Evaluation

I have never found it easy analyzing myself it’s always been a struggle of mine to reflect on what I’m doing and pull out reasons as to why I do work. Towards the end of this module things started to make sense to me but the process of making the final elements of work have been more confusing to me more than any other module. I think this is evident in some of my earlier blog posts as I compare my work to pieces that don’t really relate to well to my work. I do feel like I have benefited from ppp more than a lot of the others as it has given me a big realization to why I like to make work, which was never too obvious to me before. I had high hopes for my final poster and presentation which put a lot of pressure on myself. Throughout trying to create both I was focusing way too much on the humour of it all but I was struggling to find most of what I was doing funny. This made me doubt my jokes and work all together. I ended up realizing that I think the main reason why I like to produce the work I do is mainly to just make something fun for me and hopefully for other people, I do this by trying to push playful ways to make work and through playful ideas. I still try and keep an element of wit in my work in the hope that maybe that will make someone laugh. Overall, when it comes to making work though PPP made me comprehend that my work is entertaining because my images are never to complex or doesn’t contend a high level of image making. It’s made me take pride that my messy, playful and at times child like work doesn’t need to be complex or advance to make an entertaining image. It’s more about the craft of it that makes it funny or entertaining. I think it has also made me realize there are plenty of different ways to get my practice and image making across and this is something I really want to experiment further with. Eventually I would like to take my way of working and see how it reflects in the form of maybe a film or in a 3d form such as a sculpture. This is something I realized when visiting the sculpture park is that I shouldn’t narrow my work down to just drawing because I would love to produce what I do in a large 3d format. Reflecting on this year has made me feel a lot more confident in what I do, there where lots of times this year where I have doubted what I do and failed to see if it’s actually any good but PPP has made me a lot more engaged in my work and made me a lot more self aware on the way I approach briefs and elements of my ideas that work better than others this will defiantly help me with next year and any future briefs.

PPP presentation

presentation ideas

 For this brief i really liked the idea of a film however, i felt like i would of been pushed for time to do something that i would of really liked to of done. So i decided to go for a powerpoint but i wanted to present my self in a more exciting way then just me talking a words popping up in cool and unusual ways.

 I settled with an idea of comparing my first year at uni to what a honey bee has to do everyday.
This was a long shot but i ended up finding a lot similarties within this.

I will need to add a lot more context but i will do that through presenting it but overall, I think this makes it a much more interesting presentation. I think i didn't spend as much time putting this together as i would of liked but it shows off my development and my aspirations through a way that shows off my style of work to and adds maybe some slight humour to it which is what i wanted to portray through my presentation.

Final posters

These are all my final posters I really struggled finding a final one I think some have worked better than overs but the concept are better on some.

I was hoping for my final thing to do something that would really make me laugh and make it very Simon. I tried to really asses elements of my practice to achieve this so i guess i was really pushing for something funny. I don't think I achieved this with these pieces as they irony of the insporational quotes kind of lacks i guess if i developed it even more perhaps i can achieve this.

Although I do feel like these bits of work do represent me as a practitioner well as they are silly, playful and fun.

I think my choice of paper cut outs was successful in these images I originally was going to settle with ink but they didn't portray the fun element i wanted within my work. I also wanted to add a good professional font such as Futura for this. I think this adds more quality to it.
I think these images have inspired me to turn this into a potential book of images similar to this with more inspirational quotes in them. This might be a nice idea for a summer project.

Reflection on myself

Simon Turner - Practitioner


Strenghts

• I think my method of working has definitely improved this year i have learnt the importance of research within my work and how this would lead on to develop ideas. Before i use to think of an initial thought get excited by it and then just concentrate on my initial ideas. Whereas now i understand that there is always improvement in any ideas and researching ways of approaching an idea or ways to develop it can really benefit a better outcome.
•  I have really strived to be as experimental as possible. before uni (during foundation and A levels) i never really used anything other than fine liners in my work but going into my illustration degree i wanted to change this. I think in ways i have definitely achieved this as i haven't done any work this year involving a fine liner and i tried to approach every brief with a new form of media that i was interested to experiment with. This made me learn that the most challenging ways to create work made it much more rewarding. For example this year i used a lot of crayon and paper cut outs which before i found difficult but i think over the course of the year i have really developed using these as a form of making images and discovered what they are used best for e.g. paper cut outs are lovely for shapes.
• I also think this year really made me realise the purpose as to why i want to produce work. I always knew i wanted to make work that i find happy and positive but i defiantly think this year made me realise that most of the time i make my work with the intention to make people smile and once i learnt this it gave me a lot more confidence in my practice as i feel like i want to give my work more of a purpose then to maybe look nice and people smiling at it gives me the motivation to keep going with producing my work.
• I think my image making has potentially improved over the course of the year to i think it has given me a lot more confidence in my own drawing as i have learnt to benefit from bad work and ideas. before i use to be really picky about what i put in my sketchbook and if something didn't look right i would rip it out and forget about it. However since i started this course i don't think i have ripped out a single page instead i found it better to be critical about it and see how this would then benefit future work.  This has helped speed up my ability to make images good and bad.

