Who am I? Why am I here?

5 reasons why I chose to study illustration.

1. The simple fact that I love to draw and create images. 

2. Because I want to put my creativity and imagination to good use. 

3. I want to push myself and learn as much as I can about this discipline so that I can eventually earn a living from doing something I love. 

4. I want to be able to collaborate with other creative practitioners  in a studio environment and start to get an understanding of how work is produced in this way in the creative industry. 

5. Because I want to become a professional at something I am passionate about and I am willing to work hard to get to that point.

5 reasons why I chose this programme.

1. I like the small course size because it makes you feel more like an individual rather than another student being pushed through the same process as everyone else on the course. Every student is going on a different journey and I felt this course would address each person’s individuality. 

2. The facilities at Leeds College of Art are some of the best I had seen and I felt this would be really beneficial when it comes to experimentation and trying out new processes. 

3. Leeds has an amazing student community and theres always something to do. When visiting, I got the impression that it is a very creative and interesting city with a lot of opportunities to take advantage of. 

4. Because Leeds College of Art is a specialist institution where I’m being taught by professionals in the industry -  theres nothing better than learning from people with this kind of experience. 

5. I chose to move away from my hometown to gain more independence on a personal level. I think that this is the best way to develop my skills in managing my time and finances which will no doubt be crucial in the world of work. 

5 skills that I think are my strengths.

1. I enjoy trying out different ways of working and am keen to experiment with new media and processes to enhance my creative practice. 

2. My drawing ability. 

3. I write lists all the time and take satisfaction from crossing out completed tasks. I like to plan out everything I need to do each day and I take the same approach when doing a project. I do this to ensure I give myself enough time to do everything and so theres less chance of me forgetting about important (and less important) tasks. 

4. I am inspired by everyday life; I see this as a strength because I find joy in drawing the mundane things that can often go unnoticed and unappreciated by others. 

5. I am a perfectionist. This can sometimes be a disadvantage but generally, I want my work to be the best it can possibly be and I will push myself to achieve the best I can. 

5 things I want to improve. 

1. I want to become more knowledgable and aware of trends in other areas of the creative industry which I can relate back to my practice as I feel this will enhance my work and make it more relevant. 

2. I feel I need to have more confidence in myself when it comes to explaining my work and trusting my instincts. 

3. I need to change the way I deal with mistakes and learn how to use mistakes to my advantage to develop and improve my work rather than feel like something has been unsuccessful.

4. I want to improve my ability to interact professionally and collaborate with other creative people to produce work as a joint effort, putting everyone’s individual skills and talents to best use.

5. I want to improve my research and writing skills so I can get facts and educated opinions across effectively in a piece of writing. 

5 images that demonstrate my interest in illustration.

1. I am inspired by Julia Rothman’s repeat patterns based on her drawings. I love the hand drawn, imperfect quality of her drawings and I think she chooses interesting, quirky subject matters to work with. 

2. Hope Gangloff uses pen and ink which is probably the media I feel most comfortable using. I love his colour choices and how he creates textures in his work through hatching and mark making. 

3. Paul Davis has a very unique and child-like drawing style but I am inspired by his ability to make images from things he sees and hears during his day which are usually relatively insignificant things. 

4. I have only recently been introduced to Lucinda Rogers’ work but I have grown to really like her interesting use of line. Her selective use of heavy line gives the image depth and draws your eye to the parts she wants to you to focus on. I also like the way her unruly drawing style accurately portrays the chaos and untidiness of the scene in this image. 

5. This piece by Isaac Tobin shows my interest in using collage in images. I like the way he has used a variety of surfaces to work onto and his expressive smudges of colour and application of paint contrasts with the geometric lines of this image.