COP has taken up a lot of time so I've been making hand-drawn work with digital colour as I planned to in my proposal. The problem is they have all been one-off pieces with no particular purpose in trying to discover which area of the creative industry I might want to apply my practice to.
They're concept art if anything but for such a competitive part of the industry I think they are fairly mediocre. After a PP3 discussion with a peer I decided it's not an area of the industry I'm suited to, not yet anyway.
I'm rushing into drawings with no real industry focus or conceptual purpose and end up scanning rough drawings into photoshop and having to compensate with digital paints and brushes in order to bring the drawings to life rather than trusting in my drawings as the focal point of the work. It's important to establish a colour palette quickly so that I can save time when starting on something new. This also means my portfolio will start work visually as whole in terms of colour and tone. I need step back and invest more time and faith into my drawings so that I can spend much less time with digital colouring.
New focus for first semester
The new plan is to focus on the briefs suggested (Penguin & D&AD) and start making work tailored to selected areas of the industry such as book covers, editorial and informative illustration.
I will also be bolder with my drawings by using pen and ink with thicker lines rather than sketchy pencil drawings that lack punch. I need to use digital colour sparingly and be more subtle.
It seems obvious but it's easy to end up doing work you don't enjoy making and falling into the trap of making work you think will appeal to imaginary clients and employers. I want to really start making work I believe in that represents my interests and this should help me realise what area of industry I would suit in terms of aesthetic, tone and other important factors like how long it takes me to finish a piece of work I'm happy with.