weaknesses 

• I think one of my main weaknesses of this year has been the blog throughout the year i have found it really had to keep on top of the blog. I understand the reason as to why we have to use it and to be honest i think it's a massively beneficial tool to my practice. However, i always lack the motivation to write on it  I guess i get so carried away with my ideas to that i just want to develop and produce it and most the time i forget to do the blog during this so when i finally get round to it i forget most my thoughts during the process making it very hard to write. I think this will be something i will be focusing on improving the most next year as i think it drags me down a bit as a student and illustrator as i know that being critical about my work during the process will benefit my thoughts on the work and might lead to better outcomes.
• I also think criticism is another thing i lack in, when i do something and i don't like it i am aware of it however i need to analyse more as to why i don't, that is where the blog will help. I also would like more people in level 4 to be more mean and critical about my work.  I think all my fellow level 4 class are all super lovely and I am really thankful for that but i would like some of them to maybe just tell me if something is crap just so i know. Although I think i should mention that i have received good critical comments from my tutors and this helped me keep on track what ideas where bad and which ones good be improved and how.  
• I think my research has definitely improved however, I don't see it as a main strength within my work. First year really stressed the importance to research and I understand that but i think i still find it hard to be fully motivated to do it in certain briefs such as persons of note and especially cop. I think this will be something i want to really improve throughout my time in uni to give my work plenty of context.
• I think my greatest struggle on a module this year was certainly cop. I was the least motivated to do work for this but I knew it was down to me picking a theme that i didn't find interesting in anyway. This made it difficult for me to do my essays and my practical. The struggles of doing cop in first years though really helped me learn to take time within my research and ideas so that i will end up doing something i enjoy. As i found it really hard to motivate myself to work on something when i really didn't enjoy it.
• I think i experimented well this year but i am little disappointed that i didn't make more effort to try some really brave things within my work like make much more use of screen printing or maybe try lyno printing. I think overall, i just don't feel that satisfied with my level of experimentation but i guess i have another 2 years to discover more ways to make images some that i wouldn't of even thought i could be possible at. 

Simon Turner - Student

Positive. 

• I was worried about being a student think i just couldn't imagine if i could handle a life on my own but i think since coming here i realised that you are pretty much never on your own. so i think as a person over this year i have become much more social and outgoing and i think this has helped with my work as when my mood is happy my work is also happy.
• I think i have become a lot more motivated within my life to do things i'm starting to realise now that i need to be more professional in life and i always feel the need of accomplishment. For example, i'm worried to enter my long summer and finish it with no sense of achievement. I guess this means i have become less lazy i just need the motivation to get on and do it.
• I feel like being a student has definitely boosted confidence in myself as a person. I think it's the feeling of properly being an adult that has helped this. I am more open to opportunities which is something i think i lacked last year. This has also helped with me being a practitioner to as i feel more confident with each piece i produce. 
• I think my organisation has always been terrible but it's something i have been trying very hard with this year. I still defiantly feel like i need to improve on this but i'm more aware of it this year and i think that is a good start to a more organised Simon.
• I think one thing i have learnt as a student is to listen more both inside and outside of uni. I usually have my head in the clouds but i feel like this year i have grounded myself back to earth a bit more and this has allowed me to take on feedback a lot better on my work. Therefore, overall i think i am much more switched on.

