Final Presentation

Slide 1

Introduction, little bit of a bio, how year has been as a whole; short and sweet - get to the juicy bits quickly, don't bore with entire life story

Slide 2

Character; always been an integral part of my practice. Something that's hard to fully analyse as it's something that comes quite intuitively. How GIF project really helped understand character in more depth and rekindled love for it, how believability is key in character. Have to make audience think that it's real so they can empathise or understand it. Gesture and media also important in describing characters. Analog vs digital give very different vibes. Digital very structured, perhaps prefer analog as it feels more hand crafted and personal, makes characters feel well crafted and loved

Slide 3

New illustration; since starting being introduced to whole new spectrum of illustration I didn't know existed. Nobrow is like WHOOAA. Didn't know this sort of shape and character driven work existed. Made me consider importance of colour palettes, media, tone of voice. Enjoyed reading new things, humour in Luke Pearson The midnight Giant, the scenery and characters working v.harmoniously. The subtle illustration of Jane the Fox and Me and how powerful selective colour and story can be.  

Slide 4

Another new thing; reportage illustration. The chevin brief, how it intertwined my love for adventure and travel with illustration. Going somewhere new and soaking it. Taking disposable camera, digital camera, sketchbook. Taking lots of photos first visit to draw from. Interlocking of personal experience with secondary research really informed final pieces. Going back with just a sketchbook and really seeing things. Becoming emotionally invested. Making a final piece I was really proud of. Pursuing deeper meanings.

Slide 5

Deepening of my intents. Throughout year have developed and reflected more upon what I want my illustrations to say, not just what they are//format. Want my illustrations to say something, to evoke or capture something. Persons of note, chevin, sad fawn gif. All had intents more than just making a pretty picture. Sometimes these worked and other times they didn't but the bravery to attempt more complex and difficult subject matter and intentions is growing.

Slide 6

Struggle with tone of voice; look tiny me struggling in the corner and getting really stressed out. Tried so many different styles this year, feel like every project it changes and evolves but don't really have own tone of voice. Being inspired by different things each project makes it harder to decide on one authentic thing. Have learnt so much this year that it has become a little overwhelming and has complicated own method of naturally sketching and working

Slide 7

Confusion largely in part to Vis Lang week on shape, seeing illustration in a way I've never seen it before. Have liked other illustrations and not known why and this shape thing made sense of it. Seeing work as a silhouette then putting the shapes into it. Felt that during this week the process felt less like transcribing and image and more like translating it through my own tone of voice. Style different to that in which I'd normally work but really enjoyed it and felt the results were very much my own interpretations of things. However this caused the conflict in my own tone of voice. This way a lot looser and immediate, less sketchy and working towards one final tight image. Confusion!!

Slide 8

Cared about my tone of voice as one of my strengths is GIVING A SHIT ABOUT THINGS. Am naturally very passionate about things, about forming opinions and having something to say. Get emotionally invested like chevin and persons of note. Can empathise and want work to make people FEEL SOMETHING!! Felt very deflated about current situation with tone of voice. Seeing peers really start to understand the way their illustrations were working whereas mine felt all over the place and not really mine at all. Very lost and disheartened. Sad times for Jazz; the stress is real

Slide 9

That's when I did the blogpost that saved my life!!! Last monday, sat down with my PPP blog and just wrote about how I was feeling. The conflict I was facing with tone of voice and how I felt about it. How lost I was and how I didn't really know how to choose between this old style of drawing I was used to and this new thing I'd started to uncover. Found that through blogging and self reflection I was actually able to kind of make sense of it. Was able to analyse what was important to me in my illustrations and that thing is capturing a moment. It's making people feel things. It's recording emotions or events or experiences and it's largely about being human. It's uncovering old stories and making people feel sad or happy or in love. About capturing tiny snippets of authentic stories. And that the best way to do all of this was with my own tone of voice. Because the things I am trying to say are personal and real and human and it's the way I see things so they should be told in a way that I transcribe them. And while tighter, more anatomically correct drawings have impacted my illustration craft that doesn't make them better than my loose sketches and drawings. And that rather than shy away from my looseness and immediacy that I so often love in my sketchbooks and loose in my rigid final pieces I should embrace them. Look at more artists like Lizzy Stewart, Laura Carlin, understand how they make rawer pieces of work that still feel very finalised and refined. 

Slide 10

Building on this next year I feel like I finally have a direction with where I want to go. Looking forward to summer to be able to dive back into my own sketchbook and really push my drawings further and understand them better. To try new things like ceramics and 3D. Try more GIFs? Different medias? Working bigger and smaller but most importantly having something to say, something to evoke and some sense of humanity to my illustrations. Embrace looseness, be bolder, experiment and be brave.