Saturday 22 April 2017

OUIL602 PPP III: Module Evaluation

At the start of this module, I did not know what field I wanted to go into. At the end of this module, I know I don’t really want to go into ONE particular field. I want to be eclectic – as most illustrators are and would like to dabble in different areas. Area’s I am particularly interested in is book covers & publications (which I am still working on expanding with my extended practice work), music – album covers, lyric sheets, posters, merch etc – I have reached out to a few people about working with musicians. I’m also quite interested in clothing & designs to be applied to clothing (rather than… making clothes) I have enjoyed and developed my pattern making skills over the past year and really get a kick out of seeing my work applied to an object or an item of clothing. – I love using redbubble even though I don’t make many sales on it as it allows me to see what my work looks like actually on a product rather than just as a single image.

Through this module I learned not to be afraid to reach out to people, and pester people, as stuff does get lost in inboxes and your work may develop and be better suited to something in the future: The worst people can do is reject you, or not reply so giving anything a shot is better than not trying at all. I have applied to a job as a clothing designer to a company that I am a big fan of as they make a lot of gothic clothing – even though I’m kind of under qualified, I’m hoping they will at least be able to see and be aware of my work for the future.

I’m realizing that small tabled events probably aren’t going to work for the kind of stuff I’m making as it’s kind of niche, so I’m going to look into finding A. Places that have more of an audience for my niche work, and B. broadening myself into some more ‘likable’ things without losing my ethos completely. For example, Cats, cats are always popular subject matter. Maybe a project of cat based stuff could rake in some interest. I also feel like I want to branch out into making more products, as I feel material goods probably sell better than prints – to a non-art audience anyway as like a sticker, badge or scarf?? Would probably be more appealing as it’s wearable / usable.  


I think I could have done much more looking into internships etc. I am unsure if that’s a pathway I want to go down but researching it would have been good. I’ve mainly been contacting smaller companies who might require illustrators to contribute to their brand in some way shape or form. Companies have been very friendly about it and I am hopeful about contacting more companies in the future.

Surprise, surprise, my time management is still utterly terrible, and something I need to work on. Honesty moment : my mental health issues have been totally kicking my ass when it comes to waking up in the morning and having the energy to do anything – so it’s kind of thrown me completely off track. I’m trying to manage it. My time management was always bad though and I struggle to timetable things as I can’t gage how long certain things will take and when is appropriate to do them, I do try. I write to-do lists for the day, set reminders, write in diarys, try and stick to a plan but I just never seem to. I always manage to get things completed but It’s hindering me being able to do things as well as I’d like to.

A thing I’m really pleased with is my updated personal branding. It’s similar enough to my original design that it doesn’t look out of place but reflects my personality and the style of my work better as I think that I’ve progressed a lot this year!



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