Evaluation

What you have learnt and how you have gone about learning it;

In this project I have covered aspects of the laser-cutter, In Design, Photo-shop, Illustrator, Print making, Jewelry-making. I have developed my illustration skills and organization ability. I feel I have pushed myself to the limit and have learnt more on this project than any other I have done so far. However I have not created any work in this project that I can say I am particularly proud of but I have learned skills that will benefit me in the future. I have broken the barrier of knowing how to do certain processes and can just focus on being creative with my own work. This project has forced me to break out of my comfort zone and explore areas I wouldn’t normally. Part of me wishes that I had had this project set at the beginning of last year because this project has not made the penny drop but from doing this project it is definitely on its way.

What else do you need to learn?

Looking back to the beginning of the project I have experimented with most of the skills I said I wanted to learn. Even though this is the case it means that I only learned aspects of each of the skills and I don’t have really strong knowledge in any specific area. I now know out of the things I learned what I don’t want to do again, what skills I think will benefit me in future, what skills I would like to develop. In the beginning of the project I was inspired by handrawn typography although I never got round to doing this and would like to do this in future. Out of the things I have learned I feel that I would now like to focus on using illustrator. Now I know the basic skills I want to create detailed illustrations on this. From reading and researching about how art will develop in the future I have learned that digital art is determined to be more popular. I did struggle with learning print-making skills but this is an area that I would like to develop because the artists’ work that I studied in this project shows they use the processes with impressive results.

How effective was your research and self-directed projects in helping you to develop your understanding?

My research has helped me so much with this project. By studying other artists’ work this has kept me inspired throughout and made me want to go out and try new things because of their successes. I have had to research into many of the processes. This has helped me because otherwise I would have had no idea where to start. I have learned to be very independent when it comes to learning, relying on myself to learn the processes and not expecting other people to teach me.

How important was the process of getting things wrong;

So many things went wrong in this project. Because I was trying to learn so many new processes I was constantly getting stuck with things I didn’t know. I struggled the most when learning illustrator because I was teaching myself and learning it all from scratch. This project has taught me that I should not be afraid of getting things wrong, I just need to leave enough time before the end of the project so I can eventually get things how I want them.

How are broader developments going to affect you?

I know that even though I am learning computer programmes now that they are going to be constantly changing in the future. I will have to keep myself constantly updated in order to keep up and be successful. I have used many processes in this project where the materials/machines have been at college. When I leave I will either need to find a place where I can access this equipment or change my ways of working. This project has made me consider the prices of materials and how the materials I use can damage the environment. In order to help the planet I need to use eco-friendly materials.

What have you learnt about yourself, managing a project and independent study?

From this project I have learned that my dyslexia affects me much more than I originally thought especially when it comes to organization skills. I learned that I need routine in order to succeed. Eventually two weeks before the end of this project I created a timetable and worked out a way to keep organized by creating a daily timetable the day before and working out exactly what needed to be done that day. I believe it was wrong of me to create a timetable at the beginning of the project because the project changed and I began to think about things that I was interested in or wanted to expand on.

Printers Visit

In previous tutorials I have been advised by my tutor to visit a printers with the aim to find out how my work could be produced on a mass scale. I haven't been until now; however it seems the perfect time to do this as I have designs so I could ask how they would be printed, what colours would be created, costs and so on. I found this extremely useful and I would like to visit other printers to see what they could do. I have still not found out how I would produce flock on paper on a mass scale and this is something I would like to find out.

Christmas Cards

I have been working so hard on these all week although I am not happy with the end result of the Christmas card. Above shows the smudges from the screen print and the foil that hasn't stuck to the paper successfully. At the end of this project I was hoping to end with work that I could be proud of; however this is not the case. I am going to persevere with this process. I know how to do it I just need to take my time to refine the final outcomes. I have learned from this that I should never rush things because it just leads to things going wrong.

Process of Silk screen

My experience of silk screening over the past couple of days has been absolutely disastrous. Previously in this project I learned the process of flocking and foiling which is very similar; however I have never done silk screen before but have been to an induction. I was fine with remembering the process of cleaning the screen to begin with and exposing the image on the screen but when it came to printing the images I struggled to apply the paint to the screen. When using the vacuum bed the paper just stuck to the screen meaning that I had to clean the screen and start from scratch. This made me realise how many processes I have learned from this project; however I haven't developed them to a high standard and this is what I need to do in the future. To help me to remember the process I devised a step by step diagram above. I am a visual learner so I find things like this easier to understand. This will come in useful next time.

