Personal Statement.

I am currently a student at North Notts College, studying an Art and Design Foundation course. I enjoy the course because of flexibility and how you have the opportunity to thoroughly explore styles. The exploration required through the course led me to where I am now and was a big influence on how I found out illustration was for me. The way the course has led me, I found that I get a lot of my inspiration from the music I listen too, since most are artists along side their music. The musicians I am interested in (such as Keaton Henson) have a distinctive style with their music, which usually coincides with their artwork. Henson's hesitant artwork particularly interests me due to his quality of lines and the way he mixes his love for illustration with his installations. Another favourite of mine is David Shrigley. Shrigley has a similar feel to Henson (with his childlike way of working) however, his humorous take on the style makes it that more unique. I like that you can see Shrigley's work so frequent in shops as opposed to just museums, due to them  often being printed onto everyday items.
I have been visiting museums long before I knew it would influence me like it does today. My interest for museums and seeing art in the 'flesh' came from the frequent visits to places such as our local Millennium gallery in Sheffield, which later led me to places such as the V&A. This consequently instigated my curiosity into different art movements and styles very early on. My love for botanics for example, came from visiting The British Museum and seeing William De Morgans work in person. My favourite part of De Morgan's work is how he found the perfect balance between intricacy and simplicity. The simple designs are often met with the intricate pattern work behind it, making his work very eye-catching which I like to take high influence from. I have recently been experimenting with printmaking, which I love to add an intricate pattern or detail on top of the hand printed imagery, giving a similar effect to De Morgans tiles.
I love illustration and the process that comes with it. The idea development behind illustration and how you come about your illustrations interests me because of the exploration involved and I really enjoy that there's always something new to discover in the world that will influence your art. Sketching automatically when being on my travels develops my work. It's crucial to my personal development because the automatic sketches and travelling helps expand and change my ideas and influences me in a different way each trip I take. During my previous course in Art and Design, we were set a task where we had to work on a commission for the new bus station which entailed work for the frosting on the windows. I particularly found that this was one point in my journey to finding which art form was most interesting to me, because of the exploration into different styles and different ways of working. Keeping to a brief for a genuine (non hypothetical) client was an exciting step to accomplish, because you knew the end result was going to be something that was seen by many. I have previously worked in demanding restaurants and it felt quite similar; keeping to expectations and maintaining a high level of consistent work throughout so that you keep the client and yourself, happy. The sense of achievement when the final product was up for all to see, was extremely exciting.
I want to study illustration at a higher level because I think it would help me expand and stylise my work through meeting professionals and exploring more facilities so I can keep progressing with my art. I would really like the opportunity to meet other fellow artists who have been through every step that I am taking and hear how they got to where they are now. I am looking forwards to the challenge that progressing onto a higher level will bring and I am very excited to hear from you.