Position Statment

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.

Summative Evaluation

End of Module Student Evaluation BA(hons) Illustration

Module Code: PPP3 OUIL602 Name: Eleanor Chappell
Student ID: 255556

Learning Outcome	Evidenced where? Blog, Sketchbook, Roughs Final Illustrations, development sheets etc. (No more than 75 words)	Your grade Using words: > poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent
6A3 Demonstrate specific knowledge and specialist understanding of the professional and contextual location of their practice. Knowledge and Understanding - RESEARCH	Blog, working alongside creative practitioners/ teachers with Young Creatives, participating in group exhibitions, gallery visits and events, leading and assisting creative workshops, attending information days and open days about future study (teaching/art therapy)	Very Good
6B2 Undertake research to identify and evaluate their personal and professional skills and the career or progression opportunities available to them. (Cognitive Skills - EVALUATION & REFLECTION	Attending career track Tuesday/Start up Wednesday sessions, one on one careers advice,online job searching, entering competitions, consistently reflecting and evaluating progress, job interviews, voluntary work	Excellent
6C2 Develop and implement a personal promotion strategy to communicate to relevant organisations. Practical & Professional Skills - VISUAL QUALITY)	Social media, website, linkedin, contacting organisations, getting involved in local events. I feel like my branding and presentation could be a lot stronger.	Good
6D2 Use a range of appropriate communication methods to present themselves as a professional practitioner to a relevant audience. Key Transferable Skills - PROFESSIONALISM & COMMUNICATION	Networking with other creatives at events such as the Love Arts festival and Sustainability Symposium etc, communicating through email and phone calls with clients, commissions through Etsy, online presence, final presentation	Very Good

Evaluation 

This year I have truly appreciated the importance of PPP in helping me develop both as a professional creative and as an individual. Since day one I’ve always been apprehensive about sending my work out to people and establishing myself and my practice with confidence. Although I can still find it a little nerve- wracking at times, I’ve pushed myself to get involved with as many jobs, events, and other creative opportunities that have enabled me to make valuable decisions about my future career and how to get to where I want to be.

PPP has been a huge, yet valuable learning curve where I have discovered a lot about myself and the way that I work, especially acknowledging my need for a balanced lifestyle as an extrovert in a career that can present itself as being predominantly solitary. This is where I made the decision to split my practice into two, having one half as my illustrative creative practice, and the other as a socially engaging/ teaching arts practitioner.

I’ve exhaustively used my blog as a reflective diary to record of trials and tribulations on the course as well as a platform to record milestones and set myself goals. Within this I’ve also learnt how to properly negotiate with clients on a professional basis, and gained a huge insight into my rights as an illustrator in terms of being treated and paid fairly and properly. Additionally I have learnt how to present myself both online and in person, having to distinguish the correct barrier between my personality and professional presence.

At the start of second year, I told myself to ‘say yes to everything’, in other words, get involved with as many opportunities that come my way as possible. I’ve kept my word to this day, within reason, and its really enabled me to step outside my comfort zone, experiencing and achieving things that three years ago I never thought would be possible. With this I’ve had many valuable experiences that have benefited my practice, such as partaking in live and competition briefs, learning about public and large scale art, having the opportunity to teach and assist creative workshops; all have which have informed and shaped my ambitions and plans for the future.

One thing that I have struggled with year on year is planning and time management. Although by nature I have been described as quite an organised person, my mental health has massively interfered with this since starting college and has hindered my progress in numerous ways. I wish I’d have been more accepting of the things that I genuinely struggle with and not been afraid to ask for additional academic support in those areas. This way such tasks could have felt more manageable and achievable instead of completely overwhelming, resulting in rushing them at the last minute. I also wish that I’d have planned out what I wanted to include in my portfolio at an earlier stage so that I could have been more well prepared and confident when sending my work out to future employers and clients.

