PPP3: Summative Position Statement

As a practitioner in Illustration I would say that my speciality is character and narrative as well as editorial as a side practice. My aim is to make people laugh whilst educating them where possible in important issues such as politics, equality and mental health. Much of the imagery I enjoy creating is imaginary world building, however I also have special place in my practice for satirical comic strips that highlight the absurdity of modern politics. 

I am a keen self publisher and look forward to expanding my range of work over the coming years to sell at events such as Thought Bubble and Birmingham ICE. Whilst my ultimate got is to create a long form narrative book, or graphic novel, that would be a viable product to sell in places such as Waterstones, Travelling Man or Colours May Vary.

Having had my fill of education for the time being, post college I plan to find work in the creative field with in house illustration as a possibility e.g.; for a web development company. With a potential job lined up at the end of summer this is most likely to be the case, however it will only be part time as my primary goal is to ensure the growth of my self publishing practice. Another profitable avenue is to continue creating editorial work, however I need to find a way to get my foot in the door in that area of work, which I have struggled to do so far.

Beyond that the future is bit harder to see, a lot of my practise depends on how well I do over the next year. The key things I need to continue working on are my character and narrative work, self publishing and networking, which will be vital to my continued creative presence.

PPP3: Summative Evaluation

When we were first introduced to PPP in Level 4 I didn’t like the module and couldn’t really see it’s purpose. Whilst, I still would struggle to say it’s my favourite module, I can now see the benefits of it. Through PPP I have pushed myself to to grow as a practitioner, sometimes in places that I didn’t think needed improvement upon. 

Through the module I have learnt the importance of networking and the confidence that is needed to do the task. My confidence has largely been built by the annual presentations we have had to perform, I now feel quite positive when faced with the task of talking to a large group of people. Furthermore I know that I can talk with an understanding of illustration that I wouldn’t have been able to acquire if not for this module. 

PPP has also improved my understanding of the professional aspects of illustration in terms of branding and how I present myself to the public. Whilst I consider myself a silly person at times, I now understand that there is a difference between being humorous and unprofessional. I feel that this is best represented in my branding that frequently displays me in amusing poses or situations, but doesn’t detract from the professional quality suggested by my logo for example. 

Without PPP I don't think I would have had the courage to put myself out into the open world in regards to things such as Thought Bubble. I initially only applied for Thought Bubble as I felt it would look good on my PPP blog, however I soon found it was a great way to network, meet new people and understand how to handle myself professionally in a very public place. Going to conventions is something I intend to do frequently in the future, so much so I have designed a banner with my branding on it that I intend to order shortly.

I feel that my biggest failing in PPP this year was preparing for my exit strategy. Whilst I know that I want to get into self publishing and eventually create graphic novels similar to illustrators such a Bryan Lee O Malley or Craig Thompson, I feel that I haven’t done nearly enough research into this area of practice and will have to continue doing so after my degree. On a more positive note I do have a potential part time job lined up in the form of in-house illustration for a web development company that is starting up. However this potentially may not happen so I need to keep my options open and continue looking for a job.

Overall, I believe that for the most part, I have been quite engaged with this module, although there is more that I could have done, I feel as though my practice has improved drastically through what has been achieved. 

PPP3: Presentation (Final)

Here is my Creative Strategy presentation;

PPP3: Creative Presence (Final)

Here are the boards for my Creative Presence;

PPP3: Portfolio (Final)

The work I have selected for my portfolio perhaps best represents my work which is mostly character and narrative based, but with elements of editorial also.

PPP3: Mike (Animation Tutor) Email

Yesterday I remembered that some time ago I bumped into Mike the Animation tutor in the lift and he spotted one of my Doctor Who prints. He recommend a old student of his who now works in the Doctor Who circle. Unfortunately I was in a hurry and the conversation got completely forgotten about until yesterday whilst double checking my blog.

I got in touch with Mike and he was quick to reply;

"Hi Tom,

The guy who I know is called Tom Saunders, he works for a company called Big Finish Productions. You should be able to contact him through his linked in profile (here was the link)

Hope that helps

Michael".

