Welcome back to my blog, where I talk about being an illustrator and a researcher. So, how does one become a researcher from being a practitioner?

Before I go on, I’d like to share my thoughts on the education trajectory of illustration (it could apply to other specialisms, but I only know that I know). In the US, where I did my undergrad, a terminal degree for an arts-based teaching institution is often an MA/MFA. One only needs up to a master’s degree to teach at a full professor capacity. In the UK, where I did my MA & PhD and am now working as a lecturer/Assistant Professor, a full professorship/lectureship usually requires the candidate to have a PhD. Unless a person has substantial practice experience that equates to a PhD level, the terminal degree is a PhD.

I can see the reasoning from both sides; in the US, it is rare to find a PhD pathway that caters to makers. In the UK, the argument is that one needs to experience a higher degree in order to sufficiently teach a lower degree. Hence, a PhD-level educator teaching at the Master’s level. Plus, it’s easier to find practice-based research programs in the UK that makers and creatives can do without learning to be a whole different person.

Based on this trajectory, it’s easy to assume that the next level up from a Master’s degree is the PhD. However, now that I’ve experienced them all (a friend of mine, upon telling her that I was having a graduation ceremony [for my PhD], blurted “another one?!”), I have a different view.

For illustration students, the terminal degree where they get to hone their practical skills is the master’s level. A PhD is an entirely different sector in education – it is a training session to become an academic.

It feels like learning to be at the shopfront for many years and suddenly becoming a manager. A seemingly upward career trajectory, yes, but learning to be a good cashier doesn’t actually prepare a person to become a good manager. This is where the shock hits the most, and it takes a lot of effort to transition the mindset. An MA project does not naturally extend itself to a PhD project.

Some people (or, most people I should say) never transition to a researcher – there is no need to. They go about doing the thing they were taught to do – illustrate, design, animate, or what have you. The money flows in and there isn’t a big desire for ‘something more.’ Meanwhile, there are always a few who aren’t quite satisfied with being a visual serviceperson. There are things that they want to explore, or even think ‘there has to be more to [X] than meets the eye. I think that’s a good signal that the person may want to explore a PhD.

A word of warning – this thirst doesn’t equate to just boredom. Mundane from repetition isn’t quite it. The key is the feeling that “there is more to this medium than meets the eye.”

From my experience, I’ve been a freelance illustrator for 3 years before I considered the PhD. Keeping up the freelance lifestyle was difficult, but more than that, I was getting tired of always drawing for other people. The illustration life wasn’t quite what I had been taught that it was – I wanted to communicate deep feelings using pictures, yet I was drawing silly creatures that would never see the light of day. I was yearning for a different – more social impact – with my skill set, instead of being used to sell another product.

How I chose research was entirely by chance. My then-visa was running out, and I was searching high and wide for a solution. A PhD was indeed a possibility, but so was an entrepreneur visa route. In fact, I was all set up to follow the entrepreneur route because I thought I would be able to utilise my freelance skill sets better. So my PhD application was a try-why-not option, and I hadn’t thought too deeply about it. About the same time, I was also helping my friend finish her master’s thesis. I was just helping her tidy up the grammar and some English phrases (this was before ChatGPT was a thing, where we asked PEOPLE to proofread), and I remember having so much fun. Even more fun than my friend who’d done all the work! It wasn’t even a topic I knew anything about!! I kept asking her to explain more, and to go read more papers so her argument would make more sense to me. Only then did I think, ‘hold on, research?’ and (un)luckily, the entrepreneur visa route was suddenly suspended by the government. Then I was offered a place at Loughborough University. Happy days.

Apologies for digressing. The key indicator that a practitioner is ready to consider research is when they can feel a ‘gap’ in what they do or what is known in their field. There’s something missing. After doing some initial digging, there is still no real answer. No one has quite done what itches you. That’s a good sign to consider a PhD.