In April 2017, I did 3 weeks work experience at the head office of UK Greetings!
Over the 3 weeks I did my own un-official Disney project, worked with the Humour team and worked with the Cute team.
It was really interesting to work in an in-house illustrator environment, where everybody was illustrating in some shape or form. It was also pretty cool to see designs from well known brands like Boogle and Disney being made. One of the illustrators I got to know also worked for Beano, and sent them a comic strip every week.
The main bit I wanna share with you though, is my best work from those three weeks (pictured above).
It started off with me drawing big A3 sheets full of random characters (and lots of cacti ofc) and then showing them to the head of Humour, who then selected a few characters she really liked and I had to go away and refine them. I thought that process was interesting, as I'd never really experimented too much with characters before, and I found it really refreshing and engaging to see which of my ideas someone in the industry actually liked. I ran with those characters and produced ideas for sloths, cacti and a pigeon with glasses (lol).
This is actually when I designed my sloth sticker pack, which is one of my best sellers on my shop!
I drew all the characters in my standard black-outline style but was told they all looked a bit 'clip-arty', so opted for a more textured brush and ditched the outline. The advice from UK Greetings was really helpful, and I feel as though that was the turning point for my business where I started looking at my work and thinking "yeah, I'm pleased with that" rather than "hmm, it's a bit naff but it'll do".
Having said that, my time at UK Greetings kinda solidified the fact that I'd rather work for myself than be an in-house illustrator. Even though my work improved and I gained invaluable insight from my time there, it felt a lot to me like I was proud of my work until a team member came up and said "yeah that's okay, but have you thought about doing this?", much like I feel with my tutors at uni. I understand they're all just trying to push my work but often it feels a lot like they're trying to lead me down a different path to where I want to be. I'd much rather decide for myself if something's finished or not. In addition to that, I hated the hours. 8:30am - 4:30pm every day meant getting up at 6:30 every morning and forcing myself to sleep at 10:30 every night (my natural sleep pattern is 12 - 9:30 ish) and sitting in the same computer chair for 8 hours with just half an hour for lunch. I found myself getting really stiff and sore through the week because I felt awkward getting up to wander round the office for a bit, so I stayed put. I much prefer waking up a bit later and being in comfy clothes in a comfy chair at home, where I can walk around when I want to have a break, and eat when I want to. I really love food and I'm hungry ALL THE TIME so that one is very important to me. I'll work later through the day, but it doesn't feel as much like 'work' when I'm in my own, comfy environment.
But yeah, even though I wouldn't wanna do it for a career choice, I really did value my time at UK Greetings. If anyone's thinking of being a freelance illustrator I would recommend doing some form of work experience as an in-house illustrator, just to get a feel for the industry, and see what 'professionals' think of your work. You never know, your work could improve too! (Or you could come away thinking that was a waste of time, but hey ho...)
Let me know what else you want to here from me in the comments!
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Adios,
Bronte