You know what? I’m at peace with not posting things all the time. I mean, I think I’m pretty decent at writing but it’s not something I particularly enjoy doing for fun. It also turns out that doing one post every 18 months probably cuts out loads of the waffle, and I do love a good waffle sometimes, as you will see.
So, my new favourite toy is my iPad Pro. More specifically the £10 piece of software, Procreate, that I bought the thing for in the first place. It’s my first “i” anything I’ve ever owned. I have owned 2 Macbook Pro’s in the past (remember how amazing Apple, and mac OS were back in 2006? I really miss those days!). But I’ve never gone in for their consumer stuff at all - I owned a Creative Zen when everybody had iPods, I owned a HTC when everybody was loving the iPhones, and through it all I’ve always had a PC. I’m not a fan of Apple’s business practices and how they try to suck you into their ecosystem and close it off for everything else. And it’s all so bloody expensive when there is good technology elsewhere.
But the iPad Pro with Procreate is something completely different. I just LOVE it. So much better than having to clear loads of desk space and fiddle with my Wacom and Photoshop. I can now be creative lying in bed. So that’s what I’ve been doing. making stuff to post on Instagram. Even if some of it’s not so good, it’s making me a better designer and illustrator and enabling me to just get much more content out there, each thing anybody creates makes them better for next time, so I want to do as much as possible. Previously I would only really create new self-initiated content when I had a gap in bookings, but those were getting so few and far between I was never doing anything, always feeling up against the wall. the past 18 months the time I’ve had a day or 2 spare I’ve needed to invoice, do admin and accounts. I’m so blessed to be in that situation but I wasn’t happy that I wasn’t creating anything for myself. This way I can do work and improve myself without continuing to sit at my desk in the evening or at the weekend.
The other thing that has changed for me over the past couple of years is more jobs I can really be proud of. Some not super-high profile but I’ve been so lucky to work on things that I can be really proud of. POS flagship store Adidas films, video game adverts for out of home screens, most notably the huge ones at Piccadilly Circus (something I dreamt of when in my first job at First Image, just 50 yards away from those very screens I walked past each day). I’ve been asked to work as a 1-man agency for many companies, starting from concept, writing scripts and taking it all the way through production. The thing I’m most excited about is the job I’ve just finished - working on A LOT of 3D animations for a national US feature length TV documentary. I’m certain it will come to the UK too, but the air date isn’t going to be for a few months so I can’t speak anything more about that at the moment. They look awesome, BTW.
So I feel like my career is very much on the rise with big things on the horizon too. Right now, there is a lot going on in the world to be uncertain about. Currently there is a virus spreading that looks like it will kill a lot of people and devastate the world’s economy. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as it looks to be going right now. It seems like work has paused for now - I made sure that as a freelancer I saved a decent “redundancy package” so I am able to carry on for many months with no income - I just hope everybody I know stays healthy and the clients I work for are able to stay in business. Whatever happens, I know that I’ve reached a place where I’m very happy with where I am and what I do. I take so much pleasure in my work that if something happens to me or if the industry changes so dramatically that I can’t continue doing what I do, I’ve been so blessed to have been able to spend every working day over the past decade loving what I do.