EVALUATION

PPP has been a difficult module for me. I did really well in my first year of university and then my second year really let me down. I feel like the only way in which I could make PPP a success this time is to own it my way, without thinking and worrying about what anybody else will think of my efforts and my plans. I think that as a module it is hard to hold up what you do to grading criteria, especially for a creative like myself who does not identify with more 'professional' ways of being an illustrator. There are not many companies I am interested in working with and I have not been too interested in doing competitions for companies or organisations. From PPP I have consolidated that I want to pursue a more self-indulgent practice.

There are a lot of things from PPP that have been crucial to adhere to however. Creative Cvs and LinkedIn have surprisingly been very useful for me – applying for practically anything requires a CV, this means studio internships and artists residencies. Having an online presence is obviously very important, however, I realised I was not interested in having a sterile website and portfolio. For the cross-disciplinary creative I have become through my time at university and in Leeds, the more conversational online platforms is where I feel my work belongs. I still have a website/portfolio, but even that is not very polished. Having my work and my 'brand' shown in a super clean and 'professional' way does not match with my own work ethics. What's the point in trying to be something you can't and don't want to be?

Partaking in the extra-curricular 'Start-Up Wednesday' sessions were a great way to maintain PPP as an ongoing module. I had further tuition on aspects such as blogging and money managing. I think the sessions in-studio were very inspiring too and the more I had them the more I felt confident in branding myself beyond anything like 'Melissa Banks Illustration'. I also took inspiration from Instagram-based and blog-based practitioners such as Penelope Gazin and Germes Gang, where they use conversational platforms to be more of a personality than a practitioner. I am much happier to be recognised as 'Lady Saliva' rather than 'Melissa Banks'.

Rather than looking at and getting in touch with a lot of big companies, I have discovered I am much more interested in being part of small, independent companies. My time spent working closely with Tall Boys Beer Market has out my 'professionalism' to the test, and I realised just because you are working less strict and more friendly with clients and the work you are producing is not polished and is more lo-fi, doesn't mean that that is not a professional exchange. I feel the way I worked within that entire experience was the most professional that I had ever been and that any other illustrator could be.

Overall, I recognise PPP as being a totally critical module, that I feel I have really taken into my own original stride. What I have created and come to through the whole 3 years of PPP is what I am forever wanting to be recognised as in my future creative endeavours, and without a focus on PPP I would never have reached to where I am now and where I see myself when I leave Leeds College of Art.