Evaluation

This Practice unit we have just completed has been a challenge, working on several projects at once has probably been the biggest encounter to face. However I feel like I have coped better than I thought I would, making sure I have stayed organised has been essential in terms of time management, and I think that time management is the key to success when working on more than one project at once. I have found it interesting in terms of seeing how different each project of work is. I feel like each project I have done is completely different in terms of aesthetics, including colour, mood and design. From structured geometrics with a limited colour pallet, 3D work for the Michael Kidner project with a wide range of colours, intricate paisley designs for Adamley and then finally abstract free hand mark making for my self-initiated brief, each has its own personality, which I feel was the main aim for this unit. Exploring a range of designs for our last experimental unit has been enlightening. I have found that I like working in all different ways, I enjoy a range of marks and techniques and so I think for my final unit my aim will be to bring all of this together to create my last unit of work that really reflects my personality.

Some of the areas I think I’ve enjoyed most are; the intricate drawing style I used for the Adamley project, I appreciated the art work I created for my designs and I feel like it has shown me that sometimes putting in time and effort before creating any print design can benefit your design work more than I might have previously realised. However, on the other hand I have also had fun creating whimsical marks and being a bit more expressive and free and I feel like there is a lot of room for development from drawings to textures to then be manipulated into digital designs. Another thing which I unexpectedly enjoyed was working on my 3D samples for the Kidner project, whilst I only explored it briefly I think it is something I might have to try explore again, maybe in the next unit. I enjoy the idea of my samples or designs occupying a space rather than just decorating a surface, it also makes you think more about your designs in terms of scale, shape, colour etc.

Overall I think this unit has gone well, I think I have succeeded in achieving a wide range of work to help boost my creativity and ideas as well as my portfolio, however I would have liked to have been able to explore some of the projects in more depth had I had more time.

Collaboration Project

Whilst working on my first project, responding to the Bradford brief I had the idea to project moving images onto a model, in order to explore the idea of a digital print design constantly changing and also the idea of playing with the surface in which we design for. So I decided to talk to one of my friends (Holly Spence) who is on the photography course about coming together in a small collaboration project. Holly’s unit of work required her to produce a photobook, so with such a wide open brief we decided that this would work well. We came up with the idea to use a range of my print designs to inspire different portraits. The first shoot we did was a basic initial shoot, painting directly onto the models, using my kaleidoscopic prints from the Bradford project as inspiration.

This shoot went fairly well and produced some exciting outcomes, so we decided to do a second shoot with different painted designs. To produce a range we also decided to use some of my more recent work from the self-initiated unit to dictate the paint on the models, looking at a more abstract painterly mark. We decided to do this shoot inside the Whitworth gallery, providing context for Holly’s work she played on the idea of identity distortion and removing the humanity of the model and turning them into simply just a piece of artwork. The shoot again felt really successful, and I was enjoying playing with the idea of my print designs coming to life on a new form of surface. One image in particular that I like used one of the Whitworth’s art installations to project more colour onto the model and in the background. This is when we then decided to do a third shoot, moving back to my initial idea of projection. 

The third shoot focused on projection, and whilst I feel it was the lesser successful of the three shoots it was still really exciting to get in the studio, playing with my print designs and transforming them in a new way. The whole collaboration process was fun to experience and has helped me gain the confidence to take on a project like this on my own in the future, the idea of trying another projection shoot in the future on a new project is something I would definitely like to consider.