National Autistic Society brief - collaboration?

I'm drawn to this brief because I have personal experience of Autism - my little brother (18 years old) is autistic, so I have access to his first hand experience as a source of research, as well as my own personal experience of how it affects/has affected my family and I.

I also have a friend who has an autistic little brother (14 or 15 years old I believe), so that is another point of research, if I manage to find an animator who wants to collaborate on this brief.

There's a growing amount of resources on autism, not only to educate about it but also showing the experience of having autism from the perspective of autistic people.

Summative Evaluation

End of Module Student Evaluation

BA (Hons) Illustration

Module Code: OUIL504 Illustration 1: Production & Presentation

Name: Molly Halson

Student ID: mh259901

Learning Outcome	Evidenced where? Blog, Visual Journal, Roughs, Final Illustrations, Stings, storyboards, development sheets etc.  (No more than 75 words)	Your grade Using words: > poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent
5A5:  Demonstrate an informed understanding of issues relating to image, media, format and context through the delivery of solutions to identified visual problems. (Knowledge & Understanding -  Critical Awareness)	·       Study Tasks on blog ·       Rough sketches in visual journal – experimenting with elements like frame and composition ·       Evaluation of my own work and its context on my blog	Good
5A6: Understand the potential and limitations of a range of processes, technologies and techniques involved in the development and production of work for print and screen based delivery. (Knowledge & Understanding -  Research)	·       A3 author research sheets and further research on my blog and visual journal ·       Print tests and evaluation of tests on my blog ·       Combination of multiple print processes using Photoshop and After Effects in my final book and sting (SB2 and SB3 outcomes)	Very good
5B4: Analyse and critically evaluate primary/secondary source material to inform the development and contextualisation of ideas, concepts and products through individual responses to set briefs. (Cognitive Skills - Problem Analysis, Problem Solving)	·       Problem solving evidenced in print tests and evaluation of tests on blog ·       Roughs in visual journal show analysis of compositional issues ·       Blog shows written problem solving and evaluation of how these problems came to be and how they could be avoided in future ·       Final sting and book show evidence of development and problem solving ·       Storyboards	Very good
5C4: Select, manipulate and apply appropriate media, processes and technologies in the development, production and presentation of ideas, concepts and products. (Practical Skills -  Practical and Conceptual Development)	·       Roughs and colour tests in sketchbook show development of ideas ·       Print experimentation and print taken into Photoshop show personal development of new skills and ways of thinking and assessing ideas ·       Many thumbnails and roughs show visual development and thinking	Excellent
5C5: Identify, evaluate and apply practical/technical processes, materials and media in order to produce technically competent and conceptually appropriate outcomes. (Practical Skills - Visual Quality and Technical Competence)	·       Final outcomes (particularly SB2 book and SB3 sting) ·       Blog - presentation	Very Good
5D4: Demonstrate the ability to communicate the development and resolution of ideas through appropriate visual and written presentation of work. (Key Transferable Skills - Presentation and Evaluation)	·       Blog – evaluation and reflection, mistakes and how I’ve overcome them ·       Presentation of final outcomes (particularly SB2 book)	Very Good

