Organise my life into neat little time brackets:

Things I have done this year that meets the learning outcomes:
- Had a stall at Thought Bubble + other art markets.
- Specific artist research that informs my practice and where I want to be.
- Updated website and branding
- Learnt how to invoice and push clients to pay me.
- Did Live Art + Projections which meant experimenting with new media and building a presence in Leeds.

Things I need to do by June:
- Update website again with work as completed and fully update my branding.
- Refine and hone my practice appropriate for tattooing which will create a solid ground for when I leave.
- Put together my professional illustration portfolio and a portfolio/flash book for tattooing.
- Complete competition briefs and process driven briefs appropriate for my professional portfolio.
- Feel a bit proud and be more confident in my work.

Things I want to achieve at the end of 2017 (one year out of my degree):
- Have completed the 1st year of my apprenticeship.
- Don't contract any blood-borne viruses (through learning about cross-contamination and clinical waste)
- Don't starve (Have a sustainable income)
- Be able to move out of home only when it's viable to keep my car (and I have a sustainable income)
- Continue my illustrative practice outside of tattooing through freelance work and self-directed products (through Etsy or something similar, which will also support my income)

Things I want to achieve in five years time:
- Be a fully qualified tattooist.
- Travel Europe as a guest artist in tattoo parlours.
- Be self-sufficient enough to own my horse.
- Have enough free time to dedicate at least one morning per week to a sanctuary.
- Continue illustrative practice (as above) and through my branding as a tattoo artist.

Problems and worries:
- Money.
- Not keeping up my practice and loosing momentum.
- Having to work so much to support myself (i.e. in a bar) that I don't have enough time to be a creative.
- Relying too much on one opportunity (i.e. apprenticeship) that could fall through.
- Trying and failing, and falling flat on my arse.
- Ending up in debt.

In two weeks time:

In the next two weeks I will:

- Complete a budget estimate of how much I need to earn sustainably after June 17^th.

-Organise all briefs & potential briefs I aim to complete for OUIL603.

-Draw for fun!

-Begin to curate my work for my portfolio & website.

-Fully research the requirements to become a tattooist, things I need to register for, estimates of how much it will cost and research the style of what I want to tattoo.

2016 update and amazing videos from tUnE-yArDs.

I don't know how i've never seen these guys' videos before, they are amazing. They remind me of the Don't Hug Me I'm Scared guys but more in tune with music I guess rather than narrative, it's much more focused on the aesthetic of each scene.
I've never thought about set design as something I would like to do, and if i'm honest I still don't, but I'm so enraptured by these videos that it makes me want to be a part of something like this in some way, maybe I could be the coffee and tea girl?

I decided that now that COP is out of the way I need to refocus on the future now I can look away from a computer screen for a while and look at the bigger picture.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I got a new job in a Tattoo Studio, I've been observing how they work and how they paint, and I'm going to push myself further in that direction.
Nothing is set in stone, but I hope to have a complete flash portfolio by June, for when I leave.

I was thinking how I can do this whilst completing university work, and I didn't want to be creating work I didn't care about while my brain is always thinking about tattooing, how to paint, how it might work on skin, what I need to do, so I think that this will be a big part of what direction I take my work in for OUIL603: Extended Practice. What if my final exhibition (and big kahuna brief) is having a flash portfolio, big A1 paintings of back pieces and all my development is figuring out my own tone of voice and techniques? My mind is racing and I can already think of a million ways I can do this.

In terms of PPP, I will tie all of this together, the person that makes pictures that is me, the person that aspires to tattoo and be well professional about it all, the person that needs personal branding that conveys all of this.

For now though here is a picture by my forever crush, Kaye Blegvad and basically what is me after hand in, yay for self care!

Desi Pop Art

I found this article on Dazed & Confused today and found it quite relevant (not to me but to everything going on at the minute with cultural appropriation) and I love how Maria Qamar is commenting on this. The article is a really interesting read too.

I made shirts and here is the lovely Emily wearing one.

I went screen-printing with my friend Bobbi for when we did the Brunswick art market, from this design I made Totes, T-Shirts and Prints.
I gave one to Em and this is her wearing it.
I found it fun printing somewhere that isn't uni, less pressure, and they had a dog.
It's a simple design with only one colour, but it helped me wrap my head around printing a little better, as it's something that I struggle with.
Things to not do:
- Don't bitmap the image so small that a lot of detail and shading is lost, which is something I did, but the design still worked effectively.
- Don't only use XL T-Shirts, because only people as sick as Em will be able to pull them off, and they're harder to print on because of the amount of material, I was scared it might lose impact but it worked out alright.