_edited_edited_edited.png)
Reflecting on My Summer Scholarship with UWE Student Ventures
- ripleygosling11
- Aug 4
- 4 min read
As I write this, I’ve just returned from the closing celebration of the UWE Student Ventures Summer Scholarship, eight weeks that have been both challenging and transformative for me and my creative practice. My goal was to begin developing my illustration career into a freelance business and to continue building a niche for myself as a specialist in interactive and pop-up books.
My Initial Aims
At the start of the scholarship, I set out with a fairly ambitious list of goals:
To complete a professionally printed edition of my picture book Colours of the Silk Road by the end of August.
To begin reaching out to publishers and agents, through both email and creative physical mail-outs, to build professional connections.
To deepen my understanding of the picture book market, especially within the world of novelty and interactive formats.
To explore potential exhibition opportunities in heritage sites, bookshops, and museums.
To create a marketing strategy for both the book and myself as a freelance illustrator, including building up my social media, online shop, website, and blog.
To investigate freelance work opportunities in sectors such as museums, nature reserves, and heritage organisations, which align with the narrative and visual style of my work.
Shifting Focus: Building a Business
As the weeks progressed, I chose to focus more heavily on the business side of an illustration career. I realised this would be the most valuable use of the scholarship’s time and support. Because of this, and due to my graduation and degree show commitments, I’m still finalising the artwork for Colours of the Silk Road, with a new target completion date set for autumn.
During the scholarship, I compiled a list of publishers and agents that I’m currently contacting. I created professional PDFs of both Adrift and Colours of the Silk Road to send as part of my portfolio submissions. I also designed an illustrated CV to send out to potential clients. See below:
I also began expanding my self-published offerings. I designed a zine catalogue to present my work to local independent shops and started building out shop listings and Instagram posts to promote them. Since storytelling is at the heart of my work, I’m continuing to focus on narrative-driven formats like books, zines, and comics.
Exhibiting My Work: South Bristol Arts Trail
One exciting development was being selected for this year’s South Bristol Arts Trail, where I’ll be exhibiting and selling work at Coffee#1 on North Street over the weekend of September 20–21. During the application process, I met with Anna from the café, who generously offered to host my work for the entire month of September, along with an evening opening event.
This exhibition will be a great opportunity to share pieces from both my degree show and my summer scholarship work. I’m currently creating marketing materials, including listings on Headfirst, the AOI, my website, and social media. I’ve also designed posters and flyers to distribute around Bristol.
Perhaps the most exciting piece of promotion is a fold-out concertina mail-out I’ve created as a mini pop-up exhibition. It includes high-quality prints tucked into pockets, and when fully unfolded, it reveals a map of Southville on the reverse to guide visitors to the event. These will be sent to publishers, agents, and other industry professionals I’d love to work with.
These are some of the reference photos I captured of local buildings, which I then illustrated for my map . I also tested displaying my artwork using wall grids and clips.
Below is my mail out design in process
Funding
As part of the scholarship, each scholar was awarded £1,000 to support the development of their venture. I chose to invest mine in a high-quality printer, an essential addition to my practice, especially now that I no longer have access to the UWE print facilities.
Having a professional-grade printer has been invaluable for producing mock-up books, allowing me to test interactive elements and ensure the mechanics work before finalising designs. It also enables me to produce high-quality prints of my finished artworks.
Since purchasing the printer, I’ve already used it to print all the invites for my upcoming exhibition, as well as a selection of prints I’ll be selling on the opening night.
I also had flyers printed through Vistaprint and ordered waterproof posters from DigitalPrinting.co.uk, they’ll soon be popping up all around Bristol!
Mentorship & Support
I was lucky to have three excellent mentoring sessions during the scholarship:
With Leanne (Entrepreneurial Support): Leanne helped me begin to shape an entrepreneurial mindset. One important takeaway from our meetings was understanding the importance of knowing your customer. For example, while I’ve previously sold at craft markets, I realised that illustration, art, and book fairs would be a better fit for my work and audience, especially for prints, which aren’t impulse buys.
With Henning Lohlein (Author & Illustrator): Meeting Henning was incredibly inspiring. Touring his studio and seeing his work up close gave me a clearer vision of the freelance path ahead. He shared valuable advice on seeking representation and recommended publishers who specialise in interactive formats. His encouragement confirmed that finding an agent should be a next step for me, a view echoed by industry professionals at New Designers.
Final Thoughts
This summer has laid strong foundations for my journey into the illustration industry. While not everything went exactly to plan, I’ve made huge progress in developing a sustainable business model around my practice, building contacts, and creating meaningful opportunities to share my work with a wider audience.
I’m grateful to UWE Student Ventures for the support and can’t wait to keep the momentum going into the autumn and beyond!
xx
Comments