603 Summative Evaluation

For this module, I set out with the intent of building a portfolio of work that would reflect my interests in the creative industries. Certain briefs have not been completed due to a combination of poor time management but also the direction of my practice naturally changing over the course of this year. The body of work submitted for this module, however, I still think represents a portfolio that has both professional applications, demonstrated by my responses to briefs such as Penguin Random House or YCN Dog’s Trust, as well as a collection of self-initiated briefs that have a strong sense of authorship and communicate the current direction of my personal practice.

I think I have gained a strong sense of what defines me as a creative practitioner, in terms of both my conceptual development process and the visual aesthetic of my illustrations. Through this, I have identified a number of other contemporary practitioners that resonate with my current practice – such as Kate Gibb, Nicolas Burrows and Jordy Van Nieuwendijk – as well as professional applications that I would like to pursue as a freelance illustrator.

By working on a range of competition briefs, I have found preference in commercial applications that are content-driven and necessitate in-depth research, but still have the opportunity to inject your own tone of voice – such as Penguin Random House and Secret 7”. I enjoy generating abstract or symbolic concepts and, alike to Laura Carlin, leaving a sense of ambiguity to my illustrations.  This, therefore, I think makes me best suited to contexts like adult publishing or editorial, in which symbolism and visual metaphor can be used to illuminate subject matters rather then reveal the whole story.

Despite finding success in the outcomes of my competition briefs, towards the end of the Easter term I was feeling disconnected from my own practice, leading me to embark on a series of self-initiated briefs. In this personal work, I have been illustrating moments or experiences drawn from real-life observations and self-directed research. The final outcomes have a certain air of self-indulgence, but I still think communicate a feeling or tone of voice that make them a valuable edition to my portfolio. Taking time to draw what I want to draw, rather than making something in order to fulfil the outlines of a commercial brief, has helped me to develop a greater sense of authorship and realise the sort of content that resonates with me on a personal level.

A common thread running through my approach to each brief I have tackled, as a part of this module is an extensive use of thumbnailing. It is now rare for me to make a final outcome without first planning it’s visual content - this most likely derives from my strong emphasis on composition, strengthened during the Context of Practice module. Another staple of my practice, which I think has considerably developed during this module, is my use of print and handmade textures. Taking influence from contemporary practitioners such as Kate Gibb and David Hockney, I have developed a number of different methods of generating textures using both manual and digital processes, and often now use multiple textures within one illustration, to create contrast and greater visual interest. Improving my ability to simulate the handmade using a digital finish has also become an important part of my practice – understanding that after degree I will no longer have access to such an extensive number of technical facilities.

At the beginning of this year I stated in a pitch presentation that I see creativity as a job. In this I meant that I struggle to create work without some form of initial content or purpose. Since then, I have discovered that this is not a true description of my practice. I enjoy working on briefs that necessitate in-depth research and the development of a concept built around set content; however I also enjoy self-directed briefs that involve me simply making work for the joy of making it.

Over the course of this module, I have found myself to be most motivated when working on something that is driving my practice forward and resonates with me on a personal level. Working as a professional practitioner I understand that this will not always be the case; however I feel that this module has aided me in identifying which commercial contexts suit my practice the most, as well as underlined to me the importance of maintaining personal projects to keep myself engaged in developing my own distinct visual language.

603 Project Report

4 Reflective Summaries & Original Statement of Intent (as on blog)

Statement of Intent Form

This is a revised version of my statement of intent - it demonstrates my initial interests in setting out on the extended practice, but briefs have been amended according to what I have achieved over the course of the module (my original statement of intent is written earlier as a paragraph on the blog.)

Final Mega Crit

I really enjoyed the mega-crit today - my feedback was lovely and positive, and it was also really fun to see the progression of everyone else's work. 

Moving Forward :

• Continue developing FMP project - consider adding more chinograph and bitmapped mono-print textures to make it more relevant to current practice ... worth a try? 
• Consider printing more than just the dymkovo prints for the final show - positive feedback for the girls - these could be large-scale digital prints (or even screenprints?) And you could screen-print the tree designs ... although the registration might be a bit tricky). 

Development FMP : Dymkovo Prints

Key transformative moments :

• Adding figurative elements to the compositions and moving away from trying to make the project like my Cop work or the prints of Gillian Ayres. 
• Moving away from just thumbnailing and using gouache paintings or cut paper to better visualise how the final compositions could work once screen-printed. 
• Isolating these figurative characters as compositions within themselves and incorporating them in more structured compositions. 

My practice as it stands right now

I feel like I am often critical of my final outcomes from individual briefs, however I think it is valuable to reflect on my practice as a whole body of work to better understand what defines me as a creative practitioner. Sometimes I feel like I lack visual consistency from brief to brief, and so drawing links can help me see, hopefully common trends cross my practice, but also what parts of my work I need to build on to develop a more distinct visual language.  

Shape

• Chunky and wonky block shapes to define figurative elements - like people or animals. (e.g. noughts and crosses snake design)
• Abstract and geometric shapes (for more ambiguous work e.g. COP)

Composition

• I like my compositions to have a sense of either literal or visual balance. 
• Literal balance - I like the sense of tension created in a composition where each shape is placed carefully balanced in relation to one another within the frame (almost as if you remove one of them the rest will topple like a game of jenga e.g. Cop work). 
• Visual balance - using areas of concentrated visual content contrasted with areas of pure fill or negative space to balance the composition (e.g. tree illustrations or christmas card design). 

Pattern and Texture

• `I always like my final outcomes to have a sense of the handmade and high-crafting to them - whether this through using actual print processes and collage or just creating this effect through digital simulation. 
• I like using handmade processes because I think it gives an illustration a sense of authenticity and authorship. Especially since my work is so shape-based I think it sometimes lacks the visceral feeling so easily achieved with the varying quality of a drawn line.
• This year I began (and enjoyed) experimenting with contrasting different textures against one another, as well as putting textures through multiple processes to achieve a final desired effect. e.g. bitmapped mono-prints with pencil textures in secret 7" screen-prints. 

Limited colour palettes

• Limiting my colour palettes I think helps maintain an air of simplicity as well as simulate a more print-based aesthetic in perhaps digitally finished illustrations. 

Tone of Voice

• Even though at times my illustrations can be quite fun and playful (which I think is hard to step away from when using shapes and bright colours), I also like my work to have an air sophistication and I often think this comes from the process in which I make my final outcomes. 
• Abstraction of visual content and not illustrating the obvious - 'evoking a feeling rather than boldly presenting the truth' Karel Martens. 

Things that drive my practice (content-wise)

• Illustrating moments/experiences and the way I see things through my own lens. Taking real-world observations and illustrating these but in an abstract or ambiguous way (e.g. tree designs)
• Briefs that offer an initial content (e.g. editorial, publishing or music) but are open to my own personal interpretation of that content and in terms of idea generation are very research-led. 

Creative practitioners that resonate with my current practice: