For this project I decided to use a dip pen and ink, solely because I had never used it before. I also wanted to go for the 'lo-fi' look, and thought it would liven up my illustrations. In Photoshop I added bitmap tones to even out images. It seemed a bit odd trying to recreate the lo-fi look through a software as expensive as Photoshop though!
As the book had a strange number of sheets and pages I had some room for fillers. Not wanting to waste too much time on these instead of on the actual illustrations I took it as an opportunity to play around and get used to using a dip pen for the first time. After hearing Marcus Oakley talk about his work I was inspired by his use of playful shape and confidence of line. I tried my best not to be hesitant with this project and embrace the 'mishaps'.
I've never really used mechanised type in my illustrations, so went with what I know to be good in Futura. By rasterising the text I could also bitmap it to make it fit into the images better.
Work and Play are probably the most obvious two things to follow by. I think a lot of the work process is about motivating yourself and I tried to show this in a straightforward way. For Play it would be too easy to draw a football game! I think this might be obvious too, but for me Play is about being playful in work- whilst also making time for fun in your personal life, so something more abstract could be applied to both.
Planning has been very important this year, and I like to stay organised and always see this 'future self' I tried to draw.
Dog was about making time to be with animals, but also being like a dog (which I later realised was very close to the mantra of a certain phone advert). But in all honesty I think this year has taught me that if we are to adopt the attitude of any animal, a dog would be great.
Consume was literal in the sense of being a uni student you need to be able to sustain yourself (hence the burger), but on another note also consuming ideas, particularly from your peers and who you look up to (hence the head).
Looking at a tree was a very personal choice! Despite not living very far from my original home living in the city makes me miss the countryside, but also appreciate what greenery we do have a lot.
Cheer Up was a reference to me making too much sad and melancholy work and wanting to be more playful! Though I think the image might appear to be of a more personal context. Still, Cheer Up is good advice for most, to be taken at face value.
Lie Down is very important! I think a lot of students might struggle with their sleep schedules.
This is where it became a bit strange. Honestly, these two illustrations first came about to create a narrative / nice sequence through the book. But I do think they make sense as part of the 10 things I have been thinking about in relation to my progression in the year- although importantly it might be a bit of a push and not understood by the reader, which is not a good thing, which I regret!
Open Your Eyes refers to being more open minded, which became a big thing in regards to this year's COP project on protesters and violence, and I changed my mind about a lot in regards to that subject because of the work I did. This year has also been very tense politically, and I myself want to be more politically minded but also want to encourage others to be so too.
Entering the Void is definitely the biggest push, and as a part of this specific brief I think it may well fail. Still, I now look at it as a way of explaining the imagination, surely the most important thing of being a creative (student).
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