SWOT

STRENGTH

I think strengths in my practice include creating a hand-rendered feel to an image using traditional and hand-drawn techniques. I also think that attention to detail and ability to follow a brief to its full requirements/deliverables is another of my strengths and my ability to manage my time as effectively as I can.

WEAKNESS

My main weakness is a lack of digital skill. I am not comfortable with using either Photoshop or Illustrator so have avoided these means of image making over my time and the course which has naturally led to a decline in my ability to use the software. I am rectifying this by slowly teaching myself how to use the software to enhance my practice.

OPPORTUNITY

I think opportunity in my work may possibly lie within a narrative field, or maybe in some sot of retail. In all honesty, I can't pinpoint where my work sits within illustration and feel that having the flexibility to work in different sectors could give me an advantage. There is also always opportunity to build on and develop new and existing skills.

THREAT

Threats to my practice include other practitioners that have a broader skill set than me. I also think that my lack of confidence could in a way be a threat, I don't have it in me to network and 'put myself out there' and I feel that in the long run this is only going to stop me from advancing myself as a professional and my practice.

Study Task 2 - Where Does My Work Sit...

Publishing and Book Design

Editorial and Reportage

Character and Narrative

Product and Packaging

Retail and Merchandise

Object and Environment

Advertising and Promotion 

Where does my work sit within the creative industries?

Personally at the moment I don't think that my practice sits comfortably in any of these industries. I haven't specialised enough to focus my work on one particular industry and honestly I haven't given much thought about it before. If I had to, I'd say that my work probably fits best with publishing an book design, character and narrative and possibly retail and merchandise? 

Where do I want my work to sit within the creative industries?

I'd quite like to expand my practice to fit comfortably within product and packaging and retail and merchandise. That being said I also find publishing and book design and character and narrative to be areas of interest and a industry that I'd also like to explore. Personally I think that it's best for illustrators/creatives to be flexible, by all means specialise in something but I think the people that might do well will be open to applying their work to other industries as well and that's something that I'd be interested in achieving. 

Time Management - Work vs Uni vs Attempting To Have A Social Life vs Not Loosing My Grip On Reality

I'm having a really hard time trying to juggle everything thats going on right now and it seems that no amount of time planning or diary keeping or calendar writing can help me keep on top of everything. I am currently really behind with COP and Responsive, kind of doing okay with PPP, and pretty much on top of 504 Process and Production, so I'd say I was half on top of stuff, half falling behind on the rest of it. Having collaborative responsibility in Responsive is also something that takes up time that I definitely can't avoid.

Aswell as juggling four different modules I'm having to fit in 16 hours of work at my part-time job which is spread over 4 nights at 4 hour shifts. I know these aren't stupidly massive shifts and in all honesty it's a pretty easy, if tiring, job BUT trying to keep on top of work and then go and spend all evening working somewhere else is proving to be a problem in terms of how much I'm getting done. Unfortunately, not having the job would make uni life even more stressful than it already is so this isn't something that I can get rid of, but I am thinking less hours would be a hell of a lot easier for me.

It'd also be kind of nice to keep a bit more a social life this year and also get through second year with my sanity in tact. Last year was really stressful, I was struggling with my mental health and didn't really spend time with many people outside of uni. This year I really need to make sure I'm looking after myself but also making sure I'm going out and doing things and makings friends and having a bit of fun.

I'm going to try my best to make some sort of time plan/way of dealing with everything but my shifts at work change weekly and there's always something different going on at uni every week and then it's always nice to do something for myself/with others when I have a chance.

Slightly pointless blog post but I kind of needed to get my thoughts about all this out.

Nomi Chi

I recently found Nomi Chi while having a quick look on Juxtapoz and she is stupid good at everything I wish I could be good at. Naomi is a Canadian Illustrator and Tattooist based in Vancouver. Inspired by nature, esoterica and the macabre, her illustration practice is quite surreal with hand drawn and painted features throughout.

- I love the quality of line used in more of her line base images, theres a great attention to detail in Nomi's work especially within her characters and animal based illustrations 

- I also really like her use of shape. I tend to avoid shape as I feel it's too blocky for me and I can't communicate enough through a lack of detail but I really like how she's used the shape of the rabbit and then worked back into it to add more detail 

- Colours aren't my favourite and I struggle to work with them sometimes but Nomi's work incorporates mostly soft pastel tones in a way thats not too overpowering to the artwork. 

- Spot images are great, everyone loves a nicely composed illustration of some scenery or landscape but I seem to be a little more drawn to images that work well as stand alone pieces. Sometimes less is more. 

- Nomi's creative talent extends into her tattooing practice aswell, both have their similarities and differences and in an interview I was reading Nomi explains that her illustration practice is more of a personal outlet where as her tattooing practice has to be more structured than the work she makes in her free time 

- I've been really interested in tattoo's and tattooing for a few years now and it wasn't until the last year or so that I've started to consider this as something I might like to gain some experience in and possibly turn into a career, it's nice to see that there are other people out there that had a similar ambition/interest and to see how their work is evolving 

- All in all, a really cool gal with really great work

I Made A Zine!

Over the past few weeks I've been thinking about the idea that sometimes we never get a chance to tell people somethings because of loss of connection/relationship/friendship. I sometimes wondered what I'd say to people if I got the chance to meet them again or if we had a chance to talk and started thinking about making a little zine about it. About a week ago I was reading an article in Oh Comely about letters wrote to past boyfriends, bringing to light all the things that the writer had left unsaid. I think seeing something that I was thinking about in a published magazine gave me the confidence to run with my own ideas and create a little zine called 'Unspoken', based around the idea of things that are left unsaid.

It's pretty simple really, and the copies of it are only photocopied but it was really good to be able to recognise something that I was thinking/feeling, create something out of that an publish it for the world to see, it the whole process was very relaxing and i think I'd definitely be up for making more things like this again!

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Study Task 1 - 5 Things...

5 things I've learnt on this programme so far... 
- Roughs are important
- Mistakes are okay (and sometimes lead to good things)
- Immerse yourself in research 
- Photoshop/Illustrator is the devil 
- Colours aren't that scary 

5 skills I think are my strengths...
- Pencil work/line work 
- Researching 
- Being more exhaustive within my sketchbook 
- Roughing 
- Procrastinating 

5 things I want to improve...
- Time Management 
- Digital Skills
- Regular Blogging
- Mental Health/Self Confidence/Attendance
- Confidence within my work 

5 things I want to know more about... 
- How to network
- Collaboration
- Getting my work 'out there' 
- How to present myself in a more professional manner
- Digital image making, particularly how to keep a hand-made feel to an image when creating work digitally 

5 practitioners that demonstrate my interest in Illustration...
- Alice Ferrow
- Tallulah Fontaine 
- Lizzy Stewart
- Irana Douer
- Gemma Topliss 
- Harriet Lee-Merrion

5 websites/online resources that demonstrate my areas of interest within the creative industries...
- Juxtapoz - Literally just found Nomi Chi on here and she is ridiculously good at everything I want to be good at 
- Creative Review - reviews creative things, wonderful
- Pinterest - Kind of typical but I find that it's really useful to just find what you want pretty quickly, good source of inspiration, easy to find funky illustrations
- Frankie Magazine - always have really cool cover art and also interviews with/articles on all different kinds of practitioners, mostly look at the printed magazine but they have some funky bits and pieces on their website too
- Oh Comely - not necessarily an online resource but a printed magazine that features different illustrators every issue, I've found some really great work through this magazine so thought it deserved a mention