OUIL 403 End of module self evaluation

I think a key skill that I have developed throughout this module, and particularly this latest brief, is the ability to persevere with a single idea, developing it, and making it the best idea I can before executing the final resolution. I think this perseverance shows through the experimentation I did in Studio Brief 4 in which I progressed through several ideas and tests before going ahead with my final three illustrations. Though I may not have produced my best work by the end of the brief, the whole process to get there was a valuable experience, and I feel as though each brief I’ve been set has been a similar story.

The varied nature of the briefs has given me an opportunity to try out a fairly wide range of media. This experimentation has led to me becoming more considerate of the scale/aesthetic of my developed work in relation to media. With the exception of studio brief 3, each of my final resolutions has been made using a process or method which I do not usually work in.  Therefore in terms of experimentation, I find studio brief 3 to be the weakest, as I fell back on using pen and a gouache wash, since I didn’t have time to be more adventurous due to my initial struggle with the brief.

I think my development work and use of sketchbook throughout the module has been strong. This is supported by the feedback that I have been getting from peer and tutor reviews. I think the ideas that I come up with for each brief are varied, allowing me to be selective in regards to what I develop into a finished piece. However it was noted that the amount of development work I did for each brief was inconsistent, which I need to address in future. I think the development I did for studio brief 4 was the strongest and most adventurous “journey”, and is definitely what I need to be doing more of.

In the initial brief, we were asked to produce two sheets of 64 thumbnail ideas. While I was not a stranger to thumb nailing quick ideas on a sheet, I had never done it in such a large quantity. I feel that the exercise was useful for that project, but was not a method of working in I particularly enjoyed; I appreciate the skill it tried to develop, but I felt as though I was putting down ideas just for the sake of it. In future, I would like to get better at being able to throw out quick, rough ideas so that I can give myself even more ideas to work with. I feel as though sometimes I am too precious with ideas. I also would like to give myself more time to work on my final outcomes, which would naturally make them look better. These two points are related; if I can achieve the first the second will come naturally. I would also like to give myself more time to experiment with materials/stock so that I don’t go working into my final resolution blindly.