It's evaluation time!

So the first module of third year is done, I feel really good about everything that I have accomplished so far. The standard of work that I produced over the summer really had an impact on my attitude towards working during this module, I feel like I finally homed in on a style that I can use effectively. I managed to complete all six of the workshops and because of such I now have some strong pieces that could potentially make it into my portfolio. Throughout this module I have gained a better understanding of my own practise and where it truly fits within the illustration world. I have thought more about application of images as well as the potential jobs I could gain from the way that I work.

I redesigned each brief to best fit my strengths which I learned was character design, each workshop now played to my strengths meaning that I could get a consecutive style throughout this module. I chose to extend the museum of Spectres and Spooks workshop as it felt that it targeted my personal interests more than the others, I enjoy drawing monsters and things of that nature so it seemed pretty fitting. I went on to create flyers, tee shirt designs, tickets, enter signs and additional mascot characters, these pieces are some of the best I have ever created and for that I would like to add them to my portfolio. Sadly I ran out of time as I wanted to make a few more characters for the brief but I will definitely carry them on in my own time.  My tee shirt templates were a little rough so that would need to be revisited and neatened up but seeing as they are only mock ups I think they are fine for the hand in.

I feel like I got a good range of work going throughout this module as I managed to adapt my style to fit each brief. The found object, Stationary and Spectres and Spooks focused on character design using my regular angular style with darker ink work where as the Draw Draw Draw workshop allowed me to focus more on the development of the characters through sketches. The final outcome for that workshop was a little different from everything else as it was comprised of shapes and had no shading at all, it was a little abstract even for me, but I liked it none the less.
Finally the synchronised swimming workshop really tested me, not only was I limited to a square format but I also gave myself the task of conveying a difficult concept using minimal imagery. The workshop was supposed to symbolise how difficult and stressful synchronised swimming can be for the swimmers, I used an octopus to mimmic the confusion under the water, his tentacles mimicking the woman's legs kicking out of the water.

For me I have been pretty consistent during this module and have kept up a good level of work throughout, Caroline's DRAW DARW DRAW workshop was the only one that I had some trouble with. I kept getting stuck with the direction of my characters and couldn't come up with a solid composition, in some way this was good as it made me draw more which was the original intension of the workshop.
The final dust jacket for my book cover came out as I wanted it to although it nearly went pear shaped as the spine did not line up the first time I folded it around the book. That was probably the most stressful part for me but with a little help I managed to make it much more presentable. The pencil that I made worked pretty well and goes nicely with my finished book, the finished pencil was a little rough around the edges but it was only a machete to demonstrate the idea.

I have found a good balance between blog and sketch book this time, instead of keeping things totally separate they are now two of the same thing, work crosses over between blogs and hopefully it was easy enough to understand.

If anything I still need to work on my time management skills a little more as I wanted to produce some more characters for the Spectres and Spooks workshop, I can still complete these in my own time now though which is fine by me. Over all a good module for me, good amount of work, better understanding of the industry and an even better understanding of what job i'd like to have in the long run.