OUIL404 Visual Language - End of Module 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?
I've learned to synthesise digital and analogous means to create more refined end results. I've also learned the importance of composition, frame and viewpoint in drawings - which practically, helps to add extra detail and communication in images. The composition exercises have especially helped. since i've stopped looking at things as individual elements and more like finished pieces which, as a serial sketcher, is particularly helpful
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?
- Composition and frame, Colour and notan and shape. Prior to visual language, I was very line heavy but recently i've found real freedom in working with shape. This has also helped me to start thinking about refining and spending more time one creating final outcomes, which I think has really begun to transform the way I work
3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?
I think my submission is really quite consistent, which is a real achievement for me given the struggle I have with maintaining and finishing projects. Whilst you can see my work has improved and evolved, I think i've managed to create a body of work that hits the same level generally all the way, which I'm really pleased about, and it's definitely helped improve my skills in other areas of module work as well.
4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?
I think definitely towards the end of my submission, I've gained a real penchant for working digitally, which is strange considering before I started visual language it was very much the other way round. I think eventually though i've become quite comfortable working this way, and I need to perhaps explore more ways or mixing my analogous and my digital work - like I was doing with the collage section of my submission (which is probably my favourite of all the work i've done for it). Thats probably my next area of exploration
5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)?
I've started to mentally recognise and pick up the way other practitioners have used certain elements in their work, which is useful, because I therefore consider these elements a lot more when i'm doing my own work. I pick up on things I've seen in other's work, and assess how I can improve on those in my own body of work - be that a particular medium people have worked in, the viewpoint they've used. As someone who works with character and narrative-based illustration a lot, these are things imperative to communicating information to a reader or viewer, and are therefore things that help improve those qualities in my work when I go on to create them myself.
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

OUIL404 Visual Language SB2 Study Task 5 - Colour and Notan.

This final task called for an image utilising all of the composition skills we've used so far, as well as the principles of colour and notan - i.e. colours that work harmoniously together. We have to provide a palette of the colours we've used along side the image, so i'm hoping to keep it as minimal as possible.

I drew all of this in paintbrush - basically a souped up MSPaint for mac that works on a one-layer system only. Working on one layer is a challenge, but I think i'm most pleased with this out of all the bits i've done. I'm really pleased with how the colours ended up balancing nicely, theres a distinct line of sight and depth going on and I think composition-wise, you can clearly tell whats going on. I think this is a nice end to the module!

OUIL404 Visual Language SB2 Study task 4 - Line of Sight

In this session, we were asked to deconstruct and scamp out a series of images we'd picked for analysis. For the task, we were asked to create a monochrome image that had a distinct line of sight. I started off looking at public transport, but I got pretty stalled of it (since I was covering a similar topic in a visual communication brief) - so I narrowed it down slightly and started looking specifically at the mice on the underground you usually see running around, since I figured they have a pretty interesting view of the tube system

I found working in the varying degrees whilst keeping a sense of depth difficult, but I think I managed to pull it off. I think i've definitely managed to capture a sense of looking "upwards" from the lines, which is a different view from what I'm used to drawing. A criticism would be it perhaps needs a bit more foreshortening to make the distance between the rats and the platform seem bigger. 

I definitely feel like i'm starting to become more confident in composing images now as a result of these tasks. These are things I would have perhaps struggled with prior to consciously thinking about them but I'm definitely thinking more about how a scene communicates as a whole, and not just the individual elements any more. 

OUIL404 Visual Language SB2 Study task 3 - Viewpoint & Depth

The aim for this task was to focus on creating viewpoint and depth in an image. The task asks for it to include 3 figures - so I chose to tell the story of a guy, living alone with his cat after the death of his girlfriend (who follows him around as a ghost)

After thumb nailing, we had to pick our favourite to turn into an etching/drypoint print. Much like mono printing, I've never worked using either before, so it was a fun challenge to tackle.

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I was somewhat pleased with the outcome of this to say i've never done it before - the biggest problem was that I managed to scratch off a lot more of the printing varnish when I was adding crosshatching and tone to it than I intended on doing, which meant the print went pretty blotchy in places. I also don't think you get the sense of depth I was intending with it when I sketched the thumb - I think maybe I need to add more of the room surrounding them to get that impression of a downwards viewpoint a little better. 

I definitely preferred etching to monoprinting, I think it suits the way I tend to work a lot better. If i ever get time i'd be tempted to get some funds together to give it another round. 

OUIL404 Visual Language SB2 Study task 2 - Frame and Arrangement

For this task we had to arrange a series of elements within a frame - those being a figure, an elephant and a butterfly

This is a lot more of a sketchier outcome than a lot of my previous ones have tended to be - but frame wise I like how it's turned out. I think by cropping the elephant in such a way, it helps emphasise the ENORMOUS SIZE of it with out having to actually y'know. Draw an entire big elephant. I think by adding the butterfly landing on the figure as well, it puts all the elements into context a lot better.

So yeah. Perhaps less on the execution side, but I'm happy with how these compositions are turning out!

OUIL404 Visual Language SB2 Study Task 1 - What is composition?

For this task, we had to draw 3 objects in various arrangements, showing consideration of composition - chosen objects were a Glass, Dancers, and a shelving unit. 

Getting to grips with thumbing for this was awesome, and it felt great to actually be focusing on whole scenes for a change as opposed to just pages of endless floating sketches. I picked colours with strong HSV values for the foreground, with lesser, more desaturated colours in the back (with some mid-tone bottles to draw the eye there) I think the final composition is really nice, you can clearly see a front, middle and back to it. Its a shame that the file has deteriorated for some reason unbeknownst to me - as a note to look back on, if i'm working digitally I must make sure to save files correctly for web viewing!

OUIL404 Visual Language - Still Life Studies

Materials top-to-bottom: Ink, Coloured pencil (red, blue, yellow), blue felt tip, Acrylic fingerpainting

In the interim between studio brief 1 and 2, we had a still life session as a group. It was nice to get back to grips with using analogous methods of drawing again, and also to get some practice drawing problematic things like fabric and awkwardly angled-objects. I really liked the outcome of the ink and pencil studies - especially the tone/colour I managed to get with the three coloured pencils. I think the least successful outcome was probably the last one - but Its been a long while since i've painted - nonetheless with only my fingers. I'd definitely like to get my hands on painting analogously again. 

OUIL404 Visual Language SB1 Study task 5 - 3D & Ephemera

In this task we had to create a lens-based 3D image of a mutation we would like to have, and I can fire hadoukens! The image is made of paper feat. My messy ink covered hands.

If I had more time I would have attempted to make a GIF of me throwing one, but as an image i'm quite pleased with the overall composition and outcome of this! 

OUIL404 Visual Language SB1 Study task 4 - Collage 2

For these studies, I used a mix of the magazine textures i'd cut out and scanned in and the textured brush presets you can find in photoshop, to blend in the texture with the added drawing elements. I was really pleased with the outcome of these ones - especially the lizard ones and they were a lot of fun to make. 

The only difficulty with this method of working is how time-costly it is - all of the collage elements i've created for this study task have taken about two weeks to finish, definitely slower than any of the previous studies have taken. I think its a technique I definitely want to try using again, and the skills i've gotten from this will definitely transfer into other areas of my work, though its probably something i'd look at using as more of a finished 'final' production method as opposed to anything else.