Summers when you study at university are long. Long, lazy and eventually… a little boring.
I often find myself unsure of what to actually do – where to start with this free time, and how to make it count, creatively. I’ve started to realise that I am, actually, going into my third and final year, and that perhaps these warm summer days before starting uni up again are quite important – just enough time to give me a head start into my next year.
I remember the ‘back-to-school’ shops that I used to go on excitedly when I was younger, buying more pens, a new pencil case, probably a new protractor that I had undeniably lost the year before. Maybe there was a book to read in advance, or some maths questions to refresh my mind on.
But studying BA (Hons) Illustration at AUB means I don’t really need to do that – luckily for me, a lot of the resources on my course are helpfully provided for me, or often worth buying instead at the UniPrint store on campus when I actually need them. And illustration is pretty individual – going into third year, in which all of our projects are self-led, inspired solely by what interests us individually and aligning with where we aim to further our own careers – so it doesn't make sense asking the entire cohort to read one specific book. But, without these specific assignments… how else am I supposed to prepare?
Often, during lots of my breaks, I find myself developing skills and learning software that I hadn’t necessarily found the time for before. Creating digital 3D art is one I gravitate towards, because there's always more to learn – working on Blender and WOMP are two pieces of software that I’ve been especially interested in.
I’ve also finally found time to continue on with printmaking! I’ve created designs and started lino prints, and it’s been equal parts inspiring and challenging. After my last unit from second year, in which I chose the specialism of animation rather than printmaking, I found myself distracted by the many possibilities of animation and Blender and ended up accidentally neglecting my passion for printmaking. That's why it was important for me to actually create more prints this summer – to fall back on my old passions that spurred me to the illustration course in the first place. It’s been really useful to find a balance between learning new processes and revisiting old ones.
This summer has also been the perfect time to start creating little things to sell at the AUB Market days. These are days that allow students to set up a stall and sell their own creations on campus. It’s a really great way to start off a small business and getting used to creating and selling your own things. It’s important to give yourself time to recover a little from the academic year, which is why creating small pieces to sell at the market days is such a useful way to spend my time. Creating doodles and small designs and making little notes on them so that they can be reused in the future for stickers, prints or zines allows me to remain creative without burning myself out just before starting for uni. These tasks are fun and creative without much pressure – which really helps not only with keeping me inspired and creating but also keeps me drawing when I’m feeling a little lazy from the sun.
Working on some of these during the summer also means that I have some designs to take to the market without it cutting into the time I may want to take for my final projects during the academic year. Whilst I really enjoy the work I’m making during uni, sometimes the things I’m creating for my course aren’t always the easiest to sell during the market (I’ve yet to see someone buy and take home a strange 2D-and-3D-hybrid animation made through Blender from the market). This isn’t the same for everyone, but for me, this means that during the summer, I’ve learnt to manage my time a little more efficiently to make sure that I can balance working on both!
And finally, before going into third year, I’ve had the time to explore and gather ideas for my dissertation, along with finding credible sources to support these ideas. As all students can tell you, research can get a little time consuming. In fact, dissertations can altogether seem rather overwhelming – as creatives, sometimes long academic pieces of writing might appear daunting. This is why our tutors have asked us to use this long break over summer to consider this dissertation, along with some ideas for our final projects, before even coming back to uni – it breaks down these looming tasks into smaller chunks.
The past few months have been great for me to actually figure out a dissertation theme that aligns with something I would genuinely feel passionate researching. Also, I can evaluate my current passions and interests through reflecting back on how I’ve spent my summer so far and consider how I can weave these interests into an academic piece of writing.
Summer gives us an opportunity to take a break from academia, and so it's important not to push yourself too much – you’re allowed to rest. But at the same time, it's necessary to keep igniting your passions! Finding ways to incorporate what you love into your work both in and outside of uni is important, as well as making sure that you manage your time well to do so. A lot of the tasks I’ve done this summer have been a little different to those I did last summer. I find that with every year, I grow not only as an artist but as an individual – and I recognise how these two aspects of me intertwine. I’m excited to see how I’ll grow next year and make the most of the time I have left in this innovative community.
