Reflective Report
Skills I’ve learnt and how they have been applied...
Programs/Machines/Techniques
When starting this course, there were a lot of areas in which I was lacking knowledge of, my main concern was with digital programs, such as Illustrator, Cinema 4D and Photoshop. In my previous course, I did have experience with photoshop, but it was not to the standard that I believe I am currently working at. The best technique which I have applied to my work within photoshop during this course has been Cel-shading, as I believe I have used a variant of the style in every project.
In Illustrator, I have learnt how to create linework, typography, how to colour, how to make patterns, etc. In most of my projects, (since the first character design project I believe) I have created all of my linework within Illustrator and have become quite confident with the pen tool.
With Cinema 4D, I have been quite hesitant to use the program, as I’m not very comfortable working 3D, until a recent project, in which I formed a 3D Viking character, just by following tutorials from Greyscale Gorilla. In this project, I had also learnt how to composite my character within a free motioned video that I had taken. With this program, I feel once you know the process and what specific elements can do, it can be quite easy, and it can be fun to have a play around with. However, when you are looking at it for the first time, clueless of what every button does, it is daunting and did put me off using it for a long time.
Going back to illustrator, this program allowed me to use the laser cutter and the vinyl cutting machine (which then allowed me to create screen-prints). I had experience with the laser cutter from my previous course, but I had never used it for anything other than cutting out a frame. So, I did get excited when I learnt how to set the document up so that my design could then be etched into a plate, ready to be used to create multiple prints, if the plate did not break, which mine did not. I do want to use this technique again in the future, as it was fun, and it did give me clean results.
For the vinyl cutter, again I had to use illustrator to create the design and set it up the way that it would be read through the printer. As the vinyl cutter traces the outlines of your design but does not cut it out itself, we had to cut out the negative sections ourselves, which I personally found quite therapeutic and would happily sit and do it all day. We then transferred the vinyl to the screens, which was slightly less therapeutic, made sure the design was flat against the screen, then we started to print. Although I felt my process didn’t go too well, as bits of vinyl kept coming off due to the ink loosening the vinyl’s grip, I did still enjoy the process, as I know a lot of artists who have used this technique to create their own work, but I never fully understood how they did it until then.
Recently, we have gotten a risograph within the college. I have used it for three pieces so far, and I have been happy with the results. I do enjoy the uncertainty of this method, as you don’t know how far each layer will budge apart from one another, and each print will be a different, almost as limited edition if you were to sell them on, as no two will be the same. I do plan to use this method more often in future projects, as I have enjoyed my results so far, and I want to see how far I could take it, with colours and texture.
As an Artist
Before starting this course, I had no idea how to animate and I did not enjoy drawing characters. So, now, to have come this far, where I have made two fully-realised character design sheets and at least three animations that I’m proud of, so I’m very happy with how I have progressed through this course so far.
I feel that I’m gradually getting better with anatomy. I do still struggle, but I can and do adjust any proportional issues within photoshop, so that I can get my characters as anatomically correct as possible, an example of this can be seen with my queen illustrations, as I did have issues with one of the arms and at least two of the noses, but in the end, I did correct these issues and I think the look correct now.
I believe throughout this course I have become better at keeping myself organised, and I have a better understanding of my own time management than when I started. I believe I have more of a grasp on how much work I can achieve in a certain amount of time, so I have been trying to set myself targets that I can gradually build upon, as opposed to giving myself all of the work at once, as I feel it would just overwhelm me a lot.
With the experience from some of the live briefs, I do feel that I have a better understanding of working to a client’s requirements, for instance, the theme, age range, style, etc. For LiveTales, I had to create work that would fit the space, fit an age range between 6-15, be creative, but not have any imagery that could sway the children’s stories. This brief was hard, as I didn’t want to create anything too young or anything too old, or anything that could suggest the children's stories. I did end up creating a few designs, and composited them into the photos of the space, giving the company a better visualisation of my concepts. With the suggestions they had made after the presentation, I adjusted two of my concepts they had liked, and I do feel my second set of work was more suited to their requirements more, so although they have not yet decided to do with their space yet, I did enjoy the experience and felt I worked with the clients at a professional standard, as best as I could.
Through this course, I have tried to be more critical of my work, trying to spot problems before I ask for critique from others. I want to be able to spot issues on my own, because although another person’s perspective or suggestions do help, in the future, once I have left college, I will have to stand on my own two feet, and I won’t have my tutor or group critiques to fall back on and help me spot the weaker areas of my designs, I will have to spot them myself. 
The two images within this post are both my designs. The first was created early 2018, the second is from 2016, and was an illustration from the final show of my previous course. I do believe I have improved over the two years, maybe just by making my work look more professional.
The older design was a watercolour painting with black linework, that I had scanned in and just refined and cleaned up in photoshop.
In my newest design, I had created the linework digitally first, then once it was printed, I drew the lines by hand, then scanned it in. I then took the linework into photoshop, adjusted the colour, multiplied the layer, then coloured the piece digitally with the cel-shading style. As it looked a bit flat, I did a quick wash of watercolour in my sketchbook, scanned it in, then overlayed it onto my design.
Now that I am working more digitally, I do still try to mimic the traditional mediums within my designs, as I feel my work just looks too flat/static without the textures. I want to try working more traditionally within my work, and I may try to combine both traditional and digital techniques in my future projects/career.
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