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.

Visual Language - End of Module Self-evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL404 Visual Language	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 my confidence in using wet media like ink has been developed directly because of the initial tasks in Visual Language and how we were restricted from using methods that were overtly familiar to us. I feel that this restriction allowed me to be able to rely on a different form of image making and my confidence has increased because of it. I have also gained a better knowledge of 3D work and the nature of collage in this module, as I never really considered it as a way of making my own illustration but the task on collage in particular helped highlight to me that illustrations don't need drawing in them in order to be successful.
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 see the theories on composition frame and arrangement as influential in all the work I have done since those presentations, as learning about these principles allowed me to look at image making in a different more complex way, and appreciate other work because I have a greater understanding of all the different elements that make up an image and the importance of how they work together. The importance of things like perspective and line of sight have improved my understanding of the mechanics of an images construction, and I feel that I have a greater appreciation for illustration as a whole by being able to identify and discuss these elements within an image. I think that I am starting to employ these theories in my own work as I'm much more conscious and appreciative of them than I used to be when constructing my own work.
3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?
I think that my stronger tasks have been the ones where I have tried to embrace a new way of thinking and making, such as the line task where I tried not to rely entirely on pencils and pens as I might usually do, and the screen print task where I tried to create an image with a consciously formed composition to create a certain atmosphere, which is something I wouldn't have fully considered before in my work. I have also consciously tried to evaluate my progress and what has and hasn’t been working so I am quite happy with the content of my blog.
4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?
I think that my collage based and 3 dimensional work is an area for development, as I don't feel confident in this particular way of working and I would spend more time in the future familiarising myself with the method to create a stronger set of ideas and therefore better work. I also had to go back through my blog and add some photos of work, so in the future I would make sure to finish all my ideas before putting my thoughts on the blog.
5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)? Thanks to this module I think a lot more visually when analysing images, rather than just solely talking about line or colour I try to think about how all the parts of the image work cohesively to create a certain mood or tone. I also am much more conscious of the arrangement of images and how this can affect the meaning of an image, purely through where everything appears and in what order the viewers eye is brought to it.
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 PPP blog as evidence of your own on going evaluation.

Notes