Missed deadline.

Im really angry at myself for not completing this poster in time. Especially after creating so much work for it. This is as far as I got, but I wanst 100% happy with it, so I had tried editing it on photoshop, but nothing was going to plan and 504 was weighing on my mind. 

Im disappointed with myself, but I have learnt a valuable lesson from my mistake. Continue to look at the deadline for the brief and plan my time wisely in order to meet deadlines. Because my time management wasn't organised enough, I will now have to work harder and faster in order to complete   a sufficient amount of briefs for this module.

Take away from this -

-Manage my time wisely.

- Work to self set schedules and complete the work no matter what.

- Remind myself of the deadline continuously, and don't let it slip my mind. 

End of Module Evaluation- OUIL504

Tilly Butters OUIL504 Self Evaluation

There’s no doubt that this has been the most eye opening module I’ve had on the course. Its seen my methods towards image making and my practice progress and develop, and made me realise what direction I want to pursue in the future.

The time scale on this project gave me the opportunity to try out so many techniques and gave me the time to explore print methods in detail, as well as the time to change and develop my ideas throughout. It has allowed me to become more confident within the print room, which has resulted in my work becoming more considered. I used to be a little scared to go there on my own, just in case I did something wrong. Whereas, this is now the environment in which I feel most comfortable.

I feel the print room has pushed and moulded my practice, and now I’m constantly thinking how each image I make can be developed into a lino cut or a screen print. It makes me think about image making in a whole new way.

Leonora Carrington was the most interesting person to research, so gathering information was highly enjoyable. Exploring various diverse methods of research has allowed me to gain a depth of knowledge and context, to then use to support my work. I felt that the knowledge I gained from the research helped me to reach a critical point within my practice, and resulted in a turning point within my work.

Exploring subject areas within art/art history that I previously had little knowledge on, by chance, gave me a concept to apply to my work that interested me and that I wanted to adopt to my practice. Surrealism. Carrington was one of the last surviving members of the surrealist movement of the 1930’s, and she was a woman. I personally thought of this very highly, and felt it was a very important part of who she was. And so I made work that reflected this as best I could.

Studying surrealism was very interesting, and is not a path I have taken before. But in doing so, I’ve fallen in love with the principles they apply to image making. Of course for me, communicating something is the core of what I do, however bending and changing the way things look has been thoroughly enjoyable. Its definitely expanded my entire thought process when I’m illustrating something. I think a large part of my practice changed through exploring these methodologies. Not only my style, but also my attitude towards my work. I wasn’t completely satisfied with anything I created last year, and was heading down the route of cute, children’s illustrations, which wasn’t what I wanted at all, but found it incredibly hard to change.

Critiques and one on one tutor sessions really helped me in turning it around, and also having the time to think about what I really wanted to achieve this time around.

I need to continue to push this in the future, and work hard for what I want.

Sketchbook work was also very influential in my practice during this module. I was advised to get a larger sketchbook, which made a noticeable difference. I stopped being so precious and precise and became a lot more experimental. The work I created in my larger sketchbooks is what I went on to do in my finals, just slightly more detailed and refined and after a lot of practice.

Screen printing my finals was by far the wisest choice I made. I loved lino, and will take the skills I’ve learnt from the workshops further in the future, but with the amount of time left towards the end and the sting, it was best to stick with screen printing.

After effects was a complete contrast to the print room, but it was great to work on two completely different things whilst trying to execute the same feel. Trying to link the two was at times tricky, and I started out with an idea that was far too elaborate. However, once id got my prints out of the way, it was a lot easier to focus on my sting without any distractions, and was able to connect them quite easily. My digital skills are getting slightly better throughout the course, and I’m very grateful I get to learn about so many programmes and useful techniques. However, on the whole, this module has confirmed how much I enjoy working with traditional print methods. There’s something a lot more personal there for me.

Module overview- OUIL504

Project proposal

Additional thoughts

- Everything must link. From my first sting idea to the prints I've created now, I'm worrying about how I'm going to link the two. Will have to work on this in order to produce a complete collection.

- I want to create work that makes people want to know who she was and what she was all about. She was such an amazing person, and I would love people to realise this. If I can do this, then i'll feel like I've accomplished my main goal.

Presentation

I made some labels ready for submission, using one of the backgrounds for the screen prints. Keeping the theme running throughout.

I never realised how much of a difference presenting your work nicely makes! 

Couple of photos from the final crit. Im really proud of what I've achieved in this module. I now need to take the skills I've learnt on to the next level.

Final Crit

The final crit was great. So good to see how much everyones developed over the past few months.

Things to take away-

- Do more printing in the future

- Take time to present work properly and be professional.

- Stop worrying so much about marks, Ive tried my best and thats what matters.

Sting final.

Here is the new and improved version of my sting! The actual final!

Managed to alter all of the things i had wanted to with the help from Mondays session. It turned out, in order to make the arms move more fluidly, I had to fill it on photoshop, rather than have it as a transparent figure. I also forgot to add the tongue on the last one, so I added that to the photoshop file and then into after effects.

