Task 1 -Creative Manifesto

The themes and subject matters that I tend to address in my work cover the topics that relate to social and political issues. I normally take the approach of doing in-depth research into subjects and from this, I develop ideas. Working with these subject areas, you must consider the audience, possible reactions and the content of the image. Tackling social subjects that are related to race, class or religion are very heavy going and an aim for myself in the module is to try and step away from the serious and go toward lighter subject matters. With the practical development of these ideas, I use print processes such as lino and screen which give successful results. However, this is very time consuming and with one sector of illustration I’m interested in, editorial, and using my current process, the turnaround wouldn’t be quick enough. Within my approach to documenting the work and research, I find having a material with which I can write and dot down ideas helpful. The blog is useful for this, however, writing too much is an issue. Taking the writing out of the blog into book form could be a good alternative and help me to condense down the key points. But the blog is still useful for posting development images. It makes it easier to look back pick up failings or ideas that could be taken further. However, going back to point of a more light heart approach, within this module I want to add a more experimental approach to my practice. I want to explore printed textile and more ascetical driven ideas. As I am finding, working constantly with difficult subjects can make my ideas dry. By creating and making for ‘vanity projects’ I’ll be able to play around and develop technique more, with the aim of improving the images I make. Process lead practice will still be essential to how I work. I find using a process to develop ideas very effective and by the end of this module and as a practitioner this is something I would like to be identified as. My aim at the end is to be an illustrator that is able to create ascetically pleasing designs for commercial use e.g. textiles and product, but also still work in the editorial sector. Not in political and social issues but more creative magazines and articles. Currently, I still feel like my practice is wavering slightly and I haven’t settled yet on a process that I am happy with and can be applied to different sectors and keep its core visual signature. One way around this is to simply play, have a re brand and develop work that had an identifiable continuity.
I also aim carry on building strong connections and gain more confidence in approaching people and companies. This will make the transition from leaving university and into industry much easier and is something that I can constantly build on.