Monday, 29 February 2016

Monthly Review: February

How am I doing generally?

Really good! This month has absolutely FLOWN by as we have all been so busy. But I am managing everything well as well as enjoying projects that I'm working on.

What am I proud of?

Our 'Life's a Pitch' presentation went surprisingly well, in fact it couldn't have gone better really! I'm really proud of the fact that my group and I were literally like chalk and cheese x 4, all having different personalities and different interests, yet we still managed to work really well as a team and come up with a strong business proposal and presentation.

I'm also proud of my team (marketing) of how professionally we promoted our exhibition at Colours May Vary, and the opening night was really successful. I had the responsibility of taking the photographs for the night which I was absolutely bricking it about, but once I got into the swing of it I managed to get some good images that captured the atmosphere of the evening and (hopefully) encouraged people to visit the exhibition by posting and sharing on the Facebook page.
From an individual point of view, I wasn't too happy with my print. I think it was really difficult to produce a print to potentially sell that was so niche and specific to our chosen author. I guess the whole point of the exhibition was to showcase our work, but lets face it, no one is going to want to buy a print about Tourette's Syndrome are they? But never mind! The whole experience has been invaluable!

I've recently started working for the Young Creatives strand of student ambassadors, which has been great so far! This month I have participated in assisting leading a screen print, and an animation workshop which have both been so valuable. I was so pleased that I was able to share my knowledge of screen printing with the students on the Children's Art School programme; I taught one of the girls how to do a split fountain like I did for 504! I really hope to be able to lead illustrative workshops as part of my practice when I graduate as I love meeting and working with new people and sharing creative processes and techniques with them.

(I have the permission of this student to post these pictures on my blog!) 




One more thing; I am so pleased with my grade for 504, I miraculously managed to get 62%! I know every module I desperately try and aim to get a first because I have never got one before, but considering how shit I felt at the end of last year, and having taken every ounce of energy I had to drag myself in and complete this project, I think it was pretty good going!






What am I struggling with?

I'm pretty stressed about responsive, I seem to be spending all of my time on Emil and the Detectives, and it is taking forever! I'm worried that I won't have time to complete the others. Nevertheless,  the group collaborative project is going really well thank goodness, and I have completed Illustration Friday now, so it's not as if I'm not making any process.

COP is slowly getting there... we recently had a task to make five hotdog books to gain an idea about what to produce for our publication, which was actually really helpful and has inspired me to get back into the swing of things.

Other relevant things to mention

The day at Crofton Academy wasn't really what I expected, unfortunately. I thought I'd be shadowing an art teacher all day and working within the art department of the school, but instead I was assisting with a year nine careers day. It was still really useful though! The kids had really open minds in terms of career interests, which was really refreshing to see such a high level of ambition. 
The whole day was actually really useful in hindsight, especially in relation to my ideas for 505 (I'm thinking of creating a workshop pack for schools on issues that need more awareness). I learnt that sitting a bunch of pre-pubescent teens in the same, sweaty room for a whole day and dictating important information at them, maybe isn't the best way to grab their attention.
It is often the important lessons that kids find 'boring', so for example life lessons such as what to do when school finishes, managing money, social groups etc, because the lessons just aren't really that fun. I definitely think the students would benefit a lot more from lessons and days such as these if they were to be delivered in a more creative and vocational way, for example through physical/creative activity etc. So this is something I can reflect upon in 505.

Upcoming Events/Opportunities/Deadlines

There are so many things coming up in March, I don't know whether I should be excited incredibly nervous?!

  • 1st: My friend Molly is a student teacher at the minute and she has asked me to do some illustration work with her class tomorrow, I cannot wait! This will be a perfect opportunity to try out some of my ideas for 505 with a much younger age group, and will also build my confidence with teaching.
  • 2nd: Secret 7 deadline: I've completed 4/7 album sleeves so far which I'm really happy with, but I'm only submitting this as a quick brief, so not sure if I will complete all seven
  • 9th: Penguin Design Award deadline: ~Currently going grey over this so I'll just say that I need to get a serious wiggle on~
  • ELCAF and Anorak talks/briefs
  • So many other things that I can't even think of off the top of my head

Plan of Action

  • Keep reflecting and working hard on ideas for 505, they will probably change a lot in the next month
  • Get the book covers done!
  • Don't overwhelm myself with things to do
  • Urgently get a wiggle on with Secret7
  • Go to some galleries, haven't been to any in a while!

No comments:

Post a Comment