Due to the recent completion of
my second unit studying my level 4 Animation & Illustration foundation
degree I shall be completing a self-assessed analysis to determine my current
skill set regarding this project and how I want to move forward in development. The
way in which I shall be analysing my work is using a structure called
'SWOT' Analysis. 'SWOT' is an acronym for the questions:
- Strengths - What are the strengths of my unit, research, Pre-production, time scaling & final result.
- Weaknesses - What are the weaknesses of the aforementioned.
- Opportunity's - What are the opportunity's that I have come across during this unit, did I take full advantage of them and what opportunity's am I looking for moving forward
- Targets - What are my targets to consistently improve my creative works and skill set. The aim of these targets is to set the goals to becoming more industry standard.
Sequential Images - SWOT Analysis
Strengths
As aforementioned in my last SWOT Analysis my strengths lie within digital production and these skills are what I am most confident with utilising. Techniques such as digital manipulation through software’s such as in Adobes Photoshop are where I am most comfortable with producing my content from. During this unit considering my known strengths I planned to make sure that, where I could get the most potential out of my strengths to enhance the vision for my project, I would incorporate digital methods and techniques into my production
During my pre-production I made sure to take deep consideration into camera perspective, composition, framing and visual content. I made sure to experiment with multiple options, expanding my ideas, before narrowing them down to a strongest concept and moving onto the next area of experimentation. I feel that this process of natural exploration has a strong impact on the natural development of my illustrations process, only settling for the most effective with what is in line with my intended vision.
Time scaling is something that I am confident I performed a marginal improvement on from my previous unit and SWOT Analysis. I gave myself stricter pre-deadlines to mitigate the backlog of earlier tasks such as research and pre-production so that I would not have to rush later stages such as the colouring process. I believe that this 'Pre-deadline' process that I have begun to develop is something that will continue to assist me if I stick with it allowing it to adjust as I improve my own process.
As identified in the early stages of my research, style and texture is something that sets the tone for any creative works. By taking advantage of rough textures during my colour up process in Adobe Photoshop I feel that I pushed the focus of my visual conveyance closer to my intended vision for my audience to experience, staying true to the harsh reality my original script had described.
Weaknesses
I feel that my main weaknesses throughout the whole production was that I was trying to over complicate this whole process, specifically the focus on style and depth over core elements of content. I attempted to venture to far away from my strengths focusing primarily on traditional drawing (Realism) when developing my concepts rather than allowing myself to slowly incorporate new techniques into an already effective process. Although I am satisfied that I am ambitious with growth, this time the lengths I went to develop my growth cost me potential on how I could have applied techniques in this production.
During my research stage I looked at artists of varying styles and approaches to try and identify a common formula for effective visual conveyance when conveying an intention. I feel I identified a lot of relevant and effective techniques that enhance an illustration, making it more impactful, but an issue that I identified reflecting back on my whole production was that I was only looking at methods of enhancement. When I should have been looking at core techniques on the minimal amount of information I would need to successfully convey my idea.
I feel that this lack of understanding at the research stage caused the effectiveness of my illustration to fail at the later stages of my illustration due to my audience been unable to understand what the concepts intentions where. If my audience doesn't understand what's happening, then my illustration has failed and loses all value. If I was to do this production again I would focus on keeping in mind 'how do I guarantee conveying what is happening?' so that everyone in my audience says 'Yes, I get it such and such is happening' before I even consider enhancing that base concept.
Opportunity’s
This project has provided me with the opportunity to explore new sources of inspiration and visual stimulation by using objects of historical value such as those used in this current unit from the history museum. Inspiration is one of the most valuable resources for all artist's and exporing the history of past events in an enriching experience can be the source of much potential regarding concept and expression.
Similar to my previous productions this unit has provided me the opportunity to study and explore artists of interest to potentially learn, develop and incorporate effective techniques to enhance my own skill set that are present in such artist's own creative works allowing consistent personal growth as an artist. New artist's I have had the pleasure of studying during this unit are:
As aforementioned in my last SWOT Analysis my strengths lie within digital production and these skills are what I am most confident with utilising. Techniques such as digital manipulation through software’s such as in Adobes Photoshop are where I am most comfortable with producing my content from. During this unit considering my known strengths I planned to make sure that, where I could get the most potential out of my strengths to enhance the vision for my project, I would incorporate digital methods and techniques into my production
I feel that at the beginning of
my production in my research stage I placed importance on identifying the key components
that guarantee the effectiveness of a triptych narrative. What I had identified
and placed my understanding on, from the artists I have investigated, was that
the most impactful illustrations were covered in tiny details to explore within
a scene. Each object rich with symbolism that enhanced the intended visual
narrative of the illustration. By identifying this key aspect of visual conveyance
early on I had a strong foundation moving forward raising the potential that my
concepts could be realised against.
During my pre-production I made sure to take deep consideration into camera perspective, composition, framing and visual content. I made sure to experiment with multiple options, expanding my ideas, before narrowing them down to a strongest concept and moving onto the next area of experimentation. I feel that this process of natural exploration has a strong impact on the natural development of my illustrations process, only settling for the most effective with what is in line with my intended vision.
