When starting the course, I was not clear on what
illustration entailed, or how my skills could be applied to a career.
From ppp modules and briefs, I now have a realistic
awareness of my chosen sector and my place within it.
Over these 3 years I have been introduced to many avenues illustration could take me into – editorial,
narrative, publishing etc., but a specific direction for me had not become
clear until this year.
I have really enjoyed the process of creating work for a purpose,
from projects I have undertaken over the last 2 years especially, those that
have allowed me to communicate my personal connection with the subject matter,
or that revolve around a social issue have been the most successful. Having a
strong moral compass, the ability to raise awareness to social issues within my
illustration seems to drive my practice and motivation, therefore creating work
for charity campaigns is somewhere I can see myself and my design work fitting.
Although I do like working from home in my own environment,
regular discussions about my work with tutors and peers in a creative
environment has been vital to keep me on track and help me deal with self-doubt
or when I have encountered a creative block.
Not only this, living with other creatives from a range of
courses at LCA has been really beneficial for me, broadening my artistic
interest and providing me with a supportive and sympathetic home environment.
Seeing how course peers have formed recognisable practices
is really encouraging, it has been reassuring to see that there is no one way
to tackle a brief, and that I should be confident in my individual tone of
voice and approach.
Though my practice still centres around the use of detailed
work through hand rendered processes, the skills I have gained using digital
software has massively evolved my practice and opened up a variety of opportunities
I could do with my analogue illustrations. A process I have developed is overlaying
and combining illustrations to create a more expressive piece. I have had a
tendency to focused too much on explaining my pieces rather than developing
ideas when I could have simplified work if I hadn’t overthought it.
collaborating with a photographer has probably been one of
the most a defining moment for me over the last 2 years as I was able to
discuss with him the mood and message I would want the photo to capture. I feel my work has definitely benefitted from
better quality references. Though we
specialise in different areas, we share the same creative vison.
We plan to create a
promotional pack of our current project (documenting Bradford) to show to
potential galleries that could feature the project. Keeping up a collaboration
I hope will introduce double the exposure and opportunities to both our
practices.
One of the most significant part of our ppp module, and the
one I found most challenging, was contacting people who could have an impact on
our creative future. The fear that people would think I was being intrusive
made me hesitant to contact them, I also struggle with conveying what I want to
say both verbally and in writing, so the effort it takes to rehearse or write
is discouraging.
Emails I have received back from practitioners I admire have
been really humbling and motivating, especially when they have spoken so kindly
about the work I had shown them, I had considered them ‘famous’ in the illustration world, and
therefore did not expect a response. However,
I have not as yet heard anything back from agencies I aspire to work for, this
is really disheartening as I think a agent would be really beneficial to my
practice and fear I will struggle for commissions without one.
This year has made me realise the importance of contacting
people not only in the creative industries, but more broadly. I have recently
been offered the position of Creative Workshop Assistant at a local arts community
that came about after I contacted a woman for advice on my current project
working with the elderly. She is linked to creative events focused on my
current project area and has helped create this opportunity.
I have also started to contact charities introducing my
desire to produce work for charity purposes in the hope I would be directed to
companies/agencies that provide charities with awareness campaign illustrations
or a direct commission. This is
something I have been putting off for a while as when looking on contact pages
on charity websites their was no specific person to contact about awareness
visuals so presumed I was looking in the wrong place. However I have come to
the conclusion that I won’t know unless I ask - ‘shy bairns get nowt ‘ as John
Watters would say.
Creating a strong and diverse online presence is one of the
most important lessons I will take with me when I leave. Having somewhere I can
direct people to which contains examples of my work when speaking to potential
clients is easy and beneficial. Though I’ve only had 3 commissions from my
online presence this year, it shows it works and I just needs to make sure I
use is regularly to get people to take notice of me and my work.
I am really glad this year has given me the opportunities
and the freedom to self-direct briefs and deal with clients in a supportive
environments as it has given me a taster of what life could be like, dealing
with realistic deadlines and having to balance several briefs at a time. It has
also allowed me to ask tutors advice about things I am not sure about when
dealing with clients, something I will not have next year. I think it has built
up my confidence, as I have had to rely on my intuition and self-reassurance
with some of my illustrations.
I think the course has set me up for the outside world and the
rest is knowledge I will gain from experience in the creative industry.
