Script:
Lecturer: I'd like to introduce Rebecca Bramwell, an artist and illustrator, who has come along today to talk to you all about getting your first job or commission as an artist... Over to you Rebecca.
Rebecca: Thank you for inviting me. I remember when I graduated back in 1983, I was very excited about getting my first commission. My degree was in Fine Art and I'd worked long and hard to get it. I was an enthusiastic student and I never found it difficult to find the incentive to paint. I think as a student you're pushed along by fellow students and tutors and the driving force is there. However, when you leave college you find yourself saving things like 'I'll have one more cup of coffee and then I'll sit down to work'. I hate to admit it but I say it myself. Suddenly it isn't finding the inspiration or getting the right paper that's a problem, it's vou.
In my view, there are a number of reasons why this happens. It's a real challenge making a decent living as a new artist ... you have to find a market for your work, often you work freelance and need to take samples or portfolios of your work from place to place ... these experiences are common to a lot of professional people ... but artists also have to bare their souls to the world in a way ... more than anything they want praise ... if people don't like what they create then it can be a very emotional and upsetting experience hearing them say this.
I began to realise that these problems were preventing me from having a career in art and so I decided to experiment. I was a painter but I started to dabble in illustration ... drawing pictures for books, cards ... and this offered me the opportunity to become more emotionally detached from my work. I was no longer producing images from the heart but developing images for a specified subject ... taking a more practical approach.
I began to develop a collection of my illustrations which I put into a portfolio and started to carry around with me to show prospective clients and employers. But it was still tricky because publishers, for example, want to know that your drawings will reproduce well in a book, but without having had any work published, it's hard to prove this. Having a wonderful portfolio or collection of original artwork is, of course, a first step but what most potential clients would like to see is printed artwork and without this 'evidence' they tend to hold back still when it comes to offering a contract.
Choose the correct answer.