Reflecting on Part 2 and Assignment 2: Ideas

Reflecting on my feedback, it is helpful to see what I can do and include next time. I feel it is important to receive a different point of view because in the moment I think I have exhausted every possible way I could of to complete each exercise, but the feedback gives me more things to expand on and think about to improve. The exercises themselves all had their challenges, but I liked how most if not all of them turned out.

A part of illustration I never really used was proper brainstorming methods like spider diagrams and mood boards, I think it is because my drawing is often spontaneous but in doing such exercises, they have really help me when making decisions and what to consider like the composition, colours, theme. It also made it easier to analyse difficult words or topics and instead of just using words marks and patterns or colours can be used to portray something. In addition to this some exercises such as the creating content I could have made use of more mood boards that contain other elements of the text given such as furniture of that time and office space etc... rather than just having one focus.

During this unit there was a lot of research and visual references needed, the exercise of creating a picture for the 1950s I think I did well in the way it would be approachable and relatable for teenagers, however I think such a picture could even include another character of a different gender/race… although the brief says one person, I could have added other characters throughout the picture so not the focus but still inclusive. This exercise I also could have benefited from research and mood boarding a little more on topics such as the difference between Britain and USA in the 1950s and more of the culture/fashion/illustrators and so on, it may have offered some more context.

Exploring drawing and painting was quite fun, I got to experiment and be random, through experimenting I can now reference the combinations I used and how well they worked. I think the combinations along with the paper or material used to draw/paint on can help to inspire a fictional scenario in which you could explore the possibilities of it being used for something like a poster/magazine/book, when you give a purpose to a illustration even if its not real it can give it more meaning.

Something I have learnt and am going to continue to do is to dissect a brief so that all the information is organised, highlighting words or sentences I may find as important and help me visualise the illustration. The writing a brief exercise was challenging, and I was lost at first but reading the brief and working backwards by looking at the picture first and picking things to include for the illustrator it helped seeing it from an employer’s perspective and how clear an informative a brief needs to be.

Lastly, I need to use less online sources and weblinks and use more books online and off, it would make for an easier way to reference things and it might prevent me from finding websites that are not credible for research or are factual. Another can be to explore pencil sketches and studying on paper before making things digital.

Assignment 2

For my assignment I created illustrations for a seasonal supermarket campaign for summer and autumn. I used the theme of Halloween for autumn as it is a popular and well-known holiday and simply just used typical things and colours seen during summer. When interpreting the brief, I found it to be very vague, it was not clear if writing should be included or if the two illustrations per season would be placed in a store together or separate. I think the produce I used reflected each season and the colours and shadows/light made for a bright and tasty looking picture. When thinking about the customers I thought using important information was necessary so they aware how they would be helping and what was in their produce and packaging. I included a promotional reusable bag and net to promote more buyers as they can use them again next time going shopping. My chosen idea I think was smart and effective as people are more willing to help the planet now a days, there was plenty of information online making it much easy and allowing me to focus more on the illustration and general illustrations. I thought the first paintings would be good displayed above the produce and the second illustration campaign pictures would be placed somewhere around the produce section and more in the eyeline of customers therefore making it more likely for people to read them. The research was not only easily accessible, but I learnt all about eco friendly packaging and how campaigns are used by real supermarkets, how things like locally grown foods are made and the health benefits and the effects on the economy. My planning and timescales I worked out well but just as I was finishing the assignment, I made a mistake and I had to repaint one of the images which took a while. To stop me from taking to much longer I took a digital approach for the other illustration using the same digital brushed, this made for a faster completion and a fun contrast between the traditional painting and digital. Next time I think I have to plan ahead for mistakes, so I don’t have to rush.