Module 4- Evalation

Evaluation

In this module we were presented with a multitude of briefs to choose from, each with different outcomes and themes. In the beginning I picked out three initially to choose from- the Wylam brief, the Liberty brief and the Penguin brief.

I chose the Penguin brief because to be in with a chance of winning such a prestigious competition and the exposure that could be gained from it is something that could help my career get off to a huge start. It’s also a pathway I would be interested in exploring in my career too, as I’ve always enjoyed creating book covers and found it a much better form of narrative illustration than illustrating a full book for me. This is because I know now I have a much smaller attention span than I originally thought; working on a continuous series of illustrations for one book loses interest quickly for me but when I can focus on one image to bring it all together that’s where my ability to conceptualise good ideas shines.

The two books I chose to illustrate were Oranges are not the only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson and Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden. After reading through these books I quickly saw they had similar themes- both main characters struggled against themselves within the books and issues of morality, religion and self-identity were prominent throughout both. Therefore I needed to convey the messages in each one differently as they are indeed very different books. 

My idea for Oranges came about when I started doodling some initial sketches. The idea I had was that I wanted to include two faces on the cover to represent each side of Jeanette; one moral and chaste and the other ‘immoral’ and wild. I got to thinking about the theatre masks where one is happy and one is sad, and the idea came about to have the two faces peeling away from an orange, where the orange represents Jeanette and her two ‘personalities’ both struggling against each other to be the dominant entity. It also represents her fragmented mind towards the end of the book, as she struggles to identify real life vs. her hallucinations. The back of the book is meant to represent the two different sides to her again; the open half of the orange is the unreligious side, open to the world and a new sexuality, whereas the ‘closed’ orange shows her moral personality. The fact that the oranges are peeled here also lends another layer of symbolism- by the time you reach the end of the book, her masks have peeled away and she can show her true colours to her family and community.

Carrie’s War also had strong themes of religion and morality running through it, however, these were not what I wanted to base my cover on. Instead I chose to focus on Carrie’s war; the internal struggle she has throughout the book between wanting to do the right thing and keep everybody happy at the same time. At first I tried to incorporate the Indian skull into the design too, because I felt it was an important thing to include, but after trying to figure out an effective way of including it I was growing too frustrated with the idea and ignored it, instead focusing on one of the most iconic scenes for me- the part where she and her brother Nick are traipsing through the Druid’s Grove and the trees are described as ‘twisting, arthritic fingers’. On my cover, the branches that are pulling and bothering Carrie represent the different characters of the book, trying to pull her each in different ways according to their own agenda, and should also suggest a type of ‘prison’ or cell due to the way they’ve been put together, locking her in the middle. 

My best strength during this project was most definitely in developing the concepts behind the covers, whereas my weakness yet again was managing my time properly and allowing myself the time to develop something further and in a more relaxed manner. This was due to the making of the Christmas cards before the end of term; although I enjoyed making them and it was a great experience, it definitely put me behind in this project and burned me out before Christmas, making me feel totally unable to put any effort into the brief over the holiday period. Thankfully I had already gathered most of the research I needed so once we returned I could jump straight into the development and making of the images.

In this brief the research I carried out was mainly of existing book covers, and also on colour and symbolism theory. This is because in the books I chose there was a huge scope for symbolism to play a part, and of course choice of colour is always important in the message it gives off. For Oranges the bright blue background shows a sea of emotion and feeling, while the grungy-green of Carrie’s War should bring to mind army green camouflage and the green typical of 1940s war effort posters.

I used a mixture of both traditional and digital media in both of the books, and aimed to update the literature with a modern flair. They are both in very different styles, although I think both are effective in their own way and adequately show the messages I wanted them too through the symbols and colours. 

This brief has again been a great learning curve for me and it’s helped me to go one step further in the development of my creative development; I never knew I had such a penchant for symbolism in art but developing the ideas behind the images was one of my favourite parts, and knowing this will help me in the future to direct my career. I know that yet again time management is an area to improve on, and although the fault was entirely mine I feel like it could have been avoided with better planning on my part. The images I have produced are some of the best in a long time and I feel like my ways of developing concepts have grown more and that it will be easier and easier to show this in my work. 

