Project Statement for Formative Assessment

From the initial starting point of innovation and creativity, I instantly knew that I would work better with a subject which I am both familiar with and interested in. Therefore, my initial approach led me to look into nature and the way this subject has been used in innovative ways. I didn't focus on creativity so much as I felt I could explore that aspect later on with my own unique development of the project. Through research, this led me to innovation inspired by nature, which in its more complex term: biomimicry. Instantly I loved how specific aspects of nature were already taken to invent new products and ways of thinking. This seemed to be the perfect entrance into the commission brief.

Once I had visited the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre and listened to Liz Towns-Andrews who is the primary client, I decided to stick to my original idea of biomimicry as it turned out that the client had a personal interest in this already. From this, I tried not to think too much about the clients personal interests as I wanted to present her something entirely new and different. This led me to take my own primary source nature photography to gain direct inspiration from nature itself.

After experimenting with the photographs in Photoshop, I felt that this approach was too generic so therefore brought some traditional media into my approach. The use of watercolour is very fluent and I feel this reflects the delicacy in nature so would be ideal for representing my work. Once I had experimented traditionally, I was able to put these works into Photoshop to manipulate them digitally. This brings in an aspect of technology which is very forthcoming in the 3M company and also the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre itself.

From that point I have chosen to concentrate on using watercolour as my primary media of choice for this project and use it to create more abstracted and simple imagery. I used this technique to illustrate existing forms of biomimicry as I felt that trying to invent something from nature in a technological way was near impossible for me, so decided to re-invent existing biomimetics with my use of watercolour, as my style captures a variety of images in innovative ways. I have also started to experiment with animating my work as it is a new approach for me personally and it challenges my abilities.

Reflective Statement: The Black Mirror

So far in the development of my project, I feel that I have challenged my abilities

to come up with new and original ideas. Though, even at this time, a lot of those

ideas seem to be going nowhere and I need to focus on one idea and develop it

further or try out several and decided which is the most effective.

From the beginning I have had a desire to contextualise my work in some form

and aim produce work with a high standard for the 'real' world. I have also

been experimenting with different forms of traditional and digital mixed media

and collage in an attempt to find the most suitable technique for the chosen

subject. This has been primarily documented in a sketchbook but also on this

blog in order to keep my thoughts and process together and keep track of

where I am in the project. 

How do I feel about progress so far?

All in all, I do honestly feel a little lost in the project, mainly due to my personal struggle with getting my ideas documented visually and perhaps not researching enough into my chosen theme to enable my ideas to flow easily.

Even so, I have some strong starting points for potentially successful ideas, but I think that a bit more research and visual direction will help me to gain a better focus.

How does my project relate to future career aspirations?

In regards to future prospects, I have tried to focus my project on producing work which may

eventually become part of a sellable product which could feature within the illustration

industry. I am also trying to test out different areas of illustration such as editorial and mass

production to see which suits my style most. My aim for the end of this project is to create

illustrations of a high standard featured and presented within their appropriate contexts.