Design Futures Project/Diary
For this part of the module, we needed to start thinking about our future careers and start building skills and doing research to help ourselves be ready to graduate. We also experienced a series of workshops and did activities with Gareth in order to give us a starting point. I'm going to start this section off with a short rundown of the sessions and what I took away from them, then will provide some examples of the coursework we've been doing, then go over what I have been doing independently this year and in previous years as well as explaining the connection between my negotiated project and my career ambitions.
Diary
Week 1
At the first lesson, we were asked by Gareth to try and think of ideal situations for our future careers as well as what strengths and weaknesses we realistically have as potential employees. We started with making small comics about what an ideal day for us would be 20 years from now, sadly mine kind of got wrecked in the bottom of my bag but essentially I drew myself working from home with the funds and time to care for a pet and go outside in the afternoon. I wanted to be working on both client work and on selling my own products.
I'd love the chance to work like this as I'm a person who likes learning new skills and changing projects often and have a distinct style between projects that could lend well to me finding a niche that would appeal to employers. I also am pretty aware of the fact that as a person who can't learn to drive and has limited mobility in general it's important that I have a job that doesn't require long commutes. I also am a person who needs a calm environment so working at home where I can control the noise level and keep my surroundings uncluttered would be helpful for me working well.
Part of my plan is to move back to Denmark, the country where I grew up, so I can afford a decent home since a lot of art jobs especially post covid can be done internationally and the city I've chosen even has a place dedicated to artists being able to set up real stalls for cheap which could let me test product popularity without paying for travel if I later wanted to attend conventions.
A skill I really need to learn to make sure this career path is possible is social media management to make sure people can find my work easily, I also want to build my ability to keep a stable home life so my mood, dysphoria, and health don't take as huge a hit on my ability to work as they have this semester.
Week 2
The second week involved smaller group sessions where we discussed the kinds of careers we wanted again but this time in a more detailed setting with the chance for Gareth or classmates to give advice. I mostly talked again about my interest in freelance work, especially colouring and background work as they're aspects of art I've noticed a lot of classmates enjoy less than the other stages of drawing so it seems like both a marketable skill and a job I'd really enjoy doing. Despite the fact I have times where my perspective gets a bit rushed I feel very confident in my ability to create appealing environment art and colour schemes and have received job offers in the past where they showed interest in my art I'd posted that showcased those skills.
It was interesting to see what my classmates were interested in doing for work, a couple of people in our group expressed interest in some more craft-like artforms which would very much suit them attending LARP and historical recreation events where they could not only sell the things they make but get to meet a lot of the people who might invest in woodblock art and the like long term. It made me think of any work opportunities where I could make bonds with the kind of people who'd buy my art I could attend. I think the big game expo hoasted by the university a town over from where I'd like to live could be a great place to meet game makers who might still be looking for the polish brought by a visual artist.
Week 4
This was the first session we had with the lovely folks from the Student Careers center. We learned a lot about the school resources for helping with careers which we have access to even after we graduate and got walked through the kind of events it's wise to be proactive in signing up for during our final school year. We also learned about scheduling our days, making bulleted lists of tasks we need to get done in a day, sorting them by urgency, and then putting them into a detailed day plan. This resembled a method I've been using since I graduated high school as I felt the need to structure my day hour by hour as it helps me feel calm and manage time well. In personal experience, it's good to wake up a little earlier than I need to so I can review my plans for the week and sort my day plan based on what I achieved the day before and what needs doing that day. Though I will say it's good to keep some events unanchored to a specific time of the day so that unexpected changes don't completely ruin your productivity.
Week 5
Fig Taylor visited us for this week's session to talk about her own experiences in the industry and give advice for seeking work. She emphasized the importance of curating a strong social media presence and a professional website with an easy to share domain name that is always kept up to date. She also taught us about the existence of and how to use the AOI if we choose to go freelance and let us know it's possible to look at the client lists of similar artists for potential employers.
