OUIL 401 Context of Practice - End of module evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL401 Context of Practice	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	Josh Atkinson

1.     What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? In terms of development of my skills I am a bit sceptical on what exactly I have developed. I have at times demonstrated the ability to conduct my own research and a self constructed project but for the most part I have struggled a lot with creating my own ideas for what basis my visual work would take. I suppose I developed the skill of independent research in that respect and certainly towards the end of this module I have conducted relevant and appropriate research in order to gain materials which would help develop ideas all be it not very many of them.
2.     What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your practical outcomes? I have not really considered many types of methods of research but I suppose the use of internet has been the main source for me. I think this is because there are not a lot of useful sources to do with my subject of satire and caricatures in the form of books and it is a very common thing instead to find on the internet. I have found particularly towards the end where I had focused on ‘attacking’ Donald Trump that there were many aspects I could research through the internet, as it is a current event and would not be detailed in a book. Searching for caricaturists and taking inspiration from them is something that I would say has been a major factor in informing my practical outcomes. YouTube has also been a major source of my research and inspiration for the outcomes as there are many videos, which are in a way a satirical attack on Donald Trump.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
Like I previously stated I can’t really identify an immediate strength as such however through my later development I believe I have developed an ability to demonstrate my own satirical tone of voice just as the people I have taken inspiration from have done. As many political satirists have done they have locked down on a certain target and demonstrated their disliking to them or their policies, so in that respect I suppose I could say that especially for the theme of my project I have developed the ability or shown the strength to be able to get into the mind-set of the caricaturist and understand what there motive is, which may seem obvious but I believe there is a certain credibility to it.
4.     What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future? Certainly a lack of research and informed ideas. I have constantly felt lost and not knowing what I was meant to be doing throughout this project despite getting guidance from peers and tutors. As much as I don’t like to say it I have shown a weakness of neglecting the work in this module for the work in my other modules which does mean a weakness I can identify is my commitment to the research and with that my lack of own personal development through the informed ways of thinking.
5. Identify five things that you feel will benefit you during next years Context of Practice module? ·       Plan more – Make lists, just basically do whatever I need to become more organised which will mean I shall avoid being stressed in being behind. ·       Take more inspiration through my research – I have often felt that I have not known where to go next because of my lack of research and I recognise that I should embrace the idea of being inspired and influenced by what research you do. ·       Blog more often – this way I shall be constantly reflecting on what I am doing and will move along more in my ‘journey’ of the research. This should also help with motivation and the fact of enjoying what I’m doing. ·       To try and experiment more – This is something I always identify with myself as I usually don’t think about experimenting enough, I should recognise the fact that through doing this different outcomes and ideas can be produced that otherwise would not exist. ·       Do not neglect COP – I have most of the time not been motivated with doing cop because of the other workload however I should instead recognise that it is a vital part in progressing and can actually help inform ideas with the rest of my work.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					X
Punctuality					X
Motivation			X
Commitment		X
Quantity of work produced			X
Quality of work produced			X
Contribution to the group			X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

Visual Response - Presentation

Final Essay - Studio Brief 1 - Issuu file

Baby trump - character work

Continuing with the baby/juvenile theme of Mr Trump with this caricature. I have already mentioned about this drawing in a previous post so i won't go into too much detail about it. The main use of Satire in this caricature is the caption of 'Next I'm gonna build a wall' which is a dig at the fact that that is what he plans on doing if he becomes president, which is something i still can't believe. 

I am pleased with the fact that even though i have depicted him as a baby i still really want to punch him, which i guess means I've done a good job on caricaturing his face in particular. 

I decided to take the drawing and make it appear somewhat more 'finalised' and just generally to polish it up as kind of an outcome. Adding a coloured background, as simple as that may be really works and just gives another element to a drawing that would have an otherwise plain background. 

Donald is full of shit - character work

This is a drawing i have done off the back of my character work on Donald Trump. Just like the other one i have done it as a representation of him as a baby to highlight how i feel he is incredibly juvenile. It also speaks my mind because i feel he is literally full of shit!

The speech bubble has him saying ' I told you it was going to be huge' which is a satirical comment on what is in the nappy as well as the fact that that it is one of his favourite sayings, because annoyingly he says the word huge a lot.  

I feel it is worth pointing out that the most recent caricatures i have done are a great deal more cartoony than the way in which someone like Gerald Scarfe might work in but that is because i have put my own voice into my own caricatures as any good satirist does. 

