I completed a BA Hons degree 2 years ago and then spent some time unemployed but finally got work freelancing (for my old company) which means anything creative/craft work that I wanted to work on went out of the window… stress doesn’t help in the process of experimenting and creating new work.
So I signed up to a Pikaland online workshop
Pikaland Artist Bootcamp: Making Your Mark
by Amy Ng & Jamie Shelman
It’s a 6 week bootcamp to help illustrators, drawers and creative types ‘make their mark’… I have ideas I just find it difficult to get them out of my head AND not to think they are rubbish as soon as I have… anything I made or created as a child was destroyed by my mother and other siblings… crawl critique and total dismissal of ideas and experimentations is not particularly helpful so I tend to get myself in a total pickle.
The BA Degree did help as I had to complete work for deadlines so I had to finish my ideas weather I liked them or not – but it did mean not talking myself out of an idea or quitting or throwing it away – I think having others waiting on you and helping with kind comments also helps – to accept what you do weather it’s great or not is very helpful. I think everyone wants that yet do the opposite to others… weird!
Assignment one
composition/lighting/colours etc and to take a photo of nature – I’m fine with that as I work as a photographer but finding nature that wasn’t wilted and dead (which is fine for the assignment but after everyone going on about the lack of sun at the start of the British Summer Time must have played on my mind.



I rather liked the 3rd image so created an illustration in illustrator… it didn’t go well as I got bogged down in trying to create the circles on a line path… basically it’s a way to procrastinate as I didn’t plan what I wanted the image to look like at the end… oh well… it’s better to create something than not bother at all… trust me I know that well!
But I have to say that I prefer these images more… I know they are black and white (my favorite) but I want to try a few things with these images… the trees look like feathers… and the large tree top when flipped on its self becomes an island… I’ll post those up if I actually get around to doing it.
They are effects that have been done before but everything has been done before… BUT not by me (can’t remember who says that but it’s very apt!)


ps: I sell prints so let me know if you like any of my images!