Like Gareth, Fig Taylor let us know that we can and should look into the many magazines available at the school library that aren't stocked in newsagents as a lot of them might be willing to hire artists to do illustrations for an issue or even multiple. I took note of that but sadly am still struggling to find a good day to go look in person as I struggle walking to the part of campus that the new library is on which happens to house a lot of the medicine and law-related publications. However, I have done a little online research and also looked into libraries I might be able to access even after I graduate in case looking into local magazines where I end up living are good potential clients.
Fig Taylor also gave me a very good guide I've checked the About me section of my website against to prevent an about me from being irrelevant or unprofessional.
Week 6
CV and cover letters were the next tutorials and we learned about all the elements of a good CV. I already did have a CV from job applications earlier in the year but the refresher on what to include and how to include it, along with some really good clarifications as to what experience can be spoken about in an interview was very helpful. I didn't get a lot of chances to work as a teenager because of language barriers and how remote my home was but I did some commission work online, volunteered a bit, and gained the rest of my skills in formal education. It was good to learn that rather than just listing the courses you have done, it's good to list any relevant skills you might have gained from that education as examples of you having the skills the employer wants to see.
After the tutorial, Gareth also tasked us with picking an example job and sending him an email as if we were actually applying with our CVs linked. It was a very good exercise and helped me look critically at my CV and practice tayloring it to a job I'm applying for.
Week 7
Zoe Throgood, author of The Impending Blindness of Bille Scott, was our next guest lecturer. She's a published comic author who works a lot and graduated a couple of years ago. She talked to us about her career since graduating, the kind of work she does now and gave advice on how to go about getting work. What's interesting is, like Fig Taylor, she made a point to discuss goof websites to use to market yourself. They agreed on Twitter and Instagram as must-haves but it's interesting to note Zoe Throgood didn't list Facebook as a must-have while Fig Taylor did, this may be due to a difference in their clients or experience levels. It also could perhaps be a generational thing.
She went over a typical day and her current working pace, citing that she gets about one comic page done in a day and often has multiple projects going at a time. She works traditionally not only for the line quality but because original copies can actually be sold for a decent price if a work gets popular enough. This made me consider my own work pace as it tends to vary, I think over the new semester I need to make a point of tracking my daily productivity to see if it has any patterns and if I can schedule better for it or increase it at all. Overall she was a really interesting person even if I think self-publishing isn't really for me at the moment if only because the upfront cost to myself of making a full first comic to try and sell to publishers isn't one I'm sure I can afford right out of university. I am however keeping in mind the idea of using my university time to make a 'foot in the door' type project.
Week 8
This week was the last of our Career Staffs tutorials and was focused on teaching us networking, especially via LinkdIn. I actually attended an online tutorial for LindIn a couple of weeks prior as part of taking their earlier advice to attend university events and take an active role in learning skills for going out into the workplace. It was still a good class as I was able to ask more questions in person and they went over advice that was both general and more specific to our course. I'm still at a point where I feel very awkward using LinkdIn if only because it's difficult to not feel like you're soliciting strangers out of the blue, a thing that can be very unwelcome in other circumstances. However I'm determined to try and persevere with getting comfortable using the site and curating a good page because I know a lot of the job market is hidden to people who fail to network.
Week 9
I'm going to be very honest, I don't remember this tutorial at all. Sorry Gareth
What have I been doing to get ready for working in the field?
Over this semester and the ones before it I've done a few things to try and be ready for entering the workforce. Of course, there's simply working on my coursework in general but that's not the relevant thing here. I knew I wanted to work from home so I tried out a few different software while I've had the opportunity to in school, this includes photoshop and the general Adobe suite as well as other, newer, programs. I ended up investing in a copy of Tyranobuilder last year which has been useful for learning to make text based games on and which I'd like to use for a project I have in mind next autumn for a Halloween themed game I'd like to publish for a fee on itch.io or steam if possible. I've found the EX version of Clip Studio offers the most features in a single program and suits my workflow, it's also important it can export photoshop files with all the layers still correctly organized and labeled so I invested in upgrading my copy of CSP PRO. I also bought a screen tablet for work since I found I really liked working with them in the studio.