Time scaling is something that I am confident I performed a marginal improvement on from my previous unit and SWOT Analysis. I gave myself stricter pre-deadlines to mitigate the backlog of earlier tasks such as research and pre-production so that I would not have to rush later stages such as the colouring process. I believe that this 'Pre-deadline' process that I have begun to develop is something that will continue to assist me if I stick with it allowing it to adjust as I improve my own process.
As identified in the early stages of my research, style and texture is something that sets the tone for any creative works. By taking advantage of rough textures during my colour up process in Adobe Photoshop I feel that I pushed the focus of my visual conveyance closer to my intended vision for my audience to experience, staying true to the harsh reality my original script had described.
Weaknesses
I feel that my main weaknesses throughout the whole production was that I was trying to over complicate this whole process, specifically the focus on style and depth over core elements of content. I attempted to venture to far away from my strengths focusing primarily on traditional drawing (Realism) when developing my concepts rather than allowing myself to slowly incorporate new techniques into an already effective process. Although I am satisfied that I am ambitious with growth, this time the lengths I went to develop my growth cost me potential on how I could have applied techniques in this production.
During my research stage I looked at artists of varying styles and approaches to try and identify a common formula for effective visual conveyance when conveying an intention. I feel I identified a lot of relevant and effective techniques that enhance an illustration, making it more impactful, but an issue that I identified reflecting back on my whole production was that I was only looking at methods of enhancement. When I should have been looking at core techniques on the minimal amount of information I would need to successfully convey my idea.
I feel that this lack of understanding at the research stage caused the effectiveness of my illustration to fail at the later stages of my illustration due to my audience been unable to understand what the concepts intentions where. If my audience doesn't understand what's happening, then my illustration has failed and loses all value. If I was to do this production again I would focus on keeping in mind 'how do I guarantee conveying what is happening?' so that everyone in my audience says 'Yes, I get it such and such is happening' before I even consider enhancing that base concept.
Opportunity’s
This project has provided me with the opportunity to explore new sources of inspiration and visual stimulation by using objects of historical value such as those used in this current unit from the history museum. Inspiration is one of the most valuable resources for all artist's and exporing the history of past events in an enriching experience can be the source of much potential regarding concept and expression.
Similar to my previous productions this unit has provided me the opportunity to study and explore artists of interest to potentially learn, develop and incorporate effective techniques to enhance my own skill set that are present in such artist's own creative works allowing consistent personal growth as an artist. New artist's I have had the pleasure of studying during this unit are:
This unit was also my first time developing sequential images as standalone illustrations interacting with one another in the form of a triptych. My knowledge in triptych illustrations was minimal before this unit due to my interests primarily been focused on animation. In reflection to this, this unit provided me with the opportunity to expand my knowledge on illustration related techniques and processes such as those relating to visual conveyance regarding sequential images.
Targets
In order to consistently grow as an artist, it is imperative that I understand how I can improve in order to allow me skillset to naturally evolve in a productive direction. Reflecting upon my SWOT analysis and my project there are a few key areas which I would like to create an action plan for to balance out my skill set moving forward.
Target 1- Clearly Define Concept to my audience visually.
Make sure I clearly define visually the basic information required for my audience to understand what’s happening in my creative works.
The first thing I identified in my weaknesses in reflection to feedback from my lecturer was that I didn't ensure that my audience could clearly understand what it is I intended to convey, negating any potential effect that a creative work can have rendering it useless to the purpose. To remedy this in my future productions I plan on spending time in my planning process completing exercises regarding my concepts to ensure that the basic amount of information required is used to convey my desired intentions.
For example, if I am drawing a character that needs to look scared due to a monster been present, I would question myself what information needs to be visually present for my audience to grasp the situation. I would suggest that 'a clear expression of fear from my character directed towards a clear representation of a monster' within the composition of the scene would be the basic minimal information required for that scene to be easily understood. Everything such as composition, depth, colour, and other enhancing techniques is something that can be applied after I have a solid concept.
I can explore this solid concept visually be completing thumbnail sketches, experimenting until I am satisfied that anyone can understand the scene at first read. Things such as expression, pose and composition are all elements that can contribute and push the focus onto my desired effect making my concept easily understandable. This is something I plan to incorporate into my next unit to guarantee easy understanding and impact of each concept I develop.
Target 2- Do what is possible for me to do, not what I would like to be able to do.
Experimentation is good but don't abandon my strengths and venture too far from my comforts as this can be detrimental to my results
As Identified within this analysis and my feedback I had tried to stimulate growth by jumping straight into a process and style that I had no experience with. This approach was to use a 'realism' style coupled with a hand drawn traditional pencil approach. The resulting triptych illustration was not as effective as it could have been had I used a stylized approach that I had more experience with.
An action plan to ensure that my resulting creative works are visually effective is to spend more time researching styles from artists of interest as well as exploring them both mentally and physically within my work such as in written analysis and drawn responses. This process will provide me the ability to not only understand the strengths and weaknesses of a style but allow me to create effective artwork with comfort.
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Having reviewed my 'Sequential images' project and applied my feedback into a clear action plan for me to work on, I am satisfied that I have grown from my time developing and analysing my work in this unit. I hope that everyone reading this has taken on board from my experiences and learnt a little something for themselves. Thank you for reading, till next time.
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