Reflection Blog

Half term

Over half term I was asked to make sketchbooks from materials I can find around the house and fill them with things to do with weather, doodle, designs, research and poetry. Pretty much anything that interested me. I found this a really fun concept and loved the idea of making my own little books that I could fill. I used paper, card and parcel paper and some string I found to sew the pages together. I am really into world building and creating my own world at the moment and thought this might be a good opportunity to explore this.

Week commencing the 3rd

This week was only a two day week and was fantastic to get stuck into my new project. This week, looking at clouds in my photography session. I created CGI clouds in after effects and after I got the hand of codding the clouds after I created one to make them slightly different it turned out really well. This was quite a challenging process as I missed a step in the process but after I corrected this problem I was happy outcome. I would like to further this process and maybe create more clouds this time with rain or lightning.

In my art session on Friday I created more sketch books using unusual materials and am looking forward to try and see what I can create on the different surfaces and textures and surfaces.

To do

Add CGI clouds to wix.
Talk about the process of creating CGI clouds.
Reflect on CGI clouds.
Continue filling up sketchbooks.

Week commencing the 8th

This week was a full week of creativity, starting with looking at cloud shapes and creating sculptures inspired by cloud formation. I was fascinated with a spiral cloud formation that I came across while creating a mood bored of clouds, I loved the shape and drew up some ideas. I initially added lightning to the design but decided against this as I smashed to different things together and made something complicated and decided I enjoyed the simplistic shape more, so went with a wooded spiralling structure. I made a meket of this before realising I wanted to go taller and more exaggerated with my shape so started to create a stronger base to the second to accommodate my modified design. I look forward to finishing this soon.

Also this week I experimented with wind drawings and had some "play time" creating a huge drawing out in the wind with the other students. we drew with charcoal and painted with ink throwing the paper in the air and letting the wind catch it as I threw in at it this was a really exciting way of creating. I love getting stuck in and messy and not worrying about the final out come just enjoying the process was so freeing. As well as setting up a small wind drawing structure with pens and pencils stuck on with string to allow the wind to create art. I like how this was abstract and recorded the wind.

In photography this week I was able to print some test strips of the SLR film that I developed before half term I thoroughly enjoyed the process although was slightly devastated that the film I had taken home did not develop but this was definitely a lesson in how unpredictable this process can be. the test strip came out well after figuring out how long to exposed the paper with light and I cant wait to print them in full. In addition to this I also captured a 12 minute video of the sky to enable me to make a time laps cloud video.

lastly this week we took the chaos of the large wind drawing and cut it into squares to create order from the mess this was interesting kind of cross between a collage and a mosaic.

I cant wait to see what next week has instore.

To do

Add sculpture to wix.
Talk about process.
Reflect on sculpture.
Add research and plan idea to wix.
Add wind drawings to wix.
Talk about process of creating wind drawings.
Add research for wind drawings to wix.
Add Darkroom printing process to wix.
Add tester prints to wix.
Add time-lapse video to wix.
Talk about editing process.
Add wind drawing recreation to wix.
Add the research for grids to wix.

Week commencing the 14th

Its research week! So starting with an idea factory exercise, where I choose three words from an array of words that was available to me. I choose Dystopian, Lightning and Suspend. Looking at these words and researching I was able to find inspiration for some ideas that I may be able to create. From a device that can collect lightning from a volcano to an idea for a dystopian world illustration with a character. Both ideas can be translated into world building witch I am particularly interested in at the moment. I also looked into weather and climate change this week and found some really interesting scientific facts that will inform my understanding and help me progress and develop my ideas for this project.

This research week was important to inform and direct what I would like to look at on my trip to London next Monday.

To do

Add research to wix
continue idea building
Add idea factory to wix
make sure reflections and wix is up to date

Week commencing 21st

Monday we went to London to the Natural History Museum and i was able to conduct some primary and secondary research looking at an exhibition in the red zone on climate change and covid this was very interesting in highlighting our "broken planet". I also visited The Design Museum where I looked at sustainability design ethics and using recycled material to create.

