OUIL403 Final Evaluation

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

NAME	Naomi Crompton

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?

With the first brief Initially, I focused mainly on brush pen trying to create block colours and controlled line work within that piece. You could say that block colours and controlled line work have become a consistent focus though out this whole module for me with varying degrees of success. I found that block colours tend to catch the eye more. However creating block colours can be difficult. I found the most successful way to do this was with paper craft in my Play Play Play brief because it allowed for the overlay of blocks of colour and after time it felt like I was using the scalpel as a drawing tool rather than a cutting tool, which is something I found the most successful. But the least successful attempt at creating block colours was A Day In The Life where I was working in gouache; it was difficult to get the paint to the right consistency and I believe the paper I used may not have helped the process. I have struggled with my control over line quality with all these briefs, from using gouache to brush pens to fine liners parts of my work become to overthought and as a result have the quality of line affected because of this. However I have begun to be more expressive and less precious with my lining; thinking about it more than doing it. Which is a method that seems a lot more fruitful in better line quality than before.

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 found having both scamps and restricted dimensions to be incredibly helpful as it is an easy way to create a full idea of what the image is without having to draw it all out. Also drawing in set dimensions beforehand allows you to not have to fuss about re composing your image. Scamps are also great ways of showing a client or art director the general plan of an image without having to have a fully illustrated piece on you.

3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?

I have a strong sense of narrative and character, which is something I began to play more strongly on with the final brief. Going through with a narrative of character-based route make my idea generations not only quicker but more abstract than usual. I have also been complemented on my idea generations so I have been using more scamps as a way of quickly visualising these ideas.

4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?

A major issue for development is Time management, due to my poor time management the craft and finished result of my work has suffered. So becoming strict with myself on how much time to spent on ideas, development and crafting is something I will be focusing on intently. The sketchiness of my final piece of work also has to stop, I will do this by focusing more on using one line instead of several when drawing the outlines of an image but also looking and drawing more images so that I become more confident in my line work so that the sketching doesn’t happen on my final pieces. I have also had numerous notes to chose subtler colour, so I feel that developing a pintrest of different ways to approach colour as well as creating my own colour experimentation sketch book will hopefully lead to me becoming stronger and more well versed in colour within illustrative work.

5. In what way has this module introduced you to the Ba (Hons) Illustration programme? By blogging as away of reflection it’s forced me to be more critical of the work I am doing and more aware of the things that need improvement. I also find that by this module only having 2 weeks per brief I have become less precious over work and began to head peoples advice more as well as develop more ideas for a project within a short amount of time. And by having the large crits at the end I have noticed patterns of both success and things that need to be improved in my work.