Hanksy - anti trump stuff/dump across america

I found this was extremely useful that a peer suggested for me to look at recently and it is a parody street artist known as 'Hanksy'. Mimicking the famous banksy of course and his trademark is to depict banksy like illustrations but to instead put the face of Tom Hanks on to them. However he doesn't always just do a depiction of Tom Hanks as i have found there is a variety and comical breadth to his work. 

He was suggested for me to look at because he has recently depicted Donald Trump who of course is my target for my visual outcomes. Mainly his trump depictions feature him as a terd which clearly speaks the artists mind and voices his opinion on what he thinks about him.  

This is the dump in question…This i find is a really successful and effective illustration/caricature as the face is perfect  as in you know immediately who it is off which i feel is a highly important aspect for a caricature, that it is at least recognisable. 

This menacing gang is showing that same Donald Dump depiction and even a trump mask.  

I don't know if this is by the same artist or not but i wanted to include it as i just find it funny and highlights how it is a well known fact that Donald Trump has a big mouth. 

Trump rally caricature

This is another image which i have taken from my character work and just tried to make it into more of a caricature. I have included a picture of a trump rally as an attempt to create the setting or to show how he is up on stage taking in the adoration from his bewildered and deluded supporters. 

This is another inclusion of mine using the combination of analogue/hand generated with digital, in this case the photograph. 

shitty trump caricature

For this i have used one of the drawings i did as part of my character work on Trump. I decided to use the caricature on the right as i felt it was strong in terms of how effective it was as a representation of a caricature. As i had already drawn him with a funnel mouth i thought it would fit into the theme of 'grotesqueness to add the appearance of poo shooting out of his mouth as a literal way of saying he talks shit, which funnily enough is what i believe. 

The original drawing from my journal which i drew using the same medium as most of my other caricatures, using types of pens and markers, mainly because its a quick and effective way of making a caricature. 

Once i had put it on photoshop i somewhat jazzed it up a bit making certain details finer and sharper and with the inclusion of the grotesque poo.  

Subtle difference on this one without the blue.

This one as an alternative version with just the blue background as it was suggested that perhaps too much was going on in the other images and it was more effective to have it more simple. 

Trump character work

This is a load of character drawings I've done on my target Donald Trump as i decided to fully focus on him as i take a certain disliking to him shall i say…

I started off with a mind map on mr trump so i could work out what i didn't like about him and then try and translate it into my character drawings but the challenge was to still make my drawings resemble him in some way even through the use of caricaturing certain features of him. 

This is one example where i 'built' on top of the existing image of the avocado from a different photoshop thing i did. I like the combination of the photo and the hand generated aesthetic and may consider for other work. 

I quite like this character for some reason. I fattened him out to add to a more grotesque and slobbish character. 

I like this way of exaggerating his hair, i think it works well with a cartoon version of him as well. I also practiced a quick exercise to test how well i could draw him in an under pressure situation, they turned out pretty well i think. 

These are the two characters i am most pleased with in terms of the effectiveness as a caricature. Simply representing a big headed nature and the fact that he has such a large mouth and he blurts everything no matter how rubbish it sounds.

This is a drawing I've done highlighting his juvenile nature as i have depicted him as a baby. I have included a building block 'trump tower' as most caricatures will always have some sort of side comment to the main subject. I also captioned it 'next I'm gonna build a wall' which is a satirical comment on how he says if elected president he's going to build a wall at the mexican border to keep the immigrants from coming in illegally, which i find very radical and ridiculous. 

Finally this one is another one of him as a baby as i feel it is a good way of representing how i feel about him and his child like manners and actions. Captioned 'why are you always so full of shit Donald?' which is another satirical way of making it look like thats what the adult in the drawing is saying but its actually me directly making the point. Which in essence is what all caricaturists do, they are presenting exactly what they would say but through the medium of there drawings and often when other people are saying it for them.

David Granlund - artist inspiraiton

When i was on google images and was searching for Donald Trump caricature examples i was very surprised at the large amount that there was. It just goes to show that the great thing about a caricature when its of someone famous is it shows how they are relevant enough to get a caricature. Now obviously i knew Donald Trump was relevant because of the presidential campaign but i guess i wasnt prepared for the scrutiny he's got from being in so many caricatures that ultimately do what i aim to do and thats to make him look stupid. 

Anyway i came across a guy called David Granlund who is a political cartoonist and i have found many examples of his work with 'The Donald'.  The artist has it seems quite a distinctive style which is in my opinion a very classic american way of caricaturing as opposed to a British Gerald Scarfe way for example. I have noticed that in all the trump caricatures which this artist has done the face is

usually the same and is kept as a constant in his works which then helps the recognisability factor i suppose.