It feels necessary to do another brain dump. The last few weeks, since delving deeper into the freelance world have been pretty eventful! I’ve been super fortunate to be involved in a fair amount of commissions and collaborations recently as well as managing the personal side of being an artist!
I took 10 days off for a much needed holiday for the first time in what felt like forever. It’s so important to take time off and recharge, but so much easier said than done as an emerging artist. However the time off was amazing and reminded me that life exists outside of work. I went home to London and got to spend some time with amazing friends and family and hear about what the last year of a locked-down England has been like for them. I also went to visit a fellow illustrator friend who had moved to Scarbourgh, a place I would never have chosen to visit (due to how bloody long it takes to get there!) but enjoyed it so so much. I also of course got some great skating and sun soaking done too!
Coming back to a decent chunk of emails was really stressful for a few days, but as always, I was stressing unnecessarily at the work-load and over complicating things. This is something I frustratingly do quite a lot, and it always turns out fine. It feels pretty shit in the moment but I never hand work in late, so its probably a fairly beneficial way of thinking, but still something I want to get a little more control over in future so it doesn’t eat away at my personal life and mental health quite as much as it currently does.
Despite this stress, the last few days have highlighted what it’s all for, the end product of happy customers and amazing connections. I completed two small personal commission for birthday presents both of which allowed me to delve deeper into the lives of absolute strangers and capture their personalities, and both so joyfully received. I also started the beginning stages of what I imagine to be 2 amazing collaborations. One with a team of fellow illustrators represented by Illo focusing on mensuration, and the other with a variety of artists and poets to bring attention to a National Trust venue focusing on belonging. I’ve already gained so much simply from the few video calls we’ve had, it’s reminded me of the amazing impact that collaboration can have and I can’t wait to learn more as well as making an amazing end piece.
During the most recent collaborative call I was able to listen and learn about the creative experience of other artists, and share my own thoughts, something I didn’t realise how much I missed and how incredibly valuable it is. Just one small example of how brilliant this communication is, I shared with the team my WIP project of playing cards, and one artist pointed me in the direction of a reliable printing company to source them from, something I’d been looking for but had no success!
Planning, printing, sourcing, and actually making a bringing all of my personal projects into fruition is something that’s also been heavily on my mind, but defiantly slowly happening! It’s always a dream to have my work on physical products, but time, finance and knowledge of the market has gotten in the way. All these obstacles certainly still exist, but little moments like this are helping me chip away at them and get closer into making these dreams into a reality.
Pictures above, show :
some small edits to my card project (the main personal project in progress)
additional work in progress sketches and ideas for the two collaborative projects
photos of the 2nd tee design done for Mia at Always Cook on the Bright Side, really highlighting the point that products take time to come into the real world but boy are they worth it!