Who are you now - has anything changed your view of your practice?
I feel like I'm very different in some ways to how I was starting this course - or even at the beginning of last year. I definitely began to find myself at the end of last year. I'm generally happier with the kind of work I'm making, I feel like it's less generic than what I was making. I think now I am making work that I WANT to make and not minding so much about what other people want / what's popular.
I thought that I wanted to make slick digital work in a traditional comic-like style, as I was interested in comics and narrative, but I've found that that's not for me. It's just not how I work. I am still interested in narratives but if I were to pursue any work in comics it would be for more indie stuff or webcomics rather than big mainstream names like Marvel and DC. In regards to narrative I also like the idea of book illustration (not really children's books), book covers etc.
I've found that I enjoy making work using lots of different media and not limiting myself. I enjoy creating work with textures and am interested in finding lots of different ways I can make work with my tone of voice without it all looking same-y or being made in the same way. This year I would like to expand my printing skills, particularly with lino and monoprint.
I feel like what I want to do is still quite eclectic but also have links. I'm quite interested in entertainment - books, live shows, music, comics. I would definitely like to explore poster design, book illustration, album art and such. Something else I am toying with is merchandising / packaging / illustration for products. I've been thinking about makeup branding for indie companies - as they tend to have more fun packaging than some of the bigger companies. I definitely think that could be a viable use for my weird art.
Things I am not looking at is definitely editorial & educational kind of things.
What are your plans for the structure of your future practice - collaboration: individual: full employment: other?
Honestly I'm not sure. I feel like I'm mostly an individual person right now but collaboration is something that would definitely be useful in the future especially collaborating with people in different disciplines. I like the idea of maybe being part of a collective.
I've vaguely thought about doing an MA but I don't want to do that immediately if I do choose to do that, I'd like to try and work in industry for a few years. Maybe looking for an internship would be helpful as I know that I have skills but I always get a bit scared about working in an industry setting (rather than being freelance, being a graphic designer for a company or something so looking into that may provide me with some vital information and make me less afraid of life)
