Creative Strategy - MY PLAN

LAST FEW WEEKS OF THE COURSE

• As mentioned previously I have a few exhibition opportunities coming up both in Leeds and back home in Loughborough. I am keeping an eye out for any more opportunities like this that come up as I feel now is a really important time to stay involved with the creative scene.
• I have one art fair lined up for late June which I will need to prepare a decent amount of stock for. Similar to how I feel about exhibiting my work, I am also keeping an eye out for art/print fair opportunities in Leeds and Loughborough. I am going to extend my search back home to Leicester and Nottingham because I'll have access to a car when I’m home. I could also extend my search beyond Leeds, I would just have to think about how to transport my stock, I am thinking places like York, Harrogate, Wakefield, Saltaire, etc. 
• Obviously a lot of time will be spent preparing for the end of year show and New Blood in London. 
• I will be promoting myself as available for commissions. I want to keep going with my pet portraits as I find there is easy money to be made here. I will also be looking out for live briefs and competitions that can keep me working. 
• Make the most of college’s facilities while I still have access to them. Also think ahead and research where I can get products and prints made when I leave. I already have a good idea of the services available locally but have never actually sent anything away to be produced externally.
• Going to London for D&AD, I have sorted accommodation at a friend’s flat in London and am looking forward to the experience of showing my work to potential clients and employers. 
• I am going to be searching for jobs and getting a better idea of what is available, however I do not want to get a job over summer as I already have quite a lot planned. I would be looking to start around September/October time. 

SUMMER

• I will be returning home over summer as I have a few holidays planned and events back home and I don’t want to be wasting money on renting somewhere in Leeds if I am not using it. I have a few close friends who permanently live and work in Leeds so I’ll have somewhere to stay for short periods if I do want to take up an opportunity up here. 
• Continue my job search and start applying, make a real effort to find something that suits my skills so I don't end up doing something I hate. Analyse my financial situation and decide whether it is worth the move back up to Leeds or if I should take advantage of living cheaply at home for a while. At the moment I am thinking that I will only move back to Leeds if I can get a secure job that pays enough to afford rent for a set period of time. The alternative is to get a job and live at home and use the money I am saving to travel to Leeds when possible to try and establish myself within the creative scene in the north. 
• I am going on a couple of holidays and have a few more being planned right now. I am really looking forward to spending time with my extended family as its something we don’t get to do all together very often. I am also keen too explore new places with friends, I am planning on travelling around Italy and visiting other countries I have wanted to go to for a long time including Slovenia and Denmark. I feel like these will be great sources of inspiration for me and hopefully will help me get started on some new personal projects. 
• Keep myself in the cultural loop by going to galleries, exhibitions, events, etc. These are another great source of inspiration for me and I want to make sure I keep up to date with what is happening. 
• Enjoy not being in education - as much as I have enjoyed my 18 YEARS in education I am more than ready to leave this bubble. I think its going to feel really weird but it will be nice to have a proper rest and do some things for pure enjoyment! (before working for the rest of my life) 
• Amongst all of these things I want to do over summer I want to be picking up projects and commissions as I go to make a bit of money and keep my practice going. 

BY CHRISTMAS

• By this point I hope to have started a job of some sort either in Leeds or at home, hopefully a creative one! I really want this job to allow me the time to still work on my freelance practice and personal projects. 
• If I am still living at home by this point, I hope to have my own car to give me more independence. This will also help me broaden my job search and potential freelance opportunities. 
• Keep promoting myself as a freelancer and take on as much work as I can to build my reputation and professional portfolio. 
• Continue to keep a stock of my own products and prints and I will have hopefully got better at art fairs. I think there will be a lot of great opportunities for this around Christmas time, I just need to make sure I am always prepared and stocked up. 
• I will have graduated officially! 

FIVE YEARS FROM NOW 

• I hope that by this time in five years I will have established myself as a freelance illustrator. 
• I will have either cut my working hours down a lot to make time for my freelance practice or if things have gone extremely well I might be able to freelance full time without the support of another job. 
• I would hope that I will either be living in Leeds or at least lived there for a while and moved on to somewhere else. 
• By this point I would hope that I am being approached for most of my work rather than having to continually be searching for it myself. 

BEYOND

• It would love to have a solo exhibition of my work at some point in my life. 
• Have a fully illustrated a non-fiction book published.
• Have a really good desk. In my own studio. In my own house.