End of module Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this brief and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I have developed my digital skills a lot during the course of this module and the three briefs given to us, I have made use of adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to reinterpret my analog working process and to create completely new types of work using new found processes. I feel that I have effectively applied these skills and have been able to take my collage methods and apply them to working on screen by scanning various textures and surfaces to then cut and stitch together with the lasso tool. With regards to final pieces I feel that the overall quality of my work has improved and this is a direct result of working digitally and using these skills to refine a piece of work continuously and easily. I am really starting to make use of the benefits software like Photoshop and illustrator bring, allowing me to recreate and re-work my projects, for example during Studio Brief 3 I was unhappy with how my final resolutions were turning out and was able to rectify this easily without the need to start from scratch.

What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?

I have continued to improve my planning skills and initial idea generation through thumb nailing and producing scamps, this has definitely improved the organisation and quality of my work, I have found myself stopping and thinking more frequently before I begin a piece of work, allowing myself the time to consider why and how I am doing things. This is resulting in finished work that in my opinion communicates much more effectively than some of my previous projects, for example doing separate sets of scamps for things like composition during the second and last studio briefs informed me about how placement of objects affects how my work is read. In studio brief 3 I was confused for a while about how to layout the postcards, did I need to focus the images down and remove the background? I was able draw out how this would work on paper and then go into Photoshop and experiment with cropping the images down. It is this synthesis between analog and digital that I am most excited about, it allows for initial and ideas and concepts to be realised much quicker, allowing me to combine and subtract different elements whilst giving me future options to return to it and continue developing.

Working within a group during the first brief allowed me focus on and improve my collaboration skills, during which I realised the importance of a multitude of initial ideas and tests in order to plan for a successful final piece. Working towards a final piece and resolving problems along the way was therefore a lot easier, this is something I need to try and mirror within my own individual practice. When working alone it is possible to forget about exploring every avenue before moving forward without being reminded and helped along by other people.

Using Illustrator required a more simplistic and minimalist way of working, which allowed me to focus on content and message much easier, I have learnt that I can sometimes unnecessarily over complicate my work.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

My digital picture making skills are the definite strengths within this body of work and have definitely taken a step up from previous work. I will aim to continue working in this way and to further develop how I make the transition from paper to screen more easily. I want to see what other digital tools I can use to maybe even recreate an analog texture or surface completely artificially, for example Matt recently showed me how to create a grainy halftone texture using bitmaps in Photoshop, which looks similar to the scanned pieces of newspaper I have been using. I will continue to test out initial ideas through thumb nailing and scamps, this is one of my standout improvements during research since there is a lot more of it than in before. My work will continue to become more focused and communicate much better to a chosen audience

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

I am still finding it difficult to make sure I am doing enough initial research before making use of visual elements in my projects. In future I need to spend more time reading and writing about things to balance out and inform my initial drawings. I find it hard to resist moving forward and jumping straight into visual thinking through thumb nails and roughs, maybe it would be better to mind map my ideas? Writing isn’t as fun as the drawing process but I think it allows ideas to really sink in and resonate. This would in turn help further improve my visual thinking which is much stronger. I also need to address my organisational skills with regards to time management, at certain points during this module I have been focusing more on one project than the other even after the deadlines, which impacts the rest of my work.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Next time I will make sure to keep a better written documentation of tasks needing to be done and plan out when I will switch off from thinking about one thing and move on to the other. This will allow me to have an equal amount of focus and dedication between multiple projects simultaneously. I will think more in depth about the resources and time required to produce final work, for example booking a print date way in advance will allow me to have work completed for final crits and give me more time to focus on evaluating my finished work. I will make more test pieces and mock ups in future to make sure the final results make the most of media and process. Remembering to always save Photoshop projects with all of the layers still intact will allow me to go back and edit work more easily without having to pick apart a flat image which is time consuming.

I am going to be more self critical and honest with myself, next time I will be quicker to take action over a piece of work that isn’t at its maximum potential. In studio brief 3 I was almost prepared to settle for a sub par final piece but put in the work towards the end to resolve it, which was really difficult. In future I will be quicker to act in this way. I will also take more time to get the opinion of others on my work, getting a different perspective of my postcards during studio brief 2 allowed me to work out a visual link between the series, and in studio brief 1 when my group became stuck and confused with our message a crit was needed to give us new direction.

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