I have reflected a lot throughout my influences and how they have impacted on the progression of my work, for example a strong influence has greatly impacted my journey, 'Carnival of Animals' is children's author and illustrator, Eric Carle. He uses a similar style to myself, working with different materials, as well as being free and playful throughout his collages, which make up his children's stories i.e. 'The Hungry Caterpillar', 'Mister Seahorse', etc.
I feel I have come a long way throughout the progression of my work, as I came to terms with my inner child and the style I represent.
A quote that always gets me in the mood to create and succeed is;
"Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional" - by James Johnson
This means I will always have my inner child which helps me to succeed in life no matter what age I am for example; including my childlike features and sophistication into my work and everything else I do. I don't want to grow old I wish I could stay young forever, but in a way I guess I am just doing that throughout my imagination.
By the end of my degree I aim to produce a children's counting book for young children, which will help them learn how to count using animal images. As well as this, I also aim to produce a children's wallpaper, as I would love to produce interior patterns for a children's bedroom. as an added extra for my degree show I would like to create a small animated Gif for my website. Some ideas include a sea turtle swimming across the page or a swan flapping its wings or maybe even just a frog waving its arm; something that's interesting that will keep my audience intrigued.
My plans on Graduation are to prepare for the big wide world by getting a stable job, as we all need money in this life. However, I will continue with my passion for art, taking up the role of a freelance illustrator, entering lots of competitions for children's books or in any other areas. Researching into more opportunities in meeting children's authors, illustrators and designers, keeping my eyes open for lectures or exhibitions by people that may be of interest to me.
Current work I am doing is helping a school produce pictures to help dyslexic children during class. A teacher at a well known school asked me to illustrate some images for children with dyslexia to help them understand the emotions they maybe going through, as well as to help them with any problems they are experiencing during the classroom environment. I am looking forward to helping these children after my degree, and see where life takes me from there. I am also thinking of doing some more work for 'Teenage Market' as I enjoyed the experience last time and I want to get as much experience as I can selling my work and getting the audience's advice on what they think. I also think this will help boost my confidence when it comes to talking to people within the industry. I do still fear I won't achieve what I aim for, but life is all about fear, and the only way to get over it is to face it. I'm going to keep working hard and stay positive for the future, because my work is all about making people happy and sharing the joy I feel when I produce see or feel a piece of work that I can stand back at and think, wow! Like everyone in this business I wish to produce work that will be worth something and mean something to people one day, because once this happens I know that I've shared a part of me with this world, and although this sounds cheesy, its a lot better than leaving this world without leaving anything behind.
Hopefully I'll make my family proud and make children happy with the books I publish, bringing more life and enjoyment to the power of a child's imagination. A power that I can only learn from, and I suppose the best place to look is my younger sister, Crystal and hopefully one day in the future, from my own children to.
Taking life as it comes, living it to the full, and grabbing every opportunity I can, can only lead to good, maybe someone will notice me at my degree show, maybe not, but either way we have to cease the day and cease the moment or as they say in Latin, 'Carpe Diem.'
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