study task 1- Who am I? Why am I here?

5 things I have learned so far on the programme:

•  keeping a good sketchbook isn't about being pretty but being productive! sketching and scamps and redoing images over and over again is key to getting an eventual successful idea
•  to-do lists are very handy and are a great way to keep on track with work but also de-stress
•  more technical skills: I had barely touched Adobe Illustrator before this course and had done very little animation
•  experiment with styles and skills: there is still time to be a failure, and messing up leads to doing things right and better (and sometimes the mistakes are good!)
•  context and meaning makes an image so much more interesting

5 things that I want to learn more about:

• how can I establish a working creative practice that means I can produce work that I deem successful and *good* but also make a living wage?
• how to be a good professional and get these jobs!
• how does editorial illustration work and is this a suitable practice for me?
•  using analogue media and translating it to digital formats: something I started to look at in the first year but have yet to master either!
• it's a bit general but how to be a really good illustrator. what makes a good artist, and how can I make unique and creative work

5 skills that I think are my strengths:

•  I spend a lot of time in the ideas stage and try to create a good range in the sketchbook stage in the hope of getting something good! Sometimes I wonder if this is lost in the final piece though
•  short deadlines: I work better with a little pressure and smaller projects seem to get my brain ticking more than long winded ones. I need to learn to sustain ideas.
•  time management: I've always been able to manage deadlines
•  I think over the past year I've become better at not procrastinating. working in  the studio environment helps avoid this a lot I find!
•  I tend to veer towards character based work whether a brief specifically calls for it or not, so maybe it's a strength (that I play to too much)

5 things I want to improve:

•  my time management may be good, and I may get things done in time but I still struggle to prioritise what I do. this results in rushed jobs with a poorer quality and/or lots of extra hours
•  my essay writing skills: the COP module was a blunder for me last year! writing the essay was a downfall of mine, but so was coming up with a theme for it.
• my presentation/ communication skills: last year's presentations were actually a lot better than presentations I have done in the past, but were by no means good. I'd like to be able to speak more confidently and have more confidence in my ideas, be it in a presentation or crit scenario.
• I think I've improved in my flexibility but I'd like to be more adaptable as an illustrator, visually and thematically
•  I think that this year may be the time that I need to find more of a voice in my work, or be able to express one. Not in visual style so much (I need to work at being adaptable) but in context and opinions and themes.

5 practitioners that demonstrate my interest in illustration:

 Jillian Tamaki is a huge inspiration. She clearly has a lot of technical skill that she puts to good practice whilst maintaining an interesting tone of voice and style that can be adapted over a wide range of projects. She is unique and yet flexible, which I think are both very important qualities to have as an illustrator. She is also talented as a writer which is also handy!

Geoff McFetridge has an incredible eye for shape and figure! He achieves a lot- humour, feeling, visuals- in a very simple image. Since I started this course I've been thinking about shape in image a lot.

Laura Carlin  is a talented editorial illustrator, she has the ability to tackle serious articles thoughtfully and carefully, which is admirable. I think that a few have tried to copy and emulate what she does, but have not been able to achieve this thoughtfulness and delicacy. I'm also interested in how she works with analogue media.

Michael DeForge has a wild imagination that I'm not sure I could ever rival, but is always a good inspiration to have to hand when wanting to make something more *out there* narratively but also visually. His imaginative drawings go beyond single images and he is also a talented storyteller and comic maker.

Mogu Takahashi is someone I touched upon in my PPP presentation of last year. I admire her playfulness and looseness, and whilst it might not be something that would be entirely suitable for what I want to do (and copying anyone is just plain silly) her clear confidence and lack of fear in her image making is an inspiration to me

5 websites/ online resources:

• It's Nice That: offers a wide range of contemporary design practice as well as illustration, and blogs about these in bite sized chunks for quick new information. I follow It's Nice That on social networks for a steady stream with little effort!
• The AOI: highlights contemporary illustration practitioners whilst, very importantly, offering advice and support (though I believe you have to be a member to access this)
•  D&AD: I believe D&AD works in a similar way to the AOI, providing help and support but to a broader design community. The events they hold are renowned in the design community and offer huge opportunities for networking.
•  Heart Agency: understanding how an art/ illustration agency works is good to know and potentially very important for my practice, but agency websites like Heart also provide information and news about practising illustrators.
•  Dutch Uncle: similar reasons to why I picked Heart, but also provides a little bit broader information about the design community than Heart- with animators and graphic designers also in their roster, and possibly on a more international scale with clients in Japan.