In summary, PPP has provided me with the knowledge, ambition and personal toolkit to embark on the next stage of my life, however scary yet exciting this may be. I’ve learnt so much about myself, how I work best and what I actually want to get out of my creative career as an illustrator. I’ve learnt how to communicate on a professional level with clients, including negotiating tricky topics such as unpaid work, presenting my work efficiently and how to maintain resilience in disappointing situations. The whole module has increased my awareness of my strengths and weaknesses, both as an individual and a creative, and how I can capitalise and address these elements in the working world outside of the art school bubble. 

Creative Presence

Final Presentation

Professional Portfolio

Realisations/Plan of Action

From the start of third year, I have felt completely burnt out, exhausted and as if I've been tackling a year-long creative block. A part of me wishes I'd have taken a year out of studying to get back on my feet properly and feel more stable mentally to take on such a challenging and important year. As a result, I don't feel ready to do a lot of things that PPP has asked of me.

Gemma Correll knows how I feel

If I'm not completely confident of the contents of my portfolio, why would I send it out to professional clients just to receive potentially negative feedback, or no response at all, knocking my confidence even further?

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A BLOG POST OF SURRENDER.

I am absolutely NOT giving up, I refuse to. I've just got myself in an un-ideal complicated relationship with illustration and I need some time to myself to allow my creativity to blossom in a healthy, non-stressful, non judgemental way.

So this is the main reason why I haven't made the contacts as of yet that I hoped I would have by now. 

SO WHAT NOW?!?!

My main priority is feeling better mentally. When I'm in a better place I will be able to make work that I enjoy and have confidence in, and is JUST FOR ME! This way, I hope that things will start to come together again and I can begin contacting professionals, agencies and publishers WITH CONFIDENCE, ENTHUSIASM AND JOY.

So here's the plan:

April/May:

-Finish FMP to the best of my ability

June:

-Final show

July/Summer:

-D&AD in London
-Summer job- NCS Art Practitioner, Possibly Breeze Festival? (waiting to hear back)
-Go exploring cities, draw some local buildings and suss out some independent shops that could buy some prints from me
-REST AND RECOVER
-Get back into a routine, i.e. get a 9-5 job for financial stability and draw for pleasure until I feel ready

Who am I going to work towards contacting?

Editorial

-Oh Comely (follow up)
-Eye Magazine
-The Skinny
-Flow Magazine
-Buzz Feed
-The Lancet
-They Draw and Cook

Publishing

-Penguin random house
-Walker books
-Nobrow press

Experience

-Apply for a placement at hallmark to get experience working in house, and developing my knowledge and skills within greetings cards and pattern
-Contact Artfelt Sheffield to get some more information and insight into art therapy and creative healing

Public Art

-Keep my eyes open on CURATOR SPACE for mural opportunities in Leeds/surrounding area (helps that I've got the ibis mural out in the open!)
-Get back in touch with Pete Barber to see if he knows of any opportunities

So please bear with me, good things always take time! 

Mini ePortfolio

In order to feel more prepared and confident about contacting agencies, I've put together a mini portfolio to attach in emails as a sort of 'sample of my work' kind of thing.

I don't really have a set logo yet, so I've just chopped my name up a little and added one of my dandelion doodles from last year to add at the end of emails.

So now, there is NO EXCUSE not to contact people! 

Fox Creative

So I probably mentioned in earlier blog posts that Sophie, Alice and  I were going to take our creative workshops a little further and propose and set up a little business! This is a very, very brief blog post just summarising our plans, but we have been working extremely hard to come up with branding, logos, website etc as an option we could to potentially pursue post graduation.

We would plan to run creative workshops in the local community for a range of different age groups as a positive creative outlet, and just a bit of fun!

Making Contacts

It may seem that I am leaving the best part till last when contacting people about my work, but to be honest I find the whole thing a lot more daunting than making a website! Throughout PPP this year I have made a few contacts here and there, but I've realised that I need to be persistent and keep reaching out to people if I am going to get any work when I graduate.

Who exactly am I going to contact?

