Methodology 500 Word Reflection

For my methodology project, I am using a mostly convergent process. I have followed the steps that I initially made for my methodology. I had made several sketches in the beginning, and as I continued to research and find references, I made more sketches. Eventually I made my rough drafts, and after having them critiqued by classmates, I made more sketches based on changes I wanted to make for my final drafts. I then began painting on my three canvases. I have discovered things in painting that I hadn’t thought about, like shading styles and all of the color choices.

                I would say that my process is working. I think the preliminary research and sketching was my biggest challenge. After I figured out what my paintings were going to consist of character-wise, I could focus on executing it. I did have some challenges with other points, like poses being improved upon. During the critiques I had with classmates, I was able to improve my original idea that I had sketched. The rest of my process has been very smooth with few problems. I would say that my process is definitely working for me.

                If I were working in a divergent process, I don’t think I would have done as well. The idea of working without major plans stresses me out. I like to know beforehand if my idea will be successful or not, and if I were working divergently I don’t think I would be able to focus on the project because I would be too worried about the end result being perfect or not getting finished at all. I don’t think the specific project I have would have happened with divergent process, since I had to plan the characters and the poses ahead of time, as well as the locations. Although the locations were an after-thought compared to the characters and main idea, I still planned it before I began working on my final pieces. I do think my work would be fun (ignoring the stress of the unknown) if I were working divergently. I would have more room to play and experiment. Aside from not knowing what exactly the end result would be, it would be full of trial and error and experimentation.

                If I could do this over again, my process might be different because I might want to actually try to work with a divergent process. Even though the idea would stress me out, I also think it would be fun to experiment more and not know exactly what will happen. If I were to re-do the entire project, I’d want to try a different idea (probably because at this point, I am done with Harry Potter and Pokemon, and I’d want to expand and do something new). I have seen my classmates’ work and I think that has inspired me as well, and given the chance to start over I might want to explore the route that others took to see where that would lead me.