Vis Language - End of Modular Self 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 have developed skills in observational drawing, and looking at how different line types can be used to explain the subject. I have learnt lots of different visual qualities that can be achieved by using bold gestural lines. Also how using reference imagery in an un-direct way where I can apply my imagination to it, and get ideas for characters and other images. A method I developed was drawing the same subject lots of times and letting it evolve into something new, this gave exciting and unpredictable results. The method of created vector images from simple line sketches is a key thing I learnt in the shape section, and also using a Wacom tablet. I learnt the difference between Photoshop and illustrator and they have totally different purposes, Photoshop is best for editing existing imagery, whilst illustrator is good for creating vector designs.

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?

It has been valuable for me to start think about the rules and methods of good composition. Although I was un-happy with most of my visual outcomes, the process of trying to achieve a good composition has made me realize new techniques for displaying images within my frame. Roughing is a process that I find more and more valuable as the course moves on, doing quick roughs with no craft involved, purely to look at different arrangements that my designs can have. Looking at how illustration can be applied to 3D and camera based work has been exciting, and made me realize how illustration doesn’t have to be flat line based work – communicating our ideas can be done in all kinds of ways, even including ourselves in the work. Looking at how Photoshop can improve designs, and also take away quality from handcrafted designs has been really important. It is something that will be vital for making professional work – as I am very interested in the combination of hand and digital work. Working with collage and found imagery has been useful to consider, re arranging and adding craft to found images could be a really good way to communicate an idea.

3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?

I think my strengths lay within the line-based drawing. I really engaged with this and found it most enjoyable. I liked experimenting with what can be achieved with fast and slow line types, gestural or controlled line, complex overlapping line and clean clinical lines. I enjoyed seeing how these gave a different effect to the image. I learnt a lot from this and would like to apply process like this to other medias and methods to learn what can be achieved. I learnt a lot from the shape task. I was surprised at how well my character designs translated into shape. It has made me realize how effective shape can be with no outlines and also how it can improve designs. Combining shape with my line quality styles is something I keep considering and am yet to experiment with. I would say I have strengths in experimentation, and trying out different ways of achieving the outcome. Teaching myself the different methods and process is done through experimentation – finding out what will work and what doesn’t.

4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?

Development is definitely needed within composition, and drawing things within a landscape. I often draw things that are floating and are not grounded in a natural environment. Drawing more landscapes and objects from observation would be a good way to become more confident in the area. Working within a frame is not something I fully engaged with, I found it difficult keeping inside the frame – my drawings often evolve in an un-controlled way. I need to improve on accurate drawings that are carefully placed within frames for specific reasons (scale, depth, line of sight etc.). Application of colour is something I need to improve, I had a lot of un clean and un professional looking coloured pieces. I need to experiment with more coloured medias and keep using them until I’m comfortable with them.

5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)? It has made me think about the process more, and also what media and tools where used to create it. It has made me look much closer at the line qualities of artwork and the hand movements that would be needed to produce the line. Same with mark making, I’ve found myself wondering how marks and pattern have been made – what drawing tool or gesture? It has made me look out for digital enhancing, and weather colour has been applied digitally or by hand. It has made me question the composition of artwork and ask myself why things have been placed where they have, and if this is the most effective way to display it.

Visual Language - Colour Pallet

Outfit task:

We had to wear an outfit that had a colour combination we liked, then show the colours we chose in a colour pallet next to it. This would help us see how the colours worked together.

• We used photoshop to select colours from the outfit and display it in blocks of colour.
• I chose a very colourful outfit, I like how it has all of the primary colours in it.
• I like how the yellow highlight works with the blue and purple. It then really contrasts with the red which makes the whole outfit seem overly vibrant. But I wanted to wear an outfit with lots of colour.
• I think the earthy colours (grey and cream) help compliment the brighter colours, and tone the vibrancy down.
• The purple and blue work nicely together in the same colour range - similar to the grey and cream. The yellow and red then come as a pair with very high contrast. This is just one way of looking at the colour balance in the outfit.

