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Platform for Joy

What an adventure this has been! Initially everything was going well - we were told our groups and given the brief for the group project and everything seemed simple enough. 

I’d come across everyone in my group already but hadn’t really talked to any of them properly before this - two of the guys in the group, Charlie and Paul, were also on Illustration with me and the other two members of the group, Jasmine and Joshua, were on Animation so I hadn’t really interacted with them beyond First Year. Paul unfortunately wasn’t able to participate in the group work due to personal circumstances, which we were understanding of.

After being given the brief in the morning we decided to sit down as a group over lunch to get to know each other a bit and throw around some vague ideas for the project, rather than jumping straight in without really knowing each other or how we work. I’d been having issues in my usual circle of friends so I welcomed the opportunity to hang out with different people - I struggle to approach people normally so being put in a situation where I had to talk to new people made things a lot easier for me. It was refreshing to be around a different group and have a laugh with them, and knowing that we got along well made things a lot easier going forward. 

My notes from our initial meeting.

We briefly discussed what could go on our mind-map, which was the first part of the project, and this gave us a good starting point and food for thought while we were apart. We agreed to each do our own individual mind-maps in our own time that we would then amalgamate into the group mind-map, and decided we would meet the next Wednesday (due to our individual work and class schedules it was quite hard to find days we could all do but we managed to make it work!)

I started off by making a Pinterest board to try to get some sense of what joy is and I asked people what would inspire joy in them in a station setting - the predominant answer was colour, so this would have to feature in my mind-map somewhere.

Thinking back to our lecture from Gareth Hughes, I thought it would be important to include mindfulness and nature/natural light somewhere in the station design, as well as an increase in colour as a change from the typical concrete greys you usually find in stations. Another aspect I wanted to consider was music and how this could be incorporated into the station design.

When we next met up as a group we discussed all of our individual ideas and how they could be combined, coming up with a list of things that we could include (however this wasn’t conclusive and could be subject to change if more ideas appeared).

We then thought that we may as well get on with starting the huge group mind-map while the four of us were all together! It turns out doing a shared mind-map this big is actually quite difficult in terms of where to position people so that we could all work on it at the same time - the bottom half and top half ended up facing different directions, but I think this just adds to its charm!

We’d looked at Grayson Perry’s work per Leo’s suggestion and decided to take some inspiration from it, adopting a London Underground map style for each offshoot. Because there ended up being four of us we each took one of the four sections of the paper we’d put together, focusing on a different aspect each. Jasmine looked at local cultural attractions and landmarks (we’d settled on our station being near Birmingham), Charlie focused on typography and aesthetic features, Josh worked on technology and interactive features, and I focused on nature, mindfulness and colour.

To populate my section of the mind-map I researched mindfulness affirmations and simple actions, and flowers and colours with meanings associated with joy and happiness. 

We managed to work pretty quickly together, finishing the mind-map in about two weeks despite struggling to find days we were able to meet up. Things got a little bit stressful in the lead up to the group presentation because we thought we wouldn’t get everything finished on time but we did!

Unfortunately that’s when things started to go kind of wrong. Having completed the initial task ready to do the group presentation, we then found out that the presentations had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then that the group work was to be discontinued altogether. I was a bit sad at no longer being able to work with my group because I’d had a really good time with them, but I was also slightly relieved that we could continue the project on an individual basis. I’m very capable of working with other people but given the choice and given that the task is manageable I would rather work on my own - I know how reliable I am and I don’t have to make as many compromises with myself, and if something doesn’t get done then that’s my own fault.

I took a bit of time to get my head round how I would continue with the project by myself and to get used to being stuck at home under lockdown. Instead of wasting time and all the research I’d already done for the group work, I stuck with my section of the mind-map, focusing on colour, nature and mindfulness for my station design rather than anything else.

Through the power of Google Images I found photographs of station platforms to use as the basis of my final designs - admittedly I traced over them rather than trying to draw them from scratch because all I needed was the basic shapes and angles. I probably spent more time than I should’ve done on these but I’m really happy with the outcome and would definitely feel happy in a station like this.

View the higher quality images here. 

