• Due to the importance of narrative and storytelling in this module, my skills in storyboarding and creating sequences of images has improved. Having to make multiple plans, edit them, cut out unnecessary scenes, and refine them in a way that best tells the story.
• Not only do you have to consider image making, but qualities such as atmosphere and tone of voice have to play a role to create a stronger story in my opinion. You could have a book that looks amazing yet doesn't say anything.
2. Which approaches to research have you found most valuable during this module. How have you interrogated your research to identify appropriate ideas?
• The research aspect of this module is something that I have really enjoyed - gathering quite a breadth of information and having to comb through it for ideas. In particular, I have found that photographs, conversations, and physical visits to a place have been the most beneficial. Although drawings and other factual information were gathered, the other three seemed to inform my concept more, helping it take shape from personal stories.
• I didn't have a set way of picking out the most appropriate ideas, I seemed to side with concepts and stories that had an emotional impact or were unique to my own research. My research and subsequent concept were more interlinked as they were concerned with my hometown's background, and family members that had a role in that. They work together and inform each other in that way.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these? What aspects of your submission are you satisfied with?
• A strength of my Visual Narratives project has been my research. I collected multiple forms of research, and managed to retrieve some very personal and unique information that I feel sits well with the project title of Tell an Untold Story. I learned the importance of research, but moreso research that you conduct yourself. Visiting places, getting bits of speech and conversation from locals, all of these things are wholly original and are something you can't always search the internet for.
• I suppose that my idea generation (particularly the use of mock-up books) was strong and, in turn, gave me a solid foundation for my project from quite an early stage. Putting forward multiple concepts meant I had more material to work from, so I could pick the most effective of the bunch.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in future?
• Crafting is something I feel my picture book lacked. I'm not so great with accuracy or precise measurements, so as a consequence my illustrations can often lack finesse and skill. I think I could solve this by working slower, and taking more time with my work. Measuring accurately, waiting for ink to dry properly, taking care with glue. All of those things.
• I could also have developed my work further by testing things out more - whether this is with traditional media or digitally. Although I think spending too much time on testing and experimentation can sometimes hinder a project by throwing up more hurdles and questions, at times it can help to discover approaches that would make a piece of illustration better or more finished.
5. How effectively are you making decisions about the development of your work? What strategies inform this decision making?
• In terms of decision making I'm often able to decide on something myself rather quickly, but I can easily fall into pondering and deliberating over trivial things in fear of picking the wrong one (which happened a bit in this module). This often occurs during the development of an idea and settling on a tone or what media to use.
• Strategies that inform decisions made during projects range from just testing things out myself, peer reviews, and talking to others and asking a lot of questions about how something looks. Seeing to decisions on your own 100% of the time can make yourself become tired of your own project (especially with lots of choices), so seeking advice and feedback from peers can be valuable as it offers fresh perspectives.
6. How effectively have you managed this project and organised yourself during this module?
• I feel that I have managed this project relatively well in terms of time and organisation. I haven't felt that there was something urgently outstanding that needed doing at any point, and I make sure that I blog on a regular basis so that I don't forget anything, and doing so means there are only small amounts of posts to be made each time.
• I think I've more or less steadily kept on top of work as I split the projects into sections that I tackle one at a time. However, one criticism is that I could have set aside more time for testing colours, effects, and typeface digitally. This probably would have made my overall project more well-rounded and considered.
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