1. Hello! My name is Ellie and I’m going to tell you about my second year as an illustrator. 2. This is the last slide from my first year presentation which shows all of the things that I aimed to achieve this year. When I look back on my first year I have realised that I didn’t utilise the ‘play and experiment’ element as effectively as I should have due to being too concerned about being neat and keeping my blog up to date. This year I wanted to re-visit all of the things that I feel I missed out on, and just having a more confident and positive attitude towards the course, going by the motto ‘Say yes to everything’. 3. Over the summer I found myself becoming really detached from my passion for illustration due to coping with a family bereavement and being stuck in a monotonous day job packing bread rolls. I still managed to tackle my summer briefs despite life getting in the way, and challenged myself to draw a double page spread every day on a specific theme, mainly subjects that I found difficult for example shoes, birds etc. Towards the end of this project I found that I really enjoyed drawing buildings, which developed from the theme ‘draw every house you have lived in. 4. I went on to develop this further by creating a zine called ‘the illustrated Otley Run’, which acts as a visual guide to Leeds’ most popular pub crawl, and I was really excited because someone bought one and wrote an Instagram post about it! It was also the first time that I had been to a comic convention, which opened my eyes to the world of sequential art, cosplay and various other narrative platforms. 5. For the other part of the summer project, ‘About the Author’ I chose to study writer and neurologist, Oliver Sacks and was inspired and really moved at the lengths he went to in order to truly understand the nature and difficulties that his patients faced. In hindsight I think I would have flourished more if I would have chosen to study an author that wrote fictional books as opposed to case studies as I found myself going back into my ‘drawing literally’ mode, and not really developing my image making skills as much as I’d hoped. This was the module that I struggled with the most as I found it really difficult to adapt to the structure of second year with the projects being much longer and self driven as well as my level of motivation being extremely low. 6. For my final prints I decided to visually communicate the symptoms and struggles of three neurological conditions that are commonly misunderstood by the outside world. I was pleased with the concept of the prints however in terms of presenting to an audience I realised that the category was quite niche in the fact that people may only relate to the content if they know the work of Oliver Sacks really well. 7. For the exhibition at Colours May Vary, I was part of the marketing team helping to spread promote and spread awareness about the exhibition, also helping to run the Facebook page and take photographs on the night. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to sell any of my prints, but I didn’t really expect to, yet this is something I aim to consider more thoroughly in further projects. 8. For ‘Life’s a pitch’ we came up with a business called ‘visuwallise’ that specialised in interior and exterior space rejuvenation. The whole project was challenging as each of our group members had different interests and different ways of working. Whilst evaluating my work from 504 and thinking about an audience that would have appreciated my prints, I started to look into how creative practice is used within the healing environment and produced some designs for murals within children’s hospitals which is something that I would be interested in researching in the future. The whole brief gave me confidence in working with other creatives, and an insight into setting up a creative business after graduation, which has previously been a concept that I have found extremely daunting. 9. I started Responsive relatively late due to struggling with 504 in the first semester, but I gradually eased myself into the swing of it by starting entering Illustration Friday every week. I set myself the
restriction of only being able to use digital tools as I wanted to improve my skills within photoshop and illustrator. 10. I also set restrictions within my Secret7 submissions as I wanted to challenge myself further in working to set colour schemes and formats; I used birds to symbolise the meanings and themes of each song and a palette of four colours. In hindsight I realised that both with illustration Friday and with Secret7 I didn’t necessarily tackle the briefs efficiently, as I used them more as a means to increase and build on my own skills rather than adapt them to suit the client. 11. The Crispin Orthotics brief really motivated me as it related to the current interest I had in developing creative solutions to problems revolving around health conditions. I had’t really experimented a great deal with pattern prior to this brief, but I found it really enjoyable, and it gave me a greater sense of satisfaction knowing that a design I produced could potentially boost a patients confidence when wearing orthotic devices. 12. The plusnet brief was probably the most difficult as it was so broad and open to interpretation. The CEO of the company asked for ‘absolutely anything but it has to display an element of Yorkshire Charm’. I based my design on the Yorkie’s love for a brew by creating a dialogue bird on a wire scenario. I was disappointed that I didn’t carry forward with my initial simpler idea as it was more effective, and the people at plusnet actually preferred it to the final design. From this I have learnt to trust my instincts more! 13. For my substantial brief I took on the Penguin Design Award which I found the most enjoyable and versatile in the means of visually interpreting themes and narratives within each of the books. However this brief caused some serious time management issues for me, as I didn’t anticipate how long each design would take, especially Emil and the Detectives as it required so much more attention to detail with the target audience being young readers. This resulted in me completing my design for ‘How to be a Woman’ on the morning of the deadline, which was really careless and unprofessional, although I was surprisingly happy with the outcome. This brief was a real turning point for me as it was the first time that I had seen my work being mocked up on a professional level (besides secret7) which gave me a real confidence boost and inspired me to read and reflect upon further books. 