End of Visual Skills Module Self Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL403 Visual Skills	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	Isaac Smith

1.  Whichpractical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
The main skill I think I have developed in this module would be my understanding and use of wet media, as it was something I previously had not really considered to include in my work. I’ve developed my use of gouache and ink in my work and I think that it works well for my work as its a relatively quick and vibrant form of creating colour, and thereby has allowed me to include colour in my work, which before this module I did only sparingly. I hope to develop these skills further in the future to better incorporate colour into my responses.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this moduleand how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
This module has taught me the importance of having an interesting idea that provokes a response before even beginning to draw anything in response, because an illustration isn’t an illustration if it doesn’t have a message to send, a lesson to teach or a story to tell. Before this module I feel some of my work to be devoid of this element as I might have been more focused on design and aesthetics, but now I see the value of having a good idea before embarking on any response at all.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?
I think that my strengths in this module lie with my idea generation as I have tried to be quite exhaustive when coming up with ideas for responses, as the message behind the illustration is what I find the most interesting part about the work. I’m also proud of my blog as I feel that I have successfully documented my learning experience throughout this module and the changes in how I work and how I view other people’s work now.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
I hope to develop my uses of different media, as I have begun using wet media in my work to explore different methods of image making, but I haven’t used any digital methods really very much, so Photoshop and Illustrator are two formats I will be familiarising myself with in future briefs. I also think I should further my sketchbook use as I sometimes begin working out of it straightaway, when I should use it more to reflect on and refine my work.
5. In what way has this module introduced you to the Ba (Hons) Illustration programme? This module has taught me the meaning of illustration in a practical sense; as in responding to set briefs and concepts to create work with an appropriate message behind it. It has also allowed me to grasp the idea of blogging to constantly self evaluate and develop, and I think that I have used my blog quite effectively to tell myself what has and hasn’t been working throughout this module.
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
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

·         A printed copy of this evaluation should be submitted with your work.

·         A copy of your end of module self evaluation should be posted to your studio practice blog. This should be the last post before the submission of work for this module and will provide the starting point for the assessment process.

·         You should also post a copy of your evaluation to your PPP blog as evidence of your own on going evaluation.

Notes for the Module Leader

Signature

Date: 15/11/2015

What is Illustration Task Evaluation Continued

I wanted to go through the images again that I brought to the last PPP session and evaluate how they each can be defined as either drawings, images or illustrations, using the categories we learned about in the last task. 

1) This first image I believe is an illustration due to its context as a series of panels in a comic book (Transformers:More Than Meets The Eye Vol.4, IDW Publishing), thereby serving a purpose of both communicating a story and showcasing characters and character interaction. It is also a piece of collaborative illustration as the text doesn't make sense without the image, and the image is incomprehensible without the text. It also has a specific audience it caters to with this image, as it is merely part of a larger book and series. (The specific audience is mostly nerds like me that love alien robots making clever jokes about existentialism) 

2) The next piece I would now define as an image rather than an illustration. Although it presents a character design, the image doesn't really have a message or story to tell as it is merely some early concept art for a film. I still enjoy the rendering and aesthetic of this image but I would no longer think of it as an illustration as it doesn't really provoke a response in the viewer beyond "that looks cool". (The original character that this image represents, Black Panther, is a big influence in my passion for comics though, so he still gets points.) 

3) This next piece I would define as an illustration also, as it alludes to a story and represents the nature/characterisation of the figure shown in the image. This also, in my case anyway, provokes an emotional response to the viewer, as it is both funny and a little disturbing in a cartoonish intriguing way. This also appears in the context of a comic book (Skottie Young's "I Hate Fairyland" issue #1, Image Comics), centred around a middle aged woman tired of reading bedtime fairytales to her children and becoming hateful of such stories, being transported into a fairytale world full of all the cutesie adorable things she hates, whereupon she begins murdering everything and trying to escape. With that added context I feel the image becomes clearer and more comedic, and I believe this factor in particular allows me to classify it as an illustration. 

4) With this next piece I had some difficulty deciding on whether it was an illustration or a drawing. The image is character driven and communicates characterisation more so than a story or message, but initially I would have thought of this as an illustration as it represents a character based thought. Whilst the composition of the image is telling of each characters personality, I don't feel that it really generates a response when I look at it. Although I love the aesthetic and craft behind the image I don't think that it has a specific problem to solve or tale to tell, so I would see it as a drawing rather than an illustration. (A damn good drawing of a damn good cartoon band though mind you.) 

5) The final image I chose to take to the last PPP session I would confidently class as an illustration rather than simply an image or a drawing. This piece communicates a story, a character and a style all with minimalist shapes and lines. The main reason I see this as an illustration more than a drawing is the fact that it is highly representational; meaning that this isn't how a person really looks and that isn't how human joints really work, but the artist has warped reality to create an image that reflects what he personally sees in this character and what this character makes him feel like. The character this is based on is Prince Oberyn Martell from a Game of Thrones, a hotheaded overconfident warrior based on real world Spanish historical fighters. His nickname in the series is The Red Viper, in reference to his deadly nature with a spear in battle, but also his tendency to lace his weapons with poison. I feel that this all subtly comes through in this illustration; the pose of the figure suggests fluidity and flexibility, but the sharp edges connote danger and precision. Maybe it is only because I'm familiar with the character that I see these links but I feel that the image is snakelike in nature on purpose to give a personal reflection of this artists take on the character.

What is Illustration Task

This task was helpful to me in becoming more aware of the specific differences between images, drawings, and illustrations. I understood that illustrations are images that have a story to tell or a point to make but this task greatly developed my knowledge of how the context of an image, the aesthetic of it, or the purpose of it can all be variables in how it is defined in the world of illustration. A few of my images that I brought in as my favourite pieces of illustration were classified as either drawings or images instead of illustrations and I now feel that I have a better grasp on what makes an illustration an illustration. I also never thought of the context of an image (where in the world it appears) would dictate how it is defined, so I learned something entirely new with this.