Boomer's PPD Blog

The wife and I went to london this weekend and amongst the many awesome and fantastical museums and galleries we went to one of which was ArtRepublic Soho, a small contemporary art and screen print gallery and shop which sells prints from artists such as Damien Hirst, Banksy and others. Their website has quite an extensive selection artists works and prints for sale, and we bought one from an artist called Graham Carter, which came in a bespoke frame painted to match the print. This is the print we bought, entitled Cloud Catcher


And this is his website with links to where you can buy his prints. He mostly does illustrative type work which is then screen printed.


Now when we were in there we had a good long chat to the gallery manager, Sam, and talked about the work they sell and how to get work in there, and he said if I wanted to sell my prints with them I could, to just email him, send him a copy, and if it fits in with the stuff the sell then they'd sell it! Which I must say i was quite surprised, but rather happy, with. Good times!

This module has been quite a nice surprise for me, in terms of the briefs set and also my own responses to those briefs. I have been able to explore a more personal approach to my work than i feel i have been able to in other modules and briefs, and uncover a number of skills I have yet to develop in other areas. One of those is photography, of which i am by no means a master, but i have enjoyed the processes of finding suitable locations and subjects and being able to manipulate these into a final outcome. I've also been able to attempt some more illustration based work which i've really enjoyed. I think the main factor behind this have been more open briefs which, while unrealistic in a professional work environment, has made me want to put more time and effort into personal projects that i can develop my various skills, which can then influence my working practice.

Another factor has been the issue of time - obviously with limited 3 hour sessions, week long deadlines, and running concordantly with other modules, for me, there has been a greater emphasis on thrashing out ideas quicker and more exactly than on some other, longer briefs/modules. It seems to suit my way of working better than a large amount of time dedicated to research, and, while it's still an important part of any brief for context and to inform the final outcome (which i still need to work on), it has felt more like a work environment with short deadlines and quick turnovers, and i have enjoyed that.

I have come to realise through this module that I am quite a multi-faceted designer; my skills are broad and sit within many mediums and methods of working. However, i also realise my limitations, and would like to work more in certain areas to imrove myself and my practice. At the moment it feels like i'm OK at many things, rather than great at a few, and i would like to develop the skills i've been able to explore in Image to become great at them. Time is, again, always an issue, however less so than in recent past and i feel like i'm getting the hang of setting an effective timeframe for multiple modules and briefs and working towards them. My blog is a weakness, and is one that i started to work really well with but have slacked off recently in. Documentation of work is fine, and i have all the imformation/images/evaluation of work gathered and collected, its just the process of uploading that seems to have slipped by me, and is definately something that needs to be addressed.

5 things i would do differently:

1. Managing many projects at once. I've been much better at this than before, yet when deadlines for modules come i lose focus on one to concentrate on the other rather than having a measure of each.

2. Do more research. By this i mean more in depth research in a shorter time.

3. Don't be afraid to express myself through different mediums and techniques.

4. Record and evaluate as i work rather than in chunks at stages.

5. Have fun with the work i do.

Attendance = 5
Punctuality = 5
Motivation = 3
Commitment = 4
Quantity of work produced = 2
Quality of work produced = 4
Contribution to the group = 3