Exercise 5.2

What’s your working process?

Reflect on the projects your’ve been involved with up to this point.

How would you describe your working process?

What stages do you go through, how do you undertake research?

How and when do you critique your work and what questions do you ask yourself?

How do you manage your time?

Where are the sticking points?

What do you think are your strengths and where do you need to develop further?

What’s the process of finishing your work?

Write a short outline of your working process.

Reflect on your relationship to ‘finishing’ your artwork, is this an area you struggle with? How might you get around this issue?

Work flow

I started this exercise by printing out my work flow chart to show how I work, and what my process is. I started this in Illustration 1 Key steps, since then I have completed 3 other units, and have used areas from those units as well to create a well rounded process. Some tutors prefer to work with some of these and some the others, so I have added in as many as I could to complete all the areas required and requested.

I find I cover all basis with this work flow, I also follow up at the end with a short review and reflections, and answering any questions the brief requires, as well as what worked and what didn’t for the brief.

How would you describe your working process?

Using the work flow template I start by reading the brief a few times, to understand what it’s asking me to do, then I write these out at the top, to refer back to at any time.

I then move onto generating ideas: this consists of three processes, a spider diagram/ mind map, picking some words from the mind map to use as keywords (main focus), then to create a mood board/ Pinterest board for some visual ideas, colours, feelings, reference etc.

Then I move onto the research: I usually pick 2-3 illustrators to research, compare the differences between them, look at there processes (art) and think about which one to choose to spark more ideas and which road to follow.

I then start some sketchbook drawing, very rough ideas, colours and textures, some painting, or collage work.

I then start with some thumbnails, small ones to begin with, very rough, just an outline of a few variations.

Then I narrow down those thumbnails to just two, I then create two larger thumbnails usually A5 in size, add more detail, better drawings, and can identify a route to go down, usually the two are quite different!

Then I work on the art work using the thumbnails as a guide, this would involve painting, drawing, collage or photography.

I would then look at both of the two ideas make changes if needed, annotations, composition etc, then decided on the final one I will go with.

Then I would create the final art work, the completed article, sometimes some mock ups to show how it would look in real life, or sometimes printing out the graphic novel to photograph.

Then I would add my reflections and answer the questions from the brief, write about what went well and what I might change.

What stages do you go through and how do you undertake research?

The stages are the same as mentioned above.

I undertake research by looking into 2-3 illustrators as mentioned above, but sometimes the brief requires me to look into other research as well. For example with the Paper circus brief it required me to research about about the circus, what things you could see at the circus, what sorts of performers, what would they wear, colours, themes, typography and type/ fonts, also old circus posters.

So it depends on what the brief is asking, or what the client was asking, in which direction the research process went, but on the whole it is very much similar to the above.

I usually use the internet, books I have at home, and also the online library for the OCA.

Sometimes it could be asking my family or friends for some research feedback, or local neighbours.

How and when do you critique your work and what questions do you ask yourself?

I usually think about what the brief is asking at the thumbnail stage, then at every stage after that, just to connect back to the brief, so I am on the right track, I’ll ask myself

-Does it meet the brief?

-how will it look in real life?

-Do the colours work together?

-Is it too busy/ too simple?

-is it eye catching enough?

-can it be more interesting?

-would it work on the product?

-would some buy this/ would I buy this?

-Does it communicate what the brief wants

I usually come back after this stage on a new day, just so I can get fresh eyes on it, or come back with a different perspective.

How do you manage your time?

For my degree work I usually work backwards from the date I want to submit for assessment, so from that date I work backwards and give myself time for each section. I also give myself a few extra days, just incase my other work runs over and can use those days to fall back on so I don’t get behind.

Within each section I give myself a few days for each exercise and research project.

For each exercise I break down what I need to do using the work flow chart, and break it down into morning and afternoon chunks, I find I’m more productive when I work in this way.

I do find that since the OCA has changed the time frames for completing each unit it has been more stressful in trying to make sure you complete the whole degree in time (initially when I signed up it was a lot longer). So each unit I now have to complete in six months, then a month for getting it ready for assessment.

Where are the sticking points?

I do find that some of the sticking points are time related, some of the feedback from each unit I have completed is that you need to spend more time experimenting before making a final decision on the final art work, but there is not an infinite amount of time to be able to do this. A decision has to be made when to stop and say right this is the final artwork, this is what I am submitting. I would love to spend days experimenting, coming up with many ideas and trying lots of them out on mock ups etc, but the time limited set by the university to complete each unit is always in the back of your mind.

I think when working for a client, you receive the feedback as you go along, first draft, second draft etc, so you can get to a decision quicker. With degree work, you don’t receive the feedback until after the work is done, so you as the student has to make that decision of when to stop.

What do you think are your strengths and where do you need to develop further?

I feel as though my work flow is consistent and I am very organised and to the point in my work.

When working with clients I am professional yet approachable, I ask questions and communicate well, I have met the deadlines on all work so far.

I have developed a lot of experience within digital art the last 8 months (with my degree and outside my degree), and feel this has added to my adaptability in working with different mediums.

I have had lots of experience within the surface pattern world, and feel very confident in this area now, I have a good style for floral watercolour designs, as well as children’s designs and products, as well as gift wrapping, I feel as though I have found a niche here.

I am still working towards creating and illustrating children books, which is the main aim of this degree. It has taken me a good 5 years to find my style in surface pattern, and feel it will take as long with children’s book illustrations to find my style. My signature style is still not fully developed especially with drawing people, I am still discovering and trying out various styles of which road to go down, and also with background illustrations.

I have started to illustrate and sketchbook more scenes out and about, and also layer in my people drawings to see how the styles meld together and whether this is the style I want or not. I am still trying out and experimenting at the moment, but feel as though I will turn a corner one day, like I did with my surface pattern and products and it will just work.

I have bought a lot of character books, and watch a lot of animation background scene artists for inspiration and to find out there processes. I am happy working at this pace, and finding my style organically.

What’s the process of finishing your work?

I don’t have a problem with finishing any work, as mentioned in a few points above time management requires me to make a decision at the end of when my work is finished, when to stop experimenting and when to say right I feel this art work is complete, I am happy with it.

With clients it can be a case of too many edits requested, so you just have to outline this in the beginning, limit the edits to 2 or 3, then they have to pay per edit after that. Again it’s a case of getting that feedback and communication along the way, so you have a better understanding of what the clients wants, to make fewer edits at the end.

I like to go over the brief and check that all the points are reflected in the art work, have the final file ready to send over, and you have finished up and tidied up all your working files neatly.