PPP EVALUATION
My Personal and Professional Practice module this year has
been really useful but a bit of a struggle. I found it really hard to pin down
a brand or visual identity that I was happy with. This came down to finally
creating an illustration which I could use throughout my branding, which I felt
really reflected my illustration practice and what it is all about. The key
elements I focused on for this were colour, pattern, detail and nature, well
specifically wasps. I also wanted to reflect the analogue led nature of my
practice. I really noticed during Level 6 that I found working by hand makes me
work more expressively and experimentally, it allows me to get to grips with
colour and line work more instinctively.
Photoshop and digital media’s work best in my practice to
adjust an already existing image and get it resolved to a professional standard,
which is what I have done with all of my branding and other work. For my online
presence this professionalism has been crucial. At first I uploaded pictures
from Instagram or just used phone photographs but I learnt throughout this
module the importance of keeping all your work up to a certain level. I still
have some work to do on my website reflecting this.
Being around other creatives and constant sources of
inspiration in the studio has really encouraged the idea in my mind that I want
to work as part of a team for a creative company or business. I am not someone
who thrives on being alone, I like doing my own thing which I can easily do
when I take time out to do commissions, but my ideal situation would be to work
in a creative environment perhaps for a commercial purpose such as Liberties Ltd or
Anthropologie. Concerning this I have connected and made contact with some of the individuals which work in the creative sectors in these companies such as; Lauren Wallace, design studio manager at Liberty Ltd, and other creatives like Suzanne Dean the creative director at Penguin Random House Group.
I have found social media a good way to promote my practice,
publicise my work and engage with other practitioners and clients. Facebook and
Instagram have been good for sharing artwork and it has shown me the importance
of collaborating with others as this always widens the audience to the post or
artwork dramatically. I enjoy keeping a blog on Tumblr, because there is less
pressure for finished work, as it is more focused on inspirations, ideas and
processes. This is something I plan to continue after university as a way of
keeping up to date with current artwork and exhibitions, as well as motivating
me to keep creating my own.
My website is a more selective and professional online
presence. Making a website functional and visually attractive was a lot harder
than it looked and I still have a lot more planned for it.
Throughout this year I have found the ‘Start Up Wednesday’
and ‘Career Track Tuesday’ sessions at college really helpful and they have inspired
me to register my illustration as a business so that I can get into the habit
of producing and selling work professionally. To begin with I see it as being
something I prioritise during my days off. The lecture from AOI also inspired
me to think about registering with them, as although I have learnt a lot on my
degree, I will definitely need extra guidance once I leave.
This module has forced us to plan after university. I want
to focus on my portfolio, in particular my Travel Diaries’ section on my
website. If I create a good portfolio of quality reportage work, it can be used
to show how I would tackle a similar brief to prospective clients and it could
lead to projects incorporating travelling and illustrating which would be
really interesting. I have also planned travelling around Asia after Christmas
and I have contacted people that I think may have advice for, or be interested
in a project like this. Similar to my plans for my India Brief, which I plan to
enter into an exhibition in Oxford, which is focused on the theme of a
‘journey’.
I have contacted a lot of illustrators that have produced
work for companies I love, such as Anthropologie and Liberties. I am looking
forward to sending off some promotional material, that I have explored and
created within this module to companies I would love to work for. My main
focuses are creative companies which really care about design and quality
products over supporting a throw away culture.
While I am applying for jobs and internships, volunteering
in a creative role will be crucial for keeping up a structured and directly
involved interest in the arts. I have been researching this a lot to try to
find one which is most appropriate for me and I am in the process of applying
to some.
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