Leading figures to speak to students about their future in the creative industries

A man who helped bring The Walking Dead to life is set to talk about his career at Wrexham Glyndwr University next week.

Comic book artist Charlie Adlard will be among the key speakers at Creative Futures week 2019, which begins at the university next week.

His work featured in many comic strips in the seminal comic 2000 AD, including Judge Dredd and Rouge Trooper. Later, while working for Image Comics in America, he has been a penciller on The Walking Dead – the comic which inspired the renowned television series.

He will be joined by David Katz, an internationally acclaimed photographer who captured many famous faces across his 32-year career while being legally blind, Facebook’s global entertainment lead Vanesa Bakewell, and many more industry professionals throughout the week, which runs from February 11 at Glyndwr.

The four-day creative industries conference, which has run since 2009, is focused on Creative Arts students from across the university.

Creative Futures has been organised by a team led by Glyndwr’s Careers and Employability adviser Neil Pritchard. Neil – a member of the university’s award-winning careers department – said: “We are very excited about Creative Futures this year as it offers something for everyone. Providing opportunities to inspire and help students make informed choices is something I am very passionate about.

“This is a great opportunity for our students to increase their understanding of possible future career opportunities within various creative industries – as well as network with Industry professionals and graduates to assist with their professional development.”

The event will also see a number of graduates from the university who have since begun forging careers in the creative industries return to share tips.

Ben Sears, a graduate from the University now working as a graphic designer in North Wales, is one of those returning. He said: “The Creative Futures events inspired me to build a strong portfolio to get myself into the creative industry and further my career.

“Listening to all the various speakers really helped me understand how they followed their career paths and helped me focus on my own. Coming back as a speaker, hopefully I can inspire students to think of their life after university.”

Creative Futures is supported by the Big Lottery Fund, Welsh Government and the ADOR – A Degree of Responsibility Initiative.

Further details for The Creative Futures Event 2019 can be found here.