FMP reflection

My last year of University has definitely been my most successful. I really feel that I have been able to concentrate on the areas of illustration that interest me the most, predominantly being collage. After making my large scale collages for negotiated study, I really felt as if I had finally grasped the direction that I wanted to take. Creating images for existing text and literature is something that I have thoroughly enjoyed and has allowed me to create a body of work that i find encouraging and this has worked out well for me. Since exploring children's literature, I intended to create collages that would aim to interest children in a visual way, and therefore inspire them to read the book. From taking traditional stories such as The Wizard of Oz etc, I have been able to recreate these well known stories in a new way. I feel that my collages have been successful in this, from my use of bright colours, textures and characters it has given it my own personal style. Through research I discovered that some of the books that I have chosen to create images for do not have many pre existing art works for them. I found this exciting as it gave me the opportunity to create something new. Keeping all of this in mind, I still felt that it was important that I would create collages solely from the text, and not be influenced by film adaptations and so on. This was important to me, because after reading the books, it was often quite apparent how different the films were to the original text. I discovered many things in the text that I wasn't previously aware of from seeing some of the films. For example, one of my biggest shocks was the fact that Dorothy's slippers in the book weren't actually read, they were silver. Overall, I feel as if my collages are recognisable to the stories, as well as offering a contemporary perspective on the story and its characters. I have really enjoyed this project especially the element of independence and self direction it has only added to my enthusiasm about later projects I can embark on. Given the time I had to complete my FMP I feel I have truly made the most of it, although in situation where there is no time constrictions I could later have considered turning my collages into material objects, that could be to exhibit or sell. This has been a great end to my time at University, I have learnt so much over the past three years, the tutors have always been understanding, helpful, critical and positive. I am glad that I am finishing my time at University and going out into the big bad world feeling more positive and confident with myself and my work.