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	Alice Dear

1.  What skills have you developed through this brief and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Throughout this brief I have developed a range of skills. Thinking about composition and layout has been a massive part of creating and planning the illustrations for this book as page size and order is so important. Also deciding how wide or small or how many pages the illustrations should run through was something I had to keep in mind throughout the project. I think my decisions were appropriate in respect of the compositions I used and the layout of my book; especially as I had parts cut out which meant planning composition was essential. I have also developed my Photoshop skills such as using layers, multiply, texture and levels. These skills really helped me as they saved me time and allowed me to create illustrations with more depth, particularly when adding textures. I also learnt a lot by looking at other illustrators work using colour schemes. Beforehand I would have tried out colours that I thought worked together well and that looked right, but in this project I started planning colour schemes before trying them out. I looked at coffee shop colour schemes and how they used warm tones and I noticed that a lot of illustrators used multiple shades of one colour in their work. I effectively applied this in my own work as I used mainly just warm tones of red, orange and pink, to create a coffee shop atmosphere and to ensure all the illustrations felt like part of a set. I have developed skills within book binding and I now can differentiate between the appropriateness of each style of binding and also how to use Indesign to layout and print the pages for the creation of a book. These were applied when printing and binding my own book and I they were used effectively as my end result was accurate to how I had planned it. The pages were all in the correct places which was very essential as they had a specific order to allow for the cut out areas to make sense and to be in sync. In book binding skills were developed in order to use effectively the guillotine, folding the pages, making templates, making holes and stitching.
2. What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?
My methods when approaching colour has developed and informed my concept development process. In this project I started planning colour schemes before trying them out. I looked at coffee shop colour schemes and how they used warm tones and I noticed that a lot of illustrators used multiple shades of one colour in their work. I effectively applied this in my own work as I used mainly just warm tones of red, orange and pink, to create a coffee shop atmosphere and to ensure all the illustrations felt like part of a set. I have also developed my methods when gathering research as I have leant to be more focused and precise in my collection of data, and in my concept development to keep in mind that simplicity is key. My concept development process was also informed by my choice to use cartoons, instead of using photographic reference to create realistic illustrations, this was an approach I decided to use in order to create characters that were unspecific, relatable and that would represent the range of society I intended to.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
The feedback I got in this project identified strengths in my more realistic illustrations so I will capitalise on these in future. However I do feel that there were strengths in my cartoons, particularly using less reference and more imagination as it made me feel free and this is something I will definitely try to do when creating work in future to add more of my own message to the piece. Other strengths I think were using negative space, and not feeling the need to add colour in every part of the illustration. This is something I did not plan when creating illustrations but this project has taught me to capitalise on these by planning out what essential parts of the illustration I want the audience to focus on and how to use colour or lack of it to do this. I also feel like characters are a strength in the way of atmosphere and emotions and I capitalised on this throughout the book by using different scenes and characters to create the atmosphere of the coffee shop.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I think concept is something I really need to make simple and clear, so that the message is a strong one within my work. I will address this by trying to avoid getting distracted by too many ideas and too much research and instead have a clearer direction earlier on in the project on what I would like the audience to feel when looking at my work. Composition and layout is something that I need to address in future by practicing different options for my illustrations, I think some of the pages could have been composed more effectively. I think proportions and realistic elements could have been addressed in this work as I used almost no references for my illustrations, apart from the food and drink, which in a way was good as it highlighted the coffee shops products but I think the illustrations would have been more believable if I had used reference to make everything other than the cartoon style of faces, realistic.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these? Plan composition and layout in my illustrations in more depth. This would make them have a less cluttered and more thought out feel and would draw the reader’s eye to the focuses of the pieces. Draw out the illustrations as many times as possible as this would lead to create the best style of that one particular scene or character and it would mean that the pen lines would all be joined and smooth to enable easier editing on Photoshop. I would also use more reference as this would create a more believable scene and characters, for example furniture and coffee cups. I would use a cleaner cutter for the cut out parts and spend longer cutting them out to gain a smoother and more professional edge to the paper. I would also spend more time trying out colour combinations and textures using Photoshop to create the most atmosphere, feeling and depth to the illustrations.
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

OUIL405 Studio Brief 2 - A Book of... Printing and Binding

I decided to print my illustrations using thick matt paper. As my illustrations were A5 I had to use A3 paper to allow for bleed which allows for extra border when cutting the pages.

After I had printed my work I then had to cut out the grey areas. I used a scalpel to achieve the most detailed cuts. Unfortunately as they were printed double sided not all of the images lines up 100% perfectly, this meant that when I was cutting out the grey areas I had to ensure both sides had no grey left. In future I would probably try to use a later cutter to get the most clean cuts. 

