Thoughts on starting out in illustration and continuing there...

I decided I wanted to be an artist when I was at secondary school. I was pretty defined then as to what I wanted to do so embarked on studying this at tertiary college, then moved on to art college.
By the way, I didn’t get into Art College in the first round. I was selected for an interview at Kent Art College. They set a task – a huge task from what I recall – on the Friday and the interview was on the Monday!!! I freaked out, as I hadn’t had so much experience at doing art so quickly before (I was pretty fastidious at adhering to deadlines at that stage for art projects in class, not an all-nighter session the night before!). The interview and tests throughout the day, as well as the work prep beforehand, wasn’t the greatest. So I then moved to my second choice art college at Swindon. Although I wasn’t successful at the interview, they gave me amazing constructive feedback on what I should do to gain a place there as they saw potential and asked me to apply again next year. So off I went and did evening classes in life drawing and watercolour painting to strengthen my drawing skills for the next year. The interview came up for Swindon a year later and it was my first choice art college this time. I was successful and relieved – I knew I wanted to be there. The tutors were a mixed bag – all artists themselves – but all constructive at giving feedback. Some were stronger at this than others. Some were hilarious and had a good sense of humour – some not so! But all in all a good experience. It was art 24-7 (with a lot of partying in-between!) it was here I started to find my art style, which has evolved hugely since. I also learned to do a lot of last minute work the night before!!! I was quite quick at getting some freelance work. Computers had already started to influence society so with the help of a lovely graphic designer friend, got a website up and a company contacted me saying they’d seen my work and wanted to meet me. Going forward, I did about 6-8 illustrations for their magazines – Retail Newsagent. They were easy to deal with up until payment. I didn’t get paid for over 6 months after I’d completed the last illustration for them. Threatening to take them to a small claims court was not nice, but it did end up with them paying me quickly after that. That’s the worst part of the freelance illustration – chasing payment. I always found that part of the deal irritating. If you’re not on their payroll permanently, then they forget and constantly chasing for payment is beyond a horrorshow!
Still, let’s leave that irritation behind and concentrate on the art. I’ve been involved with some brilliant art exhibitions – a notable one was an ‘art for all’ type of exhibition at the Coningsby Gallery in 2004. A small venue, it was packed out on the opening night so even I couldn’t get into the blinking exhibition myself!!! It was a really proud moment (when I did get in!) to see people looking at your work, amongst other art and artists there of different art backgrounds too.
The best part of showing people what you can do is when a friend of mine put me in touch with a children’s book publisher when I’d not long got out of Art College. I went to see this publisher and he saw my portfolio. He then implied that although my art ‘did have character’, I wouldn’t be one to fall into children’s book illustration (i.e. he wouldn’t commission me for that type of art). Well, I’d LOVE to go back and see him now, after being part of two children’s books so far, and see what his reaction would be!
Freelance illustration is hard – I have a full time job as a researcher – but would hope that one day I can do illustration full time, and would NEVER give it up for anything. If something creative is in you, it’s worth keeping on and pursuing.