FINAL REFLECTION

FINAL COMPILATION OF WORK

I have really enjoyed this workshop! One of the most critical moments for me was when we began working with Illustrator. I had never used the program before so starting to learn the basics and understanding the basics of how vector graphics work and how they function differently to pixels was an awesome moment for me. Having Jo around to help me with it was also a really helpful part of this exercise and made it a lot easier for me to get the hang of. When I first started working with Photoshop I got lost very quickly and was having to google everything all the time - I recall watching at least 15 tutorials on YouTube trying to learn the basics so having someone able to answer questions was great. Another critical moment was when we did our photo release print. It had never occurred to me that normal printer ink could be used for anything other than printing so it was cool learning how to transfer and manipulate the print from a standard piece of paper. I also found it helpful to put proper names to the compositional strategies, so now I can stop saying “when the thing runs off the page” (bleeding) or “when there’s one thing that’s not angled the same way as the other things” (kinetic sequencing) and start using correct terminology.

I am fairly happy with my final outcomes for task A! I am a massive fan of pop art and block colour so I really loved being able to work in this capacity. Having worked largely in an analogue capacity before coming to university I actually really liked being able to continue to play around with the shapes and colours so easily in Photoshop and Illustrator but I do still love the sense of permanence of analogue processes. In hindsight, although I generally try to keep things simple, I would have liked my duo tone and vector graphics to be a bit more complex in their composition and for my pieces to utilise some of the other pieces of rubbish I collected.

Learning the different compositional strategies and techniques is something I can draw on in any part of my practise and I look forward to testing these out in the future. One day I would love to create a large scale work (such as a piece of street art or billboard, etc.) so I will use continue to develop and practise these strategies and skills to aid this

THANK YOU SO MUCH, JO FOR SUCH AN AWESOME WORKSHOP!