year long project - 3rd year

  My current ideas and thoughts about where I need to go next - I really like the idea of creating an actually happily ever after children’s book, looking at an eco friendly world and maybe how we can achieve it. I think that could be a good ground to work with and it will work nicely in terms of characterisation. I have a few visual thoughts to try out for this.

 Having read Greg’s first book hilt completing my dissertation, I made notes on quotes I found interesting and any thoughts that came to mind; I came across a load of key words to research into (underlined words in the top left corners) to underpin my work. Main quotes that I found interesting.  Given that Greta’s book was all about her school strikes for the climate crisis, I thought I would design a few protest posters - both ideas that came to mind whilst I was reading but weren’t directly related to her words and designs that incorporate her words. I would quite like to further develop a few of these visuals, I think they could work really well but I need to look into child specific protest art to make it relevant.

 It’s pretty well known and talked about that supermarkets haven’t had the best track record with plastic usage/wastage and whilst they have all been making an evident effort, I thought I would have a look through one of my slightly smaller shops (as a student) to see how much of the plastic is recyclable. A couple of years ago (in first year) I started buying loose fruit and veggies, as much as a could anyway, both to reduce the amount I was carrying but also the amount of space it took up in the fridge and I have continued to do so still so that automatically reduces the amount of plastic there will be within this shop but even still, for a small shop there’s a lot! It can be quite difficult and time consuming to work out what is actually recyclable and what isn’t and what is at home and what you have to take back to the store for them to recycle it. In general I always forget to take my plastic back with me the next time I shop and I’m sure I’m not the only one which isn’t a maj...

 I revisited the to-do list I did following on from my last group tutorial to see what I have done and what was still left to do and then added a few things - the revised list: I had an idea, since doing the NY sketch, of using colour to turn the focus from the busy hustle of the city to the beauty of the nature and so I gave it a quick go with coloured pencils and I quite like how it turned out although I wouldn’t necessarily say that the focus is on the nature, rather the city just looks dull and gloom in comparison but the still stands out. I think I need to experiment with different media for this idea. I’ve certainly got plenty of ideas to work on here.

 I went to Oxford, on new year’s day and visited a bookstore in their main shopping centre - Blackwell’s - and found a few inspirational children’s books: I absolutely adore this book and the perfect representation of the mayhem of a child’s mind & imagination! Constantly moving and constantly different - it’s definitely does what it states, you would simply never get bored! I also found a beautiful book about plastic pollution in the ocean. I took photos of every page because it’s perfect for this project but it isn’t an activity book so I shall just reflect it here: For one, the illustrations are so unique, beautiful and utterly captivating - I’m not sure how the textures were created but they make for a stunning aesthetic. The altering levels of capacity to create layers works really well and I am definitely going to experiment with this style of fairly simple block colours with varying amounts of details, it really works for a children’s book, just perhaps a bit young, as i...

 Over the Christmas break, I went to the science museum in London which I thought would link in well with my project. It’s safe to say it’s changed a lot since I was last there and is not so much an interactive place anymore rather like any other museum with a few added interactions - the interactive parts are no longer free and have to be booked in advance so I didn’t see any of that. There was an interesting section about constructing your own future, with a few interactive technologies which weren’t overly relevant but were certainly engaging for the younger audiences: Yeah, so not overly relevant per say but due to the fact that it is digital, it certainly drew in quite an audience from the younger ages but they were quite complicated to actually understand and use, which is potentially actually what made it all the more captivating - trying to work it out. A challenge is a good form of education, as opposed to an easy ‘walk in the park’ that’s finished with in 5 minutes. I kin...

 I bought my cousin an activity book all about ‘great women’ from history, what they did and engaging with it for Christmas. I really love this book- the illustrations are beautiful and it’s so creative with the content: I hope my cousin loves this book as much as I do! It’s so beautiful and full of inspiration which is perfect for the target audience. I need to find ways of making the subject of environmentalism and saving the world interesting and engaging and something that really appeals. I think the key to that will be to not focus all tooooo much on the doom and gloom of it all and look at the achievable things that can be done and how to make it almost into a game.