Negatives

• I think i defiantly need to improve on my attendance next year this is one of the key things for me as i want to get the most out of this course as i possibly can. This means i need to make a lot more use of the free studio times especially during the times when my tutors are in to get full guidance. I also wish i turned up to more cop lectures as i found this subject very difficult and I think i would of benefited from the lectures to gain extra research and context for my essay.
• I think i need to become more healthy as a person to. When I was living at home i would always go out for runs and walks but with everything within close distance i find myself only doing around 1000 steps a day. I also could have a much better diet to and bring a lot more fruit into my day. This is evident as i find it very hard to get up the stairs at college where as at the start i could run up them easy.
• I have found that being a student is incredibly tiring. After a long day at college i can't help but have a nap sometimes this benefits me but other times i end up just sleeping for ages. I think my diet is something to do with this but overall i need to bring more energy into my day and have a much better nights sleep.
• I would like to be a lot more concentrated on my work. On times when i struggle for ideas i begin to really lack motivation. I think if i got a lot more involved in my work instead of just giving up and doing something social this might help my overall work rate and quality. DOn't get me wrong i think sometimes it's good to have a break and that definitely helps me but sometimes i just really try and avoid things and procrastinate
• I think overall i have struggled being a student when my work is something that for me use to be a hobby but it's now life. I think this hasn't put me off image making in anyway but it's weird to think something that use to be fun now brings stress and pressure. Overall, i'm loving my time as an illustration student it's nice to do something that i finally feel a sense of achievement in it however, this hasn't been easy for me I think the high work load is really good for the development of my practice. Although i have really struggled this year some briefs in particular have made me very uncomfortable with my work and at times made me loose confidence but overall i think i have achieved a few things that i have been super proud with. 

potential poster developments

After a prototype of a poster which i personally thought was going to be too cluttered i decided to take elements of it and make them into separate images. i liked the paper cut out style of one of my images in my book so i thought this would be the best way to do this image as i wasn't feeling ink on the original poster.

I took the inspirational quotes used on my poster and made them into an individual piece i thought i would make 3 posters and decide which one was the most effective.

Growth starts at the root.

live life on the fast lane and fly high.

For the final ones i will play around with the composition and shapes a little and then develop them with some text.

Overall, i am really struggling with decisions on this project i felt like overall a main idea never really came to me and i still can't decide through these three posters. I guess i was aimming for something funny but i don't think the irony really shows through with them and instead i made something actually inspiring and kinda cute. In some ways maybe this is a good thing but I miss doing things that make me laugh and i feel like it's been a while since i have done that.

Interdisciplinary

It's really hard for me to narrow down a specific thing that inspires my practice because i find elements of inspiration for work in anything that pretty much makes me laugh or smile. This can come from something as simple as a dog with a funny walk.

I think one thing that has inspired my work is my grandpa he was someone that originally got me into drawing. I remember times when i was young if i ever felt unsettled as a child  he would always have some sort of paper (mainly napkins from the many cafes he visited) and a pen on him and got me to draw things such as animals to calm me down. I wouldn't say he mainly got me into drawing as i think when i was young and with my mum being a primary school teacher i was influenced by the 1000s of children's books i use to read after school while i had to wait for my mum to finish up at school plus various other things. However i think he is a big influence in the development of my humour and playful approach as a practitioner. His humour to this day is still a big influence as he has a simple approach to the world and little things such as always being surprised by the time or the weather ( which are standard old people things) he usually emphasises and it always makes me laugh.

Since joining this course, he has been a big help with my work every time i see him he will usually have some sort of craft parcel for me full of paint brushes and coloured paper (always from the works). Which means i never run out of stationary. 

Every bit of work i seem to, do good or bad he rates it highly and claims he is beginning to make a room in his house which will eventually become a Simon exhibition. This kind of positivity defiantly helps me keep motivated with my work. I think one of the reasons why he potentially likes my work instead of just pretending like a grandfather might do is that we do have a very similar approach to  drawing with playful and humorous intentions. 

Poster Designs and Ideas

When going into this i really wanted to create something that was very Simon. I tried to think of elements of me that i could narrow down and emphasise in an image so I mainly wanted to carry across fun, happiness and humour as they are all elements that i try to portray in my briefs.

This was my starting idea and i know it's always bad to go with your first idea but i think over the course of the year i have really developed my paper cut out skills and it's something that i really enjoy doing it adds fun to any image.
I think the idea of me building an image is good however I really don't want to be in my poster at all.

I think this bookshelf of elements to do with me is a sweet idea however, i found this quite boring and didn't really feel like something that heavily portrays me.

I always just bang out ideas and never remember them so i think making an image on how my brain creates these ideas is interesting however, i think this needs further development for me to enjoy this idea as the rough isn't that interesting to me.

 Throughout this design process i found it really hard to not include things about me without me being in it. I guess i am the source of all my ideas but i really wanted to just make an image about Simon instead of an image with Simon in. I liked the idea of me making an image where everything is smiling within it and then include inspirational text next to them in a slightly ironic way to add potential humour to it.

I really liked this image of a deer to.