As for the letters, I was told that if I worked backwards, it would all work a lot better and be easier to do. Which was definitely correct. The difference between the movement in this one to the last is so much better. I know its strange but I really like it, and I'm quite proud I managed to create something on after effects that isn't completely awful!

Strengths-
- It works as a set with my prints, given that it has elements of them within the sting.
- It doesn't feel like theres too much empty space, which is what happened when I did my very first attempt with the wolves.
- I feel the soundtrack works really well with the strange imagery. Its almost a complete contrast, making the overall feel even more surreal.

Weaknesses-
- 15 seconds is a short time frame to work within, however I feel like I could have added more. Perhaps another character. Having said this, my prints are pretty crowded, and i like that this isn't exactly like my prints.
- Im happy with the fluidity in the last 6 seconds, but the start where the letters come in could be much smoother.
- The eyes blinking could have been done a lot better. At times it fades far too slow.

Final screen prints and a small evaluation

Here are my 4 final screen prints. I feel like I've been on such a journey with these, on a completely personal level too. I really wasn't happy with much of my work last year, and I was finding it really difficult to break out of the continuous cycle which always ended with me being a little disappointed in myself. By the end of the year, it looked like I was heading towards being a children's book illustrator, which wasn't what I wanted at all. 

This module allowed me the time to explore the methods Id always loved in image making. It gave me the opportunity to become really confident in the print room, and develop my ideas into finals that I thoroughly enjoyed making, and finals that I'm actually really happy with the outcomes. 

A large part of this for me, was realising that some of the best things happen in my sketchbook. I always considered my sketchbook as a place for rough ideas, crap drawings, images to discard, and then I would try really hard to create a whole new image for my final based on my ideas. But this time, I was made to realise that my best work was already there, and that creating a whole new piece wasn't necessary. 

I couldn't be happier with the difference from my work last year to now. Obviously I learnt so much last year, and am still able to bring those elements forward and push them and mould them within my practice, but as far as my work goes, I'm a lot happier with it.

Strengths-

- I managed to maintain the surrealism element that i wanted to capture when portraying Leonora Carrington.

- That the four finals work as a set.

-  I feel like I studied my author in such depth that I was able to take a different approach with my work. The visual journal definitely helped this.

- I wanted to create something crazy, something I felt would best reflect my author, and I think I achieved this.

Weaknesses-

- I would have liked the wolf one to have been done in a bolder green in order to match the others a little more.

- Sometimes the registration wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped.

- I would have liked to have added bitmap or different tones in areas. But after completing them I'm not sure it would have worked so well on these. Definitely something to consider in the future.

- The blue one smudged a little in the corner because I had to pull it through more than once. It doesn't ruin it but on a professional level that would be addressed if I had had more time.

Elevator Pitch

This project is centred around the life of the late Leonora Carrington, who passed away in 2011, making her one of the last surviving members of the surrealist movement of the 1930s.

I studied her books, her life and her artistic practice, and decided to focus the main part of my own practice on her surrealist art. A tribute to her work if you like, and to her life. She wasn't very well known, but after studying her, I feel like the whole world should know her legacy.

My work has progressed through a range of media, and has allowed me to explore various print methods, while developing ideas and changing styles. My finals are screen prints, and are composed of the hundreds of drawings based on what I found out about her. Its a completely new approach for me, to work in a surreal way and also communicate a sense of who my author was. Its been challenging and exciting, and has made me think about my practice in a whole new light.

Making the Sting

Formative feedback

By the sounds of it, everything is ok. Im guessing this was just a check up to see where we were at. 

Now I need to get my evaluation done, and a few other bits and bobs and hopefully i'll be good to go.

Reattempting mono printing.

 I wasn't very happy with the any of my mono prints from the workshop session we had a while back. So I left it, and thought I didn't like mono printing. But I then felt this was a really negative way to look at it, so I went back and gave it another shot, and heres what I got.
Went with a simple nature theme to relate to certain parts of one of her book, a but different to what I have been doing, and then layered my images on top. Almost double the Leonora Carrington in one image.

Strengths-

- Mono printing on top of mono prints worked really well, added extra elements and gave each image more texture. Hadn't tried this before.

- Cut outs and stencils worked well. I felt a lot more prepared going in with these and knew what I wanted to achieve which is always good. Last time I wasn't sure what to do.

- It helps to see my images layered on top, and feel it works quite well. Don't think I will dismiss the idea of mono printing quite so quickly in the future.

- I now feel even more confident in the print room, which is a great thing for me.

To improve-

- Experimentation with more colours would have been effective. 

- Have more cut outs and stencils ready next time so that i have a selection to choose from. Quite a few of these look far too similar.

- Have another go, and then again. Really need to keep practicing.

Lino and Lino Reductions

Really glad I managed to get back into the print room to print these. Quite pleased with how they turned out. Especially like the different coloured stock, something to consider in future. I do wish I had used some lighter inks as well as black though so that I had the option to do a lino reduction. 

This was one of the only good lino reductions I got in the end. So in future I will do plenty of the first layer before cutting into it again. Its pretty difficult to get the registration spot on, so I only had about 4 that were good. 

