Happy world bee day!
I spent the whole of yesterday making these little cuties to sell for mental health awareness day!
All bee charms are currently for sale at Cardzone Epping for £5 each! All proceeds will be going to mental health charities, such as Mind. Mental health awareness is a cause that I am very passionate about so if you are in the area this weekend then please drop by and check out the charms or consider donating!
Wow, it’s been a crazy couple of years hasn’t it? I’ve been neglecting this website for a while, but let’s change that!
What’s been happening?
Well after officially graduating with a BA in illustration & animation at the end of 2019, like many people, the 2020 covid pandemic somewhat threw me for a loop! Many of my life and career plans have been delayed for the forseeable future and I’ve been spending a lot of time soul searching to try and work out what on earth I am going to do now!
Thankfully, I managed to use my suddenly ample freetime to really concentrate on my newfound love of sculpting and polymer clay. I took a few classes on realistic sculpting from the talented Juliana Lepine on youtube, and consumed a lot of inspirational media which really helped me to work out what I want my brand to look like going forward.
At the beginning of 2021, I worked on reviving my instagram account and, since joining an amazing community of artists through Twitch, my following has been steadily growing. I’ve been putting my own twist on “draw this in your styles” by working in clay, and I’ve recently set myself the challenge of sculpting 25 Pokemon charms for the franchise’s 25th anniversary.
How was the degree show?
The degree show was really great! My Liz puppet got a lot of attention, and while there is a lot I would love to change on my final project, I’m proud of all I achieved.
You can watch the final animation here.
I would love to do more projects with Liz in the future as the reception towards her character has been really positive. I think she would work well in a comic or a children’s book format and that’s certainly on the cards for a later date.
So what’s next?
Well, I’m excited to announce that I have taken the steps towards opening an Etsy shop, which is set to open on June 21st this year! I’m going to be selling polymer charms, art prints and stickers to start off with, but I’m hoping to move towards selling character sculpture commissions a little further down the line!
I’ve decided to put the animation career on hold for the time being, in order to focus my attention on the Etsy business. I’m hoping to build a better model-making portfolio on the side though, so that I can jump straight back into job hunting once I’ve relocated to Bristol later this year (pandemic permitting).
If you would like to help support me, I now have a Ko-fi set up as a tip jar, or simply follow me on social media to see what I’m working on, and to get all the latest updates as they happen!
With less than a week left until I hand in my final animation, it’s going to be an intense, caffeine filled few days!
Here’s a little sneak peak from behind the scenes:
