I was able to talk through the overall idea of a project plan with my Tutor as part of our initial 'meet and greet' session. The important thing for me was not to be too prescriptive about my choices. I have learned a lot about delivery and planning through my professional career, so I was adamant I would bring that experience to planning this unit as well. That meant planning using an approach that maximises agility and choice but also leads to meaningful impact.
Outcomes
The first tactic is to concentrate on the outcomes, not outputs, for this unit. In addition to my learning outcomes, I reflected on what needed to be different by the time I finished the unit. I then formatted these into outcomes for which I could develop measures soon after:
Developed strategies for regularly producing and sharing work
Created the capability to seek and pitch for work in relevant industries
Improved awareness of mental health and diversity through art and play
Timelines
I started the unit (after induction) in mid-February. As I do not wish to have any delays between this unit and the next, I will aim to submit for the Spring 2026 assessment window, which means having everything wrapped up for early January 2026. In reality, that means wrapping up mid to end of December 2025 due to the festive holidays.
As such, I have planned seven projects. Some will inherently be longer than others, and technically, I could approach them in any order, which gives me the flexibility to change direction along the way. My pool of options are the following:
I think it is a natural choice to select "Combining Influences" as my first project, as I believe it will strengthen my illustrative voice and then influence each subsequent project. My hypothesis is that this will create a more cohesive and coherent portfolio by the end of the unit.
Some of the projects may need to be run in parallel due to their link with client-led briefs or if they are planned to be long-running projects that will require consistent output and periodic review.
Managing Ethics and Risk
For the projects I am considering, I do not foresee any critical ethical or safety risks to manage or mitigate. As I start each project, I will undertake a more detailed assessment before committing to starting my research or practical exercises. There are sensibilities and sensitivities for some of the projects, which I will need to ensure have been considered:
Intellectual property law
Medical ethics in respect to patient depictions or visuals
Ethics of substance abuse and addiction risk
(Potentially) working with or depicting children/young adults
My medical school training afforded me some experience with medical ethics and general and specifically around medical photography and illustration. The corporate illustration and webcomics projects are both planned to be executed under the banner of my limited company, which has appropriate public and personal liability insurance in place.
I am not planning on any public performance, works, or collaboration with external parties/other students, so I do not believe these to be risk factors in my projects.
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