Lauren Dennis WREN X GAIA Illustrated Poetry OUIL505 : Applied Illustration Project Report
The Brief: Wren x Gaia Illustrated Poetry The Audience: - Poetry Readers - Customers of Colours May Vary - Gaia Holmes - Owners of Colours May Vary Product: Illustrated book of poetry by Gaia Holmes Range: Teatowels Mirrors Badges Bookmarks Notebooks Prints/Postcards from page spreads Distribution: An event launch at Colours May Vary All promotional material for this: Posters Flyers Facebook/Social Media Announcements Limited Tote Bags Produce: At least 5 Double Page spreads from the book + front and back cover. (do I need to print this?) Promotional Poster/Material Propose: Rest of range and merchandise Complete printed book
I feel that the finals for this submission were successful as both pages in the book and stand-alone prints. I took inspiration for the composition from botanical illustrations and although the imagery is quite abstract, there is a recognisable similarity. I have tried to develop my wet media work further throughout this module, developing my digital skills also to try professionalising my work to a higher standard. In a way I see this project tying closely to the work completed throughout the context of practice module, I have been developing my work into creating books and imagery that is reflective of a body of text. The good thing of using the process I have done is being able to take certain elements from each composition to drop into other things, such as the repeat patterns, covers and posters I produced, this adds a continuity across the body of work as well as saving time to be spent on finalising and creating professional work. However I didn’t have enough time throughout the module to create, finish and bind the book, doing so would mean no time to develop range and distribution, resulting in being penalised. Although logically I know this, it feels wrong to not finish something to the standard and size I am proposing, it seems as if I am missing something out.
Development pages, working out what imagery to use.
Throughout Studio Brief 1 there was a struggle with getting my ideas onto paper, though the visual journal aided that to some extent, I was still unsure about where my ideas were heading and ended up with rough pages in a sketchbook. Once I decided to be more abstract with my final resolutions, the bredth of things I had drawn in the journal became very relevant, being able to pick out certain wings from moths or the mushroom spores or little teeth. It became more useful towards the end than it had been in the beginning. Which might be a completely backwards way of working.
Initially I wanted to produce almost everything I proposed. This included the promotional material, the finished book and accompanying range. I tried to spread myself too thin. Because the focus on the module is not just creating a single product, I adapted my proposal to make the work more manageable. Instead of a 16 page full colour book, I have produced five page spreads with front and back covers, as a taster to the full product. This allowed more time to focus on the range and distribution aspect.
I struggled with pulling imagery out of the poetry initially, wanted to illustrate them quite literally. Upon reflection I found that it was easier to find certain images and draw upon them, making my work more abstract but also focusing more on the atmosphere and feeling of the poetry, which is more successful. This was beneficial when taking the illustrations from each double page spread and adapting them to fit with other products. This helped in covering the range focus of the module.
Overall I found this module rewarding once I found the time to dedicate myself to it. With the rest of the modules running at the same time and the deadlines sooner, I prioritised them, which is possibly to my detriment as this is a larger credit module. I found that putting my work onto products and thinking about how much further I can take an initial body of work has helped professionalise my work to a higher standard. I have found that towards the end of second year, I can see a noticeable improvement to the work I was producing a year ago, if not 6 months ago. In the research section of this module I found the time and freedom to look to practitioners whose work I felt was what I was aiming towards in my own practise. Because of this I found it became very similar to things on my PPP blog. I found myself using my visual journal in the correct manner to get everything onto paper, though a lot of the pages within it are sloppy and not to a standard that I’ve been working at, I realised I needed to accept that and move on. The strengths throughout this module was my use of media, during a critique I was told to stick to watercolour and ink as it’s a skill I have practised and it’s where my practice is the strongest. The process of painting everything in black and changing the colour digitally is something I began to develop throughout the COP module, and a skill which I have further honed throughout OUIL505. A strength which is usually a weakness of mine throughout almost all modules I have completed is my time management, I began by making a three month plan from March through to the end of May, dedicating days to certain modules and then towards the end of this deadline, planning things by the hour to make sure I achieve everything I want to by the end of each day. As aforementioned, I don’t believe I dedicated enough time initially to the beginning of the module, although I have created work I am proud of it is difficult to know whether I would have arrived at the same end point had more development work been completed. I think that throughout my studies I rush to the end point and don’t spend enough time to fully investigate the different options that I have. I also had a completely different idea at the start of this module, something that was too large to be feasible at this level, which meant the time I spent focused on that idea was time where I could have been developing practically and conceptually. From this module I have realised that next time I must: - Be less precious from the beginning, get everything down on paper and focus on being neat and professional when it comes to the final resolutions. - Continue to meticulously plan my time from the beginning, as this is the way I work best. - Improve the proposed mock ups of my work, or produce them and photograph them professionally, this is something I have struggled with throughout this module and also responsive, I could do better. - Keep refining my brushwork and build up a tool kit of different brushes to ensure I achieve different qualities of line.