7th December

How and when was the first book printed? this is a very open question, as it depends on what is meant by printing. If by printing, you mean transferring words or symbols to another material, then it is a process that is thousands of years old. However, if you mean by mass production using plates, blocks or movable type, then it was developed much later. Woodblock printing is done by cutting away areas in which you want to be white. Then once the block is inked there are 2 most common ways:
Stamping: put paper down first and block on top
Rubbing: put the block first and then paper on top

The earliest book using this method with a verified date is the Diamond Sutra 868 CE.

The next process is with movable type and is thought to have been invented in China by Bi Sheng around 1050 CE, but as there are no surviving books this is just speculation. If this is true the oldest printed books are most likely a Buddhist religious text from the 11th century. This method is done by using singular letters and characters set up in lines or pages. This made the need for carving obsolete and shaved a lot of time off of printing. 

Johann Gutenberg is thought to be the creator of mass printing. before him books in Europe were mostly copied by hand or using a very time consuming method. His invention meant that books could reach wider regions and so they became cheaper. The bible he printed is dated to 1455. Due to this information, i believe that in terms of innervation this was the most important book made, as it laid the foundations for mass produced books in which we know today.

The next key principle I will talk about, is all about how I perceive myself as an illustrator and where I believe I am. At this stage of my education, I would be a fool to consider myself an expert as I'm still learning, but I do believe I am competent. I am a good worker and i believe I have background knowledge in this profession. My skills are obviously not at a point in which I can be happy with, but I believe my ideas are good. However, as much as I might love an idea due to my limitations through the skills I have my final outcomes are not always refined enough. Using a project I did in college as an example I will show how my outcomes are more that of a beginners, than someone who is competent. 

 

As you can see the rough sketch of what I wanted to do is completely different to my final outcome. I found that I did not have enough time to create what I wanted and this is something an Illustrator must think of when deciding what idea to go with. It could be an amazing idea, but if the time given means that your work would be done to a poor standard, then another idea must be used. The next piece is my refined final outcome. As i did this during my other projects, I had a lot more time to work on it. Seeing this makes me feel that I am quite competent given more time on work, but in the industry deadlines are very important and so I must work on this.

I would say that although I am capable of completing tasks independently, my confidence is too low to trust my own judgment. Therefore, I often ask teachers for advice, but this is often useful in exploring other options. I think what makes me a lot more competent is the use of action plans. After the project I did in college I started using these a lot more. I know what goals I need to achieve and to help achieve these, I break work into smaller tasks. This way I can easily manage them through out the day, and I don't feel overwhelmed.