OUIL406 Module Evaluation

1.  What skills have you developed through this brief and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
This was my first time working on a collaborative project and I gained a lot of experience e.g. developed team working, communication, time management skills; especially time management skills. I found it hard to pick a time to meet everyone as each one of us has our own timetable.Even though I am good at Photoshop and Illustrator, I also learnt new skills and techniques which was really helpful and saved me a lot of time. I think I managed my time quite well for this module as I did blogging while I was making my final work and it saved me a massive amount of time.  

2. What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?
I tried to experiment with ink and I had fun with it but I thought ink was not suitable for brief 3 as the outcomes had to be from stamp size to postcards and to an A2 size. I developed different styles of illustrations by using felt-tip and traditional collages (tea party poster). I found it interesting to learn other people's style of illustrations and the tea party’s style is completely opposite to my style.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
My illustrations are vey simplified and legible. I think it is as brilliant as good illustrations are when audiences get the message just by looking at it. I also picked the right colour schemes by using pastel and contrasting colours. As well as that, when it came to making my final designs, I was not afraid to fail as failure is a stepping tone to success. One of my other strengths is I was not afraid to ask people around me their opinion about my work as I think people's opinions are extremely valuable. I also used social media e.g. Facebook and Whatsapp to ask people's opinions and that was really helpful; it gave a massive impact to my final outcomes especially on the Korea postcard for the studio brief 2.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I think I have worked with Illustrator a lot and I did not let myself explore other media,techniques and processes. I always gave up half way whenever I was exploring new medias and I think this is a bad habit. I think I am lacking in research in terms of looking at contemporary designers. For my next module, I will do my best to look at other illustrators and perhaps go to the library and not only the internet. My other weaknesses were (in studio brief 1) I was afraid to give my opinion as I think I was not so confident especially as English isn't my first language and I did not really know my team members. I also think that I was lacking in ideas and sketches. I do not know if it me that was lazy or this brief does need lots of sketches.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
I want to try a new style of illustration as I am already bored with Photoshop and Illustrator.I would love to do screen printing technique more as I did a bit on studio brief 2 and it was fun even though it took forever; I think that due to screen printing I could use 3 colours. Basically I just want to run away from digital stuff and go back to traditional methods of drawing. I want to try to playing with depth and composition in drawing even though I am pretty bad at it; even though I know it will take me forever to develop this skill. Maybe I should look at more contemporary designers, maybe not only from the UK and US, perhaps from Russia, Japan - look at different illustrators from a variety of backgrounds.

OUIL404 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?
This module gave me opportunities to try and experiment with new things. I learnt and developed quite a lot of skills such as composition and depth in drawing, and experimented with a variety of medias, techniques and processes such as etching and screen printing. I learnt how to create gifs for my mutant task. That was easy and it made me realise that illustrations are not all about drawing. Illustrations could be anything and could be applied to anything. I don’t know how effectively I have employed these skills but I know I gained skills and have become aware of different techniques and media that I am surrounded by.

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?
The most valuable theory was the use of composition, depth and lines of sight. They are an eye opener and they have made me think about my drawing in more depth. I found it hard to draw with composition, depth and line of sight as they are new to me and it is probably going to take a long time to develop these skills. Plus I have started to add some depth in my personal work too. I think I am doing well and now automatically think about the line of sight, composition and depth whenever I am drawing. 

3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission. How can you capitalise on these?
My ‘tone of voice’(style of illustration) has started to appear and I have realised that my illustrations are more shapes, bold colours and collage rather than lines or painting techniques. I am good at producing ideas and my weaknesses are drawing from different angles. One of my other strengths is I like trying new things but at the end of the day I will end up by using Illustrator or Photoshop. However, lately I have tried to mix traditional and digital methods together. For example for my transport task, I drew the illustration on a piece of paper and coloured and edited it in Illustrator/Photoshop and I think that was a good start.

4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?
I think I have developed my human figure drawing skills. I still remember that I could not draw a male figure but now I am quite confident to draw it but I still think that I need to develop more so I started to go to a life drawing class. I think the life drawing class was helpful even though I found it boring. My illustration was more bold colour until recently I started to apply shades, tones and textures which make my illustrations more realistic and professional; however I still need to develop these skills. I need to learn how to apply shades and tones to illustrations more by looking at other professional illustrators'  work. I have only recently started to enjoy visual language and I wish I had enjoyed it earlier. At the beginning, I think the subjects given were too broad and I found it difficult on decide things to illustrate.

5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)?
This module has helped me a lot especially when it comes to analysing my own or professionals’ work as every week we learnt different topics and subjects. For example this week I learnt about shapes and next week I will be learning about lines and there are different types of lines e.g. crosshatch,zigzag and curve. Plus every week after a briefing, I have worked in pairs to analysis some illustrations then discussed findings with the rest of the group. This has helped me to be more confident about my answers and know different viewpoints from other people about the same illustration.