Summative evaluation

One of the most important aspects in this module is a synthesis between the theorical and practical work. I had to write a three thousand word assignment and provide least eight illustrations.  This year my assignment is about the Effects of the Second World War on the Homefront.

I struggled to choose an assignment topic and I changed my mind several time; at first I planned to write the about historical and contemporary uses of photography, then I changed to ‘how social media affects privacy’ then to ‘World War Two’. This resulted my proposal is completely different than my final products.  I chose World War Two because I had so much fun with World War One last that I wanted to investigate more about the Second World War, I was also interested in the home-front and how war affected citizens either physically or mentally. I knew nothing about the Second World War and it made my curiosity level increase and there are a lot of published books in the college and public library on this subject.

I have developed my assignment writing, and referencing skills and increased my vocabulary by using Google and some websites or asking my peers. I have also read a lot of World War books, articles, documentaries and looked at artworks and photographs taken during the War. I think this year the assignment was slightly more difficult than last year because the standard of Level 5 is higher. I was struggling to compare two authors’ opinions to and express my own of view.

While I was doing my assignment, I read a lot of true stories about the Second World War. One of my first ideas was to illustrate a true story that interested me. However, I found it was really difficult to accomplish because I had to use a dark colour scheme that was outside my comfort zone. After I had had a long thought, I decided to give up and changed my idea completely.

I changed my idea exactly a week before the deadline. I decided to do a recipe book because food rationing was in effect during the War. I wanted the contemporary audience to feel the hardship that the citizens went through. I managed to complete this but I am not very happy with the result because I do not think it represents the War much and I do not think the target audience feel that the book represents the War. Nevertherless, it is very illustrative, simple but legible. If I had more time I would love to go back to my first idea and work on this.

Because I changed my idea at the last minute, I returned to my comfort zone and favourite technique of working which is by using Illustrator. I have not used this technique since at the start of the year so I think it is acceptable to do so now.

One of my weaknesses was I did not do a lot of reportage drawings. I kept drawing by referencing photographs, videos or quotes. I think this was due to the fact that my topic was not a current topic but a past event. I did not give much attention to this module this year but for next year I need to give more attention and focus to this module, as the credits will be double those this year. For next year, I will try to find a topic that is more contemporary that interests me so I can do a lot of reportage.

Overall, I enjoyed the reading but was not so keen on the writing. I found the drawing satisfactory.