 I felt like i was struggling coming up with good imagery for this idea so as a break i did this image of loads of happy animals sitting stupidly on top of each other. I like this image but i think it's a weak concept for my work. It also feels like nothing new, this made me realise that perhaps i should move away from making images in ink as I wasn't satisfied with any of the results of this development.

 I decided to draw all the elements of my poster separately and then collage them together on photoshop. I think more planning was needed for this as when it came to the photoshop stage i really didn't feel like anything fit together.

After starting to make this poster i really felt like nothing was looking like I hoped it would maybe if i fully completed it it might of looked better. I did think my concept of happy images with inspirational text was a fun idea though but i think i wanted to execute it differently I liked the image of one of my original ideas that was done with paper cut outs. Therefore, i decided it would of been a better idea if i changed from ink and maybe made it less cluttered by taking a single image and making that into a single poster.

I had a strong image in my head of how i wanted these to look like i drew up a concept and decided to do small versions of them before i move on to doing A2 versions of my images.

Books

 Non Fiction

 kicking off my books is this humourful non fiction book on how to ride a horse. I found this many months ago in an oxfam and from the entertaining cover i knew this book would be great.

The book is jammed full of beautiful line drawings of a man and his horse and the struggles he has riding his horse.
The lines that are used are lively and in a way add movement to the drawing which i think is super important
for a book like this as it almost animates the struggles of riding the horse.
The layout on these pages in particular are extremely playful due to it being about steering which i think is very clever.
Great bit of 1940s graphic design.  

This page is a personal favourite of mine not only does it include a horse riding a man but has an excellent diagram of a horse that is completely uneducated it's almost like they asked a 5 year old to list what they think each part of a horse is, which i think is excellent. Also extra bit of cool information is that the page can be cut out and used a wall chart.
This diagram adds to the extreme playfulness of the book.

I'm not sure if this book fully categorises as a non fiction book as i read it and i feel no more informed on how to ride a horse. However, it's an excellent spoof of a book and especially an old book like this. with incredible simple line drawings which i find very inspiring i think this book has taught me how much lines can add movement to drawings and i really appreciate the humour of it all it's great to see how a book from i think 1940's? (tried researching a date but there isn't one specifically listed anywhere.) can have such great relevant humour. 

Picture Book

following a similar theme to the last book this one is also about horses i'm not even a massive horse fan but there are many excellent old books based on them. One of them is this book about an oridnary fruit wagon pulling horse called mario who was obsessed with eating sandwiches the slight smell or sight of a sandwhich would make Mario go on this wild rampage the book has lovely 2 colour illustrations in and in addition to this a couple of black and white ink pages which are also excellent and display beautiful textures and a relaxed brush style which like the horse play book give the horse movement.

I love this shapes in this particular image I think the absence of outlines makes this especially emphasised.
The lines used for the wood are also relaxed and give it a nice child like look to it and collaborate well against the clean shapes.

Yellow red, white and black seem to be the only colours used throughout this book, but this works wonderfully
the black horse stands out massively over the yellow back ground and the use of red on the children really bounce of the yellow nicely.

Self Published

For my self published book i chose Libby's Dad by Eleanor Davis. I found this a thought bubble and was amazed at how well pencil crayon was used on this book. I love colouring pencils when it's done well and this is a super example of it.
The story is also funny and witty and really captures the idea of young people hearing a rumour and going to such an extent to see if it's true.

The cover was what first caught my eye when i saw this book,
this is the first of Eleanor Davis' work that i have seen and i was instantly captivated by her style
the composition of her drawings and pages are also really nicely done for example,
the front cover follows on to the back cover making one big beautiful image when it's opened up

These 2 images show the playfulness of Eleanor's composition and how it leads you to follow 

the story throughout the pages focusing on specific characters or small elements of the sceanory just

to give the viewer a slight idea of where it's set and what's going on.

SHe does this by adding a slight bit of colour or texture but it immediately makes you recognise what it is she is trying to portray weather it's a pool or a bush.

Fiction

for my fiction book i chose Joe Kessler's Windowpane. I have been a big fan of breakdown presses books and comics for a while they are always full of lovely imagery and imaginitive composition and this set of books by Joe Kessler perfectly represent this. I think the way kessler makes work is incredibly playful that usually comes across very successfully. He is great at creating surrel sometimes dark images.

throughout the comic there is a range of some standard comic layouts mixed with a double spread of a beautiful image. The text is minimal but that adds a wittiness to the comic. The colours where one of the main things that originally drew me to this book. and the way images had been constructed where also another reason why i was interested. Some pages have been created with screen prints some digital and some with what looks like ink or felt tip pens. This adds to playfulness of it which is what attracted me to the book overall.