On the 25th of March our university held a talk with Aimee Stewart and Sarah Habershon. Aimee is a graduate of the university, now a senior designer at Scholastic, and Sarah is art director for the G2 feature in the Guardian.

It was interesting to hear from the clients view point and how they find illustrators through not just emails/ agencies but by looking through Instagram as well. Also how they keep in mind illustrators they have seen for a project say a year later they might contact them then.

On the 18th March Vivien Mildenberger answered questions on the Bright Agency US Instagram and I took some notes from what she said as it was interesting to hear about.

On the 18th of March 2021 our uni held a talk with graduates Hazel Mason and Rachel Tunstall who both have worked with editorial clients.

It was insightful hearing from both illustrators and how they have managed to start their careers in getting client commissions not that long after leaving uni. Also it has put in perspective in how they still have part time jobs even thought they have illustration work coming in, something I think is important to have as having a job gives you an income when you might not have client work yet or at a certain time. Also they are getting work through contacts/ emailing themselves rather than being with an agency, as they are learning how to communicate and balance their own work/ pricing.

Here are some articles/videos etc. that I have found recently and maybe don’t fit into one subject, but apply to general aspects of Illustration.

On the 11th March 2021 our university held a talk with the comic book artists ​Duncan Fegredo and Sean Phillips.

I wasn’t sure what to get out of this talk but it was definitely interesting and I have learnt stuff from it. Comics have been something that I have never read but I think there are aspects of them that I can relate to. The general idea of compositions and storytelling within them are what I am inspired by from them, as well as the more illustrative comics that using interesting textures/ colours. My only interest with the superhero side of comics is probably watching the Batman animated series as a kid. I feel that comics have developed into the video game world where you can actually play out the action elements, like I remember playing the Halo, Fable, Elder Scrolls and Timesplitters franchises and you sort of take on the role of the characters by taking them through the story.

On the 4th of March 2021 our university held a talk with illustrator Lucy Hadley and graphic designer Vince Waldon, both graduates from the university.

I have been following Lucy’s work for a while now and it was nice to hear her perspective on the illustration industry and journey into printing a book. I was also aware of Vince’s studio through Instagram and the points he made about not undervaluing yourself in abilities or pricing is something I think is really important. I definitely feel the area I struggle with most is confidence, like if I need to ‘act’ like I am then I will do so, but it is difficult to constantly believe that I could fulfil a career of being an illustrator and that my work is even good enough to sell/ be commissioned for. So it is something I am trying to get better with and not worry about.

I have created this cv to try out a way of laying out my experience, skills and education to be easy to read and do the job of simply giving information to the reader. I think it is okay for what it does, it is my first attempt at doing a creative cv and I have tried to keep the element of a normal cv suppling information rather than visuals, as that is what your portfolio is for, to show your art. I have only included my part time job, as I needed to fill the space and it has its pros, but until I have more creative experience to replace it, it will stay. I doubt I will put this on my website for now as it is more of a task to learn from rather than have use for my website. Also education wise I don’t need to list every subject or even include grades from school, I don’t think they are really necessary when you have college grades or a degree, though I might add them in if I change my mind. I would refine it further when I have more time. Notes - it is blurry because for some reason I can’t save the file as an image so could only take a screen shot, and I haven’t included phone number/ address as this is posted online, while in the actual cv I would include the personal information. 

Here are some agencies/publisher’s pages where their contact information is available. I have looked into LinkedIn as well as that is a platform that is made for work and connecting with other people/ clients.