Fig Taylor - Portfolio Viewing

I was fortunate enough to have the chance to meet Fig Taylor from the AOI ( association of illustrators) who talked about potential career paths for us and what its like in industry and aspects I would have to deal with. I was pleased to hear about editorial illustration and how many different routes I could follow, for example newspapers, books....

After her informative talk, she was able to look through everyones portfolio, which is what she does at the AOI. At the minute Im not 100% happy with my portfolio it needs updating and reflect the style of work I do now, so I showed her my finished newspaper from the last unit. It quite a surreal experience having someone so connection to the industry, never seen my work before and she was almost evaluating it. It was a pleasant surprise to hear from her " you know who you want to be and you know where your work is headed'. She was referring to editorial saying my work would look good in newspapers and reflecting articles.

One of the most interesting points though was that she said my work was conceptual, which no one has ever said to me before.

'Conceptual art, sometimes simply called Conceptualism, is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns'

Artwork by - David Bonanzzi

Ive never really thought of my work in that way, but I am starting to use ideas more as the starting point and using imagery to reflect ideas. I think I knew my work was conceptual, I just hadn't heard that phrase used before within illustration.