Life Update & Some Encouragement To Never Give Up

Something pretty big happened for me in January, and it's the reason why I've been so quiet on social media; I started working as a lecturer in concept art! It's still pretty crazy to be saying that, but I keep reminding myself that I've worked so hard and sacrificed so much for years to keep pushing my career further. It's only part time, which is the best of both worlds, because it means that I still get to work on other projects and do what I love the most; freelance work.

It's definitely been a very weird situation though because I've been full time freelance for 2 and half years before I got this position, and although juggling client work and personal projects can be a struggle, I'd gotten used to it, so to then add something else into the mix has really thrown me off. Lecturing isn't just about teaching, there's a lot of research and prep involved too, so it can be quite time consuming (but also really fun and insightful).

I thought I’d just quickly talk about it though because although it’s obviously a great opportunity for me, I don’t know where it will lead or if I’ll even get kept on next year, but I’m giving it my best and making the most of the present moment, but getting here wasn’t at all easy. All in all I’ve been taking art seriously for 10 years now, I studied art at College and then went onto study art at University (which I really didn’t like, and which really hasn’t helped me in terms of my creative career until applying for this job). After studying for a total of 5 years, I then carried on working at HMV for a further few years and freelancing on the side until a pretty awful thing happened in my life, I lost everything that I had at the time and made the risky decision to freelance full time.

When I initially applied for the job as a lecturer, I didn’t think I’d even get an interview, but people around me kept telling me I should apply, I had nothing to lose so I just went for it. Amazingly I did get an interview, long story short, I didn’t get the job because I didn’t really have any teaching experience, which I completely expected. However, in the same phone call, the Dean told me that they all really liked my work and that they’d like me to join them on an hourly basis to build up some teaching experience because they think that I have something to offer.

Now, the reason I say this is because it might seem like I’m in a great position (which I am so grateful to be in), but I have worked my backside off to get here, and even now I am constantly finding ways to work harder. There have been times where I’ve been close to running out of money, designs that I’ve made silly mistakes on, projects that have fallen through, long dry spells and I’ve never been able to afford to live by myself or drive etc. but I’ve sacrificed those things and toughed out the lows because I’ve always been focused on the end goal. Even when I’ve wanted to give up, I’ve found it impossible, because no matter what is going on around me or how I feel, I just absolutely love being creative.

Everyone’s path is very different and it’s taken me a while to realise that, and the same goes for everyone’s value too. Everyone is valuable in a different way because of that journey that they have been on and what they learned along the way. So all I can say is don’t give up, even when times are hard and maybe your big or long term goals have to go on the back burner for a little while, just keep chipping away at them, any way that you can and you’ll always end up being successful in your own way.

Also, I'm learning a lot as I go and developing my own lectures to teach to the students, so once everything has fully settled for me, I'm thinking about turning these lectures into mini online workshops. So let me know if that's something you guys would be interested in!

I'll also still be working with clients on a freelance basis, but it will very much be a lot more games and concept art focused. So if you know anyone who is looking to work with a concept artist, let me know!

Time to carry on with what is going to be a crazy busy year!