Summative Evaluation

Overall, I think this module went pretty well! Despite struggling with motivation at various points during the module, I have managed to produce final outcomes I’m pleased with. I’m even quite impressed with my book and my sting, considering I left the bulk of the work until the last week. As has been a problem throughout my journey on the course, my time management hasn’t quite been at the standard I’d like it to be. This is partly due to struggling with ongoing personal issues (depression), but it is something I am continuing to overcome. Despite these issues, I know that my final outcomes for SB2 and SB3 are at a fairly high standard. There are definitely things I would do differently if I had allowed myself more time, such as taking time to learn proper shortcuts to make things easier for myself in Adobe programs, and experimenting more with composition, frame and arrangement of elements such as textures in both the book and the sting. I have always found it hard to blog alongside my work, showing key moments as they happen, which is something I am still working on improving as I progress through the course. However, even though I don’t necessarily show my reflection on my work as I do it, I do evidence evaluation and reflection in my blog and even in notes to myself in my visual journal. I learned lots of new digital skills, such as how to combine print methods effectively on screen through overlaying, and how to use After Effects. Considering I have never used After Effects before, I am pleased with the quality of my final sting for SB3. I actually really enjoyed experimenting with animation, and will definitely consider it for other modules, such as the collaboration brief in Responsive, or Applied Illustration. I would appreciate the opportunity to take more time to get to know the program and figure out how to make even better stings! I was not as happy with the outcomes of SB1, the editorial illustrations, as I was having a bit of an ‘artist identity crisis’ and struggling with my own personal style. I can overthink things too much and need to spend more time getting ideas down on paper and not analyzing them as much as I do. My visual journal is full of written thinking, such as lists and mind maps, which I find a lot more helpful sometimes than actually drawing straight away. But, as always, since the start of the course last year, I feel that very simple pencil roughs have helped me to figure out solutions to many compositional problems. I am still struggling somewhat to figure out my own personal ‘brand’ of drawing, but I know for sure that I love making people laugh and telling stories, and so comic narratives are definitely what I want to explore as I go on. I enjoyed taking characters and themes from my author’s stories and using them to create my own stories. This module has taught me not to dismiss print processes – I used to prefer to aesthetic of bold blocks of colour and strong lines, but Printed Pictures (as well as Visual Language on Level 4) has helped me to open my eyes to incorporating texture into my comics, and using shape in addition to line in some of my drawings. I now appreciate that adding texture can add depth and value to image, even more so than I did last year, as on Level 4 I was still reluctant to push too far out of my comfort zone. Based on feedback from my tutors and peers, I also challenged myself not to use text and dialogue in my SB2 comic book, as I usually rely quite heavily on words. This challenged me to tell the story through facial expressions and body language, which I enjoyed! I am disappointed that I didn’t do more screen-printing – I do enjoy the process and the outcomes it renders, despite the time it takes to get through. I didn’t allow enough time to screen print the whole book (as I initially envisioned), but hopefully in one of the future modules I will organize myself better and get down to the print room with enough time to spare. In summary, I still need to work on organizing my time better, expand my print and digital skillset and draw more comics!

SB3 - Final Sting

Dog Show from Molly Halson on Vimeo.

Things that went well:

• Considering I made this in two days (Friday 13th and Monday 16th January - I would have worked over the weekend but couldn't get After Effects to work on my computer), I think it turned out pretty well!
• Without much time to experiment with transformations, I managed to achieve most of what I set out to with After Effects.
• Despite running into some problems, like not anticipating how certain layers would move within the frame and with each other, I managed to complete my sting to a fairly high standard (in my opinion) for an absolute beginner.

Things that didn't go well:

• As mentioned, I had a few problems, such as: 
• Having to re-do certain layers of the elements in Photoshop because I didn't think about how they would work together within After Effects.
• I also used my original PSD for pages 10 and 11 of my book to create the new layers, and didn't crop them down. So I had lots of tiny elements with a huge amount of space around them, creating huge files which eventually started to slow down After Effects! Next time I'll remember to crop all the layers to a more appropriate size.
• I didn't have enough time to make all the transformations as smooth as they could have been, and had to miss a few things out that I wanted to do.
• Ideally, I was going to record some of my own sounds (like dogs barking) but again, didn't leave myself enough time.

What I would do differently next time:

• Make sure the PSD layers are an appropriate size!
• Think about and plan my composition a bit more before starting work on it.
• More storyboarding!
• Better time management - maybe a project planner/weekly planner would help me.
• Play around with different transformations and effects.

Overall, I did actually enjoy using After Effects and animating my work! I might try using it again for another module, as I think my comic style fits well with the medium.

SB2 - Final Book

SB1 - Final Editorial Illustrations

Most important moments from my visual journal

SB3 Proposal: production & presentation of my moving pictures

Key:
My original proposal
Changes I made along the way


I intend to produce:
3 10 second stings, each focusing on a different narrative I came up with, based on the story (and titular character of) Wolf Alice, from The Bloody Chamber. 

1 30 second sting focusing on the double page spread dog show from my book. I originally intended this to be one of my 10 second stings, but due to not leaving enough time for myself to make 2 short stings, I had to opt for the longer one. It seemed harder to do one big one, but I think it was actually easier as it's all one file.

Plus, once I got started with the 30 second sting, I realised that 10 seconds was actually nowhere near enough time to do everything I wanted to do with the dogs and Alice.


The content will focus on:

• Wolf Alice (the story, and character as a concept)
• Humour - putting a feral wolf girl into modern society and situations and showing how she would react to them in a comical way.
• Narrative - creating my own story from pieces of Carter's.

