TFNation Convention

I went to my first proper convention in the summer, and it was a great experience in meeting like minded people and just being in a space dedicated to a whole groups interests and passion. I didn't really understand the relevance of it in terms of my practice before, but since going to ThoughtBubble and my experience there, I thought that this convention really did prepare me for that energy beforehand.


TFNation is a Transformers based convention, and while I was there I met Nick Roche and James Roberts, who are two of my favourite comic writers and worked on one of my favourite books ever, Last Stand of the Wreckers:

It was great to get a chance to talk to them briefly about how they come up with ideas for characters and narrative, as its a creative process I'm trying to get my head around.
I also went to a panel with Alex Milne, the artist who illustrates More Than Meets the Eye, a series I really enjoy. That was a great experience as he made an improvised comic on the spot going off nothing but audience suggestion, which made for a really funny and dynamic set of sketches at the end.
Because I've always been the only person I know who's into this kind of thing, it was really great to suddenly be in a massive hotel with hundreds of other people who felt the same, and there was this shared experience between everyone there.
I also bought a metric ton of retro toys.

Study Task 2 - The Creative Industries

• Publishing & Book Design

• Editorial & Reportage
  Editorial work is something i was not familiar with or confident with at all before starting the course last year, but since then I feel my understanding and skill at adapting to different perspectives/stories for editorial work have improved, and I find editorial work intriguing and stimulating. Also, my context of practice work this year will be fuelled by historical examples of editorial and reportage work, so my visual responses will likely be influenced by this method of working. 

• Character & Narrative
  I think that character and narrative are the main strengths within my practice as I really enjoy drawing figures and faces, as I feel they are great mediums through which to express feeling and meaning. This has always been the foundation of my work and I aim to keep improving and developing my practice to ensure my work in the future has a strong base and I can adapt to various opportunities, challenges and briefs. 

• Product & Packaging

• Retail & Merchandise

• Object & Environment

• Advertising & Promotion

Thought(s) Bubble

My favourite get from Thought Bubble: a print of this adult Finn by Mister Hope.

Thought Bubble was amazing! I didn't know what to expect at all, having lived in Leeds forever and never having gone before, I didn't expect it to be as massive and as varied as it was. I loved the energy of the huge rooms with like minded people just sharing the whole experience of drawing weird stuff for a living.

It really gave me a lot of confidence in terms of the industry too, as it was so open and welcoming to hundreds of different styles, methods, products and people that it felt like there was a place for everyone there.

I mainly bought prints and spoke to artists whose work focused on character and colour, as these are things I'm beginning to explore a lot more at Level 5. Nobody seemed too busy to talk to us, which was great because they could appreciate that they were annoying students once too. I'm really excited for next year, as we'll be in third year by then (hyperventilating) and should have a better knowledge of how it works and how to get the best out of it. I think I'll definitely go to more of the talks next year, as this time was so focused on getting into the halls and buying stuff, but I really want to hear people talk about their practice there, as there are so many different disciplines and ways of thinking about illustration.

Creative Networks - Mike Mignola

It was a real inspiration to see Mike Mignola speak last night, for a man who's worked on iconic characters like Alien and Batman and taken his ideas to Hollywood he seemed like a normal nice guy who just uses illustration to make sense of the world he's found himself in, like the rest of us here.

As my work this year especially has been influenced by a conscious move away from formulaic and mainstream comics that have driven my work in the past, it was great to see an example of someone who was inspired by comics but decided to put a different spin on that world rather than trying to fit into it. This is an attitude that's really thought provoking for me, as he repeatedly spoke of how he didn't think his work on Batman or Alien were his best, as he was restricted by the rules of pre-existing characters and audiences, and found it much more refreshing just scrapping that and having a go at his own weird ideas. That's an idea that I've been aiming for especially this year, trying to be more confident in my own ideas and stories, rather than depending on what I know can work.

Overall the talk was very interesting and unexpectedly relatable and it's helped to give me a boost by showing a real life example of someone who's let his work develop and change according to his own ideas and influences, which is reassuring for me in terms of having more faith in my own ideas and work.

The Slug Life Chose Me

I found today bizarre, but mostly really inspiring and useful. It was amazing to see what a room full of nervous graphic designers, illustrators and animators can create together in an hour when working against a clock and with limited materials. We had to make do with what we had and compromise, and work together using skills that are unique to each of us.

I volunteered to do the music for our commercial for a slug themed theme park, not assuming me and three others would end up doing not only the music but some of the recording and basically all of the editing of the final commercial. The pressure of doing all this combined with the diminishing time frame COMBINED with the fact we had never met or spoken before and suddenly had to compose a .25 speed circus theme song in the toilet on an iPhone app to use alongside imagery of slug-men on a "slowlercoaster" (that's one of my best puns ever I hope it counts for at least one ILO), made for a stressful, productive and hilarious experience and really successful final video. We uploaded the wrong file going into the lecture but we're all confident that had it had the intended soundtrack, we definitely would have won (sorry, dog leather).

