Sian Bowmann:

An Aberystwyth alumnus, now Illustrator, Sian Bowman came to do a guest talk this week for undergraduates. Ceasing the opportunity, I sat in to hear her story about navigating the art industry. It was also an opportunity for me to learn some presentation techniques and workshop ideas.

The main thing I liked about Sian was that she was very aware and realistic – considering how challenging the art industry can be, she made her more fortunate position in life known: a partner, a house and an income before pursuing her career. Moreover, she had an existing job at the art center in Aberystwyth and had connections through that. From the start, she made sure that we had realistic expectations, rather than unfairly comparing ourselves when we are working with different conditions.

Being proactive and making space:

At the start of her career, Bowmann was primary working on commissions and joined an 'Illustrators 4 Hire' to attract work. But her main piece of advice was to be proactive; she reached out to people on LinkedIn, make space and attracted people there - you can't wait for people to find you, make the work you want to sell, create projects you want to be apart of and the right people will find you.

Calculating risks:

Once work found you, the next hurdle is the calculated risk - in pricing and projects. We may be faced with a decisions, like accepting less money in favour of new relationship that leads to more work in the future; it's important to consider what's more important, and what projects you accept or deny. Once you've completed a project, Bowmann further advised against going below your last quote for future work, especially if similar or more work.

Workshop take-away:

Alongside her practise, Sian Bowmann does teaching and workshops. In our sessions, she introduced us to a few activities intended to loosen up our creativity:

• Draw random squiggles on the page and then turned them into faces or characters/ objects/ backgrounds.

• Make animals out of 1 shape (e.g. all only circles or squares.)

The object is to expand your creativity and not put too much stress on the outcome. This gave me a better understanding of what type of workshops are both helpful and engaging to art students; the first task is something that I was doing before the workshop, but didn't see the potential of a workshop - What other things do we do - day to day - that others may find helpful? Fundamentally, I want to promote play and joy to combat some of the most common concerns among artist (e.g. perfectionism, procrastination, confidence.) Making an interesting observation, Bowmann said that older students (teenagers) need more encouragement to attack a blank page; nervous to do the wrong this and plagued with perfectionism, it would be helpful to start them off with a scribble and an example that reassures them.

Style:

Towards the end of the workshop, Bowmann addressed a common concern amongst us emerging artists: Style. She was commissioned to redraw stich (and co.) in 'her style' – but what does that look like? She identified that her line is very personal, and her choice of medium, water colour, are important to her process.

Now I'm confronted with my style - What kind of line, colour, light and composition do I gravitate towards, what have I been proud of? What's my process of working?