Money or morals?

 Before I came to university, I never really considered any legal or ethical implications of a career in illustration. Last year, we had two lectures that were about design ethics, and for me, it was a bit of a wake up call. Although I did at the time believe that it didn't necessarily have much to do with myself as an illustrator, in hindsight, I realise that post-university, I may be challenged with a brief that infringes on my morals. We all have things that we feel passionately about, whether it's something we think should be stopped or something we think should be accepted. It's important that we don't back down from those morals when faced with the challenge of money or morals. Obviously it's easy for me to say this, but I'd like to think I'd stick to my guns.

During creative futures, I went to a talk by a childrens illustrator who, although her style of work wasn't the way I work, and her work ethic wasn't necessarily similar to mine, I respected to work that she creates. She worked abroad by creating reading books for children in Africa, something that is making a difference.

For me, the best thing about my an artist is that we have the ability to communicate a message without barriers. Visual communication can break the language barriers that can hold back important messages, and so as well as thinking about facing moral dilemmas when accepting jobs, I'd also like to actively seek out jobs for this reason too. I have certain things that I feel strongly about, and have ideas as to how I can channel those feelings through my artwork, and so in the future, I hope to be able to create work that has a meaning to it. If there's one thing I could do by the end of my illustration career, it would be to create work that resonates with someone, makes someone think twice or even inspires someone. I realise that to some degree that's all that most people want to be able to do, but I definitely want to be able to say that I put my skill to good use over purely aesthetic reasons.

Branching from this, one of my favourite printmakers, Kathe Kollwitz, defintely inspired my want to be able to evoke something within an audience. As soon as I saw her work a few years ago, I immediately saw the emotion that she put into it. It wasn't until I began to seriously consider print and researched it that I linked her to it, but the way she uses the medium to convey the message and emotion that she wanted to, specifically her feelings towards the war that dramatically effected her life. She created a response to the First World War, in which she lost her son, to depict the grief that loved ones were left with post war. For me, this is what having an artistic ability is all about, being able to effect others with your work, although it would obviously be ideal to be able to make a living off of it too.

Kathe Kollwitz, Hunger.

Kathe Kollowitz, above and below two woodcuts from her series Krieg (War).