End of Module Self Evaluation

1. Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?

In the early stages of this module I learnt the process of screen printing, which allowed me to produce an 8 page hotdog book, both of which are valuable skills I can apply in the future. I have also learned how to use Indesign, which was informative in understanding the layout and set up of professional documents. Although I made a few errors during this process, I learnt the importance of using and considering margins and bleed/slug options to gain the best visual quality of the image within the page.

2. Which approaches to research have you found most valuable during this module. How have you interrogated your research to identify appropriate ideas?

I have learned a lot during the research process of this module. Being limited on the research we could carry out during Studio Brief One in the Merrion Centre, we collectively decided to make a picture book implying sarcasm and light humour about the unsuccessful day we had attempting to gather research about the centre itself. Prior to my trip to Whitby I had so many pre-assumptions of picture books I could develop from potential research, however I wasn’t able to explore as many areas as I had desired due to seasonal restrictions, and I found it really difficult to pinpoint a particular area of research from the broad/vague range I had gathered during the day. This made me feel like my day had been a waste of valuable time. However I reviewed my research and identified something I found interesting- antique shops, which fuelled my decision to explore this are further, which lead to my discovery of Chinese blue and white pottery, and my research and finding of the Willow Pattern Story.

3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?

My main strength, I believe, is that I answered the brief accurately by ‘telling an untold story’, and informing my audience of the untold story of the ancient Chinese lovers, within the widely recognisable plate. From my feedback I was pleasantly surprised to know that the story had an emotional impact on the viewers, which is something that I didn’t expect at all. This was partly due to the minimalistic tone of voice which I used to portray the story by using one variation of colour using one tool- brush and ink, which allowed the audience to focus more on the narrative itself rather than being distracted by the level of detail. I also think my presentational skills had some level of strength. I’m glad that I made my book in small dimensions of A6, further implying measures of delicacy and intricacy which wouldn't have been as effective if the book were any bigger.

4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?

My major flaw Studio Brief 2 consisted of over-thinking my starting point which negatively impacted the time I had gathering more precise and accurate research. In the future I will take a step back and look at the bigger picture before rushing into something that I automatically presume will produce good results. I think it will also be valuable for me to explore something I am totally unfamiliar with, and challenge myself to research into something that isn’t within my comfort zone, or more simplistic because these sometimes produce a larger set of results to elaborate on.

I will also consider the importance of layout with greater detail, due to my mistakes in forgetting to consider margins when developing my final images. If i consider the marginal dimensions in the future this will prevent my images from being cropped or warped.

5. How effectively are you making decisions about the development of your work? What informs these decisions? What problems have you identified and how have you solved them?

In this module I don’t think I have taken the most time and care when making decisions. Due to being indecisive about which area of research to focus on, time was running out quickly and I was forced to make quick decisions in order to continue the production process. When deciding which theme to focus on in terms of the narrative of my book, I had to choose between putting my own spin on the book from using the research I had gathered over Christmas- looking at similar elements in different places in the world- or sticking to the original oriental theme of the plate. Relatively speaking it may have been more interesting and more of a challenge for me to adapt the basis of the book to an alternative theme, but I made the decision to keep things simplistic and keep to the original theme. In the end this worked out to be successful however I didn’t have much first hand research on the oriental theme, which jeopardised the ability of developing a more varied visual response.

6. How effectively have you managed this project and organised yourself during this module? 

In all honestly I think my organisational and management skills have lacked during this module. The briefs have really excited me, but also intimidated me slightly in thinking I may not be able to produce something to the best of my ability- this is something that I definitely need to learn to overcome. I found it difficult to keep motivated on the project during the Christmas break, mostly due to keeping up with my other modules, my work life, family life and social life. I have done well to finish the each brief to a good standard that I am happy with on time, but I feel like I may have produced higher quality results if I had planned my time out more equally. To do this, in the future I will consider devising a time schedule as something to work towards in achieving things steps at a time, as opposed to feeling panicked about not being able to finish things all at once.

7. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

5= Excellent 4= Very Good 3= Good 2= Average 1= Poor

Attendance- 3 (I missed a week due to holiday, would have been better otherwise)

Punctuality- 4

Motivation- 3

Commitment- 4 

Quantity of Work Produced- 4

Quality of Work Produced- 4

Contribution to the Group- 3

The Picture Book: Final Crit and Evaluation

The Book

Feedback

I was surprised at how positive my feedback was; I am really delighted that other people had an emotional response to the story, and commented on the presentation and colour scheme- something I was feeling under-confident about. Also the response to using one tool was positive, something that I thought would bear a risk paid off in its simplest form.

One of the comments mentioned 'more character development' which was definitely one of my consequences of struggling with time management; this is something I can work on in the next module.

Reflection

Looking at other peoples work in my class was extremely interesting in terms of viewing how each person interpreted the brief and how their work has blossomed from a simple starting point. Different people showed different levels of emotive language, skills using different tools, sequential narrative and presentation skills- which has given me something to aspire to aim towards as my work further develops.

Evaluation

The task of creating a picture book has challenged me in all sorts of ways. I was able to gain a wide body of research from the Visual Journalist section, however I discovered that not all research will result in success. Sometimes it is better to start simple or with something on a smaller scale and elaborate that, as opposed to researching on a broad topic and attempting to pinpoint one particular area.

I experienced having a ‘critical incident’, having to make quick decisions in keeping of the direction of which my work was going to produce the best possible results when I went with my instinct of keeping the theme of the book to its ancient Chinese origin. Working against time, I decided to keep things minimalistic by using one tool and one colour throughout my work. This allowed the audience to have a clear communication with the story itself, resulting in an emotional response-something which I thought I would struggle to achieve. 

Working with InDesign taught me the professional procedure when producing documents, and informed me about things I should always consider, such as keeping to margins, whether the book needs a bleed/slug, and more in detail about layouts e.g. readers spreads. I also worked with Photoshop at intervals during this brief, but perhaps next time I will allow myself more time to test and develop my drawing skills, for example if I were to use a wacom tablet to enhance my hand rendered images.

If I had time to make any improvements, or even tackle the brief again I would definitely allow myself to become less uptight when choosing a starting point, and consider choosing something more simplistic. This would allow me more time to gather valuable first hand research, and cause less of a panic in the production process, resulting in higher visual quality. I would also spend more time on the development of characters, this is definitely something that I rushed during this brief.  This would have an even higher impact on the viewers, allowing them to develop a better relationship with the characters in terms of empathy and understanding. 

To conclude, I am pleased with the way that I answered the brief accurately. I believe that I effectively told the untold story of The Willow pattern but there is certainly room for improvement and development in certain areas. This includes keeping research more specific, allowing adequate time in all areas for development and challenging myself further to embrace different tools and skills.

The Picture Book: Production of Pages

Ink Painting

I have began painting in my final sketches with ink, which is taking a fairly long time due to concentrating on paying attention to detail. 

Everything was going extremely well until I somehow managed to spill ink on EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY FINAL IMAGES?!

Problem Solving

Luckily I was able to use the bandage/spot heal tool on photoshop to erase my spillages, are for the more intricate areas, I used the picker tool and the brush to draw over the darker areas in a lighter shade.

InDesign Drop-in

During the final InDesign drop-in session, I also took the opportunity to experiment with combining my hand rendered processes with digital. However I realised that it would be more authentic to stick to creating everything by hand, also due to the fact that I am not 100% confident with my digital skills.

Problem Analysis

I came across a major flaw when testing some of my completed images in InDesign; I hadn't considered using a bleed or a margin prior to composing the images. Therefore this would result in them being cropped or warped within my book, so I went with the latter option and tried to include most of the important information.

