Evaluation

Aimee Stevens
Evaluation
FMP

I was very excited about starting this final major project as it was something I would be totally in control of and something I would really enjoy doing seeing as I was writing my own brief. For my final major project I stated that I was going to explore comic book layouts, the shapes and sounds of type, and type from different eras. This was a very broad, not linked beginning to my project. I found it quite hard to write about what I intended to do, as my starting points were all such different broad ideas.

I do not think I have addressed all main parts of my statement as well as I should/could have. I  thoroughly explored comic book layouts, shapes and sounds of type, whereas exploring type from different eras I have only touched on a little. Through making small references in some collages in my sketchbook such as the word/sound ‘scrape’. I would have really liked to explore this more as I find the difference in old and new types quite interesting. I am disappointed with how my work has come along as I do not think I have kept to my brief as best I could. I also think through doing this I have missed out vital text research points that would have benefitted my work. This comes through having such a wide brief but it is no one else’s fault but my own.

I began this project with a lot of ideas, so to help myself I began brainstorming and researching different parts that did not link, such as comic books. I could use new and old text and alphabets. After researching various artists such as Tom Venning, Roy Lichtenstein, Cornelius Cardew, Andy Rementer, and Yuichi Yokoyama etc. These artists are researched and linked into my work, in my sketchbook and on my blog. For other types of research for this project I went on a weekend trip to Leeds. Whilst I was there Fiona Rae’s work was on exhibition, so I went to view her pieces. I got a lot of inspiration for my collages and to work on a large scale after seeing her work.

For more research for this project I was in the library a lot browsing all books for inspiration. (Which I have included within my bibliography) I also took a lot of photographs of objects I was relating to my work at that point. This helped me create my collages. To try and get some imagery down I began by just looking at random objects and deciding what sounds they made and how I interpreted them. From there I used different Medias to create collages in and out of my sketchbook to show my interpretation of what sound the object made. I experimented with zips for a while and the spellings of it as to what the zip was made out of and how long the zip was. This affected how the word was spelt and how long the word was carried on for.

This gave me ideas to listen to the sounds around me and then to associate them with images. Within my sketchbook I experimented with each chosen word and thought about how the word reacted, for example Clunk is a big, chunky, solid and heavy word. So the text I would create would be chunky, large, dark and bold. This helped me with ideas for possible final outcomes.

How I enjoyed making collages. What I used and why I used the colour I did. I really enjoy creating collages by hand. As I find it more satisfying to look at as an end product rather than a Photoshop document. This is why I have no photo shopped documents within my sketchbook. In crits people were suggesting to use Photoshop to tweak my work but it was the thing I was most trying to stay away from. There is just a nicer quality about a handmade collage. I have used quite bright bold colours as they seem to compliment the sound words the best. They also relate to comic book colours as they are also bright and block coloured.

 I originally wanted to create a handmade book and a couple of handmade collages. Due to lack of time and planning for my book I did not end up making it. I was very strong about not wanting to use Photoshop in my final outcome as I wanted a nice collaged piece, as I personally find them nicer to look at than a flat printed out image as I have explained above. After deciding not to make a book I took the pages I had made for the book and thumb nailed some different collage ideas I could use as a final outcome. In the end I decided to carry on with one of my original plans of producing a couple handmade collages. I planned out to produce four or five collages in a comic book layout which I originally stated in my statement of intent. I planned and chose a combination of four A1+ shapes to collage. I chose a large size after gaining inspiration from Fiona Raes work. It looked powerful and just generally good. I then used the page layouts and tweaked them to explore my chosen words and images and create good interesting final pieces. Whilst making these four final collages I didn’t really come across as many problems as I had planned out quite well what I was going to do, what I was going to use and how I was going to do it. I also prepared everything i.e. got appropriate colours, amounts and sizes of paper and card to use. I also chose to use spray glue and double sided sticky tape to attach my pieces to my board as it would look better than prit stick which I had used before and made it look tacky. Once I had mounted my pieces I had a few issues with the spray glue as it would not take appropriately to the paper. This was annoying the fact that it did not work, but it was easily resolved and I just used double sided sticky tape.

When I saw my final collages finished, mounted and stuck on the wall. I was really happy with how everything had turned out, not because it was finished but because I had actually made the first vision I had at the beginning of the project that I couldn’t document. I managed to take my vision and make it into what I think is a really good, impressive and well planned final piece.

Throughout this project I have come to many dead ends at different points which I think is a little obvious when looking at my sketchbook. Although, I have got on with my work and got my head down when the ideas have been flowing, I feel I have not done nearly enough as well as I could or should have. I have completed everything to the best of my ability and time range. If I had more time or chance to do this again I would definitely manage my time so much better and make sure my ideas and work were flowing to the best of my standards. The timetable, crits and action plans we used were really good and helpful to see where we should be. I just found it hard to keep up with them. Which pin points where I need to improve if I ever get the chance to do this again. I feel I have learnt many new things such as information about type and new artists and their work. I have really enjoyed these past few months and am really sad for this to be all over as this has been my most enjoyable year and project so far.