Exercise 1: Getting into “The Zones”

I first created an inner circle with things I like and an outer circle with things I dislike.

I then reflected on my creative practice and used the suggested questions to understand better what I enjoy and what I would like to achieve.

What do you feel comfortable doing?

There are mainly two types of illustrations I am more comfortable with:

Line and wash sketches: I enjoy creating fast sketches on location and create similar sketches later based on pictures I have taken. It can be about buildings, flowers, people or animals. I like the dynamic in these sketches. Below are a few of them.

Digital illustrations created in Illustrator: I enjoy creating images in Illustrator and this is a software I feel very comfortable with. This is a completely different style and way of working and in a sense quite the opposite as each point in a path is controlled. Below are some of the illustrations I created in that style.

What do you feel uncomfortable doing?

I feel uncomfortable drawing people if they know I am drawing them. I also do not show my work much as I am not very confident doing this.

I find finishing a piece a challenge and often my work looses some energy and dynamic in the process.

I struggle with adding colours and contrast in illustrations, whether I use digital media (Photoshop or Procreate) or watercolour. It is a bit different with Illustrator as I create images with hard shadows and highlights and I find it easier to do this. I would really like to paint highlights and shadows more successfully both with digital and traditional mediums.

What areas would you like to develop further?

When I started this exercise, I was still confused with the areas I would like to develop further as I like so many styles. However, when I looked at images I had created as well as illustrators I take inspiration from, I realised that there are a few areas I would like to develop further:

• Improving the quality of the lines in my sketches;
• Adding contrast to my images;
• Improving my final illustrations.

What thoughts do you have about your work and where it might develop?

I tried to define the type of illustrations I enjoy creating to understand what I would like to achieve:

Subject: Patterns, funny characters, line and wash sketches

Tools: Photoshop/Procreate, Illustrator, Watercolour (paint or other) with fineliners or brush pens

I do not know exactly how my work might develop at that stage and which area I would like to focus on primarily. However, I can see how there are two elements that will help me to develop my skills further: sketching regularly and learning how to add contrast and texture successfully to my work.

Where would you like to begin?

I would like to experiment with sketching, maybe without wondering too much about the outcome to improve my confidence and develop more steady lines.

I wondered about the best way to improve my skills with regards to the use of texture, contrast and colours. I did some research to see if I could find some techniques. I watched a YouTube video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPjnGOwyOtI) that, together with the exercise I did for assignment one, gave me some ideas I might experiment with. I could practice on abstract shapes or very quickly drawn characters or flowers so that I would not worry about spoiling the end result and could focus entirely on one particular aspect such as adding texture or contrast. I could also experiment with black and white and mark making. This would be a way not to be too much out of my comfort zone, with no expectation as to the result, since I would not be working on a final piece.

How can you develop ways of working that allows for the new to emerge?

I would like to experiment more and concentrate sometimes on the process and not so much on the outcome to see what happens as this is not something I usually do.

How are you going to document and reflect on your progress?

It might be a good idea to have a sketchbook or part of a sketchbook for one type of exercise so that I could look at my progress in that area.

I feel that answering these questions has helped me to have a better understanding of what I would like to achieve and how I could reach my objectives.