Below is the sheets after the grey areas are cut out. Even though it is not properly folded yet you can still see how the cut out areas will look with the previous images showing through. 

I had to use the above device so that the holes would be pierced accurately and in the same points throughout all the pages. I had difficulties with binding my book as some of my pages have cut out areas. This caused a problem when sewing it along the crease and when using the guillotine as a 3mm border was left around the edge of the cut out area and it looked really flimsy despite the thick paper. I decided to use a scalpel to just remove the border part to reduce the risk of the pages tearing. I made more holes along the crease to ensure all the pages were bound as well as possible to secure the book. I used the pamphlet stitch to bind my pages and I added a brown/mauve cover, as it fits in with the warm colour schemes of my book, made of card that is strong enough to protect the pages but not to heavy and restrictive. 

Above: Using black and white pen I illustrated the cover of my book. It is not the most professional looking so if I were to do this again I would have planned it out before and had it printed properly. However as this was a decision I made after seeing the finished book I think it was a good option. I didn't want to make it look too complicated so I stuck with the two colours and used the original logo for the Costbucks coffees. 

What is Composition?

What is Composition...Practical task- 3 Elements challenge

I used a foreground; the Vivienne Westwood model, a mid-ground; the Union Jack which punk used to mock the queen and authority- they reclaimed it, and a back ground; the punk band performing. I chose to use orange and blue and pencil for this; mainly to suggest a link throughout referring back to the flag. However I don't think this colour palette was the most effective I could have used and if I were to do it again I would either use block colours like either creating a collage with cut out coloured card or digitally using photoshop or illustrator to create a bold and strong look. The line of sight travels to the face which I positioned directly on the centre of the flag as I wanted this to be the focal point. This was because I wanted the Vivienne Westwood model to be corrupting the Union Jack in the theme of punk. I also kept movement in the flag and movement in the models clothes and legs to draw the eye down to the feet where there is a parallel line to the flag; a line of band members.  I used negative space a lot in this piece to seperate the three elements where they dont overlap as I didnt want to over complicate the image. The perspective and viewpoint is created so that the flag is face on to the audience (to ensure a balanced cross shape) and so that the model is walking straight for the audience. We are also looking down towards the band which helps to suggest depth in the piece. The overlapping helped to create depth as well as the scale of all the figures and the objects- I kept the band a lot smaller than the model as they needed to be further away in the background to set the punk tone of the piece. 

I wanted to play around with colours and form on photoshop; below are my experiments... they were not very successful in creating a final finished illustration but they were useful in exploring my idea and playing with how this punk theme could be best executed...

Task 5: 3D and Lens: Mutation Photo

3D and Lens

Above are my notes and ideas for creating a mutation illustration using photography.
I decided to try to portray my love of cereal by mutating the relative sizes so that it looks like a 'dream come true'.

The original photograph I used was this one: 

Which I just cut out and mounted and then arranged cereal packets behind it and attached the photo to the bowl using blue tack and attached the hand to the spoon using blue tack. To keep the spoon in position and to arrange the cereal so it could be seen I made the 'milk' out of paper and put a circle of it in the bowl, placing cereal on top. 

I took the photo where there was warm but bright lighting as I went for a positive mutation rather than a gory one. For the location all I needed was a flat surface to put the cereal boxes as a background and the bowl on. I took the photo close up and on level/slightly above the scene. I kept the camera close so that the frame contained the cereal boxes but not any of the other background. This meant the scale was kept how I wanted it as I eliminated any other objects. As it was a close up shot I had to make sure my camera could focus on it and luckily my phone camera was a high enough quality. 

OUIL405 Studio Brief 2 - A Book of... (part two)

This is my Project Proposal for Studio Brief 2. I managed to stick to this proposal over the next few weeks and researched and investigated coffee shop history and the social reasons for going to them. I interviewed some people about why and in what circumstances they go to coffee shops and what they talked about there. The majority who answered were women; they usually stated it was one or more of these reasons:

• For a break in town.
• To catch up with friends.
• To refresh themselves/ their children.
• To gossip/ have an intimate talk.

This tells me that coffee shops provide a safe environment. Unlike restaurants people are generally not rushing you to leave your seat and so it is a perfect setting, with comfy seats and low lighting and music, to have a conversation or a rest that isn't rushed. This is useful to me as it reminds me that the atmosphere; lighting, decoration and furniture is key; this I will aim to convey in my book by using warm colour tones and by drawing attention to this 'typical' coffee shop layout. 

