Development

It's coming up to the deadline of the PPRD unit now, for which this blog is going to count alot towards. I've been looking over it for a couple of days now, re-reading all my ramblings and realised that I have loads of planning and reflection (important parts of the unit) but not much talk of my development this year. At what is pretty much the halfway point of the year (give or take a few weeks) it's actually an ideal time to think about, with regard to this academic year, what I've improved on, what I could improve on and whether I've fulfilled previous goals I've set myself.

My development this year:

The most marked aspect of my development is my knowledge of the programs in creative suite. This is mostly because I now have my own mac with CS4 on and have been able to practise using flash, indesign, illustrator, dreamweaver and photoshop more. Although these programs are only tools with which to visually communicate, it helps ALOT if you know what you're doing with them as you can knock up ideas quicker and with much less stress.

I have also learned more about graphic design this year through having to create more graphic work as necessitated by the briefs we've been set. As a result of practicing it, I've found myself enjoying it more and personally think my design work has got better.

Owing to the fact that I now feel comfortable in graphic design, I find that I don't always turn to illustration in problem solving. Although I set out to be an illustrator and practise drawing whenever I could this year, I quickly realised that this would sometimes lead to visual solutions which did not address the needs outlined by the brief. Illustration is not the most appropriate medium to communicate everything and by cro-barring into often awkward and unsuitable projects, it only serves to diminish my own work.

That said I do need a specialism to carry forward.

I found that I actually enjoy drawing most when there is no really specific expectation of the outcome. Animal Farm was enjoyable because the brief was just; A2 portrait, something to do with animals. This allowed me to explore ideas in a really fun and free way and I ended up being happy with the result of my labour for the first time in a long time. With this in mind I am seriously thinking that illustration will not form the basis of my career as when working on briefs which are restrictive and narrow, illustration-for me anyway, is one of the most stressful things I do. This inevitably impacts on the work as well as being a big problem for me personally and I have no intention of entering a career that I don't enjoy for not alot of money.

I am thinking that, instead, I will pursue graphic design and maybe web design more and enjoy drawing as my hobby and possibly occasionally do freelance work.

So that's where I am at the moment. I am going to complete my professional project, which combines elements of both GD and illustration and decide on a more concrete route after this. This is turning into an essay so I am going to quickly sum up what I need to develop on.

I think I need to be more disciplined in my working day (I need to get up earlier and stay on task for longer without getting distracted). I need to return to reading books as research for projects. And finally I need to be more optimistic about my own work, I've found that as soon as I've finished something, I can't look at it and hate the sight of it. However, when I look back at it I find I appreciate it more and think of my current project, 'why can't it look more like that' and 'how come I've gotten worse at this'. I need to bear this in mind as it will allow me to keep a more positive attitude towards everything I do.