Exercise 2:​ Creative Audit

To think about my final assignment I looked back through all of my artwork created for this unit and identified the works that I think are particually successful.

To do this I reviewed my sketchbooks, as well as the finished pieces and read back over my reflective statements and notes in my learning log for each part of the course and made notes.

Part One – What was involved

In Part One of the course I considered my workplace, working process, concepts and ideas key to visual thinking like flow, and play and how they can be used to develop thinking and making processes.
For one of the tasks, I illustrated my ideal studio, which I liked not just picturing but also creating humour by including my son and pets in the illustration.
For the assignment, I created an A2 playful illustration by making purposeful markings of varying sizes and shapes from one corner of the paper to another with various mediums. Once finished, I chose sections representing distinct feelings and created additional images.

What I learnt during Part One

To not be afraid of making mistakes
That random mark-making can be an effective method for conquering the blank page and generating fresh ideas.
Doodling on a page allowed me to select little portions and create fresh illustrations with emotional significance that I could envision being utilised for various items.

Part Two – What was involved

In part two I developed these concepts and ideas to examine several approaches to generate ideas and visual thinking through controlled, randomised and accidental working methodologies. These included:

An exercise called Composing Pictures. This involved collaging existing works into something new. This included a successful, political collage.
Creating collages from daily tabloids
Creating a word poem by the use of a word processing application and then creating illustrations for each word and eventually combining them all into one coherent image.
Assignment 2 I created a video presentation of my work during the unit.
Playing the word association game by creating mind maps to help generate new ideas. This led to a successful illustration of a Wizard where I tested my technical skills.
Choosing a word and making a list of all the different manifestations that a word can take. Then I made each manifestation into illustrations.
Multi-dimensional thinking strategies.

What I learnt during Part Two

I have explored many concepts and attempted various methods to develop new ideas during this section of the course. I have learned a great deal from this. I am inspired to make illustrations that evoke emotions or convey a message somehow because of them.

It has also taught me not to be afraid to do new things, even if I don’t end up with the greatest piece of art, since it will lead to other opportunities and further my artistic development.

During part two, I created a comfort zone illustration by writing down topics that make me uncomfortable and comfortable and categorising them into different coloured circles. I concluded that I should repeat this exercise to evaluate if my skills and weaknesses had changed. Below is the original.

First, I edited the original, deleting all unrelated topics, and then created a new one focusing solely on my illustration concerns and skills to see if anything changed.

I was pleasantly delighted that several topics have now moved into my comfort zone rather than the danger zone, proving to me that I have grown as an artist over this course and gained more confidence than I thought possible.

Part three

In part three I examined various technical, stylistic and creative processes and explored and experimented with the ideas of duration, scale and movement through creative making. These included:
Paper folding where I learnt skills in Origami and tested my perseverance.
Created a comic based on my own experiences with the struggles of Insomnia.
I created rapid portraits of facial expressions using plasticine and found my love of sculpture again.
Continuous line sketches
Assignment three I created an animation about a ballet dancer struggling with the torments of bullies.

What I learnt during Part Three

To make time to play and have fun experimenting
I have found my love of working with clay again.
I have strengthened my hand and eye coordination by practising continuous line drawing.

Part four

In Part Four I selected one of three possible themes to develop my own visual research, experimentation and creative process culminating in a body of original artwork. Working with the theme ‘ Imagination’ This assignment brought my observational skills, innovative strategies and making methods together to fully develop my ideas and concepts into a coherent body of artwork.

The assignment was based on my interpretation of some of the scenes from Alice in Wonderland

What I learnt during Part Four

The importance of asking for feedback on my work
I enjoy creating work from my imagination
This assignment has proved that I want to become a children’s book illustrator because of how much I have enjoyed it.
I have developed a unique artistic style.

After I selected 10 pieces of work I have made in this unit I think are particularly successful. These are shown below including a link to an animation I made.