OUIL 404 Module Evaluation

I think I’ve really developed my composition and use of digital media within this module. I have learnt that I really like working with shapes, digitally but emulating that traditional/handmade look with textured brushes and scanned in handmade textures. This can be seen employed in my colour/value task and my 'People of Note' poster. I've never really given much thought about line of sight before, but since learning about it, you can really see that it has had an affect on a couple more of my recent work such as this one, where I have started to naturally think about it when thumbnailing.

I have really enjoyed studio brief 2 within this module and I found learning about composition, depth, line of sight, etc, most valuable. I have always been really curious about how people can come up with such exciting, dynamic and interesting illustrations, so with the second brief of this module, I felt I was more excited and motivated because this was exactly what I wanted to learn and improve on. Learning these compositional tools, I think has helped to clarify my ideas more and make my pictures more exciting. This brief has also allowed me to practise/employ all the things we’ve learned in studio brief 1 such as shape and texture, and make fully finished illustrations that tell a story or say something, which I really want to practise and do more of. I think overall my composition, story telling and eye for colour has improved tremendously since I started this course.

As usual, I think my one biggest problem is not giving myself the chance to experiment more with other medias other than digital ones. I didn’t really get excited with the work I produced at the beginning of this module that are purely analogue. I think this is because I’m still kind of fairly new to making pictures digitally, and whenever I feel myself improving or when I discover something new that I really like, it gets me all excited and more motivated to do it again. I'm really fascinated with digital artworks that have that traditional flair to them and I want to learn and better myself on achieving this kind of work. Although I guess I could still use a range of different medias instead of just pencil, in the early stages of making my final illustrations.

I want to be more dynamic with my viewpoints as I feel like I only draw from really basic angles which can get a little repetitive and a little boring at times. My human anatomy/figures could also be improved when portraying people from different angles and perspectives. In order to do this, I could go to life drawing classes, or just simply draw more from life, or draw more dynamic poses of people from photos.

By looking at, deconstructing and analysing other artists' work as a group, with the class, against the set of principles/skills/techniques that we've learnt about, I've found out that good illustrations don't just happen by itself. It's enabled me to gain a deeper understanding as to why such decisions were made about the chosen composition, colour etc. of that person's work. This has been really beneficial for me and has allowed me to actually start thinking more deeply about my own work when constructing it.