Summative Statement

Consumerism’s influence on current society has so far gone by undetected. It seems that people are not aware of the devices that shopping centres and theme parks use to make you undoubtedly over consume for their own benefit. Through the research conducted in my essay and my practical, I have come to the conclusion that this is something that I as an illustrator need to help address to this consumer driven society.

In the essay side to the dissertation, I have looked at the extent to which consumerism has influenced the development of these hyperreal spaces - hyperreal spaces being specifically to this context as shopping centres and theme parks - as it seems that consumerism is at the fore for the construction of most. Some of the conclusions that my primary research came to is that shopping centres have been transformed into destinations, a social hub. To me this shows that the modern world has been affected by the drive for consumerism and has slotted into our everyday life, even if one claims to have no interest in such, it remains almost unavoidable.

These findings have been put forward into the practical element to the dissertation, with my subject matter completing what seems like mundane activities whilst at the shopping centre, but actually is spending an excess of time and money. These activities being hybrid consumption, another theory to the essay. The subject matter deriving from the uncanny, a concept found spoken in the essay. This is about the sensation of people not realising if something is human straight away - a blow up doll is an example of this. These two theories tie the practical with the essay, with an overarching theme of consumerism.

Most importantly what I have taken the from this module is that it has helped me consider my future plans for what disciplines within illustration I want to go into. Previously only being interested in editorial, publication - specifically satirical - is something I thoroughly enjoy doing and would like to look into further in later projects and life after university.

Presentation Boards

Susan goes to the mall - dress-up doll

I had the idea to do this ages ago after the first big peer crit that we had a few weeks ago, although I didn't want to spend time doing it until I knew that I had completed everything else. But I'm really glad that I did because I think it's a great extra piece of ephemera that sits nicely with my book! 

It links again to the children's book merchandise, thinking about what kind of products that they would like or would make them want their parents to buy the original book. Of course, this isn't actually a children's book, but the similar elements add to its satirical nature of spoofing the children's book style. 

I did a general search of paper dress-up dolls so I could get an understanding over the layout. I was surprised to see that it was pretty basic, but I suppose for my work that isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it would have detracted from the elements and Susan. I looked at this image in particular, noticing comments like 'get an adult to help' which I thought would be quite funny to add to mine, again showing how it's a satirical version of a children's book. 

If I were to carry on this project further, I would have this printed and presented in the same style as my book - in a plastic sleeve with the paper over the top. I would also would have had stickers, the same as above, as an alternative to having to cut them out. 

Cute Brute

Cute Brute is an illustrator that I found on It's Nice That. I feel like my work is quite similar, as I have the figure usually stand alone in the middle of the page with a few other objects, as well as a limited colour palette, although their work is more male focused. I like how they usually have their main character in seductive positions doing pretty mundane things, kind of in a similar way to Joe Schlaud. This has given me inspiration for my future work, as Susan being static was all part of the humour so the poses wouldn't have been appropriate, but for later projects I think this is definitely something that I could consider. 

Practical Proposal REVISIT

Seeing as my practical has changed slightly, I thought to revisit my proposal which I had already changed a few weeks ago. I didn't feel like I needed to include the three questions as the end, because I have already finished the practical. I think that looking at my practical, I have produced exactly what the proposal is requesting and I hope that it is clear enough for someone to read that has no knowledge of my practical.

Children's book merch?

My finished product for COP3 is a twenty page book. But I need to think about how else I could apply Susan to other things such as merchandise. I wasn't sure whether this would just be for the sake of it though, so I went on the Waterstones website to see if there's any other products in particular that usually sits with the release of a book. I also thought that because my book is a satirical version of the normal layout of a children's book, that I should look at the merchandise a child's book has...

Stickers, colouring and activity books is something that I think I could out alongside my publication, and could possibly mock up? But I don't just want another book to go with my book, so I kept looking to see if there's anything else.

