 
• Time and effort spent on the final composite (rushed)
• Not experimenting with more options within both After Effects and Cinema 4D

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Designs could be entered into competitions or online exhibitions like Adobe Awards, as they have a specific section for 3D compositing
• Getting in contact with local 3D illustration or animating companies and apply for work experience
• Spread your work across social media and try to make yourself and your work recognisable

THREATS:

• Using software I wasn't comfortable with
• Constantly update timetable to stay on track with time management

EVALUATION FOR COMPOSITING

EVALUATION - COMPOSITING

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS - ZEITGUISED

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS - HOODASS

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS - MUN2 (HOLOGRAM IDENT)

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS - FUEL TV

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS - BEEPLE_CRAP

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS - NO BROW

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS - LITTLE CHIMP SOCIETY