This module has been the most important and useful module of
my degree. It has prepared me for life after university, including how to
create a creative CV and how to prepare for an interview. I have finished the
module with a creative CV ready to hand out, a fully functioning live website
and a 20 page professional portfolio so I feel prepared to apply for jobs and
opportunities that I wouldn’t have been ready for until now. Although other
modules have been more fun in that they have involved lots of making and
playing, this module is the finishing touch: I have the information and the
core skills I need to start my career.
I started this course with little confidence in myself and even
less confidence in my work. I was very anxious and worried that I wasn’t good
enough. I would constantly compare myself to others on the course. I feared
that I had wasted my time and was on the wrong course. I was still struggling
with this anxiety until halfway through Level 6 when I started to gain
confidence, realising that my work didn’t have to look like anything else and
that being different actually gave my work an advantage in that it had a unique
selling point: it was unexpected and broke the conventions of what illustration
is.
I have finished the course with a much clearer understanding
of where my work fits (somewhere between illustration and model-making) and
have developed my creative presence to suit this specific practice. I have
responded to the advice I was given by speakers at the Hanbury symposium - that
Instagram accounts should be curated (so I have been uploading in collections
of three images in a row) and that personality is key (hence the use of a video
of myself making work on my website, and the title ‘Welcome to the Jayniverse’
reflecting my passion for world-building and imagination). I have also
established that my dolls are very much a part of my identity as a maker, so my
Self Portrait image features a doll version of myself (also wearing a crown, a
recurring story in my practice that I am the Queen of Jayland) and I plan to
create Jay dolls to be given away as part of my CV (as seen in my presentation
boards – promotional material) to make myself and my work more memorable. As I
enjoy presenting and writing, I like to call myself a ‘Storyteller’ and my presentation
for this module will be a performance. This approach to a presentation might
not be suitable or professional for others, but it is definitely relevant to
what I do.
As a result of this
module, I have prepared a plan for after graduation. This includes location – I
decided that I didn’t want to work or live in London and was worried initially
that most illustration agencies and publishers are based in London so by not
moving there I would be missing out on work, but through talking to practicing
illustrators (such as Adam Higton and Tim Budgen) I have discovered that in the
age of the internet it is possible for illustrators to work remotely from
anywhere in the world. I also realised that it isn’t actually illustration that
I would be looking for a career within, it is actually model-making/prop-making
for animation and although there are lots of big studios in London, there is a
huge Northern animation industry in and around Manchester. I am aiming to find
a job within prop-making and model-making, this could be full or part time, but
whilst I am looking for this job I will be working part time at a stationery
shop in Ripon and making dolls to sell through Etsy, shops and fairs as a sole
trader.
It was within this module that I discovered that the BBC
offer work experience placements. I applied to work with the BBC in Children’s
Design in Salford and was accepted! I had such a brilliant time working in the
design team for Cbeebies and CBBC presentation; I learned so much from the
people I worked with and it was fantastic to make props that will be seen on
TV. This was a brilliant first step in gaining experience in the field and I
have made some new connections with professionals through doing so. Going to
the BBC was a huge deal for me and a year ago I don’t think I would have been mentally
prepared enough to go, but I am so proud that I achieved this and know that I
am ready now.
I have used this module as a chance to network with
professionals, learning from their approach and asking for advice. I have
gained friends (Tim Budgen, Maggie Rudy, Lucy Jean Green), mentors (John
Cockshaw, Abi Hynes, Sadie Brown) and clients (Liz from Karma) as the result of
networking and I hope that building my connections may lead to future
opportunities within the industry.
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