I chose pastel versions of the colours I’d found in my research because I didn’t want them to be so bright they’d be headache-inducing. Even just being in a station with these colours would make me happier than being surrounded by the usual boring grey! The pillars are all surrounded by planters with various joyful plants in (mentioned in the mind-map), and the seating also has planters installed. I wanted the mindfulness affirmations and actions to be placed randomly around the station so that passengers can glance them when they’re walking around and hopefully achieve a moment of calm that way. Rather than having music playing in the station I chose to use QR codes that link to upbeat playlists, so that if people want quiet they can have quiet but the option is there to play music on their own phones (the QR codes in these images should actually work as well if you scan them on the higher quality images!)

A key thing that Gareth Hughes mentioned in his lecture was natural light, so I included huge windows in my designs to let in as much natural light as possible (ignoring whether this is possible architecturally!) With public art also being known to boost happiness and wellbeing, there are also murals dotted around the platforms - these are just random patterns but the idea would be that these would be murals painted by local artists in order to increase the cultural value of the station but also to give local artists work and exposure.

Overall I really enjoyed this project. It was difficult but that’s not a bad thing! We definitely had to use our brains to figure out what joy is and how we could inspire joy in other people. I think the thing is that joy is very subjective and what might make one person feel joyful could have no effect on someone else, so there’s never going to be a way of making everyone feel joy but you can at least try to make as many people happy as possible. I was really grateful for the group work and getting to know other people despite being apprehensive about it before we started, however I was glad that we could finish the project by ourselves.

Getting to finish this project brought some welcome relief to the mundanity of lockdown at the moment and turned out to be quite fun!

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Studio Visit - Dee Batham and Sharon Robinson at Pin Up UK Tattoo Studio, Sheffield

As soon as we were told we’d need to visit a practitioner in their studio I knew I’d want to go to a tattoo studio. I’ve been to plenty of tattoo studios already, having numerous tattoos myself, but I figured it would be interesting to hang out at one and chat with a tattooist while I’m not being tattooed. Initially I was going to try to go to a local studio (Embody Tattoo in Derby) where I’ve had a few tattoos done by Pippa - unfortunately this fell through but luckily Dee and Sharon were able to save the day at the last minute! 

Dee Batham is the owner of Pin Up UK Tattoo Studio, as well as a tattooist and piercer, and Sharon Robinson is the junior artist there who initially started as an apprentice in August 2019.

Dee Batham

Sharon Robinson 

I know Dee and Sharon through my mum, who’s been getting tattooed by Sharon since she started her apprenticeship, and I also got a sphinx cat tattoo off her back in October (see below). I’m so grateful to both of them for letting me hang out at the studio at such short notice!

Mum came with me to the studio because my car had thrown a mardy so I needed her to drive me up to Sheffield, but that just meant more fun while we were there!

We got to the studio and Dee was decorating the small kitchen in the back, painting it a dark petrol blue - a cancellation that morning had freed up some time to get the boring but necessary jobs done. I guess somewhat ironically it turned out that Dee hates painting and decorating, which just goes to show that aptitude in one area of art doesn’t translate universally!

Sharon meanwhile was working her way through Friday 13th Flash Day appointments - it’s common for tattooists to do a ‘flash day’ (where they have a selection of small pre-drawn designs available to choose from on that day, often for £13 or £31) on Friday 13th. I asked Dee where this came from - apparently people believed that getting the number 13 tattooed on them on Friday 13th would ward off bad luck, but now it’s just a fun thing to do. Sharon’s first appointment was for a super delicate crystal ball design with ‘XIII’ inside.

There was then a brief interlude while Dee pierced a customer’s nipples - they were braver than I could ever be! Sharon then had another flash appointment, this time for a small but still intricately detailed plague doctor mask (which has ended up being quite appropriate with the current pandemic situation!)

While Sharon tattooed and Dee carried on painting I asked some questions about being in the tattoo industry (in between bizarre comments such as ‘bum-kraken’ - I still don’t know the context of that!) I learned that Dee has been in the industry for 22 years - as long as I’ve been alive! - and that she’s a third-generation tattoo artist who grew up in studios. Sharon got into tattooing last year because, to quote her directly, “I liked to draw on my hands in school,” and got her apprenticeship through a friend who knew of one going, which goes to show that contacts are important! She says her experience as an apprentice has been amazing because she’s been able to meet so many great people, and because Dee has been an incredible mentor. Tattoo apprenticeships vary a lot from what I’ve picked up in the past, and really depend on the mentor’s training style - I’d asked Pippa (who I previously mentioned) what her apprenticeship was like, and although she said she enjoyed it her mentor was very hard on her which made it quite stressful.