This week I looked at and researched a few artist that I like and am interested in to inform my project in the direction I want. Skottie Young and Jake Parker are just a start on this research.

On friday we did a little thinking about our projects and i made some mind maps about what excites me and what i intend to make and so on this can be found in Planning.

To do

Add work to wix
make work in response to research
talk to my target audience

Week commencing 28th

Making Monday! Make Make Make, this week we are you guessed it making. Looking an character design using shape and my research I was able to create ideas from ripped up paper and arrange them on the page informing body shapes. After this I created a concept story for my project and a poem aimed at kids to create a and illustration, illustration book or a comic book. this week am idea building through making, taking notes and thumb nailing. Although I have been poorly this week I have been trying my pest to continue this at home.

To do

bullet point project proposal
continue creating ideas
use research to inform ideas
research further where necessary
make sure wix is up to date
put all work on wix DEADLINE Friday night for formative feedback Monday

Half Term

Over half I looked at different compositions for my comic page to try and make dynamic and interesting ways to engage the reader. This also brought me to prospective in witch I struggle with, but over half term I watched many videos and researched one point, two point and three point prospective and then put it into practice I feel that I have become a lot better after finding the understanding of the rules of prospective and I have implemented these skills within my comic page. I also experimented with with a new medium, alcohol markers. These are more versatile and require an amount of skill to use them effectively however the effects that you can achieve is really like nothing else I have found that you can layer and mix colours as well as creating depth with there translucent quality.

The second week of half term I worked on my character design and working on a plan for my comic page looking how I would like to arrange the panels. I also made a box out of MDF cutoffs to potentially make a model of one of the scenes from my comic page.

Week commencing 25th April

This week I am working on the design for my final piece. I have been looking at perspective and I am more confident in applying one point, two point and three point perspective to my work. Additionally I have been looking at composition so I can arrange my panel illustration in a more dynamic way.

To do

Sketch out my comic page on A2 card stock.
Add planning from sketch book to wix.
Write up reflections.

Week commencing 2nd May

This week I have been working on finishing and refining my comic page. This process has taken longer than I first expected. Additionally I have been working on a design for my comic cover. Using different layouts to see witch one I like best. I have used rule of thirds, the golden mean and a classic comic book composition of a triangle.

To do

complete final solution Deadline next week.
upload to wix.
reflections.

Week commencing 9th may

This week I have finished my comic book page and handed it in. I have also been researching on how i might display my work in the exhibition.

To do

Upload work to wix.
look and how my website is layed out and make it easier to follow

Week commencing 16th May

This week I have started my final evaluation and have been making sure all the relevant research is on my website.

To do

complete evaluation

Week commencing 23rd May Deadline Week

This week I am just making sure everything is done to the pest of my ability and presented well.

27th Hand in Day

Final Evaluation

Introduction

I have researched the ethics and sustainability surrounding art and climate change thoroughly, and have took into consideration the different points surrounding both. I have applied some of them to my project by implementing the effects of climate change by raising awareness about the environmental impacts of our actions throughout my project.

I have efficiently and effectively kept up to date with my bibliography, by Harvard referencing as I find the information. This has been valuable to myself as I can find the exact sights and information again if I need to check or add something I have missed for my projects research. Additionally, to make my bibliography easier to navigate I have arranged my references in alphabetical order with the letter corresponding to the alphabet highlighted in purple to make it stand out.

I started by creating a Gannt chart to block out time for each part of my projects processes. This helped me to see clearly important how much time I had for each by clearly visually seeing when things needed completing by. This was a lot easier to understand than just a list for me. Throughout my project I made a reflective blog, so I knew what I was doing and needed to do next. However, in the beginning of this project I made my to-do list unrealistic and was unable to keep up with myself as I went on through this process, I was able to realise my ambitions was too high and was able to give myself more realistic targets that I was able to complete within the time I had given myself.

