Hi I am a new student studying Illustration with Open College of the Arts. This is really exciting and looking forward to finding out what doors it will open for me.
I am married with two young boys now they are in school I have the time to complete my life long aim of becoming an Ilustrator
The next task to look at before beginning the unit is how am I going to manage my time?
To begin with, I read how long the OCA expects the unit to take to be completed, which is 600 learning hours. I checked on when I enrolled and what time I have left to finish the entire degree in order to plan effectively.
I enrolled on the degree course on 19/02/2016, and have a maximum of 12 years from this date to complete the degree in its entirety.
I have until the 14/04/2024 to complete this last unit (visual skills 2) of Level 2 studies and will have 3 years from the day I enrolled to my first Level 3 unit to complete Level 3.
To plan effectively,I answered the following questions:
How much time will I allocate to study each week?
I aim to work a minimum of five hours, five days a week, which will allow me to complete the unit in a year. I need to remember twenty percent of this time is for me to reflect on my learning log, too. However, when I can, I plan to work more hours.
What is my most/ least productive time of day?
Least productive times and things that impede my studies.
From 7am until 10am I am getting the kids ready for school, doing the school runs and walking the dogs.
Weekends I can work, but it depends on balancing time with my children.
I go to the gym for a minimum of an hour five times a week.
House chores (1 hour) 10 -11am
Demanding puppy
Taking children to kid’s clubs.
Making time for family and friends (5.30pm-8pm cooking and kid’s bedtime routine)
Most productive time of day
11am – 2.50pm & 4pm-5pm (roughly 5 hours)
Plus, minimum of 6 hours split over the weekend.
How well do I manage time?
To be honest, not very well. I try to plan, but it’s only now I realise I have not been looking at my most productive times to work.
What is a realistic schedule to undertake Part One, and when is the first dead line?
As written above, I have realised the times I can study and have set with my tutor the first assignment to be submitted on the 3rd of April.
Throughout this degree, I have used WordPress as a way of recording my learning log. As it has been a successful way to record my work, I created a new blog just for this unit. It took me a while to remember how to set up all the menus and was a bit frustrating, but now they are complete, it will be easy to reflect on my work.
I have found WordPress is a good way to document my work and easy for my tutor to find relevant work because it is all broken down under the relevant headings.
Although it would be nice to have a handwritten learning log, I would get frustrated with my punctuation and spelling being wrong because of my dyslexia.
Now that I have set my learning log up for this unit, I am excited to add my first piece of work. I hope whoever is reading this enjoys looking at through my work.
As a small child, all I can remember is writing stories and illustrating them. I remember tapping away on my typewriter for hours on end. My spelling and grammar was never great and now I know it was due to me having dyslexia, but it didn’t stop my imagination. I knew when I was four I wanted to be an illustrator and if I was to fail; I thought I would be a zoo keeper instead.
As you can see below is a book that I wrote at age eight using my typewriter.
As I got older, I continued to draw and write and whilst at secondary school, during an English class, the teacher set some homework, which was to write a story. I became so engrossed in this homework that I made a fully illustrated book at age 12. Not realising at the time that all the teacher was expecting was a short story in my exercise book. However, the teacher loved it and the school awarded me a certificate of commendation and a five-pound voucher to spend in a bookshop.
Moving on, my GCSEs were approaching and at the time my only interests were English and Art & Design. Therefore, my main option selected was Art and Design.
After successfully completing my Art GCSE, I wanted to go onto college and and study Advanced GNVQ Art and Design. Unfortunetly, I did not have good grades in English or maths GCSEs. Therefore, the college informed me I would not be accepted. Yet, I was adement that I wanted to study this subject and arrived at the college with my portfollio. After the tutors from the course looked through my work, they accepted me on to the campus providing I resat my maths and English.
Successfully completing the course with Merit, I wanted to go on to extend my knowledge of Art at university and study illustration or fine art. At the time, sadly it was not finacially viable. Yet, this didn’t stop me trying to succeed as applied constently for jobs in the creative field and at age 19 became a Graphic Assistant for an architect company. Sadly a few years later, the company was struggling for clients and I was made redundant. After, I tried numerous companys in the creative field for employment but without a degree it seemed difficult to be taken notice of.
