about the author: progress crit + feedback / self evaluation

Progress crit + tutor feedback

Strengths:

• The egg idea is an interesting way of getting the feel of Murakami's work without basically copying what he has already produced. Keep working on it it.
• It's good that I am trying my best to keep away from visual cliches, and explore the Murakami *world* rather than just illustrating what's already happened in his books.

Suggestions:

• Remember that the surreal, in its most basic form, is two things put together that shouldn't be- this is an easier way of thinking it through.
• At this point selecting a few ideas and refining them and exploring those a lot may be the best way to effectively produce work. Refine and expand those.
• I should start to consider the methods of print that may be suited to my work, or how my work can suit print. The print method shouldn't be dictating what work I make but at the same time the material I produce will need to be suitable otherwise I won't be able to use anything! I've been using a lot of pencil in my work and sometimes lots of colours and I'll have to consider how to work this to a print piece.
• Remember that the animation can be quite simple, and that ideas are more effective than its production. The shadow images may be suited to this.
• Consider digital print. As I'm interested in editorial work digital print is a large part of this.

Self Evaluation

What do you think works well? How will you capitalise on it?

• I think the more shape driven work works well and would be well suited to most print methods, particularly lino and screen print. Even when not working for print I like to think about what print has taught me about shape and limited colour. Continuing working like that should produce better images but also prepare me for the print stage.

What do you think could be improved? How will you benefit from this?

• although I've been told to refine some of the ideas I already have I'm not sure I like any of them enough to do this. But then again, refining them is likely to improve them, and may land me in a different and better idea in the process.

What would you do differently next time? What would you achieve from this?

• I'm happy with the amount of thumb nailing/ scamps I've done but some more refined images would be helpful too, so I should do more of that. It's hard to gauge what an image will really look like when it's so sketchy and small.

What have you learned by responding to this brief + why is it important?

• I am in the process of learning how to respond to a long-winded brief and how to pace myself. I find myself naturally more suited to shorter projects but being a good worker means being able to respond to any work that is given to you!
• The workshop we had about creating visual metaphors opened my eyes and gave me a new method to creating them, as well as valuing their importance and what makes a good one more. I don't want my illustrations to be basic, but at the same time they need to be readable by the viewer!
• I've reminded myself of how important thumbnailing is and how vital it is, for me at least, in idea generation. I really struggle to be creative without using this tool as a thinking process.

What have you gained from the Peer Feedback session?

• As well as receiving feedback about my own work it's been really interesting and nice to get to see others' projects too. Whilst not wanting to compare my work against others it gives a good insight into what we should be doing and at what point the work should be at. Learning about others' working processes and how they think and respond to an author is also beneficial.