End of Module Student Evaluation BA (Hons) Illustration Module Code: OUIL502 PPP Name: Kat Williams Student ID: 255015 Please identify where the evidence for each of the learning outcomes is within your submission and how well you feel you have met the learning outcomes. Please also grade yourself in relation to the learning outcomes using terms: poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent (Note - This is so that the team have an understanding of how well you feel you have done. It is not an indication of the actual grade you may receive.) Learning Outcome
Evidenced where? Blog, Visual Journal, Roughs, Final Illustrations, Storyboards, Development Sheets etc. (No more than 75 words)
Your grade Using words: > poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent
5A3: Demonstrate an informed understanding of professional context of their practice within the creative industries and cultural environment. (Knowledge & Understanding Research and Critical Awareness)
Blog - lecture/seminar notes, records of meeting practitioners eg. Louise Lockheart, development of logo, practical research into small independent exhibition spaces around Leeds
Very good
5B2: Identify and analyse the challenges and opportunities offered by future developments within individually appropriate areas of creative practice. (Cognitive Skills Problem Analysis, Problem Solving)
Blog - research into Anorak and children’s publishing, research into events and print fairs, participation in comic and film fair
Good
5C2: Develop a body of work in response to a defined brief that effectively demonstrates professional working practices in research, planning and communications. (Practical Skills - Visual Quality and Conceptual Development)
The three studio briefs: Life’s a Pitch, Creative Report and the end of year presentation
Very good
5D2:Employ a range of appropriate professional communication methods to record and present their own creative practice, concerns and ambitions. (Key Transferable Skills, Organisation, Communication and Evaluation)
Presentations, creative report design boards, own logo development
Good
Summative Evaluation (See Evaluation Guidance on next page for more information) You are required to write a 750 word Summative Evaluation of this module. Please type up your Summative Evaluation in the box below. Make a PDF of the document and post the PDF as your final post on your OUIL503 blog. Also, please cut and paste the text from this box into the final page(s) of your OUIL502 Project Report. ——————————————————————————————————————————————— This year has been rough for me for lots of reasons I won’t go into here, and I ended up getting extenuating circumstances on two of my module hand-ins. I’ve had a lot going on and I’ve found it hard to keep up with the pace of the course while balancing it with my personal life. A lot of the time I felt like I was falling behind, which was a big knock to my confidence and had an effect on the quality of my work. On the positive side, I’ve learnt a lot about dealing with ongoing problems and getting myself out of a creative block. I’ve made a conscious effort to spend more time looking at illustrators and artists that I like for inspiration. I've got a wall above my desk at home with some names of practitioners I like, and when I'm feeling stumped over a project I give myself a few minutes to google them and really analyse their work and what it is I like about it. I think I’ve done well at reflecting back on my work, however this often leaves me feeling negative. Next year I need to work on finding a way to improve my practice without being too critical of myself. For the first time I’ve been paying attention to the creative industry, starting with what’s going on locally. I've started a notebook with lists of publishers, agencies, exhibition spaces, journals and so on. I also follow their accounts on Twitter and Instagram and keep an eye on exhibitions around Leeds and nationally. I did a thorough case study of Anorak magazine and learnt a lot about the publishing industry and children’s illustrations. Unfortunately the editor never replied to my emails, but I found some interviews online and triangulated what I found out with what I’d learnt at the Colours May Vary visit, and I’m happy with my final Creative Report. If I could do it again, I would give up on the first contact when they never replied and make contact with a second option - I regret not having the chance to conduct a proper interview (it was more like an investigation in the end!). From now on I will make a point of contacting lots of practitioners and industry professionals, even if it’s as simple as an Instagram message saying how much I like their work and introducing myself. In November, I went around a number of print shops and exhibition spaces and talked to people there about how they commission work and choose artists. They were all really laid-back and friendly and it has encouraged me to go back and speak to them again in the future and pitch a portfolio of my own work! I also had my first experience selling my work at the Comic & Film Fair in Leeds. It was a good first experience, everything went to plan and I now know how to set up, what to bring, how much change I need and how to price my work for when I do a bigger event in the future. Throughout some of my self-directed projects for Responsive I’ve been developing a logo to represent my practice. It started off as a doodle on the back of some cards, and eventually I made it into a vector to use on anything. This runs alongside the development of a name for my practice - unfortunately I can’t use my real name, as it’s the same as a comedian who talks about a lot of adult subjects, to put it diplomatically! As a lot of my work is aimed at children, it’s my responsibility to ensure that kids who might google my name don’t come across anything inappropriate. This also ensures there’s no damage to my reputation if I do decide to go into children’s publishing. OUIL502 has helped me to develop my presentation skills. My PPP presentation in level 4 was terrifying, but since then I think my confidence has improved a lot. I need to work on slowing down and making eye contact with the audience. I hate doing presentations, but I understand that it’s a really valuable life skill, so
instead of avoiding them I want to improve and become so good at them that it becomes second nature then I won’t hate them anymore! I learnt a lot from the whole saga with Emma Bright, a book I was asked to illustrate. The clients turned out to be very unprofessional, changing their minds on things and getting angry at me over the phone. I found that project stressful, especially when they kept badgering me even after the project was over, sending intimidating legal documents. In the end it was resolved and I’ve toughened up - I won’t get walked over by a client again. I’m not proud of how much it got to me, and should something like this happen in the future I’ll handle it much more confidently. That said, I won’t let it happen again, as now I know about contract terms and intellectual property laws, and I’m much more cautious about keeping a good relationship with clients. Incidentally, the collaboration project in Responsive went really well, so I know I am capable of working with other people! Overall, despite it being a difficult year, my practice has grown and developed much more than I expected. Looking back, I’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still a long way to go and I’m looking forward to professionalising my practice in level 6. ——————————————————————————————————————————————— Evaluation Guidance This should be a reflective summary of your experience across the module. -
How did it go? Where did your journey start, where did it end? I knew very little at the start of this module. At the end of the module I feel that…
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What learning took place? What was useful to you? Be specific. New skills? New methods? New processes or approaches? Did you use the blog to reflect on your project development?
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What went well and why? What did you enjoy? What were you happy with as an outcome? Be critical and analytical. Why did you enjoy it? Perhaps identify particular sessions? This could be ideas, solutions to problems, studentship or research. How well did you use the studio? Did you invest enough time in the development and testing of your outcomes?
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What could you have done better? What were the problems you faced? What did you do to try to overcome them? This could be in reference to studentship, organization or blogging as much as studio practice.
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How can you apply what you have learned here for future modules and projects? Application and future thinking. Things you would do differently next time? What useful methods, processes and ideas will you take forward into the next module?
You may also want to consider: Self-questioning: How did your thoughts and opinions change as you progressed through the module? Feedback: What other people (tutors and peers) thought of work and how you responded to that feedback? Research: Did you use contextual research to inform your ideas, ways of thinking or understanding of the challenges set. This may include further research of your subject matter, slides from the presentations or use of the library.