Thursday 31 May 2018

End of Module Evaluation

Throughout the year, Extended Practice has been the most integral module to my development as an inidivudal and a practitioner. Having the freedom to choose and create my own briefs that suit me and my working style has allowed me to have full creative control over my practice for the past few months. This has made me a lot more comfortable with just letting myself work how I work, I haven't felt the need to conform to a specific idea of what illustration is and feel that my work has progressed for the better over the duration of this module.

Over the course of the module, I think one of the most important things I've kearnt is what kind of area I want my illustration work to be heading into. At the start of the year, I was floundering around abit, trying to figure out how I can get my work to fit into commercial sections of th ecreative industry, without really having much passion for any of them. Throughout 603, I've worked on a few briefs that have related to music and designing work around that. This is something that I'm extremeley comfortable and happy doing, having recently got my first comission to do band merch for an american bands new album release, its a direction I can see my work developing further into and a route that I'm happy going down.

My proccess and production skills have developed throughout the year as well. I've made sure that, although I've worked mostly digital, I've varied my process, tried new things out, and found various ways of working to build on within my practice. I've also developed a lot of confidence this year in terms of my practice. I've worked on Print Fairs, contacted clients and managed to get some of my work archived at a Museum. All of these things have led to me having a sense of confidence in my work which has allowed me to take myself a little bit more seriously as a practitioner.

I've had some trouble balancing time for this module and havent managed to complete everything that I wanted to do before the module ended. This is due to different health problems over the year but also down to my own time management. This has been a consistent issue for me throughout university and is something that has got better but that I still struggle with. The problem with writing my own briefs was that there was no external deadline for me to hit, so throughout the year 603 sometimes took a backseat while I was sorting other things out. I've learnt from this that the best way for me to work is quite quickly, finding that I prefer shorter briefs witha  quick turnaround, to longer briefs that drag on for weeks/months. This is because of me struggling to manage my time when faced with a  longer project and also down to me having the tendancy to get a bit bored of a project if it goes on too long.

Overall, I feel that regardless of everything else, 603 has simply allowed me to develop and hone my practice in a way that Studio Practice modules haven't allowed me to before. Considering where I was at the start of the year and where I feel I am now, I think I've progressed a lot. I'm happy to be ending the year with a body of work that I'm proud of and with my first comission in progress, this is more than I could've hoped for and something that I'm incredibly proud of. While compiling everything for submission, I found it difficult to justify whether or not I'd done 'enough' work, but I think that being content with the progression of my practice and with the work I have produced justifies the work I have done this year completley.

Design Boards

Study Tasks


First self-portrait

Second self-portrait


Statement of Intent - Revised

Leeds College of Art
BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION
Level
06
OUIL603 Extended Practice
CreditV
60
STUDIOPRACTICE Statement ofIntent

Name
 Leah Haywood 

Date
 24/02/18

Rationale
The projects I have chosen to work on fro 603 allow me to explore different industry sectors I am interested in working within and/or offer me an opportunity to explore and expand my practice in terms of process and production.

Together, the selected briefs will allow me to compile a portfolio of work, whether this exists online or in a physical format.
Themes / Subjects
- Music - exploration of sound and image

- Emotionally driven work – focus on feeling and human experience – concept of home

- Applied illustration – product, packaging, printed goods etc

- Editorial – imagery and words, possibly linking to emotion and feeling

- Themes for zines vary throughout

- Folklore/Mystical Practices – specific theme for wall hangings

Products / Methods of Distribution
- Prints

- Zines

- Live brief responses

- Digital outcomes

- A selection of printed products/goods (wall hangings, Print Stuff stock etc)

- Distribution – online, print, fairs and stalls, portfolio, website 

Practical Skills / Media / Fromats
- Drawing 

- Digital 

- Print

- Publications

- Product

- Research



Brief 1: Alternative LP Covers
Deadline
 28th February
Rationale: Allows exploration of the relationship between music and image. Allows response to a personal interest and influence. Exploration of different processes and production methods. Further understanding of working within a specific format and set of constraints. 
Brief 2: Editorial – Responses to selected articles/creative writing pieces from Oh Comely Magazine. 
Deadline
 31st March
Rationale: Allows experience responding to pre-written articles in an editorial format. Investigation into how imagery accompanies word to enhance each other. Allows options to work with possible emotive subject matter. Development of process. Understanding of formats and possible constraints. Could have potential to form contacts, final outcomes could be printed and sent to the art director/magazine headquarters. 