Visual Language - Fan art poster

Fan Art Poster: Hell-Boy

• We where asked to produce a 2 colour screen print of some fan art.
• We had to make a piece of design about something we are interested in.
• I chose to make a hell-boy face, Im a big fan of the comics and have sketched and studied his face in the past.

Roughs:

• I did some loose sketches to remind myself of the shape of his face. 
• I wanted the face to be done in my style of faces. So I was reluctant to look at an image of him, also because I knew what he looked like already.
• I wanted my style to take over the shapes and and structures of hell boys face.

• I took this tasks a good opportunity to try out some typography.
• I wanted some big bold text at the bottom of the page. 
• It would have a simple and effective composition that showed symmetry and his face as an icon in the centre.

Final drawings for screens:

• I made the positives for the screens with paint pen on printer paper. I though I might have to scan them in to make the black solid, but the paint pens created a thick enough layer.
• I made the black outline first, and then traced over it in pencil and filled in the sections that would be coloured.
• I left out some sections of colour to create highlights on the face.

• Choosing colour wasn't difficult I knew a wanted a nice vibrant red. Maybe slightly burgundy rather than pinky red.
• Im pleased with how the layers fit together. Cutting white out of the red is really effective. The black works well on top of the red. 
• The black came out nice and bold, if I was going to do this again I would have had more sections of solid black on the face.
• I liked the process of screen printing and will consider using it much more now.
• Lining the two screens up wasn't as difficult as a thought, and some that where slightly out gave a nice effect.
• This has made me want to try out some designs with more complex faces and another screen of colour.
• This would be an effective process to use to make multiple pieces of artwork of a nice individual quality. Could also have different colour variations of the same screens.

• I liked the effect where some colour didn't print fully behind the type.
• I like how screen printing can give some un intentional quality like this.

Visual Language - Frame

Me, A butterfly & an Elephant.

• We had to produce a composition that included ourselves, an elephant and a butterfly.
• It had to be drawn in black drawing ink only.
• The aim of the task was to try and produce a composition that was totally unique.

• I struggled finding a unique composition, all my roughs seemed to work there way outside of the frame.

• I then started to consider the foreground and background. This enabled me to fit all my components on the page.
• I came up with the idea to but me in the background pointing towards the elephant.
• This was a simple and effective decision that gave a surprisingly balanced composition.
• I like how it shows importance toward the elephant and butterfly interacting. 
• The slanted floor also works as a line of sight that works with figure.

Final design:

Im quite pleased with the design. I think I found an interesting composition that involves an unusual perspective. I feel like my application of ink could use some improvement. The ground looks scruffy and unclean. I think I would have had a better outcome if I had considered using more tonal images. I think the composition fills the page in a balanced way. The way that the figure is pointing towards the elephant and the butterfly helps to lead your eyes towards it. The butterfly has sort of become the important object, the way that the others fit around it and it is fairly centred.

Visual Language - 3D

3D and Lens:

We had to produce a 3D piece of illustration, and use a camera to capture it. We had to create ourselves as a mutant. I really enjoy mask making so I decided to make a mask that I could wear and photograph against a background. 

I wanted to make a mask with big tusks that come down from the face. I also though about how the mask would fit around my face and to have my jaw visible behind the mask.

I wanted the face and figure to be brightly coloured against a dark background. 

I used drawing inks to colour my mask. I went with a red and orange colour pallet and had the idea to wear clothes with matching colours to help combine the figure with the mask. I used paint pens to outline the mask and then added small bits of detail with a finer pen.

 Final Photos:

Im pleased with the final photos, I like the atmosphere it creates. The dark grey background works well against the red. Wearing clothing that matched the colour of the masks benefits the image. I think i should have included some more hand drawn items within the frame somewhere? Maybe some shapes on the wall in the background. I think I could have explored some more actions and positions that I could have been stood in, maybe holding something? or making a gesture of some sort. I tried some slightly different compositions of my character, I liked the one tilted to the side the best, so some of my hood was visible on the edge of the mask.

