…Okay, so technically it was last week, but I took soooo many notes that the task of writing it up seemed rather daunting. I’m going to split the entries into the separate lectures to make it more reader friendly. :)
The first lecture I attended on the Tuesday morning was given by Abi Whitehouse, who works as an illustrator. Check out her blog, with links to all her various projects, here: http://abiwhitehouse.blogspot.com/
Abi is the co-founder of Doodlezine, a beautifully handmade zine that was originally intended to be a small one-off project and has since turned into a global success; even being featured in the likes of Varoom. I really liked Abi’s work, particularly the picture included in this post, so right away I was really interested in what she had to say.
Abi Whitehouse
While Abi seems mostly to use traditional media and is very interested in creating things that are handmade she has also cleverly used the internet and the recent social networking craze to gain a significant web presence and an impressive contact list. I found her pro-active approach to illustration very inspiring, particularly in an industry where you never know when and where your next job will be.
Abi went on to discuss with us the importance of book fairs, blogs, hand crafted portfolios/promotional packs and etsy stores. (http://www.etsy.com) The advice she gave us was really helpful, and even helped me out with my previous dilemma. She quite rightly said that artists shouldn’t have to ‘sell out’ or become commercial in order to succeed, as your art will suffer in quality; when someone has a real passion and enjoys what they do then this will shine through in their work- thus making it more appealing. As such, Abi produces a lot of her own work just for pleasure and self promotion and encouraged us to do the same, saying ‘If you show the client what you like doing then you are more likely to get the work that you like to do.’
It was also from this lecture that Kirsty’s idea of Squidoodle was born, but more about that in a later post!
Halfway to Anywhere 
thankyou x
Thankyou for the advice, it was really helpful :)