PPP2: Cost of Living

This task involved making a rough estimate of our current expenditure per year. We had to fill out one pasted on what we were spending this year, then another for in 5 years time. I thought it was a very interesting task but I did have to get my mum to help me ha! This is something I probably need to look at again because I found it quite confusing. It's given me an idea at what I would have to earn to have the lifestyle I'm after. I drive, so I'd have to earn enough to run my car well as paying for what comes with the house. 

Life's a Pitch

What is the idea/concept for your groups proposal?
Co-owned print business specialising in traditional print. We have a van that travels around to places such as schools and festivals. We will both sell prints and be teaching people how to print using different processes. We will have a larger base workshop/studio where we will teach larger groups.

What service do you propose to provide?
1. Educating but fun way to learn print processes.
2. A service that targets different audiences changing the print processes we teach.
3. Sell our own prints on site.
4. Screenprint at festival/events
5. Lessons for both small and large groups.
6. Available for hire.

Who will benefit/make use of our services?
1. Kids/teachers/schools.
2. Colleges and universities.
3. Festivals- young adults/teens that are interested in music.
4. People interested in print.
5. Comic festivals. Comic con- people that visit there.

What are the aims of your proposal?
1. To get more people interested in traditional print.
2. To lead people to think about producing their own freelance work.
3. To make money.
4. To inspire.
5. To educate.

Process and Production Evaluation

Over the course of this module I have developed skill in the use of different processes that were either new to me or something I would have preciously written off. Before this module I had little skill or knowledge in both traditional print processes and animation. For Studio Brief Three, Printed Pictures, I focused on the medium of screen-printing. This is because I’ve always admired the quality that can be achieved through screen-printing and thought it would best suit and enhance my tone of voice. For Studio Brief Two, Moving Pictures, I gained experience in both Dragon Frame and Adobe After Effects.

Overall I think my finished prints are a reflection of my strengths more so than my Studio Brief Two resolutions. The minimalistic qualities of my final printed outcomes combined with the use of shape and colour have effectively created a lovely set that play out a sinister narrative. Although the overall quality of some of my prints aren’t perfect due to problems with exposing screens and lining up layers, I see a huge improvement in my knowledge and practice. This can been seen through looking at my finished work against my first test prints. I found that screen-printing complimented my style of illustration. By working digitally first, it made choosing colour and layout easier. The transition from Photoshop to print took my work to the next level by giving my work a hand crafted feel. It’s great that my prints work both digitally and hand printed, providing more opportunities when thinking about selling work. During this brief I think I have shown a good understanding of composition, shape and colour. After gaining confidence and skill in printing I can definitely see me taking it further within my practice in the future.

My original Printed Pictures Project Proposal stated that I intended to create eight prints that illustrated a murder. After a number of group crits and tutorials, I revisited my proposal and changed it to six. This was a more appropriate amount of prints to best suit my time scale and would still allow me to illustrate a murder narrative clearly. My first intentions were that I would illustrate ‘a close up of the murderers eye’, ‘a woman walking away’ and ‘a woman’s face screaming’. Through visual research, thumb-nailing and development, my drawings changed yet my initial concept remained. Visually, my final illustrations are stronger than my proposed ideas. I used my visual journal to take them from initial ideas, and develop them in to final products. One of my weaknesses through this module lies in the lack of depth and exploration in my visual journal. At the beginning of my visual journal it looks more look a scrapbook of things I’ve added there for my tutor to mark. However I later I start using it for myself rather than for marking purposes. I began thumb-nailing and sketching out ideas without thinking how they might be perceived by anyone else but only how I understand them.

I found the Moving Pictures Brief most challenging as it forced me out of my comfort zone. At the start of the brief I doubted my animation skills so I decided to work in collage as I thought it would be easier with my lack of experience. After seeing what other members of my class had produced, I lacked confidence in my own stings. I realize now that I could have made something a lot more impressive that’s closer to my usual hand drawn style. However, saying this I do see strengths in my animations. Visually they all work as a set and animate a murder, just like my prints. The compositions, colour and tone are strong. This combined with the use of texture, creates a haunting, mysterious atmosphere which is what I intended to achieve in my proposal. Though I think my stings are strong in this sense, I think some of the movement, particularly in sting three, are wooden. I think my ideas for my animations were strong but it’s clear I’m thinking as an illustrator, not an animator. Looking back now there’s only small bits of movement, for example: the light flickering, the snow falling, the smoke rising etc. My animations were very much After Effects driven. What my stings lacked was long length drawn animations, which I would like to explore in the future. There are small details e.g. the cigarette smoke in sting two where I begin to bring in hand-drawn stop frame animation. If I were to take this further I would add stings which I feel would add to the narrative of the murder, perhaps the woman screaming for example. I found it hard to stick to the ten second time limit. This would be something to improve on.

I see a lot of strength and success throughout this module. A lot of this is down to my time management and organization. By being on top of my work I was able to complete two prints and the majority of my animations by the time I came back to college after Christmas. I then worked extremely hard to get my Printed Pictures Brief finished in order to beat the last minute printing crowd. This left me plenty of time to produce packaging for my prints and think about how they would exist in context; adding professionalism to my work.

Overall, my work is visually engaging and successfully achieves the initial concept that I specified in my project proposals. This module has pushed me beyond my limits and I feel that my work reflects the effort I've put into it. I’m looking forward to taking the skills I’ve learnt in both animation and screen-printing into future projects and what I could achieve. I’m beginning to use my visual journal correctly rather than as a scrapbook, however I’d like to work on adding more depth and development within future projects.

Reportage Illustration

I'm really interested in reportage illustrators and I think that came through on my PPP blog during Level 4. I found this interesting article and interview on whether illustration offers another layer to war reportage.he talks about what is special about illustration and the impact it has on the audience. An interesting read.

Life's a Pitch. Part 1

who are you?
your business
your resources
your customers


your business
business name
business activity - what you do
missions statement- what do you aim to do

business objectives 
what are your plans to achieve your sales/income
targets in the first 12 months
what new products or services will you introduce in the folowing tow years to grow your business?
what is your long term/5 years goal?

limited company? partnership? social enterprise? cooperative? sole trader?
why have you chosen this status? what are the advantages?

your resources
 products/services
what resources do you require
what equipment do you need
how much will it cost
stock- how much do you need, do you need stock to start your business?

start from scratch when starting a business as you won't be able to apply for a grant as they will see you as a already set up business.

your customers
what evidence do  you have that anyone will bu your product/serivce?
is it a popular product/service currently provided by lots of others?
is your idea completely new?

who are they?
describe audience specifically
describe the market sector - e.g. retail, food. leisure, local brands, entertainment- a service provided a service to other businesses
where are they
where do they go
where do they want to go
where would they go if they could

why would they buy from you than anyone else
how much are they likely to spend
will your sales fluctuate due to external forces?
how often will they spend that amount with you?

how will they know?
how will you advertise your product/services? advertising is not compulsory)
what other marketing methods would be effective for you?-
fb
personal selling
promotional

NEXT SESSION monday 
your business
your resources
your customer
your cost
your price
promoting yourself
monitoring yourself