Hola Mundo ??

Looking back...

With each session (both in-person and virtual) we were thrown quite a handful of important topics about the creative industry and our fields of interests. Some topics I saw coming, but many others I had no idea of and straight-up felt ambivalent about.  
I didn’t realise how complex the freelance life could be! dealing with weird tax brackets, self-assessments and all that ‘exciting’ stuff, nor the different, entrepreneurial-like habits that are expected of the modern creatives. 

Beautiful GIF by Oksana Kurmaz

​I began my second year (and DPS) with the goal of better figuring out what I’d like to focus on, be it Motion, Branding, 3D or a combination of all 3, and really get in there and put in the time to make things I can be kinda proud of, or at least not suck so hard at them.  
With each DPS session I realised I may had developed a tunnel vision in that regard, and while that is still my goal....maybe I should be open to things that I’m not as used to, like designing for the greater good (whatever that means), as opposed to developing slick designs for corporate brands, travel the world to volunteer and try new stuff, as opposed to just finding the next gig, and really try to make work that's intentional, as opposed to create aimlessly for the sake of just ‘making something’. It’s a lot to take in and still wrapping my head around it all - I’m a slow learner. ​

​Expectations - v2

Now, addressing the elephant in the room (or blog, if you will), COVID-19 really screwed us students, teachers, staff and basically everyone on earth over, in a way no one so coming. Some real dystopian BS right there. ​

GIF by Robert E Blackmon

​I strongly believed this extra year could’ve given me the chance to live a bit more ‘adventurously’, grow as a creative and understand how the industry works, whilst slowly integrating within it and start maturing professionally, not for the sake of filling up my LinkedIn profile, but get a better grip at this whole Design thing and prove to myself I can get paid to do stuff with shapes, colours and text – that's the dream 👌🏾. ​

A reel prototype of some old work.□

​I’d be foolish to think the pandemic won’t screw many of those expectations; with many businesses having to temporarily/permanently close, agencies stopped hiring and the economy of countries shrinking, needless to say, I’ve had to re-evaluate my expectations from myself and the whole DPS year. 

​Ambitions - v2

It might sound like a simple thing, but I’ve always held off from it from fear I’d get fired for being too slow, not knowing enough for my role or sounding/behaving too naively. But my recent decision of taking on an Animation course has made me realise that if I want to get good at 2D Mograph, Digital Design and 3D I need to in an environment that throws new, challenging things at me, if I want to close my creative gap. 

Source: Giphy

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​Until the next one, stay safe and wear your mask 👋🏾 ​

Author

by Abraham E.