With Dee being in the industry for so long, I was interested to see how she thinks it’s changed. It’s always been a boys’ club according to her, which I can definitely see, and used to be very elitist with supplies being hard to get unless you knew the right people or knew how to make your own. Nowadays however the industry is much more accessible, although the surge in popularity of tattoos might not be such a good thing - what she terms the “Kat Von D era” has hurt the industry in her opinion. The likes of tattoo artists such as Kat Von D (a somewhat controversial figure these days) made tattooing fashionable and made a lot of people think it’s easy to do - spoiler alert: it’s not.

Kat Von D

Sharon and Dee are obviously both women in the tattoo industry, and there’s definitely been a growth in female tattooists but I wanted to know if it’s still a “boys’ club,” or if the balance has tipped at all. Dee said that it very much is still a boys’ club, and it’s tough being a woman in a male-dominated industry; you have to be thick-skinned and “one of the boys,” able to give as good as you get, in order to survive in the industry. This was really interesting to hear, because as an outsider following a lot of women in the industry, and tattooed by as many women as by men, I thought maybe it was levelling out but apparently that isn’t the case. While this is somewhat disheartening, especially as a woman wanting to go into tattooing, it hasn’t put me off and I hope that it will change in the future. There are so many incredible female tattooists already (I mentioned a few in my previous blog post) and Dee and Sharon are further examples of this, so I really hope that female presence in the industry will encourage more women to take it up.

Although getting to draw on people for a living might seem like an easy job to some, as with all jobs it comes with its challenges. Dee said that the most challenging thing about it is the people, because “people are fickle.” Customers won’t always listen to the advice they’re given regarding aftercare, what designs will work, and what can and can’t be done. “Because tattooing is very much referral based you need to have a good reputation and be personable to a degree,” according to Dee, however “you can’t hold their hand and go home and be their mum,” you have to trust that they’ll listen to you. I found it quite funny that a job that relies almost entirely on people also has people as its biggest downside!

Because I’m keen to go into tattooing myself, I wondered what advice Dee might have for anyone hoping to go into the industry:

“Have a good portfolio, ask at reputable studios when looking for an apprenticeship. Perseverance is important. You need to be thick skinned because it is tough.”

This is pretty good advice to be honest and nothing I wasn’t expecting to hear. Asking at reputable studios is important because if you have a bad teacher you’re not going to put out good work, and with something like tattooing it’s vital that you learn the correct techniques and hygiene procedures. Knowing what I know now about how male-dominated the industry still is, perseverance would be especially relevant to women wanting to start out as tattooists. I may be quite an emotionally sensitive person but when I need to I’m able to put up quite a tough front - having worked on all male teams (apart from myself obviously) in the past, being able to act like one of the boys is nothing new to me, so I’d like to think I’d be able to cut it and certainly develop a much tougher exterior with experience. The thing I most need to work on now is a proper working portfolio specific to getting an apprenticeship - while I have pieces I’ve done for uni and work I’ve done in my own time, I haven’t done much that could translate to tattooing in a while. Now that we’re in lockdown due to the pandemic and I have a ridiculous amount of free time on my hands, I’m definitely going to crack on with that.

Let’s be honest, you can’t really go to a tattoo studio and not come out with a tattoo, especially when they’re only £13. Sharon had space left in the afternoon after finishing the rest of her appointments, so mum and I both got some small tattoos from her. Mum got a little sphinx cat head, and I got a matchstick with a smoky number 13 coming off it.

Mum being tattooed.

The finished cat!

Stencil on and ready to go!

All done!

Two light stabbings later, Sharon and Dee gave us a lovely hug each and we left them to it to close up the studio. I had a great day hanging out with them, and once we’re out of lockdown I’ve got more tattoos booked with Sharon! I left with a better sense of what I need to do to get into the industry and while I’m nervous about it I definitely feel more motivated.

