Responsive Module Evaluation.
This module has definitely opened my eyes as to what it would be like as an illustrator outside of education. Before this module it was easy to confine myself inside a bubble of course briefs, with just a grade result as my target. it has allowed me to think about my work within the creative industry, outside of the studio environment and beyond the competition of just my course peers- scary thought!
Working with ‘real world’ clients has allowed me to experience working to their individual deadlines and requirements, though I am used to working to strikes deadlines, the consequences are much different to education. If I were to miss a deadline within my university course, this would effect my overall grade, letting myself and tutors down, whereas in the professional industry, there is no pressure from clients. it does not effect them if I enter my work or not, though my failure to do so would ultimately stop me from potentially being recognized or considered in any future illustration work, inevitably threating my own success as a illustrator. This made me more determined to reach deadlines, being responsible for a wasted opportunity that could effect my accomplishment, as an illustrator is something I did not want wresting on my shoulders.
I found the set up of the module quite confusing and overwhelming at first, being in-charge of what briefs to undertake was quite a responsibility, I worried that I would chose a brief that I may loose interest in or hit a creative block with, however, from experience with other modules and discussion with tutors and peers, this is something that is probable with even your ideal brief, there Is no escaping!
Choosing individual briefs has really encouraged me to become more decisive, something I lacked massively before hand due to lack of confidence in my own ideas, I tended to rely on others for guidance and opinions as I felt I needed reassurance that I was ‘on the right track’.
Though this has improved my confidence, making me a stronger and self-assured illustrator, and has allowed me to experience what it will be like after university, it has also made me appreciate peer reviews, feedback sessions, and being surrounded by other creatives. I feel input off others and being influenced by different design styles can really push my practice forward, and is something I will keep in mind after university.
One thing I regret with in this module was not clarifying what was classed as a substantial brief, I was under the impression every brief has to be as intense as our main individual practice ycn brief so I therefore choice 3 other from ycn. I think by doing this I put myself under more pressure as the deliverables from each were rather extensive.
Learning how to Present our work to a profession level has been a substantial part of this module and is something I did not see as essential until now. It has been great to see how much better work can look in a effective, clear design layout. I have definitely become more aware and critical of how I present my work, especially comparing my current boards to the boards we had to create for our first individual practice crit. I have learnt not to over complicate with text and allow the visuals to talk for themselves, the first thing the client should be hit with is a impact board to showcase my work and drawn them In.
Though presentation boards can massively improve the look of my work, they do take time; I need to make sure I account for this time within the deadline future.
As we are being advised to have our own online presence, I have began to put my work online and on to social media sites to promote my practice, however as the work produced for this module is for competition entries, I have had to consider withholding work until after deadlines to avoid the chance of plagiarism, something we have been warned about in our PPP module, and something I would perhaps not of thought about before. Contrary to this, I have tried to evidence and justify my ideas and thought processes as much as possible on my blog to avoid accusations of copyright myself.
To being with, I was not particularly enthusiastic, and was quite apprehensive to start the collaborative practice brief due to past experiences of collaborations, personally i would rather be responsible for my own work, I feared that if the project did not go as well as hoped, I would feel I would of let the other person down as well as myself.
Never the less, as this was a compulsory part of the module, I began to look for a partner to work with that could improve my practice. Unfortunately many people had already found pairs so I was put into a predicament by my tutor to choose from the creatives that were left. Luckily I was partnered with Joe boyd, another illustrator on my course, I was really happy to be partnered with him as our practices are quite different, our strengths are opposite to each other so this will therefore hopefully make for a stronger project outcome.
To begin with, both me and Joe were quite timid with our opinions and idea, I was reluctant to instruct or suggest alternate routes due to my lack of self -assurance, there was no authority or controller in our partnership which at times made it difficult to make a decision. However as time went on and we spent more time together, it became easier, we understood that our opinions were not said to offend but used to improve our projects which would inevitably benefit us both.
Overall, I found this module very useful as I have come to realize that illustration is not just down to the work you produce, there are many other aspects that need to be considered, such as deadlines, communication with the client, the presentation/delivery of work, etc. It has made me more confident as a creative by pushing me out of my comfort zones and forcing me to have trust my decisions.
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