Quick summary of each brief

• SB1 - Ohh Deer

Ohh Deer was a great way for me to see my work start to exist on product. This was the starting point of the module where I began to get excited about where my work could exist other than on 2D prints. my original ideas were cliche, I was looking at seasonal trends of autumn and what may sell as homeware rather than staying true to my practise. The final image I am happy with is when I began to think outside of the box and look at something a little more quirky with lightbulbs, and stepping away from realism. I experimented with composition with this and vibrant colours. I think it adds to the fun factor and is still quite commercial. 

• SB2 Talenthouse

These were more attempts that show my battles. Starting with the Borns visual artwork brief I was stepping outside of my comfort zone. I thought this brief would show my versatility as an illustrator and something a little different for my portfolio. I was taking more of a graphic approach creating album artwork. Listening to videos, playing with compositions, focusing on the concept I created an album cover. It wasn't until I took it to a peer review and received feedback that I realised this brief was not for me. Despite completing it, it did not reflect my passion, my interests, my practise. This was the turning point where I started to review the choices I had made in my statement of intent and the briefs I was considering; such as Secret 7.

I don't wish to create album covers in the future, so why would I want it in my portfolio? I had to go back over and chose briefs that represented me better.

• SB3 Thoughtbubble

Amongst the madness of balancing other briefs we had the opportunity of creating a zine for Thoughtbubble festival. This was great because it allowed me to explore zine making which I had never done before. My work is quite throw-away, it's fast paced, the visual quality is not excellent as it is concept driven. Zines are a great way of capitalising on this. I really enjoyed this brief. I couldn't think of an idea at first and it wasn't until I read back over some poetry I had made in my phone after visiting Dismaland. Feeling inspired I started making work that was pretty random, and one piece in particular was about boys fancying Carol Vorderman. It featured the Countdown board with swear words on. I wrote a poem based on this and it went from there. I think the zine is a success despite not looking like Carol Vorderman in most of the designs as it was pretty rushed, I think this adds to the humour of it.

• SB4 Topical Illustrations

Topical Illustrations came around when Spice UK radio station asked me if I'd like to feature as a blogger on their website. I asked myself, what can I blog about? What can I illustrate? 

I decided to create a brief based on making illustrations that could possibly feature on the website to support their articles. To do this, I had to look at what is occurring in the news, socially, what are people talking about on social media? Turns out it's a lot harder than I thought! I struggle to illustrate things I read about. I would not be very good at editorial illustration!

• SB5 Threadless

Threadless is a good platform for me to showcase my designs but I struggle with copyright issues with them usually. The challenge for me was creating a design that was commercial but that they would accept. 

They offer good templates for my work to be placed on such as cards, t-shirts and iPhone cases. This is where I started to consider what can be sold on my website. I designed t-shirts and cards for Threadless but as an expansion of this the most successfully designed products will be sold on my website. 

• SB6  Doodle for Google

This brief started off as my Big Kahuna. I got the opportunity to send Google my portfolio. Within this I would feature a design of my own illustrated Google homepage. I decided to expand on this and make it in to a brief. I set out to create 10 designs, which was then narrowed down to 5 and due to poor time management I only managed 4. I think it has a lot to do with staying motivated with the brief too; I got bored of it easily. Finding subjects that would interest me was a struggle. Nothing was humorous, and I couldn't make it too crude or my idea of funny because that would not suit Google's aesthetic. Again I think this is one of those briefs that is not for me. It made me reconsider my dream career as a Doodle Googler! 

• SB7 Big Kahuna - Dicaprimerch

This became my Big Kahuna when I noticed some of my smaller briefs could be made into one big one. I was looking at t-shirt designs and cards, then decided to expand it into a range of merchandise. To give the work some context, it will be sold on my website, so it's an ongoing project. I chose this brief to get my head around products and what I can print on. What I can create myself and what I need to submit to other sites to print. 

It has been an eye opener for me in terms of how much things cost, what I can make a profit off, what I need to buy in bulk, which websites are best, and what my audience would buy into mostly.

I've tried to take one idea and stretch it as much as possible. 

I think if I organised my time better (and had more money to spend on the project) I would have much more testers of products to ensure the visual quality was perfect for hand in. 

• SB8 Attempted : YCN

This stems back from the original S.O.I where I chose briefs that did not suit me. I thought this brief was perfect for me because they were looking for a design I had already created. However, adapting that design to their aesthetic was quite hard. The idea was there, but I did not want to change my design in any way to fit the brand. I also became bored of battling with this style of product design (drinks bottles). What I have learnt is that if I don't think the brief is something I will do in the future or sell on my website, I struggle to stay interested in battling with it. I would prefer to battle with a practise that I can perfect, not become a beginner of. I would like to keep my original Piggy Smalls design and put it on my own products rather than giving over the rights to a competition that I am not getting paid for.