AUTHORSHIP EVALUATION 2013

Evaluation

I think I have had a really productive year, especially since Christmas when I re-evaluated my objectives. Last year I tried to think outside the box, trying to change my skills when I should have been adapting and developing them to fit my content and objectives.

This year I managed to specify exactly what I want to achieve with my personal practice, as opposed to denying it and trying to steer in fresh direction. I now understand that the ‘content’ of my work does not need to be changed to make my work original and interesting, I just need to continue pushing the skills I already have in new directions, by trying new media, styles and taking new inspiration. I managed to do this the past few months by limiting the media I use, especially in life drawing and location drawing. By doing this I have discovered a much more fluid, spontaneous way of working, which is evident mostly in my life-drawings. For my FMP, I must continue working in this way, especially in my development work because it sets up my most interesting artworks.

In terms of audience, I think my work is always geared towards children and I stand by that despite the Gothic undertones of my work. In truth, my work is no more gruesome than that of Chris Grimly, or Arthur Rackham, both children's book Illustrators who I would say trick (ed) the censors somewhat because their style is inherently Gothic. I think that for this reason my work would be sell-able commercially, especially with its Fairy Tale themes that are extremely commercial at the moment and seen all over the media. I have put this tp practice and used this media to influence my work and objectives. 

Meeting my objectives was extremely important and I worked especially hard over the summer to build up a portfolio of artwork that responded to character and stereotype whilst fitting my Authorship proposal. Although my skill set is not and will never be fully developed, I have found, through experimentation and the taking of visual notes (on location, from film, television novels etc.) that I have produced images of varying styles, atypical of my usual work and yet, still noticeable as my own. From this I have learned that media experiments and the pursuit of skill development is key to keeping my work fresh and interesting and therefore I am qualified for a wider range of commissions, I can feel confident taking on new tasks and most importantly my work can be appreciated by a wider audience with varying artistic tastes.