Hopes, Fears and Opportunities Part 2

Hopes

 After being at university, my hopes for me are to find and discover myself even further after everything I've learnt so far. I hope that my work remains consistent the way it has been since The Outsider project, and that it progresses into something that I'll be proud of for the rest of my life. Being at university has further extended my horizons towards succeeding in creating work that everyone can see and collaborate opinions towards. I hope for my work to develop connections with people, in both style and context, because it's positive to be surrounded by those who understand what your direction is.
 Most of all, I hope that I become an artist; successful or not. It's a lifestyle that encourages so many opportunities and dreams to become physical. The simplest of things can influence ideas which become so very relevant in understanding who you are. I'm very grateful for attaining such a visual-based perspective of the world.

Fears

 My fears for the future are understandable, as I'm sure a lot of other students facing the same situation feel. I fear the hastened approach towards not being in education any more. I've thought about perhaps studying something else, like philosophy, but at the moment I can only see myself struggling for money, which puts that out of the window. Money of course is a central fear, just mainly because of sustaining a decent enough livelihood for myself. My intentions outside of education are to remain in my current job, which is part-time at Morrisons, or to perhaps discover something more related to my desired practice, like working in an art cafe for a crude example. This would hopefully override my fear and keep me in a comfortable place.
 My main fear is that my work will become repetitive and non-consistent. Throughout this major project I have been feeling this way because of the lack of direct context. My work is substantial, but just needs that push into something that binds it all together. It's certainly a weakness I carry in finalising my work because I become so confused with what I want.

Opportunities

 Something that I've mentioned previously is that technology and the internet have expanded upon the almost endless amount of opportunities. The connections made with other illustrators/image makers and potential clients are a positive aspect, in having your work known and promoted. This is something to take advantage of. Another opportunity has been discussed with me and two other students from my class, proposing that we should all share a studio space together. This was an influence from witnessing the environment in which the illustration collective, Day Job, worked in. This potential opportunity excites me the most because it allows and encourages a momentum in work flow. Being surrounded by all my work, materials and influences would certainly hasten my progress. Also being in the midst of other people with the same motive would help too, because we'd all be very supportive of one another. It's an environment fine artists choose to work in and somehow I feel more comfortable with that, seeing as my work consists of similar elements.
 What I've learnt from my time at university is that opportunities await in many areas - not just illustration. As mentioned previously, my work contains fine art elements and this has been commented on by some peers, saying they could imagine the work being hung up in a bar, or perhaps exhibited. This I found encouraging because it displays a sense of hybridity which can hopefully work to an advantage of mine.

Hopes, Fears and Opportunities

 My hopes for the next semester and after include to achieve a grade that offers me the chance to be seen by professionals from various industries that collate with artistic integrity. People who have an eye for imagery and presentation are people I'll be in search for.

 I hope to be considered and admired more than just an image maker and as a person who can communicate, other than just visually, such as into politics and within popular culture. What I mean by this is that I hope to acquire an articulate language which opens people's eyes and lets them correspond with me easily.

 I hope to attain all the confidence I have gained being at college and to live a life where the way I express myself is heard and recognized by people that are not just close to me. I hope to be freely artistic in every sense.

 My fears for the next semester and after are that I won't achieve the grade I desire because I'll stumble at the last hurdle. That's probably my biggest fear because having come so far with great achievement and understanding, to suddenly fall in a trap of becoming lazy would make me regret my actions for the rest of my life.

 My fear also is that my work may lose it's capability of clearly communicating something. What I mean is that I fear I may lead into an area of work that will cause me to lose myself. I fear even that straying into the illustration industry will make me forget that my work is my own and not something to be made just for money. I feel this greatly because what we have learnt during our time at university, mainly during our contextual studies, is that becoming an illustrator seems to contradict everything about expressing your true self.

 My potential opportunities for the next semester and beyond would include to create more abstract pieces based on the popularity of my developing portfolio and to pay a visit to the Northern Quarter in Manchester to hang them in bars and even hold mini exhibitions. This idea was offered to me by my past art foundation tutors who said I could potentially work onto canvases and so on.

 Another good opportunity coming up for us all is the London trip. It will offer us the chance to witness the demand for art and design and what we're up against. It'll also be good because we'll be able to show our portfolios to professionals in a region of the country, far from our own.

 An opportunity that's been handed to me before and may perhaps come again, is designing gig posters for a friend of mine who hosts bands to play at Kraak Gallery in Manchester. I designed a line-up poster for him last year and he greatly appreciated it. However I didn't receive any pay towards it because I forgot to ask. I'll know what to do next time.