16th-31st March 2014
As the title suggests it really has been 2 weeks of utter chaos and manic. I have been quite busy with my uni project, mostly trying to tear my hair out coming up with a good storyline.
I am at that stage where I have a rough plot in place- it just needs final adjustments. I've also made the decision to include animals with humans as I thought this will make my book more child friendly and fun. I don't think I'll share the narrative just yet, maybe towards the end when the book is finished!
This is just an overview of what I did during the last two weeks at home in Portsmouth (we had an early Easter holiday):
- I annotated like crazy for about 3 days because I tend to leave my annotation until the last minute- I am trying to avoid this very, very bad habit!
- I made a start on some early dummy books- I made 6 in total, accompanied with thumbnails.
- I have taken some photographs, some of which could provide me with some possible ideas for compositions.
- I asked some of my friends and family what some of their favourite children's books were when they were younger- to get an idea of what is popular in children's books.
- Made some new character doodles (I have yet to make more!)- I've grown to a more simplistic style which I think I am more comfortable with.
Some photos I took in Southsea...
I was looking through some holiday photos of when I was back home in the Philippines last year and I just felt really inspired, some ideas were forming in my head...
Strengths
- Lately I think I am generally motivated, based purely on the fact that there isn't a lot of time left!
- With this being the last project in the foundation course, I have been working faster, which is good because I normally have a slow work ethic.
- I have a better understanding of what I should do next. I have noticed that I have improved massively since the last projects- I'm not as nervous as I was before. I was always anxious about everything I did and for this last final major project I feel so motivated because I have full reign. I did not document the 3 previous projects simply because I avoided them if I'm being completely honest. I had no clue what I was doing and I just wasn't confident about my ideas. I often procrastinated a lot to avoid my work and I was eating to avoid my problems (literally). Now, I just feel like I've come out of my shell and I am confident about what I am doing.Wow, this is deep stuff! I like being open :)
- My organisation is getting better- because I know my brain is so scattered I have a million things I want to do in a small time span. I have made to do check-lists which has got me more motivated to complete tasks, I feel like an accomplished woman each time I tick a box!
Weaknesses
- Because I have been working like crazy for the past two weeks, I think too much about everything, and when I think too much I tend to get a lot of headaches- for a couple of days and even now I have made myself ill, which is definitely not a good thing.
- I still do think I am quite slow worker (despite me saying that I am working faster), and also I am quite indecisive about certain decisions.
- Despite making some dummy books I still haven't conducted any experimentation work!
Improvements
- Try to relax a bit more so that my head isn't filled with so many thoughts at once-maybe do some breathing exercises or yoga (which I haven't done in a long time). I am a 'panicker', I worry a lot so I need to find a way to be not as nervous, more relaxed.
- Maybe record the time I spend doing a task to see how long I do this, this is just so that I don't spend too much time completing one task, but of course, at the same time I have to also think about the quality of my work.
- Organise study breaks- for example work solidly for 1 hour and take a break for 20 minutes, stepping away and not thinking about the project.
- This is going to sound cheesy but I should believe in myself more. I just saw the lego movie (which was brilliant!) and what I learnt from it was to just believe in yourself, don't worry about what other people are doing, just concentrate on what you can do. What I tend to do a lot is compare myself to others (I know quite a lot of artists do this) and I need to stop this, because I have something unique to offer- everyone does.
So, that is it for my learning journal, this is quite a late entry-I should have be updating as I have these thoughts fresh in my mind. I apologise about this really long rambling post but I feel so good letting this stuff out inside of me. I shall be back at the end of the week with an update on my project.
Time and time again I apologize about these learning journal posts, I find them annoying too!
Anyway, I hope you all have a good day :) Farewell!
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