OUAN602 - PPP3: Employment and Future Plans

OUAN602 - PPP3:

Employment and Future Plans

As part of PPP3, it is our goal to understand what we would like to achieve in the next few years, and what career paths we would aim to follow. Animation, in my humble opinion, seems like an incredibly difficult industry to be enormously successful in and to be able to earn a decent wage that pays the bills whilst doing something you love. When I was five, I had dreams of becoming a cartoonist, a character designer and illustrator for The Simpsons. Though those ambitions seem very unlikely now, I would still like to think that I could aspire to do something along those lines. However, you can't do anything in life without money and as a child you expect everything in life to be easy and wonderful.

So, this next year for me will be a tricky and maybe not-so-art oriented one! My current goals are to aim for full-time work, be it in retail, sales, or anything else for that matter. After all, a job is a job, and I'm grateful for any opportunity to be able to earn money. I plan to work as hard as I can to gather some savings so that me and my partner can move abroad, hopefully to Scandinavia with the hopes of getting involved in something arty over there - a possible Lego adventure maybe? Moving to Leeds has certainly put a strain on my health and wellbeing, and I wish to be able to move to a cleaner, fairer, happier, more natural and green part of the world in the future (I don't think being a city-dweller is entirely for me, coming from a small green town!)

I have recently been applying for part time work online, mostly retail based, with the hope of finding some suitable hours with a decent wage that can get me through the last few months of college - money is tight! I have considered looking at comic book stores and art galleries as they're more suitable for me and would allow me to demonstrate my skills and knowledge more so than in say, a clothing shop. Working amongst products and brands I am familiar with would also give me a headstart and make the job a lot more enjoyable.

I've been applying for three years now in Leeds and find that the level of employment is so much lower than my hometown, Harrogate, possibly due to higher population and an influx of other students competing for work. Hopefully though, I'll find something and get enough money together to make a go of something. I believe that my education will have very little input towards what career I choose, as I believe it's about who you know and not what you know. I have many contacts in the art industry, and a family member who works for Disney, so with that in mind, I'll keep aiming towards a good and stable career.