Illustrator Preparation for print

Image preparation for print

I struggled when setting up the image to be able to print. I spoke to various people who used different methods of setting up their images. To set up my image I tried Photoshop, Illustrator and In design. I found that when using photoshop the vectors of the images I created on illustrator were destroyed leaving me with an image that was pixelated. When using In design I struggled because I wanted to print the image in two layers and in In design I was unable to do this because I couldn't create the images to be exactly on top of each other. Illustrator was the best programme to use because it kept the quality of the image and allowed me to print the top image and the bottom image for screen printing in layers. Experimenting with these programmes took a lot of time.

Images to screen print

These designs came about from working out how to use the live paint tool. I feel like the image looks more like a snow flake than the one below because of its centre.

Ongoing weekly Analysis

I don't feel I achieved all of the aims I set myself last week so I am going to work hard to get it all finished continuing to learned the skills I had hoped to cover.

Aims- Screen Print Cards x2 designs

Compete illustrations in sketch book

Visit Printers

Antler Snow Flakes

To create these designs I was playing with offset paths and creating dashed lines using the tool bar. I really should have written down what I did so I will remember it all for next time. I really like the marks it makes.

Pathfinder

Today I learned four buttons of the pathfinder: Combining Shapes, Subtracting Shapes, Intersecting Shapes, Excluding Overlapped Shapes. I found this a lot easier than I expected. I would like to experiment with different layers using the subtracting shapes tools so images can been seen beneath.

Opacity Colour

I really struggled to create an image which used gradients that were not on a gray scale. I had to search online to find out the pocessess of how to do it. Now I really want to develop this skill to create detailed images like those of 'Emily Forgot'. I also experimented with the opacity levels and strokes to see what I could come up with.

Creating patterns using Illustrator

I followed the book step by step learning the processes of how to create patterns within a shape, using the pencil tool, brush tool, Ellipse tool and pen tool to form various versions of my own image which has been formed into a pattern. I like the image to the bottom left as this could be adapted into a wreath.

Adobe Illustrator: Pattern Design

I have borrowed books out the library with the aim to learn illustrator; however I have failed miserably. I talked to a pattern and textiles student who has lent me a book which was made for their course. This is step by step and I have just been following each step developing my own illustrations and just keep teaching myself. Before I was lent the book I tried to create the circular pattern above but couldn't work out how to make each antler an equal space apart; by following the book it showed me how to do this by using Object > Transform > Ctrl+D. I have also played with gradients but cannot work out how to do it by using colour only the ones which are shown on the tool bar.

The future is digital

Throughout this project I have been thinking about what developments in technology will effect me. I have been reading articles which show people's view on how art will develop. The links below show people's views of the future of art being digital. This leads me to use the rest of this project to learn more of how I can develop my work through the use of illustrator.

http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/digital_illustration

http://www.squidoo.com/digitalartanddesign

Reminders by photographer 'Recovering Lazyholic'

I cannot say I am at all lazy but I like the way the 'Recovering Lazyholic' uses colourful signs around her room that reminds her of things. Maybe this is a process that will help me.

Ongoing weekly Analysis

This week I have been just carrying on

Aims for this week:

Is to follow the illustrator guide of the textile and surface pattern design to learn how to use illustrator and use the sketchbook images I created in order to create e design for the bag and for Christmas card and for wrapping paper. When I have learnt these skills I will screen print.

New Time Table

From watching the documentary 'I am not stupid' I have realised that I work a lot better when I have a daily time table knowing exactly what to do at what time each day. I seem to get a lot more done. I have learned from this project that my dyslexia does really affect me and I have a really short concentration span. In this project I have tried to be organised but having a more specific daily timetable should make me more focused. I find using colours to indicate each day really helpful. I will continue to print a daily time table off each day.

