Diary of a Creative Advertising Student – Post #1

I recently shared my thoughts on what it means to be involved in Photoshop’s 25 Under 25 programme. I’m currently studying Creative Advertising at the University of Lincoln, a windy city tucked away from anywhere too grand. I have just completed the second of a three year programme, which (hopefully) will help propel me in into the notoriously competitive advertising industry. Luckily for me, my degree is fully assessed on coursework, which means I can spend more time playing with Adobe Illustrator CC and less time stressing about any exams.

All creatives have a portfolio online nowadays, so to help ‘get noticed’ over the summer I’m working on a couple of big projects, the latest, a charity campaign to help the Nepal earthquake victims, still under development but fingers crossed it’ll be released soon!

I’ve noticed my animal logos have been my most popular project to date, so I’ve taken some freelance requests to start slowly building a third volume. I love making them. (See the Turtle logo above).

There’s also a new free font in the pipeline… Here’s a sneak preview:

A sneak preview of my new free font

Something I lack deeply is real workplace experience, I’ve only ever freelanced. So this summer, after being offered an internship at Ogilvy I aim to take a couple of months to learn from the top industry pro’s. Fingers crossed it’ll give me a glimpse into my future life where I’ll have the freedom to create large scale provocative campaigns for some of the biggest brands. Well, that’s the dream anyway!

Are you currently studying a creative course at University or are you planning any work experience this summer? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

About Tom:

Tom Ander-Watkins is a 20 year old student studying Creative Advertising at the University of Lincoln. An aspiring Art Director and self-taught designer, Tom has produced a vast portfolio of creative work as displayed on Behance ranging from custom logotype design and branding work to photo-manipulation, Illustration, Film and Photography.

Tom is an Adobe “New Creative” and was profiled as part of Adobe’s #MadeThis Campaign for his design work for popular skincare retailer Body Shop. He was recently selected to take part in Adobe’s 25 Under 25 programme to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Photoshop.