Conversations are clearly key to this project, however I want to portray the modern day general public as being obsessed with technology, in particular their phones. So I have decided that while some conversations will be taking place, a lot will be lacking due to the customers dedication to their mobile phone. In my project proposal I stated that I was trying to achieve a book that would: Inform, promote and document and this is still the case and will be kept in mind throughout the project in relation to documenting our contemporary standard coffee shops and societies antisocial behavior; but particularly in the form of technology.  

I still feel that I could combine some history within the book so started thinking about how I could visually portray facts and historical events about coffee shops:

I was also experimenting with different techniques and line work to see what would look the most effective. I liked how the simple monotone line drawings were relatable but still could be elaborate in detail. 

I wanted to combine the past with the present in the form of a constantina style of book, with the images on one side present day, and on the other the past. 

My sketchbook notes on ideas for the book based in a coffee shop:

I watched Matts suggestion of the film 'Coffee and Cigarettes' and the simplicity of it really caught my eye. Even though each scene was set in a different place with different people there was a running theme of coffee and cigarettes. This made me rethink about how to create my illustrations and I feel that concentrating on simplicity is key. I then started thinking about what were the important parts of society I wanted to portray in the mind map below:

It is hard to conduce this all into a small book but I am trying to portray at least some of these aspects when creating my illustrations. I also wrote notes about what was key to the book as a whole:

I thought it would be a fun idea to reveal information on each page, and the thought of having parts cut out to reveal the previous page is something I will think about when planning my illustrations.

I did some more trips to coffee shops and recorded more notes and sketches studying social commentary and the publics interaction in coffee shops particularly with their technology:

Below is a list of rules I came up with after spending time in coffee shops focusing on how people behave and interact. If you were to go against one of these rules it would be slightly 'taboo' although this is a recent development as in my research into coffee houses it is clear they used to be a place for discussion, politics and interaction between the many different people in society; nowadays this would not be socially acceptable!

I visually researched the components of a coffee shop from primary observations in my sketch book:

I also took photographs and then drew characters using these as reference:

I practiced using cut out sections to purposefully reveal certain elements of the previous page and also portray how it actually is in a coffee shop; with numerous factors interacting together to form the entire scene:

I thought this was successful and I decided to keep this in mind for my final book with each page acting as a part of the scene, which is the whole book. 

I knew that I wanted my book pages to be angled at different perspectives with foregrounds and backgrounds so I kept this in mind when taking my photographs and illustrating preliminary work.

I then decided to experiment with media more and added colour, using pro markers, to some copies of my line work drawings and doodling over photographs in coloured pencil and pen to highlight what we cannot see: the concentration and connections towards technology rather than your company:

Overall I really loved drawing these secondary observations and I liked using colours, shapes and words to highlight certain themes and important points within the images. I loved the effect but after thinking through the process of book making, I realised that to create an equal standard of images on each page I would have to conduct a photoshoot in a coffee shop and use different models in each scene to create the look of a busy coffee shop. This would be a problem and would not be a sensible idea to carry out as I am on a strict time schedule so I decided to solve this problem by thinking about other ways I could create scenes without relying on reference so heavily. Keeping in mind my notes from throughout the project and the key themes I wanted to keep in mind in my book:

I decided to try again the cartoon type of way of working with simple black and white images with line work. I also knew I wanted my book about A5 size so I practiced creating some images like this (inspired by Jean Jullien):

Jean Jullien's own work

Jean Jullien's own work

  I also looked at Jim Stoten's work because he fills the space with his illustrations and always has multiple components working together and interacting which applies to my busy coffee shop scene:

Then I looked at Josh Cochran due to his use of Photoshop to remove some outlines and how he uses colour and shape to create objects, space and atmosphere. He uses a restricted colour scheme but uses many shades and tones of those colours to create depth, shadow and light in the scenes. He also often depicts many characters interacting together to create a scene.

I also looked at Owen Davey's work because of his use of colour. He generally uses a small colour palette but uses a huge range of shades of the same colour to create depth and differentiate between objects. He also doesn't usually use outlines and his sets of illustrations seem a set partly due to the restricted colour schemes:

some of my preliminary character designs:

I chose to go with these as I thought they could portray anyone in society whilst still remaining similar to each other and I could create any age of individual. They are also quite simple but convey emotions quite well which is perfect for my book as I need to create a lot of illustrations but also convey atmosphere and personal interactions within the scenes throughout the coffee shop/ book. 

