19/01/2015

OUIL504: Self Evaluation

Throughout this brief I have learnt many things, most notably the basics in both Dragon Frame and Adobe After effects. Both of which have been played with to the point where I feel quite confident in my abilities to run them properly. I personally feel there is much more time to be spent with After Effects to grasp its full potential. Moving past the digital aspect, I feel that I have also learnt, or rather developed, much further my understanding of screen printing. I was initially hesitant to go back to to this process, and I feel this hampered me later on when several issues arose with my screens (as mentioned in Printed Pictures: Screen Issues). However I feel my outcome for Printed Pictures is much stronger than that of Visual Narrative (OUIL405) from last year where I created a concertina/zine of a similar fashion. I believe that with the addition of screen printing, my work has progressed to a more professional level aesthetically. I look forward to further developing my skills with screen printing.

Concerning my attitude towards screen printing, and my work ethic in general, I need to be more assertive. There were many points throughout this module where I found myself coasting because I felt as though I didn’t have a specific thing to aim for, or I couldn’t settle on an idea. I wasted so much of the early OUIL504 module wondering what to do that I didn’t actually do anything. It was only when I forced myself to sit down and play around that ideas finally started to develop.

I found this to be most prominent during the early stages of the Visual Journal and Printed Pictures briefs. I found that collage, a process of illustration that I first began to develop last year in Visual Language (OUIL404), really was a great source of fun and inspiration for me. It was my ability to look back and take stock of how effective my collage work was that really pushed my Moving Pictures Brief forward. Although I didn’t produce much hand made collage work for the brief I did create a digital collage of images directly inspired by my Visual Journal work. 

Concerning my final outcome for the Moving Picture brief, there are several things I would change if I were to do it again. Most importantly, I would have a look at the pacing of the piece, which I feel is somewhat off, it could do with being tighter near the end and the title portion feels rather segregated from the rest of the animation.

The final outcome for my Printed Pictures Brief I have contradictory feelings for. Whilst the piece works as an ordered piece, designed in Adobe Illustrator. It is this same order that leaves me feeling cold when I look at it. The print doesn’t feel like there is any heart to it and I am finding myself more impressed with my previous screen prints seen here: (Printed Pictures: Screen Print Investigation). I feel that the disorder, whilst not representing Huxley’s ordered dystopia so much, visually looks like a more engaging piece of illustration.

Going forward I feel that I definitely want to bring more collage process into my work. This continues to be a strong area for me and I feel that with a bit more time, I could be onto something very effective. In the future I also need to bring more visual research into my work. I feel that, although there is research of different practitioners throughout my work, it is mostly within Printed Pictures. This benefited my work greatly and helped inspire me during some difficult spells of that brief. I feel that my animation could have been improved upon greatly with the inclusion of more research within the brief. I need to make sure I am researching as effectively throughout to help inform my practise as a whole. Finally, and I feel that this is most important - I need to begin to understand my own limitations. What I picture in my head is always going to be different to what I actually produce. If I set my standards too high then I’ll end up being disheartened with my work no matter how well it turns out.

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