At the beginning of this module, my projects moved quite slowly and I found putting a lot of time into work quite hard. I think this was partly because I was a bit burnt out from the first semester. As a result, I think the research part of the book (visual journalist) suffered. I also found a lack of direction as a result of finding it hard to narrow down my topic (the untold story I was telling) at the beginning of the picture book brief, which made it hard to get into a work flow. After the Christmas break my work rate picked up again through simply making work and not thinking too much; which made it harder when I was bringing the project together. Although I may be being harsh on myself, I get a feeling that parts of this module have unfulfilled potential (I get this after every project) I always wonder where a project would have gone if I’d have followed one line of inquiry over another.
On a positive note, the work I have made in this module feels more like the kind of work I want to make; although, at times in this module I have been unsure about my approach, thinking it may have been too abstract at points. Putting my work from this module in the context of my work from visual skills; I think visually the work in this project it more interesting but concepts/ideas are still lacking. Essentially, I need to apply the same rules of communication to more abstract work as I would to more representational work. Occasionally, work from this project has felt slightly self-indulgent (I often feel this way about abstract work I make); the way I justify making work like this to myself is with a tongue in cheek approach to it. Using my blog to show how a project develops is hard as it felt like a very natural; almost subconscious development process; whereas blogging doesn't feel so natural. In future, making lists of what I’ve done and then thinking why I’ve done it and how it will inform my next steps might be useful and help reflection.
I was happy with my final book for visual narratives. While I think the concepts are slightly lacking, I’m happy with the visuals. I didn’t formally plan out and storyboard my book before making it as the development of the idea all came so fast and I already had lots of the artwork. However, I understand could be useful in a different project perhaps where it more based around an idea or concept. I was pleasantly surprised at how I dealt with digital work that I would have found daunting at the beginning of the course.
It was nice to be introduced to both print rooms. I didn’t make as much use of these resources as I would have liked to - but I expect to spend much more time using them in the future, especially getting back to experimenting and developing through print. The 1 week brief introduced me to research (and group work), both were tricky. I really enjoyed the screen print induction; especially doing silly things in the print process to get interesting results- not exactly following strict rules of screen printing.
I think my studio practice slipped for a fair amount of time in this module which I’d just put down to getting out of the habit of coming in when there isn’t a taught session. I just feel more in control and my work has more direction when my studio practice is good and I need to remind myself to maintain good practice. I found I didn’t make enough time for non-work things in the first semester which I think contributed to feeling burnt out. I feel like I make better work when I have a better balance.
Having a longer brief has allowed me to develop and reflect further on my work and practice as I go along. This project has highlighted the importance of research, concepts and ideas especially in helping structure a project. While these are three things I’ve not found as easy as I’d have liked, I can see how useful it is and I’ll definitely employ it in my future practice. This module feels like I’ve drawn everything I learnt in the first semester together with what I’d learnt before and it seems like my practice is evolving. The work this module feels much more like my own than the first.
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