Visual Language - Composition

Composition:

• Our task was to produce 5 roughs exploring composition.
• Our designs needed to include a figure, an object and a landscape.
• The design that shows the best composition we need to develop into a finished image with appropriate media (A5).

• I tried out a guy smoking on the beach in a few different arrangements but I couldn't manage to achieve a nice balanced composition.
• I didn't feel that all the elements worked nicely together as a whole image.
• They looked to flat and the scale doesn't work properly. 
• I think maybe working from reference material would be needed to get a decent design.

• I had an idea to draw a hitch hiker on a road that leads into the mountains.
• This gave me a nice starting point to get some simple compositions where the perspective leads you up the page.

• These where my favourite compositions. I like the one on the right hand side best. Its simple and not to overcrowded. 
• I like how the road leads up to the mountains. It gives a slight symmetrical balance to the image.
• Including perspective in the image is beneficial to the composition, I think this is why I feel this rough is more effective than my previous.

• This was my final composition, Im not pleased with how it translated from a rough.
• I think the application of colour is poor and looks un clean. But I wanted to have a go at using paint pen to apply colour to a large area.
• In the rough the image seems to be full enough. But when working at a larger size it made me realise that more components should be included, It looks empty and boring.
• They skyline is also to high up the page, It leaves un-easy green space between the character and the hills.
• This image doesn't have the compositional values I wanted.

Im not happy with the solutions I came up with for this task. Maybe I though about 'what' I was drawing to much rather than how they can work on a page effectively. Drawing objects and figures that sit in a landscape is something I'm not comfortable with so I found it very challenging. But it is something I need to improve and develop. It has helped me think about new things to consider when working with composition:

• How objects can be placed alternatively to give different values and importance.
• The foreground, mid ground and background need to be considered - not everything sits at the same distance away from the viewer when working on a landscape.
• They way we read an image can be controlled by using lines of sight.
• Negative space or empty space can really change how the object is seen, if the image is really busy the different components will merge together. Negative space can help to single out a key bit of information.
• The perspective and viewpoint is vital, and could create a totally different image from the same components. These are so easy to ignore and it could be a subtle change the benefits the image greatly.

Visual Language - Collage

College:

• Our task was to make a poster that advertised something of our choice.
• It had to made with found imagery.
• I found a selection magazines and cut out a selection of images that could work well together.

• I found an image of a guy with his arms around someone.
• I though it would be funny to put his arms around a dog instead.
• I cut the dog up and extended its body. I then filled in the body with a grey colour and added simple mark making on top for the fur.
• I then placed them both so they were on a sofa which adds to the funny situation.
• I then did a really basic cut out floor to give a slight perspective to the image, and also benefits the composition.
• I decided on making it an RSPCA poster after I had finished the design, I felt this suited what was being suggested in the picture with guy hugging the dog. And it being sat on the sofa in the centre (showing importance).
• The thing that is most effective in the image is the way that I have added drawn media to the dog in order to distort it.
• Its interesting to see how found images can manipulated and re-arranged to give a totally different meaning and visual quality.

Visual Language - Shape and Texture

Shape and Texture

We made some sheets of different colours and textures that we could cut up to create a self portrait.

• I had fun making the textures, I used coloured inks, charcoal and coloured pencils and applied them in different ways to get some different textures and brush strokes.
• Wiping the ink onto the page with another piece of paper gave some interesting smeared effects.

• I did some really quick outlines of shapes to get a feel for how I could make my face.
• I thought i'd use some bold simple shapes to represent the different features.

• Textured cut outs give an interesting effect, similar to shape on its own but more exciting.
• I like this process and could work really well if combined with other types of line work.
• The rough sketchy textures with the really clean edges creates a nice effect.
• Making my face out of closed shapes gave an almost tribal appearance. I don't feel like it resembles me a lot but has captured the the basic features.
• I think if more craft was put into the shaping of features it could be more effective. They look a bit to basic.

