Ayesha Ballen on picture books, murals and going freelance

Like many others, I’ve been drawing and creating things since I was a kid. I distinctly recall all the adults telling me I would be a famous painter one day, and from about the ages of 10–14 I was enrolled in after school painting classes regardless of where we lived. My primary school’s parting gift was a shirt with little illustrated versions of all of my classmates dressed as the profession everyone thought they would pursue at that time; I was depicted with an easel and beret. So, it was to absolutely no one’s surprise that I wanted to go to an arts uni.

During my time on BA (Hons) Illustration, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects and discover what I like and what I don’t like. Illustration is such a broad subject and our tutors made sure the course covered a little bit of everything. In the end, we had projects ranging from the conventional picture book to fully fleshed-out video games. Because of this, it’s definitely a “mess around and find out” sort of field. In third year, we have live briefs that give you a taste of industry standard practice – these are what ultimately made me realise I wanted to go into public art and publishing.

To say these areas are a little different would be an understatement, but I find the different ways of thinking to be thrilling. The live briefs saw me work for clients like BARI (Birds and Recreation Initiative), Canford School, Plum Agency, ISEB’s Time to Write competition and the Lighthouse in Poole. Additional, non-live brief projects I landed through AUB included working with the Heathland Mitigation Park Rangers from the BCP, Bournemouth Film School and Castlepoint Shopping Centre. I also completed my own author/illustrator picture book: A Rockstar’s Tapestry. Even for gigs completely unrelated to uni, I was able to confidently go up to our tutors and course leaders to ask for advice. Throughout these, I’ve been able to develop visual languages appropriate for each industry and gain a better understanding of how to prepare going into professional work.

The mural for Bournemouth Film School afforded me the most creative freedom and is the most like my picture book work. Bright, vibrant and colourful, it was also my first indoor mural and on a curved surface. Since it was the only mural I’d done so far that didn’t have any visual requirements (using specific colours, depicting specific subjects, etc.), I used this as a chance to experiment how to make my mural style closer to my picture book style. A concern of mine has been consistency in my visual languages – trying to create a cohesive and recognisable body of work. It’s fantastic to keep exploring this beyond the studio and lecture halls.

I was inspired by the various tools our courses use to teach: a mannequin, a digital camera, a paintbrush, a pencil and the over-heating laptop exporting files that sounds like it’s going to burst into flames any minute. I also included a motif I’m finding shows up a lot in my work: the sun. I love living right by the beach and I felt I needed a nod to all those sunny days on campus that bring everyone outdoors.

After completing my degree, I asked myself what every graduate was wondering: so, what now? Luckily, I have the support of a welcoming community to aid me. Writing the Professional Practice document for my course was instrumental towards teaching me about my desired parts of industry and I’ve been able to test what I’d researched firsthand while doing outreach. I now know how to position myself and what to say. I know what questions to ask to ensure the client and I have as little misunderstandings as possible and that the final deliverable is something we’re both happy with. I’ve learned what it can mean to be a freelance illustrator and public artist and what steps I need to take to get there.

I’m really exited for what the future holds, and I’m looking forward to painting many more walls and seeing many more smiles as people walk past them!