Illustration Personal Statement Example 1

When I was younger I used to throw myself into the world of superheroes, i knew nothing better than the world of those characters, such as spider-man, batman, x-men. The fact that such a simple idea one man created can be molded into something so amazing and entertaining has always impressed me, but I wanted to create my own superhero. I wanted to make something that was mine, something that I had achieved, that was my ambition. The only way I saw to do that was to draw. I was always drawing as a child, mainly because it gave me a sense of freedom. I soon found that creativity is one of my strongest characteristics. My inspiration to come up with new ideas, create new characters and make them visual has influenced much of my time.

I have always had a good understanding of what works well visually, from the context of colour, composition, contrast, and positioning. My interest in art has always kept my mind open to new ideas. Drawing is my specialty, my hobby and my greatest enjoyment and has taken up much of my time trying to perfect my illustrations. Whether it is simple doodles from a young age or more ambitious abstract pieces I do now, I always strive to improve and my ambition to create has stayed with me ever since I read my first spider-man comic.

To make a successful piece of art can only be accomplished by drawing or painting what I am truly inspired and excited to do, otherwise there is no fulfilment from completing it. My best work has always come through being focused on the job at hand, always wanting to improve my skill and following my instinct. My skill for creating gives me the ability to make anything visual and bring my greatest ideas to life, no matter how obscure or challenging they may be. When I began to really focus on my drawing, I realised the potential I had and wanted to turn this natural talent into something more, something I could find a career in. So I developed my drawing technique through drawing people in different positions, under different lighting and in different environments, making sure all proportions were right, nothing was too small or too big.

This took a lot of time until I could draw a person or an environment with the right scale, without having to keep changing and redrawing in lines and now not only can I draw well but I can draw quicker yet still keeping the level of skill and detail in my illustrations.

I found through my research that to create something through illustration means not merely to draw but to let your ideas work across multiple mediums. Even Including the editing aspect on Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, two programs that I have learnt to use fluently in my own time. The more I draw, the more I add to my extensive imagination which constantly keeps expanding. New ideas, characters and even stories are things that come to me constantly and i waste no time getting them down onto paper.

Over the past three years my drawing skills have improved dramatically, much of this improvement is down to my art lessons both in GSCE and A level. I’ve naturally created my own style of drawing through the many pieces I’ve done, one which is very rough and dark, I use shadow and shape to show features on people but know when to add bright colour and contrast where it is needed. I wish to develop this technique and expand on it until it is a style that is very unique to me. My painting skill improved dramatically, through the course I have had to learn how to use paints such as gouache, acrylic and certain inks. Not only has this helped me become a talented painter but it’s also shown me how blending colours can create depth and shadow to an image, improve highlights on people and places and generally make any image look more bold and professional. Mostly, having done art for such a long time it’s made me realise that this is the direction I want to take with my career, more specifically into illustration.

I have created portfolios of work full of my own drawings and paintings (all of which have had great feedback on social sites and artist websites) as well as work edited on illustrator and Photoshop. I have used my free time to view tutorials, not only on how to be a better illustrator but also demonstrations on different programs, so as to widen my skill range.

I have also gained skills when it comes to working to a brief through my media course, as it has helped me understand the psycho and demographics each person or age range has. Meaning I know how to manipulate a piece of work so that it’s what a target audience wants. Even though illustration is about being creative, studying very academic subjects such as psychology and physics has helped me become a better learner. Due to physics being very difficult I have had to improve my researching skills, concentration and independent learning, all of which helps me in any task no matter the criteria.

My goal is to develop my drawing skills further and learn more in depth about the numerous techniques that can be learnt. Taking this course will increase the variation of my work through printmaking, animation and visual software. I’m looking forward to learning with other students and gaining skills and ideas from them. I have great interpersonal and communication skills that I have gained from my volunteering and the many exercises’ I have partaken in at school where I have had to listen to others and take on their critique and opinion as well as give my own. Personally I also believe you can’t become a great illustrator without knowing people as its one of the main jobs where you need to know what the people want.

I've drawn from a young age, drawn when I was starting higher education and I’m still drawing now. Since I was a child my ultimate target has been to work at Marvel, a target that I believe I can achieve. That’s where my inspiration started and that’s where I want to be, not only would this be my dream job but it will also be a job that allows me to be independent, have freedom and do what I love doing. The next step for me is Illustration at university. Something I am extremely excited about as it gives me the chance to focus completely on creating, improving my artistic skill, and my personal confidence which will propel me forward with the right knowledge and experience to the career I want.