end of module evaluation - Context of Practice

1.  What skills have you developed through this brief and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I found I have developed my ability to respond to texts during this project, I enjoyed reading through my essay and picking out bits or ideas that I could involve in my illustrations somehow. I think I responded well to my theme and that my final pieces do communicate Constructivist architecture as something important and meaningful to that time period. I feel I carried out a good amount of research for this project, I read through a lot of books and articles trying to understand the aims of constructivism, and then about what the architecture stood for, and I think that can be seen in the work I have made. Doing a lot of research, visual and written, has been something I have enjoyed for this project because I like making work that I feel I am well informed about; it adds more meaning to it.
2. What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?
-       collage -       lots of visual research I experimented with collage which I really liked, I think the combination of blocky, photocopied photographs contrasted with the fine lines and bold colours worked well and was a relevant method of working when compared to the propaganda posters from the revolution. They also had a slightly gritty, not perfect feel to them which again links well to the theme. I used photoshop to help edit and add colour to my hand-drawn work, which sped up the work process and added a more finished look to the pieces, and I feel I am becoming more comfortable with using it to advantage my analogue work. I did a lot more visual research for this project than I’ve done for some of the others, I found looking at other practitioners work really helped me out when I was stuck in which direction to go. I found myself looking into other aspects of art separate to illustrators, like fine art, photography, posters; which opened up my options as I sometimes forget I should still keep an interest in other professions.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I think the amount of research I carried out for this project was definitely a strength, as it helped progress my project further and added more meaning to it. I have found in previous projects that the ones I have enjoyed the most and am most pleased with the results are the ones where I have done a lot of research, whether its visual, historical etc. So I will definitely try to keep up research throughout my future projects. I feel my final pieces have been a strength, I spent a lot of time making them and I am happy with the way they turned out and how they relate to my theme. So I will continue to try and make work that I am proud of.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
Although I am happy with the end pieces, I probably could have done some more development towards composing the pieces. I sort of settled with the first idea I really liked, I did go back and improve bits but I could have done some more playing around with it. I spent a lot of time researching, and although it benefitted the project I think I should have spent a little more of that time playing around with materials, I could have pushed the collage theme further I think, maybe combined different elements of each building or done more hand-drawn work.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
-       When working on photoshop when I know I will need to print, always set the mode to CMYK before I start, because I forgot until I had done all the pieces and the colours went completely wrong when I tried turning them to CMYK, but luckily they still printed fine on RGB. -       Think more about how images will look on a large scale, as there were parts I didn’t notice when working on screen, or thought wouldn’t make that much difference but there were parts where lines are slightly messy that I find really noticeable. -       Always click save. I was working on one of the posters for hours and then accidently deleted it so had to start again; so saving work would be a massive time saver. -       Play around with compositions more, which is something I have a habit of leaving until the last minute, and not spending as much time on it as I should, which I need to get out of. -       Don’t spend too much time researching, experimenting and playing is just as important to developing pieces.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				x
Punctuality					x
Motivation					x
Commitment				x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group			x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.