Evaluation

Throughout this module the brief specified that we needed to create pretty much a full package for an album released on CD or 12" Vinyl, and we would need to form a concept we could show through our work.

The album I chose was Iggy Azalea's 'The New Classic', released on 21st April 2014. I analysed each song separately so I could glean as much information from them as I could- after all the lyrics and my interpretation of them is what would provide the basis of my concept.

After analysing the lyrics the main themes I deducted from the album were money, wealth, fashion, class and success with some sexual undertones. The album also had a kind of American Dream/ rags to riches vibe too which was something I thought I could capitalise on. Iggy moved from Australia to the US to find her fortune and so far it's paying off, and she can actually now get these things she wanted so much growing up. From this I had the idea of incorporating an Art Deco theme into my work because her journey to the US took her to the city of Miami, well known for its Art Deco architecture and influences, so it would be the perfect fit. This also allowed me to explore options within typography and graphic design I otherwise wouldn't have had the chance too.

During this project I undertook a lot more research and did a lot more analysis than I have previously; I literally have not stopped updating my sketchbook with more research as and when I've needed it. This is something that hasn't really been a problem but can be a bit annoying when I'm ready to dive in headfirst. I think a good way to avoid this next module would be to list exactly what I need to research for each image- most of what I needed to do were for things like the car and buildings, so things that aren't the main focus but do form a large chunk of the illustrations.

I expanded my methods of research to not just include the internet, I made much more use of the library during this project and it has really paid off. A lot of my ideas came from flicking through library books and the ones with images I found most inspirational were the ones I photocopied and placed in my sketchbook, so I could reference them wherever I was and not just when I was at a computer. I find the library a lot less intimidating now and it's easier to search when you have a little more experience in doing so, which is where I fell down last year. I found a lot more information than I expected which was a nice surprise and this new knowledge can also potentially help me in my academic studies.

I kept my concept consistent during the project which took a great deal of pressure away from me. Again, last year this was an area I didn't really keep on top of  my work and attitude suffered as a result. Consistency is key to success, especially in this line of work as everything should be part of a prior development, not just whipped up at the last minute because 'it looks nice'. To avoid this, recently I've been trying to incorporate some symbolism into my work, some things obvious and some more subtle. Colours were used frequently as indicators of status during this project, especially with the heavy use of gold, yellow and blue, all rather harmonious colours with generally positive personalities; gold for wealth and fortune, yellow for happiness and blue for calm and confidence.

My process during this assignment has developed rather rapidly and I'm definitely improving the technique the more I use it. I've been drawing in almost a Grand Theft Auto/ comic art style with emphasis on lineart and compositional dynamics, but with my own way of colouring and shading. I've kept true to the usual Art Deco symmetry, but this is something I like to employ in my own work anyway so it was fun to design something I didn't have to constantly worry about in terms of composition and content.

In my sketchbook I would start by doing some preliminary sketches, spending maybe 30s at the most on one. From there I would chose between one and three different thumbnails to start refining, and then I would choose the one I thought would work the most. Using my research as reference has been really useful and something that's really contributed to what I feel is the high standard of my work for this module.

After finalising the pencil sketch I'd scan it in and open a new Photoshop document (in the right size and format) and start drawing over the main lines with a black Brush tool. I always make sure the 'Pen Pressure' option is on because when using this with a tablet you can achieve realistic, tapering brush strokes. Then I would colour and shade the image, do any last tweaks, add or take away text and in general make sure it's up to par.

The hardest part of this brief for me was trying to get my head around the vinyl templates. To design my own was fairly easy but it felt like I wasted a lot of time searching for one online that had three panels, and maybe next time I would choose a CD because the packaging was too big to print A1. I couldn't change my idea to be a CD cover because then I would need to change a lot of my images and concepts for them- but it is definitely something to think more about next time instead of just instantly proclaiming I know exactly what to do.