I think a lot of us definitely weren't fully engaged with this task at the very beginning as it was a bit of a challenge to start suddenly interacting with new people like a frightened Foundation student again, especially when you're talking about madness like jelly with hats and weather patterns based around sausage meat. I think this headfirst into the swimming pool approach was really useful for me, it allowed me to just not care about meeting people and talk some shit with people while unknowingly simultaneously developing ideas for projects in the back of my mind. Today helped me grasp what collaboration actually involves and it isn't as daunting as I had pictured, because all of us feel the same, there isn't just one rock hard animator ready to crush all our ideas and tell us to get out, everyone has a different thing to contribute, and therefore all of us have a hundred different things that we don't do that we can learn about. 

PPP - Study Task 1 - Progress Evaluation

5 Things you have learned so far on the programme

• Roughing and preparing/planning compositions before starting work
• Evaluating own work and trying to assess what works & what doesn't through blogging
• Technical skills like Adobe Illustrator, screenprinting, monoprinting, etc
• The importance of development of ideas before going ahead
• How best to manage time & balance multiple modules at once

5 Things you want to know more about 

• More practical skills - lino, animation etc 
• Analysing others work more professionally
• Work opportunities + networking
• Digital skills that can further enhance work
• Conventions & meetings 

5 Skills that you think are your skills

• Composition
• Some areas of linework
• Roughing/idea generation
• Analogue media
• Essay body writing 

5 Things you want to improve

• Digital work
• Perspective within compositional work
• Sense of narrative in my work
• Consistency of blogging
• Time management

5 Practitioners that demonstrate your interest in Illustration

• Alex Milne
• Nick Roche
• Rebecca Sugar
• Moebius
• Mister Hope
• (Bonus) Becky Sloan + Joe Pelling

5 Websites that demonstrate your interest in Illustration

• Pinterest
• ItsNiceThat
• IllustrationFriday
• Nobrow
• Sanspants Radio 

PPP - End of Module Self-Evaluation

Context of Practice - End of Module Self-Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL401Context of Practice	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	ISAAC SMITH

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I feel that I have developed a strong sense of how to look deeper into an illustration and identify contextual factors that might be at play within the choices of composition and colour, and how they define what the image is trying to convey. I also think I have gotten better at applying knowledge of the time and place an illustration was made within my analysis of that image, to understand the context of it and how it relates to the world in which it was produced/produced for.
2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your practical outcomes?
As my practical outcomes have been very politically driven I have started to keep up with newspapers and online articles to broaden my knowledge of what I’m researching and how I can visually respond to the ideas and topics that are present in today’s politics. I have also been watching debates and speeches on television to try and get a more direct presentation of the issues without it being filtered through a reporter first.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I am happy with my essay as I feel that I used my research to flesh out the ideas I wanted to discuss, and I enjoyed the process of putting the essay together and exploring my theme, as ideas of social and political change in regard to illustration is something I have always been interested in and look forward to exploring further now I have a better knowledge of it in the context of specific examples from the last few decades.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I found it difficult not really having a finished product to work towards, so I need to improve my skills at developing work as much as I can without the aim of making a final piece at the end of that development. I also would utilise the library more as a lot of my research has been based online. I think I generally need to be just as exhaustive as possible to make better and more refined work in the future.
5. Identify five things that you feel will benefit you during next years Context of Practice module? - Visual Journal - Blogging regularly Research Being more openminded to new ideas and techniques Developing work without a finished outcome in mind
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 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 and will provide the starting point for the assessment process. Post a copy of your evaluation to your COP blog as evidence of your own on going evaluation.

Notes

Visual Communication - End of Module Self-Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL406 Visual Communication	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	ISAAC SMITH