During breaks I've learned new skills wherever I can, using Blender for some 3d modeling practice, I'm slow at it but not as awful as I'd expected. I also taught myself pixel art and made a very simple game on itch.io using GDevelp (it was clunky and hard to import text into so I'm planning to reach out to some game students next semester for advice and help). The pixel art was something I posted to my personal Instagram which I've tried on and off to maintain and build so I can use it professionally in the future and was surprisingly reached out to about background art roles for a couple of indie games which solidifies to me the usefulness of keeping an Instagram presence. I also made a short animatic in my free time using Movie Maker which led me to using CSP EX to animate my larger project this semester as it's a skill I really want to build to add to my general versatility.
I've also been doing research into companies I might like to work for in the future, I had been planning to visit the main offices of Sostrene Grone, a danish brand that changes the designs of their stock every month and specializes in very cute and pastel designs, to look into their artist hiring process and ask questions since I was able to look up open hours. Sadly I couldn't make it due to not visiting home for the holidays out of worry I wouldn't be able to get back to the UK in time to attend classes in the new semester. I also looked up shops and artist programs in Randers, which includes a place near the docks that actually rents out space pretty cheap to artists and other vendors so they can have an in-person storefront for the day which could be an interesting way to test products before taking them to conventions.
This semester myself and a few classmates also got involved in a project for Gareth making some character designs and a 3 Page comic for one of the Park Royal children who was going to get missed by the year below us. We were all pretty busy with our own work so we decided to delegate with two students doing each of the character illustrations, one student writing and sketching the comic and myself doing the coloring work. I worked in my lineless style for speed and we made the deadline pretty easily and I'm honestly really proud of the work we put out, I loved working with a team like that and getting to finish another artist's sketch. I'm hoping to do more of that kind of work ging forward.
comic for Park royal
twitter quite likes my sprite work
Attempt I made at creature design using the rules of a known franchise (bonus points for fanart being a nice way to get your art seen so it's good to keep your art style noticeable in it)
For research, I'm going to be honest and say I look up a lot of job sites when thinking about work but I kind of keep forgetting to screenshot any so I know it doesn't exactly count as research if it's not documented. However, it is interesting to see how many jobs internationally are very accepting of English speakers, especially jobs in Europe and the Americas but even in other continents, it doesn't completely bar you from working in the art field. This could be useful for people whose sleep schedules are already a little odd who might find meeting times in the evening or night more convenient than mid-day or early morning ones.
Emulation Task
I'd say a person who I'd like to emulate in my career is Maya Kern. She's a comic artist, illustrator, author, dressmaker and musician who has made being eclectic her career. She cultivates a strong social media presence and creates beautiful and recognizable pieces all while largely working from home with her spouse. I want to Emulate her because I love diversifying what I do and picking up new skills and the idea of getting to be self-employed while doing it sounds both like a lot of hard work and very rewarding. She's been established in her current work since about 2012 and while not amazingly well known is pretty respected and a published author.
Maya Kern first got popularity with her comic and companion albums Monster-Pop and Begin which came out in 2013 and finished a couple of years ago. The comic established her presence online as well as gained her a strong following through the writing and publishing of her book as well as several more albums and opening a merch store first with pins and then with custom clothing. At this point, she works full time with her brand MayaKernLLC. A very important thing she did was establish a clear visual style people really loved even as she was improving at art and writing and allowed herself to find multiple streams of income. She makes a point to promote herself pretty often and branches out to newer platforms as they come up, including a tiktok in the present day. She also maintains a very neat and up-to-date shop and personal website.
If I wanted to get where Maya Kern is I'd need to post consistently to social media and work on high-quality projects I cared about to get a decent following. I'd also need to build skills in multiple marketable areas and create personal as well as professional work that showcases my skills and specific style/tastes to try and cultivate a personal brand that I could sell in many different formats. I'd also need to work hard to make a good professional website and make sure to advertise any products I was making evenly on all platforms.