Introduction

What Do You Need/Want From This Course Unit?

1. During this unit I would like to get better at communicating idea/stories through my illustrations. I don’t feel that I achieve this well and would love to improve.
2. Improve my style. I feel that I get stuck too often in trying to keeps things realistic, which isn’t always what I want to do.
3. I would love to get better at designing my own characters. The characters I have made in the past have been very basic as I tend to get stuck when trying to make them original. A lot of the time they don’t end up looking very good either.
4. I don’t think that I tend to come up with very exciting stories, or that I tell them very well, so I would like to get better at this.
5. I feel that my knowledge of styles and art movements is limited so I would like to improve this.
6. Improve my digital skills

I am on this course as I love drawing. I draw all the time so thought that this would be a good path to follow, however, I am unsure of what I would like to do once the course is finished. Getting some idea would be another thing I would like to get out of this unit. Most of the time I draw portraits of people whose photos I have found online. Lately, I have been doing a lot more of my work digitally, which I have been enjoying but would like to learn how to use all the different tools as I only know how to use the basics. I find thinking up original ideas and characters hard, which is why I chose illustration. I thought this would push me to improve.

Exercise 2: Setting Up Your Learning Log

Already done.

Exercise 3: Analysing and Reflecting

For this exercise I was asked to find a story featuring one of the following characters:

● Batman
● Peanuts (Charlie Brown and Snoopy)
● The Adventures of Tintin
● The X-Men
● Rupert Bear

I decided to go with Rupert Bear as I have memories of him from when I was younger. The story I found was “Rupert and the Weather man”, written and illustrated by, as all Rupert stories, Alfred Bestall. The section of the story I have decided to write about starts on page 20 and ends on page 25, when Rupert arrives at the Weather-Clerks home.

I had to consider things like: which elements worked well together, what the story is trying to communicate and how the images work. All of this had to be summed up in less than 50 words, which was a bit of a challenge, though I did succeed, just.
Here’s my summary:

Small images paired with short captions work well with the longer story at the bottom of the page. This appeals to multiple age groups. The rhyming flows easily. Simple, effective drawings. I think the story tells us that we have to pull together when one of us is incapacitated.

Next was to write about how I related to the work, again in under 50 words:

I liked this story. I thought it was very entertaining and imaginative, especially for kids. I feel that this section could help kids understand and empathise more. The simple line drawings are a little outdated as we don’t see this much anymore with new technology.

I found analysing this story hard to do with such a limited word count. I feel that this kept me from analysing too deeply and kept the amount of subjects I could address very low.

Site used:
Bestall, A., 1995. Bestall-Reprint-6.pdf. [online] Followersofrupertbear.co.uk. Available at: <https://followersofrupertbear.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Bestall-Reprint-6.pdf&gt; [Accessed 8 September 2022].

Exercise 4: Managing your time

So far I haven’t been very good at this, as evidenced by how long it took me to complete the first unit. I was aiming to have had it completed within the first year, however it ended up taking two. This is because of many factors. I am hoping to do a better job of keeping to my schedule this time as I would like to have the unit finished as soon as possible so that I can move on within the course.

I would like to keep to a schedule were I spend two days a week doing coursework. This may have to change, however if I get the job I have applied for.

My least productive time of day is mornings.

I don’t tend to manage my time very well, mostly because I am always very tired.

I would like to complete part one within the next couple of months, though judging from the last unit it will probably take around twice that time.

Exercise 5: Identifying Resources

Equipment I will need to use:

1. A computer
2. Drawing tablet
3. Photoshop
4. Pencils
5. Pens
6. Ink
7. Paints
8. Paint brushes
9. Paper
10. Canvases
11. Rubbers
12. Printer
13. Lightbox

I have all of these. All I can think of that I might need is to buy different kinds of paper.

Resources I will need:

1. Internet
2. Books
3. Magazines
4. Videos
5. Library
6. OCA Library

I have access to all of these, however there will be new books that I will need to get/borrow.

I will be working in my own studio, within my home. This is already all set up with things I need.