1.  What have you learn about visual communication during this module and how effectively do you think you have applied these ideas?
I have gained a great respect for the craft of animation as I never fully appreciated the care and time and patience that has to be invested into it to make it successful. I spent a lot of time working on my gifs as I largely enjoy the animation process, and I wanted to step away from ways of working that Im used to for this module. Similarly, I have gained a better knowledge of programs like photoshop and illustrator and how they can enhance work, and also where they have limitations. I have enjoyed working digitally in this module and it is a method I will be carrying on using into the future.
2. What approaches to/ methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?
The main methods I have utilised during this module have been digital, primarily advancing my skills with Photoshop and developing my use of Illustrator. I have had to be more conscious of final outcome requirements and restrictions, concerning aspects like measurements and vectors. I think I’ve worked quite well inside these parameters to make work that fits the briefs but also keeps true to the ideas I want to express through my work.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I am quite happy with my reflection throughout this brief on my blog as I feel it, coupled with crits and feedback has allowed me to become more confident in both my idea generation and visualisation in general. I’m also  happy with the ideas based pieces Ive made, namely my vectors as they are all quite conceptual and don’t rely on character design, as a lot of my work has done in the past.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
Because I’ve been digitally focused for the entirety of this module I haven’t really utilised many analogue methods in my development, and that is something I definitely feel I could improve in the future. I think I need to manage time better and give myself time to experiment with a lot of different methods before moving forward with my ideas.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
I will use a greater range of methods next time to further my idea generation and come up with stronger concepts before moving forward with any ideas. I will manage time better in the future as I have been ill for a few weeks and it has interrupted the flow of some of my ideas, so in the future I will make sure to be a lot more consistent in my sketchbook as well as on my blog. I will seek out more advice throughout modules in the future to get other peoples opinions as I go along and better my ideas as I go, as I feel that hearing outside viewpoints on what I am doing to be really helpful generally. I will keep trying to look at ideas from a more simplistic style of working rather than relying on lots of detail or linework to try and make an image look good. I think that if I focus more on process fuelled by ideas alongside ideas fuelled by project I will be able to make a wider variety of work. I will try to blog more consistently throughout the briefs as I feel that I still aren’t documenting all my thoughts on my blog as I don’t fully evaluate each page of my work, as I feel I will have to start doing in the future.
	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.

Visual Narratives - End of Module Self-evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL405 Visual Narratives	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	ISAAC SMITH

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?
I feel that I have developed a confidence in the use of brusho ink as I have used it to add colour and texture to the design of my book in order to make it feel more like a handmade product rather than a digitally coloured crisp and clean piece of design. I also feel that my observational drawing has improved by being able to go out into the world and study objects and places rather than relying on photographs. Also I wasn’t very confident with my ability to properly take photographs for use as references at the start of this module but I think that through experience I am beginning to improve, and will develop this further in the next module.
2. Which approaches to research have you found most valuable during this module. How have you interrogated your research to identify appropriate ideas?
The most successful part of my research has been the drawings and photographs I have made and collected while being out in Temple Newsam, which is the base setting for my picture book. Going out and getting a feel of a place is to me a much more interesting form of research than looking up what others may have said on articles, pre existing photographs, and webpages. My project has a very personal theme so I think it’s fitting that the most effective part of my research was the elements I was personally invested and involved in creating, such as my observations and photos. I have used my photographs throughout the brief to improve my drawing quality and also as inspiration for my experimentation with alternate media to best represent the erratic winter setting of nature for my book.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these? What aspects of your submission are you satisfied with?
I am very happy with my finished picture book as I think it conveys all the ideas about growing up and the duality of happiness and sadness that comes with that feeling that I set out to express. Normally with narrative based work I aim for work that deals with larger issues, such as my context of practice work that is focused around politics, but with this brief I chose to develop something that is personal and means something to me, and I think that my investment in  my ideas shows through in my final book. I also am happy with how I tried to step outside my comfort zone and utilise more wet media in this brief, as it was one of the areas I wanted to develop further on in Visual Skills. I think that I have used wet media quite well to recreate colour and texture, both things that I often overlook in my work because I usually focus on character and foreground design. So for this reason, I’m happy to have stepped out of my comfort zone and learned something new.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
In the future I will try to use my sketchbook more and explore multiple different ideas and concepts before starting to develop, as I feel that I stayed with a single idea throughout, and while I think this consistency improved my overall submission, there is always room for more ideas and more development. To do this I will have to work outside of my sketchbook also and develop more character sheets, roughs and colour experimentations to improve the quality of my idea by testing and refining it more. I also think that I should in the future use things like interviews and studies of people to inform my research, as I think I overlooked this aspect while conducting my research for this module overall.
5. How effectively are you making decisions about the development of your work? What strategies informs this decision making? I think that my blog has informed a lot of my development, as I have tried to blog consistently and concisely throughout the brief and use the ideas I have while blogging to inform the following piece of work. Through this method ive been able to identify influences from sources like film and poetry to use in my work, which I would never even thought of doing had I not investigated them on my blog. I also think that being critical of my own work in the past and discussing that with tutors has helped me to want to improve and not be stuck in a single method of working throughout these briefs, but instead try something new every time and leave my comfort  zone as often as possible.
6. How effectively have you managed this project and organised yourself during this module? I feel that I have been more organised in this project, I have blogged effectively and have let more outside influences change and develop my work this time through the use of my blog and expressing my thoughts through it. I have also stayed later at college as I feel that sometimes leaving and going home to continue working isn’t always successful, so I’ve spent a lot more time on an evening in college to avoid distraction and not breaking the rhythm of working consistently.
7.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.