Thinking about future possibilities

I left off at the end of last year thinking about where I wanted to try and find my place in illustration, fairly certain that I absolutely did not want to 'be an illustrator', i.e. sitting at a desk 9-5 drawing pictures and listening to radio 4 for the rest of my life (although I actually think that sounds quite appealing). Instead I was thinking about other branches of illustration, especially agency work, or curation. I love good illustration, and would love to be able to help people celebrate and share great illustration. However, I still had a hazy understanding of what working as part of an agency, or as an agent, would entail.

To try and get some clarity I decided to go for gold and sent an email to Darrel Rees, founder of the Heart Agency, and author of 'How to Be an Illustrator', explaining my illustration foundations to him, and asking what agency work actually meant. I got an interesting response:

It was valuable to get an outline, from someone actually at the centre of that industry, what that kind of work actually entails. I know that over the course of PPP this year, and next year, as well, that we will be looking at the all of these 'housekeeping' logistics and duties, so I think my best course of action is to wait and see if this is something I could actually manage to get my head around. A valuable interaction, nonetheless.