14. For the collaborative brief I worked alongside Amber, another illustrator, and two graphic designers on the D&AD Design Bridge Brief. We had to create a mass market cosmetic range that didn’t have a gender stereotype attached to it. This was really interesting as it persuaded us to research and gain a better understanding into issues surrounding gender identity, including repression and discrimination. 15.We called our brand ‘Eden’, which originated from the concept of everything being natural and non judgemental in the story of creation. It was really useful to work with other creatives from other disciplines to pick up different skills, learn some principles of graphic design and contribute within various roles to create a final product. I started to notice how much more confident I was becoming in myself and my ability due to working in groups and getting to know people in the studio that I didn’t talk to much in first year. Although I still hang on to my defeating perfectionist habits, I have been able to let go of these as well as my insecurities about how good my work is in comparison to others, which I think has been greatly helped by having the opportunity to collaborate. 16. Over the summer I became used to my mum coming home every day from work and having a rant over dinner about the state of the NHS (she is a midwife), and as annoying as it was I actually became quite interested in the crisis that it is currently facing. I was really inspired by Jamie Oliver’s latest documentary called ‘sugar rush’, aiming to launch a campaign to put a 20% tax on sugary drinks in order to help fight obesity, particularly as now one in three children are obese by the age of five.
17. I feel as if my skills within COP have improved significantly from last year, particularly with academic writing skills and my ability to synthesise. I created a comic strip telling the story of an obese teenage girl trying to lose weight at the same time as becoming a victim to the food industries manipulative methods of persuasive advertising. I then looked into the effectiveness of shock advertising campaigns lead by the government, and how this can be applied to preventing obesity. My COP project has further fed into my interest in health and wellbeing, and has given me an insight in the visual methods of communication that can help inform and educate people about various medical conditions and lifestyle choices. 18. For 505 I initially intended to combine all of my interests that I have developed this year into a workshop programme to be delivered within schools. I carried out various questionnaires asking participants their opinions of subjects that should be more heavily emphasised within the school curriculum which included life skills, mental health, better sex education etc. Having visited a Primary and a Secondary school I was able to both teach and observe the way in which pupils are taught, and their different responses to manual and creative ways of learning. Halfway through the project I wasn’t really getting anywhere, and I found myself being more inclined to writing to the prime minister to sort out all of the corruptions within the education system, rather than focusing on my project. 19. I took ‘health and wellbeing’ as a starting point and approached it from a different angle, and decided to produce a self care package targeted at teenagers and young adults dealing with educational or emotional stress. 20. I think that this was one of my most successful self-driven projects, and I am really proud of the outcome especially as it could potentially allow users to express themselves and take time out to develop a good practice of self awareness and self care. 21. I went on to use some of the pattern designs from 505 in my creative presence and personal branding as I felt that the positive imagery and handmade type reflected the authenticity of my practice. 22. This brief was extremely difficult for me as I found producing professional documents at such an early stage in my practice really daunting, which made me doubt my ability and feel as if I wasn’t ready to be at this stage. I kept telling myself that these are working documents, and they will continually develop and change alongside my practice, which helped to put my mind at ease. 23. Writing CV’s is one of the most painfully cringeworthy things for me (and I'm sure it is for so many other people) as I hate bragging about things and creating a sort of ‘false front’ to represent who I am as a persona and as a creative. I did my best though and tried to sound as genuine as possible, despite it slightly resembling a measly year 11 PHSE CV template. 24. I haven’t launched a proper website yet, as I would be paying a fee for something that I wouldn't have the amount of content to utilise efficiently. I have designed what I could see it looking like so far, and hope to develop it further over summer. 25. I decided to keep my existing twitter and instagram accounts, as I already follow the professionals that inspire me on both forms, and also have an okay-ish number of followers. I would be more selective and professional about what I choose to post now that I am displaying my professional work, e.g. not too many drunken photos or tweets complaining about lack of sleep and food etc. Another reason that I have chosen to keep my accounts is that I feel that it is important every now and again to post social pictures to gain followers an insight on personal interests, hobbies, different places, social activity to show a healthy balance of life outside of professionalism.
