My Personal Intentions

11th November 2014:

Whilst studying Illustration I would most like to follow the path of Children’s Illustration, this would be for books, posters, cards or to use for teaching purposes. I am interested in this area because I have previously worked with children ranging from the ages of new born to 8 years old. I find it fascinating how children’s minds work and the sort of questions they ask. Therefore I think I would be able to reflect some of these questions that they ask into my work and children would therefore respond well to work that I create.
In my future practice I am extremely interested in Interior Design as I like the idea of making my artistic mark on something larger than just a piece of paper. I am hoping to go on and complete a Post-Graduate Course in this field after Illustration. I see this as an exciting area to go into and more of a realistic approach into the artistic industry for myself.  
For my work experience I would like to find a way of combining the two different areas, either together, separately or in a field similar to either so that I get an idea of those sort of working conditions and pressures. Listed below are different places that I would consider contacting for work experience.

I would also like to hear about what it is like working as a freelance illustrator as I believe that that is how most artists/illustrators make a living nowadays and I would like to find out how many ‘contacts’ a typical illustrator would have, and how beneficial these are to their work. I would also like to find out if most illustrators only work to a brief set to them by other parties ie. Companies, commissions etc. or whether they mostly create their own work and then sell it on. I would find these points beneficial as they would give me more of an idea of how it is to work in the real world. I would find these out by contacting and interviewing a number of established illustrators.

Places I could contact for work experience:
1. Schools
2. Therapy classes for children/people with disabilities
3. After school clubs
4. Youth clubs
5. Nurseries

Businesses to contact:
1. Beehive Illustration - http://www.beehiveillustration.co.uk/
2. Children’s Illustrators - http://www.childrensillustrators.com/
3. Illustration - http://www.illustrationweb.com/styles/children

I’m not overly sure who or what sort of work places to contact for Interior Design work experience just yet.

Possible artists and Illustrators who I could contact for interviews are:
1. Sarah Leigh Wills – ‘The Happy Designer’ - http://www.happydesigner.co.uk/
2. Jane Swift - http://www.janeswift.co.uk/default.html
3. Adam Clay - http://www.adamclay.info/
4. Ian Ward - http://www.ianrward.co.uk/
5. Rob Anderson - http://www.robtheillustrator.co.uk/

19th April 2015:
Looking back at when I first wrote my intentions as an illustrator, I have found that I focussed my work experience more on Freelance work than for Children or Interior Design. I have learnt a lot from working in a Freelance manner as I have worked to deadlines, to a brief and created work that has been both successful and unsuccessful. It was useful emailing other illustrators and finding out how they work as this also gives me an insight into the illustration world.

After all the research and work I have done in this module and the influence of the other modules I have studied this year, I am interested in working on my own Children's books in the future. In my Children's Illustration Module I felt that I had a true focus and determination to make it the best piece of work I could and I also really enjoyed creating it despite the extremely hard work and hours that went into it. I feel that writing and illustrating my own books as a Freelance Illustrator is a useful way to work in this industry. I can also take on other authors books to illustrate to extend my creative skills and ideas.