OUIL403 Visual Skills evaluation

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
·         Experimenting with different media - particularly Photoshop, expanding from the Visual Language workshops, seeing how images work in different formats. Going back to using paint again instead of focusing on inks - sometimes ink isn't the best fit and it helps to experiment. ·         Roughs/ideas generation - previously I've been used to generating ideas in my head and writing them up as lists or brainstorms rather than presenting them visually, but having to do roughs helped me realise getting ideas down visually is a big help, particularly in Brief 1 where I realised I couldn't actually illustrate (well) some ideas for each of the 10 themes. ·         Blogging - having to write down that mental conversation with myself helped me realise further things about my own practice by getting down the jumbled thoughts in my head into a clear presentable format. ·         Loosening up my drawing by working to a small timeframe - similar to roughing, not being so precious about my drawing, as it's more important to get ideas down rather than being concerned with having perfect illustrations in the early stages.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
·         Limitations on colour and size/format across all the briefs helped me to realise that sometimes the more simple illustration is better for that particular brief, and it helps to make the mistake of drawing something too complex and simplifying it. I even decided to stick to a limited colour palette for the third brief even though there were no formal restrictions because of this. ·         Looking at other artists' work, relating to PPP and my new Pinterest account - helps to see how other artists create their work and apply the knowledge of professional practitioners to my own practice.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?
·         Authorship - my personality and interests definitely show across each of the 3 briefs, which I think helps set me apart from illustrators similar to me. ·         Character design - something I'm very passionate about and interested in pursuing. I find that more often than not when I'm presented with a brief I somehow subconsciously (sometimes consciously)  find a way to include character in my imagemaking. I think my character design is fairly individual and unique to me. ·         Drawing confidence - my confidence has definitely grown in my own drawing, particularly my sketchbook work and roughing. I'm less worried about having perfect illustrations on every sketchbook page, and am now more focused on just getting ideas down, which I think begins to show over the course of my sketchbooks for Visual Skills.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
·         Time management - falling back into old habits of not prioritising/organising my time effectively and staying up very late on Sunday nights in Briefs 1 and 2. Identified and fixed this for Brief 3, but will need to stay on top of this by doing work as soon as it's set, organising a social life around work and getting a good night's sleep more often than not. ·         Improve my rough drawing and do more! I can still overcomplicate my roughs and there is always an opportunity for me to do more, even if it's just a doodle on the bus. I need to get into the habit of taking a sketchbook everywhere. ·         Blogging - blog every day! Also use bullet points! I come from an English/essay-writing background so I'm always tempted to waffle on, but bullet points can help me to just get the main points down. ·         Continue experimenting with media for every brief to see what works well and what doesn't, even if I do use the first idea/media I wanted to.
5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA (Hons) Illustration programme? ·         Helped me get to grips with blogging - definitely evident on my blog that I'm getting more used to it as time (and briefs) wears on. ·         Helped me get used to the structure my life has now and how much work I'm getting and need to do every day. ·         Has helped me get to grips with using resources like Photoshop and the library that are available to me to help with each brief. ·         Introducing me to basic illustration skills like roughing that will underpin my practice for the rest of my professional life. ·         Crit sessions have really helped me start evaluating and reflecting on my own work in a friendly and constructive environment, and I look forward to these opportunities to have my peers help me figure out which path to progress on for each brief.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				X
Punctuality				X
Motivation				X
Commitment					X
Quantity of work produced			X
Quality of work produced					X
Contribution to the group					X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.