I've sent a LinkIn request to Tom, but don't expect to be in full communication until after the module deadline - however I have started progress with a potentially great connection. 

PPP3: Commission Form and Invoice

An important part of practise will be to ensure that a level of professionalism with clients. To help do this I have created Invoice and Commission Form templates to send out to clients at the necessary stages of projects.

Firstly there is the Acceptance of Commission letter, which for the most part is a replication of the AOI example we were given, however the representative from the AOI felt strong that it was a solid contract and I have no reason to doubt her.

I have made a point of the specific information for the clients to be in a different colour. This will make the text stand out and easy for them to see in a very text heavy document. Additionally, I have used the word 'estimated' concerning my fees as these may be larger should the client be tricky. This was suggested by John in one of his earlier PPP session in the year and it really stuck by me. 

Next I have my invoice. Having never made an invoice before I had to rely on John's guidance and examples found of the internet. I feel that it has the relevant information needed, though perhaps I could have included a Job/Title line below the clients information. I have also included at the bottom a note saying; "If there are any issues pertaining to payment, please contact me immediately". This is to ensure that should any job result in legal proceedings I can point out that the client has had the opportunity to discuss money issues.

PPP3: Promo Pack (Final)

Here is the mock up for my promo pack. I have simply converted my business card front to act as a cover for this. Inside the first page has my CV printed onto the reverse of the cover. This will save the receiver having to deal with too many loose sheets of paper flying around when they receive my work. On the opposing side is a small pouch made of card that will hold several post cards displaying my work. A removable business card will be insert into the pouch here. Finally, the reverse is basically the back of my business card, displaying all of my details incase the card itself should get lost.


Here is an example of my promo pack open;

PPP3: Dan Berry Email

I haven't really had much luck in regards to replies from people in the creative industry. Maybe I'm targeting the wrong sort of people. However, last year I managed to get a reply from Dan Berry in regards the pens that he uses, I bought one myself and felt it wasn't for me. Regardless, he replied and it made me happy so I thought I'd try again, and this time build a connection.

Hi Dan,

My name is Tom Roberts and I’m a third year illustration student at Leeds College of Art, I emailed you last year and you were kind enough to reply at the time. I'll be completing my degree soon and have a few months before moving to Birmingham, in that time I plan to work on quite a large narrative story.

From what I understand you’ve recently completed a rather large piece of work yourself, and I was wondering if you had any advice on managing such a big job.

Additionally, do you have any advice for someone who is interesting in the world of self publishing but doesn't know how to get their foot in the door?

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Tom

Dan is currently in china, so I don't expect a reply from him soon, however I am hopeful that he will.

PPP3: Banner

I recently found out that Aggie has ordered a banner to promote her work at festivals. I've decided to take this idea on board and designed my own banner incorporating some of my promotional material such as my logo and the recurring image of my face. This banner will be fantastic for festivals as it help clients and customers immediately know who I am without having to interact with me straight away. I believe Aggie's banner cost around £25-£30 so I will look for one around the same price now I have an idea of how much they should be.

PPP3: New Business Cards

Using the recent self portrait illustrations that were designed for my presentation and my logo redesign, I decided to create new business cards. I feel that the new designs better express my visual quality and I am much happier with these acting as promotional material than the cards I've used over the past year (seen here).

I've sent these designs off to be printed by Moo, the printing company my friend suggested some months ago. Unfortunately, I don't expect them to arrive before the module hand in date.

PPP3: Presentation Reflection

Over the past two days Level 6 students have presented their Creative Strategies to each other, which for the most part was very enjoyable and enlightening, however also exhausting. I found I was quite nervous presenting this time around, compared to my Level 5 presentation where I was substantially less so. However, my nerves were unjust and my presentation went quite well, with Fred citing my presentation as the most focused and professional he had seen from me.