Things to think about next time

- Do plenty of base layers, and in various colours, because once you've cut into it again it will never be the same.

- Use registration marks in order to aline the next layer

Pleased on the whole though because I really didn't understand how lino reductions worked until I did this. 

Making the sting

I had to familiarise myself with After effects again, as its been such a long time since the workshops. (Well it feels like it!)

Once i got the hang of it though it wasn't too bad.

The idea was that I wanted to look as surreal as possible, while having some combining elements with my prints. So I used one of my screen print backgrounds as a background in sting as well as having one of the characters from one of my prints.

I listened to quite a number of piano instrumentals before I found the perfect one. I had to cut it slightly i order for it to work but Im pretty happy with it.

At the moment, this is what I'm calling my final. However I will be going to a help session with Mike on Monday to see if theres anything I can do in order to make the arm movements more fluid. And to make it overall a little better. Im really not very good with computer based briefs, anything technical usually gets the better of me.
Having said this, theres a lot about this sting that could be improved, so I really hope I can get the extra help and make it even just a little better if I can. I feel like I've tried so hard on the screen prints, I don't want my sting to bring me down.

What needs improving-

- Fluidity in arm movements. The are too many gaps and overlaps when they move.
- The letters could fly in a little smoother.
- The eye at the end was a flash decision, and it loses quality as soon as it gets bigger. I don't think it really needs to be there.

Sting imagery

For my sting I took elements of this particular print to make something just as surreal.

This particular character is definitely the strangest of them all, and after having a few failed attempts at the sting a few weeks ago, I decided to change my idea entirely.

This way, not only does it fit together much better with my prints, but its also easier to make, and fits within the given format a lot better. 

I made a moving mock up first, just to understand what moves and what sections need to be separate. 

I used a brush pen just like I have throughout to make sure that it matched up with the methods I used for print, and so that they work as a set. 

So now, heres to hoping this one actually works! 

Presentation Boards.

Christmas card board, including first ideas, sketchbook work and final.

Most recent responsive, illustration friday (moon) 

Soar for illustration friday

Research board for Reuse recycle reclaim! 

Todays session was really useful and it was great to get some feedback on the work I've been doing lately. It was great to see how everyone had presented their boards, and I think on my part a much more professional approach to the boards will be taken next time. When walking round it became apparent that the brief title and the set brief was really useful to read before looking at the work. Some things were unclear, so I will include this myself next time. Also my name! Always helpful when you're in a room half full of people you don't know. 

It was great to see some of the animation students work, and its made me think about collaborating with an animator. They're so talented! 

Todays crit was also an eye opener for me. I definitely need to crack on with responsive. Perhaps stop faffing about with tiny briefs that don't even constitute as a small one, and focus my work on some more substantial briefs. I feel like I've given myself a little warm up to this though, and now I feel ready to tackle some more serious stuff. 

Very happy with the feedback. I'll definitely be using more textures in the future after reading all of these lovely comments. 

Illustration Friday- The moon

This weeks word was moon. Pretty straight forward I guess. I thought Id do an astronaut at first, but then realised I hated what I had made. Thought it was pretty obvious, and very poorly done. So I had another go at it, changed my idea completely. I used to use pen a lot before coming to college, too much probably, so I haven't touched one for a while. But this was so much fun to draw! I have a soft ink one so its pretty good to shade with etc.

Happy with:
-The minimal look, not something I tend to do but Im trying to be different each week of illustration friday in order to keep it exciting.
-Added foil textures again. Loving the textures at the moment!
- That the moon is the only coloured part, draws focus what its meant to.

I am happy with this but I was a little unsure when submitting that I had left too much white space. I tried the sky in black and blue and various colours, but it just seemed to drown out the moon, so in the end I left it. I realistically need to be spending more time on my substantial briefs now, and not faff over the colour of my illustration friday, but I still care what people think of my work, maybe too much.

Need to:
-Try be a but quicker when it comes to illustration friday
-Stop worrying so much about what people think, as long as I like it thats alright.
-Study some colour palettes, I am not good with colour.

Sting sound research.

I made this playlist a little while ago, and often listened to the playlist whilst working on this module. I tried to think about the music she may have liked, and what I liked to listen to when I was reading her books and drawing from what I knew. 

Mainly classical piano music, because I imagine her enjoying that sort of music.

Piano instrumentals can go with pretty much anything, so making the sting to music like this shouldn't be too difficult. But i want to make sure I choose the right one, so choosing the exact one will come after the sting has been made, not before.

Inspiration/mood boards

Here's a compilation of some of the work I've looked at over the past few months. Artists I like, print techniques I find inspiring anything that would push my practice along a bit. I dont usually do much artist research, but this time round I really appreciate the impact it has on my own practice. Reflecting on the work of professionals really made me consider new and innovative approached to image making that I hadn't yet though of. Mood boards were great for me to look at whenever I felt a little lost or at a dead end.

This one is all of my authors work. I made this in order to remind myself of her surreal art, and as a constant reminder of what I wanted to achieve. This woman is such an inspiration to me, and if it wasn't for her, i don't think I would be where I am now within my practice.