Final Presentation

Creative Presence Image Summary

Notes for the presentation...

I don't want to write an actual script for the presentation, as I think it is unnatural to just read something pre written, especially as it is about my own practice and I should know what I want to say like the back of my hand; I know I wouldn't use it anyway even if I did write one. I am just going to have some rough reminders of what I want to say for each slide, incase I get too nervous and have a mind blank. 

Slide 1 - Introduce who I am, quick reflection on where I was with my practice at this point last year.

Slide 2 - OUIL504 and how I had a change of direction within my practice towards print based methods of making, especially screenprinting. Why this module was so beneficial and why I enjoyed it so much/feel it was so successful.

Slide 3 - Presentation of work - how I now understand the importance and impact good presentation has on the overall look of my work, especially when pitching it to potential clients. How it is good to see all your work looking nice and why.

Slide 4 - Introduction of monoprint and a rough intro about Responsive and how it went - what I learned, what I liked/disliked, why the module was beneficial. What I took forward from it (I don't like making book covers but it was good to have a go etc, I enjoyed product and packaging...)

Slide 5 - Design boards and collaborative brief - again why presentation is so important and why I find design boards so beneficial to my practice, why the collaborative brief went well and how I used what I had previously learned this year (print) to create something I was really happy with.

Slide 6 - Secret 7 - the success of the brief, the exhibition, why I think this could be a potential direction (music promotion?) for me to move towards and why I enjoyed it so much.

Slide 7 - More music promotion/print based work - moving towards the end of the year, how far my work has progressed and how I can start to look back and see a tone of voice developing and a clearer direction I want to move in looking forward to level 6. How I worked out how to incorporate digital methods into my work when I thought I could only ever work analogue now.

Slide 8 - A bit more music related stuff - mockups, gig posters and external opportunities which are beginning to potentially arise, through people seeing my work on social media.

Slide 9 - Creative presence - business cards and letterhead etc, Instagram... justify my position on why I am keeping my original Instagram account as my professional one and why I don't want to have too much going on at the moment (too many accounts to keep track of while studying, what I want to do after graduation with my presence e.g. proper website, how I hope my mockups will have improved by the end of next year).

Slide 10 - Summary... how this year has been, how I feel now, what I want to take forward and how I hope I will have progressed as much as I have again in the space of another year when it comes to the final level 6 PPP presentations. How I am glad I am finding my own independence within my work and way of working, how I care/worry less about certain things but how this is a good thing. How I want a nice long break to stop being so fed up with work.

Creative Presence - Letterhead

I have tried to follow the same design criteria as the business cards for my letterhead - using the monoprint textures and same black handwritten type. I have included my basic contact details (email and mobile number) and just left it at that; it shouldn't be too overcrowded and busy, especially as it has a lot of texture and colour on it already.

Hopefully this would make my letters to potential clients and practitioners stand out from the crowd a bit; I do however still feel like it is a bit amateur for some reason and I will definitely want to re-do this at some point before I graduate next year. I think it needs a bit more personality to it and I will have to find a way of adding this without making it too mad. 

Creative Presence - Business Cards

These are my first personal business cards I have ever made; I've been faffing around trying to skew it onto the mockup for so long now I can't even tell if I like it or not. I tried to keep the information minimal and the decoration maximal to make it eye catching; I used monoprint textures from previous recent work, as I feel this accurately represents and my work and what I am interested in continuing to do.

I would distribute these at art/print fairs and markets, in studio spaces and galleries in Leeds and London (such as Colours May Vary or Peckham Platform) and in arty cafes around both cities (such as Opposite). I would maybe even just go and stick them around on walls and flat surfaces in areas where I know there is a lot of interest in the arts, such as Shoreditch, as you never know who might be walking around ready to pick them up!

Creative Presence - Instagram

I have decided to keep my old Instagram account as my professional one as well; it already has a lot of my work on it, a good following (including professionals in the industry!) and the pictures that aren't specifically my work are fairly art related anyway (stuff I like and see around Leeds, inspiration, friends at university that are also illustrators etc). I have gone back and removed any slightly dodgy drunk photos from a few years back and made it a little more safe and appropriate! Lots of practitioners use their Instagram accounts for more than just pictures of their own work, such as printmaker Kate Gibb, and if it works for them, why can't it for me? Having too many accounts for things just seems messy and I would rather have a select few that I regularly post on, rather than loads that just has a bit floating on it as I have forgotten I even have it. 

I also know it works professionally as I have actually had interest from the Head of Promotions for Leeds dance night Highrise, after a friend who knows him showed him my account. He liked the posters I had recently posted, said they had been looking for new designs and I might be getting some work out of it making posters for Highrise; fingers crossed!

Creative Presence - Big Cartel shop!

At the moment my Big Cartel is very limited, as I have signed up for the free version where you can only have five items on the shop, and I wan't to make some more prints before actually putting them up for sale!

I shared it on Facebook and it got a good response, even though it is only from friends and family. I did have interest from a few people and managed to sell a couple of prints! I don't expect it to go wild but to be honest at the moment I don't want it to; I need to focus on my uni work before going wild with stuff I'm selling as well. 

Other ways to sell...

In terms of selling my work, I also want to find some art markets and fairs over summer than I can participate in; I think it is good to get out there in the real world as well as online and try and meet as many people as I possibly can. You can only gauge so much sat behind a screen, and anyway it's more fun! I will look both in Leeds and Kingston (my hometown) - I know they have loads in Kingston every summer already. There is also a little local shop down Surbiton high street that are currently advertising for local artists to bring in their work, so I will give them a try. I want to make more prints and take them home, to sell with my business cards to try and get my name out there a bit more.