There were understandably less than positive points to be made about my presentation. Firstly, and most importantly concerning the presentation itself. Whilst my presenting style was adequate and my discussion well rounded, my slides were a major failing. I drew all of my slides specifically for the presentation, but didn't included any or my work from across the three years of the course. Everyone else had done so, and I was painfully aware of this when my presentation came about. I feel that I perhaps took a comment last year from Matt, in which he praised my drawn slides, too far this time around.

Another glaring issue was my lack of a fully developed exit strategy. Whilst most people discussed where they saw themselves in 1-5 years, all I had discussed was my potential job offer that will start in the summer.

Additionally, after the presentations were done, several of my peers asked my why I hadn't discussed my Tory Chums strips. I honestly forgot to include them and was surprised by the number of people (tutors included) that were disappointed with their exclusion. This has got me thinking that perhaps my final project in OUIL603 shouldn't be an extension of my Beyond La La Land comic, but rather a development of my Tory Chums as it seems like the more well received work with much more viability.

Finally, people praised my discussion of my depression. It wasn't an easy thing to talk about but the entire situation has affected my practise so I felt it would be odd not to include in the presentation. Two people informed me that they almost cried during this period of my presentation, which suggests that I have the 'personal' aspect of PPP down.

PPP3: Presentation Slides (and Script)

Tomorrow I have my presentation for PPP. Here are the slides and my script;






Whilst I plan on using my script, I won't be reading from it as a narrator would, rather, it is there to remind me of specific points should I forget during the stressful period.

I took my presentation to college today in the hopes of uploading it to the Boardroom Mac in preparation for tomorrow but unfortunately that wasn't possible. However Fred noted my desire to be prepared for the day and suggested I upload it onto my username in the Boardroom regardless to test it out. The presentation works fine, now all I have to worry about is making sure my suit is ironed and ready for tomorrow.

PPP3: Yuk Digital Job Offer

Recently I got back in contact with an old school friend Paul who is a web developer, we have been speaking frequently over the past few weeks and today he offered me a job (potentially) at the start of September.

He's been looking into expanding his business as he has grown tired of being a sole freelance web designer and has offered me the role of in-house illustrator should his plans work out. He has been saving up capital for some time now by the sounds of things and would be able to pay me for 2-3 days work a week.

Everything is still very up in the air at the moment, but things look promising. Regardless, I should still keep my options open and not bank on this job to be a dead certain thing. I will continue to hand out CV's for jobs in Birmingham.

PPP3: New Logo/Continued Website Issues

I spent some time today researching and developing a new logo for my branding. I began by looking at some of the websites illustrators who I admire use, such as Ben Newman and Dan Berry. What I gathered was that most people seem to spend a fair amount of time making a logo for their website, or use a variation of a generic typeface.



From here I recalled a logo I created before starting my degree when I was going by DTR Illustration. I still like certain aspects of this design so transferred those qualities to my new logo. After some playing around with layout and colour I was ready to put the design on my website.



An earlier issue I encountered involved image quality within my website; I attempted to resolve this by saving my logo in different file formats such as GIF, TIFF and Saved for Web, however none of these file formats were the solution. After some research I came to the conclusion that GoDaddy isn't the best to use for an image based website and will look to move my domain to another provider in the near future. However until then, this will unfortunately have to suffice.

PPP3: The Lake District and Beatrix Potter

My girlfriend and I spent the last weekend in the Lake District, specifically by Lake Windermere. Whilst there I took many photos that may come in use as reference imagery at some point;



The location was quite fantastic and inspiring, not just for the views, but also due to the importance of Beatrix Potter to the area. I never grew up reading Beatrix Potter so only had a faint idea of her work. The most surprising aspect that I discovered was that she illustrated her own stories. I had no idea of this prior to my visit to the Lakes. We visited not only her house but a gallery of her work which consisted of final pieces and in depth investigations into her work. She truly was a fantastic woman whose love of nature came through in her work. The only down point to the visit was that I was not allowed to take photographs in the Potter locations.

PPP3: Website Complete

And so after several months of alterations with the layout, links etc I finally published my website at www.zoomillustration.co.uk. Unfortunately now is not the time to celebrate as it wasn't until I published the site that I noticed my image quality as quite poor. This was not apparent during the building phase which is extremely frustrating! The variation in quality can be seen below.