Problem Solving

In the future I will think more carefully about working to dimensions.. and adding dimensions in order for the visual quality and efficiency to be precise.

Re-consideration of pages 12-13

Conceptual Development

When reviewing my final images I realised that I wasn't happy with pages 12-13. The composition didn't fit in well with the rest of the pages in the book and the whole image just looked very rushed and out of place. 

I carried out the same process as before, just a little quicker, and produced a more suitable image.

Front Cover

I wanted the front cover to look simplistic yet effective, as a lot of temptations/judgements on whether to pick up a book are based on the visual appeal of the cover. From my rough sketches I thought that the best option would be to use the image of the plate with text above and below.

Using a lightbox I traced the outline of the plate including the detail small details in a 0.05 pen.

Practical Skills

Using photoshop, I converted the plate to blue by adding a new layer and filling it in blue ink using the bucket tool. Then I multiplied the layers using the 'screen' option, resulting in a blue and white plate.

After adjusting the levels to create more of a deep blue/navy tone, I then remembered the importance of saving the file as a CMYK as opposed to an RGB file, so that it is compatible when using InDesign.

Testing out typefaces- taking into consideration ancient Chinese theme/appealing for large target audience to read:

Problem Solving

After much deliberation, I eventually chose Perpetua Italic, however when I tried this on the front cover itself, I actually preferred the way that the plate looks on its own without text.

Back Cover

When it came to creating a back cover, I thought that mimicking the front cover would be an appropriate idea; fading out the shape of the plate and placing the poem over the top in a bolder tone.

Problem Analysis

However when discussing my finished book with my tutor (one hour before my print slot), she was confused as to why I had used digital type as opposed to hand writing the poem on the back. She said that it didn't tie in appropriately with the rest of the theme, and suggested that I try and hand write the poem and scan it in.

The first two attempts- unsuccessful!

Hand writing in fine liner was my best option to produce the clearest results. To add a finishing touch, I placed a picture of the two birds underneath the last line of the poem, to correspond with the first line 'two birds flying high'.

Inside Cover

Looking and drawing from observation at patterns within the plate:

 Practical Skills

Using Photoshop I pasted parts of each pattern to make a larger combination of patterns, suitable for an inside cover of the book.

The Picture Book: Further Rough Sketches

Conceptual Development

Final Storyboard

Working on A5 cartridge paper (150gsm) I assembled some further rough sketches using pencil having developed the composition and layout from the last set of rough sketches.

Due to the lack of time left I cannot afford to make any more rough sketches, I need to crack straight on with my final images! 

Practical Development

I have began this process today by using a lightbox- something which I haven't really found useful for until now. I was able to use the rough lines from the last sketch and enhance them into a cleaner, more precise and accurate image, ready to be applied with ink.

The Picture Book: Testing Materials/Photoshop Experimentation

Practical Development

Being unsure of what media/tools to use to portray the story of The Willow Pattern, I made some observational drawings- and also sketched out some potential character scenarios- of elements from the plate itself using different materials.

Combination of Oil Pastel, Ink, Finliners and Felt tips.

I had an idea in mind that digitally combining drawings that used different materials would make the finished pages look really exciting and visually aesthetic- I tried this out using Photoshop.

Practical Skills

My results from using Photoshop were only quick rough compilations to test out the use of different tools in one image, however I feel that in this instance it may be more effective to just use one tool throughout the duration of the book.

However this process was extremely useful to work on the composition of my images. By using the transform tool I was able to resize different parts of the image and re-arrange them to gain an accurate perspective. I can use these digital images to develop my rough sketches.

Problem Solving

I have decided to use brush and ink as my only tool/material due to the delicacy I can create by applying different strokes as well as shading and toning, which wouldn't be possible when using the other materials that I tested. 

I also think it is important to echo my starting point within the production process- the original plate. This was hand painted with a great deal of intricacy, and this is something I aspire to achieve to have a more powerful impact on the people that view my finished book.