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Oxford Trip

Despite the truly awful weather in Derby and then in Oxford, I had a great time on this trip. I explored Oxford with my teammates for the Platform for Joy project, and it was refreshing to do something with people outside of my normal peer group. We managed to squeeze a surprising amount into our short time in Oxford, visiting the Oxford Museum of Natural History, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and some of the Ashmolean Museum. I’ve always loved museums so getting a day where our whole task was to visit some was a dream!

Our first stop was the Museum of Natural History. We tried following road signs at first and just ended up getting lost, but the magical technology of Google Maps got us there in the end! Natural history museums are like heaven to me because I love taxidermy and articulated skeletons (even though I’m vegan oops). As soon as you enter the museum there are two stuffed bears that you can stroke - I got so excited about them I forgot to take any photos! I did however take plenty of photos of the rest of the museum.

I love butterflies and beetles but absolutely hate moths - I love looking at them when they’re not flapping about in my face though! My favourites here are the two with pearlescent wings.

I don’t care what anyone says, dinosaurs will always be cool, even when you’re not a 6 year old anymore.

A lot of the photos I took in the museum were to use as reference images in the future - for example, I find skulls fascinating to draw, so I took photos of as many animal skulls as I could see.

Here are some bird skulls and a sheep jawbone that I’ve drawn in the past:

My favourite thing about natural history museums is the variety - if you can think of a creature or organism, it’s usually in there, or there’s a fossil of it. In fact, there were so many fossils in the Oxford Museum of Natural History that I felt a bit overwhelmed and didn’t know what to look at!

Our next stop was the Pitt Rivers Museum, which was sort of inside the Museum of Natural History (I was happy about that, because it meant we didn’t have to go back out in the rain).

I found this museum absolutely fascinating because of how many things were in there, it was packed! It was also incredibly interesting from a cultural perspective because it offered so much insight into how different cultures have evolved and their different traditions, but also how there are lots of similarities such as carved masks and figurines.

The collection of human skulls and shrunken heads was slightly surreal to look at but incredibly captivating. They really drive home the nature of our mortality and serve as a reminder that we’ll all eventually end up that way (maybe not as a shrunken head though, but who knows!)

The boys in the group unsurprisingly wanted to go to the floor with all the weapons next. As a (rather out of practice) archer however I was pretty eager to head to that section as well. 

Even though weaponry isn’t really my thing I was amazed by the craftmanship and detail of some of the items.

The part of the museum I most wanted to see however was the body art and tattooing section, due to my own interest in potentially pursuing a career in tattooing.

I find it really interesting how tattooing and similar forms of body art can be found in so many cultures, even if they’ve never interacted, but also how it’s morphed into modern day more Western forms of tattooing. 

The cultural differences in tattooing, in terms of design, technique and meaning are also really interesting. For example, Māori tā moko is a sign of high status and ritual transition from childhood to adulthood in traditional Māori culture, and placement of the tattoos would differ for men and women. Bone chisels (uhi) and a mallet would traditionally be used to place the pigment, which is a huge difference to the metal needles and machines used in modern day tattooing. While most tā moko today is done using tattoo machines, some artists still use the traditional uhi chisel.

Designs in Western tattooing seem to have changed quite considerably, favouring personal styles and variety now over samey “flash” designs; however many tattooists still do what is considered the traditional style of tattooing as seen in the first two photos above. I love the variety you can find in tattooing today and how there is more or less a style that will suit everyone.

Rebecca Vincent

Kelly Violet

Lara Thomson-Edwards

Fidjit Royle 

After a brief interlude to grab some lunch we made our way to the Ashmolean Museum. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to look around so only really managed to look at the exhibits on the ground floor, which mostly covered Ancient Egypt. I’ve always found Ancient Egypt interesting so I was happy that we at least got to see that - I didn’t realise they’d have cat mummies either!

We managed to lose one of the members of our group in the Ashmolean as he’d been dragged away by a security guard for some reason, but thankfully we found him again and we were able to get back to the bus in one piece! We got back to Derby slightly delayed, and then my car broke down trying to get home to Nottingham but I eventually made it home at around midnight after waiting hours for a recovery vehicle! Despite the less than ideal end to the day, the trip to Oxford was great and very insightful.

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Guest Speaker - Neil Sheakey

As an illustrator I wasn’t super interested in the specifics of Neil Sheakey’s role as Design Director at Uniform, because it seems to be very graphic design based. However I was interested in hearing what he had to say about succeeding in the creative sector.

