Purpose

  The purpose of this blog is to help me make a clear decision about what action to take after I finish university. I know I want to get into children’s books but I will need other avenues to look into as well while I find the right publishers. This will also help me research into weather I want to get an agent or other routes I could take. This blog will be important for me as it will help me collate all the information I can find in one place so I can review what my best options are for my future decisions. I am expecting to maybe not fully make a decision about what my next move is after university but to have a good solid list of people to contact and a list of agencies I can contact if I decided to go with one.

  Defining where I am now

  Currently I am very passionate about narrative illustration a lot of my work evolves narratives and is story based aimed at children. I really enjoy illustrating fairytales in a different way creating delicate hand cut illustrations. When I finish university I want to illustrate children’s books in a paper cut style, I know this will narrow my appeal but I really feel that my paper illustrations is what I want to do, I may change the way I use the paper but I know this is my media. The style in which I work may change as I learn and develop more. At the moment my plan is when I leave university I will do part time illustration work while having a part time job this is so I can afford materials and afford to go on trip so I can see as much as I can to expand my visual diary. One thing I will start doing is applying to zines and will work as a free illustrator, this will help get my name out there and meet new people who I could work with in future projects. As a freelance illustrator I will have to consider how to sort my tax’s and if I get an agent or not. Recently over the last year I have started attending comic cons around the country with a fellow illustrator. We do this together as it feels more comfortable to start doing something so big together rather than alone it also keeps costs down when there is two of you. After attending a few comic cons I have found I get more flow through my facebook page and blog, this shows positive signs that the more I attend the more people will recognise me.

This is from our last convention we attended, it was at Birmingham NEC

  It was at this convention we learnt the most as we talked more to an experienced vendor who gave us lots of tips and advice. We are currently taking his advice and getting banners for our next convention, this will help our table stand out and make it more visible from further away. But other than aesthetic tip he gave us other on how to interact to people and tips on how we can present ourselves more successfully.  

  To further my portfolio I feel I need to keep a better visual diary and draw more from everyday life this will help my idea development and my overall drawing skills. In two years I expect to still be working part time in a normal job while part time doing illustration work and will hopefully still be attending convention. I will hopefully be attending bigger conventions in London and Ireland and maybe Paris. In 5 years I hope to be a full time illustrator and have had at least one children’s book published, I will still attend conventions as they will be more about my illustrations for older children and my own narratives. Also by attending conventions I will be keeping up my reputation with fans and that is important as people always talk and this could lead to new opportunities. 

  Recently I have changed my name from an alias to my real name, I have done this due to when I created the name I didn't do enough research and my name clashed with a band so the best way to make me stand apart was to use my real name. I currently have a standard image that I use for my avatar, it’s a self portrait, I use this so people will recognise the image as me.

  My plan to achieve what I want, is to do as much research into all my options before leaping ahead. I will look into other conventions not just local to my area but across the country and into Europe, I will also find other kind of fairs I could attend to promote myself in the correct direction. I am also going to re design my business cards and all other promotional items; I am doing this because I want to make sure I am going in the right direction and am giving clear messages of what I want to do. I will also need to start keeping track on my finances and what’s best to do when I need to order prints and other items to sell. I will also have to consider prices of the fairs and how much it will cost on travel and stay there, this will take looking into and preparation before booking the table. To also help self promote I am going to start entering more competitions and entering to do zines, even if it means working for free. To help manage my finances I will start keeping track of my out goings every month and make a new account so that it will be easier to keep track of. 

  To help promote myself I will create three items, these will be a new business card, post cards and a banner. The banner will be to help advertise where I am at fairs and conventions as it will be large enough too been seen from afar and will attract people to the table. I will re design my business cards to make them more professional and get my postcards created in a way that represents the way I work the best. I will also make a small bag to put a business card and postcard in to leave with publishers, this will keep the items together safely and add a level of consideration to the presentation of my items.