Visual Language - Shape

Shape

We where asked to produce 3 portraits of people in a cool outfit using shape only. They could be done in any media. 

I started by using cut paper to make some simple body shapes and pattern. I was a good quick way to get solid shapes with no outlines. It gave me a good idea to how I will have to simplify features to make them work as a shape.

 I tried out some different face shapes to figure out what media would work well. 

• I found the coloured pencils didn't make nice solid shapes.
• They look to faint and don't have enough of an edge.

• I experimented with marker pen which worked better than the coloured pencil but still wasn't getting nice crisp shapes.

• I applied media quickly to these designs and they unintentionally became more line based.
• I liked some of the facial structures that where being made but I needed the right way of making them solid shapes.

• I tried being more careful when applying marker pen.
• The shapes had nice solid edges but has lost a lot of character in the structure of the face.

• I tried applying the same media to a looser pencil outline.
• I could see how a design like this could potentially work in shapes but it wouldn't work in this media.
• I liked the subtle outline used for the face it works well.
• This process gave me the idea to create a digital design on photoshop from a pencil sketch of a character.

• I sketched out lots of character designs. I tried to think about the structure of the figure in a way that could work well as solid block shapes.
• The outlines needed be closed and connected up.
• I used angular block shapes to the structure the figures with simple closed shapes for the facial features.
• Creating outlines of figures in this way is something I am used to. So I'm interested to see how they will translate into shape with no outline.

• These where my favourites from my sketches. They where also relatively simple so I could figure out the shapes of them.
• I scanned them into photoshop and used them as guid lines to make shapes for these characters.

• I really pleased with how these turned out.
• I like some the random angular shapes. The unevenness looks good and adds character.
• I added a slight bit of texture with the brush tool to there jackets.
• After making these I felt that the designs could be more complex.
• It would look good if they where more built up with different coloured strips.
• After seeing how the shapes are bought together digitally it made me realise how more complex and overlapped shapes would be effective and achievable.

• I like these two characters I thought they would translate well into shape.
• The more abstract structures will look interesting with no outlines.

• This character turned out well. I like the colour scheme I think the different shades of turquoise combined looks good for an abnormal creature like this.
• I think some of the funky shapes are enhanced when made with solid block colour. I will consider this method in the future for my designs.

• The colours in this don't work as smoothly as the other. I think I should have reduced the amount of colours slightly.
• Im pleased with the staff that he is holding and the shoes. The small details made of shape work well in this.

Creating the last two designs on photoshop got confusing with the amount of layers you needed to create in order to move sections individually. I kept on having to copy and paste sections on to new layers. Somebody mentioned to me about how illustrator would work better to make complex vector shapes. And how each new shape you create is made automatically into a path which you can select on its own.

• I chose another rough sketch that would translate well into shape. Baring in mind what had worked well in the other designs like the staff, volcano head and abstract striped structure on the figure.

• Illustrator was much easier to use than photoshop when creating shapes from an outline.
• I used a Wacom tablet which really helped me to get them accurate.
• I made the sketch transparent and created the shapes behind it.
• I was able to edit the anchors of the shapes which was really beneficial when lining up the different sections.

• Im really pleased with how the sketch has translated. Shape with no outline worked surprising well for a character like this.
• Illustrator created much smoother edges than Photoshop.
• I took more care in the colour co-ordination in this design. It was much easier to edit the colours of the individual sections, even if they where on the same layer.
• It was also much easier to arrange the order and overlap of the shapes. 

• I tried out the same process on a previous sketch from vis language.
• I wanted to see how the design would look in shape and I don't think it has worked as well as the last. Maybe because the design wasn't created intentionally for shape.
• It is interesting to see how making vector shapes from a drawing can give it a totally different effect to the line based design.