I will be aiming to communicate:

• Humour - light-hearted and slightly dark (it would have been darker humour if I had produced a sting of the idea where Alice eats a rat that her flatmate is scared of)
• Communicating a sense of character in both Alice and the people/animals she interacts with

To an audience of:

• People like me, similar in age - students/young people aged 16-24
• Fans of Angela Carter
• Fans of dark humour (or silly humour)

SB2 Proposal

Key:
Original proposal
How things changed

I intend to produce:
A comic! (the publication)
Low-middle key, a hue of red in there somewhere (BLOODY chamber)
Screen-printed - potentially drawn digitally

I didn't give myself enough time to screen print the whole book, nor did I venture too far out of my comfort zone to draw all the line art digitally using a graphics tablet.

The content will focus on:

• The Bloody Chamber (the only book by Carter I've read so far (and actually at all))
• Carter's life and work
• Wolves?! I really like the wolf stories in The Bloody Chamber

I will be aiming to communicate:

• Humour!
• Narrative/storytelling
• Character

To an audience of:

• People like me, similar ages
• People who like comedy/silly humour
• Angela Carter fans

SB3 Sting storyboard

Having started working in After Effects without storyboarding my idea, because I thought they were a bit useless, I realise now that it would have been useful to make one!

I used the PSD of the double page spread of the dog show, and separated all the layers into what was going to move, but I didn't anticipate the foreground and background needing to be longer in order for it to move across the screen to look like a panning camera.

So, I made a quick story boards to work out how to properly make my sting, and to avoid running into any more similar problems:

Working on the sting

In Photoshop I identified all the various parts of the characters I want to move in the sting and separated them into separate layers.

When I actually took them into After Effects I realised I had multiple issues - for example, I hadn't thought about how the foreground and background needed to move along the screen in order to create a pan effect, so I had to go back into Photoshop and make them wider.

I think now, I've considered the logistics a bit more, and corrected some of the layers, and I just need to animate the characters! 

SB2 Finalising book pages

I've finished adding texture and colour to all my pages in Photoshop!

End page 1

I'm sure if I gave myself more time, I could have done the comic a lot better - using proper methods of filling space with colour and texture instead of rushing and probably making things harder for myself. I know some Photoshop shortcuts, but I'm sure I took the long route round a lot of it. 

Some of it is also quite messy - bits of texture not being rubbed out properly etc etc. 

However, despite my bad time management, I still got the book done in time for my print slot! Now just for the sting...

Stings or sting?

Since I'm still working on my book and have barely thought about my stings yet, with a week until the submission deadline, I think I'm going to have to change my plan. Definitely evidence of my poor time management.

Instead of doing 3 10 second stings, I'm going to make 1 30 second sting. I'm going to use one of the ideas I had for a 10 second sting and just drag it out longer.

This is the image I'll be taking into After Effects. I think I can make this last for 30 seconds, if I have the title at the beginning, Angela Carter's name at the end, and a slow pan across each of the characters (each with their own movement of some kind).

In hindsight I actually think this page is too busy, with the texture in the background. I think I should have lowered the opacity or something so that you could more clearly see each of the characters.

SB2 - Book line art

I'm currently doing the line art for the comic. I've drawn 5 pages so far, so 9 to go! I'm hoping I can get all the line art done tonight or tomorrow, and then use Photoshop to add in texture and colour before my print slot on Friday.

I really should have given myself more time to do this, and I know I could do it a LOT better if I had managed my time better, but I'm confident that I can get it all finished to a decent enough standard for Friday.

I struggle with time management and motivation - I seem to only work well when I know there's extreme pressure (i.e. the week before a deadline). I'm trying to work on ways to procrastinate less and find motivation all through the week, but it doesn't always get results.

Screenprinting (finally)

I only just managed to get myself into the print room today - bad time management on my part. I've not been feeling very motivated these past few weeks.

Anyway - I printed some positives of the image I'd created in Photoshop combining monoprint and lino textures. The top print actually went wrong - I realised after printing a few copies that I'd put pink ink in the blue screen, so I started over with the colours the right way round:

I quite like this one - the blue and red overlapping look like what you see through 3D glasses, which is quite trippy. I'm not sure that it's that appropriate for the style of the rest of my book though. A bit too psychedelic.

This one is probably my favourite. The pink layer hasn't quite come through that clearly, but that actually gives the image a nice gradient and balance of colour. Plus the lighter pink actually looks more delicate and feminine, which is quite ironic and amusing considering she's supposed to be a feral girl.

I think I have my front cover! I might just up the saturation in Photoshop to make it match the rest of my comic pages.