Final illustrations
Every drawing that I ended up creating really represents the background behind it. Since my inspiration was the Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine, after going back to Kiev for spring break I have realized that rather than having these pieces as political statements, I realized that what Ukrainians actually need is to remember why the protest started in the first place and that all those struggles aren’t going to waste.
1st image- after the protest was over, it resulted in 100 deaths in the center of Kiev due to the police’s aggression towards the people, and the candles represent those that were brought to the Independence square (which is where it all happened) in memory of the people who died. I feel like even up to today it’s important to remember those who stood up for the freedom for the entire country and sacrificed their lives for our future.
2nd image- the drawing represents a women wearing a piece of the Ukranian national costume, called the Vinok (a flower crown) which underlines pride for the country and its people.
3rd image- represents praying hands in a color scheme of the Ukranian flag. The hand gesture symbolized the idea that you should never lose hope and also the idea that the change is in our hands, not just the governments.
4th image- represents the symbol of Ukraine, but I have reworked it to spell out “Героям Слава (Geroyam Slava)” which means “praise the heroes” in Ukranian. I feel like that saying brings out a lot of sad emotions from the protest, but at the same time, it reminds people that we have the strength to change our country. Also, I added the wings to represent that our people have always been and always will be free.
5th image- also represents a part of the Ukranian national costume which is called Vyshyvanka. As I was walking around the center during the protest, every single person out there had this on in order to show pride, commitment, and their ability to fight for what they believe in. This garment has, in a sense, become part of Ukranian daily were which before people would consider being sort of humiliating to wear. 
Final presentation
Personal response:
Some of the challenges that I faced while working on this project were to combine the message with the drawing in that way will make sense and remind people of the Euromaidan protest but not in a sad way but in a way that carries out hope for the future. It kind of also made me go down memory lane of my experiences when this occurred, but I think that’s what makes the designs stronger. Also, the challenge that I faced about a month before the project had to be done was that I couldn’t actually order the patches from a professional company, therefore I was afraid that in the end the images that are supposed to be sophisticated and serious, would look childish.
Even so, his topic still remains very personal to me and brings out a lot of emotions, which is why all of the drawings are connected to primary sources and my personal observations. I think that the background played really well with the designs made and the white denim jacket really stood out. In general, I am very happy with the final outcome because although that’s not exactly what my plan was to do at the very beginning, I think everything worked out pretty well.
As to the future of this project, I think I will definitely get these mass produced. The feedback I received today in class and from my friends, in general, has made me realize that these have a huge potential to be sold successfully which I am very happy about.
Feedback:
I have definitely received very helpful and positive feedback today. Before my presentation, I was glad to hear comments like “I am really intrigued to hear your presentation” which made me really happy since I managed to grab people’s attention with the images and the jacket. While I was presenting, I was glad that people asked me to give a short summary of what happened during the protest and why exactly did I choose to create these designs because It made me feel like I have brought up a topic that people are interested to know more about and it’s something new. Although I was worried that because I couldn’t actually order the garment patches from a company that made them professionally, with all the feedback during the process of this project I feel like I have succeeded at representing these images in the best way possible considering the circumstances.