While experimenting I was able to narrow down what I was going to create for my final piece and plan layout and materials with thumb nails. I had additionally made plans to make a 3D model of one of my comic models, however with the time I had I was unable to complete this.

I have consistently left reflective comments throughout my project that help me move forward. Some examples of what i have reflected on is what I liked about it, if it worked well, visual language and how I could improve and develop further. Additionally, I created a reflective blog that I talk about what I had achieved each week, what I’m doing next and a to-do list that I need to work on. Within my reflections I have made a concurs effort to look at and talk about visual language. This is a good way to understand an artist style and style within my own work and the techniques we us as artists, this include shape, form, colour and texture.

Context

I love illustration and animation, so I knew that this is the way I wanted to respond to this brief. Character design, world building, fantasy and nature is all a huge inspiration to myself and my daughter. So, I knew to respond to the brief in a personal way I had to bring out my inner child likes and create for the 4–11-year-old age range. I had many ideas when I was given this brief, however I was able to narrow them down by asking my target audience what they would like. My daughter is passionate about the environment and animals. So, I took inspiration from her love and created my project around that.

I personally feel my work communicates the ideas that I had intended in a fun and effective way for my intended audience. I have used an original poem written by myself to accompany my artwork witch I feel compliments the illustrations well in a way that the younger audience can understand.

I have learnt a great deal about the world we live and how we affect it and in turn how it affects us throughout the process of exploring this theme. I have acquired knowledge from scientific facts and figures, how the weather works, climate change, endangered species all the way to pollution. This has informed and shaped my project as I have had greater understanding of the theme and was able to incorporate the information for a more informed final piece witch I have created with a more fantasy and imaginative twist that will capture my audience’s imagination but also inform them and spread awareness of real issues we are facing.

Ethics

I was able to successfully imbed ethics into my project by extensively researching climate change and pollution, and the affects it has on extreme weather. This is what I have built my project around and I wanted to raise awareness on the subject and aim it at the younger generation to make them wear of the climate many many generations before them has shaped by their ignorance of the planet we live on and the way we have mistreated it, in the hopes that if we can get the 4-11 year olds engaged and interested in global issues like this the can make a difference hen the older generations are gone and create a better world by addressing the problems and finding ways to fix it. Although people are starting to change it isn't enough we need a hole generation to make a difference. That is why I am passionate about this subject and want younger people like my daughters to care and be conscious of the choices they make and the consequences of those actions.

Research

I would not have been able to achieve my final piece in such a well thought out way without my artist research. This research really helped me to create a style that has many different techniques and I was able to piece them together to experiment and adapt my own style to fit a specific audience. My research was really the foundation to creating a project that raises the issues i was trying to communicate in a child friendly and appropriate way. The artist that inspired me for this project were Jake Parker and Skottie Young, Really love their fantasy elements within their world building within there comic books and studio Ghibli inspired the style of my un lined soft painterly backgrounds. Jake Parker additionally work on animations such as Ice age dawn of the dinosaurs. The specialist path way that I would like to go down is illustration/animation with concept art elements of fantasy and world building these specialist pathways tend to have quite a big overlap in skills that are transferable between them.

Additionally I conducted primary research to inform my project, that I then adapted into a more fantasy based weather experience to keep the interest of my intended audience by sparking their imagination. I feel this was a great choice as the feedback I received was very positive and the younger audience seemed to understand what I was trying to communicate while finding the fantasy elements engaging.

Additionally I explored character design by creating observational drawings of my son and then using the knowledge about style from my artist research to stylise them.

I also took reference photos of the environment so that I could get a better understanding of organic shape language by photographing trees and foliage to explore different mediums with.