One thing he discussed was the importance of language in its various forms - something we might not think of too much as visual artists. It’s important to understand language, whether it be visual, verbal, or written, and it’s important to know how to use it. To get anywhere in the creative industry you need to be able to talk comfortably about your work and your process. (Top tip he gave us: Look them in the eyebrows.)

Ragon Dickard on Instagram

You should be able to ask yourself and others questions about why something is wrong and how it can be improved - this means learning how to deal with criticism and feedback, which can be hard but is necessary. I used to be terrible with taking on constructive criticism but since being at uni I’ve got so much better at it and can use it to my advantage now. Above all, stay focused.

He also talked a bit about the creative process in an agency, which largely focuses on being able to work as a team and therefore understanding that moving from ‘me’ to ‘we’ can unlock more opportunities. While I don’t really see myself working somewhere like a design agency, I do see the value in knowing how to work with other people and how it translates to pretty much every area of industry.

Bobbi Rae on Instagram

As well as telling us about what it’s like to actually work in the design industry, Neil gave us advice on what to do before getting into the industry. We need to make the most of being at uni and the time we have now, because this is probably the most time and resources we’ll have for a while. We should use this time to explore, research and document as much as we can, collaborate and find likeminded people, understand ourselves, and constantly think, do and reflect so that we can find the best iteration of ideas. 

When it comes to building a portfolio and CV, he stressed the importance of talking about yourself and being comfortable talking about yourself, because that’s what people interviewing you will want to know. Find out what drives you and talk about it - for me at the moment, this would be creating things that make people happy and that put positivity out into the world. Show variety in your portfolio, but only put your best work in - know why something is in there and be able to talk through it.

Most importantly look after yourself, know your worth so that you can find balance, and be yourself.

Anastasia Tasou on Instagram

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Guest Speaker - Simon Spilsbury

Simon Spilsbury for Der Spiegel

In all honesty, I didn’t particularly enjoy this lecture. Despite Simon Spilsbury being a fellow illustrator, I came away from this with very little helpful or motivational information about being a working illustrator. Instead, I found the lecture to be quite depressing and disheartening - I think the above illustration kind of sums up how I feel about it!

He seemed to be quite full of himself and almost bragging about his success for most of the lecture - which is fair enough when you’ve reached the level he has - mostly just showing us the work on his website, which was a slightly dull presentation technique to be honest. However I would’ve thought that with that success he’d want to impart more knowledge on how to break into the illustration world. Instead he was very down on starting a new illustration career and not encouraging at all, saying that illustration isn’t a buoyant market and art departments lack the budget now. To say this to a room full of young artists is incredibly discouraging, especially when there are so many successful younger illustrators out there, for example:

Helena Covell, who recently created POS for Primark’s Christmas campaign

Nottingham based illustrator B. Mure

Jessica Sharville

Despite not agreeing with Simon Spilsbury’s attitude or really liking his illustration style (I do admire the freedom of his style however), I did appreciate hearing about his process and the more technical advice he had to give. He talked about the importance of drawing and idea creation as a simultaneous act, and to always carry a sketchbook for this reason. As someone who struggles with getting ideas down on paper - often I’ll write an idea down, come back to it and then not be able to draw it - I found this to be good advice and something that I need to put into practice. Similarly, he discussed the notion of making ‘collisions’ by throwing out random ideas in order to kickstart the creative process - "creativity isn’t about predictability” -  and that all ideas already exist in the ether, they just need to be found. It’s important to do rather than think - “if you draw, things happen” - and not to have a preconception of the outcome, but to still understand what you’re drawing.

From a practical standpoint Simon gave good advice and I enjoyed the interactive aspect of his lecture, it’s just a shame he didn’t offer much in the way of motivation.

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Guest Speaker - Gareth Hughes and brief delivery

Our guest speaker this week was Gareth Hughes, the research lead for student wellbeing. The focus of his lecture was on wellbeing, especially in relation to happiness and joy - this is key to our final project for the module. I found his lecture incredibly interesting and came away with further material to look into which was great!

