Well, I decided to quit my full-time job last week as I’ve been unhappy about it for the past couple of months. I think I needed that final push to break away from the comforts of it and to start a new career. I thought to myself for a while why should I be spending most of my days in an environment that’s mentally and emotionally weighing me down?
Think positive. Stay positive.
Create and make.
Lately I’ve been really into design patterns that are pretty much 80s/90s inspired: throw in a bit of bad hair, weird fashion, Fanta, days hanging out in the sun with your friends… those kind of vibes.
I recently met up with my friend Amber, a print designer, who I’ve known for years. I was really inspired by her motivation and her reasons for quitting an amazing job she had at a fashion house.
I thought I would end the post on a positive note, having recently been quite down with things. Nothing is impossible. Sometimes you’ve just got to push through the hard times to succeed.
The other night June Sees and I went along to Bloomsbury Publishing’s illustration masterclass, which was run by the lovely and extremely talented Yaseem Ismail.
The masterclass was about the publishing side of children’s picture book and also looking at from the very first drafts to the final finished book in bookshops.
Yasmeen was full of energy and enthusiasm during the evening! She was sort of bouncing across the room from the projector to the whiteboard; really engaging the audience with her words of (very good) advice. I loved how she gave the talk based on her own personal experiences mixed with industry experience as it was interesting to see how she managed to get to where she is now. With lot’s of persistence, motivation, years of hard work, her dedication and passion really shone through during the masterclass.
Yasmeen was really direct and to the point about certain subjects such as finding your own style and how to get a good portfolio together. When she was talking about ‘style’, it took her a while to find a medium she was happy to work with. The most important thing she said about it was that there’s no wrong way in making images, which I whole-heartedly agree. Be inspired by things around you, when you’re down then take a break and go back to it.
In regards to the publishing industry, she went through each of the stages and how it filters down to getting in on the book shelves to parent’s buying the books for their little ones.
I don’t want to give too much away for those who haven’t been to it. I would recommend going if you’re interested in picture book illustrations.
By the end of the masterclass I was feeling very motivated and reflected about my own practices as an illustrator. I bought ‘Specs for Rex’ and ‘Time for Bed, Fred!”, both beautifully illustrated, and got Yasmeen to sign them both for me!
Recently, I have been blogging a lot more over on my other blog ‘oh lovely things‘: a blog about the visual arts and, well, lots of lovely things!
Head over there for some lovely stuff.
oh lovely things
If you’ve been following Amelia’s Magazine then you’re probably aware of a rather exciting Kickstarter Project titled: That Which We Do Not Understand. To date, it has been 10 years since the magazine started off as a physical print (all those years ago!) and now exists online supporting artists from around the world and showcasing undiscovered talent. I was part of ‘Amelia’s Magazine Compendium of Fashion’ a few years ago- I can’t believe it’s been that long already!
The open brief was launched back in September and has had lots of media attention from design blogs as well as the participating artists who have all written their own account of it; see below for each of the contributing artists :
‘That Which We Do Not Understand’ is a theme which was close to Amelia’s own personal experiences and the project hopes to inspire new ideas and beliefs about the modern world: mysticism, magic, spirituality, witchcraft, the occult, folklore…
There are currently 9 days to go until it ends! There are lots of lovely gifts for those who back the project so have a look and support independent publishers and artistic talent!