Peer Review with Steven, James, Penny and Kate. The groups have been switched around so that we're not working with the same teams as last time, which I think is a great idea. It means we'll get fresh thoughts and ideas but it does mean re-explaining proposals and starting right from the beginning. These folks might not know what was discussed a the last point of contact, they might not know what has already been suggested or whether I have done what was asked after last time.
However, I think it's vital to get different opinions, different perspectives and also just SEE how other people are approaching their projects. I learn through reflecting on not just my own experiences, but also through seeing my peers/other practitioners wrestling with their projects; they might be having the same issues I'm having, or working with a similar medium and there is so much we can learn from each other.
I think I'm finally letting go of that gripping fear that people are going to 'steal' my ideas (narcissistic, I know) and just trusting people and sharing thoughts for all of our benefit. Help a brother out.
With the INTERIM CRIT approaching, this peer review was pivotal in assessing where we are up to and what needs to be done. Next week will be the final crit before Easter break so we need to make sure that we are prepared for it, ready to get the feedback and help we need before we go out into the wild for four weeks.
I came into the crit knowing exactly what I'm doing with my project. Feeling very positive about it, still loving the concept, just a little bit lacking in content because of all the other modules that are pressing right now. I wanted to ask my peers whether I was going in the right direction, what they thought I should be focusing on and just generally asking them if they like it.
Steven
Steven's project is about Asian folklore and myths - way cool - and he seems to be really enjoying it. He's done a lot of research and reading into his stories which is great and fuelling his knowledge/confidence in the topic. The 6 illustrations about these legends will be applied to book covers. He's done loads of character development and roughing in his journal (Steven is great at this and can fill sketchbooks very quickly). He wasn't sure what he needed to do for next week so we helped him pick the roughs he should take forward and I suggested that he bring them out of his sketchbook (like he has started to) and draw them larger so he can spread them out on the table for peers to clearly see what he's moving forward with.
James
James has made a full comic strip about Death. Really emotional and he's put lots of work into this, writing the whole thing himself. A risky game since we aren't getting marked on narrative, but this is what James enjoys and he hasn't spent too much time on that. He knows that the emphasis should now be on the images and he is working on that. I asked where he would apply the comic and he said he wanted it to be a webcomic, Penny suggested making some gifs or short videos, I suggested a simple animatic and we then went on to discuss applications for comic fairs, such as banners and a stall that James could mock-up digitally.
Penny
Penny's project is an old story about the Devil going on holiday to Wales. She's making this into a children's picture book and it's really sweet. Penny is from Wales and she's packed her Welsh drawings with charm and humour. Her devil actually reminded me of Paul Klee's Devil hand puppet, which I told her to go and have a look at. A personal project and one that is definitely relevant to her. She's got the characters nailed but it struggling a little with the backgrounds, to which some ideas were thrown around regarding block colours, simple landscapes and reference photos of Wales.
In terms of application, Penny is thinking about the context of her children's book, of how it could be sold to both English and Welsh children. She wants to make the text bilingual and will be considering point of sale for both markets.
Kate
Kate is doing editorial illustration and tackling the subject of artificial intelligence. This sparked a big discussion on our table as we conspired and worried about the threat of robots stealing our jobs/wives. She's got lots of ideas and has made some great illustrations that could be used, she now needs to narrow down her roughs to just six and think about how else they could be applied.
For next week I need to:
Start making some of the scrap book elements (e.g. post cards, letters, stamps and found papers)
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