Eric Leland: Illustration: Authorial Practice MA graduate
MA Illustration: Authorial Practice 2007 - 2008
I came to Cornwall and the MA Illustration: Authorial Practice course after working for five years as an architect in the United States. When I arrived, I brought with me very little in the way of formal illustration experience, just a lot of everyday practice in creating architectural drawings for clients and builders, a general knowledge of how a design firm operates, and a growing sense that I had to take charge of my creative life if I wanted to avoid death by construction management.
Now, several years after graduating, I feel more and more that the course gave me exactly what I needed. The flexibility inherent in the program allowed me to create an educational experience that built specifically on my previous career and helped equip me to move into a new one as an illustrator. Steve Braund was always there to listen and provide guidance when I needed it. My classmates, who all had different backgrounds themselves, were always ready with advice, and each one provided an example of a different way of making illustration work. The incredible historic industrial landscape of Cornwall itself provided the perfect space for me to explore the fusion between architecture and illustration, and between technical drawing and narrative.
More than anything, though, I learned how to see potential projects everywhere, all the time: an old mine is an opportunity for a children's book about what is hidden beneath the ground; an enigmatic ruined factory cries out for illustrations explaining its purpose to visitors; a historic bridge is packed with the stories of the people who built it, quietly waiting to be expressed with pencil and paintbrush. There is no need to worry about finding work once you realize that the world is full of things that need to be done!
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