As a temporary measure, to help with my life costs, I took a job as a sales assistant within a garden centre. Yet, I have to say I was not expecting to enjoy it so much and because of the team I worked with and loving the job I stayed for five years, working as a tropical fish manager in an acqatics company. It was here that me and my husband decided it was time to try for children.
When my first born turned one, I wanted to return to work from parental leave but didnt want to leave my son in a nursery. Thinking about different options I decided to set up my own business as a childminder. Again, this was a rewarding job in that I could raise my own child at home but was given the privilege in caring for other parents children, and watching them grow into caring, talented young children.
However, when my second child was born we moved home and the house needed repair work. This meant I could no longer work as a childminder because the house was not OFSTED fit for working. Whilst our home was under going major repair, and watching my two children developing quickly I realised it was now my time to return to what I set out to do originally and that was illustration.
What do I need from the course
I guess why I am writting all my back story is for me to come back to this page from time to time and remind myself of my passion and my life time goals. Sometimes I think I am to old to try and fulfil my dream (40). It scares me a little that there are people that went to university at 19, 20 and will have twenty years work experience compared to me. However, I know I am grounded, commited and can succeed.
What I hope to gain whilst completing this unit is:
Constructive critique.
Encouragement.
Advice from my tutor and peers, as they will and may have had many more years working in the creative industry.
Help with pushing myself out of my comfort zone.
To keep pushing myself creatively and step away from technology.
Areas throughout this degree, that I have enjoyed are designing and creating bookcovers, this aspect really appeals to me because I want to do the author justice, to make the book stand out from the crowd and above all for the book to be taken home. I also enjoy creating illustrations for childrens books. Knowing that children are entering a world partly constructed by my by drawings is rewarding.
Areas I need to develope more based on my learning journey so far are the following:
Allowing enough time to creatively explore different options and not just stick to the initial idea.
Get a better understanding of formal grid layouts and composition.
Understand the correct use of fonts better and possibly create my own.
Improve time management and stop procrastinating.
By doing this unit I think it will greatly improve my creativity.
I have always referenced other people’s work that I have researched in my blogs, however I was not sure if I was doing it correctly. Currently, I have been using ‘https://www.citethisforme.com’ to help me create a bibliography for all of my projects. To check if I am correctly referencing work, I refreshed my memory and looked at the suggested link in the OCA course material.
I am so glad I watched the webinar as I have realised I have not been referencing any of my work properly. I wasn’t even aware that I needed to include citations. Whilst watching the link, I made notes for me to refer to if needed when adding citations and bibliographies.
I have been aware from the beginning of the degree that I have access to the library and have tried many times to use it. Unfortunately, I have had no luck using it as I have not found relevant content relating to the subjects I am researching. However, I think this is perhaps me not navigating the site properly. Therefore, intend on having a meeting with the librarian to help with this issue.
My tutor has also informed me she can suggest relevant chapters from books that might help with my studies and the library can email or post these to me. This is something I wasn’t aware was available to me until now and this resource will help immensely. Up until now I have been purchasing all the recommended reading and it is costly.
Having completed a few units of this degree, I am aware the tutors role is to provide me with constructive criticism which will help to push me on my creative journey.
I have already briefly met my tutor on google meet and am looking forward to working with her. It will be great to hear her suggestions and insights on my work and have her help to help me develop my practice.
I think it is important to reflect take on suggestions from my tutor and identify what areas I need to develop further to optimise my performance as a creative practitioner.
For this task, I refreshed my memory on resources that are available to help me with my studies. I did this by researching the OCA student site and familiarised myself with it again. I had a look at all the resources available to me. One being the OCA Discuss site. Although, I have not benefited from this and prefer using Discord chat site because I am able to have an instant chat with fellow students.
To refresh my memory, I re-read the student handbook to see if there were any helpful tips that I had forgotten about.
What are your motivations for study?
This question was in the handbook and I thought it was a salutary reminder for me to look at, perhaps, when I am struggling or not feeling motivated.