I have contacted my friend Paul, who I recently reconnected with through PPP, to ask for his opinion on the matter. Unfortunately he said he's never worked with GoDaddy as a website builder and couldn't help me. I feel it may be due to the file types which I'm using to upload (being JPEG). I'll have to look into this issue at greater length.

In the mean time, I've added links to my Gumroad and Etsy stores so people can buy my physical and digital products, a section for my Fan Art, a selection from my Portfolio, an about the illustrator section and finally, a contact page should any potential clients wish to get in touch. This contact page links to my new practice email address 'zoom.illustration@gmail.com'. Additionally, I have added on my homepage a bulletin announcing my next appearance - at Thought Bubble 2016.

PPP3: Frank Print

During Thought Bubble I produced a print of the character Frank (played by Danny DeVito) from the programme It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. These were black and white and cheap to produce, selling reasonably well at £1.

With a few left over I put them on my Etsy store and am quite surprised to find they are the first of my prints to completely sell out. This is possibly due to two variables, that the product is 'Fan Art' and because it is cheap. I'm in two minds whether to restock them as with the price of P&P I'm not making much money from them (25p less than my Thought Bubble cost) and I don't really think they are worth the effort. However on the flip side of things, it is promoting my practice.

PPP3: Thought Bubble 2016 Confirmed!

Today I received word that my application for a table at Thought Bubble 2016 has been accepted! I'm thrilled by the news, especially because Rosie and I managed to get a full table this time, as opposed to last year where Joe and I shared half a table. 

Unfortunately I still haven't heard back from Birmingham ICE so am expecting not to have gotten  table there. Or their ability to respond to applications is in need of improvement, but I expect it's the former.

PPP3: Steve Bell and Martin Rowson Emails

Today I sent of emails to both Maritn Rowson and Steve Bell. I chose these two cartoonists as I feel they are both experienced in the industry of political satire and would have some valuable advice for me.

The letters read as:

"Hi Steve,

Firstly, I’m a huge fan of your work and am really enjoying your strips on Lord Bumnose! I’m currently working on a series of satirical comic strips myself concerning the Tory government, but feel that my work is perhaps a but too dark/vular. Do you think this is an issue, or is there a market for darker satirical pieces?

Additionally, if you don't mind answering - how did you break into the sphere of political satire and cartoons? Being at the beginning of my career, it would be great if I could figure out how to get my foot in the door.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Tommy ‘Zoom’ 

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"Hi Martin,

Firstly, I’m a huge fan of your work and am really enjoying your work in the Guardian  I’m currently working on a series of satirical comic strips myself concerning the Tory government, but feel that my work is perhaps a but too dark/vular. Do you think this is an issue, or is there a market for darker satirical pieces?

Additionally, if you don't mind answering - how did you break into the sphere of political satire and cartoons? Being at the beginning of my career, it would be great if I could figure out how to get my foot in the door.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Tommy ‘Zoom’ Roberts"

As I'm not having much luck with responses I chose to send similar emails on the off chance that one of them replied. I await their responses.

PPP3: Depression

Recently I was diagnosed with depression. I've been trying for some time to pretend that it wasn't affecting my studies but I can't deny that it has been. My work rate has slowed down to the point where I'm barely producing any work at all, as was evidenced by my most recent peer review.

My doctors have recommended I take antidepressants to help get me out of my rut, which I don't like the idea of but if it helps me get back on my feet and back to work - I'll do whatever it takes!

PPP3: Stephan Collins Email

Today I emailed Stephan Collins, author of The Gigantic Beard That was Evil and many Guardian Strips. I haven't had much luck in responses so far which is quite disheartening, but I think I'll be especially saddened if I don't hear back from Collins, as I admire his work so much.

Here is the email I sent him;

"Hi Stephen,

Firstly, I’m a huge fan of your work! The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil, is perhaps the most unique graphic novel I’ve read in the past few years.