Its taken me a long time to try and understand where my work would fit in the commercial world, but at the moment I can see scope for my style/voice fitting into editorial/reportage magazine types of settings. I've made a small list (not too long because I don't want to overwhelm myself) of art editors to contact. Additionally, I've made a separate list of people and organisations to contact in terms of my teaching/community arts practice.

(see blog post 'Networking and Promoting Yourself' dated Jan 26...here are the answers to the last few questions I didn't feel ready to answer at the time!) 

Obstacles?

The only potential obstacles I have at the moment, is that my branding update isn't quite finished and I feel like this needs to be perfect before I contact anyone. BUT, in a way, this is just creating more of an obstacle for myself. I just need to grab the nettles and speak to people, or I never will!

What am I going to say?

To keep things relatively simple and just say who I am, what I do and attach a link to my website. Ben Cox mentioned last week that if you send more than 3 paragraphs, then people just don't want to read your email! 

The first one...ahhhhh!

I chose to email Lara Watson, who is the editor of Oh Comely magazine, which I really adore and could see my work fitting in really well with. (I hope?)

So this took about half an hour to write out, but I've done it and sent it! 

The only thing I'm worried about is that its quite plain. Will she really want to look at that if there is nothing eye catching on display? Perhaps I should have attached some samples of my work, or added a little snippet of my branding just to make it a bit stronger? Anyway its done now, so I can only do better next time.

Job Application Feedback

Unfortunately I didn't get the job with Settle Stories, but I didn't think that I would because I came across as quite nervous in the interview...but I got the NCS job! I'm so happy, as apparently it is really competitive to get a seasonal role, and as well it will be such good experience for my teaching practice. 

Your Career, Your Future

Today I attended a workshop ran by Hermione Berry, who is a careers consultant and the CCE team at college about getting a job after college. It was so helpful and made me feel so much more comfortable and confident about graduating.

Aims: 

• Identify where I am currently
• Identify where I want to be
• Help plan to get there

One of the first tasks was to make a map/diagram of where we think we will be in five years time, and in hindsight I must have come across as the Bridget Jones of the art world!

I made it humorous by making it a diary entry, and making up scenarios (that could well happen) about third wheeling with Naomi for the rest of my life and never finding a partner (probably will happen). But here are the things that I hope I would achieve/am doing by the time I am 27:

• Travelled loads and make travel related illustrative work
• Teaching experience
• Be living in Leeds or another city, keeping busy
• Having fun and enjoying myself!

It was interesting that a lot of people in the group had similar ambitions, such as living in a big city, making the most of travelling opportunities and even teaching too.

Quotes from Grayson Perry

• "The art career is a marathon, not a sprint"
• He got a 2:1, you don't NEED a first
• He applied for an MA because he was terrified of going out into the real world
• Transitioning from the art school bubble: "take every opportunity you can get as a young artist"

What are the biggest challenges?

choose one obstacle, write on a post it note and stick it on the board

-Money

-Confidence 

-Creative Block

Options?

Career planning and job seeking is to easy, but there are loads of options for afterwards

-Post grad study

-Grad scheme

-Work experience

-Internship

-Voluntary

-Temporary

-Underemployment (stop gap jobs)

Opinions on Graduates

Why wouldn't someone want to employ a graduate?

-Over qualified

-No real experience

-Too academic

-No idea about real work

-Want too much money

Why SHOULD employers take on graduates?

