Evaluation - Visual Language

Over the course of these past few weeks, I feel as though I have developed an understanding of a broad range of drawing practices and techniques for me to better my drawing skills.

With the form, flow and force brief I was asked to create a sense of movement through a range of drawing techniques. Because I am experienced with life drawing, I found it easy to adjust to the fast pace of the drawings. I enjoyed switching off for a while, and concentrating on creating movement from a series of still sketches.

Captain Character was probably my most enjoyable brief. I enjoyed learning the stages of creating a character with close referral to the description I had made. I learnt a range of techniques and requirements when it comes to designing a character. I feel as though I have developed my tablet drawing skills also. I tend to keep the sketchiness of my drawings even in a digital form, however I feel as though I paid close attention to cleaning these lines up and creating smooth edges.

Environmental story telling was a challenge for me. I feel as though I pushed myself too far in the direction I wanted to go in. My intention for a few of the drawings were to create a block coloured effect, common in most 90's and early 2000's animations. The pieces I attempted to create turned out messy, and hard to decifer. I feel as though I should of worked on my perspective further, rather than drawings objects and hoping for the best by adding a couple of perspective lines.

Set, Series, Sequence was probably my favourite brief. I enjoyed the progression from a word to a story board and it also enabled me to experiment with different mediums mindlessly, instead of feeling like everything had to be clean. I feel a lot more comfortable using physical mediums rather than tablets in Photoshop. This has driven me to experiment with a mixed media animation for my next project. I will do further research and hopefully find a comfortable ground in animation.

When creating a physical version of my character in my workshops, I was comfortable. I enjoyed creating detail in my armature workshop with plastersine. However, I found the wood work shop difficult, as I shot too high and designed a model that would take a lot of time and precision. It took a long while for me to finally feel comfortable using the large machinery as I am extremely accident prone.

Overall, I found each drawing task extremely helpful in developing my drawing and thinking skills. It enabled me to switch off for a few hours and focus on the mediums I enjoyed. In the future, I will definitely apply the drawing practices I have gained into my projects. I aim to also feel comfortable sharing my own work, as I feel my incapability of sharing my own personal sketchbook work to be difficult.