Formative Feedback – Assignment 5

I think of all off my submissions so far, this has been the most personal and brings together everything I’ve learnt during Drawing 1. There’s still lots to explore and improve on but I feel like I’ve progressed with each assignment piece and gained a bit more confidence with each exercise I’ve completed. I’m pleased with my tutor’s comments and feel he has understood the way I work and the concepts behind my drawings, which to me are a huge part of the creative process.

Overall Comment

Part 5, the final part of this module, consolidates all you have learned and put into practice since commencement of Drawing 1. I’ve very much enjoyed working with you Mel. Drawing as with all creative endeavours is about the gradual learning process; with each new step the development of your practice will purposefully evolve as will you as the artist. You have shown that you are open to that. Throughout the course of Drawing 1 I have been encouraged by your open-mindedness to new media and new disciplines, and how you have implemented those discoveries into your own visual language. Since your first submission I have noticed your confidence develop and that shows in the heightened self-assuredness of your work. You have always shown unerring commitment to the exercises and a willingness to push yourself towards achievement of the personal goals you have set for yourself. All the very best for your future and I hope that you find success in whichever direction your arts practice takes and for your future in general. 

I couldn’t really ask for a better overall comment! I’m pleased that my tutor has seen the journey I’ve been on and can see progress in my work and my understanding of the visual arts. I have become more open- minded and will now take more time in thinking about an image or process than I would have done this time last year. This has allowed me to take more risks with my drawings, which in turn has resulted in a much more personal response than I thought I was capable of.

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity 

Firstly I should say that I’ve enjoyed your choices of “witty titles” throughout the course of the unit Mel and I thought this one, I am greater than some of my parts, was particularly apposite for your present self-reflective mood. You are examining your self through your drawing; dissecting and studying the different layers of you and coming to some realisations about yourself. Drawing is good for that. I felt it was also relevant to the exploratory work on the many layers of womanhood in the Figure and the head part of the unit. You’ve shown evidence of strong conceptual thought throughout Mel but especially in this and the last submission. I really liked that you had chosen to work with the self-portrait for your personal project for Drawing 1. I believe the self-portrait to be one of the most interesting, intensive visual projects that can face you (forgive the pun!). It is not just about drawing a likeness; it is rigorous scrutiny of the self, an investigation of ones’ honesty and humility. Looking at yours brought to mind a couple of other artists’ self-portraits. One recent, by Jenny Saville, entitled Time for its multitude of overlapping limbs, the other Le Désespéré by Gustave Courbet, for its intensity.

The lead up to your final piece through the preliminary work showed some really interesting exploratory work. I thought particularly successful the experiment where you had inverted the original ‘negative’ drawing, the idea based initially around the x-ray you had taken. I thought the less distinct part of the face, around the mouth, nose and jawline, worked really well with the more focused areas of the face. This gave greater intensity to the eyes which peer intently from the shadow created by the hand. It was also good to see you experiment with a broad range of media. 

You have discussed very clearly the development of your finished self-portrait Mel. It was great to read how it all came together, through both focused research and also happenstance – elements such as the finding of the layered sketch and Rory Macbeth’s written transcription of More’s Utopia, all shaping the character of your finished piece. I thought the drawing itself was well executed; the face well-delineated especially in terms of form through light and shade, and the eyes again very nicely envisaged. I also thought the inclusion of text was a nice touch as it was subtle – as was the addition of areas of colour to the overall piece – and I didn’t feel it was self-indulgent. There was however a lot going on in the drawing and I wondered whether there was slightly too much. The dark cross-shaped area to the left of your face and in fact other parts around that general area, were quite difficult to discern with all that was going on. 

You raised some good and relevant points in your reflection: the first, which addresses what I’ve just been writing about, is the sheer amount that is going on in the drawing. For this piece I felt all of that visual information reduced the clarity of the drawing so perhaps that word ‘clarity’, maybe something to think about. You concepts are strong Mel, you just need to hold back sometimes on how you delineate them. I was really pleased to read about your growth in confidence and I feel the evidence is there in your drawing. I was also glad you wrote that you felt your work had gradually become more experimental over the course of the unit; it is true, you have taken your practice to another level and I am pleased to have witnessed it happening. You now just need to maintain that experimental side and the confidence and enthusiasm to further push it forward.

I agree wholeheartedly with the above! I am almost at a point where I am able to convert what I have in my head into a successful drawing but I still have problems with overworking an image. Sometimes I want to throw everything at it because I have so many ideas I want to share but I need to be more selective and consider whether this confuses the viewer and makes the message less distinct.

I hadn’t noticed the resemblance to Gustave Courbet’s ‘Le Desespere’ but it was an image that struck a chord with me during the research point as I felt drawn to its intensity. Obviously this must have sunk into my subconscious as there is a similarity in the expression and mood of both images (although my look of desperation was brought on by a backlog of work to blog about)!

 

Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis 

As already mentioned your work has shown progress and a build-up in confidence over the past 5 submissions. Your learning log has continued throughout to be written in an honest clear style with a distinct desire to learn through theory and practice. Your critical essays are both learned and from the heart. The research you have done throughout the unit has come from not just a necessity or because you were asked to do it in the module handbook but from a natural need to learn, to gain inspiration and out of a thorough interest in your findings. 

This, for me, is the most surprising thing I’ve learnt in Drawing 1. I am the worlds worst procrastinator when it comes to writing about anything and would far rather be drawing. However, once I start I find I become absorbed in my subject and it has turned out to be a very therapeutic process. I am quite a guarded person emotionally, but writing down my thoughts and feelings during the course has allowed me to express myself in a way I wouldn’t ordinarily do. This ability to open up and share things I would normally keep to myself, has allowed me to be much more experimental with my work and feel less afraid of putting my ideas ‘out there.’ The downside is that there are now so many ideas gong on in my head that I need to filter some out…or save them for another day.