Now that I'm coming towards the end of my degree, naturally it feel as if I have to tie up all of my loose ends and present myself as a 'brand new shiny illustrator' who knows everything and anything about the industry and is prepared for the outside world.
However, I still feel like there is so much I want to learn, so much more experimenting and playing to do, it seems weird that I'm having to pitch myself as if I'm ready for any challenge that is thrown at me. So for me, I don't see this as the end of being a student. It's not that I'm in denial of the fact that I now have to start making a living from being an illustrator, but I am going to keep learning and developing as a creative for the rest of my life, and I think that that is one of the most important things I have come to realise.
I feel confident in the decision I have made to create two sides to my practice. The first being the obvious, continuing to develop my illustrative practice on a more personal and professional level, and the second continuing to engage in social and community based projects and work involving the arts.
Personally, I believe I have flourished more with the latter, and through PPP I have pushed myself to get involved with as many opportunities as I can both inside and outside of college to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible. This includes working for the Progressions and Young Creatives departments as a student ambassador, becoming a volunteer for arts and minds, taking part in the illustration for learning day which lead to helping to run a self initiated drawing club for illustration students. All of this has been extremely valuable experience, and I can carry my skills forward into my Art Practitioner role for NCS in June. As for the rest of 2017/18, I plan to continue partaking in similar creative teaching roles until I feel ready to go back into education and complete a PGCE/PGDipE at the University of Huddersfield.
In terms of my creative practice, I have definitely seen myself grow and develop as an illustrator since the start of my degree where I had the tendency to spend too much time making my blog perfect instead of investing time into experimenting with materials and process. This year I have placed a heavier emphasis on creating work using analogue processes where I believe the outcomes have greater value with a lot more personality and delicacy being intertwined into the image making process. This has also helped me to gain more of a sense of ownership in my work and a more defined illustrative voice. I've never wanted to channel my creativity into just ONE area of illustration, as I've always hoped to adopt an element on versatility within my practice. Subsequently, this year within my practice I have explored a variety of subject matters such as self perception and identity, urban history and the development of cities as well as taking part in competitions including the Penguin Student Design Award, the LCA sustainability award and the ibis Styles hotel mural brief in which I was awarded 1st place.
I still have a great interest in exploring different ways of image making through experimentation with media, but in the last year my strongest work has been produced working in watercolour and fineliner, particularly within my studies of buildings and their usages. This has enabled me to gain personal commissions through Etsy to produce bespoke house portraits for clients and also given me the opportunity to showcase my work in the Independent Leeds magazine, giving me the boost to contact more magazines and publishers.
In terms of future aspirations for my illustrative career, I am aware that the first year in particular will be extremely challenging and turbulent. Nevertheless, I have identified the areas of editorial illustration that I believe my work would be suitable for and sent out a mini e-portfolio of work to the art directors in question. I have found this process extremely difficult due to lack of confidence, but I am aware that as my portfolio and practice simultaneously develop, I will have a stronger drive to create a larger and broader network of clients to work with. In the mean time, I am determined to set aside the time to delve into my own projects and areas of interest, which I hope will be beneficial in acquiring work as well as valuable creative experience.
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