Evaluation for Personal Professional Development 2

Overall I am happy with my portfolio, I think that it clearly sums me up as a designer who specializes in image and type. I think through my portfolio you can pick up a recognized style through my illustrations which is quite similar to the Gonzo style of illustration and I think that it clearly shows the direction and path that I want to follow in an organized and professional way.
Since I met Alex Trochut towards the beginning of this year I feel like my work has stepped up a notch, I am really inspired by the work that he creates, his standard of work and ability is what I am trying to achieve and I hope I do that through 3rd year.
Masha Karpushina who is a Russian born London based illustrator has a very unique and beautiful style, her work consists of very detailed intricate hand rendered designs mainly focusing on black and white with one added colour. I found out that one of her clients have been for Allsaints clothing range who I currently work for. Her work is also another ambition goal to achieve her standards.
I feel that my strengths lay in my illustration skills and I recognized that coming towards the end of 1st year, I feel I can take this skill and apply it to many areas of design and also with the intention of starting to involve type will greater this and further develop my portfolio. I feel when emailing design agencies looking for work placements I recieved positive feedback from them which boosted my confidence and I have been given areas of improvement.
I think that my weaknesses lie within web design and animation, these two fields of work are definitely not an interest to me, which is bad to say but I do not have very much confidence in my ability in this area which was reflected in my grade and therefore none of this work went into my portfolio. I think I am going still try and perfect my skills in web design because this area of creative practice is going to benificial thing to have behind me.
Now that I am approaching 3rd year I think I have a direct and clear perspective on where my work is going and what paths I wish to follow. My work is very much focused on illustration and I am to start to involve type into my work in further briefs that I do. I feel I am already organized and structured so I think that I am going to go into 3rd year with a positive mind set to keep on improving my ability and professionalism.
I feel I have my own style of illustration too now which sets me apart from others and I want to keep involving this in my work to get a recognised style.
So going into 3rd year I am going to make a conscience effort to work more with combining type and image together, much like the work of Alex Trochut and broaden my specialist subject being illustration.
In relation to my proposed dissertation I think that I am going to benefit from the broad range of areas that I am going to cover in relation to the way women are represented in society and for me personally when I leave full time education I will be looking for a job in the design industry and I think it will be good to have researched into how women are portrayed in the design industry . Through my creative practice I may start bringing feminist views to my work if appropriate and make sure that I represent women well in my designs and concepts. I have also tried to go for work placements that suit my style of work so I fit comfortably within their design team.
There was one place where I really wanted a work placement, it is a design agency called Love creative in Manchester who I emailed with a sample of my portfolio looking for a work placement but they responded saying they were only looking for pst grads although they did give me some very positive feedback and I am going to keep them in mind for after 3rd year, I am going to work on something to send me to really make an impression on them and stand out as a individual.