Visual Communications Evaluation

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

The biggest skill I’ve learnt during this brief is how to use Adobe Illustrator. I only learnt a few things to start me off but I’m glad I know some basic things in order to produce some nice pieces of work that I’m proud of. I think was very valuable, not only for studio brief 2 and 3 but my practice in general. At first I struggled with it and I know what I produced was only using simple shapes but by applying what I’ve learnt about composition, I designed a set of visually strong postcards. I was so happy with what I produced in studio brief 2 that I took the skills id learnt in to studio brief 3 also.

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

I think working to different scales in studio brief 3 has been valuable to my practice. I had to think of what media and quality of line would work in particular sizes, especially the A2 poster. When working on the poster I found the line quality was very important in order for a good quality print so I tried working in a brush pen. This is something I haven’t used in a long time but I was really happy with the results. As well as this, I found adobe illustrator a useful method because I now know that when making a vector based image you can scale either up and down as much as you like and there’s no loss to the quality. This proved useful when making my stamps in studio brief 3.

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

I think that one of my strength is that I’ve become a lot more organised than I used to be and I think this comes through in my blog. I have also better at keeping my blog more up to date. This module has pushed me to use method of work that I would usually avoid, such as photography in the first brief then illustrator and even the use of ink and a different pen. This is something I still need to work on as I’m not going to grow as an illustrator I refuse to use anything other than a fineliner.

I also think in studio brief 2 my work has improved in terms of composition. This is something I learnt in visual language and is now forever in my mind as something to consider when making illustrations.

Additionally, I think my use of colour has greatly improved during the last two briefs. I’ve learnt that use of colour is very important and I think my use of colour in studio brief 2 worked really well. Sticking to a set colour scheme in studio brief 3 also worked well to produce a professional finish to the set.

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

Weaknesses in my work have come from my lack of enthusiasm for the briefs. This was particularly apparent in studio brief one. We struggled as a group because we had to rely on eachother but people were constantly ill. I don’t feel our final outcomes were successful in the end due to lack of commitment and enthusiasm. In the future I’ve just got to make sure I do my bit and but all my effort in to it.

I also went through a stage during studio brief 3 were I wasn’t happy with any ideas I was coming up with and I hit a wall. In the end I did overcome it and I’m now happy with what I produced. I think in the future the key to this is just to keep drawing and also I think looking at other work for inspiration can spark up an idea.

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

- spend a bit more time of research to give myself a strong starting point.

- try use different media and line qualities to suit particular briefs

- stick to a colour scheme because it worked really well in this module and it makes a big impact.

- Thumbnail and draw more because it’ll improve my drawing and the development of my ideas

- blog little and often. It’ll show my development process clearly and it’ll keep me organised.

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