Job Search and Opportunities

From the lectures that Pauline Ashcroft gave us she added some suggested sites that we could look at in order to job search and find opportunities. I have never really taken much time to sit down and actually research jobs in the industry that I would want. These sites were really helpful and had a lot of information about jobs, placements and competitions which is something I feel I need to push myself in further in order to understand what I want to do and enhance my skills within my practice.

Some of the jobs that I said I was interested in from the first session were:

• Food and drink illustration
• Educational illustartion
• Working in a team of illustrators for one of these tasks or subject areas
• Ecology
• Public information
• Museum displays
• Product packaging
• Branding 
• Small press

But, after looking through the websites given to us by Pauline I could look into different careers and ideas that I didn't know were out there and maybe go for something a little more niche and unsual to what I would expect. 

Screenshots here from http://www.theaoi.com and show the types of things that are on the website.

Figure 1 - Screenshots from http://www.theaoi.com 

A element of the website that stood out was the links to other peoples portfolios at the bottom. It encouraged exploring new works and new artists to help inspire and inform ones own practice. Its important to constantly be exploring new ideas and trying to extend our visual language and these resources on the website are so helpful.

Figure 2 - Screenshots from http://www.theaoi.com

As well as portfolios the page also promotes awards. At the moment the world illustration awards are being promoted. Strong visual imagery and lots of other relevant links at the bottom can help with ides and inspiration if you were thinking of entering a competition like this. As more competitions are circulated and advertised,  I'm sure they will be displayed here also meaning that this website would be good for me to come and revisit if I wanted to submit my work into a competition. 

The most useful website that was given to us as reference to look into

https://creativeskillset.org. The way in which the website was laid out it was easy to navigate and made understanding the information much better. This type of thing I normally find confusing and hard to get my head round but I will definitely be using this in the future to do further research on job positions that are available. 

Figure 3 - Screen shots from https://creativeskillset.org

There were quick and easy links through 'Career Navigator' which meant I could easily look through jobs that were relevant to my skills set and 'Personality Type', generating results that were relevant to me and my practice. 

Figure 4 - Screen shots from https://creativeskillset.org

At the bottom of the page I discovered this hand 'Steps for: Take the next step into a job'. Here were useful links to certain areas and about how to make the right steps in the professional world. Before our lectures with Pauline I had never been taught well how to write a CV and promote myself in the professional world in terms of being an illustrator. I have had an understanding of promotion through social media due to following illustrators and people within the creative industry but had never really had a strong go at it myself. Networking is also important to have these contacts building up so you can reuse them and go back to them if you carried a good job out for them. 

The career search bar brought up all kinds of job roles and some that I didn't know could be relevant to my degree. A lot of jobs don't require a specific degree for their course but require a creative degree to a certain pass level. At the end of my University course I aim to come out with a really high mark so that I can seem more desirable to employers but also have a very strong body of portfolio work as well that can support this. 

Figure 5 - Screen shots from https://creativeskillset.org

Looking and scrolling through the list there were a range of roles that I hadn't thought would be relevant. Here is 'Footwear Designer' and 'Garment Technologist'. Whilst I thought these would be aimed specifically at textiles and fashion, my creative degree would have some cross over with these areas of the industry. It just gave me a broader more varied look into the creative industries and the types of jobs that I could be doing. These jobs aren't specific to any companies it just gives that overview of each role which could then be applied and transferred over into specific job roles within different companies. 

Below are screen shots from a job role about working within animation but doing stop start animation. Animation is something that has never appealed to me in terms of digital animation as I am more in love with the handmade process. But the idea of an 'older' style of animation which is stop start really sparked an interest with me and I then explored this job role in more detail. This specific role was for a 'junior' position within the animation sector which is something that I feel would be more appropriate for me. I feel, in myself, that I would require training before being able to jump straight into a role.

The pages information was so helpful and well structured in order to give me the right information I needed to know about the job. It was supported by a video of  someone within the role applied to a company which was a different way in looking at giving the information needed. 

