free writing
topic: why did I choose to study a MA in Children’s Book Illustration and Graphic Novels
Sometimes you have a hobby and that is all it ever is for you, something you do on the side in your free time, something you just enjoy. But once in a while you start to wonder if that hobby couldn’t, just maybe, be something more. Last year I found myself at a crossroad. It was early October and I had just finished running a successful Gala at the theater where I worked (250+ guests at dinner with over 2,000 attending a show featuring Diana Ross). The guests were happy, the honorees left satisfied, and in my heart I knew the event had run well. But deep inside my subconscious a thought which had long been festering began to rise to the surface. Somewhere in my gut I knew. A successful event, a job well done, patrons and my boss satisfied, all this did not make me feel truly fulfilled. I was proud, absolutely, and what I was doing did hold significance to me. My work was important. Yet when I went home and found solace in my sketchbook, in creating little cards that made me smile, it became clearer. It was here, in these small and simple drawings, in moments of imagination, that I felt content and fulfilled. An idea both terrifying and exciting came to me: I could either strike off on a path towards something which had long been a passions of mine (children’s book illustration) or spend the rest of my life wondering what would have happened if I had. It was here that I decided to take a chance, to try to make my hobby something more, to let this little thing that has given me so many small moments of joy give me something more - a true sense of completeness. And perhaps a chance to share that joy with others.