I’ve also set up an ETSY store which I aim to sell little bits and pieces of illustration on, for example zines, postcards, greetings cards etc. I’m not going to be taking this super seriously as I would like to explore illustrative processes and products in a wider context. 26. Moving on to things I’ve done in my own time; I haven't been to as many exhibitions and print fairs, and set time aside to do my own work as I’d have hoped to. But I did manage to go along to a few different things including the ‘Comix Creatrix’ exhibition at the House of Illustration. I’m not a huge comic book enthusiast myself, but this exhibition was absolutely stunning and truly inspiring, giving me a whole different perspective to sequential imagery and narrative within illustration. 27. I discovered two comics/graphic novels in particular that have since really inspired my practice, which look at telling stories and sharing experiences about real issues that exist on a personal basis and within society as a whole. The two publications are quite different from eachother, but share the same principal of informing the audience about the crippling wrath of eating disorders, and the extent to which sexual abuse is still a huge taboo subject with so many people still suffering in silence. This has encouraged me to start looking at different ways to explore, visually communicate and understand more sensitive and emotional subject matters through narrative, which is something I am really passionate about developing within my practice. 28. I went along to an information day about the practice of Art Therapy at the BAAT to gain a better understanding of the discipline, as this is something that I am eager to study further down the line. The whole day was so interesting and I was fascinated by the methods in which therapists undertake to help clients express themselves and overcome their personal difficulties through a platform of visual communication, as well as unpicking the language and emotions visible within their artwork and creating solutions to aid their recovery process. 29. ~I have full permission to use these photographs~ I have continued my student ambassador work, this year engaging in creative workshops with children, which has enhanced my teaching skills and given me more confidence whilst working with young people. 30. Looking at my Project and Time management within the last year, I have definitely become more complacent. Although I have noticed that I am putting more time into the physical craft element of each project as opposed to spending more time blogging like I did in first year. 31. I have still managed to keep an organised mindset by creating weekly colour coded timetables with allocated time to spend on each module. However, due to my struggles in the first semester, I found myself being set back time wise for the whole year, meaning that I had to rush a lot of my briefs, and found myself staying up all night to meet deadlines, and actually having to sprint to college to meet the 505 deadline (which I am NOT proud of!) 32. I have started to write monthly review posts on my blog, which have acted as good checkpoints within my personal development and productivity. These include things that I am proud of, things I want to develop further/need improving and practitioners that have inspired me. 33. In terms of starting my dissertation research, my topic is really broad and up in the air at the moment, but I wanted to continue looking at how illustration and methods of visual communication can be utilised within a health and social context, and the effectiveness and benefit of products that aren't associated with consumer culture. 34. So far I have emailed the NHS work experience department and a local hospice in my hometown asking about potential placements and interviews with staff and patients. 35. Over the summer I aim to develop my professional practice further, as well as research my dissertation topic and take on self-set projects. I also have a more exciting summer job this year
which will involve living in the woods and working on an activity camp for children and teenagers, which I hope will improve my teaching skills. 36. I want to enter into third year feeling ready to work really hard on my development as a professional, and exploring my practice further. I have realised how important it is to maintain a positive mindset within a creative profession, as any negativity or struggles can really affect the quality and productivity of work. 37. Thanks for listening!