OUIL 404 End of Module Self Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL404 Visual Language	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME

Joe Baker

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
One of the most useful things I have learned since starting the course is the power of line quality and how important it can be, I have definitely taken this on board with my own work, now I will always use a brush and ink instead of a fine liner for example. Another skill I have developed is the use of colour and shapes within my work, I have always been drawn to monochrome line work but now I seem to be interested in much more simple shape driven imagery with bright colours, I believe this can be a better way of communicating things. Something I hadn’t really considered before this module was how texture can affect your work so much, showing the hand of a maker and making my work look much less robotic. Learning about composition has also been a big help, I never realised how many different factors make up a good composition, we haven’t been doing composition for that long but already I am starting to think about things such as line of sight and value when drawing roughs.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
Something we learned early on in the module was that if you draw the same thing over and over again you’ll soon be able to draw it without looking and ultimately you will get better at drawing, this has helped me be more exhaustive in terms of my sketchbook work than I have been in previous years. I Should probably still have done more in my sketchbook than I have but I would say this theory has helped me progress over the year.
3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?
When I started the course I was quite stubborn in terms of what I wanted to draw but as the module has gone on I feel like I’ve been much more experimental all round with things like colour ,media and ‘style’ of my drawings, I think this shows in my sketchbook. I spend quite a lot of time on certain pieces of artwork so I think the quality and attention to detail in some of my work is good.
4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?
I think I could do with more artist research featuring in my blog posts, as I do look at a lot of illustrators work and this does have an impact on my ideas so I think I should definitely note this down more. As I previously mentioned I think I should have been more exhaustive in my sketchbook. Another improvement I think could be trying to put more narrative/ meaning in my work, often I find myself just drawing things that look nice but don’t really make sense, I think that is crucial in becoming a good illustrator and im keen to progress.
5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)? I now realise that an image is made up of many more elements than I once thought, e.g. line quality, shape, texture, colour, composition etc. So therefore I have much more things to be looking for and to comment on in a piece of art. This has defiantly made my work analysis a much better quality and has also improved my ability to reflect on the strengths and down falls in my own work, which in turn should make my work better as I move forward.
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.