Practitioner

Practitioner: 

Weaknesses:

1. I am a perfectionist, and whilst this means things will be done well it has also meant that sometimes my work doesn't develop as much as it could. Sometimes I’m so scared to make something imperfect that I don't like but will help me to develop an idea further that I chose to just stick with what I know instead and create something that is within my comfort zone but probably a bit boring
2. I am easily panicked, whilst I admit I do work well under time constraints sometimes a lack of time in which to complete tasks can panic me into not doing anything at all and hating every idea that I come up with but being too scared to go another direction because then I wont be finished on time
3. I am not good at simplifying things. This one has been really problematic in the last few very short briefs we've had, where we've needed to get a point across but in a restricted frame. Its in my nature to make everything look really embellished but I think this course is making me realise that I need to spend more time and effort developing my ideas and making those complex and meaningful but simplifying the way I chose to portray that
4. Trying out new ways of working is something I really struggle with. This course has pushed me to try new things and mostly they've payed off and are techniques that I know I’ll definitely use in the future. But actually applying myself to learning those new things is something I find hard, I think its the same thing of struggling to be out of my comfort zone
5. I don’t have enough trust in myself, my abilities and my ideas yet. This is something I’m learning to develop for instance during the latest brief I was told by everyone that the wet media approach I’d been taking was stronger than the digital but I knew that was just because no one could see how I was imagining it in my head. So I persevered with it and managed to make it work where I might once have gone with what everyone else preferred. That was a huge step for me but is definitely something I need to do more and also quicker in my practise so that I don't waste time by being indecisive.

Strengths:

1. I am a skilled crafts person. For the most part I can make an image look the way I want it to look and I am consistently surprised at how well my images turn out
2. I also think I have pretty good visual language in that I am capable of translating something that I’m seeing and putting it onto paper, but more than that I am good at communicating an idea through my work. It was one of my goals in the last module to make my work more evocative and I think I’m getting there
3. My way of brainstorming and creating a response to something is exhaustive and I wont stop trialling until I can look at what I’ve made and say that I am fully happy with it. Whether thats a side effect of my perfectionist personality or a sign that I am truly a good illustrator I’m not sure (can it be both?)
4. My sense of humour and generally the way I look at life seem to come through quite well in my practise. I think as my sense of humour is such a huge part of what makes me up as a person its always been something I’m keep for people to see in my work and I think I’m only just getting that right now. As well as this its been nice in the last few briefs to be able to talk about and make art about something that interests me as an individual (the sticker brief) and its made me realise that if I carry on talking about what interests me in my own practise then I will likely always find it easier to carry on being motivated to make work
5. I am a very reflective person, I didn't realise until starting this course how reflective I was. At first I think I was scared of using the blog to be honest about my thoughts and feelings, but after writing my evaluation for narratives where I literally just poured my heart out about how stressful I’d found the project, I can appreciate that it was partly down to how self reflective I’d been that I’d got such  good mark and positive feedback. So now I can see the point in reflection and how it helps me make sense of my own practise and to help others understand the process I went through to get to the outcome