This research worked very well to inform my project however I could have made this primary research stronger by attending more exhibitions and gathering additional, more extensive primary research by sketching more observational drawings of the environment to give me a more diverse array of options for my art. For example more structures and buildings.

Throughout my project I used an array of techniques and processes to explore what I might like to use for my final piece. I explored 4D and digital techniques including image manipulation on Adobe Photoshop, the darkroom process to print SLR film, video editing for a cloud time lapse in Adobe After Effects, watercolour, ink and alcohol markers. I also started a 3D model/diorama that I was hoping to complete before the deadline but unfortunately was unable to finish this as I ran out of time.

After experimenting I was able to make the decision to create my final art work using alcohol markers however this process was lengthy for two reasons the first was that I had never used them before and underestimated how long the technique of blending and layering would take and the second was that I chose to go large and create my illustration on an A2 card stock witch is a pretty huge scale for this marital. Although I am very happy with my final outcome I had to skim other processes that I would have liked to spend more time on as I was concentrating on the alcohol markers. Even though this is the way I feel I still think my project demonstrates a diverse body of work.

Additionally to my primary research and the exploration of materials I looked at comic book layouts and prospective as I am not confident with perspective and foreshortening so wanted to gain more knowledge about how I could achieve the effects I wanted to create. Having done this project I am now able to use one point, two point and three point perspective comfortably and understand how it works. This was a really amazing step forward for myself and will be incorporating it into my work more in the future.

The way I initially generated ideas I feel was effective as it sparked imagination and I was able to build my project from this. The first thing I researched in this project was for my idea factory, this is where I chose three words and mash them together to create something unexpected that I would not have thought of if it wasn't for this process. I chose Dystopian, lightning and suspended. This activity led me to further research into extreme weather effects.

However I feel I was able to narrowed down my research to quickly and could of achieved a more dynamic outcome if I looked more into dystopian landscapes and building before moving on to my final piece.

Starting; idea generating

Final Solution

I am pleased with the quality of my final solution, I think overall it is successful however I feel the layout of the panels and the colour choices we most successful. The layout is creative and not just square boxes. In my layout the panels are different shapes and some even sit on top other others as i was trying to communicate that my character was thinking. Additionally I made my main characters break out of the illustration box, this not only makes them the most important element but also shows that they are looking at the landscape showing the pollution but thinking about a more natural world as the other panel is a thought bubble. This is one of my favourite elements of my final solution. Additionally I feel my colour choices were really successful also as I put quite a bit of time into researching colour theory and colour meaning. For example I have used mainly blue for the dragon spirit, as blues mean power, natural and faith. However I used purples for the tornado type weather as purples mean mysterious, arrogant and sadness this paired with red and yellow balls of energy firing out. Red means anger and yellow means attention in colour theory. So my colour choices add to my story and enhance the feelings I am trying to communicate without being super literal.

That said I do feel like I could improve it if I had done some things differently. For instance I feel if I had put more time into exploring urban structures and dystopian landscapes I would have been able to use more interesting landscapes and buildings with better shape language and depth. This I feel is lacking from my current solution.

Additionally if I was to do this project over I would have like to pace myself better and give myself smarter targets as I feel I cave myself so much to do and kind of got lost and was unable to finish and try things that I had intended to, as I spent so much time on my comic page I was unable to complete the cover I intended to create to accompany the page and model I was going to complete to bring my characters to life.

Somethings did not go as expected, like I felt like I had plenty of time to complete all of the solutions I had plane but 12 weeks isn't that long when your actually in there doing the work and the processes I chose to do I wasn't expecting them to take so long but on the other hand I wanted to do them well. To manage this problem I just had to ensure that I completed at least one solution well.

Within my final piece I used colour to create my comic, with contrasting, complimentary and harmonious colours in a range of different hues throughout. This paired with the lack of outline within the background gives it a softer more painterly look, with the background constructed with mainly shape and colour. Contrasted with the harsh black outline of the colour and the flatter colour with basic shadow, it makes the characters stand out from the background.