The day I enrolled on this unit was because I wanted to progress with the degree and challenge my creative process. Since being a child, I have wanted to be an illustrator. However, it is only now I am pushing myself to succeed in my dream. At the end of the course, I wish to start my own freelance business as an illustrator, creating illustrations for children’s books.
Your Creative Space
As stated in a previous research point, my creative space is currently under my stairs. I could work in my utility which is much larger but it isn’t insulated, so is freezing during the winter months. By working under the stairs, I can monitor my two children as I am in the centre of the house. However, during the pandemic, it was difficult to concentrate on my work with everyone at home, so I moved into my utility for a short time.
I felt at times like Harry Potter, but I have got through to the second year of the degree using this space so it can’t be too bad. When I need to paint, print or illustrate large pages, I will use the kitchen table to work from.
I am excited to say in the next couple of months my husband and I are transforming our children’s playroom into a studio as the children have outgrown the playroom now.
Below is my current working space.
What do you need to succeed?
Reading the handbook, I considered areas that I have found difficult in the past and what I can do to prevent any struggles with my studies.
Areas I have struggled with in the past that have affected my studies are:
Children being off school because they are unwell.
My ill health.
Bereavements.
These events did unfortunately take time out of my studies and made working difficult. However, at the moment life is okay, and it has made me determined to work extra hard and I think it is important to make sure I keep in touch with my tutor about how I am doing and to make sure I plan my studies around school term times.
For this research task, I visited OCA’s WeAreOCA blog and read through the study tips. Next, I reflected on my working practice and looked to see if there was anything new that could help me study better during this unit.
Reflection
Workspace
Currently, my workspace, which is quite cramped, is under the stairs. I find it hard sometimes to be creative as it is too small. Often, I have to set up another workspace which is on the kitchen table but then have to make sure I clear it up in time for breakfast, lucnch, dinner depending what time I start creative work. However, in the next couple of months, my husband and I are converting the children’s playroom into a studio as they are much older now, so this will help.
Social Media
One tip on the OCA site I thought is useful is to download a free website blocker on my laptop or phone to stop me from logging into social media while I am studying. It’s so easy to get distracted when my phone goes ping or even if it’s on silent, I still see the little green light to say there is a notification or a message.
Isolation
Studying from home can be isolating perhaps this is why looking at my phone and being distracted is a problem compared to if I was studying on an actual campus. However, I do know there are opportunities to take part in group discussions which I need to do more of. There is also OCA Discuss page which you can talk to other student but I prefer to use the Discord chat system. With Discord, I can have a live chat rather than waiting for a reply that could take a few days .
Library
After recently speaking to my tutor via google meets, she made me aware that if needed I can get photocopies of chapters from books containing information relevant to my course. This is very helpful as until now I have been purchasing most books and it is expensive. I will make sure I check with the librarian or my tutor to see if relevant information is available before purchasing books.
Procrastenation
This is something that can take hold of me quite often and it is usally at the poing of a new assignment or exercise. I think it comes down to a fear of being inadaquote and failing. Yet, I am realising that by busying myself with random stuff and avoiding the problem I am actually setting my self up to fail. Planning and ticking tasks off my to-do list will help me recognise I have achieved something and enable me to maintain a sense of momentum.
Tutor
Until now, my tutors have given written feedback and although I always found ito be useful critique, I guess I felt alone. My new tutor has said she will give feedback verbally via google meets. At first I thought this was a little scary as I get anxious about what my tutor thinks of the work I have done and at least when it was written, I didn’t have to face someone saying it’s rubbish. However, after thinking about it some more, I thought it was a good idea as we can have a two-way conversation about what works and what does not and it is also good practice to have face-to-face conversations about my work as this is what would happen in the ‘real world’.
Another tip I read is:
‘Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness.’
I always try my hardest to figure things out, but sometimes in the past I have been stuck for a long time and felt like I would be annoying the tutors to ask for help. Yet, my new tutor is very approachable and has said she is available on live chat should I ever need help. This made me feel part of a University for the first time and not just studying alone.
Writing this is not exactly part of my course work, but I have realised when you stumble across someone that hits something deep within your heart, it needs to be acknowledged, for me this was discovering Charlie Mackesy, who may just have woken me back up to my passion of illustration.