Figure 6 - Screen shots from https://creativeskillset.org

Figure 7 - Screen shots from https://creativeskillset.org

Figure 8 - Screen shots from https://creativeskillset.org

Figure 9 - Screen shots from https://creativeskillset.org

Figure 10 - Screen shots from https://creativeskillset.org

After looking in-depth at the page it had really useful information about making sure you're right for this role, the tasks you will need to carry out in that role, qualifications you need and the best route into this creative industry and where it could take you. It also gives support at the bottom for further reading and books that would help inform you on the decisions you make as well as links to 'related' jobs that you would be able to find useful. This is the layout for all of the these job positions which, for me, works as everything is broken down into the steps that you need it to be. 

In addition, from researching this role and thinking about what I know about start stop animation, I looked into the Aardman stop start animation studios as they are one of the most famous, they are located in Bristol and are famous for animating Wallace and Gromit, Morphe, Shaun the Sheep and many other famous stop starts. This would be a fantastic opportunity so I began to research further into this to see if I could get work experience in somewhere like this as it would be such a fantastic opportunity.

Looking further into it, getting into experience like this is much harder than it appears to be. I assume due to the status of the business they are in very high demand and the company states on their website that they only consider people that are in association with The National Film and Television school as they are a partnership. What can be offered though is 3 month short course with a track record of 80% of graduates now working in the industry at Aardman and at studios such as Animortal, Factory Transmedia, Blue Zoo, Isle of Dogs and Traveller’s Tales. Course fees are £4500 which include free lunches and a two week paid internship in Industry after graduation but this is still a limited opportunriy as you could spend all that time and money on getting the qualification and maybe still not get a job or internship with Aardman. 

I have never really researched THIS in-depth to a career that is of interest. It just shows that being in the creative industry and wanted to do something so specialised is not that easy to get into. Whilst you don't have to do a degree to do the short course, I am in the process of doing mine so for me it would be a lot of extra time and money on top of this course. It just goes to show that I do really need to do my research before considering an opportunity as other skills, qualifications and courses might be needed in order to go into that industry. 

October, 2009

£15,000 Guideline starting salary for a newly qualified animator

£30,000 Guideline salary for an animator with five to 10 years' experience

£40,000+ Guideline salary for an animator with more than 10 years' experience

Percentage split: 82/18 Figures show 82% of UK animators are self-employed

Figure 11 - Animator Salary Information

May, 2017 

£18000  Guideline starting salary for a newly qualified animator 

Figure 12 - Animator Salary Information

Figure 13 - from http://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Animator/Salary/ee911535/Entry-Level-London, UK Animator Salary figures

When researching careers, if I can take my time to use the steps similar those above, looking at the career to seeing what I need specifically for it and research salaries for the roles as well as for a junior role then I can adapt my practice to meet the demands of the jobs I'm applying for. Without the lecture from Pauline, I wouldn't have been made aware of all of the websites out there that I could use  to help make the job search just that little bit easier. 

Scientific Illustration

Scientific illustration can be applied to fauna and flora as well as the human body. I had an idea of one area of this type of illustration which is medical illustration, however I feel I'm too squeamish for something like that. I love all the old vintage scientific drawing and they have always interested me so I took the time to look into modern day scientific illustration. 

Figure 14 - Vintage flower illustration

The principle task of the scientific illustrator is to prepare accurate renderings of scientific subjects. These illustrations are designed for reproduction in professional/popular journals in the field of natural sciences, textbooks, as museum exhibits, web sites, and many other applications.

Scientific illustrations in both traditional and digital formats provide a visual explanation and aid the viewer by making complex descriptive information easier to understand and a visual understanding. The function of a scientific illustration is a practical one: to inform, to explain, and to instruct and to communicate .

The work done by scientific illustrators is mixed. Illustrators may often draw rare or fragile specimens and must exercise care in handling them. They may be required to handle optical instruments and understand precision in measuring microscopic objects. Other duties may include:

• Designing graphs of scientific data and maps portraying
  the distribution of species
• Planning page layouts for illustrations
• Providing cover designs for scientific publications
• Developing three-dimensional models and images for
  exhibits and presentations
• Creating images and photos for web sites and interactive media

Successful illustrators are versatile in more than one technique or style. Along with strongs skills in traditional techniques like drawing, watercolor, acrylics, ink or oils, a thorough working knowledge of computer graphics programs and digital techniques is invaluable and expected the current scientific illustration market. Illustrations can be created entirely in traditional or digital format, or in a mixture of both techniques. 