Talking about shape, I used shape language and exaggerated proportions to create my main character for a more child friendly look. Although if I could go back and do it defiantly I would put more detail into the background but other than that I am happy with the outcome.

I feel my work is dynamic and has a unique feel about it, I took inspiration from many different artists and other places like colour theory, to mould and develop my own style so I can communicate pressing environmental issues coursed by global warming.

This can be seen in my practical work and ongoing reflective practice, I think my reflective practice is really put together and has helped me greatly throughout my project. It has informed me in what works well and doesn't, what I like and disliked. I think my reflective practice could be better if I left notes for myself about more technical terms, And lastly although really enjoy using alcohol markers they do come with a downside. Alcohol markers are mostly bade of a solvent substance made of Kerosene, and is toxic. If abused this substance can pose a risk to human health (if inhaled or ingested it can be dangerous) and to the environment. An alternative for this is water based markers, although they don't give the same effect as the alcohol markers, they are better for the environment as they are non toxic.

Planning

So far I have managed to completed the minimum amount of solutions for this project but have managed to keep to the deadlines, however I feel I need to work faster and efficient to complete all the things that I had wanted to and have started. Additionally sometimes I can give myself unrealistic goals and targets to hit which I have realised throughout this project and will aim to avoid this in the future by giving myself more realistic targets.

Next time I think I would work differently by completing one outcome at a time instead of working on multiple outcomes at the same time this way I can concentrate on one finish and do another instead of juggling tasks.

Overall I have learnt that stretching myself across multiple things at once is NOT a good idea and that can significantly slow me down, also that I shouldn't underestimate the time each medium takes and I should learn to understand the process better to allow sufficient time for each.

My work

The presentation of my website is clear, tidy and easy to follow. The layout is simple with photo and video content to showcase my work the images are a good size to be viewed with ease and each section has a big title with smaller sub titles within the sections of my website, however my sketch book isn't as well presented as my website is. My sketch book is sort of like an idea dump although I was able to organise it upon uploading my work to my site.

Moving forward I think next time I would like to be more creative with the layout of my website and more organised and tidy in my sketch book so I can clearly see and showcase my progression and my work in a more interesting way.

I feel I effectively narrowed down my target audience quite early on in my project to a younger age range of children between the ages of 4-11 years. I feel the theme and my initial ideas of raising awareness of global warming and extreme weather called for a younger audience. So that they can make informed decisions about the way things are as they are our next generation and they can make a difference.

I have created a 2D illustration that I would like to be framed on the wall central to concept art surrounds it, that is black and white so that it doesn't detract from my main piece. I think this will give my final solution more context and show how I got to the solution I did and A4 print outs that people can take home if they would like to. Additionally I would like to display a fact sheet next to my artwork about some interesting facts I found while researching. This is something children said they would be interested in at the end of a comic book.

If I had time to finish a cover for my comic book and some character models my presentation of my work would be slightly different with my cover next to the comic page and the concept art still surrounding it with a plinth in front where I would display my models.

This idea comes from the Pixar exhibition in Japan as I feel this showcases a body of work showing the process illustrators, animators and concept artists go through.

Looking back now there are a few things I think I would like to add I would have loved to add some digital illustrations and animation along with finished 3D models I think this would have took my work to the next level but unfortunately I fan out of time.

Presenting my work

Myself as a creative practitioner

Throughout this project I have learnt a lot about myself and have developed as a creative practitioner. I have realised my goals and what I like to create and developed a style of my own. My goals are to continue to creating for the younger age ranges in illustration and concept art but looking towards developing further into animation including stop start animations.

This project supported my growth by allowing me to explore different styles, shape language, character design and worldbuilding in a purposeful way, so that I could use my new knowledge to develop my own style within illustration. Looking forward I want to explore more digital art and the techniques and processes around it and to continue developing my own illustration style so that it can be recognisable.