PPP Presentation + notes

Slide 1

- Where was I at the beginning of the year? 

- What happened when I quickly realised that I felt way out of my depth - I didn't really know how to do anything, hadn't done a foundation course, etc.

Slide 2

- Things stayed that way for the whole first term

- I started really questioning my place here, and wasn't really making any work that I liked

Slide 3

- It was discovering Solo that really started to change how I was looking at this

- It made illustration feel much more human to me. Seeing that all the anxieties that were bottled up inside of me recognized my someone else as their own struggles. 

- It was seeing this that suddenly brought this practice to life for me, changed the way I look at work

Side 4

- This was a personal breakthrough for me, as it was the first piece of work I was really happy with

- THE VALUE OF VISUAL LANGUAGE: An hour to make a picture. Weird. Helped my realize that the thing that had been missing from my work was enjoyment. Perhaps nothing too good comes from stress and beating yourself up.

Slide 5

- The thing that helped me the most this year: stopping thinking about illustration for a while

- Reconnected with other forms of creativity. Completely rinsed the library (it's invaluable). Fell in love with Richard Misrach's photography, which now informs the colour pallettes of almost everything I make. Looked as paintings and drawings.

- Opening myself up to everything else for a while helped refresh my enthusiasm for this practice

Slide 6

- One of the coolest things I did this year was spending a week interning with Owen Gildersleeve

- Got to do some interesting things, and it was a very valuable insight into how the world of professional illustration as a day-to-day job.

- It was especially valuable as it helped me realise that I didn't want to do this a career

Slide 7

- RAD got to Secret 7" at Somerset House

- It's exciting to be surrounded by so much amazing work, this is work that needs celebrating

- Same thoughts I have when going around crits. 

- That's what I want to do - whether it's teaching or behind-the-scenes shit.

Slide 8

- All moaning aside, time to focus on some of the high points of this year

- Embracing the unknown, and moving past my fear of stepping out of my comfort zone

- Vectors brief - I hated it at the time, but on reflection, i'm actually really proud of these: they might not be anything groundbreaking in terms of design, but considering that before I came here I'd never heard of Adobe Illustrator, they're not bad!

Slide 9 

-In fact, VISCOM was the only studio module I really enjoyed, and I think that's reflected in the work I made.

- The GIFS project may have been my favourite one, even though I've been terrified of digital tools.

- It took ages, and was so difficult, but so damn rewarding. 

- Maybe having catching up to do wasn't so bad after all, really began to embrace the power of digital/animation

Slide 11

- Highlight of the whole year COP! 

- Taught me a different way to approach work 

- Nice to do something entirely for the self, as well as re-enforcing the joy that comes of working at what you want to

Looking forward to next year:

- Keep doing what makes you happy

- Just don't sweat it too much. A piece of work that you make for a two-week brief is not going to alter the course of your life

-Keep improving and evolving at your own pace, and don't feel pressured into making work that looks like someone elses. 

Here's to a fantastic year!