Hopes and fears

This post is about my life after uni, my hopes and fears. My hopes are obviously to become a well respected illustrator who will build a great reputation and forever to be in demand. Also I hope to achieve a first or a 2-1 degree which will then allow me to complete my tutor training diploma which then possibly some day will allow my family and I to move overseas to work. I feel that at some point I will have earned the right to work in a warmer climate and a better lifestyle for my wife and children so that it gives them the opportunity to achieve their own full potential in life. To offer them the chances that I didn't myself get at an earlier age and to watch them flourish into adults with a smile on their face and sun on their backs. It would also be for a selfish reason too, to make me the proudest dad and know that I have done my best for them all that I could possibly do.
My fears are that I won't get the commissions I want due to being a mature starter to the industry. I fear that I will lose out to younger illustrators. I just hope that the editors out there will take on board the actual art work and the age of myself the illustrator. I feel that I have a lot to bring to the table being a mature graduate. What I mean by this is that I have different reasons and priorities which should help rather than hinder as I have more to lose than younger graduates. I hope it shows that I for a start would be seen as more reliable as I have more responsibilities in my life so I wouldn't waste peoples time and hope they wouldn't waste mine either. I would hit deadlines and be constantly in touch with the client to make the commission perfect as I have less time to make a respected reputation for myself than younger illustrators. I also have more bills that need paying so this would have me working twice as hard to get the commission in the first place.

   I do feel that with myself being older that I can use my learnt life skills and social skills to my advantage over the younger ones as I have had to deal with the public a lot more in my previous line of work and it gives me a whole lot more confidence to promote myself as the best candidate. Also with my knowledge of working in the building trade for many years previous, this expertise and skill will seriously help with certain types of my work such as architectural illustration, perspective drawings, realism drawings to an extent, paper cutting/engineering and also my making of 3D models. This kind of stuff I find to be quite a natural element of my work where as the younger crowd would possibly need to learn these skills through further classes.