why i chose illustration as a course

As a child I have always enjoyed drawing with the influence of my Nan, Mum and Dad & I've become quite good at it. I also find drawing very relaxing, but have always enjoyed challenging myself with things I find more difficult. I did not choose art when I chose my subjects for my GCSE’s, this was because I wanted to become a sports mechanic, so I took D.T Systems And Engineering which I got an A and 2 C’s in. I then got a part time job working in a garage, changing tyres on a Saturday which was really fun but only because of the people I worked with. I spent 5 years working there; although it was enjoyable, it wasn’t very exciting so with a lot of persuasion from my Nan. my nan has always been the one to push me when it comes to art, as it runs throw the family and i have always enjoyed spending time with my nan as she taught me how to paint and draw when i used to visit her on the farm.

 I changed subjects when I started my A Levels; I ended up with a C. I always found sketching and doodling much more enjoyable than the fine art side of the course and I taught myself how to use Adobe Photoshop, because of meeting a random man in a pub who had already done a graphics course, so I endeavored to learn it. the teachers where always pushing me to do work in class, and to try different approaches to my work, this helped me so much as i had not done art in GCSE so i did not know what was expected of me. my final piece is still up in the school on display.

I went into college with an open mind for Foundation Art; I enjoyed all the new processes that I had never done before, such as silk screen printing, photography and development. But as the year went on I found the teachers to be very stale, as they only like the work to be done their own way but I got a pass nonetheless. I specialized in visual Communication as this was the closest pathway to illustration because I didn’t really fancy doing fashion, 3D or fine art.

I decided I wanted to go into illustration as I love to create weird and wonderful things using computer software as well as drawing by hand. I also have a very keen interest in video games, but thought I would have more fun making the characters and seeing them come to life, therefore I chose illustration over game design because I thought the job at the end of the course would be hard to come across, so I thought illustration would give me more job opportunities when I finish my course.