One thing in particular Gareth mentioned that caught my attention was The Happiness Lab podcast by Dr Laurie Santos, which I’ve since listened to in its entirety and found really insightful. I love listening to podcasts anyway because they’re a great way of absorbing new information while working on other things. In the first episode of the podcast, Dr Santos interviews Sonja Lyubomirsky, who gives the definition of happiness in two senses: happiness as positive feelings, and happiness as the sense that life is good - more simply, the idea that you can be happy in your life and happy with your life.

This is a nice definition of happiness I think, because it sums it up in two neat categories despite there being many ways of explaining or defining happiness. Some of the definitions that came up in the lecture include:

Accomplishment

Peace of mind

Contentment

Acceptance

These are all valid definitions and fall into the two states of happiness: as a transient emotion, and as a ‘happy life’ - a life made up of many different emotions that lead to a ‘flourishing’ life. According to Aristotle, the ultimate aim of all human activity is to flourish.

There are many things that can make us happy. A sense of belonging, safety and loving/being loved, as well as finding meaning and purpose can make us happy and help us find joy. Something Dr Laurie Santos says in her podcast is that we don’t always know what will make us happy, which I think is important to remember; trying to seek out things that will make us happy can lead to the opposite. For example, we might believe that alcohol and drugs, material items, and money above subsistence will make us happy, but this isn’t true. This idea is covered in episode 2 of The Happiness Lab.

Personally, I find that stability is what makes me happy - having a routine, stable relationships, and some idea (even if only vague) of what I need to do to achieve something all make me feel much calmer and therefore happier.

In order to find happiness and joy, it’s important that we meet our physical needs and interact with out environment. Enough sleep, a good diet, and exercise are essential - it’s important not to normalise tiredness.

Lize Meddings on Instagram

According to Pritchard et al, 2019, interacting with nature significantly boosts wellbeing. Exposure to sunlight for 20-30 minutes a day also helps to improve wellbeing (Harb et al, 2005).

Anastasia Tasou on Instagram

In the modern world we often find ourselves in stressful situations so it’s important to know how to deal with this stress and prompt ourselves out of the ‘stress trance’ when possible. One way of doing this is to engage in mindfulness behaviour in order to calm ourselves and be present. By being present we can make more moments more meaningful and hopefully find joy in the little things.

All of these ideas can be applied to the final project, ‘Platform for Joy’. How can we make train station platforms joyful? There are no doubt endless ways of doing this, but what I want to focus on is nature and mindfulness, which I will explore in further blog posts.

[rhianreesillustration]

Guest Speaker - Al Murphy

Al Murphy

I couldn’t have asked for a better speaker to kick off our series of guest lectures - not only was he funny and upbeat, he was also laid back and incredibly reassuring, and is the kind of person I’d want to be in the professional world.

While our very own Kevin Jones describes Al Murphy as an “illustrative genius,” Al describes himself as more of an “art school fuck up,” telling us that he had to relearn everything about what it is to be an illustrator in order to get to the point he’s at now. Following his first illustration gig with Time Out, he “freaked out and fucked up,” losing the confidence he’d built up up to that point and taking a few years to rebuild that confidence and get good jobs again. But he stressed that this is okay - it’s normal and okay to freak out, and there will be dark moments because you don’t suddenly become a professional. In fact, he likened it to learning to drive, in that you continue to learn once you’ve passed your test. I really appreciated this approach, because he was being honest about how he struggled at first but still reassured us that things will work out alright if we put the work in.

Growing up, Al found himself drawn to certain works and artists such as the Ghostbusters logo, Charlie Brown comics, The Muppets, Keith Haring, Daniel Johnston, and Gary Larson, not realising these were influences, but they have all quite clearly had an impact on his illustrative style and the sense of humour he conveys in his work. I thought the fact that he considers Gary Larson an influence was brilliant! I grew up reading Larson’s The Far Side comics and other works such as There’s A Hair In My Dirt! and I absolutely loved them, for the ridiculous humour and Larson’s simple yet effective illustrative style.

Gary Larson

Al also gave helpful advice for getting into the professional world of illustration. It’s important to grab potential employers’ attention - do the work and do more work. For example, to get a job for Perrier he did 70 sketches in a very short timeframe to have plenty to show them that they could choose from. It’s also necessary to be able to handle criticism well as part of the creative process, to achieve the best outcome.

