I recognise in myself that I have a lot of growing to do personally and as a creative, therefore understand the importance of building my confidence, putting myself out there and having a strong plan of action to help me tackle the year ahead. Having faith in myself and my ability is only going to improve by DOING. I intend to stop piling on the pressure and worrying about where I think i should be and instead be realistic, go with the flow, focus on what I like - not what i think is successful and make this my practice, enjoy what comes my way and live by the rule - "if you want something in life - you have to go and get it." I think its time to 'MAN UP'.
Lets get REAL
What has always worried me is my lack of 'style' and direction. Everything inspires me. I seem to have no limits to what it is that I really would like to do, get involved with, improve upon, where I would like to aim myself and this is really hindering my ability to approach new work, briefs, commissions and getting myself out there. Every time I am creative I am approaching it in a brand new way (new media, approaches, styles, concepts etc) which scares me and I end up going through this lost "how the hell do i do that"// "its not good enough" phase each time. Its exhausting and seems to be feeding my lack in confidence more than improving it.
To tackle this, the best way for me to try and figure out what it is that I really want to achieve in the future as a creative practitioner is to ask myself just that...What do i want for myself?
• I want to be confident
Confidence is everything to me but something that I really lack now more than ever in my life. Having confidence would mean being a strong individual, able to promote my work, believe in myself and my ability as a creative, step out of comfort zones and stop hiding, network, chase & open up new opportunities, take risks, try new things, contact agencies and practitioners, work collaboratively and having the belief in myself that I can do this and make my passion into a career.
• I want to be desirable
I want to do well in this final year of uni. I want to make myself, my tutors and my family proud after a very difficult 2 years and I want to prove to myself that I can do this. I want a first class degree and I want to come away with a skill set, portfolio and presence (both online and in the creative community) which will be desirable to agencies, creative companies, studios, clients and customers. I want to be 'shit hot' hopefully leading to a successful and rewarding future and career.
• I want to be successful
What do i consider successful?
How do I get there?
• I want to make a difference
• I want to improve my practice
• I want to be good at what I do
• I want to have my own tone of voice, be innovative and inspire others
This will come the more work I do and the more involved I become within the creative community. I want to be individual in my style and approach when developing my individual practice and this can be achieved by making lots of work - good and bad and undergoing the journey of discovering who I am creatively
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Plans & AimsNow that I have identified my goals and what I want to achieve, I can start thinking more clearly about how I can get there.
Aims for personal life:
My personal life has taken a huge hit these past 2 years since I have begun struggling with my mental and physical health and this unfortunately seeps into to all aspects of my life including my creative practice. I have such strong motivation and drive to change my life for the better this year and below are a few things I am implementing and areas I am working on to better myself:
• have routine and structure in and out of uni
• be healthy, eat well, work out
• be sociable and make time for myself, friends and family
• be mindful and reflective
• do what makes me happy
• stop worrying, stressing, piling on the pressure - work with what i've got, be positive about myself, my practice and build my confidence
Aims for developing my practice in my spare time:
• create personal zines: to help me create artwork at a faster rate, in a more natural, fluid and time conscious way
• Start up website (blog about website ideas / layouts / providers ... dad?)
• Start up my own shop - big cartel // etsy
• sell work - contact galleries and appear in exhibitions
• push self promotion and online presence
• draw draw draw
• teach myself digital - new wacom given to me by my dad
• street-art / public art (a personal interest and creative path i would love to get involved with)
• undergo self-initiated projects in my own time (see ideas)
• be curious - keep up-to-date with current trends, creative news and local opportunities (Leeds & Cambridge)
• make the most of opportunities - get commissions and challenge myself
• make time for myself
• be confident
• be reflective and true to what makes me 'tick' creatively.
Aims for developing my practice throughout the uni year:
• work hard, be organised and stick to the working day: IN STUDIO 8:30am - 5:30pm Mon - Fri
• time management: use time effectively, don't miss uni sessions, have studio presence, do work as soon as it is given, don't fall behind
• blog consistently: spend dedicated time to updating my blog daily. Don't "over-blog" - keep it necessary, relevant, concise and informative
• keep contacting relevant practitioners, agencies, companies, festivals and institutes
• make a "post uni" POA
• improve analogue printing skills (screen, lino, mono)
• work and improve skills with paper cut again
• life drawing classes - work on figure, face skills + observational drawing skills
• make use of new digital skills - incorporate into module work
• re-work self-promotion and face of online presence
• get involved - get myself out there - find opportunities
• make use of uni facilities from the library to being inducted in and making use of different departments
• find my own personal tone of voice
• be confident
• be professional
• create work fit for my future portfolio - create a strong and effective portfolio I can be proud of