Kara Tointon: Don't Call Me Stupid (Documentary about dyslexia)

Maybe I shouldn't say this but watching this programme has made me learn the most useful things I have learned throughout this entire project. It has made me realise that my dyslexia does not just affect the way I read but how I organise my entire life. Like Kara I am sick of struggling with my organisation skills. Even though I am coping and do lots of work I don't really organise my life as well as I should. I write down what I want to do then forget and look at it at the end of the day. If I want to do well I need to put all my effort into being organised. This programme have been a real revelation to me. I need to tackle the disorganisation that is ruling my life. By following the organisation processes which are shown in the programme I am hoping that this will help me in future. I realise now that it is not all about working hard its also about being organised in the right ways and being prepared.

Rabbit with antlers

I am constantly drawing with the aim to develop and gain new ideas. I explored the concept of a rabbit with antlers however I understand that this image does not work due to feed back from others. I am going to stick to the concept of the reindeer.

Heat transfers onto fabric

These are some samples of foil on fabric and disperse paper. I am looking at the idea of antlers to create a Christmas tote bag which can be sold at the 'Brown day charity fundraiser'. I created these at home using an iron rather than using the heat press which was a complete disaster leading to burning through a towel and a blanket on my carpet because we don't have a ironing board. I am now even more determined to do well on this project to make up for the £100 insurance excess I have to pay for my carpet. The foils also didn't work as well as they do when using the heat press at college. I like effects of the the copper foil however feel that the red and gold are too brash. I think the coloured heat transfers have some lovely colours. I would like to try these out on paper.

Weekly Ongoing Critical analysis

I feel that this week has gone a lot better than the weeks before. I learned the processes of flock and foiling, how to dye fabrics, experimentation with black and white drawing materials. I feel more organised.

My aims for this week are:

To visit printers

Experiment with paper-cutting

Finish black and white illustration sketchbook

Come up with a design for cards and wallpaper

Learn pattern processes on illustrator.

BoNBoN KaKKu

Striking patterns. I would love to look at the repeating pattern process and would still like to expand my skills in illustrator.

Pony Rider

Love Riser's work exploring the image of deers. I would like to do something similar to this but adding colour.

Fair Ideas

Love this work by Illustrator Gemma Latimer. The image above is of her stall at the Apples and Pears market in London. I think that a stall like this would go down brilliantly for Brown day.

Experimental deer

These are images from the sketch book I created using only black and white. I feel that in this book you can see a lot more use of mark making than in my other sketch books. I have put my Maya Anjelou project to one side with the aim to create Christmas images which could be transferred to cards or bags to sell for 'Brown day'.

Illustration: Mark Making

I have always created work which is fairly neat and colourful and although I am not sure if I want to change this I am worried that using colour in the beginning of a project distracts me from the actual idea of what I am trying to communicate and prevents me from expanding on my mark making skills. I found that previously with exploring print making I was more experimental with the marks I created when creating them from a blank canvas. I want to create a sketch book only using black and white and using any drawing tools I can find to make me less worried about making a mess and be more experimental with my ideas, adding colour later.

Dying Fabric Workshop

One of my aims for this project was to attend as many workshops as possible in order to find out what is available. I am also starting to think of Brown day and the things I could do for this to create a stall and what to. In the past many people have screen printed tote bags and I thought this would be a good thing to dye.

Flock & Foil

When beginning the process of cleaning the screen I already felt really daunted. I was given a step by step sheet from a member of staff however there wasn't anyone around that could help constantly so I had to work things out for myself and ask fellow students if I got stuck. I chose to flock and foil for the wedding invites and RSVP cards because I wanted to know what it would look like. The main aim for me is that I can go into the print room the do this again on other projects and just do it without the need to ask for any help. I experienced many problems when it came to applying the glue to the screen getting the right amount. Because of this problem when it came to apply the foil it didn't cover some of the areas I wanted it to. I am not at all happy with the finish of these experiments although I can see the potential they would have had if they had been successful. I would like to Persevere with these processes in future however there are still many techniques I would like to do for this project and am unsure if I will have time.

Paperchase Visit

At the beginning of this project I went to paperchase one of the Uk's leading craft stores to choose paper for the wedding invitations I created. I am really interested in card design and am thinking of creating a series of christmas cards for the Vis-Com 'Brown Day fundraiser' at the beginning of next month. Many of the cards in the store were printed however some used the process of laser cutting, Flocking or the use of metallic foil. If I want to go into card design I feel that these are processes I would need to learn as well as looking at how the cards wold be created on a mass scale. I will visit a local printers to find out how illustrations are printed onto cards and what work I can create.