I think that I made my map quite broad, and covered lots of areas but I wasn't making connections between them when there were lots of connections to be made. However, it was also clear that there is no one direct point of view or interest (i.e. music etc.) that inspires my work but more just lots of different small things that have an effect on it.
One thing that a lot of arrows lead to were cool people that I have met and the different conversations that I have had with people from all different walks of life (as well as the different places I have lived/ been). These have always been important to me and have inspired me. Even though it's how my best work gets done, I do really really struggle to spend a day alone working - this is an important factor to consider when thinking about which path of illustration to follow next year. I do not want a lonely studio job. This is probably because I've been boring since I was 13 so I am used to constantly living with and being surrounded by people.
It also showed my lack of engagement with the world of illustration outside of the course (bar the odd zine that I have collected). I'm always going to painting and sculpture exhibitions and following the work of my favourite artists (which definitely massively feeds into my practice). But I need to start engaging more with my specialism - following illustrators/ going to print fairs etc. (I literally only know about 5 illustrators). Even just looking at the work of George Douglas for my Persons of Note brief made worlds of difference to my own outcomes.
Having looked back over my map I did make a connection between my love for travel and my love for unusual pieces of fine art/ surreal collages. This probably sums up my personality better than anything. The reason I like travelling and meeting different people is because I love discovering new weird and wonderful things. I am obsessed with going to new unknown places and doing new activities. When I was travelling, my friends would want to sunbathe and go out but I would be constantly looking up the craziest, strangest local traditions and dragging them along to them. This is the same with collecting things (I love weird objects), my room is filled with tones of colourful, decorated mismatched objects/ strange gremlins etc. I love organised clutter. This love for the new/ unusual probably explains my love for unusual/ clever pieces of fine art and surreal collages (and research).
-- This relates to the fact that I have zero interest in politics/ celebrity/ social media just because its everywhere/ I don't find it new or interesting. However, I do feel like this is really bad as an illustration student because I need an awareness of what is going on/ to share my own work, plus it's what everyone is always talking about. I do definitely find myself constantly trying to make myself interested in this and I'm always making myself read the news and build up my social media.
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