Throughout my time at university this module has been my
favourite, it provided me with space to evaluate my work and the practitioners
I admire. It’s also pushed me to be more professional.
I also think it’s been my favourite module because
regardless of grades I have always felt it has been my most successful. I found
that my strengths lie in branding, networking and opportunities and although I
am not the most prolific worker, my strength is utilising the work I create and
placing it within a professional context.
The branding I created for myself this year is something
that I see myself using for a considerable amount of time, which is important
in a brand. By using a pseudonym of ‘Wren’ I have felt more confident as a
professional by separating my persona’s, as an individual I am anxious and
unorganised, professionally as ‘Wren’ I am able to talk to more people, create
a brand that is separate from myself but coexists at the same time. I think it
makes me more confident to have a translucent screen in place.
My presentation this year was organised and completed over a
week before the Thursday I was presenting, which for me was incredibly
organised, this allowed me time to refine what I was going to say and I think
this organisation made it run a lot smoother than in past years. I think
through creating a consistent layout throughout made it more professional but
it was simple enough not to distract from the work I was showing. In hindsight
I wish I spoke clearer about my progression after university, as my
apprenticeship is something that I’m incredibly passionate about and I feel
I’ve found my place a little more within the creative sector.
Due to my direction after university I haven’t found it
relevant to my practice to contact illustration agencies and studios, I feel
like I would have been wasting my time and theirs. I have contacted
professionals, and focused on those that, like me, are illustrators as well as
tattooists, I had some success with this as most replied. I felt after the
first five I was repeating myself and doing it for the sake of it. I recognise
that more effort should have been put into this part of the module on my part,
that it would help get out of my bubble, but since starting my new job I have
gained 6 professional and recognised tattooists that are there to advise me.
I believe one of my strengths to be my organisation, I plan
my week every Monday morning and stick to this as much as possible, I found
through list-making I knew exactly what I needed to do and by when. This works
to help me stick to deadlines for various exhibitions and commissions and also
helps to keep my anxiety at bay. I also
feel that although not the fastest worker, the work I produce is utilised and
placed across branding, my online presence and my Etsy. I think I am good at
stretching work I complete that I am happy with to get the most out of it.
My biggest weakness is motivation, although my time is
always organised to a high standard, the will to complete certain tasks is
outweighed by being demotivated, I think this is partly due to my mental health
but after three years I am disappointed in myself that I haven’t managed it
better. Another weakness is contacting professionals as stated previously, I
find the things I enjoyed most about this module are the things I completed to
a high standard, such as branding and contextual research, but the things I
enjoyed less or felt I was just ticking boxes for are areas that became
lacking. I think that whilst knowing exactly what I’m doing after university
and what I want to achieve has been a blessing, it has also dulled that panic
and fire that would drive me to contact people and push myself into internships
whilst trying to figure things out.
