Looking Back...

With only a few days left until I come to the end of my degree, it has got me in a thoughtful mood, (hense why I have chosen my idol, Marilyn, in a thoughtful pose!)
In another post, Hopes, Fears and Oppotunities, I feel like I have come a long way from when I last wrote it.
Things have changed about me and my work, and I hope for the better!
The first thing that I have noticed in myself, is my growing confidence. I seem to believe in myself and what I can do.
At one time, not too long ago, I wasn't feeling very good about one part of the brief we had to answer. This was the part we had to arrange meetings, e-mail and speak to potential clients and fellow artists/illustrators.
A lot of it was silly nerves and quite frankly, I wasn't very confident about some of my work... but the day came when I got in touch with one of my favourite illustrators and that meeting alone with her, gave me such a boost and my confidence started to soar!
Having such a talented illustrator look through my work, complimenting pieces, giving great advice etc, was so inspiring and made me look at my work in a very different light.
Since then, my work has taken a turn for the best...
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been experimenting yet again with different materials and papers. My favourite at the moment, is water colour on lining paper. It suits my style so well, and gives such an elegance to my drawings that they didn't have not so long ago.
I don't really know how I started to work this way. I suppose it was accidental... I bought new paints, didn't have any sketchbooks at hand, the only paper near me was lining paper- that accident happened to work out for the best!
I am much less 'precious' about my drawings now. There was a time when I would spend so much time on one drawing, making sure all details were correct, i.e the facial features, and then become so uptight when it didn't go right, I would start again.
But this degree has changed that, especially this last month or so.
Yes, it has been a bit of a struggle trying to loosen up, but it has been worth while sticking to it. I do have some illustrators to thank for that. They inspired me so much that I wanted to try and have that 'lose' and confident feel to my own work.
Tina Berning, yet again, has been such a huge inspiration to me. I just adore her portraits of girls/women in her book. They are so beautiful and elegant, even if they are done in a harsh black colour, they always have such delicate qualities about them.
Alice Tait... what a fabulous artist!
Her work is so beautiful, whether she creates a page full of pigeons or figures in elegant clothes, they are each as delicate and wonderful as eachother.
She has been very inspiring to me...
There are numerous other artists/illustrators that I could mention, and most of them are on this blog anyway!

I think that the best part for me and my work has been these last 5 months.
As I keep saying, my work has become more professional and I now feel so much more happier with what I can do, and I can now see where my images etc might appear.
I can see my work in fashion magazines, shop displays, on billboards... I feel confident enough that such things may happen.

My degree has kept me extremely busy and that has worked for me. We have been given such tasks that not so long ago, I wouldn't have had the nerve to do, for example, showing my portfolio to professional people or even contemplating talking over the telephone to such companies as Vogue.
As it turns out, I managed to talk to a number of people, and find myself enjoying it, which of course is a good thing as I see this having to happen a lot of the time!


I do consider myself to be an artist/illustrator now, and quite frankly, am ready to go out into the 'real' world...