The Visual Essay module has been nothing short of a ride on a road that somehow managed to be both rocky and smooth at the same time. I struggled immensely from the very first day that initiated it – misunderstood the brief and had to re-evaluate it on several occasions, fell victim to episodes of unproductivity due to stress caused both by university as well as certain events within my personal life. The fortunate and “smooth” side of it all is that in hindsight, it didn’t drag on for too long and I have little to no recollection of what happened in the last couple of months.
I could’ve done better, I could’ve had a tighter grip on myself and reality itself but sadly, I fell flat. And that’s somehow comforting. Not the falling flat part, but that in the end, I don’t feel too bad about not being able to bring my A game. That is something I normally would eat myself over, but not this time. I think halfway through the module I realized it’s out of my power to change anything so I let go of breaking myself apart and promised myself to do my best but not to break my limbs to get the maximum done. And that is perfectly fine sometimes. That is my main takeaway from this module. However, I did try and do the best to my ability and am satisfied with the result that I was able to achieve.
Surely, I’ve learned a lot more than just that – I found out about a branch of illustration I had not been aware of previously – visual reportage – as well as the different approaches that one can take when taking it on. I’ve also been able to look into the making of proposals and launching bigger projects and such. If I were to change anything, I would definitely try to do a better job at staying on top of things and not let them drown me out like they unfortunately did this time around.
Robertas Tijusas 