Over the course of the research and communication skills sessions, I have made significant progress in both my analytical skills and technical writing. I have learned about the importance of research and artistic reference. Finally, I have learned about the correct method of referencing sources and crediting artists and researchers.

My analytical skills have been greatly improved by the tasks set. I have learned to engage in a piece of artwork, writing or media at a higher level and appreciate the choices of the creators more. For instance, in the first task, when reviewing the short film, ‘Terminal Bar’ by Stefan Nadelman, I had to analyse the film and its social and historical context before forming an opinion about the subject matter.

Another area that I have learned a lot about is communication through writing. I feel that a number of the writing tasks have required a development of my ability to communicate my own ideas and thoughts on certain subject matter as well as think critically and contextually about other work. An example of when I have had to use my communication skills is during the ‘story, message and feeling’ writing task when I had to analyse three published illustrative images and discuss their relevance to my own personal practice. In this task I had to understand both the artist’s given style and techniques, as well as the personal context for their work and then express my own opinion of the work. In this task I focussed on artists who have an illustrative focus around their work including Robert Crumb and Dan Hillier. In order to communicate the rational and ideas of the artists effectively, I first had to do extensive research into their own practices before referencing my own.

Research is one of the topics that I feel I have improved in the most over the course of these tasks. What I found difficult about effective research before was choosing appropriate sources that could be valid for use in a discussion. Also, finding enough relevant information to have a discussion about subject matter was also challenging. However, I think that the research tasks have dramatically improved my ability as a researcher, in that I now look for a mixture of sources including texts, books and websites. Also, I think that I have improved the quality and validity of the sources that I now use, looking for writers and authors who have specialist knowledge or qualifications in the given field of discussion.

Finally, I have learned how to use the Harvard referencing system when citing my personal research. This is a hugely important skill for critical writing tasks because it validated the sources I have used and strengthens any conclusions I have made that I have based on the information drawn from my sources. I have learned the importance of crediting the correct writers and including the dates the source was used in order to be able to compare them to other sources.

In conclusion, the writing tasks have lead to significant improvements in my analytical and critical thinking as well as my abilities as a writer. It has also strengthened my ability to cite research and credit sources.

My personal practice is mainly centred around illustration and image making. The images that usually catch my eye the most are drawings, whether they be from graphic novels, posters or artwork. I like the idea of a running narrative in the images that I see.

Will Eisner is a famous graphic novel illustrator. I see many parallels in my practice to his massive collection. ‘The Spirit’ was published as a DC comic all the way through the 1940’s. The reason I have referenced his work is because his drawing style was one of the pioneering styles that took over the graphic novel industry. What I enjoy about his work is that all of the imagery is part of a sequence or a story. There is a clear narrative running through all of his illustrations. I try to use a similar style to Eisner’s in that I use large shapes of black to show shadow rather than actually shade or crosshatch. This is similar to many of the illustrators of the time .

Robert Crumb is an iconic illustrator who is known for his explicit drawings and political massaging. Above is a drawing from the magazine ‘A Chronicle Of Modern Times.’ I find Crumbs style interesting because of his unique characterisation and his methods of creating tones. Crumb uses a mixture of crosshatching and dotwork instead of complex shading. This combined with his overexaggerated, cartoonified chaaracters lends to his iconic style of work.

Dan Hillier is one of my favourite artists because he makes very intricate screen prints that incorporate imagery in a very prominent way. Even though it appears as though Hillier has used shading, he has actually used very intricate dotwork. All of his work is inspired by his travels and his own experiences so in that sense there is a story behind every print. I feel like I connect easily to these works because to me they are so powerful in terms of both their imagery and the techniques used to create them.

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Bibliography

• http://www.willeisner.com/spirit/, written by Carl Gropper, viewed 05/12/17
• http://observer.com/2015/01/legendary-cartoonist-robert-crumb-on-the-massacre-in-paris/, written by Celia Farber, viewed 5/12/17
• https://www.danhillier.com/artwork/ellipsis, created and written by Dan Hillier. viewed 5/12/17

I find that the statement ‘Technology is the mortal enemy of art’ cannot be seen as fully true in the broader context of art and media. The reason I believe this is that there are entire artistic styles and processes that are based on the existence of new forms of technological ingenuity. Personally, I see that the ever improving and evolving applications of technology in the new world only cause equivalent strides in the art world. John Lasseter said, ‘The art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art.’ It is very clear that in the artistic community, many design based careers such as game design or animation are reliant on technology. It seems that in the twenty-first century, technology makes up the very foundation of a lot of artistic practices.

It is not to say that, the introduction of technology in such a widespread way hasn’t perhaps caused a shift in focus in artistic practices. Advances in visual rendering caused by the introduction of powerful computers and software has lead many to believe that certain careers such as painting and illustration have become redundant in the modern world. Before the twentieth century, an artist’s position in society was very strong with artwork being the main points of cultural and political discussions of the times. but with the creation of social medias in the late twentieth century has lead to a shift with the focus leaving artwork.

However, even in our modern world, artistic media still has a huge place in social discussion and the introduction of technology has also played a part in strengthening that place.

Bibliography

A.Rodchenko. (1921)100 Artist Manifestos from the futurist to the stuckists, by Alex Danchev

John Lasseter. animator and filmmaker, 2013. Available at: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/168904?ref=art-and-technology (Accessed: 1 November 2017).