OUIL406 VIS COM EVALUATION

What skills have you developed through this brief and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I have really developed my digital skills this module! Mainly due to being forced to use digital media at least partially for two briefs but I have really learned to love using digital media. I hated Illustrator before this module but when faced with having to use it, its actually really fun and I definitely want to use it a lot more in the future. Although I have enjoyed it I've only scratched the surface with what I could do with it and I'd love to play more digitally and unwrap the mysteries that Photoshop and Illustrator hold. 

What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?

Storyboarding was something new I did during this module. It led me to think about animating in terms of steps and helped to break down how daunting making a gif is when you've never made one before. This also kind of made me think about narratives as the storyboard for the gif, though only a few seconds could be translated to longer animations or comics etc. 

Roughs are still super important especially when planning something to be done digitally as you definitely can't wing it, especially with vectors! There at least needs to be a vague plan. I spent a lot of time roughing in these projects (maybe a little too much time roughing and not enough time experimenting). Particularly in the "greetings from" project I ended up being led to my final idea through roughs, as I could find what did and didn't work, and get new ideas from drawing out my initial ideas. 
What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on them?

This has not been a strong module for me so I'm finding it a little hard to think about the strengths. 

The biggest strength would probably be how much I have been able to develop digital skills, as that is something I really wanted to gain from this course. I have made images digitally - with Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as editing and developing traditional processes digitally. 

Although it wasn't my best brief I think my "Greetings From" Middle Earth postcards show how much I have enjoyed working with illustrator as I thought it was literally Satan before this project. Also during "Persons of Note" I chose to re-visit illustrator to create my postcards and stamps and ended up creating some images that I definitely could not have made digitally at the beginning of the module. 

During the end of the "Persons of Note" project I started to get more experimental, which is good I definitely want to do more experimental work but I'm kind of disappointed that the push to do it came for me near the end of the project when it would have been more helpful earlier on. Though this is a sign that I should definitely not be afraid to be experimental and make more mistakes in the future - Like the bear collaged out of Putin's face.What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

Due to life circumstances getting in my way this has been one of my worst module's. I have been utterly terrible at managing my time, though I had started off improving my time management all of that seemed to descend into chaos this module. I especially did not plan my time very well over the Easter holidays, in the future I will definitely put more consideration into planning time that isn't timetabled at college, including evenings - so I don't fritter away important time on not important things. I will continue using my diary, calendar and timetables to plan my time until it is ingrained into my daily life to do this for everything and pay attention/stick to my plan!!

In the "Greetings From" brief I got off to an incredibly slow start. Initial ideas has been a problem for me before, and the project seemed kind of daunting with so many options I didn't really know where to start with it. I think in the future to combat this I should just start off with really quick immediate brainstorms, research and sketches just to get the ball rolling even if they're utterly terrible and lead me nowhere. Then at least I would have made a more interesting start to the project and would have something to show in a crit.Identify 5 things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

• EXPERIMENT - I am going to experiment more with media AT THE BEGINNING of the project so I can try new things, broaden my skills, get craaaazy, maybe end up with some cool interesting final images
• PLAN MY TIME - Like properly. I do use my diary to write down events and plan some things but I need to thoroughly timetable my weeks. I will probably go down to learning support for some help with this cause I'm rubbish at time management. From this I will gain time management skills for life - and also a sense of calm when I've got things done on time.
• HIT THE GROUND RUNNING - Start off projects with LESS THINKING and more DOING. Obviously some thinking but less worrying and wondering and more just drawing. This will help me because then in early crits I'll have more to show and more routes to take. I think this will also improve my visual thinking. 
• LEAVE PERSONAL WOES AT THE DOORSTEP - Though this can't always be done I think if I tried my best to focus on work at college and leave personal problems completely out of the college area I would be in a better mindset for working.
• KEEP UP TO DATE WITH BLOGGING - usually I do but I fell down in this module. By keeping up to date I would be able to document important crits, thoughts, critical instances etc as they happen and not try and catch up on them weeks later!

Babs Tarr

I got the honour of talking to Babs at Thought Bubble and had the opportunity to ask her a few questions on the matter of women in comics. In interviews she has said that there need to be more women in comics just to make the content relatable, as women will have experiences that they can include that men would have absolutely no idea about (especially hair pins).


Babs' work includes a lot of sexy, "scantily clad" or nude women but unlike a lot of comic art they are not hypersexualised. It's as if she - as a woman- has an understanding of how women like to be portrayed. The women are not there purposely to be sexy, they are fully realised characters who just happen to be sexy - but it is not their defining feature. I would even say there is more character in one of Babs' drawings than what is given to a lot of female characters in mainstream comics. 


I think a lot of the way women are portrayed comes down to the intent of the artist. Babs, being female herself, is unlikely to want to create something specifically for the male gaze. Whereas a lot of mainstream comics are targeted towards a male audience and thus the intent of the artists is to make the female characters appeal to them, I guess making them sexy is easier than making a complex character.


I can relate to Babs' practice as she has always just drawn what she wanted - and encouraged me to keep on drawing sexy ladies. Her work is really appealing, especially to a female audience - making her an excellent person for DC to hire for Batgirl as more women are needed in the comic industry -to bring in a female audience.

Promotional Poster

I was watching Bob's Burgers when I thought of this poster, it reminded me of childhood when my brother would call me 'Amburger'. I think this really gets across my sense of humour - one of my only redeeming features. 

I felt intimidated my some of the other posters as they were a lot more better crafted than mine, crafting has not been one of my strong points ever - definitely something I need to put more consideration into. 

What Have I learned Poster?

I drew this out with some idea of where I would put things and how to jazz it up, as I started writing my points on this I realised that I may have not added enough room on it for what I wanted to add.

I have learned a lot more this year than I thought I had.