Reflection/Evaluation of the Cosmos Project

At the very beginning of the course, I was shy and quite confused overall. We started the project of the 'Cosmos' and quickly began looking at shape and shading, as well as drawing from papier-mâché 'asteroids'. This was interesting as I had not used charcoal before, and we used quite a lot of it. The first piece of refined art that we created was with a partner, and we used charcoal on white cartridge paper to create a large asteroid. Doing this was fun and working with a partner helped because we both had different ideas to improve our asteroid; two different perspectives that worked well and I was proud of our outcome. We then completed our very first board, 'The Introduction to the Cosmos'. I think for my first board that I've ever created, it definitely could have been worse, but there was a lot I could have improved on. Everything seemed very unorganised, and there was pieces I could have taken off that didn't really need to be there, such as the entire middle section. Another thing that I did wrong was that I left all the work till the very last lesson, so I ran out of time quickly. 

The next board that we created was 'Exploring Colour'. I think it was a step up from my last board, as I could finally add colour to my work, but there's a lot I missed out on adding. I wasn't sure where to start, so I began with exploring the effect of colour and what colour connotes. I really like the small planets I created with acrylic paint on paper as I took the main colours from each of the planets and merged them with different tones of each colour, creating a really nice effect. The small-ish painting I included too, created with acrylic paint, could have had some more annotations and explanation included, as I feel like looking back it was unexplained as to why it was on the board. I also forgot to add the colour wheels onto the board which haunts me to this day.

We spent a lot of time looking at asteroids overall, which eventually got tiring but we soon moved on to looking at our first artist, Thierry Despont.

It was a breath of fresh air looking at this artist, and we did many enjoyable practicals like Acrylic Pouring and combining Ink and Texture. The Acrylic Pouring practical is something that I would definitely look at doing again in the future; I got the hang of it quickly and it's something that's quite simple to create, but the effect on different materials and paper is amazing. The Ink and Texture practical was enjoyable too, as we used different textures like sand and (not used) cat litter with white acrylic and ink to create mock-ups of Thierry Despont's work. The board I created for this section of the course, titled 'Thierry Despont' was the best board I have created. I included analysis of his work, practicals, photos of myself creating the practicals, explanations and also I spoke about Despont himself as well as linked his work to real things within our space and atmosphere. I got the highest mark for this board, and I'm really proud of it.

After all the work we completed surrounding Despont, we were then able to pick our own artist to look at. I chose Vanja Vukelic, the "Personification of the Earth as a Female Deity". Her work inspired me, and I wanted to learn more about the way her art connects with spirituality, which was perfect for this project. I spent a lot of time looking at the way she draws her illustrations, the colours she uses and also what medium she uses. I think I spent too much time in my sketchbook trying to recreate illustrations that she has drawn already and also creating my own illustrations in her art style, but I think this really impacted my final outcome in a good way. I learnt her art style and the meaning behind her work, which I could connect to. 

This brings me to my fourth artist board, 'Vanja Vukelic'. Overall, I don't feel like this art board represented how much I appreciated her work, but I was moving house at this time so all my work and mediums were placed in different boxes at different houses, making it very hard to complete the board at the highest standard I wanted. I think, taking this into account, the work I completed was the right start and influenced my final outcome. On the board, I experimented with using pro-marker (or graphic marker) which is what I created my final outcome with. I also spoke about spirituality and how Vanja, since a young girl, has been connected with nature. 

The fifth, and last, board I created was also about Vanja Vukelic, and the majority of this board was created with pro-maker. On this board, I learnt how to use them effectively, which also heavily impacted my final outcome in a good way. This last board, I'm pretty sure, was meant to be visual but as I like writing, I forgot that I should have included more images than words. Next time, I will focus more on the fact that I should write very little and focus more on the work I have created. Overall I think the board is colourful and stands out a lot more than the others, especially with the half naked woman in bold pro-maker. One thing I like about this board in particular is the images I cut out from a 'Lush' magazine. Lush is very organic and natural, so along with the images of flowers and plants, I feel like it looked really good on the board. I wish I had done more work with it though.

And then, the final outcome. I had a clear image of what I wanted to create right from the beginning, but I didn't know what I wanted to use to create it. I originally tried acrylic paint on cartridge paper, but I really didn't like how it turned out. I then moved onto canvas, using acrylic paint, but I just couldn't create what I had imagined in my mind, and trying to create thin lines with a paintbrush seemed impossible (and using fineliner on canvas wouldn't have worked). I then decided to move back to using paper, but this time I used pro-markers instead. It worked exactly how I wanted it to and the makers didn't leave any lines; all the colours looked colourful and worked well together. I then used purple material and gradient paper to create the words: 'I Am More Than Flesh And Bone', which connects with the spiritual atmosphere of my work and Vukelic's. I really love my final outcome, and I'm so proud of how it came out. The series of 3 illustrations, representing birth, life and death, worked super well and mounting them on cartridge paper was a good choice. I think the whole idea of exploring colour definitely influenced by work due to the fact that I chose colour based on the theme of each illustration, and the art style I learnt off Vukelic but made my own illustrations influenced by her. I wish I hadn't had wasted as much time as I did, but I'm glad I tried a lot of trial and errors before I got to my final outcome that I was happy with. Overall, I don't think Despont had much impact though; it did however teach me how to research artists and look into their work more deeply. I would like to continue looking both at colour and illustration though, as I loved creating and working in the style of this artist.