Visual Language- 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?
Visual language has enabled me to become aware of the building blocks within image making, and how to apply them to my own practice. It has allowed me to enhance my basic drawing skills, getting to the route of what every line, shape, colour etc. actually means, and how I intend to get a message across to the viewer. I have had to learnt to produce finished pieces in restricted periods of time, increasing my level of focus as well as being increasingly aware of my intentions of outcomes. Each week that we have learnt something new, I have attempted to apply it to my methods of image making across all modules, with a higher emphasis on the experimentation and learning element rather than producing a perfect and pristine finished image.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
I have found that the four elements of composition; frame, depth, line of sight and value have been the most valuable in informing my practice. Whenever I try to create images now, I always consider what it is I want to communicate to my audience in terms of the message, importance and significance of each element included in the image.  An example of this would be the way I have tried really hard to create strong, distinctive and recognisable images during the ‘Greetings From…’ brief in the Visual Narratives module. Through planning the content and layout of my images, I was able to inform my audience of which city the postcard was based on purely using visual elements with clear composition.
3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?
Visual Language has been one big learning curve for me; I have focused more on the learning process and how to apply the knowledge I have gained in constructing images, as opposed to focusing on producing an amazing final image that people would immediately purchase and hang on their walls etc. On the other hand, I have often felt deflated with the finished images I have produced as I have the tendancy to compare them to other people’s in my class. My biggest strength has been identifying my weaknesses at the end of each week and setting myself challenges for the next task to improve my outcomes and invest more time into the explorative and experimental process.
4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?
I definitely have some areas for improvement. In general, I think that I need to be a lot more speculative and embrace each task with greater enthusiasm and drive. Admittedly in earlier tasks during studio brief one, I tended to focus more on my other modules, and neglect visual language, which definitely reflected within my work. In the future, I will plan my time more carefully in investing more time and care into tasks, make better use of the library and take out books related to the specific subject, and research into practitioners further. Just in general, go above and beyond what the brief states.
5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)? Since Visual Language started, I have began to look at images in much greater depth, and almost ‘dissect them’. I have noticed that I have a less ‘passive’ attitude to the subjects in images; rather than thinking ‘that is a pretty picture’, I spend more time analysing WHY I think that picture is pretty. I view each element and ask myself ‘which is the most important?’ which is often dependant on size and colour against the other elements in the picture. Looking further into the composition, line of sight, depth and value become more important too, and towards the end I feel more confident in reading and interpreting what it is the artist is trying to say. Although this process is fairly new to me, I have started and will continue to use this in my own process of image making by investing more time into planning and producing rough sketches and a list of intentions that I want to achieve.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance	x
Punctuality	x
Motivation		x
Commitment		x
Quantity of work produced			x
Quality of work produced			x
Contribution to the group	x