During ‘The Outsider’ book project, towards the end of last semester, I took a really big risk with my illustrations. A day or two before the deadline for ‘The Outsider’ project I decided to change the style of the illustrations. This meant that I had to redo all of my illustrations. The main reason why I took such a big risk was because I wasn’t happy with the way the original illustrations looked. They were done using watercolour paints and they didn’t turn out the way I thought they would, even after several attempts.
So I decided to try out a new way of working. Instead of using watercolour paints I did various detailed pencil drawings, which I would then colour using Photoshop. This meant I could remove the colour if I wasn’t happy with it, without having to recreate the image. I know this was a risk so close to the deadline, but I have found a form of working that I am comfortable with.
Since I discovered this new way of working during ‘The Outsider’ project, this style has become the main process for my other illustration projects. I am combining traditional and digital working methods. I think this style of media is successful because I can get really good effects with the pencil tones and the digital side of it gives them a polished and finished feel. Now that I had found a style of working that I am finally comfortable with I feel confidant enough to show my work to art directors and other people in the illustration industry.
Emailing illustrators and art directors has been a major important part of this semester because I got some really amazing responses that have helped me. The best replies I got were from illustrators Jon Fox, Alexis Marcou and Tom Bagshaw. They gave me some good advice on how to get your work seen by people. Also they were just being honest to me by saying you will get nock backs, but someone out there will like your work and don’t give up. This feedback has been an inspiration to me because it gives me hope that my work will be seen and commissioned by people.
One of my main hopes I want to achieve is getting a really good mark for my final major project. I have put so much effort and hard work into my two projects for the final major project. In total I will have done ten strong illustrations between these two projects. Also for some of these illustrations I have designed my own layouts, making the images fit next to the text. Also I have never been shown by anyone how to do layout design. So I think deserve a higher mark than I usually get, which is normally just a marks above a pass.
My future hopes feature circumstances like passing my degree. I know I won’t get a high mark for my degree, but as long as I don’t fail I will be happy. After university I want to have regular commissions with all kinds of clients. I don’t want to just be in the same area of work such as editorial work forever, because I want to be able to do work for book publishers and poster design. Also I want to get an agent because they can help you get some of the best commissions around.
Also in the future I want to be able to share a studio space with other illustrators It’s always good to hear others opinions about your work because they might see something you don’t. Sometime in the near future I want to get back into doing watercolour and oil painting again for my personal projects. I would like to be able to turn these paintings into limited edition prints, and hopefully sell them off.
I have a few fears for the future. The main one is not getting any work. Also running over a client’s deadline who has commissioned you. Going over the time limit they give you would make you look unprofessional and you may not get another chance to work with them again. Copyright on my illustrations is something that worries me because at our time at university we have never been instructed about these issues, which I think is important to know. Another main fear is doing some illustrations for a client and not getting paid for it.
Some part of the P.D.P has be a good opportunity for me to get some advice outside of university. I think emailing people is a really good way to achieve feedback. Doing the magazine for the P.D.P is a good way getting my work seen by people.
One of the main opportunities for me in the future is to move to the United States of America. The main reason is that you see more of my style of illustrating over there. You only have to look at illustrators James Jean and Sam Weber to see how well they are doing over there. In England some people are stuck doing the same thing as everyone else. Some of it’s boring and repetitive, there’s hardly any individuality, no one who’s different. Also in England traditional style of illustrating is sometimes consider too old-fashioned, everything has to be digital. Individuality should be encouraged regardless of what style or media is applied.
I hope that I will be commissioned for work as that is my greatest fear, having put so much into my education. I hope that it will not be a wasted effort.
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