I’m however contacting you about a different topic, you’re well known for your Guardian weekend strips, with one of my favourites being the satirical Michael Gove/ Alien Invasion strip. I’m currently working on a series of satirical comic strips concerning the Conservative government, but feel perhaps my work is a bit too dark/vulgar. Do you think this is an issue, or is there a market for darker satirical strips?

Additionally, can you recommend any publishers that I can get in touch with when I’ve got a substantial body of strips made?

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Tommy ‘Zoom’ Roberts"

PPP3: Rachael Slott, Evan Shaner and Cliff Chiang Emails

Over the past day or so I've sent out emails to three illustrators who work in the comic book community, Rachael Slott who works on Titan Comics' Doctor Who, Evan Shaner who works on DC Comics' Future Quest and Chiff Chiang who works on Image comics Paper Girls.

I admire each of their work in different ways and have blogged about their work in this years PPP. I'm still waiting to hear back on them, but they are quite busy people so don't expect an immediate response.

Here is the email I sent to Rachael;

"Hi Rachael,

Firstly, I’m a huge Birmingham-born fan of you work, having recently discovered it through the Doctor Who Twelfth Doctor comics.

I was wondering if you have a few minutes to describe your influences and how you got into comics. I myself am nearing the end of time as an illustration student in Leeds, and even though I can’t see myself finding work for a big company such as Titan any time soon, I’d love to have a greater understanding of how you broke into the field of comics. Additionally, what do you have planned for the future, post Twelfth Doctor, if you are of course allowed to say, of course!

Thanks for your time,

Tommy ‘Zoom’ Roberts"

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Here is the email I sent to Evan;

"Hi Evan ‘Doc’,

Firstly, I’m a huge fan of you work, having recently discovered it through DC’s Convergence: Shazam issues!

I was wondering if you have a few minutes to describe your influences and how you got into comics. I myself am nearing the end of time as an illustration student in England, and even though I can’t see myself finding work for a big company such as DC any time soon, I’d love to have a greater understanding of narrative illustration from those in the professional field.

Thanks for your time,

Tommy ‘Zoom’ Roberts

P.S. Will Quest World be making an appearance in the forthcoming Future Quest comic? I’m kidding."

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And finally, here is the email I sent to Cliff;

"Hi Cliff,

Firstly, I’m a huge fan of your work, having discovered it through your Wonder Woman run.

I was hoping you’d have a few minutes to discuss a few things about the line quality in your work. How do you feel your line work has changed over recent years? I can’t help but notice your understanding of line weighting has grown, how do you decide how heavy to make a line, or is it a subconscious decision? 

I’ve also noticed that your work has taken on a more rigid quality in place of fluidity in recent years. I love the transition and feel it makes your work even more unique. Was there a moment in time when you knowingly began to introduce this into your work, or was it something that occurred naturally.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Tommy ‘Zoom’ Roberts

P.S. I’m loving your work on Paper Girls and cannot wait for the next run of issues! Thanks for all of your hard work in making something so enjoyable!"

PPP3: Lacking Purpose

Recently I've come to realise that I want part of my practice to be more than just being narrative or character based illustration, it needs to have a purpose and I think that purpose should be to help people. What became apparent from today's peer review session for OUIL603 was that most people's work had some beneficial aspect to society, be it, drawing attention to the elderly to general education. My work is lacking this.

With this in mind I have decided to take on the Crispin Orthotics brief. I wasn't initially going to do this brief but the idea of my work helping someone in some capacity has changed my creative purpose somewhat.

PPP3: 603 Peer Review

I came way from today's peer review hopeful and inspired. After struggling for some time with my final project for OUIL603 today's crit cleared up a lot of things and gave me a sense of direction. While I planned to create a short narrative with my characters from my Beyond La La Land comic, it didn't have any applications beyond that. However, Rosie suggested that I use the character of Red, who I have focused a lot of creative attention on and design a self defence booklet with her as the guide. I love this idea and as it has the ability to become something more than just one product and could be used in a variety of places such as self defence classes to police stations.

Here is my feedback from the session;