Hopes, Fears and Opportunities

We were asked to have a discussion about our hopes, fears and opportunities, for the final year at university, and after becoming a design graduate. 

I think we all had high hopes for our final year and we all wanted to do well obviously. For myself it was about really finding my niche and progressing with my own style. I wanted to learn how to further my process, and have been doing a lot of research and have found lots of new inspirations to help with this. I wanted to learn a lot more about photography and lighting, which I feel so much more confident with now, and every time I complete a project I feel I have gained that little bit more experience with using the equipment. One thing I really wanted to do was to learn more skills on the computer, such as Illustrator and also how to make animations, I have not achieved  this yet. I do not want this to be my downfall! My main hope was to have a portfolio that I am proud of which I feel I have achieved, and I have had great feedback about my work which makes it all worth while!

My fears, well I have a few! Firstly it's time, I am a mum and studying at the same time which is real hard work with having such a huge responsibility. Juggling my personal life and professional life is a challenge to say the least. I feared I would struggle with deadlines, but I think is more a confidence issue and not trusting in my ideas at the beginnings of projects is what has sometimes got me behind. I fear that I may not be able to think of ideas when I am in industry, and I work much better when given a specific brief. I am not keen on open briefs that we have been given and I think that's where the problems start! Once I have started a project and I feel my idea is strong I throw myself into it and I really enjoy myself, I just hope I don't hit certain hurdles in future. Other fears I have are to do with technology! I am not a computer whizz and I don't want to be but sometimes I am lacking a few skills, but I am slowly learning through the help of my kind class mates! I feared that I would miss some important meetings at uni due to having to be elsewhere, which sadly has happened. I did not have the opportunity to meet my graphic guru and felt I missed out. 

My aim for my future is simple, I want to be a successful illustrator! Managing my time effectively will enable this and so university is great for preparing me for industry. I would love to further my style, try new things, be daring and experiment. I recently had a portfolio visit and there may be an opportunity to show my work to exhibition and events organisers who manage stage sets. It would be amazing if I was given the opportunity to design a set! I would love to see my work in a magazine one day, or to design window installations would be a dream! I know after graduating it is going to be a struggle to say the least with all the competition out there, but I feel artists who hand-make their art works have a slight edge, it's different and genuine and requires skill. It's only my opinion and I respect illustrators who work digitally but for me you can't beat hand-made! It is so versatile and can be applied in many different ways. I may like to make my own things to sell which is something I have thought about too. I think I'd like to work as a collective or have a studio space with other creatives around me to keep the inspirations flowing! For my final major project I really want to push myself and my ideas and move up a notch. I want to work bigger, I'd like to create something that can be experienced. Working on a larger scale will enable people to walk into my work, which I want to be about taking them back to childhood and creating a sense of nostalgia. I am currently thinking of a theme for this and will carry on with my research for ideas and inspiration.