At the beginning of this course, Visual Exploration, Visual skills 2, I met my new tutor via google meet. During our introduction to each other, I mentioned I liked Quentin Blake as an artist. My tutor advised I may like another artist called Charlie Mackesy, which I had not heard of.
Intrigued by this suggestion, I researched Charlie’s website and looked at his portfolio of work. Each piece of his work took my breath away, and I have fallen in love with his magnificent illustrations, paintings and sculptures.
On part of his website, he showcases black and white drawings of jazz bands playing. One drawing can be seen below:
There is an element of realism in the image, but the atmosphere he has captured in each of his drawings has mesmerised me. I felt like I can hear the music and see the people dancing.
Next, I looked at the illustrations he created for the book he wrote called The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. It is a beautiful, emotional story about a young boy who meets three animals whilst on his journey to find home. Whilst on this journey, he learns many life skills, one being the act of kindness.
These drawings are completely different in style to the jazz illustrations, in that they are cartoonish, loose ink drawings. Yet, they are still filled with the same amount of energy and expression. Next to these illustrations, Charlie has written the surrounding narrative using the same dip ink pen he uses for the drawings. Which to me gives a unique, personal reading experience. Almost like I’m reading his diary pages.
The book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse was published in 2019 just before the pandemic hit. This story has since brought a lot of comfort to people as parts of the narrative are relatable to what we went through during the pandemic, but also other life scenarios.
Below are a few of my personal favourite illustrations because of the simplicity, fluidity and expressive quality of the line used.
After looking at his webpage, I then read the book via the YouTube link shown below. This gave me the opportunity to see the book in its entirety.
It was lovely to see the illustrations come to life on screen. The animated film reminded me of the Snowman by Raymond Briggs, especially when the horse is telling the boy that he can fly, of which the horse takes the boy up into the sky and they fly above the beautiful countryside just like the snowman did. Both stories have a magic that children enthral upon.
After, I then watched a documentary about his book being turned into a film.
It was interesting to see what a nice natured man he is and that he genuinely wanted to create the book in order to help people have a sense of inner peace.
For example, these quotes below are from the book and could mean so much to people of all ages.
“One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things”
“Doing nothing with friends is never doing nothing.”
“What is the bravest thing you’ve ever said? Asked the boy. ‘Help,’ said the horse. ‘Asking for help isn’t giving up,’ said the horse. ‘It’s refusing to give up.”
“The greatest illusion,” said the mole, “is that life should be perfect.”
And these are just a few of the quotes from the book.
During part of this interview, he showed large boxes and sketch pads that were filled with illustrations that he had created with the possibility of them being used in the book. There were so many! He pointed to them and said,
“All these pads are full of mistakes, if you keep going your find something.”
This really made me think that this is what I need to keep doing. It does not matter if I make mistakes, I just have to keep trying and working hard.
It was interesting to hear that he was born in Northumberland, as I think he may have taken inspiration from growing up there and used memories to help generate some of his illustrations.
It was very emotional to watch him talk about the loss of his best friend. I could feel his pain watching him during the interview, having also lost people close to me. I think he has thrown himself into creating art as a way of escapism and a way of giving him peace, but also a way of coming to terms with what life can throw at us and helping others with what he has had to endure. He has created a piece of happiness that can be read globally.
After writing this, I stumbled across an article from the Guardian. It confirmed that Charlie was working out his own feelings whilst drawing the boy talking to a horse. It shows this in the quote below from Charlie.
“I drew the conversations between the characters fromconversations I’ve had with my friends about what life really means, what’s important; it was a way for me to think aloud on paper with words and drawings.”
Publishers of the book intended to sell 10,000 copies, but to everyone’s surprise, it exceeded this. The total sales of the book in 2021 were 1,967,949 copies. Making Mackesy book to be the UK’s bestselling hardback book since records began.
I have just purchased the book as it is so inspirational and want it next to me to encourage me on my journey as an illustrator but also for my youngest son to read.
References
(no date) “https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/09/boy-mole-fox-horse-christmas-bestseller-charlie-mackesy.”
Visual Skills 2 