EVALUATION
Intentions:
My aim for this project was to create a scrapbook to show the transition of seasons through the pages, with the intention being that when there’s a transition of the seasons, they’ll be a pop-up to help catch people’s eyes. In terms of the context of my final piece, I didn’t really have much context in mind if I am completely honest, I just wanted to try scrapbooking for the first time and I thought that showing the different seasons as you flick through the pages sounded pretty cool. It didn’t have deep meanings or intended to communicate any strong statements, just the quiet transition of the seasons as the year progress. In terms of if I had met my intention, I believe that for the most part I had, I had made a physical scrapbook and I was able to bind it successfully, but I had to change a few things, as it will be explained below.
Research:
In terms of research, I feel like I was really successful with my primary research. Firstly, I took a lot of photos on my phone of different seasons then I went to Kew Gardens during the Easter Holiday to take some more photos. In the end, I collected a body of over 300 pictures, which I believe is a good number of sources for my primary research. In feel that my secondary research is adequate to the requirements of this project required, perhaps I could have spent more time on it, but due to the fact that I wanted to focus on my scrapbook, I dedicated most of my effort on the final outcome. Like I mentioned above, I took a trip to Kew Gardens to gather some more primary research and I also gathered some while walking my dog, Sandy. I felt this was relevant as I was able take photographs of all the different plants and flowers blooming in the spring season which would help me greatly with in the spring section, seeing all the different shapes and marks I could add in my final piece. I believe that the most important skill I had gained while doing research is that no matter how time-consuming might, the results can be so amazing and worth all the effort you put into it. I think I relied more on the primary research than the secondary research, as I was able to draw things from the primary research very easily and I was very inspired by the number of images that I had gathered. In contrast, I had some difficulty in finding secondary research that could inspired my work, nevertheless, the selection of artists I chose gave me a relevant understanding of techniques and imagery that I could use to experiment throughout the project. However, my main source of inspiration came from the primary research.
Development:
In order to develop of my ideas, I mostly use mind maps and mood boards as I felt like I could organise my my thought and ideas better if I put them all down visually in a sort of chaotic manner because I could see everything afterwards and I could refer back to it. I also, sketched some of the ideas into my sketchbook so that I could visualise what the pages could look like. In terms of experimenting and testing, I built a good selection of pieces in terms of variety of techniques and mediums. Also, I did manage to do some little test pieces as well as reactions to different artists that I researched so at least I had done something. Most of my testing and experiments have been inspired by the artists that I have researched as I wanted to see if I could replicate some of the techniques that I had liked, in order to see if there could have been suitable for my scrapbook. The different tests and experiments that I created explore the theme of metamorphosis from different angles whilst at the same time allowed me to develop my creative and technical skills. However, my main focus was on getting my scrapbook done and perhaps in hindsight I could have managed my time better and spend more energy on experimenting. In terms of problems, the one that I noticed is that we had less time for the FMP. Therefore, I felt more pressure to complete this project within the time allocated to it.
Methods of working:
When it came to the idea of seasons, it was actually my sister who suggested the idea to me as I was trying to brainstorm a few theme ideas for my final outcome via sketches. After presenting the different theme ideas to my tutor, she advised on the seasons theme which seemed the more appropriate to fit the brief. The idea of the scrapbook came to me while I was still in the brainstorming phase and I thought that it was an amazing way to present my illustrations and also, I could try and do a pop-up technique for the transition of the seasons. With my choice of working, I just decided to create the pages season by season, then bind each seasonal page together, so all the autumn pages are binded together, then the winter pages are binded separately, etc, then I bind all the pages together, with the front and back cover of course.
The main advantage of working this way is that once I have a momentum going, then it is really easy for me to get a lot of work done as I can just progress from one page to the next really easily and if I am waiting for something to dry on one page, I could move onto another one. The weakness is that there is not a lot of wiggle room for experimenting because I felt that by dedicating more time on doing experiments and I would the risk of losing the momentum. If I was to do anything different in terms of my working method, I would plan out what I was going to do more effectively so I would have enough time to create more experiments and artists’ response.
Final Outcome(s):
Like I had said above, I did not have any specific audience in mind when I was creating my scrapbook, as I really just wanted to show the transition of the seasons through a scrapbook. If I really have to specify an audience, I guess it would be for people who are out-doorsy and love nature, as my work have quite a few natural elements in it and it outlines my love of animals, especially my dog, Sandy! With a scrapbook, I kind of hope people would enjoy flicking through it and look through it to identify what each season entails and represents, as well as maybe appreciate my illustrations. I think for the most part, my scrapbook does answer my original statement of intent. This is because I was able to illustrate the seasons and the different things that associate with the different seasons.
Reflection:
I believe that for the most part, my scrapbook is a successful body of work, as I was able to communicate the differences and transition of the four seasons and I was able to bind it without damaging the pages too much. A great achievement is that the scrapbook is still bound together and I managed to complete it one day ahead of the deadline. I am quite pleased with myself. However, I was forced to make one major change to my scrapbook because I had to leave out the pop-up technique because of time constraints and difficulty with planning the transition of the season effectively, which made complicate to try and add the pop-up technique, which makes me sad as I was looking forward to trying that out. well, maybe I could do a pop-up technique for my own personal scrapbook. I have shown my scrapbook to few people and they really liked the fact that I bound the pages together using string, as it added to the ‘scrapiness’ of the scrapbook. My tutor really liked the fact that I drew my illustrations on scrap paper before gluing them onto my page as it showed my environmentally conscious choice and plus it added to the scrappiness. With my feelings, I got to say that I am really proud of what I have managed to make, because I created my own illustrations and I bound the pages all together. I think that is and amazing outcome. I would like to create some more scrapbooks that is more personal to me, and I could take more time on. About the reflective journal, I chose not to make a separate document for it this time round, as I was doing most of the reflections on my blog, so I did not think that it needed a separate document. It was more convenient for me as writing it on my blog did not take up any space, as I experienced with my last journal. In terms of project and time management, I believe the reflective journal helped with the management of my project as I was forced to see what went well and what direction of the project was heading in. The time frame, however, did not really help as I did leave the blog work to each end of the weeks, which overflew outside of college hours.
Project Management:
In the end, I was spending five days in college, even though I only had timetabled lessons for three of them. This is because I tend to get distracted more at home and I think I mentally associate college as a place to get work done, so I get more done at college. However, I also did some work over the weekend if I felt I needed to get something done, mostly blog stuff but also working on my scrapbook. With my timetable, I was able to follow it really effectively as I was able to stay on task with each season and I was able to complete them all by the end of the project. However, I had to reallocate some of my time to doing some experiments in order to have a good body of work, which in the end compromised the completion of the pop-up technique.
Additional Development/Improvements:
If I was to re-do anything of my project, I think I would re-work the scrapbook by adding the pop-up effects as originally planned, then I believe that it would have made the scrapbook more eye-catching. I think I would also rework when I did the experiments so that I would have been able to fit them into my timetable more effectively. If I had another ten weeks to do this project, I would have liked to add more pages to the scrapbook and do explore more elements of seasons, for example, the seasons in different countries, would have loved to do something about the famous cherry blossoms of Japan, they are so pretty or maybe Christmas in New Zealand, as they have Christmas in summer over there and as my brother-in-law had some family over in New Zealand, I could get their perspective on it. I would also add the pop-up effect as that was the original plan and I would have loved to see how it would have looked like.
Melissa Ann Shoesmith Final Major Project - Personal Project - Level 3 Creative Design - Year 2 