Going into this module I felt confident from the very start as I thought I knew everything there is to know about it and was sure that I would be doing what I thought I would be doing. Little did I know, Illustration at UWE would completely subvert my expectations yet again and what was a confident man had now become a lunatic who would point at every object in the room, asking whether or not that could be considered a book. Of course, I mean that in the best way possible. I had my eyes peeled open to the possibilities of what a book can really be and was later tasked to create one of my own.
Developing a concept as well as the process of creating the book has got to be one of my fondest periods of time in recent months. I experienced a lot of growth as an artist, have come to some realizations regarding my craft and preferences that come with it. For instance – the realizations that I have a soft spot for creating 3D objects, that I am capable of much more than I give myself credit for, that I am a very adaptive person (as well as artist) and that I do, in fact, have limits.
Whilst working on the final piece, I noticed that I was overworking myself far too much to a point where it was physically harming me – as a result, I had to take a break, during which I had all the time in the world to really reconsider my style of working. I am an extreme over-compensator. It’s nothing new, but it’s something that I had never given much thought. It’s a part of me that requires growth and I think this project posed as the perfect opportunity to do so.
I learned that I can’t always fulfill my whole vision and that sometimes things require trimming for the sake of quality and consistency. While I had many ideas, I chose to stick with the ones that I felt were most developed and crucial to the project at this point in time. I was still considering on doing the rest, but they had become more of a “if I have time left” rather than a “I must do this or else I’m a failure” sort of addition. Obviously, this isn’t something that one can easily get over, but I think this module gave me a very good starting point to work from.
This module is definitely my favourite so far – it had very useful workshops, the brief made me try something new and see past the bounds of the book, guest lecturers were brilliant and inspiring, main lecturers were as wonderful as ever, their passion and genuine interest in the module’s topic really shone through with each lecture – it was a joy to indulge in. The only thing I feel most people can agree on is that it was a tad too short.
Robertas Tijusas 