It's the end of the exploratory stage so I have to write a review of everything that went on. The aim of the exploratory stage was to try out different things and see what we want to specialise in.
The first two weeks we were doing 2D design, which is textiles, illustration and graphic design. We did a lot of blind drawings, some of which came out better than others. At first I struggled with the outcomes because they look messy and unattractive in my sketchbook but apparently I'm doing it right. I've mainly taught myself not to mind too much about it looking messy any more. We also did a lot of work on composition, for example looking through viewfinders. I think this has made me better at thinking about how to lay things out on a page. I think I learnt a lot from this section, but I don't think I'll be specialising in any of them.
The second two weeks were fine art. I found the ideas element of fine art a little difficult, although I enjoyed it. I think I'm good at having lots of random ideas but not necessarily joining them together. But over the two weeks I feel like I really improved in terms of conceptualising and doing spider diagrams to think of ideas. I most enjoyed the photography day because it was a lot of fun and we were trying out interesting and unusual photos. I came to college feeling like I wanted to specialise in photography and I think that is still the case.
Lastly we studied 3D design. Despite being apprehensive at first because I didn't really know what I was doing, I really enjoyed this section. I definitely approached it from a fashion mindset, because whatever task we were set I always ended up making some kind of headwear or skirt or cape etc. I don't think other elements of 3D design come naturally to me. I enjoyed doing the research projects as well, because they felt like quite complete projects if that makes any sense.
The things I found difficult were getting used to working in a looser, more 'messy' way, and managing my time on the independent study days. I either end up spending hours and hours more than I should do on something, or else not enough time. That's something I need to work on during the next stage.