Al Murphy for Perrier

He also stressed the importance of reaching out to employers with your portfolio to get jobs, and not overly relying on social media - this shows willing. By focusing on what you do and doing it consistently jobs will often find their way to you as well, so don’t try to do everything - do one thing and do it well. I found this particularly helpful advice because something I’m struggling with at the moment is finding my style or my personal voice, but hearing this has motivated me to work out what that is for me. 

As a freelance illustrator he says that the work might not always be fun, so making time to focus on personal work helps to break up the mundanity of the day job. Do silly stuff because you enjoy it - although it might not always lead to more work, sometimes it does, so don’t forget about doing personal work as well. I liked the fact that he talked about focusing on freelancing despite his insecurities about his work - it’s reassuring to hear that even successful artists are insecure but still able to achieve success, and because freelance work is one of the options I’m considering after uni it’s quite encouraging.

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Careers and Networking

Our first Professional Practice sessions had us exploring our skills and personalities and how these can relate to a career in the creative industry.

What are my skills?

As an illustrator, I have artist and designer skills that serve as attractive assets for the fast growing creative industry; these are skills such as creativity, the ability to be detail-oriented, adaptability, communication skills and time management. In small groups we discussed each other’s skills on a more specific level. My peers identified my particular skillset in relation to refinement and attention to detail, idea generation - my ability to come up with strong, unique ideas - and time management and organisation.

The fact that I am studying an illustration degree means I gain certain skills by default. These skills include:

Design and technical skills

Teamwork

Capacity to work individually

Analytical skills

Research skills

Networking

Flexibility

What is my personality type? 

After taking the Myers-Briggs personality test I determined that I am an ISFJ, or ‘Protector’. This wasn’t surprising to me, because all the aspects of this personality type match me quite closely!

As an ISFJ, I get my energy from myself and my thoughts (introversion), rather than from other people, and I’m focused on my own senses. I use feelings and values to make decisions, and I’m organised. I deal with detail, routine and facts, and have the ability to get the right things to the right people at the right time. These are all definitely accurate, especially the introversion and organisation aspects. These assets will also be particularly useful as a working illustrator.

Illustration by Gemma Correll

Part of this ‘Protector’ personality also means that I need to feel that my work is of practical value and usefulness to others. This makes a lot of sense to me, as I’ve always wanted to make art that impacts people in some way and has some kind of purpose, rather than just something nice to look at; for example, before I started uni I made a zine detailing the signs of emotional and sexual abuse because I wanted to help people avoid it. You can see the zine here: https://indd.adobe.com/view/49228a01-042d-4e6d-9217-808172af803e

The idea is to use our individual skills and personalities to build a personal brand that we can use to promote ourselves in the professional world, which leads me on to networking.

What is the significance of networking?

75% of creative graduates get their first graduate role through a contact. This just goes to show that networking is definitely something to consider. Even though the thought of networking makes me feel quite nervous, I recognise it as something important to building a career so it’s not something I would ignore. And the beauty of networking is that it isn’t one size fits all! There are so many ways of doing it that there’ll be something that works for everyone. In fact, in the age of social media, it might actually be easier than ever to network, because all you need to do is drop someone a quick message on Instagram or LinkedIn to get the ball rolling. 45% of the students in Visual Communications degrees actually said they’d prefer to network through social media.

When trying to network, it is important to understand your individual strengths and abilities and know how to tell people about them. It’s also important to be good at listening to people as well as talking to them. I much prefer listening to people than talking about myself so I’ve definitely got that part down! I’m aware that my modesty and shyness may hinder me though, so I need to practice talking about my strengths in a networking situation.

The goal is to be the ‘Builder’ when networking; have a giving disposition, be happy to ask for guidance, listen and learn, look out for information others might benefit from, and be organised. I’m most of the way there but I do struggle with asking for guidance, although I have been working on this and I’m definitely better at it now. 

Graduate Opportunities

Once you’ve cracked networking then you need to think about what happens next. As an illustrator I have a few options for graduate work, such as working in a studio, working freelance, tattooing, or doing creative work in non-creative industries.

I briefly mentioned in my ‘about me’ section that I’m interested in working in the tattoo industry, so one option I want to consider is sorting out a proper working portfolio to take to tattoo studios in the hopes of getting an apprenticeship. However if this is something I’m unable to achieve then I still have options, because every industry needs creative work.

[rhianreesillustration]

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