This week we spoke to Lucy, a freelance 2D Games Artist. She spoke profoundly about learning from people, not just admiring them, and being able to continually learn your craft but also have belief in all of the skills you have. I'm very ambitious and after some previous negative experiences regarding my artwork I feel like I should be trusting my instincts more and using that ambition as self-confidence in what I do. Lucy also spoke about imposter syndrome which is defined as ‘a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success’ (Harvard Business Review, 2008). Imposter syndrome will come up at various points in every creative's career but it’s comforting to hear that nobody is immune to this – we must all work on our weaknesses and appreciate our strengths.
We also discussed networking. Lucy said to go to events and make yourself known which can be difficult but I have found myself leaning into the power of social media more this year. I'm finally starting to realise that building a following on instagram, twitter, connections on linkedin etc. are key to opening up opportunities, even if you didn't expect that to be the case. For example through participating in the UKIE raise the game jam in the past few weeks I've seen the power a community can have on social media and just how influential some of these interactions can be, so in the future I will be prioritising community interactions much more than I have been before by consistently posting on social media and engaging with the community across a wider variety of platforms (e.g. having a community discord to gather feedback and build stronger loyalty within the community).
Other points:
· Be at the forefront of change – make yourself known, actively get involved in positive projects pushing the boundaries
· Portfolio – Fill it with things you want to do, develop diversity and a range of styles
· Don’t be afraid to talk about money
Reflection:
Lucy’s talk was full of great content and even though she said working your way into concept art is difficult, I feel like the points she made acts as the foundation to getting it right. Again, using Gibbs reflective cycle (see appendix) I can see that I’m starting to engage in these practises more by reaching out to people and developing my portfolio to reflect where I want to be but there is always room for improvement and I am striving to push the boundaries of both my creativity and my networking.
This module has been excellent. Hearing these tips now will help me to further my career to where I want to be in 5, 10 or even 20 years time. By keeping these at the core of my practise I believe I can achieve these things. The industry is still a far cry from what university experiences are like but these talks help me to feel like I’m one step closer to where I want to be in my career.
References
Harvard Business Review, 2008. Overcoming Imposter Syndrome. (Online) Available at: https://hbr.org/2008/05/overcoming-imposter-syndrome#:~:text=Imposter%20syndrome%20can%20be%20defined,external%20proof%20of%20their%20competence. (Accessed 11th January 2021).
Appendix
Rumson, R., 2018. Gibbs – Reflective Cycle Model (1988). (Online) Available at: https://www.eln.io/blog/gibbs-reflective-cycle-model-1988 (Accessed 11th January 2021).
