Olivia Newsome OUIL603 Project Report
Rationale & Introduction This is my rationale for the module: “I want to improve my problem solving skills, my drawing skills and my professionalism in my practice including having a clear ʻtone of voiceʼ in my work. This will help me to solve briefs in ways that are creative and not cliche, it will help me communicate better and help me to be more recognisable in my work. This will deepen my understanding of illustration and establish my practice more and as a result I will feel like I have achieved something really exciting and am proud of. I want to have informed decision making in my work because it will have a good effect on the work created. This will make sure that the work produced is relevant and enlightened. It will make my work be the best it can be and as a result it will make me a better illustrator. It will also mean that potential clients can see that my work is thought out and well crafted.”
Overall this module has been really enjoyable. Key things that I learnt in this module was time management, contextualising and also learning more about my own practice. This module spanned across many months which meant that I was always subconsciously thinking about the different briefs and figuring them out; I liked this. Generally my practice consists of me making finished pieces of work within a short amount of time so this module pushed me to think at a deeper level about my work and the decisions that I am making. Not only this, but it pushed me to expand briefs more so that I really explore every area relevant. I struggled at times managing all the briefs at once and wondering if I was spending my time on the right things however in the end it all puled together. I would of liked to have had more time to spend on the main brief as I would of liked to have tried screenprinting for it however time was of the essence and it did not seem a smart move. I feel as though I have completed the rationale that I set. Each of the things that I set out to complete, I have done whether consciously or intuitively. I feel as though I am a better illustrator after carrying out these briefs and really pushing my practice and challenging my preexisting boundaries that I put myself in. Here is my journey over the 8 briefs that I completed:
Brief 1 Editorial This brief was to create 5 editorial illustrations in 5 common editorial formats on stories from the New Yorker Magazine- each illustration must be completed within a day. As editorial illustration is the area of illustration that I am pursuing, naturally this brief was a joy to complete. I chose this brief to fulfill part of my rationale that spoke about how I want to solve problems in a creative way that is not cliche. Looking back, I am slightly sad that I completed this brief towards the start of the year as I feel that if I did them again (because of all the learning that have taken place over the last couple of months) I could of created even better work. Nevertheless, I am happy with them and feel that they are very good for showing how I can work to different constraints in format and colour.
Brief 2 Penguin Book Covers This brief was to pick 5 Penguin Classicʼs and redesign their covers. The covers needed to work as a set, be consistent in some way yet also be able to ʻhold their ownʼ. This brief turned out far better than expected and showed me that I can do publishing jobs. The reason that I chose this brief was because I have always felt like my book covers ʻmissed somethingʼ and I wanted to change that so that I am a more versatile illustrator. Some problems that I encountered was that I was creating book covers on books that I havenʼt had time to read cover to cover. As part of my rationale spoke about making things ʻnot clicheʼ, I had to research existing covers well in order to create something original, yet still recognisable. Overall, I feel the success of the covers working as a set is due to the block colour background and the motifs running throughout. This also satisfies that rationale where I wrote that I wanted my work to have a ʻclear tone of voiceʼ.
Brief 3- Main Brief The Amazon Rainforest This brief was to document the Amazon Rainforest in an exciting and engaging way for the Natural History Museum and their 驶Images of Nature始 exhibition and create a set of 30 bespoke prints, a set of wall decals and a small range of products for the Museum shop. I chose this brief as the subject of tropical rainforests has been something that I have wanted to create work on for a while. A difficulty that I faced in this brief was contextualising my work, I knew what work I wanted to make but finding a purpose was something that I toyed with for a few months until settling on one. This most likely made my project less focussed towards the start and resultantly made me not work smart. That said, this time of less focus led me to creating some beautiful sketchbook work that surprised me and fed my practice a great deal.
Summative Statement
Brief 4 Digital Arts Competition This brief was so illustrate a historical site digitally; in my case I picked Corvin Castle, Romania. The reason why I chose this brief was because I wanted to take part in a competition brief that would benefit me. This particular brief was centered around creating digital art to engage people at historical sites. Due to getting through to the second round of this brief, I got the chance to visit the site in Transylvania, Romania for free to inform myself more about the heritage site.
Brief 5 The Hunger Games Book Covers This brief was to redesign the covers of the Hunger Games trilogy and create some promotional POS to accompany it. I chose this brief mostly because of my dislike for the existing Hunger Games book covers, I felt as if there was a clear gap for some modern and eye-catching covers for this brand. I had fun making the work for this brief and was very much inspired by thinking about how an image is made up tonally with layers on a dark background. Alike to Brief 2, this brief has shown me that I can create work for book covers but has also shown me that I am not someone with a great deal of interest in product and packaging; I learnt this when creating promotional material.
Brief 6 Engineering Colouring Book This brief was to create 3 illustrations for a colouring book for children ages 4-9 to inform them on what engineering actually is and the various jobs within it. The brief was something that I would not usually lean towards however Kerry, the project manager specifically liked my work and another person始s after seeing it at the end of year show last year, it was there that her idea was birthed. Knowing this made me understand that my work would fit the brief, and this is the reason why I took this brief on. The most things that I learnt on this brief wasn始t to do with the work itself, it was to do with interacting with a client who doesn始t have a background in design and also working as a team. One individual challenge that we faced was creating a book that worked as a set despite our varying practices.
Brief 7 EP Cover I took on this brief after being asked by the band Fight the Dice to design their artwork for their soon to be released EP. The client wanted various pop and culture references in their work with a very busy aesthetic- almost like Where始s Wally. Creating art for music is something that I have not ever done so it was a great opportunity to expand my skillset. The biggest thing that I learnt on this brief was about how to create artwork that was very busy yet still clear and attractive. Doing another brief of this nature would be of interest to me as long as the client wasn始t going after the same aesthetic as this one. This aesthetic was time con suming and although it satisfies the brief fully, it is not in line with my practice.
Brief 8 The City Talking The City Talking brief was one that was undertook after the newspaper got in contact with me asking to work with me for their upcoming newspaper centered around promoting Leeds始 Southbank development and its bid for the 2023 Culture Capital of Europe. The main challenge that I encountered on this project was interpreting the brief. Because of the nature of the Leeds Council始s Culture Strategy, the brief was very organic and conceptual, this made it difficult for myself and the other artists who were working on this project to understand in the early stages of the brief. However overall, I feel that I created some well informed work that I am proud of but also satisfies the brief.