Professional practice

 Kerry Dilks   

Kerry Dilks is an independent author and Illustrator based in the Nottingham area. Kerry Dilks creates children picture books. Personally I really enjoyed the talk she gave, she was realistic in the struggles she faced, she didn't sugar coat her experience but was still truly positive, you could really feel her enjoyment in creating just from the way she spoke about it. 

She spoke about how having a good group of people around you can be really beneficial to navigating your own art world, having both their knowledge and support. She's works full time being an illustrator, she mentioned how important it was that her partner was supporting her when making the steps into becoming a full time independent illustrator, she spoke about how this support was both the finacle stability at the beginning but also emotional support and people believing in her abilities. She mentioned how the books are her main thing but they don't sell all the time so created other things like greetings cards and story calendars that create a more steady income. One thing I found really interesting was the way she published her first book, The greatest cake, she used an online platform called go fund me, where people will donate money to different causes, events or people for just about anything. I found this really interesting because I guess it something id never think off or had seen before, but it makes sense, If you don't ask you don't know. I think it was quite an impressive thing to do and great way of working around problems.  I really enjoyed the talk from Kerry Dilks, her positive attitude about her journey and process made the artworld seem slightly less daunting. 

     

- Little mock up books the artist brought in to show the stages of her process, she brought in many things, sketches and published books but I was drawn to these little mock ups, I think its because the little size and handmade nature reminds me of the last project.