I did not do well with this module. From start to finish my main problems were poor time usage and planning. It meant I was delayed finishing my author research and subsequently the ideas and development stage was a month behind. Also in November I spent two to three weeks working solidly on Thoughtbubble for the Responsive module which I had also previously neglected so I got quite behind then. Since that I have been constantly trying to catch up with things I didn't do at the time which is incredibly stressful and exhausting. I hereby vow to not do this again.
Despite all my many failures during this project, I'm not entirely dissatisfied with the outcome. My print designs I ended up being quite pleased with after they went through multiple redesigning phases and I put a lot of work into the animation which I really enjoyed making. So overall the projects went badly, but they could have gone worse.
Visual Journal
I liked this element of the module because I work a lot in sketchbooks but often I struggle to keep them focused and coherent, so having to make my sketchbook a more presentable object meant I reigned in my planning and drawing processes and as a result my plans were clearer and much easier for me to use in the production stages.
In the beginning of the module I enjoyed experimenting with collage and loser more ethereal media and themes. I wasn't content with the motifs I chose because at the time I hadn't finished reading the book I focused on so I couldn't pick well related motifs. Despite this I think I developed some useful new processes I can use in future projects, like manipulating images with the photocopier to make textures and using different kinds of line in my drawings.
After these tasks I mostly used the visual journals functionally for planning prints and making storyboards. Perhaps the most useful work I did in the journal was the dictionary of Alan Moore's movements and mannerisms which I continued to refer to even when making the final animations.
Moving Image
This was my favourite brief as I've always wanted to have a real go at animation as I am a lifelong appreciator of cartoons. I really enjoyed the hand drawn task because the process was very theraputic and involving. The product wasn't as succesful as I'd hoped because of the sloppy nature of the drawings so when I reprised this idea I decided to move onto the cintiq and draw each frame digitally. This was infinitely more simple because you can play the animation back at any time and see how its progressing so I'm glad I chose to use this method. Making the final animations was a very long process as I drew each frame out as a seperate layer on photoshop and assembled them into a gifs and finally a video. I think the timeline feature in photoshop has a lot of potential I'd like to explore because it's simple and quick to use but still maintains a good level of quality. I even ended up making gifs for fun I enjoyed it so much. A very valuable newly acquired and developed skill.
As much as I like the plan black line on white part of me wishes I'd made the frames more detailed with a colour or some kind of embellishment. At the time I began producing them this would have taken far too long for me to complete in time so this is something to consider for the future. Although when I remembered contextual references we were shown using only black lines I became more fond of my decision.
I was quite pleased with myself that I managed to think well in terms of making plausible movement. I think this is a result of my working with comics and my constant absorption of animation and cartoons and the skills I've developed doing this will surely go on to help me in making comics and hopefully animation in future. Often I used reference from peoples animation tests on youtube and real-life reference courtesy of my very patient friends. I think I will start attending life drawing again though because as much as I am pleased with the movements I created there is a lot to be developed with regards to my interpretation of accurate anatomy.
I would love to do an animation project again except next time I will put as much consideration into the aesthetic as I do into the movement, and I want to continue to develop my skills by exploring other programs like After Effects and Dragonframe, which I made minimal use of following the inductions.
Printed Pictures
I've learnt from this brief that screen print is not really for me. I attempted it again and again and still I ended up with substandard final prints. I don't think it particularly adds anything to my work, but perhaps it would if I'd managed to complete the prints to a higher standard.
It was difficult altering my image production process to make it suitable for screen print because I had to think about factors I wouldn't usually consider, like how I will minimise the amount of inks and screens I need and how I can make areas of different tone. I think in my final designs I did this quite well because they looked much more suitable for print than my earlier designs but it didn't seem to translate well in the end because of all the problems I have detailed before.
I chose to use bitmap dots in my positives which I think its a great way to make y images translate to printing because I struggle to work without shading and tone. This did cause problems however in the printing process because the dots were very small and often wouldn't expose properly or wouldn't let enough ink through leading to my prints being patchy and pale. Next time I may try a different approach to bitmapping, perhaps darker or smaller dots.
Printing became much easier when I switched to the manual printing beds because it removed the problems of me being to weak to move the various heavy parts of the large printing bed. Also I found it oddly easier to align my prints without the vacuum because the paper is easier to move.
I'm not sure if I'll try screenprint again. Probably sometime in the future but not any time soon, at least not gladly.
Next time I will
-Blog regularly, if not daily
- Decide on a final plan much earlier
-Do the research and complete it much earlier, before the development process
- Allow more time for production
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