Visual Journal Evaluation - Leah Haywood

Context of Prac-ce Visual Response Leah Haywood Level 4 Illustra-on

Visual Journal Proposal Themes I’m going to explore: Body Image Gender Stereotypes Sexualisa-on

Theories that will inform my body of work : Nega-ve body image is encouraged by socie-es unrealis-c expecta-ons of how we should look Gender stereotypes are an inaccurate generaliza-on of both males and females Sexualisa-on exploits the female body more so than males

Specific subjects I want to inves-gate: Body image and confidence – the ‘perfect body’ and how this affects our confidence Breaking the exis-ng gender stereotypes The female figure and its over sexualisa-on

To inves-gate this content I will: Conduct a ques-onnaire and respond to it Draw from life and from reference to explore body types and gender stereotypes Inves-gate the female figure, looking at clothing, nudity and why the female form is so overly sexualised compared to males.

Research Lillian Bustle TED Talk – Stripping Away Nega-ve Body Image This TED Talk talks about how if we see more images of larger bodies rather than photoshopped 'perfect' bodies we in turn become happier with our own and start to prefer the idea of having a bigger, curvier body than one that's slim and perfect. The idea of a 'visual diet' is brought up, and refers to the images that we consume everyday. We are constantly fed images of slim, toned, tanned women, so that is what we want to be. If we were to be fed a variety of images with a huge diversity of bodies, we would become more accep-ng of a wider range of body types and therefore our own.

"The more we see that kind of body, the more we like that kind of body” -­‐ Lillian Bustle

Frances Cannon I found Frances Cannon's work on a late night scroll through Instagram and instantly fell in love with her fluid and honest drawings. Focusing mainly on feminism and body image, Cannon's work radiates self-­‐love, posi-vity and body confidence, executed in a simple yet effec-ve style.

Body Confidence Ques-onnaire I wanted to create a survey to see hat kind of view people have on their bodies and that would give me some research to be able to respond too in my visual journal.

Survey Ques-ons: Are you male or female?

How old are you?

Would you say you're a confident person?

Are you confident about your body?

Have you ever felt bad about how you look?

What is your favourite thing about your body?

What is your least favourite thing about your body?

What do you think has impacted your body confidence and why?

Do you feel that theres a certain pressure to live up to what society portrays as being the 'perfect body'?

Have you ever suffered from a mental health illness that has been related to how you feel about yourself/body? If so, what and why?

How has adver-sing affected your body confidence?

How has social media affected your body confidence?

What is your idea of the 'perfect' body?

Below is the link to the survey that I made and posted on social media h`p://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/0F51X/

Survey responses From my survey I found that: The majority of females that took my survey were unhappy with their stomach and thighs The majority of females that took my survey said their eyes were their favorite thing about their body The ‘Perfect Body’ is seen as a size 8/10, slim, toned, tall, with flawless skin.

Although some girls did describe the perfect body as a happy healthy one. This was a really refreshing outlook on things so I decided to base my project more around body posi-vity and promo-ng body acceptance.

I reviewed my answers from the survey and made these two pages in my sketchbook just to visualize what parts of themselves girls weren’t happy with and what parts they were happy with

Visual Response – Happy Bodies I was aiming to promote body diversity and confidence and think through the range of body types I drew and the confident postures I drew them in I managed to achieve this. I wanted to stay away from drawing sexy postures, it's something we see too much of already, I wanted to show women being confident and comfortable in their bodies. I added text to these images because body posi-ve affirma-ons help promote a be`er mental wellbeing, posi-ve affirma-ons and mantras in general can help build a more mindful approach to life so I think when trying to get people to accept themselves, text like this is good to include.

Visual Response – Body Shape Shapes something I've enjoyed using in other briefs/modules and it seems like a figng way to further explore the idea of body shape. I developed some of my previous drawings into reduced, simple images and think they work really well. I love the colour’s, the pale pink and darker blue work really nice together, there’s a good level of contrast and it makes the images really bold.

Definitely into this aesthe-c, I started sketching out a few more ideas, I want to do something with nipple censorship for women, I think in this style it could work quite well and it relates back to some of my themes.

Visual Response – Body Shape Con-nued I think as a set of images these are all really strong. I think they promote body confidence and diversity in an effec-ve yet simple way, using bold bright colours and shapes to convey message and meaning to an audience. I'd really enjoy making more work like this, the visual journals taught me a lot about how to create work that revolves around a contextual theme, and in this case a theme that i can relate to quite a lot. I'm looking forward to crea-ng more work like this that can help people come to terms with their own body and self-­‐acceptance.

Visual Response – Sexualisa-on These two images were based around the idea of nipple censorship for women, I par-cularly like the image of the blue and pink nipples on reversed backgrounds. This was meaning to represent the similarity between male and female nipples and how there is literally no difference between them except the fact that women nipples and breasts have become overly sexualised and therefore have to be censored.

Visual Response – Body Drawings To my understanding, the female figure is overly sexualised in near any form of adver-sing as my essay research suggests. I wanted to have a go at drawing nude women that weren't necessarily sexualised and that didn't fit to the norm of bodies that we usually see plastered on billboards and in magazines.

It was so refreshing to be drawing actual women. Personally, if i ever draw a female figure I tend to make them slim, and tall, with perfectly round breasts and bums because that's what I perceive to be a desirable body shape. It was nice to be able to draw women with curves and bumps and fat rolls and all that other stuff, it actually made me feel a li`le be`er about myself because I was drawing these bigger ladies and they didn't look bad at all, they just looked like ordinary people.

Evalua-on of Visual Journal What went well? . Research into my themes. This informed my work well and gave me a direc-on to follow and an ideology that I wanted to promote – body acceptance. . Use of shape to reduce an image and clearly communicate ideas and messages . Applica-on of media and colour – level of crai

What did go well? . I didn’t explore everything in my proposal due to my bad -me management.

I feel I would have produced a fuller body of work if I had given myself -me to explore all aspects of my proposal. . Time Management. My visual body of work was but on the back seat due to wan-ng to spend more -me on other projects. I haven’t really felt engaged with COP at all this year, and feel I would have benefited from pugng more -me and effort into this module. . Lack of work – I think I could have produced a lot more work had I been more exhaus-ve with my sketchbook . I could have benefited from doing a bit more research, but I think that I’ve done pre`y well with what I managed to get done for the submission.

What will I do differently next -me?

. Put more effort and -me into COP rather than just pugng it on the back seat. I haven’t enjoyed this module and therefore haven’t put much -me into it but think if I’d become more involved with the work then maybe I would have enjoyed it more and therefore produced a be`er body of work

. Start my visual journal earlier. Star-ng my journal a few weeks before submission was a bad idea but due to my -me management and external situa-ons, I didn’t have much other choice. Next year I want to spend more -me on COP in order to be able to complete work without rushing towards the end.

. Be more exhaus-ve in my sketchbook

. More research into ar-sts and my themes that can help to inform and influence the work that I am producing.