There are art courses that teach accurate drawing skills, specifically techniques for measured accuracy and perspective, are most helpful for training in this field. There are a few colleges and universities offering undergraduate or graduate courses in scientific illustration. 

Figure 15 - Scientific Illustrator Salary

Letter Press Setter

Moving away from an areas that Pauline spoke to us about, I love the handmade and letter press is something that I would love to have a job in. But trying to find some live jobs in the area was really hard. Letter press is a dying practice and I feel there are only a few companies on small scale who work with letter press. I feel they wouldn't advertise jobs because they don't need people to fill the vacancies. It is still something that I want to look into further. 

Letter Press Setter:

Set up or set up and operate direct relief letterpresses, either sheet or roll (web) fed, to produce single or multicolor printed material, such as newspapers, books, and periodicals.

1) Directs and monitors activities of apprentices and feeding or stacking workers.

2) Dismantles and reassembles printing unit or parts, using hand tools, to repair, clean, maintain, or adjust press.

3) Operates specially-equipped presses and auxiliary equipment, such as cutting, folding, numbering, and pasting devices.

4) Reads work orders and job specifications to select ink and paper stock.

5) Record and maintain production logsheet.

6) Inspects printed materials for irregularities such as off-level areas, variations in ink volume, register slippage, and poor color register.

7) Moves controls to set or adjust ink flow, tension rollers, paper guides, and feed controls.

8) Positions and installs printing plates, cylinder packing, die, and type forms in press, according to specifications, using hand tools.

9) Loads, positions, and adjusts unprinted materials on holding fixtures or in feeding mechanism of press.

11) Mixes colors or inks and fills reservoirs.

12) Monitors feeding and printing operations to maintain specified operating levels and detect malfunctions.

I feel these are all jobs that I can do and have done in our university print room.  Most of the jobs I found when looking for this were in America so I feel to get a job like this it would be now what you know but who you know. 

Prepress technician and worker Salaries

• 2014 employment: 36,500
• May 2015 median annual wage: $38,270

Figure 16 - Average Letter Press Setter annual wage figure

Doing some more research I came across Cherry Press, a press company that make stationary and mainly focus on wedding invited but use the traditional press methods to do so. 

'Founded over five centuries ago, the letterpress printing technique originally utilised raised lead type to produce printed imagery. At Cherry Press, we believe in these techniques and practice the same principles using traditional machinery.'

I would love to work at a press like this, combining the idea of freelance illustration and designing of products with the traditional hand made would be my dream job, perfect. 

Figure 17 - Cherry Press home page

References: 

- Figure 1 – 2 - "Welcome To The Association Of Illustrators | The AOI".

- Figure 3 – 10 - "Creative Skillset - Supporting Creative Industries". Creativeskillset.org.

- Figure 11 - "Career By Numbers: Animation". the Guardian.

- Figure 12 - "Junior Animator | Marketing Agency - Pitch Consultants

- Figure 13 - "Entry Level Animator Salary In London, England: London (United Kingdom)". Payscale.com

- Figure 14 - "Scientific Illustration". Free Vintage Illustrations

- Figure 15 - "Scientific Illustrator Salary". Payscale.com

- Figure 16 - Information - Collegegrad.Com". Collegegrad.com

-Figure 17 - "Letterpress Stationery - Wedding, Business, Events & More". Cherry Press.

Bibliography

"Career By Numbers: Animation". the Guardian. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Careers And Education In Science Illustration | GNSI". Gnsi.org. N.p., 2017. 

Web. 11 May 2017.

"Creative Skillset - Supporting Creative Industries". Creativeskillset.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Entry Level Animator Salary In London, England: London (United Kingdom)". Payscale.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Junior Animator | Marketing Agency - Pitch Consultants". Pitchconsultants.co.uk. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Letterpress Setters And Set-Up Operator Job Description, Duties And Jobs - Part 1". Job-descriptions.careerplanner.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Letterpress Stationery - Wedding, Business, Events & More". Cherry Press. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Prepress Technicians And Workers: Career, Salary And Education Information - Collegegrad.Com". Collegegrad.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Scientific Illustration". Free Vintage Illustrations. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Scientific Illustrator Salary". Payscale.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.

"Welcome To The Association Of Illustrators | The AOI". Theaoi.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.