Plans for After Uni

TAKE A BREAK:

- Drawing for me has lost its fun a little bit over the past few years. Its become something I have to do in order to pass a module and progress to the next step rather than something that I'm doing naturally for fun. In the past few months that fun has come back a little because I've been working on self-directed briefs but I think I need some time away from it all before trying to submerge myself fully into the industry. 

- Taking a step back and finding what makes me tick again. The course has completley taken over the past three years of my life, which is neccassary but has also meant i've lsot a lot of the things that used to inspire me. Reading is not something that there's been time for. Visiting new places, taking time to be in nature, all of those little things that feed creativity and feed who I am as a person have taken a back seat and I think it's about time I go back to trying to figure out who I am, what I'm about and letting that feed into my work. 

- Finding my feet in the adult world. Everything that I've known and has given me comfort is changing over a very short space of time. I'm both terrified and excited but I know I'm going to need time to adjust to how things are going to be rather than trying to adjust and pressuring myself to be getting comissioned Illustration work. I'm lucky to have found a bartending job just before uni finishes but this wont suffice forever. I need to be steady on my own two feet before I can pick this up again as something that brings me joy and hopefully at somepoint starts to pay the bills.

AFTER THE BREAK:

- Gathering supplies. Without the sweet help of student discount and free paper and pencils at uni, I can imagine I'm going to be a little stuck for supplies sometimes. I think it's important for me to invest in these things as soon as I get the opportunity, just so I can securley know I'll be able to continue making with materials at my disposal. I've been looking into purcahsing a screen printing kit so that I can continue to create work in this way aswell. It'll all become a very DIY approach but I'm excited to see what I can make completley off of my own back. 

- Approaching local businesses. During a tutorial, I discussed the idea of approaching local businesses with prints/zines/products that I'd made and asking if they wanted to stock them. I think this is a good route for me to go down and will help build relationships within the local creative community. I imagine with that kind of thing as well, its beneficial to both the maker and the stockists, as with more stock, surely the business owners are getting more footfall/customers coming through? I'm not entirley sure how this works, I think i need to have conversations and do research into figuring out how I'm going to go about this but that'll happen in its own time. 

- Print and Zine Fairs are still an option and still something I want to participate in. Even though not always successful, I think participating in this kind of thing will help me keep my head in the game and my allow me to network with local creatives and people who will be going or already have gone through a similar experience to myself. 

I NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT AT MY OWN PACE. TOO MUCH PRESSURE IS PUT ON US TO ACHIEVE EVERYTHING IN OUR EARLY 20'S AND PEAK EARLY BUT IT'S NOT REALISTIC OR EXPECTED.