Final Presentation Slides and Notes

Acclimatisation 

As discussed in the interim presentation the main shock to my system in terms of moving to a new place hasn't been getting used to a city life or gaining independence given that I'm from a city of of a similar size only 40 minutes away by train and that prior to university I had a lot of independence already. Therefore the biggest factor in terms of settling into a new place was the more social aspect of things. Given that I'm a very independent and rather introverted individual I am used to just getting on with things in my own, often very insular way. Living in halls as well as enrolling in a reasonably large course with a strong feel of creative community has forced me to come out of this shell a little bit in terms of how I interact with other people.

Image Making:

Drawing, Shape and Texture

Over the year I have seen my approach to image making, particularly how I draw and what exactly drawing means as a process and tool, evolve to a point where it is quite far removed from what I was doing at the start of the year. In particular I found visual language to be of fundamental importance in terms of allowing me to question what I am doing, why I am doing and what processes I under take which has resulted in me beginning to home in on and refine my personal tone of voice.

Evidence for this can be seen in my switch from stale, lifeless and rather clumsy sketching from the start of the year to more fluid and reductive drawings produced later on. This has also led me to pursuing more simplistic, graphic imagery through the use of shape and texture an expect which is now at the centre of my practice. 

Process/roughing

With all this in mind I have also began to refine my actual work process. Often this involves initial visual responses to a given idea that I will then repeat several times with different media and processes so as to gain a better understanding of what materials, composition and tone best communicate the content of my work.

Furthermore I have consistently found creating final finished pieces that live up to the required standards particularly challenging as I often work quite roughly and free within my sketchbook. Therefore the process of roughing has been of fundamental importance in helping me tackle this as it helps me to refine and control these idea through giving me a better understanding of how they will work within the given parameters of the final piece. 

Content and communication:

Research 

Although I already saw communication as being a fundamental aspect of illustration, as the year has progressed it has become a bigger and bigger art of my work with content being the main driving force of individual responses to the set briefs. Therefore research has been of fundamental importance to my practice in terms of generating this content. I believe this is probably the most important skill I have developed all year as it has allowed me to gain a better understanding and therefore produce more informed, appropriate and in general more successful responses to the briefs. 

Ambiguity and Reductive Imagery

In terms of actually communicating my content I have found myself pushed to a more and more reductive way of achieving this. This is because I believe the simpler an image is/the fewer elements it has the more effective it is in communicating your intent given how its conciseness will lead it to being more readable, memorable and instantaneous in delivering its message.

On the flip side of this I have also begun to consider how ambiguity within my imagery can better convey my intent through allowing me to show abstract and complex themes in a more reductive manner as well as allowing me to play into and let individuals own beliefs, views and general perceptions alter how they see my work.

Promotion

On a personal note I have also began promoting nights in my home city of Sheffield with two close friends. This has been a huge undertaking and has expanded on many skills such as networking, organisation, time keeping and creative direction. In particular, coupled with the first point about acclimatisation it has forced me out of my comfort zone and got me to improve my networking skills through artist liaison/socialising with the people we book which has increased confidence socially which I believe has carried through to others aspects of my life.

Furthermore, as often highlighted by visiting lecturers/bigheads talks, it has made me realise that if you want to do something you should just do it. Things don't just happen by themselves but that if you put the time and effort in to making things for yourself opportunities will soon arise. This is something I need to carry through into my creative practice as I move through to level 5.

Finally it has also greatly informed my on going debate as to how I define success. Although our nights are going well we cater to a very niche often obscure area music and night life which has resulted in our nights usually just breaking even. In a business sense this wouldn't seem very productive as, although we aren't losing money we aren't making any either. However despite this the endeavour has in my view been a success but just in different ways such as being able to create the atmosphere we wanted in terms of music and general energy that we wanted and that we felt was lacking in the Sheffield night life. Again this is something I need to consider in how a see success and my own practice in relation to the creative industry.

Time/Management

With this in mind I have found this year a constant struggle to keep on top of things and at times, now for example, I have felt completely burnt out and run down. This has greatly impacted on my last two submissions, particularly COP and is something I need to seriously need to address next year. However I realise it will be hard as the work load is only going to increase and at this moment of time I don't want to sacrifice other personal endeavours such as promotion due to the amount of personal growth and fulfilment I feel I am able to gain from them.

Top Tip: Question Everything

The most useful piece of advice I would give to a student enrolling course would be to question everything. Primarily this would be in relation to yourself as a practitioner as I feel constantly analysing what you are doing and why is the main why by which you can refine and evolve your process as well as grow creatively. However more than this I think it is important to, although perhaps not too much as it can be overwhelming, question other aspects of your life such as what you choose to do and why so as to further expand your understanding of the world around you and how you relate to and function within it.