Project Summary | BA3a
I would best describe this term to be one of Process and Development. Iâve been incredibly uncertain of what kind of Illustrator I am, however, through my research and practical explorations I feel a lot more confident. Overall, itâs been a very challenging term, however, I feel Iâve learned a lot from it. I now have a clearer understanding that my interests lay within the traditional avenue of responding to written narratives, with a particular interest in the format of the picture book. This has been greatly supported and encouraged by my research report. I feel that Iâve gone an incredibly long winded way around getting to the core of my revelations, however, I think that each avenue was vital to the eventual discovery and learning.
Iâve explored many different visual approaches: sculpture, framed sequential narrative, abstract painting, etching, watercolour, digital design, animation and sublimation printing. At times, this felt like a lack of focus and seemed to present a multitude of different ideas followed by incomplete projects, which resulted in a lot of uncertainty and stress. However, upon reflection, I feel like it was a necessary part of developing my understanding of how I make work, and what I enjoy and feel strongest at. Iâm proud of my developed technological skills, however, I feel that my strengths and enjoyment lays within water based media and printmaking approaches. The print making process was something that really resonated with me and Iâm interested in pursuing further development, as well as exploring the other techniques that are possible within the process. Iâm proud of my developed technological skills, however, I feel that my strengths and enjoyment lays within water based media and printmaking approaches. The print making process was something that really resonated with me and Iâm interested in pursuing further development, as well as exploring the other techniques that are possible within the process.
My approach to creating imagery for the picture book was with watercolour and chalk, which came as a source of relief after working intensely with digital. It was an enjoyable process and I feel like itâs my strength, which Iâd like to develop further. Iâve felt a lot of hesitancy and insecurity in using traditional media, due to a concern of regressing in terms of my practical development. In reflection of the term, I realise that I should strive to make work that I love and enjoy making. My focus of The Yellow Wallpaper has enabled me to practically examine narrative and has led to the development of a larger project focus for next term. In my report, Iâve investigated challenging and controversial picture books, and I think that it has provided a firm support to further my practice. My main area of improvement is to make more practical work that is focused and rigorous. I feel that this will be possible now that I have a clearer project focus to work on next term.Â
Iâve done rigorous research for both my report and my practice, which I feel is one of my main strengths. This was conducted through reading, online searches and visits to different locations. Communication with people was a vital form of research, which also enabled me to start thinking about my work and interests in a context outside of university. Working at Waterstones provided me with a network of wonderful people with lots of knowledge on books, as well as an insight into the industry of bookselling, which relates to my interests in book publishing and illustration. I also got to speak with people at The Norfolk Picture Book Centre, and the founder of Little Parachutes, which is an organisation related to darker books aimed at providing help and support for children in the face of difficulties.Â
I enjoyed the period of working individually, because I felt that it allowed more freedom to explore different avenues and think about where my interests were. At times, however, I found it overwhelming. Itâs definitely taught me the importance of planning- setting goals and having a focus is something that I feel will definitely help, both in the next term and after graduation. I think that having a structure to my projects will benefit my productivity, quality of work and mental health. Now that I have a focus on what Iâd like to do, I think that Iâll have better clarity in the approaches I take to respond to projects in the future. Itâll also help a more efficient research/work balance.Â
The collaboration was a challenge, however I think that as a group, we demonstrated resilience and persistence in the face of difficulty. Translating our work into a new environment allowed the opportunity to consider our practice from a different perspective. It also presented the opportunity to develop work using Sublimation Printing, which I would like to experiment with further in the future as a way to introduce materiality into my work. The collaboration also provided us to gain a greater understanding of our developing practices as a collective and how we can transition into the world outside of university. Weâve spoken of visiting the Bologna Book Fair together and the potential it has to access a network of relevant people.
Overall, I think that there are definite areas of improvement to be made, however, Iâm proud of the progress Iâve made as a practitioner. This term has enabled me to combine skills gathered from the past two years to create a solid ground work that I can build my final work upon. With regards to BA3b, I want to have a braver approach to my image making, in order to create a final body of work that Iâm proud of. In this way, I think that I will be able to move into graduation with confidence and a clear sense of direction after university.