Brief 3: “Home” – an exploration of the concept of home
Deadline
17th May 
Rationale: Research led project based around the concept of home. Outcomes not necessarily defined, potential to go in multiple directions. Exploration of practice – print and process. Respond to personal experience as well as first hand experiences of others via research, surveys, questionnaires etc. Broad subject matter, sometimes highly emotive. Respond to emotion and experience. Experimentation and exploration of own practice – ongoing project – no obvious end point. Allows for varied responses, zines, prints, short comics, etc. 
Brief 4: Wall Hangings 
Deadline
 28th April
Rationale: Produce a series of images consisting of a minimum of three illustrations responding to one OR three different folktales OR aspects of mystical practice, e.g. witchcraft, divination etc. Final designs will then be screen printed onto fabric and made into wall hangings. Research led brief to expand contextual and theoretical understanding. Short individual briefs with over-arching themes combine to make one larger project. Expand process and production skills. Exploration of Applied illustration with a focus on print, narrative and storytelling. Ties into Print Stuff, if successful, outcomes can be sold. 
Brief 5: Zines 
Deadline
 17th May
Rationale: Produce a variety of zines/small publications exploring a variety of themes. To be completed within varied time frames. Exploration of zine format – learn how to work in different/new ways. Exploration of practice – different timeframes – zine a day/week etc. Image and narrative exploration and conceptual development. Production and Process – DIY. Continuation of pre-existing ideas, and opportunity to pick old things back up. Allows for times spent just drawing, exploring and having fun. Develop and enjoy practice. 


ACTION PLAN- use this section to identify specific tasks that youneed to complete in order to resolve the brief.
Brief
What do you need to do?
Deadline


1
Forge Magazine - Research theme. Create image. Submit via website.
5 – 9thMarch

2
Papergang by Ohhdeer - Download Brief and Project Pack. Decide on theme to run throughout. Generate Imagery. Apply to product. Submit via website.
26th March

3
LP Covers – Series of five alternative LP covers. Choose albums. Create imagery. Produce mockups. Explore process. 
28thFebruary

4
Home - Ongoing project. Research driven (primary and secondary). Initial research to define starting point. Begin creating imagery that responds to research undertaken. Varieties of practical outcomes are achievable. No set end point. Continuous project with room for a variety of directions.
17th May

5
Editorial – Look through back copies of Oh Comely magazine and select three articles to work with. Create imagery in response to these images. Consider printing images and mailing to art director of magazine. 
31st March


6
Wall Hangings – Select specific theme to run throughout. Initial research to be undertaken. Start generating imagery. Look into production methods, materials etc. Finalize images. Print. Make wall hangings. 
28th- 30thApril

7
Zines – Ongoing project and production of zines. Explore different themes, formats and production methods. 
17th May 

8
Print Stuff – Selection of printed goods/products to take and sell at Print Stuff 2018. Can generate new work specifically for this OR use existing work from other proposed briefs and apply to product or print. 
28th April 

9




10


Wednesday 30 May 2018

Cryptid Final Designs and Proposal for Continuation of Project




These are my two final cryptid designs. In terms of colour scheme, they are both finished with the same colours, just layered on top of each other differently as I wanted to create different tones of voice for the individual cryptids. The Jackalope is a lot softer, its not as terrifying as the Wendigo so wanted the colours to represent this, hence why the pink is more prominant in this design. The Wendigo on the other hand is a nightmarish creature, therefore, the blues are more predominant as I wanted to convey a darker tone of voice



Originally, I was suppossed to produce three iamges for this project but have only managed to complete two. This is due to a surgery and the recovery time from this which has led to me not being able to complete work at the speed that I needed to in order to do all three. Nonetheless, I'm happy with the two outcomes i've produced and intend to carry on creating images around this subject matter as the whole research part of this project has been really interesting. 

I had also proposed to make these iamges into fabric wall hangings. This is something that i still want to do but will not have time to complete before the deadline. Therefore, I instead propose to create these wall hangings in time for the end of year show. If for some reason this cannot be completed. the images will be printed off at a large scale and shown as posters hung from the wall, rather than traditional fabric wall hangings as such. 

Tuesday 29 May 2018

Jackalope - Final Composition

Final Composition
This is the final composition for my second cryptid piece, the Jackalope. I've started trying to look at ways to further develop the design by use of two different colours. I'm happy with the way this has turned out, the Jackalope is interacting with pieces of the composition and it seems well balanced. My next steps are to figure out a colour scheme and finalise both the Jackalope and Wendigo design as these are now the only two designs I'm going to have the time to finish.

Wednesday 23 May 2018

Jackalope - Ink Paintings

The Ink paintings I did for the Jackalope involved repainting the Jackalope until I was happy with the figure, and then repainting different elements from the composition I'd chosen from the roughs I'd done. I chose to paint the elements individually, as it would give me the choice to drag and drop different features and deide what works best with the image of the Jackalope