I then used my A5 sketch book to create a mock book so that I could see how layout could work and overlapping pages with cut out parts. I decided cut out parts were an essential part to this book as they convey an interacting scene, each page adds up to the whole scene. However they also show how nobody really interacts any more, unlike the social coffee houses of the past, each page is seperate from those visible through the cut outs, they are not invited in to their conversations and vice versa. I think A5 is the perfect size for my book as the illustrations need to be big enough to allow for detail but not too big as they as the cut out parts must stay secure and not too flimsy. I needed to plan it out in this sketchbook as I was able to see how the images interact on multiple pages and where to cut out: 

I decided to call my coffee shop, that the book is set in, 'Costbucks'. This is a play on 'Costa' and 'Starbucks' which are both successful coffee shops that provide a 'warm' atmosphere even though they are massive corporate capitalist businesses. I think coffee shops these days are particularly revolved around capitalism as the drinks are so expensive in comparison to making your own. Historically the coffee was extremely cheap, and just provided caffeine and the energy to stay in the coffee house and debate, learn, teach and interact. (Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley even once dissected a dolphin on the table of a coffee house in London)

Crit Feedback:

The feedback I got from this was really helpful as it confirmed my idea to name the shop 'Costbucks' and my idea to use one coffee shop to symbolise the new wave of coffee shops, like Starbucks. The suggestion for more photography was helpful as it reminded me how much would be needed if I was to rely heavily on reference material; in the end I chose to stay further towards the imagination side using reference for the general feel rather than specific characters. The layering was also praised in this crit so I am glad I chose to involve it in my work as this feedback shows me the audience will see what I am trying to do. I also went on to look at Jean Jullien's work which really inspired me with my character design as his pieces are so simple but atmospheric and portray individuals personalities so accurately.

The suggestions in the above sheets helped me when I was working in Photoshop as they state 'try to keep the hand rendered quality in photoshop- it works really well and stops the image becoming flat', this is something I had a problem with as a beginner to Photoshop but over the course of the project I have begun to understand how you can create a hand drawn quality by alternating capacity and type of brush tool. They also comment on what binding method I plan to use; this will be sadlestitch as I need my book to be able to open up flat so that the audience can see both pages clearly and so that the background (the other pages) line up and interact to form the image. A problem I face is when stitching parts that may be thin or may be cut out. I plan to solve this by either keeping a certain amount of border around images that have cut outs near the edges, or by making sure the stitches are extremely secure on the parts which are touching the bound part of the book.

This feedback helped me to decide on using Photoshop and they suggested using block colour to make it effective and I decided to use some block colour in certain areas on photoshop. This feedback bought the problem of a back page/cover to my attention as I had not fully completed it or thought it through. I solved this by using a similar image to the front page whilst still providing some of the information (illustration) I needed to be visible through gaps on the previous page. The last page is definitely not a realistic image but I think it worked out to support the previous pages and stand as a page alone.

Above: my own feedback critique on my project and how to improve it, what the next weeks will entail.

...I have decided to simplify the book a lot and just provide the audience with images of a modern day coffee shop providing the good and bad in society and societies relationship with technology. I hope that it conveys the message that although phones etc can be great in communication they also can stifle it. 

Experiment's with adding colour, using multiply and adding images, on Photoshop with Matt's help:

After my last Indesign workshop I found out I would either have a wide white boarder around my images and make them smaller or I could add some height and width to my image to allow for bleed. I went with the latter and on photoshop I changed my canvas size to width 15.1cm and height 21.6cm. 

On Photoshop I began adding colour and backgrounds and some other details. So far I have done some backgrounds, the cheeks, and most of the coffee shops products. 

 

Here are some enlargements showing detail on the food and drinks of the coffee shop:

Below is my tutors feedback:

This was extremely helpful as while I was working on Photoshop I found myself spending too much time on small details and he reminded me to keep it simple. I also improved my work by following his advice to 'avoid too much flat colour' so I added texture on Photoshop using the paint fill and paint brush tools. I had a lot of gestural marks in my drawings and these provided a problem as they were in the original black pen and stuck out to the audience, I solved this problem by using coloured lines to go over these gestural marks; I think this improved the look but I am sure with more practice I would be able to create even more synced gestural marks, perhaps through using a wacom tablet instead of the usual laptop pad. This is something I will most definitely explore in future projects. Below is my developed illustrations after receiving my tutors feedback:

Final Crit

This feedback shows that I was successful in my research methods and sketchbook work but that perhaps I should have practised using different tools for cutting out and different papers for the final book. I am also glad people found it 'warm' and 'really atmospheric' as that was something I was really aiming for in order to create the coffee shop scene. This feedback tells me the cutting out was successful and a good idea however could be improved by using, for example lazer cutting, to produce a smoother cut.