Moving on to the researching and idea rendering part, I think it is very essential that I record what I did this week (very crucial week, ideas-> semi-final outcomes). Since this project is all about experimenting and learning from failures. I try to keep track on my progress of this week (I was sort of falling behind on the first week) whenever I’m working on this project.
Three main things I will have to work on at this stage:
1. Idea rendering
2. Decision making
3. Finalizing in visual
Friday 9th Oct
For Friday I tried to collect more information by talking to Clara. I found out more on what she loves and the reasons behind. (our favourite common band, singer and animation). That inspired me knowing someone is to know your common grounds first. Also, the more the I spend with her, the more I find her personality dynamic. I think this will help me develop more interesting pieces.
A korean band, Hyukoh
My favourite Hong Kong singer, Eason Chan
One thing thing I decided today is to use monotone, black and white, for this project. I want to experiment what I can do with only two colors, playing on tones, contrasts and strokes since I was never good with ink. This project can be a good chance to let me practise. Also, I realize things in monotone can actually help people to concentrate/ focus on the words and images. ( my own discovery when I read textbooks as I often ended up only looking at the colored pictures instead of important texts)
I think this is a big step for me in terms of deciding how I should continue on my pages.
Saturday 10th Oct
Today I started to iterating my ideas and designs, for example the layouts and the collages. Eventually I found (involved some tweaks, combinations) some designs I think will work out great as they can communicate through papers to the readers. I start to understand why is it so important to use prototypes because once I use them I then have choices to choose from. The above is a good example, as you can see I drew various ways of circles interlocked together to see which works the best. At last I found out only four circles is too simple- so I added some more in thinner strokes later on to emphasize how the four is specially, strongly linked with each other.
Also to make some actual progress on the sketch book, I finalized some of the pages that were still in drafting and brainstorming stage yesterday. Since variety is important, I want some pages to not have a single word on it. That means I have to decide what scenes, what visuals can portrait what I am narrating even without the texts.
Sunday 11th- did not work on the project this day
Monday 12th Oct
Today I continued what I was doing on Sat and moved on to two more pages. Although this project should be about Clara, I understand that no matter how close this sketchbook is related to her, it is still my very own interpretation that single-handedly created it. Also it is important for me to add the elements that I think are important. Personally, I find it very overwhelming when planes land on my destinations- as it is literally an indication of finally reaching a new place. I remember Clara mentioned how hard is was for her to come to America by herself three years ago as she was still a learner in English. I thought this matched perfectly of how shocking it is- no matter in cultural or the literal bumps you have when planes land. Both are mixtures of anxiety and excitement. Then I did a lot of researches on planes landing. I knew more about the outlooks of the wheels and plane machineries. Using the images on google I recreated the scenario. For this page I want the viewers to get what they can get by only looking at the image I created. These are the iterative process for this page.
Clara is a very loyal, caring friend. She mentioned the favourite way to communicate is through texting. During our conversations we mentioned how she loves seeing a butterfly fly by. She said it feels very blissful and whimsy when she sees one. ( I dislike them because they are too unpredictable because they might bump into my face any second.) I related this to the idea of texting friends and combined them together as these two events are very meaningful to her.
Tuesday 13th Oct
As my book works in a narrative, storytelling sequence, I want to add in a page that explains how Clara ended up coming to Parsons. During our interview she said she was immensely inspired by the movie Breakfast in Tiffany, an old movie that was filmed during the early 60s. She said the costume that Audrey worn in the movie is very mind-blowing, even til today. She really appreciated how the designer created a dress that was made out of one piece of garment and how he(Hubert de Givenchy) used black. I then looked the costume up and really felt what she meant- it is really an outfit that will attract people to learn more about fashion, or even set out to become a fashion designer like how Clara did. (For me the holy grail of shoe design is the Air Mags appeared first in the movie Back to the Future [1985] , those shoes are still mind-blowing; therefore I understand how a single design can withstand the testament of times and still stand out) I love how Clara said she would love to design outfits that fits people. Cleverly said! To mention a bit, I also want to design something that fits someone, but instead of clothes, I am more interested in shoes, ha.
At first I decided to only illustrate Audrey’s outfit, (which took me some iterations) but to respond to my friend’s comment, I think it would be more interesting to add more details and information about Audrey, maybe some details about the movie, the actress, the character, etc. This might help the viewers to pick up my ideas easier.
(Doesn’t matter if the pictures are in black and white since the dress is in black)
They are coming out again, of course with the power laces.
Wednesday 14th Oct
Today I was having trouble making up my mind. To get a better sense of what will my readers actually feel from my book, I asked a friend to take a look at my half-finished work. He gave me great compliments and some very useful comments that I have never thought about. I briefly talked him through what is the project’s aim and how am I trying to achieve it. He mentioned throughout the pages I used a good amount of imageries and collages to present my ideas which is very good, but then he mentioned (here comes the importance of fresh eyes) now my book is more of an illustration book rather a sketchbook as I am missing some “messy” pages. He said he likes sketchbooks that are rawer and messier as this shows how ideas are bursting out of the author’s mind. I took his word and now I am hoping to do a mix: messy ideas presented in an organized way. I hope I can strike a balance between them and try utilize all the pages I’ve got. For example, the page I thought was finished yesterday was not enough; the page seemed too empty.
Thursday 15th Oct
Today I worked more on plannings for the coming pages . As I have mentioned I want to create pages that are more raw and messy but because of my previous parts are too neat,so I am thinking of ways how to balance out what I am going add next. The following topics are dessert and favourite band- so these two are good topics to show details instead of using one single image to depict. At this moment we are both in the art room working. Its funny how she was late and brought me egg tarts- totally showed her personalities to me once again!
Friday 16th Oct
Supposingly today is the deadline of this post but since we have working time I would love to update more about my process. After reading the post-it comments and the other’s work I realize my sketchbook might be lacking something ( Or in different styles, some of them are very very vibrant and vivid.). I asked if I should work on more detailed pages instead of keeping my neat and simple style. Most of them answered no as they liked my illustrations. On the other hand they mentioned how I should not bound myself from the use of colors and the ways I create my sketchbook- it makes a lot of sense as they cannot see what experiments I did behind. So now I am working on how should I present and show more about my progress. Also, inspired by other’s’ sketchbooks, I realize it is also a very good way to show what sort of person they are describing.