Talk One: A Career in Childrens Illustration, Helen Papworth
Helen Papworth started with do Art A level and went on to become an art teacher. Later in her life she then became a VSO volunteer in Ethiopia and eventually got a job in the Ministry of Education. When she came back to the UK she applied to Glyndwr University to study Children's Illustrations. After this she became a VSO volunteer again but in Rwanda. She finished her degree in children's illustration in 2006.
Helen started the children's illustration course because she loved books, love drawing, loved writing, she could work from home and not be stuck in an office, it was flexible, didn't have another job and had enough money to pay for the course fees. Her two main influences were/are Arthur Rackham and Saun Tan. She gave advice that if you wanted to go into illustration (and I'm pretty sure that the same goes for animation) you should do atleast one sketch a day either from life, the TV or media. She's always been scared of colour and avoids paint.
Helen's main style is to use mixed media with photoshop and her influences are african, such as the culture, landscapes, environments etc. She illustrated for children in education in Ethiopia.
Helen decided one day that her research was better than her illustrations and so started a PhD in Creative Writing where she worked with writers and artists. After this she went on to create quite a few books for her younger Ethiopian audience.
It's nice to know that someone is using their skills in another country and is successful, even though she doesn't earn much money and I love the fact that she's doing something that she loves - it was clear from the talk how enthusiastic she was about what she does. Although it doesn't really appeal to me it made me realise that there is work beyond the UK. Some of the advice she gave such as do a drawing a day was good, I think I've slacked off from my drawing and I think it definitely shows in my work.
Talk Two: Going into Business as a Young Entrepreneur, Charli Dickinson
Charlie Dickinson is part of the Launch Project which help people in rural Wrexham start their own business. They help by giving business grants of which is government funded.
The first step to making your own business is coming up with an idea, the advice she gave was to carry around a notepad so that if you get an idea whilst you're out and about you can write it down. She also said that it's useful to talk to other people about your idea to get some feedback etc.
Once you have your idea you need to do some research, who are your customers? What's your market? And is there any competition? How much money do you need to start it? Will you need a piece of property? How can you be funded? Where are your customers?...Internet, forums, online communities, market stall, shop? Do you need to travel to where your potential customers will be?
And finally marketting, this is the crucial part to having a business, it's an investment because if you have little marketting you will have a small amount of customers.
This talk was nice and simple and was easy to keep up and understand. It just made you think about things that maybe you wouldn't have otherwise if you wanted to start a business. Think this would only affect me if I was to start selling stuff like t shirts etc with my own brand on it to sell myself and my work. Which I may well do, I have been thinking about this this week. Not only should I hopefully make money from doing such a thing but it's also marketing/advertising.
Today wasn't the best day of creative futures week but I did gain extra knowledge and advice which is always handy!
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