As a university student I will evaluate and reflect on the
strengths and weaknesses I have as of this year and to recognize the areas of
development, whether those skills needs to be improved and/or to be worked on.
A few years ago I was working traditionally with watercolours,
but after discovering digital art, I felt I can do much more with my work
digitally, and so I pursuit digital art as my new medium. However it’s not
until when I went to my first university (before I dropped out) when I met new
friends, who kindly gave me Photoshop. From then I decided I wanted to pursue digital illustration.
I have been using digital medium such as Photoshop to
produce work for nearly 3 years. At first it was used for education. Sometime
later I had been using it as part of my hobby to produce personal work, and now
I am using it as my primary medium over the past year for university projects
and personal work on a consistent basis.
In terms of generic skills within the field of
Illustration, such as understanding briefs, visualising ideas, using colour and
to make corrections on work, whether they are of authorial, personal or
promotional, I am okay at doing independently, although they might need a
little more improvement, but overall I am fine within these areas. To work
under given formats, scanning artwork, preparing work digitally and to save
work under appropriate format and colour code is what I am currently strong at,
since I use the software, Photoshop, as my primary use for artworks, whether
that’s to scan in traditional work to make adjustments or to produce an entire
artwork from scratch, I have been using this software on a consistent basis and
naturally I had learned these skills over the years of usage.
Working to a deadline is something I can do most of the
time, though it depends on certain things. There can be times where I am behind
and need to rush the work, which can lead to pressure and stress. Lack of
motivation and artist’s block can be a problem and it sometimes happen at
random. Generally I am fine with deadlines, it really comes down to motivation
and how I feel, in terms of stress and relaxation.
Marketing, in terms of fees, taking in commissioning
process and to manage terms, contract and finance is something I will need to
improve on, because as of now, I had not been commissioned or been speaking
with clients regarding fees on works, as I have never done it before. However I
am hoping that the work experience later this year will help me out at some
point regarding on these areas that needs improving.
For the practical skills, I am confident (not strongly
confident though) in working in 2D digital format and know a fair amount of
knowledge in characters, concept art, portraits, fantasy, etc.. These fields
are my strongest, though they all need improvement in some way, as I am still
trying to learn how to paint and draw. Other skills that are not related to
these areas that I am strong at, such as diagrams, architectural, collage,
fashion, abstract, etc. are not my strengths, though perhaps they are my
weaknesses, as I have no interest in them and generally don’t appeal to me to
work with. I am more digital focus with my work and that’s where I want to go
to as my direction.
In terms of specialist skills, the only things I am strong
at are those relating to my practical skills, such as skills in relevant
software and to create dummy books for drafts (which I required a new skill
from last year) but overall in terms of my skills in various specialisms are
generally okay. As of now my strength lies in digital work, but in terms of
software I may need to look into others that might be relevant to my skills,
such as learning InDesign and other related software.
My key skills overall lies within the digital medium and
the things I want to consider in continuing to improve are of painting and
drawing, including how to market and to promote myself, financial support and
commissioning. There maybe a few things outside these skills that I might want
to pick up along the way just in case, such as landscapes, natural history and
the narrative based skills that might be useful for my future works and
projects.
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