-Research skills

-Fresh

-Hard working

-Target market knowledge

-Lots of people our age are very aspirational

-Good value

-Flexible

-Self motivated

-Teamwork, people/interpersonal skills

-Creative and innovative thinking

-Risk taking

-Social media/tech savvy

Top 10 Graduate Skills

• Commercial Awareness
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Negotiation and persuasion
• Problem solving
• Leadership
• Organisation
• Perseverance and motivation
• Work under pressure
• Confidence

JLA Skill Cards

Identify 2 skill cards that aren't developed that you've always wanted to try:

-Reaching a fair settlement to a negotiation

-Managing budgets

Pick out 2 skills that you'd like to develop within 12 months of starting your next job:

-Networking

-Encouraging others to communicate

Pick out 2 skills which represent skills that you need to sharpen up, refresh or talk about better in an interview:

-Project management

-Leading an organisation

My Motivated Skills

T: Things

I: Information

C: Concepts or ideas

P: People

E: Enterprise

• Embracing a challenge (E)
• Inventing new solutions to problems (C)
• Using colour or design creatively (C)
• Healing or encouraging wellbeing (P)
• Conveying warmth and empathy/aware of others feelings (P)
• Translating complex ideas into straightforward language (C)
• Assessing situations or people quickly and accurately (P)
• Actively listening, assessing needs (P)
• Using humour to communicate or build relationships (P)
• Seeing the wood from the trees (the bigger picture) (C)

Elevator Pitch

This was by far the hardest part of the day, my brain was absolutely frazzled from all of the information I'd been taking in, and I found it really difficult to string together a paragraph summarising everything good about me. I decided to just write a few notes and wing it. But people liked it and gave me some great feedback, saying that I was confident and friendly, but I just need to prepare more.

Today I have identified my strengths and weaknesses and though about how I can improve and capitalise on them in preparation for the working world. I have projected a realistic vision of where I'd like to be in five years time in terms of my career, achievements and life as a whole, and have finally come to terms that graduation isn't as scary as I made out!

Making a Website

I've had a fair few attempts at making a website since September, but haven't had the patience or confidence to 'officially' publish my work on the world wide web. This was mostly because I felt like I didn't have enough content that I was happy to display, but that couldn't be my excuse forever.

From my PPP blog in second year, I mocked up a website that was fairly simple, with my name in a banner at the top with four simple headers. 

I really like the idea of a grid format on the homepage, looking similar to instagram in a way, and easy to navigate. When I spoke to Teresa last week about website related anxiety, she suggested that I  divide my work into categories to make it seem like a less daunting task, and it really helped.

(Put plan here)

I used WIX to build the website, it is SO easy to use and would highly recommend it to any other website dummies like myself. It was really easy to buy a domain name too. I went to 'godaddy.com' and was so lucky to find that elliechappell.co.uk was available, as last time I checked it wasn't! 

The thing that took the most amount of time was the layout. I wanted this to be absolutely spot on with no visible design flaws, because that would look awful with me being a creative student. It also took a while to figure out how to do specific things, like creating hovers for the different categories of my work, and not to mention the about section! 

and...here it is!

I'm really chuffed with how it looks! And it really wasn't as traumatic as I'd anticipated haha.

So at the moment I have pages for each category on the home page which acts as a sort of portfolio, as well as an about page, contact page and link to my etsy shop.

This was so difficult to write. I find it really hard to get my personality across at the same time as sounding professional because a lot of people who know me find it hard to take me seriously as well as the fact that my practice is broad and I still find it hard to wrap it up in a nutshell. But I believe that I have summed myself up well here whilst not coming across as too goofy.

Things I'd like to update in the very near future:

-Branding: I've made a tiny adjustment to my branding in the fact that I've replaced the digital colour with watercolour texture in the gaps of the letters, and taken away the decorative flowers to make it look less 'cutesy'. Although I am still undecided about this. I will come back to my branding later on in the week.

-Blog: I would love to have a blog attached to my website, just something I can post daily/weekly about what I've been doing, sketchbook drawings etc so that the viewers can feel a little bit more in touch with my actual day to day life, instead of just seeing me as an anonymous person who draws pictures and posts them online.

-Social media bar: Once I've cleaned up my social media, i.e. decided whether or not I'm still going to post trashy opinions on twitter and pictures of me taking selfies with animals on instagram then I would benefit massively by linking these to my site, and posting on a more regular basis. 



There is still a lot to do but I've made a start and I'm proud of myself for just that. Please have a peek! www.elliechappell.co.uk