Reflecting on my year, the expectations I came with compared with the reality of first year, their has been some real changes to my practice and my overall view of my degree. Coming from LCA foundation, my work had started to revolve around character based work. I had the intention to create children's book illustrations, which is something I practiced in my final major project, and is a intention I still hold. However, looking back, I hadn't realised how much weight a simple character could carry and now it seems that my character work carried little if any meaning. My expectations of the course were that we would all focus on what we personally wanted from our work, but I can see now that working through a vast range of issues has encouraged much stronger learning. AS the first piece I produced, the how-to poster channelled my idea of my practice, being character based, before serving as a strong development point for the rest of the year.
Throughout the modules, I have become concerned with craft and process. Stephanie Wunderlich has been a driving force to this exploration as I have been drawn to her sophisticated and delicate approach to layering and collage. Craft is most discernible within my visual narratives work. I really struggled with this brief at first as I really didn't want to respond to conventional ideas of folklore. Channelling my concerns with craft and cultures, I was able to find a very personal outlet and created some very delicate Morris dancers. Craft has enabled me to celebrate rich cultures and find myself within a tricky brief. The value of simplicity has also been a key issue for me. Visual language drove this through the commission and selection of imagery but I think I employed this most successfully within my more recent approaches to character in visual communications.
My thorough and varied exploration of media and process has been led by strong studentship, a commitment to answer all briefs to the full, driven by attendance of sessions and awareness of tasks. My critical reading and evaluative skills have really progressed through COP, strengthening my awareness of many contexts. A struggle of the year has been the slightly intimidating studio culture, as I have felt a little scared to get on with practical work around my peers. Next year I need to learn to thrive on the creative community and studio culture.
From briefs such as visual narratives and persons of note, and PPP as a whole, I have been able to synthesise my practice with individual concerns for heritage. I have drawn links between my romantic ideals and interests in working class cultures to formulate an this based on a celebration of heritage and nostalgia.
I have become increasingly concerned with the importance of books and reading and as such, have derived a practice based on the principle of story telling. In level 5, I would like to see a development of this story telling to coincide with a celebration of heritage, using illustration as a tool for nostalgia and education.
Aims for level 5 lie with maintaining a flexible approach to briefs, but explore how I can channel approaches relevant to my intent for practice. With the intention to illustrate children's books, play needs to be at the forefront of my practice. I admire the work of Marcus Oakley for its mischievous and humorous qualities, something which I have explored within my gif work and Illustrated Self brief but would like to further explore as a tone of voice.
Outside of the studio, I want to further my professional practice by involving myself within the community of illustrators. Over summer I am taking part in a student market but wish to see out for specific outlets such as print fairs and workshops. Hopefully my final poster synthesises the defining elements of my practice and realises the issues I wish to carry forward into level 5. I see it as a celebration of play in practice.
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