I think it would be hilarious if I could make a soft Susan plush to go with the book in the same layout to something like this:

If I were to actually put my book in the market this is exactly how I would want it to be packaged. There's a lot of satirical books based on the style of children's books, but I am yet to see a plush that is part of the purchase of the book. I have no idea how to go about the creation of the plush, but that's something to think about in my future for illustration. Or it could be a mini blow up version made with plastic, or could be like a barbie doll? But actually I think a plush would work best because that's what they usually are, a cuddly cute toy to match with their equally cutsie book about a rabbit whose lost its balloon... I wish this toy was something I would have realistically been able to physically make.

Joe Schlaud

"ancient Kama Sutra positions with mundane everyday activities,”

This is something that I stumbled across whilst looking at It's Nice That. Joe Schlaud had created a series of Gifs of kama sutra positions whilst doing pretty mundane tasks like mowing the lawn. I think the combination of the mundane with sex positions is quite funny, although I suppose can also be seen as being quite vulgar... But anyway I think the style of illustration is similar to my own, with the very stripped back colour palette and plain background. This is actually great to see, because I've really been struggling to find other illustrators work that I A) Enjoy and B) can relate to my own. This has also inspired me for work in the future, because I really like how it's only three colours, so I think I might experiment with this.

Prototypes

It's interesting to see the prototypes put together to see the stages of development that the book has taken. It is clear that I've thought about what needed to be improved with every prototype and how you can see the transformations between stages. I'm really glad that I had made a few prototypes throughout my project, as I thin that I probably would have missed out on something, because it's quite easy to overlook things like composition when you haven't made a mock up of the actual book. 

This has made me realise the importance of mock ups and will be taking this into future projects.

Ladybird Book layout miss out

I've just seen this whilst looking at satirical books, and although it's from an adult ladybird book which I've looked at so many times, this is the first time I've seen the text like this! I really like how they've picked out 'new words' which look hilarious together. I wish i could have included this in my own book and definitely would if I could do it again. 

Final Peer Review

Today was the final peer review for our practical response, and I found the session quite helpful. Although I had finished my book so obviously it wouldn't be very useful for people to tell me how I could improve that, I'm glad that I got feedback on my boards as well as what they thought still needed to be included on my blog. More so the design boards because I was struggling a little with them, putting too much thought into the design of the board rather than the context and trying to make them look fancy when it's not really necessary.

Boards Feedback:
> Could be better organised (layout)
> Make titles bigger - make clear which is referring to
> More clear information - too vague
> Have trials/development?
> Mock ups - use better photos of final images.

Practical Feedback:
> Think about merchandise
> Be critical
> Special edition version

Blog Feedback:
> More focus
> Artist influences
> More sketches on blog

PRACTICAL COMPLETE PROPERLY

I have completed my practical and it feels great! Although I had printed it before, I had made a few stupid mistakes which I wasn't happy with submitting. But because I printed it off in advance I still had my print slot to use if it did mess up, and good job I did that! 

Although I'm not happy with the choice of stock (it's a lot thinner than my first attempt), it turned out relatively okay! The thinner stock just makes it look and feel more like a zine, which is really not the look I was hoping for, but that's just something I need to keep in mind for the future - don't get too thin a stock! 

I'm really glad that I kept my time management under control and gave myself deadlines to reach to so that now in this last week I don't feel stressed. I hope that this kind of mindset and how I approach tasks stays with me if I go into editorial, as this is key to the discipline. 

Something that caught my eye

I was just Googling to see if Bluewater was open, and scrolled down to find this on the right hand side of the results page. Has this always been here!? A bar chart that shows how busy the place gets at what time and a live update? As well as a 'plan your visit' and says typically how long people stay there for?? Why would you need to plan your visit it's just a shopping centre not a day out... Is the three hours meant to make you think that it's normal to spend that much time at a shopping centre? And that it's weird if you're not there for at least 45 minutes? 

Don't think this is something that I'm really going to put in my dissertation exactly, but it's something to think about and I think now I'm just way more aware of.