Reflecting over Unit Ba7 and thinking about Unit Ba8...
After
giving Ba7 some time to reflect over I can start to see how my work is
progressing to lead into my final unit and start to develop into my own
illustrative voice. I have learnt that I need a strong starting point that will
provide me with great room to research and create primary/secondary drawing and
text references that create a staple base for me to work from. From previous
experiences I have felt quite lost if there is not this foundation so I need to
make sure that there will be this necessity for my work in the next unit. I
love to use colour with mostly wet materials and during the last project I
touched on areas of graphic simplicity. Where I looked into pattern, placement
and composition. What I need to think about is how will I push these elements
further? Then develop and evolve particular strengths in my work into the next
unit?
Some
of the feedback from unit Ba7 was; to take a little longer time in my drawing,
develop areas of experimentation more fully, that there was a graphic element
to my work which was effective and could be more realised through a variety of
media, and push materials, ideas and process into the next unit.
For
over the period of Ba8 I want to look into making 3 briefs, run one by one or will
go alongside each other. This will mean that I will not get too bogged down
into one subject, as I know I need something that will keep me interested to continually
create consistent exciting and successful responses to the briefs.
I
want to look further into narrative and sequential illustration and I wish to
do that in an extension project of Ba7 – Illustrating
an African Folk Tale. I looked into a few different tales when choosing the
one for Ba7 and some of them I really enjoyed but thought they were too big for
the time period of the last unit. Therefore I could revisit these and develop
my start into looking at narrative illustration and pursue areas I touched
further. I am then thinking of working on two competitions briefs. I have
learnt that I can over-think things and this means making my own briefs I find
very stressful and tend to over-complicate things for myself. If I use the
competitions the brief is already set out for me to respond to, then I do not
have to worry about initially making a project and instead I can just get on
with my practice. The competitions I am interested in looking into is
firstly YCN’s brief for Cath Kidston to design a print.
‘Design
one new conversational print taking into account our brand values and print
style. Examples of conversational prints within our range would include Cowboy,
Garden Birds, Guards of London – these are prints with a recognisable picture
within them.’
I have
always loved Cath Kidston as a brand, but I think this could also be a good
brief for me to look into. This is because I started to establish working with
pattern and placement of illustration and also looking into a particular culture
to base my work from within Ba7. I can use this brief to look into British
heritage and culture, and to also develop my illustrative voice of
experimentation with drawing materials, skills and graphic elements. The other
competition briefs I am interested in are for the Penguin Design Awards. There is the adult and children’s book
competition to design a complete book jacket for the books: ‘What a carve up!’
by Jonathon Coe and ‘The Outsiders’ by S.E. Hinton.
I
have designed some book jackets before for previous projects and I really
enjoyed them, this would be a great chance to reflect on what I produced before
and what I learnt, then address these skills and practice to one of the books.
Over
the period of Unit 8 = 6th January to 23rd May (5 ½
months approx.) I will divide my time between these three projects. The next
step for me now is to start and write some rough proposals for Ba8 and start to
initially look into my subjects. For Ba8 I want to develop and realize my
Illustrative voice and really push my skillset. Grab any opportunity for
experimenting with new ways of making imagery and perfect my drawing style.
