Debbie Greenaway Response

For nearly a year, I have enjoyed a written friendship with Debbie and I feel very fortunate to have made such a friendly contact. I think the difference between being in contact with her and an established illustrator is that she is still finding her way and her style and this is much more interesting and useful to me than somebody who is already successful. I hope to stay in touch with her in the future.

LEANNE:
Hi Debbie,

Thank you again for your reply, I've updated it on my blog. I also forgot to say that I like your website. I have a very simple one with some old work which I hope to update when I leave. After the stress of these 3 years at university, I was contemplating doing something completely different but as the end is in sight, I am actually starting to enjoy illustration again.

I was also thinking of doing a Masters but next year, possibly in typography or design and art direction. I have a job already at Habitat in the Trafford Centre and it definitely distracts you from what you want to do but I always tell myself "This is not my career!" That makes me feel a bit better when I miss all my weekend :-)

I could really see you doing children's books as I think that context would perfectly fit your style. I really look forward to seeing your work on your blog.

Hopefully I will speak to you soon,
Leanne x x x

DEBBIE:

Hello Leanne,

How are you? Thank you for your reply to let me know that you got the answers etc and have read through them. I had never done anything like that before so it was struggle to think about things. Then after I had sent it off, I just kept thinking that i could have maybe answered the questions better or had more to say.

My final year of university was very hard for me, I super stressed myself out with what i wanted to do with the projects and I had just moved to different place which was quite unsettling in the end but i managed to create some good work with a lot of help and support. All i can say is try and enjoy as much as you can and do whatever work you can fit into the time that is left. If you need any help there is always some kind of support at university whether this be from tutors, different tutors, different tutors in different departments, friends, family and just people in general. Make sure you have some 'me' time as well but not too much, just enough to give yourself a break and time to relax or think about things.

To expand a bit more about me and illustration, throughout university, I wanted to go on to do a masters afterwards, either in children's books or printmaking or maybe just illustration but felt that i needed a break. a break as i said to enjoy illustration just for me. I found a job asap and so have worked in a cafe whilst fitting in illustration/craft/print stuff in the spare time that i get. some weeks are good and some weeks are not so good. i struggle to organise myself but now i am getting into a routine with it. i would like to find a better job, for example, less hours for more pay so i have more free time for illustration but job hunting is very difficult and very time consuming at the moment. i am getting there slowly and maybe i will end up doing a masters, most probably now in children's books in about two years or so. i am looking at applying for AA2A over summer and hopefully I will be able to print once again on a more regular basis. More details about AA2A can be found here http://www.aa2a.org/introduction .

I hope the last stretch of university goes well. Please stay in touch.

all the best

debbie x.