This project has been what feels like a total turning point for me. Compared to last year I've grown a lot more confident about my work with much less doubt clouding my mind. I trust in my own ideas and sketches which is an important aspect of the job because without any confidence you'll probably never be able to approach big names appropriately. What I love most about this new process is that I can use both traditional and digital medias, and that I can go in a few different directions digitally from this. I still want to work in game splash and concept art but this style would definitely be something I should try to keep improving.

Making the packaging was something I really enjoyed doing. It was nice to be able to hold something physical I had made with my own hands and to see it displayed with the rest of my images. This project was good for me in that it really needed to make me think about the way the work should be delivered and how I can use line, type and ornaments to tie different elements under one branch together.

The most important conclusion of the brief though is that I am never as organised as I think I am. This module I kept an academic diary with 'mini-deadlines' for myself but that pesky thing called life got in the way sometimes and I couldn't stick to it as strictly as I wanted too. It was a massive help though and really helped me get myself together to create such Fancy work; last year I was all over the place really, and just scraping by. This definitely wasn't the way I wanted the rest of my career to be so that was when I started organising myself and just simply getting on with it.

Year Evaluation

So the first year of this year has now (unofficially) passed. There has been many ups and downs throughout the year and this is my summary of the year so far. 

This current module has been a real struggle for me, I haven't really enjoyed it and only in the past week I've liked even any of my drawings which is a real shame as at the start of the academic year I felt like I was making so much progress and having so much fun whereas now I'm not. I definitely agree that I can overwork myself and pressurise myself too much but one of the biggest issues for me this year has been my time management- the academic side of the course isn't something I struggle to do (I enjoy writing and researching) however trying to do 20 weeks worth of work in 3 isn't efficient and put my drawing work to almost a full stop, meaning that in catching up with that side of things my narrative illustration fell way way behind.

I didn't feel inspired by much and was getting really disheartened with myself, I've lost a lot of confidence in my abilities and I think that this summer will be spent trying to win that back which hopefully won't take too long. I'm still not 100% happy with the illustrations I will be submitting for this module, I think I could have done better and that I've let myself down a bit, but I have really tried my best and the fact that I will be handing any drawings in at all is an achievement in itself (to me at least). In all honesty there will probably not be anymore blog posts for this module, I haven't been able to do the work I wanted this past weekend and so I'm still finishing artworks to hand in on Wednesday: however I am comforting myself with the fact (excuse?) that this year will not count towards my final grade, and I wholly acknlowedge the fact that it is due to my own shortcomings that I've suffered, especially again in regards to time management.

The first module was much more enjoyable as the focus was more on actually drawing in a much more relaxed way. It was something I didn't have to think about and this is why my drawings from there were so much better than the more recent ones. I think I've reached a good landmark with my still developing process though, as using digital means for this narrative illustration project is something I didn't expect to do. Even though I am veyr experienced in using digital media, for most of the year I've focused on traditional techniques and this result has encouraged me to be more open to try things I think might not work. The risk in changing my project so late definitely paid off; instead of having 10 drawings I really hate, I have 10 drawings I like that have gave me a starting point for defining my own style, which is something I was really stuck on. 

I have felt as though there was too much emphasis on finding a style to stick with in this first year, I was panicking that if I didn't find a style this year I would be struggling throughout the rest of the years in this course which is something I obviously wouldn't want. In the end I just thought 'sack it' and stopped thinking about trying to create a specific 'style', I just let my drawings speak for themselves. Another thing I realised is that perhaps my 'style' doesn't have to be an exact way of drawing- instead it could be a series of processes combined that produce the same feel as each other to make them recognisable as my work. 

This year has been a steep, steep learning curve but I think I have grown a lot as a person during this and that I can use this years experience to ensure these mistakes don't happen again, in education or in the industry. In September I will be coming into the building armed with an academic year planner and an armful of pencils and I'm going to throw myself into the work and really try to keep my head above the water.