Learning to Juggle

Daisy Aldridge
Illustration and Visual Media

Two months into my DPS year and looking back I am not exactly meeting my ambitions that I had planned in the second year proposal.
I thought I would be doing internships, yet I feel I am in an even better place freelancing and putting my skills to the test. Although, not having the structure of a 9-5 day can be scary, going from university life to making my own hours was a bit of a shock to the system to start with as I found myself losing routine, sleeping in, and not knowing when it was work time and when it was play time. As I have progressed through the past two months, I have figured out how to make the most of my time (a daily planner has been my saviour) and the benefits of freelancing…
1 - I can work where I want! (to an extent)
2- I’m in control of who I work with and what I work on (all those first and second year unfinished projects are making a comeback – I don’t think they were expecting to see the light of day anytime soon)
3- Flexible hours are a god send after all. I’ve figured out I can go for lunch with my nan on Tuesday; it might just mean a bit of late night working to make up for it!

I still plan on applying for internships and explore different avenues in the new year, but for now my plans are to continue focusing on my personal practice. Often, I have a tough time delivering projects, due to myself lacking the required production skill. I’ve found that the having basic skills of the tech, apparatus and equipment around you is essential to producing great work. I want to use this year to play around with my skill-set and build upon it, look at enterprise, sort out my portfolio(s), refine my visual language and set my own briefs (and deadlines) so at the end I can go back into my third year feeling more confident as an illustrator with added tools under my belt.
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​‘’Juggling jobs is like having ten plates on the top of long poles. As long as you keep spinning the poles the plates do not drop off. You run around spinning each pole just in time for it to not fall off, and be ready to dive to catch the one behind if you forget. ‘’ - Phil Cleaver.

​I find myself in a fun new situation where I have three projects I expect to finish within the next week. It’s a whole new ball park for me to be working on more than one design job at a time. At first it was slightly daunting to have someone relying on me (me?!) to meet their deadlines and their needs, but with a lot of excessive note taking, list making and time management I have been making my way through it. I have had to learn to chase down supplies, organise meetings, build and deliver presentations, and fill out health and safety forms.

This year so far has helped me greatly to overcome my anxiety problems. I have been pushing myself to overcome my fear of presenting and I have let myself have the confidence to put ideas forwards in group projects (as a result this has helped me get a better opportunity in the work being done). Thinking about working on these live projects with others made me worried initially, but I have come to understand that having been chosen for the job in the first place means my presence is important and thus my ideas are too.
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Daisy Aldridge
@illustrateddaisy

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